“I would be stronger with you as my host. You’ve only touched the surface of what combat magic can do. We could accomplish great things, and it is your destiny to lead the House of Life. You could be the king of two thrones.”
I glanced at Sadie, but she just shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I find the idea horrifying.”
Horus scowled at her, but the truth was, I agreed with Sadie. All those gods waiting for direction, all those magicians who hated us—the idea of trying to lead them made my knees turn to water.
“Maybe some day,” I said. “Much later.”
Horus sighed. “Five thousand years, and I still do not understand mortals. But—very well.”
He stepped up to the throne and looked around at the assembled gods.
“I, Horus, son of Osiris, claim the throne of the heavens as my birthright!” he shouted. “What was once mine shall be mine again. Is there any who would challenge me?”
The gods flickered and glowed. A few scowled. One muttered something that sounded like “Cheese,” although that could’ve been my imagination. I caught a glimpse of Sobek, or possibly another crocodile god, snarling in the shadows. But no one raised a challenge.
Horus took his seat on the throne. Isis brought him a crook and flail—the twin scepters of the pharaohs. He crossed them over his chest and all the gods bowed before him.
When they’d risen again, Isis stepped toward us. “Carter and Sadie Kane, you have done much to restore
Ma’at. The gods must gather their strength, and you have bought us time, though we do not know how much. Apophis will not stay locked away forever.”
“I’d settle for a few hundred years,” Sadie said.
Isis smiled. “However that may be, today you are heroes. The gods owe you a debt, and we take our debts seriously.”
Horus rose from the throne. With a wink at me, he knelt before us. The other gods shifted uncomfortably, but then followed his example. Even the gods in fire form dimmed their flames.
I probably looked pretty stunned, because when Horus got up again he laughed. “You look like that time when Zia told you—”
“Yeah, could we skip that?” I said quickly. Letting a god into your head has serious disadvantages.
“Go in peace, Carter and Sadie,” Horus said. “You will find our gift in the morning.”
“Gift?” I asked nervously, because if I got one more magic amulet, I was going to break out in a cold sweat.
“You’ll see,” Isis promised. “We will be watching you, and waiting.”
“That’s what scares me,” Sadie said.
Isis waved her hand, and suddenly we were back on the mansion’s terrace as if nothing had happened.
Sadie turned toward me wistfully. “‘Stimulating.’”
I held out my hand. The djed amulet was glowing and warm in its linen wrapping. “Any idea what this thing does?”
She blinked. “Hmm? Oh, don’t care. What did Anubis look like to you?”
“What did...he looked like a guy. So?”
“A good-looking guy, or a slobbering dog-headed guy?”
“I guess...not the dog-headed guy.”
“I knew it!” Sadie pointed at me as if she’d won an argument. “Good-looking. I knew it!”
And with a ridiculous grin, she spun around and skipped into the house.
My sister, as I may have mentioned, is a little strange.