The sun tangled his fingers in my hair. Warm tingles traced over my scalp. The outline of a man briefly appeared in the center of the sun, but the light was too brilliant for me to look upon his face. “I never have,” said a male voice that could weave sunlit meadows and warm the white-capped oceans.
A cry escaped my lips. “How will I find you again?”
“In your dreams,” the voice said with the fading warmth of dying coals.
The sun slipped below the horizon, and I was enshrouded in blackness again. The absence of the sun suffocated me, pressing down on my chest like an anchor. I ran down the dune, attempting to chase the last rays, but my eagerness caused me to trip and fall, and I jerked awake.
My grandmother’s quilt was on the floor and the moon cast a weak glow across the bed—a pathetic copy mimicking the light in my dreams. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. Tears trickled down my face. Even though I felt utterly alone, I knew I wasn’t. My own two personal ghosts watched me curiously from the recesses of my mind.
Interesting.
It’s interestin’, all right.
I sniffled loudly and wiped my eyes on my sleeve. “I’m so glad you find my tears interesting,” I spat back.
Oh, it’s not the tears, darlin’, Ashleigh said. It’s the fact that you’re back in control.
“Back in control? You call this control? If I were in control, the two of you wouldn’t be here.”
It’s a sign, said Tia. He called to her, and she heard it.
I groaned. “Didn’t Hassan say haunts like you two slept in the early dawn hours?”
He was talkin’ ’bout spooks. We aren’t spooks, Ashleigh said with a huff. Even if ya know nothin’ else, ya should know that at least.
“Well, regardless, go back to sleep and mind your own business.”
But you are our business, Lily, said Tia softly. Without you, what are we?
“I don’t know. An all-expenses-paid trip to Crazytown? Why don’t you tell me?”
There was a moment of silence. I welcomed it, thinking I’d finally put them in their place, but I immediately started to regret my words. “Look, I didn’t mean it.”
You did. We know when you speak the truth, said Tia.
“All right, I did.” I yanked the quilt off the floor and bunched it around me, tucking it around my legs. “Still, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’m sorry.”
I told ya, Ashleigh said to Tia, the well fed doesna understand the lean.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
It means, little miss, that this whole experience was probably a good thing. Now ya know what it’s like ta be a passenger.
“What are you talking about?”
You. Now that you’re back in control, ya might have just a wee bit better idea of what it’s like ta be relegated to the back o’ the apple cart.
I heard a tiny growl. Your hair is slipping from its binding, Lily, Tia said.
“My hair?” I reached up and pulled out the loose rubber band. I tossed my hair over my shoulder.
“Uh, thanks?” I said with confusion. “I’m not getting your point.”
The point is, ya daft girl, we didn’ lift yer hand. You did. And yer talkin’ on top o’ that.
“I did?” I raised my fingers, touching the tips to my face and lips. “I did! I’m moving myself! It’s me!”
Yes. You are controlling your body again. I wonder what triggered it.
“Why does it matter?” I asked Tia.
It matters because if you slip into the background again, we need to know how to fix it.
Isn’ it obvious what the trigger was? It was Amon, said Ashleigh with a dreamy lilt in her voice.
“Amon?” I echoed, frowning. “You mean the mummy?”
He’s only a mummy in the mortal realm, Ashleigh explained.
“Still, I don’t see how he has anything to do with it.”
Lily, Tia said, he was the sun.
“The sun?” Could the man hidden in the light of the sun be real? I swallowed, remembering the feeling of being caught up in his arms. “You mean that really happened?”
Yes. The two of you are connected in your dreams, Tia explained.
“I see.”
I didn’t see. Not really. At least I didn’t want to see. They’d all been telling me that I had a relationship with this guy, but I couldn’t remember a thing. It was utterly unlike me to give everything up for a man. I was extremely fastidious when it came to the male species. There was a whole mental checklist I had that eliminated every guy I’d ever met from dating consideration. Most of the guys in my high school couldn’t even fulfill the basic five requirements, let alone the full list. So the idea that a mummy was the one I’d chosen above all others just didn’t make sense to me. I now had a new box to check on my list. Alive. Never thought I’d have to add that one.
“Well, this has been a constructive meeting,” I said to Tia and Ashleigh. “We’ve done some good things here. What do you say we reconvene in the morning and assess our progress?”
Why is she talkin’ like that? Ashleigh asked Tia.
The lioness growled softly. She is trying to silence us.
Oh. Well, g’night, then, girls.
Sleep well, fairy, Tia said. I could almost feel her curling up in my mind, watching me with glittering eyes and a twitching tail. Good night, Lily.
“Night.” I slid down in the bed, kicking the quilt until my feet were covered. After twitching my toes just to prove to myself that I could, I closed my eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
Much to my consternation, Tia and Ashleigh played hooky the next morning. I stretched and enjoyed a leisurely shower, relishing the fact that I was in charge, but later, when I asked Ashleigh if she wanted to do my hair, she simply replied, No thank you. Even though I sensed she really did enjoy doing it, she stubbornly refused.
Tia did the same thing with milking Bossy. I tried to get a rise out of her by shooing away the cats. They meowed pitifully and brushed up against my legs. Then they batted Bossy’s leg until the cow mooed a warning to them and they scattered into the bales of hay. Tia wasn’t happy, but she didn’t say anything. Pretty soon, even her dislike was hidden from me.
“I don’t know what the two of you think you’re doing,” I mumbled as I carried the full pail of milk down the path to the farmhouse. “I thought you were all about teaching me what it feels like to take the backseat.” They didn’t answer. “Oh, well, your loss.”
I sank into a chair at the small kitchenette table, watching Nana as she prepared breakfast. A smile lit up my face. She was going to be so excited to find out I was myself again. Well…mostly.
Nana placed a giant stack of blueberry pancakes dripping with freshly churned golden butter along with a bottle of maple syrup in front of me before turning back to her griddle.
“I think I’ll just have a soft-boiled egg and some tea this morning,” I said brightly.
My grandmother froze, spatula in hand, and then turned to me. “Lilypad?” she said hesitantly.
I nodded, my laugh turning to a grunt as she swept me into her arms and squeezed me hard. “How do you feel?” She brushed the hair back from my face and peered into my eyes.
“I’m not sure. I guess the word would be ‘hijacked.’ ”
As I said it, I could tell that both Tia and Ashleigh resented my remark, but I didn’t care.
“And, um, the other girls are still with you?” Nana asked.
“Yes. They’re still here.”
Nana nodded solemnly. Her eyes were glossy, but I couldn’t tell if she was sad or happy. She took hold of my chin and studied my face. “You’ve got circles under your eyes. And despite Tia’s eating, you look like you’ve lost weight. You were already lean to begin with. Now your skin is pulled so tightly across your bones, it looks like you’ve been cast into a pit to starve for the last month. I won’t have it. Hassan?” she called out.
He came hurrying into the room, towel
ing his hair dry. “What is it, Melda?” he asked.
I glowered at him. “Who gave you permission to use her first name?” I accused.
“I’ll thank you to be polite to our guest,” Nana said. “If you must know, I gave him permission. And why I did is none of your business.”
“Lily?” He took a step forward and peered into my eyes as if he were a medical doctor instead of the Indiana Jones type. “How did this happen?”
I ignored him and turning on Nana, jerked a thumb in his direction. “Do you like this guy or something?” I accused. “Don’t you think that’s betraying Grandpa?”
Hassan’s face turned beet red, a remarkable occurrence considering the natural tan of his skin. The red color crept down his neck, disappearing into the open collar of his button-down shirt. He spluttered, “I…we…I apologize for any infraction on my part.”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” Nana said to him. “You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. Lilliana, I’m surprised at you. You of all people know how much I loved—still love—your grandfather. Now, Hassan has been a good friend to me these past few weeks. That doesn’t mean we’re fit to move in together or walk down the aisle. Even if it did, I would expect you to respect my choice in the matter and at least do me the courtesy of expressing your feelings on the subject in a civilized way. I expect better from you, even if your life is a mess right now. Do you understand me, young lady?”
I looked at her stern expression and nodded, feeling sufficiently chastised and repentant. Even Tia and Ashleigh felt cowed by her lecture. “Yes, ma’am,” I said.
The granite of her eyes softened to their normal cornflower-blue color. She smiled. “That’s my girl. Now, I’m glad to have you back. Hassan? Best bring out those notes we were working on last night. I know you hate computers, but, personally, I think we should organize it so everything’s searchable. Will you bring my laptop, too?” She turned to me. “Eat some breakfast, young lady, and then we’ll get busy.”
As Hassan left, I folded my arms across my chest. “I don’t want to do this, Nana. I don’t think I can.”
“If anyone is strong enough to do this, you are. Don’t ever believe you can’t. Belief is half the battle.”
Taking hold of her hand, I squeezed her fingers and mumbled softly, “I’m scared.”
She shook my hand lightly and stroked my hair with her other. “Of course you are. You’d have to be a fool not to be. And my granddaughter is no fool.” Nana sighed. “Let the fear work in you, soften your rough edges. Give yourself over to it so that it runs through your limbs and eats at your stomach and then set it aside. Tell it that it can work its poison of inaction in you no longer. Fear comes upon us like a towering wave, but it will always break upon the rock of your determination. You will get past it, Lilypad, and you will be the better for it.”
Nana tucked her finger under my chin and lifted my face so she could look at me. I swallowed and sucked in a deep breath. “Okay,” I said finally.
“Okay,” Nana replied. “Now then, before we try anything else, we need to get you healthy. Hassan?” She addressed the returning archaeologist. “What can we do? More rest? Feed her?”
He rubbed his chin. “My theory is that Lily’s body has atrophied while her mind was hidden. A body cannot exist without a mind.”
“But I had three minds in my body all along, so why should that matter?”
“It matters because your body belongs to you. It knows that Tia and Ashleigh are not, for lack of a better concept, good fits. With you back in command of it, memories intact or not, you should begin to see a more positive result.”
“But we were still strong and able to do all the things required of a sphinx.”
“Yes. But you are not meant to be a sphinx. You are more than that. For you to come into your own power, you must embrace the being you are to become. You must take on the name Wasret as well as all that the name entails.”
I stood there immobile for a moment. Nana’s freshly cut flowers on the table tickled my nose with their sweet smell. The dusky dawn had given way to a golden sun that winked at me over the ledge of the windowsill, warming my arm where the light’s rays touched it. I took in everything. Nana’s hopeful look, the mosaic pattern of her kitchen tile, the air moving in and out of my lungs, and the thoughts of the two girls who’d made a home in my brain.
One moment, I was Lily, a girl caught up in an impossible situation as dangerous and as deadly as anything I’d ever read about in stories. And in the next moment, I was something else entirely. As I drew in a breath, I gently guided my two inner consciousnesses toward me. They circled my mind, ideas and thoughts, hopes and dreams mingling until we became one. We became Wasret.
“Shall we begin?” I said, embodying a voice that was as old as the cosmos and as powerful as a newborn star.
There was a whine and then the click of claws on Nana’s tile floor. The hellhound appeared. With slavering jaw twitching, he answered me with a hiss. “Goddess,” he demurred with hatred emanating from his shifting body. “What is it you desire?”
“Where are the Sons of Egypt?”
“They are sequestered in the afterlife. At least, that’s where they should be.”
“What do you mean, should be? Tell us what you know.”
“I know many things. You’ll have to be more…specific.” He wheezed and then laughed. It was a frightening sound, and when Nana took a step back, the hellhound snapped his jaws in her direction.
Narrowing my eyes, I took a bold step closer. Almost limitless power filled my frame. I was lioness and fairy, human and goddess, and I would not be denied. I grabbed the hellhound’s ear and tugged him toward me. He yelped in surprise, and his head turned to smoke, shifting away before taking shape again. His tail drooped down between his legs, and I cocked my head, a small smirk lifting a corner of my mouth.
It was me confronting the hellhound, and yet it wasn’t me. Every single part of me was in sync with every part of Tia and Ashleigh. I was able to fully access Tia’s predatory nature as well as Ashleigh’s unique view of all things otherworldly. But there was something else there—or someone else. We weren’t three. We were…four. We’d opened the door, and someone had stepped in. As one, we moved an arm, asked questions, and processed information, but I sensed the connection was fragile, tenuous.
Pronouns like I, we, and our lost meaning. I was Wasret. We were Wasret—bound in such a way that carving ourselves away from one another—no, from her—was painful to even think about. Each of us still retained what made us unique, but we were locked in an impossible triangle of power, creating a bridge, unable to tell where one of us ended and another began. There was a definite sense that we were now…other. We had become something altogether new. In that moment, we were fearless. We could do anything, be anything, and yet I sensed that there was still a small piece missing. There was a part of me, Lily, that was still darkened.
“I’d suggest you tell us what you know we want to hear,” I demanded with the voice of a powerful thunderstorm. “Otherwise, your goddess might do something…unpleasant.”
“Nothing you could do to me would be more unpleasant than the netherworld.”
Smiling, I sank down, and a chair moved of its own accord, scraping the tile as it positioned itself in just the right place for me to sit. As if the hellhound’s presence didn’t faze me at all, I crossed one leg over another, kicking my booted foot nonchalantly, and then grabbed a butter knife from the table. I twirled it deftly between my fingers, passing it between my hands before waving it in his direction like it was the sharpest of weapons. “Having spent some time in the netherworld myself, I’m sure I can come up with something.”
I rubbed my thumb across the ridges of the knife. “You know, even the dullest weapon can kill,” I said. “It just takes a little longer.”
The hellhound backed up a step. “You don’t frighten me, goddess.”
“Don’t I?” I planted both feet on the floor and leaned forward
, capturing the hellhound’s eyes in my gaze. At first he froze as if hypnotized, then the predator in me recognized the signs of submission. The hellhound lowered his head slightly and shifted his weight from one side to the other as if preparing to flee. He bared his teeth, tongue licking his chops, and wrinkled his nose as if he found bowing to me extremely distasteful.
Then, using our combined mental power, we pressed our consciousness forward and sunk behind the beast’s silt-brown irises, moving past the bristling fur and scorching skin stretched tight with rage. We pushed into the mind of the creature—a fascinating and disturbing thing. “Are you frightened now?” I demanded.
He didn’t need to answer—I could feel his recoil, his horror at being invaded in such a way. Not even his former mistress had been able to rip the very thoughts from his head.
You will tell me, I commanded, mind to mind.
This time, instead of asking, I took. I tore through his memories, seeking the information I needed. The hellhound whimpered and fell to the tile floor, scratching feebly. When I found what I was searching for, I retreated, easing my power back into myself, and warned the pathetic creature prostrating himself before me, “Wrath kills those foolish enough to act in its name. I’d suggest you take up a new hobby, ya manky beast.” I thrust my boot into his side halfheartedly. “Now get out of my sight.”
The hellhound disappeared, and I turned a triumphant gaze to Nana and Hassan but frowned when I saw the naked fear in their eyes. It droned around and between us like the humming of cicadas.
The human in me was ashamed of our actions, and the fragile hold on our power was broken. Immediately, the power of Wasret left us, and we separated, becoming three individuals, albeit still in one body, once more. I felt drained and shaky; my limbs trembled like I was a junkie needing another fix. It hadn’t been a conscious decision to let go of the power. In fact, it was surprising to all of us. It was almost like the snap of a rubber band. Whatever or whoever we’d been was gone. Truthfully, it was a relief to be myself again. I sat back down on the chair, my fingers twitching. “He’s gone now,” I said to Nana. “You don’t need to be afraid of him.”
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