A sigh of relief escaped. They were safe. All of them. None of the carvings were defaced, meaning no one had gotten in here. It would have taken some doing to destroy the thousands of versions of my name that littered the walls, each of them protecting me from being completely forgotten. I couldn’t even remember what it was that had made me so paranoid in the first place but I was certainly relieved I had been.
Reaching out, I ran my fingers over the grooves, reassuring myself completely that they were really there and not just a hallucination.
“Pull yourself together, Serket.” I hadn’t used my full name in so long it almost felt foreign on my tongue. But in this room, it would be wrong to call myself anything else.
Assured the room was safe, I slipped back out and pressed the button again, watching as the wall slid back into place and hid my secret from the world once more. While Sed didn’t have a temple like this, I imagined he’d have somewhere like this, with his name written in stone as many times as he could manage. Most of the gods would have a room like this if they were sensible. Other than the big names, most of us had been forgotten by all but a few over time.
“SERA!”
I jumped as Sed screamed my name. It wasn’t the kind of shout he’d do if he’d just found something I needed to look at either. It was the kind of scream that meant danger.
Without thinking too much on it, I rushed back through the arch and into the main room of the temple, glancing around furiously to try and work out where Sed and whoever had attacked him lurked. I didn’t want him to be in danger because of me. While being killed was unlikely, he could suffer from a lot of pain.
More worrying still was the idea that he could suffer the same fate as I was just because he’d helped me. Whatever I did now, I had to make sure that didn’t happen. Sed didn’t deserve that. Not when he’d done so much to aid me.
“You,” I hissed.
“Hello, Serket. Long time, no see.”
“And you wonder why,” I muttered darkly. It was one thing to think it was Kuk behind everything. It was quite another to see proof of that with my own eyes.
The blade against Sed’s neck wasn’t something I could have imagined though.
“Don’t move any closer, Serket. I’m sure you’re smart enough to realise I’ve laced this one with poison too. Your scorpions truly are bountiful creatures. You should be proud of them.”
“I am.” I gritted my teeth, trying not to let the words I wanted to out. “What do you want, Kuk?”
“I’d have thought that was obvious.” He seemed rather unaffected by the fact he held someone’s life in the balance but I tried not to focus on that too much. Sed was a god. He could deal with a little hurt. I just had to hope Kuk was bluffing and the knife wasn’t actually poisoned.
“You can’t have me, Kuk. You had your chance.” No way was I going back to the way things had ended between us. While the break up itself hadn’t gone badly, the relationship was difficult at times and not something I wanted to repeat.
He laughed bitterly. “I don’t want you. I’d never want someone so venomous in my life,” he spat out.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. He’d always used that part of my nature against me. There was an irony in the fact one of his shifted forms was a venomous snake.
“Then what do you want?” I gave a frustrated grunt. He could be infuriating at times. One of the many reasons the two of us hadn’t worked out. But not the most major one. That was for sure.
“I want to obliterate you,” he hissed, pressing the knife harder against skin.
In Sed’s defence, he was doing well not to flinch away. I’d certainly have been trying to get free a little more. And being cut in the process. His was definitely the better way of dealing with the situation.
I shook my head, still not understanding and being a little bit concerned about the direction this was going in. Whatever he planned, I didn’t want any part of it, especially if it risked Sed’s life.
“Let him go and I’ll give you what I want,” I whispered. I didn’t really want to do that. I’d rather just get on with my life, but for Sed’s life, I would have to.
Kuk laughed bitterly. “And give up my power over you? Definitely not.”
I scowled. “Just tell me what you want.” I gritted my teeth and tried not to lose my temper. My magic had sparked to life but there was so little of it that it didn’t even matter. I couldn’t do anything about any of it.
“Where are you hiding your name?”
It was my turn to laugh. “Really? That’s the way you want to get rid of me? By erasing my name?”
He stared at me, clearly not understanding why I was so unconcerned with that.
“It takes more than destroying my name to get rid of me completely.” I closed my eyes and called on the only powers I truly had left in me.
Chapter 11
My body was several times its previous size and my hard legs clacked along the ground as they sprung out of my body and touched down. I clicked my pincers together, relishing the chance to be free of my human form. It had been so long since I’d shifted that I’d almost forgotten how. The only thing going through my mind as my powerful scorpion body took over was that I’d left it too long. I could shift into a smaller version if I wanted to, but that wasn’t nearly so freeing.
Kuk stumbled back, letting go of Sed as he did. I just hoped the jackal god had the foresight to get out of the way before he accidentally ended up in one of our ways. I had no doubt about what Kuk’s next move would be. It’d be mine too if I were him.
His face shimmered as he changed into his female form. He had to do that before he could become the giant snake that had any choice of matching me. Weirdly, his male form took on that of a frog when it shifted, which probably wasn’t going to be much of a match for me.
Her body lengthened and her limbs disappeared while her eyes changed from the beautiful amber I’d stared into so many times, to an eerie glowing yellow. I’d always hated it when she’d used them on me, they always looked like they were up to no good. Though I supposed at the moment, she isn’t.
I snapped my pincers together, hoping to distract her more than anything. Despite everything she was trying to do to me now, I didn’t want to hurt her. It went against my healing nature to hurt anyone at all.
The snake in front of me was slightly larger than I expected, dwarfing me and increasing my heartbeat to crazy levels. I didn’t want to go up against Kuket. Or Kuk. Or anyone. Even if Sed needed me to. That was the only reason I was going to manage, that was for certain.
Kuket hissed at me and I stepped backwards, almost stumbling over my back legs. I was too out of practice in this form for my liking but I had to get over that and used to having more legs than normal.
She lunged forwards and it took all I had not to flinch again. Instead, I snapped at her with my pincer, not at all surprised when she slithered out of the way. Her tail thrashed into a column, denting it and sending the stone crashing to the floor. I’d have to be careful of her doing that too many times. If we weren’t careful then she’d end up bringing my temple to its knees with us still inside. While I could probably survive unharmed in this form, I doubted Sed would, even if he shifted into a jackal. Just one of the advantages of having an exoskeleton.
Kuket whipped her head around, no doubt trying to find the source of the sound and do something about it.
I took advantage of her distraction and rushed forward, hitting her neck with my pincer. Not the best move I could have made but I needed to get the upper hand in some way and this was the only way I could see of doing it.
She reared back, spitting poison at me. If I’d been in my human form, I’d have laughed. I was quite literally the goddess of venomous creatures, that wasn’t going to have an effect on me.
I was dimly aware of Sed shuffling backwards and away from the two of us. I should keep an eye on him and create a distraction if he needed one. The last thing I wanted was for him to get hurt
because I broke up with someone thousands of years ago.
Kuket’s motivations really weren’t clear to me. She must have gone crazy in the years since I’d last seen her. It was the only explanation I could come up with. Or maybe it was more to do with the fact she’d become like me. Barely remembered and bitter because of it. Not something I wanted to accept about myself either. Bitter wasn’t a feeling I liked, that was for certain.
She reared her head once more, extending her neck and giving me the opportunity I’d been waiting for. Opening my pincers as wide as I could, I reached forward and snapped them shut, clamping her neck between them.
The gap between my pincers was too big to have done any damage, but with the size of her head, she was effectively trapped. All I needed to do now was get her in the right position to use my stinger to catch her. I wasn’t completely sure it would do the damage I needed to her, but hopefully it would sedate her enough for us to get her to Osiris. He was the one she’d poisoned, he was the one who’d decide what to do with her. I didn’t want that burden on me. Not with my heart complicating this. I might not love Kuket anymore but that didn’t erase the past feelings I’d had.
She thrashed around, trying to get me to lose my grip. If I hadn’t been expecting it, then it might even have worked. Her tail crashed into another pillar, showering the room with dust as it crashed down, taking part of the ceiling with it. Not ideal but at least it would stop anyone venturing into the temple after we were done here. My secret name room would be safe. At least, I hoped so. If that was destroyed, I was done for. There’d be no coming back from that.
“Sera, watch out!” Sed called.
I almost jumped before noticing another pillar about to fall on me. I scuttled backwards, dragging Kuket with me. She resisted, trying to drag me back. No doubt her aim was to get me to let her go when it fell on me. I had to admit the plan was reasonably sensible. And would work if Sed hadn’t said something.
With all my strength, I continued to move backwards, only causing the snake to thrash more and more in my grasp. She hit another pillar, this one collapsing not far from where Sed was sheltering. I wished I could speak in this form and yell at him to get out of the temple before it collapsed on me completely.
Kuket thrashed even more and I almost lost my grip on her. With a body full of muscles, she shouldn’t be struggling to get free quite so much as she was. Perhaps she hadn’t shifted in just as long as I had. That would make at least some sense to me.
Another chunk of ceiling fell, this one crushing part of Kuket’s tail. She let out a half-scream, half-hiss, unable to contain the pain she was feeling. I cringed, hating that she was feeling that way, even if she’d done everything she could to hurt me. No, not hurt me. Just destroy me. Maybe they were the same thing in essence, but to me they were on the same scale. Her heart really must have broken when we’d split up.
Crashing sounded from deeper within the temple and worry started to assail me. The damage we’d done here must have cascaded through the place. If we weren’t careful, it was going to fall on top of us and afford Kuket a chance to get away. As much as I didn’t want to hurt her, I couldn’t let her continue her vendetta against me and have it spread to other people. I wasn’t under the false impression that I was special. There was next to no chance I was the only one she planned to do this to.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Sed scrambling towards the door. Relief flooded through me. If he was out of the way then there was less of a risk in the fight we were having. Though I suspected most of the danger came from the temple collapsing.
Another pillar collapsed to the floor close to my head. We needed to get out of here ourselves. I didn’t want to take my chances with a collapsing building, especially without my powers.
Taking a big risk, I released Kuket’s neck and shifted back into my human form. I held up my hands, hoping she wouldn’t take the opportunity to strike. “We need to leave, Kuket. We’ll be crushed.”
She only hissed in response and thrashed her tail, hitting a wall and creating a huge crack down the centre. I didn’t wait any longer and dodged through the rubble now falling. It seemed a lot more daunting now I was in human form but I knew it had been the right move.
Clinging onto the doorframe and looking in, I searched around for Kuket, hoping I’d find her stumbling towards me in human form.
“Sera, we need to go,” Sed said as he reached me, wrapping an arm around my waist and trying to pull me away.
“Kuk…”
“I know. But we don’t have to go far and we can come back for her once everything has settled a little bit.”
I grimaced. I knew he was right but that didn’t quite marry up with what I wanted to do.
“I know you don’t want to leave her but we can’t help if you’re injured too.”
His words sunk in and eventually, I nodded. Using the ability to heal and help against me was a good move on his part. I didn’t want to accept it was true but I knew he was right. I needed to recharge and figure out a way we could heal Osiris with the little magic I had. At this rate, I wasn’t going to be any use. I just hoped I could do something about it. I didn’t want to be re-remembered as the goddess who let Osiris die.
Chapter 12
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?” I asked Sed, secretly hoping he’d say no.
“Yes, we’re definitely in the right place.”
“Does he know we’re coming?” I glanced up at the huge structure in front of us, trying not to think about what was coming. I had to tell one of the strongest remaining gods that I couldn’t do anything about the poison wracking through his bloodstream and threatening to end his very existence.
“Yes, he’s expecting us.”
“Does he know about…” I indicated behind me and towards where we had Kuket, back in human form but bound and gagged. I’d been doing my best not to look at her since we’d left my temple. I didn’t want to guilt that came with what we’d had to do with her. At least she hadn’t been injured in the scuffle. That was something at least.
“Yes, at least, he knows that we’ve discovered the person responsible for his predicament.”
I laughed. “That’s an interesting way of putting it.”
“It wouldn’t be good if people realised we could be poisoned.”
I almost rolled my eyes but stopped myself as I realised how right he was. There’d be no way it would go down well if that got out and I suspected my scorpions would become a hot commodity for gods with grudges. I snorted. That’d be an awesome song title.
“We need to go in, Sera.”
“I know.” I just didn’t want to. “I guess you can call me Serket for now?”
“While we’re here, I expect so, yes,” he replied.
“Okay, then I’m ready.” I held my head up high and focused everything on staying calm. It didn’t matter that I had to tell someone as powerful as Osiris that I didn’t have the power to save him. That wasn’t my fault and I had to accept that.
“Let’s go.”
We walked in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts as we made our way through the hidden temple. I hadn’t even known this place existed until Sed had brought me. Hidden in plain sight from the humans who knew nothing of our world. Others milled around in the corridors, joined by some of the demi-gods and even some of the other lesser ones. I had to wonder how people got invited here in the first place but my hurt pride needed to take a back seat for something far more important. If Osiris died then the rest of us would end up without any direction, any leadership, or any hope. Our whole system would fall down. Even more so than if Amun passed on and he was supposed to be higher up the hierarchy than Osiris. That was what we got for using a system based on how many people knew our names.
“We’re here to see Osiris,” Sed told a god I didn’t recognise. Not surprising there, with so many of us about, it was easy not to know people.
“Follow me.” The g
od beckoned us forward and down another corridor.
I gulped down my nerves and followed him. Kuket shuffled along behind us, clearly not wanting to be here though I doubted that was to do with any potential punishment she might get. She didn’t really know the meaning of the word anyway. Her scowl burned into my back, even though I knew that wasn’t possible.
“Enter,” the god instructed.
“Thank you,” Sed responded.
I just nodded, unsure of what else I could possibly say. The three of us made our way through the archway and into the room beyond.
“Sed, you’re back.” There was relief in Isis’ voice as she greeted the man who’d started to steal my heart.
“I am, how is he?” Something different to normal rested in his voice. It was almost like authority.
“He’s worse,” she replied and glanced away, her beautiful dark hair swinging over her face and hiding it from the world. Traces of her concern for her husband were written all over her. I’d never seen a goddess look so tired, especially not the magnificent and stately Isis. She’d always been something to behold and now…not so much.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to do something about that,” Sed responded.
I grimaced, hoping he wasn’t about to promise something I just wasn’t able to do. He couldn’t fix my magic. We’d tried on our way here, hoping we’d be able to find a way of sharing power.
“You found Serket?” Isis’ eyes lit up.
“He did,” I acknowledged. “Pleased to see you again.” I bowed my head in respect. Not something I technically had to do but she deserved it, especially with what she was currently going through. No one deserved that.
“Can you help him?”
I exchanged a look with Sed. This was what we feared would happen and if I couldn’t help, we didn’t know what the reaction would be. Not just from Isis but from the other gods around too. No one wanted Osiris to pass on. I didn’t either.
Shifters Gone Wild; Collection Page 33