by P. J. Hoover
“And…” I said. Here Gil had been captured, Apep was bent on taking over the world, and Henry had to get home so his mom could tuck him in?
“And they’re going to start getting suspicious,” Henry said. “I can’t just stay out super-late every night. That’s how it works when you have parents. You have to tell them where you are and stuff.”
Silence filled the air between us. As if the fact that I no longer had parents wasn’t bad enough, Henry had to rub it in my face?
Henry looked down at his gray Chucks. “Okay, that didn’t come out quite like I meant it.”
“It’s not like it’s my fault my parents got murdered,” I said. “I didn’t plan to grow up alone.” And I hadn’t been alone, not for a long time. Gil had been there. And then he’d just up and left, leaving me with no one except Horus.
“I know,” Henry said. “I’m sorry. It’s just that sometimes I see you running around, doing whatever you want, no one to report in to, and…”
“And what?” I said. That was my life. The life of an immortal.
He kicked at the dirt with the toe of his gray high-top. “And I get a little jealous, I guess.”
I laughed out loud. “Seriously? You get jealous of me? You, who gets to go home to your parents each night. They make you dinner. They take you shopping.”
I left the rest unsaid. I didn’t trust myself. But I still remembered how my mom used to sing to me, to tell me stories, to wrap her arms around me and tell me that she loved me. I’d never been so happy in my entire life, and it wasn’t just because my family was powerful. It was because I’d had my special people. People who cared about me. Sometimes it felt like I’d never be that happy again. Amun above, I had to find Gil. If something happened to him, I would never get over it. I knew it deep in my soul.
“I know,” Henry said. “But you forget I’m a teenager. My mom is constantly asking me what we’re doing, where we’re going. And I hate to lie.”
“You don’t have to lie,” I said. “Just leave out anything that seems to imply immortality. Or special powers. Or Egyptian gods. Or … yeah, I guess that’s a lot.”
“You’re not kidding,” Henry said. “So we’re cool?”
“Yeah, we’re cool,” I said.
He punched me on the shoulder, just to make sure, and then we parted ways, me heading back to my empty townhouse and him back to the familiar presence of his mom and dad.
* * *
There were spells and wards all over the door to my townhouse when the shabtis and I got there. I felt chills run over my skin as I pushed past them. But I didn’t have time to ask Horus about it, because he came out of nowhere, landing in front of my feet.
He hissed loudly. “Go away, Tut.” His good eye roved the room, not focusing on me. Huge chunks of his fur were missing, contributing to his mangy look. I’d never seen Horus look so horrible, not even when he’d gone missing with amnesia for a couple decades.
Maybe it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, but I needed to start making forward progress. I squatted down to Horus’s level and slammed my hands on the ground.
“No, Horus. I am not going to go away,” I said, letting all the frustration running through me filter into my voice.
“I mean it, Tut,” Horus said, but his voice wasn’t as certain as before.
I took advantage of it and moved forward. Horus scooted back. So I took another step. He did, too. And we continued this until I got him into the family room. Behind me, the shabtis slammed the door closed. The chill in the air evaporated.
“Great Master,” Colonel Cody said. “It seems the cat is not feeling well.”
“He’s a god. He’s Horus,” I said, still not taking my eyes off Horus.
“Yes, exactly what I was saying,” Colonel Cody said. “It seems the cat god is a bit under the weather.”
“Horus is fine.” I pressed my hand forward, hoping to make peace, hoping Horus didn’t take this moment to swipe at me. To tear one of my fingers off.
I held my breath and waited, counting the seconds. One. Two. I got to twelve when Horus finally backed off. He hissed one last time, then scurried across the room, grabbing a scarab beetle and biting it in half.
I sank onto the futon. Lieutenants Virgil and Leon ran up balancing a tall glass of ice and a soda on a tray. There were also two warm scones on a bright blue plate. Cranberry, maybe? They always knew exactly what I needed.
I nodded at them in thanks, and they ran back into the kitchen.
“What in the name of Amun Ra is going on with you, Horus?” I said.
Horus chewed the scarab beetle slowly, almost like he wasn’t planning to eat it. But then he swallowed it.
Uh-oh. This was not a good idea. He jumped onto Gil’s chair and started heaving. I knew what was coming. I tried to cover my ears and close my eyes, but the heaves got louder and louder. Finally Horus hacked up a giant scarab-beetle hairball all over Gil’s chair. Then, to make matters worse, he started digging his claws into the chair. It was the only time I was glad Gil wasn’t around. He would have skinned Horus.
“It’s the sun and the moon,” Horus said, rolling around in the hacked-up hairball.
“What about the sun and the moon?” I said, trying to ignore what he was doing. It was gross. Horus went crazy during the new moon, but we had almost two weeks until then.
“It’s growing darker,” Horus said. “Everything about the world is growing darker. And the tides. Have you seen the tides? They’re way off. The sun and the moon aren’t in the right places. It’s messing everything up. It’s not good, Tutankhamun. I’m telling you that it’s not good.”
Moon. Tides. The world growing darker. It all fit together with what I’d just heard. “This is about Apep, isn’t it?” I said.
Horus didn’t act surprised that I knew. He only flicked his tail in acknowledgment.
“How long have you known?” I asked. The bigger question was, why hadn’t Horus told me?
Horus eyed another scarab beetle, but he didn’t pounce. Instead he dug his claws deeper into Gil’s chair, pulling out stuffing. I cringed but kept my mouth shut.
“Since I went to the underworld,” Horus said. “Remember that little trip? Where I went to check up on Horemheb?”
“Oh, I remember, Great Master,” Colonel Cody said. “It’s when the cat god retrieved me from an eternal life without you.”
This must’ve rekindled some fond feelings for Horus because the little shabti immediately ran off and ordered the filling of Horus’s milk bowl.
“You learned about Apep escaping six months ago, and you didn’t think to tell me?” I said.
“There was no reason to tell you, Tut,” Horus said. “I’m a god. He’s a god. It’s a god issue. I’m going to take care of the problem.”
“By doing what? Hacking up hairballs at anyone who comes near you? Attacking people? Don’t you see how this is affecting you? You aren’t yourself.”
“I’m fine,” Horus said.
“Fine? Then why the wards? Why have you tried to rip my eyes out not once but twice in the last week? Why do you look like a rabid alley cat who lost five fights in a row? Does that seem like you’re fine?”
Horus scowled, but he didn’t have much of an argument to make.
“Did you know that Apep kidnapped Gil?” I said. I still couldn’t believe it. Gil was in serious trouble.
Horus stopped digging. Pieces of stuffing clung to his claws. “He what?”
“He kidnapped Gil. He’s looking for an immortal, and he thought he got one.”
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Horus said. “He can’t still be stewing over that whole mess. When I find that snake, I am going to pull his tail through—”
I put up my hand. “Enough.” I didn’t need a visual of what Horus planned to do to Apep.
Horus and Gil may have had their differences. They argued all the time. But Horus’s claws went up and he snarled. Gil, like me, was one of Horus’s people, whether he
wanted him to be or not. And as such, Horus was going to watch out for Gil.
“How do we stop him?” I asked.
“Stop Apep, the Lord of Chaos? The Devourer of the Sun?” Horus said. “We don’t. I do. You stay here and stay safe.”
“Great Osiris, no!” I said. “I am not sitting in this townhouse doing nothing. I’m going to look for Gil with you or without you.”
And this was when things turned ugly. Horus launched at me from Gil’s chair and landed on my head. His claws dug into me, even as I grabbed at him, trying to get him off me. I fell from the futon onto the floor, and using strength I didn’t know I had, I clenched my fingers around him and pulled him from my head, throwing him across the room. And before he could get up and come back after me, fireballs ignited in my hands. I held them out, menacingly.
“Don’t take another step,” I said.
Horus hissed and stared at the flames, but he stayed back.
“This!” I said. “This is why you can’t stop him. He’s affecting you. The darkness is getting to you. You’re going crazy. You have to stay here. Stay safe. And let me go out and stop him.”
Bitter silence filled the townhouse, only disturbed by the crackling sound of the flames in my hands. I was not going to back down. I was going to find Gil. Stop Apep. Horus was not going to get in my way.
“Tell me what to do,” I said when Horus didn’t reply. “Tell me how to kill Apep.”
Horus let out a garbled laugh under his breath. “That’s what you don’t get. There’s no way to kill Apep. That’s why he was imprisoned so long ago. Nobody could kill him.”
“Fine, I don’t kill him,” I said. “How do I re-imprison him?”
Horus blew out his breath, then sauntered over to his milk bowl, as if he hadn’t just tried to tear my head off. I let the flames subside and waited while he lapped up the milk—he drank for a solid minute—and then I waited until he wandered back over toward me. The shabtis were picking at my hair, inspecting it to see if Horus had done any damage. If they had their way, I’d have a bandage covering my entire head like a real mummy.
“Okay, Tut, here’s my theory.” Horus jumped onto the coffee table, looking toward the open window of the fire escape. “Back when Ra imprisoned Apep, do you know how he did it?”
I shrugged. “Sure. Ra stunned Apep with his awesomeness, and then grabbed him and dragged him off to the underworld.” Ra’s powers were the thing of legends. That was why he was the most important god ever. If a mortal even looked at Ra, it could cause irreparable hypnosis.
“It wasn’t quite that easy,” Horus said. “And I need you to listen to this part, because I’m not going to repeat myself.”
What? Did he think I was going to start playing video games?
“Fine,” I said. “What am I missing?”
“So Ra. You know that giant disk he has on his head? The sun disk?”
“Sure.” I raised my hands over my head, mimicking the sun disk. It was sort of like Ra’s signature item. His crown.
“Good,” Horus said. “Well, it wasn’t just some fancy decoration. It’s what Ra used to capture Apep and seal him away.”
“The sun disk?” I said. “Really?”
“Yeah, really,” Horus said with a scowl. “You thought it was just a fashion accessory?”
“Of course not,” I said, though that was exactly what I thought. “So we just get this sun—”
“Not so fast,” Horus said. “Ra had to catch a reflection of the setting sun, the last light of the day, and cast it onto Apep. Not the noon sun. Not the rising sun. The setting sun. Did you get that part, Tut?”
“I’m not remedial,” I said. “So where is this sun disk? Where do we get it? Wait, please don’t tell me that Ra still has it?”
That would be a serious problem. No one had seen Ra in ages. Rumor among the gods was that he’d gone away, never to be seen again. That he’d given up on the world. If that was true, then I would definitely need a plan B.
Horus shook his head. “No, Ra doesn’t have it anymore.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
Horus put a paw to his forehead. “My mom told me.”
“Auntie Isis?” I said. My stomach clenched at the thought of Horus’s mom. I really, really didn’t want to have to go visit her.
“What? You think I have another mom?” Horus said.
My hopes fell into the basement. “So she does have it?”
“No,” Horus said. “I never said that. You were supposed to be listening, Tut.”
“I am listening,” I said. “You said that your mom told you that Ra doesn’t have the sun disk anymore.”
“Right,” Horus said. “I never said that my mom has it herself.”
Relief flooded me. Things were looking up. I wasn’t going to have to visit Auntie Isis after all. “Great. So where is it? Do you know?”
“Of course I know,” Horus said. “I’m a god. I know everything.”
Now was not the time to disagree with Horus.
“Where?” I said.
Horus swatted a paw on the side of Gil’s chair, as if he were cleaning scarab-beetle guts off it. “My mom says it’s totally safe.”
“Okay.” I waited for more, motioning with my hands for Horus to continue.
“You know how she runs those funeral homes?” Horus said.
I could almost hear the jingle in my head. Dynasty Funeral Homes were the biggest name in town. Everyone wanted to be buried by them … except me.
“Of course I do,” I said. Auntie Isis didn’t just preserve the bodies. She mummified them. And she had one of Horus’s sons, Hapi, her grandson, working for her. Hapi had a baboon head. Not the most flattering face in the world, but he never changed it.
“Well, my mom says that she had Hapi bury it with one of the bodies.” He licked his paw, like this was the end of our conversation and it was time for him to groom himself.
“Which body?” I said. “Where?”
He raised a paw as if to reassure me. “Don’t worry, Tut. I’ve already got it taken care of. I’m supposed to meet Hapi Saturday night at ten. But instead of me, you can go. I’ll let him know. He’ll take you to it. It’ll be simple.”
Great. I had a date to go grave-robbing with a baboon god. Nothing about that was going to be simple. But if it got me one step closer to finding Gil and imprisoning Apep, then that’s exactly what I was going to do.
12
WHERE I TRAIN A MONSTER
Horus told me where and when to meet Hapi and then jumped out the fire escape window. I thought about having a few of the shabtis trail him, to make sure he was okay, but if Horus found out I’d done something like that, he’d be furious. An even angrier cat god than my already angry cat god was not what I wanted on my hands.
I tried to fall asleep, but this whole mess with Gil made it impossible. I finally got up in the middle of the night and went downstairs.
“Breakfast, Great Master?” Lieutenant Virgil asked, even though it was nowhere near breakfast time. He stood at attention, next to the toaster, as if he’d pop a waffle in if I so much as raised an eyebrow.
“Just some water would be great,” I said.
He bowed deeply, like I’d justified his existence. “Water it is,” he said, and the refrigerator door flew open. A shabti he had stationed inside passed out a water bottle. I’d tried in the past to keep them out of the refrigerator, but Lieutenant Virgil swore they never got cold and insisted this allowed them to perform their duties more efficiently.
I walked back into the family room, but instead of sitting on the futon, I sank into Gil’s chair. I don’t know why. Maybe I wanted to be closer to him. I fell back asleep. And then my dream started.
There were chairs everywhere. I moved from one to the next, feeling them because I couldn’t see anything. I tried to pull on energy from my scarab heart, to light up the place, but it was like I had ghost powers. I couldn’t feel anything in my chest at all. And my memories of the visio
ns returned. I wasn’t me in this dream. I was Gil.
“Pretty sure that’s Orion,” a voice said.
“Not Orion,” another voice said. “Orion has the five little stars in a row. That’s Scorpioid.”
“You’re an idiot,” the first voice said. “Orion has four stars in a row.”
From the sound of it, they were both idiots. But as long as they were bickering about constellations, they might not be paying attention to me.
“And that one up there,” the first voice said. “That’s called Geminus.”
“Not Geminus, moron,” the second voice said. “It’s Geminoid.”
I craned my neck around, trying to hear anything else I could. And I kept moving. There must be a door somewhere. Some way for me to escape. But I bumped into something and the guards stopped arguing. I almost felt them look my way as goose bumps popped up on my skin.
“What do you think he’s doing?” the first one said.
“Don’t look at him,” the other said. “Don’t you know these immortals have superpowers? He might have laser eyes or something.”
“He’s blindfolded,” the first said. “And the boss isn’t even sure he’s immortal. He’s planning to come by later and do some tests.”
Tests were not going to end well. I might be immortal, but Gil wasn’t. He’d fail any tests Apep gave him. And then he’d kill Gil.
My eyes flew open and panic filled me. Three shabtis stood on the arms of Gil’s chair, fanning me with long ostrich feather fans. My scarab heart pounded.
“Great Master,” Colonel Cody said. “Should we attempt to locate the cat god?”
I ran a hand through my hair and tried to clear my mind. Gil was in serious danger. Time was running out.
“No, it’s fine.” With the state Horus was in, and the effect Apep was having on him, Horus was not going to be able to help. That much was obvious. He couldn’t even help himself. If I didn’t stop Apep, I could lose Horus, too.
“It is the heathen heart,” Colonel Cody said, and he jumped around to my side so I had to crane my neck to see him. “Perhaps if our Great Pharaoh would allow us to perform a ritual, the heathen spirits could be eradicated.” He whipped a lighted match and a piece of incense from behind his back and held them over me.