Walt—oh, Walt. What had he done?
I remembered how lifeless and cold he’d been, cradled in my arms amid the mud-brick ruins. Then suddenly he had opened his eyes and gasped.
Look, he’d said to me.
On the surface, I’d seen Walt as I’d always known him. But in the Duat…the boy god Anubis shimmered, his ghost-gray aura sustaining Walt’s life.
Still me, they had said in unison. Their double voice had made my skin tingle.
I’ll meet you at sunrise, they had promised, at the First Nome, if you’re sure you don’t hate me.
Did I hate him? Or was it them? Gods of Egypt, I wasn’t even sure what to call him anymore! I certainly didn’t know how I felt, or if I wanted to see him again.
I tried to put those thoughts aside. We still needed to defeat Apophis. Even with his captured shadow, there was no guarantee we would succeed in casting the spell. I doubted Apophis would stand idly by while we tried to obliterate him from the universe. And it was entirely possible that the execration would require more magic than Carter and I had, combined. If we burned up, my dilemma with Walt would hardly be a problem.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop thinking about him/them—the way their warm brown eyes merged together so perfectly, and how natural Anubis’s smile looked on Walt’s face.
Argh! This was not helpful.
We climbed aboard the sun barque—Carter, Zia, Bes, and me. I was relieved beyond words that my favorite dwarf would be accompanying us to our final battle. I needed a reliably ugly god in my life right now.
At the bow, our old enemy Sobek regarded me with a crocodile smile, which I suppose was the only kind of smile he had. “So…the little Kane children have returned.”
“So,” I snapped, “the crocodile god wants his teeth kicked in.”
Sobek threw back his scaly green head and laughed. “Well said, girl! You have iron in your bones.”
I suppose that was meant as a compliment. I chose to sneer at him and turn away.
Sobek only respected strength. In our first encounter, he had drowned Carter in the Rio Grande and smacked me across the Texas-Mexico border. We hadn’t got much chummier since. From what I’d heard, he had only agreed to join our side because Horus and Isis had threatened him with extreme bodily harm. That didn’t say much about his loyalty.
The glowing crew orbs fluttered around me, humming in my mind—little happy greetings of: Sadie. Sadie. Sadie. Once upon a time, they had also wanted to kill me; but since I’d awakened their old master Ra, they’d become quite friendly.
“Yes, hullo, boys,” I muttered. “Lovely to see you. Excuse me.”
I followed Carter and Zia to the fiery throne. Ra gave us a toothless grin. He was still as old and wrinkly as ever, but something seemed different about his eyes. Before, his gaze had always slid over me as if I were part of the scenery. Now, he actually focused on my face.
He held out a plate of macaroons and chocolate biscuits, which were a bit melted from the heat of his throne. “Cookies? Wheee!”
“Uh, thanks.” Carter took a macaroon.
Naturally, I opted for the chocolate. I hadn’t eaten a proper meal since we’d left our father’s court.
Ra set down the platter and wobbled to his feet. Bes tried to help, but Ra waved him off. He tottered toward Zia.
“Zia,” he warbled happily, as if singing a nursery rhyme. “Zia, Zia, Zia.”
With a jolt, I realized it was the first time I’d heard him use her actual name.
He reached out to touch her scarab amulet. Zia backed away nervously. She glanced at Carter for reassurance.
“It’s okay,” Carter promised.
She took a deep breath. She unclasped her necklace and pressed it into the old man’s hands. A warm glow expanded from the scarab, enveloping both Zia and Ra in a brilliant golden light.
“Good, good,” Ra said. “Good…”
I expected the old god to get better. Instead, he began to crumble.