by P. J. Hoover
Henry didn’t reply. But with every word that came out of my mouth, I knew I was doing the right thing. I had to get my revenge even if it ended up killing me. I didn’t care what Gil said. This was my sole purpose in life.
“Fine,” Henry finally said. “I’m in.” He put his fist out, and I bumped it in return. It was a crazy, small thing, but it felt like the first moment of true friendship I’d had in years.
“Thanks, Henry,” I said.
“Are you going to tell Gil?” Henry whispered, even though the music coming from Gil’s room shook the entire town house.
“I’m not stupid,” I said. “I’ll tell him if we find something.”
More like once I had the knife in my hands and stood over the dead body of Horemheb. But not all the thoughts running through my head had to be voiced.
“How do we find the Cult of Set?” Henry asked.
That was the problem. I didn’t know, but there had to be a way. Some clue I’d missed.
“Can you get me a map of D.C.?” I asked Colonel Cody. “An old one, if possible.”
He beamed under my request. “It brings me infinite happiness to serve you, Great Pharaoh.”
He ran off and returned moments later with the map, spreading it out over the coffee table. Four shabtis stood on the edges to keep them from curling up. The map was yellow with age and cracked in some places, but the ink was still visible.
“There’s no way the Cult of Set just moved to town,” I said. “They’ve probably been here the whole time, just like me, Gil, and Horus. Since D.C. was founded.”
I grabbed a pencil and tapped it on the table, studying the map for some kind of clue to their location.
Henry flattened his bushy hair with his hands and sat down next to me so he could see the map, too. This was just the kind of thing he’d geek out over. “What about the obelisks?” he said. “You said the Cult of Set built them, right?”
“The obelisks! Of course!” I turned to Colonel Cody. “Can you get me a ruler?”
“It is my greatest—” he started.
I cut him off. “Just please hurry.”
And the shabti ran off.
“So during my little Trivial Pursuit quiz at the Library of Congress, Imsety asked this one stupid question,” I said. “Okay, he actually asked five stupid questions—one was even about Pluto—but that’s beside the point. Anyway, the question was about Pharaoh Seti the First, who apparently had his body chopped into five pieces and buried around D.C.”
Henry looked at me like I’d told him a giant dung beetle god pushed the sun across the sky each day. Which he did. His name was Khepri. But that’s a story for another time.
“Seriously?” Henry said.
“Yeah, who knew, right? And Pharaoh Seti the First? He was like this huge fan of the god Set. He started this whole Set revolution in Egypt. Turned him into some kind of rock star god. People sacrificed their children to him and everything. Anyway, you’ll never guess what got built on top of the chopped-up pieces of Seti the First’s body.”
“The obelisks!” Henry almost bounced up and down with excitement. He was way into this. It was like a puzzle, and we were going to solve it.
I scoured the map, orienting myself. Things looked so different now. I found the location of the obelisk that had blown up last week in Dupont Circle. Since the map was old, none of the current buildings around the obelisk still existed, but the circle was still there. I drew a ring around it.
“Dude, that map’s like a million years old,” Henry said, cringing like I’d vandalized some sacred artifact.
“I have a hundred of these,” I said, scanning the map for the location of the next obelisk. It was also at the center of a large circle. How had I not noticed this before? I circled it. The third, fourth, and fifth obelisks were the same. Each obelisk had been built on a traffic circle and each traffic circle had been built on top of the hacked-up remains of Pharaoh Seti the First, super-cheerleader of the god Set.
I grabbed the ruler from Colonel Cody and started connecting the dots. It only took seconds before a symbol started to take shape. It was a three-dimensional-looking pentacle, bigger on the left and smaller on the right.
“It almost looks like a shadow,” Henry said, grabbing the pencil and the ruler. He tossed away any concern he had about defacing my map. “Like if you took the five points and extended them eastward, they would all come from a single point.”
He drew the lines. I didn’t dare speak because I was sure my voice would shake. I was so close.
When he finished the fifth line, I jabbed the place where they met with my index finger. “That’s where the Cult of Set has to be.”
“And that’s where we’re going?” Henry said.
“That’s where we’re going.”
I grabbed my backpack and started shoving things into it. I’d need some sort of weapon. I yanked a small sword from the wall and tossed it into the bag. And then I tossed in a second for good measure. In went the map of D.C. in case I’d been wrong. And I took my phone, too, even though I knew Gil would be able to track me down with the GPS. I could turn off the GPS if I had to.
Henry and I crept out the fire escape. The last thing I needed was Gil hearing the door open. He’d try to stop me. I kept checking behind me, making sure he wasn’t following. There was no sign of him. Maybe I should have at least left a note. Gil was going to freak for sure when he found out I was gone.
Henry and I followed the map to the source of the pentacle shadow. We ended up in the middle of Chinatown. I scanned the area, but I wasn’t really sure what to look for. A giant office building with a sign that read “CULT OF SET”? A neon billboard offering free curses? Purse vendors and restaurants surrounded us, and there were enough Chinese restaurants to fill the air with the smell of grease and fried wontons. At least three restaurants advertised the best egg rolls in America. Two were closed down due to insect infestation.
“Could I interest you in a watch?” some guy wearing a gaudy fur coat and a hat with a red feather asked us, showing us a huge tray of fake Rolexes. As if I’d wear a fake Rolex.
“Not today,” I said.
He slid the Rolex tray back into his cart and pulled out a different tray. “Then perhaps some jewelry?”
I was about to tell the guy where he could stick the jewelry when the charms caught my eye. The tray was filled with pendants shaped like the scepter of Set. There were about a hundred little replicas of Set’s most valued possession.
“Where’d you get this stuff?” I said. We had to be close.
“So you’re interested?” the guy asked, shoving the tray at me.
I pushed it away. “No, just tell me where you got them.”
He took my hint and tucked the tray away in his cart. And he got a lot less friendly when he realized I wasn’t going to buy anything. “Some guys sells it to me. He sells me all sorts of stuff.”
“What guy?” I asked.
The salesman shrugged. “I don’t know his name. He never told me. But he’s got this crazy red hair. Wears clothes that look like they belong back in the eighties. Oh, and I sold him this necklace that looks like scorpions dipped in gold. He wears it all the time.”
Our pizza delivery guy. Seti 142-B.
“How do I find him?” I asked. The energy inside my scarab heart tingled in anticipation. I wanted to grab the guy by the collar of his fur coat and make him tell me.
“I don’t know where he lives,” the guy said, backing away like he could sense my aggravation. “I always meet him outside that elevator over there.” He pointed across the street to a decrepit subway elevator that was boarded up with plywood and covered in graffiti.
“Thanks.” I took off running. Henry trailed at my heels. I jumped between oncoming cars, ignoring the blasting horns. I was so close. In ten seconds, I reached the elevator and started looking for a way past the boards.
“You think they’re underground?” Henry said once he caught up a minute later. He’d
waited for the crosswalk light to change.
With all the tunnels running belowground, there was enough room underneath D.C. for an entire city. The Cult of Set could easily be hiding down there.
“They have to be.” I pried a board from the front of the elevator, exposing the button hidden below. It didn’t light up when I pushed it. The elevator looked like it hadn’t been used in a decade. But this was my only lead.
“I think it’s broken,” Henry said, pressing the elevator button a few more times. He got the same result as me.
I pried another couple of boards from the front of the elevator. Underneath, it not only looked broken, it looked abandoned. The glass windows had been shattered, and the paint was so chipped, I had no idea what color it was even supposed to be. Large gouges pockmarked the metal doors, as if someone had taken a hammer and tried to get inside.
“I think you’re right.” I pressed the button again, just in case.
Nothing.
Except I felt something with my thumb, on the button. I bent close. Carved into the button, tiny but visible, was the shape of the scepter of Set.
I dashed back across the street to the jewelry dealer, narrowly avoiding the oncoming traffic. “How much for one of your pendants?”
The guy straightened his feather hat and smiled. “I had a feeling you’d be back. You have that look about you.”
“What look is that?”
He pulled the tray of pendants out of his cart, making a show of displaying it with a wave of his hand. “That look that tells me you appreciate fine things. Like jewelry, for example.”
I knew where this was going. He was trying to extract as much money from me as possible. “How much?”
“For you, I’ll make you a deal,” he said. “Let’s say two hundred dollars and call it even.”
I knew I was getting cheated, but that was the least of my concerns. I yanked my wallet out and threw two hundred dollars at him. And then I grabbed a pendant. I braved the traffic again, rejoining Henry at the elevator.
“Got it.” I showed him the scepter of Set pendant that rested in my palm. And then I pressed the pendant into the elevator button.
The button lit up red.
The elevator transformed before my eyes.
The rain-battered plywood boards shimmered and became stone blocks stacked twenty-feet high. The dented metal doors turned to gold. Murals appeared painted on the stones, with all sorts of symbols and hieroglyphs. A giant iron grate covered the golden doors.
“That’s something you don’t see every day,” Henry said.
“You can see it also?” Because nobody else walking by seemed to notice that anything was different.
“I can totally see it,” Henry said, running his hands over the painted stones. “One minute it was that crummy old elevator, and now it looks like the entrance to…”
“To a place of the gods,” I said. It was definitely Egyptian and not a normal part of the D.C. landscape. And it was exactly where the map had led us.
Henry pulled out his cell phone and started snapping pictures. “We can totally use this in our—”
“Stop,” I said, putting my hand up. “Don’t you dare mention it.”
Henry nodded and took a few more pictures. Still, nobody around us seemed to notice it. Henry and I had broken through the illusion, but nobody else had.
Etched above the door, somebody had painted bloodred hieroglyphs.
“I’m guessing you can read that,” Henry said, stashing his phone and getting his notebook and pen out.
Of course I could read it.
“‘Those who enter uninvited should prepare for death’,” I said. “Like that’s gonna scare me.” I reached for the handle on the iron grate. It was a shiny golden scepter of Set.
“You’re not going down there alone,” Henry said, yanking my hand back.
“Of course I am.” I shook off his grip.
He stuffed his notebook into his pocket. “I’m coming with you.”
I’ll give Henry bonus points for bravery. With all the crazy stuff going on, for him to volunteer to head into the den of a lunatic mythological cult was saying something.
“No. You’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” Henry said.
I didn’t have time to waste arguing. I was going to have to do this the brute-force way. “Do you seriously want to be killed? Because Horemheb will be happy to arrange it.”
Henry crossed his arms over his chest. “I won’t be killed. I promise.”
“I’m not willing to take that risk. Wait here or I swear I’ll put a spell on you.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Then wait for me,” I said. “You can be my lookout.”
“No.”
“I need a lookout. Please? You can text me if anyone is coming.”
Henry kicked at the stone blocks with his gray high-tops as he tried to maneuver around my logic. But it was flawless. Where I was going was too dangerous for Henry. He was mortal. I wasn’t going to risk his life.
“Fine,” he finally said. “But if you’re not back in an hour, I’m coming after you.”
“Two hours.” I yanked on the golden scepter of Set handle. The iron grate slid open. I stepped inside, entering the world of my enemy. No sooner did I have both feet inside than the grate slid closed. Crummy music played through hidden speakers above my head, and there was only one button to push. Which meant there was only one way to go. I jabbed it with my finger and the elevator started moving.
18
WHERE I MAKE A DATE FOR LATER
I felt like I was descending to hell. I counted to fifty before the elevator stopped. And then, when the iron grate slid open, I was dumped into total darkness. I let the smallest bit of light slip from my scarab heart. I’d ended up in some kind of tunnel with cobwebs hanging everywhere, like a haunted house. Paintings covered the walls, but they were so chipped and faded that I couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to be. This must not be the main entrance. Hopefully I could keep the fact that I was now officially in the den of the enemy a secret.
I tried to text Henry to let him know where I was, but I had zero bars of coverage. The bright side of this was that Gil wouldn’t be able to track my phone to know where I was, either.
The tunnel ended at a giant chasm. Around the side curved a wooden staircase that had more steps missing than denture wearers had holes in their gums. I moved from step to step, hopping over the missing ones … until I jumped, and a step shattered underneath me. I managed to catch myself on another step, but it shattered, too, and I fell all the way to the bottom. I landed in a puddle of greasy water that stank of dead fish, just like the Potomac. But it wasn’t very deep, so I managed to wade out.
A river ran through the room and I followed it to where it dumped out into some kind of underground grotto. The river stretched from end to end of the giant cavern. Columns reached to the ceiling, painted in vivid blues and reds, and torches lined the walls, lighting the whole place up like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Murals decorated the cavern walls, and unlike the ones back in the tunnel, these looked freshly painted. Most of them showed Set in all his hideous godliness holding a giant eyeball in his right hand and a scepter in his left.
Horus was never going to believe this. I’d found the home base of the Cult of Set.
The sound of voices floated my way. I barely had time to duck behind one of the humongous columns before three people sauntered into the cavern: Seti 142-B, Seth Cooper … and Tia.
Tia! What was she doing here?
“You lost track of him?” she said, slapping Seth on the arm. “You were supposed to be watching him.”
Great Osiris, she had to be talking about me.
“You should have tried to get him in your van,” she said.
Our pizza delivery guy, Seti 142-B, brushed invisible dust off his shirt, like the mere act of talking to Tia disgusted him. “Yeah, sorry we aren’t equipped with your girly charms.”
&n
bsp; “You’re not equipped with a brain,” Tia said. “You realize our brother’s going to be furious.”
Our brother? Wait, Tia couldn’t possibly be related to these two. Could she? She looked nothing like them. They were slimy like weasels, and Tia was adorable. Yes, I realized thinking about Tia’s cute factor wasn’t the main issue here. The bigger issue was that Tia was involved with the Cult of Set. After seeing her at Isis’s, I’d thought maybe she worked for Isis. But Set? It was wrong on so many levels.
“I have an idea,” Seth said.
“Your first one,” Tia said. “We should have a party to celebrate.”
He scowled at her. “Maybe if you manage to lure Tut here, Horemheb won’t mummify you.”
Mummify! Was he serious? Okay, so even though the facts pointed to Tia being part of the Cult of Set, that didn’t mean I wanted to see her get mummified. I didn’t want to see anyone get mummified … except Horemheb. But I stayed quiet and kept hidden behind the column.
“If anyone needs to be mummified, it’s you,” Tia said. “I can’t believe we’re related.”
I couldn’t, either. I wasn’t sure what shocked me more: the threat of Tia’s mummification or the fact that Tia actually shared DNA with these two.
“Would you two just stop bickering and get on with it,” B said. “Check the river level and let’s get back to his town house.”
“What if he won’t come with us?” Seth said.
“Then Horemheb will cut your heart out instead,” B said.
Wonderful. At least I knew their plans for me. One thing was for sure: I couldn’t let them know I was already here. Maybe my strolling right into their lair wasn’t such a great idea.
Seth stuck a measuring tape into the water. It disappeared beneath the dark surface.
“Maybe one more day,” he said.
One more day for what?
“Which means no more delaying. We need to get Tut today,” B said.