“That’s true.” The princess nodded, more casual now. “Pharaoh, my father, banned the traditional gods of Egypt. But I’m loyal to them still. They reward my loyalty. They’ve told me of the dangers we face. And they say you’re the one who can save my family. I couldn’t have cast the Meseneh Rek spell to start you on your quest without help from the same gods my father is working to banish, Jagger Jones.”
And Jagger thought he had daddy issues!
“Whhhhhoooaaa. Wait!” Aria’s eyes narrowed on the princess. She pulled a curl to her mouth—a dirty habit that usually meant she was thinking through a problem. “Tatia! I know you.”
“Her name is Mer—”
“She can call me Tatia.” The princess interrupted Jagger with a heavy sigh. “You can both call me whatever you like as long as you help me.”
“We’ve met you before, haven’t we?” Aria tugged her bottom lip.
“What?” Jagger shook his head. “How could we—”
“You’re the mummy!” Aria said it like she’d just figured out the winning word in the spelling bee. “You’re the mummy we saw in the tomb!”
KA-TASTROPHY
The princess stared down at her golden sandals, voice low. “I wish I were the mummy you saw. I would take her place if I could. But I can’t undo what’s been done to her. Come, you can meet her before …” Whatever she was going to say, she decided against it. She slid primly onto the bed, pulling the white cover down to reveal the face of a younger girl, lips parted in deep sleep.
Jagger stifled a gasp. The girl looked almost exactly like Aria. That’s what the princess had meant when she first saw Aria and mumbled that she looked like someone.
The Aria-look-alike-girl had a side ponytail like Tatia’s. Amulets were scattered around her: a gold eye, a blue baboon, and a leafless tree made of red stone. This girl’s face was sweeter than Tatia’s somehow—fleshier, less stern.
“Oh, no.” Aria fell to her knees by the bed, and leaned toward the sleeping girl.
“My younger sister, Meketaten. We call her Mek.” Tatia’s voice softened as she stared at her little sister.
Jagger’s gut twisted.
“What’s wrong with her?” Aria aimed her puppy-dog eyes at the younger princess. “Will she be okay?”
“Mek is dying. She’d be dead already it if were not for a magic elixir I’ve made with the help of the old gods. But she won’t last much longer.” Though the princess’s voice quivered, she held her head high, eyes dry. “And that’s not the worst part, Aria Jones. For us, life is a very short part of existence. We know the secrets of death, the path to the Heavenly Fields. Mek should enjoy a long afterlife where we’ll be together again. But that too is being taken from her, a fate far worse than death.” Her fierce stare shifted to Jagger. “And that’s something we can solve. With your help, Jagger Jones, we can give Mek the afterlife she deserves.”
“How?” Aria studied Mek like the she was a stray animal Aria hoped to rescue. “What can Jagger do?”
“Do you know of the Ka?” Tatia asked.
Aria shook her head, turning to the princess with wide eyes.
“The body is made up of five parts: our Heart, our Shadow, our Name, our Ba, which houses our unique personalities, and our Ka, which is our unique essence, our living identity,” the princess explained. “When we die, our Ka and Ba join, so we can travel to the Heavenly Fields. Without the joining, we can’t enjoy an afterlife, a terrible fate for Egyptians. We spend our lives looking forward to sharing eternity with our loved ones.”
“I’m not following this.” Jagger shook his head. “Not the Ka part—that I know. And I’m really sorry about your sister. That sucks, really. But what does this have to do with us? And, uh, danger?”
The princess pulled the white sheet farther down, exposing an ankh amulet sitting on Mek’s stomach. It was just like the one they’d seen in the tomb, but without the mysterious gemstones. “You touched this?”
“I did.” Aria said before Jagger could respond.
The princess lifted a hand to her mouth, and nodded, like Aria had just offered a simple explanation of quadratic equations. “That explains how you got here.”
“Did you bring us back through time with that cross-thingy?” Aria pointed at the ankh.
“It’s an ankh amulet,” Jagger corrected his sister before turning back to the princess. “And that can’t possibly explain how we got here. I mean, what kind of scientific explanation …” He paused. “But I did hear your voice calling me. And your voice was coming from the amulet. But in our time it was covered in gemstones.”
Tatia’s eyes widened. “Gemstones,” she muttered. She shook herself, then nodded. “I cast the Meseneh Rek spell and summoned you, Jagger Jones. The old gods must have sent you a vision of the gemstones. That’s useful.” She stood up, pacing next to the bed. “I think I have an idea. Tell me about the gemstones you saw in your vision.”
“Uh, okay.” Jagger couldn’t quite square visions sent by the gods with his steadfast belief in science. “I don’t know. There were a bunch of them. And they sparkled. And there was a big, green one in the center.”
“Were there nine of them?”
Jagger shook his head, mystified. “I don’t remember.”
“I bet there were nine.” Tatia stopped pacing, and faced Jagger, who sunk onto the bed and watched the princess chew her lip, eyes narrowed in thought.
Jagger knew that nine—three threes—was a powerful number in ancient Egypt. That’s why nine gods—an Ennead—sat atop the Egyptian pantheon. But what could that possibly have to do with …
“Gemstones make sense.” The princess bobbed her head. “They have the perfect properties for such magic.” She stared off to the side, like a movie was playing out of view. “Your vision means Mek’s Ka is trapped inside the gemstones. My sister was poisoned by our enemy, the General, who ensnared her Ka.”
“Who?” Jagger asked.
Tatia took a deep breath, then she spoke quickly, as if the words would burn her tongue if she didn’t get them out fast enough. “My father’s trusted general. He wants to destroy our family and take Father’s throne. The old gods have shown me the General’s plan—he’s going to use Mek’s Ka to cast a spell that will annihilate our entire family. The Heqa-oo Moot is ugly magic, but powerful. We’ll all die, but only Mek will be lost forever. The rest of us will meet again in the Heavenly Fields.”
The Death Spell? The entire royal family of Amarna?
“Why?” Aria asked. “Why does this General guy want to kill your family?”
“The General longs for power.” Tatia tossed a glance at her sister as she resumed pacing. “There’s no power for a general in a time of peace, and Pharaoh’s dedication to his sun god, the Aten, bars Egypt from engaging with foreign powers as our country traditionally has.”
“Why doesn’t your dad just fire him?” Jagger asked, twisting his head back and forth as he sat on the bed, watching Tatia march one way, pivot, then march the other way. “Or … whatever pharaohs do to generals who want to murder the royal family? Seems pretty reckless.”
Tatia paused, and her eyes landed back on her sister. “My father won’t hear a word against the General. Or anyone he believes serves the Aten faithfully. He doesn’t believe me—”
“What about your mom, Queen Nefertiti?”
Tatia blinked quickly and shrugged narrow shoulders. “My parents won’t listen to me. They think I’m a heretic. I think they’re ignoring facts, because they don’t want to face an uncomfortable truth.”
Jagger squirmed. He knew that feeling. His dad had a bad habit of believing any crazy thing he could concoct to make himself look good while discounting, well, the truth—the truth usually made Dad look like a jerk. “That blows,” Jagger mumbled.
“So what are you going to do?” Aria, perched on the end of Mek’s bed, across from Jagger, snaked a hand out and touched the younger princess’s bald he
ad. Her other arm was wound around her giant, purple bag.
Tatia shifted her gaze to Aria, then to Jagger. “The General’s spell will release a plague that will kill every member of the royal family, leaving the path to the throne open to him. Once we’re all dead, he can wage war throughout the land. War is his heart’s deepest desire. But the old gods say that you, Jagger Jones, can stop the spell. You must find the gemstones before the spell is cast and bring them back here before Mek transitions.”
Find the gemstones? Stop some evil General’s spell?
Why on Earth was any of this his job?
The request was so stunning it took Jagger a moment to find his voice. “Uh. Look, I’m really sorry about your sister. And your dad. All of it.” He gulped. “My dad’s also …” He glanced at Aria—she shrugged. “Well, let’s just say I get it. I mean, my sister is a pain in the butt, but I’d do anything to save her.” He didn’t look at Aria. He didn’t need to. He knew she’d be wearing her cocky everyone-loves-me smile. “But I can’t put her in danger. Mom would kill me. She’s going to go through the roof when she wakes up, and realizes we’re not there.”
“Your sister is already in danger.” The princess heaved a sigh. “The gods chose you, Jagger Jones, because you’re royalty, a descendant of my family. If you’re family, your sister is family.”
“Wait! I’m a princess?” Aria clapped her hands, and her curls bounced as if they were just as excited. “Oh Tatia, we’re family!” Aria beamed at the princess, looking her over as if auditioning her for the role of long-lost, big sis.
Jagger rolled his eyes. “How can that be?” he muttered, more to himself than the others, wondering which parent they’d inherited that connection from. Mom was the more likely candidate if only because her ancestors were from Africa. “But that means …” Jagger’s heart plummeted. “No!”
“Yes.” The princess nodded solemnly. “If the General’s spell is successfully cast, every living member of the royal family will die. Every person from the bloodline who lived between this time and your own will be erased from history. None of us will survive.”
Aria froze in place, the curl she was about to stick into her mouth fixed like a statue. “You mean if Jagger can’t figure out how to stop this General and get the stones, we’ll just disappear, like we were never born?” Her eyes flew to Jagger. “And you’re sure he’s the right guy? Is there gonna be math?”
“That’s exactly right. None of us will survive if the General’s spell is cast. The gods believe Jagger Jones is the only one who can deliver Mek and my family from the spell. They chose your brother, Aria Jones. Not me.”
“Why me?” He mentally calculated the number of people in their shared family tree that would have lived between her time and his. “I mean, there has to be someone more, you know, hero-y than I am.”
“I don’t know why,” she admitted. “But the gods have their reasons.”
“But … but I don’t even believe in your gods,” he retorted.
She shrugged. “That doesn’t make them any less real. Or less right.”
The buzzing anxiety in Jagger’s gut seeped into his head. It was like a cold-slurpy brain freeze speeding through his body. How was this happening?
“I’m asking a lot of you, Jagger Jones.” The princess wove her fingers together in front of her face. “If I had another path, I’d take it. But the old gods say you’re our only hope. They brought you to me. They gave you a vision. The gemstones you saw must be returned to Mek’s amulet before she dies in order for her Ka and Ba to reunite. The magic elixir is losing its efficacy. It’ll keep her alive for another week. No more. You must find the stones, and return them before Mek passes on.”
He took a step back, away from her, as if she were a coiled cobra. “Let me get this straight.” He folded his arms. “You want me, some guy from the future who knows nothing about your time except for what I’ve read in books, to find and return these Ka-infested gemstones before some evil General casts his Death Spell, and your sister dies? In one week? Is that all?”
She stared at him, chin high. “Before our sisters die.”
He sagged. He wanted to do the right thing. But what was the right thing? Protecting Aria was right. That much was clear. But what was the best way to protect her? Being here was dangerous. What if her inhaler ran out, and she had an asthma attack in ancient Egypt? And what about Mom? Would she think he and Aria were dead in some Egyptian ditch? And Grams and Gramps? They were too old for this kind of drama. On the other hand, what if this girl was right? If he failed, there might be no Aria at all. What if he screwed up, and they all died?
Jagger’s brain felt sluggish, but one idea stood out in stark relief, as big and bold as the Chicago skyline on a clear, summer day. “Send Aria back, and I’ll help you.”
“No way!” Aria exclaimed.
The princess dropped her gaze to the floor “I can’t.” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “The spell to return you to your time requires the gemstones. There’s no way to send either of you back until we have them.”
“So if we don’t get them, we’re stuck here?” Jagger asked in disbelief. This was a trap! Why had she bothered to ask for his help if he had no choice?
“If we don’t get them, we’re DEAD! What part of this don’t you get?” Aria was on the princess’s side. Of course.
Jagger squirmed. He was caught. Even if his chances of successfully stopping some evil General from casting his spell, then getting the stones back before the younger princess died, were virtually nil, he had to try. He had to take care of his family. The princess might not count as family, but Mom and Aria did.
He rubbed the back of his neck. Then he nodded, feeling like someone had just tied his intestines in knots.
Aria flashed her you-made-the-right choice smile—the smile she wore whenever she got her way, which was ninety-two point seventy-eight percent of the time. How could she be happy about this?
“We’re in.” Aria beamed at her newfound cousin, one-billion-times-removed. “Now what?”
STRUCK BY AMULET-NING
“First, we must locate the gemstones.” Tatia sounded like she was suggesting they go to the corner store for some bread. “The old gods sent Jagger a vision for a reason. If my hunch is correct, we might be able to use his vision to track the gemstones.”
Jagger’s throat felt tight. How was he going to find Ka-filled gemstones in a country that was foreign in every imaginable way, not to mention getting them away from some military expert with access to magic?
“Come.” Tatia stood, and walked through an open door at the far end of the bedroom, waving for Jagger and Aria to follow. Jagger couldn’t decide where to look as he trailed the princess through two smaller rooms that were empty of people but loaded with treasures. The walls were painted with trees and animals, like the outside world had wormed its way inside.
“This is where you live?” Aria asked breathlessly.
“Yes. We’re in my quarters at the palace,” Tatia clarified, leading them into a cozy study with a cedar desk and four low chairs, each covered with soft leather, grouped around a gold table. The smell of cedar tickled Jagger’s nose. The princess rummaged through an alabaster chest that sat on the desk, pulling out a small, red, stone amulet shaped like an ankh but with a knot in the center. “This should help us find the gemstones, Jagger Jones.”
“The Knot of Isis.” Jagger recognized the symbol.
“I’ve heard of Isis. She’s a goddess!” Aria said as she sunk onto a chair.
“Yeah, lil’ sis.” Jagger was grudgingly impressed Aria remembered who Isis was. “She was a trickster. Her evil brother, Seth, chopped her husband up and scattered his body parts. Isis tracked down every bit of him and put him back together so they could have a son. Their son is the falcon god, Horus.”
“Good. You know of our history.” Tatia held the Knot of Isis out to Jagger. “Isis is the wisest of the old gods. This
is one of my family’s most prized possessions, given to me by my grandmother.”
“Grand … grandmother?” he sputtered. “You mean Queen Tiye?” Jagger cringed at the naked enthusiasm in his voice. But come on, Queen Tiye was one of the most fascinating historical figures of all time.
Tatia nodded. “Grandmother still worships the old gods, as I do. She trained me in magic, despite my parents’ disapproval. She also taught me not to be fooled by appearances. This is one of Egypt’s most magical objects.”
Jagger reached out, entranced by the plain amulet, spinning from a leather ribbon.
When his hand closed around it, Tatia shut her eyes and began chanting, “Come, Isis. Come, Heka …”
Jagger didn’t know if he should sit next to his sister or remain standing, facing the princess. He shifted on his feet, clutching the amulet and feeling awkward. As if she read his thoughts, Tatia put a hand on his shoulder. Then she released him, and pulled out a larger gold amulet hanging from a chain around her neck. Shaped like an eye, it had an arched brow, a short vertical line emerging from the bottom, and a longer curly loop shooting off to the side. A blue gem sat where the pupil should be.
“I remember seeing an eye-thing like that in the museum,” Aria said.
“Ssshhhh.” Jagger hushed her. How could he figure out what Tatia was up to when Aria wouldn’t shut up? “It’s the Eye of Horus.”
Chanting louder, as if she also wanted to drown Aria out, Tatia circled her hand over the eye amulet. “See us, Isis. Come, Horus. Join us, Heka. Judge this boy worthy of your magic.”
Colorful lights erupted overhead, sparkling above Jagger’s head, drifting up toward the blue and gold ceiling. The lights reminded Jagger of the ones that had danced inside the gemstones: purple, blue, yellow, red, green, pink, orange. The smell of mint and eucalyptus filled the air, overpowering the scent of cedar.
“Cool,” Aria breathed. She let her head fall back against the high-backed chair, staring up.
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