Reawakened (The Reawakened Series) (46 page)

I said a silent prayer that wherever he was, he would hear me and know the depth of my feelings.

Anubis grunted in satisfaction. Angrily, I whipped around and jabbed my finger at him, absolutely not caring that he was a powerful god. “We weren’t ready!” I accused.

He smiled. “I am pleased to see you have more fire in your heart than I previously believed, but let us be honest. You never would have been.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I would have you know, young woman, that I am an excellent judge of character. In fact, judging characters is my forte, if you will.”

“I don’t care
what
you do in your day job. You could have been more patient. More sympathetic.”

“What difference does it make? You will have a broken heart. He will have a broken heart, though in his case, both literally and figuratively. Prolonging your time together would not diminish the pain. It only serves to make the separation more difficult to bear.”

Gritting my teeth, fiery indignation filling me, I spat, “You know what? You don’t deserve him as your servant. You…you’re
unworthy
of his sacrifice.”

Anubis lost his smile, his eyes narrowing as he took a step closer. “Because I am a very forgiving all-powerful deity, and because I know that your emotions are not in control right now, I will attempt to forget your disrespect. I will warn you, however, to give your words a bit more regard in the future before you choose to utter them.

“Now, if you will remain quiet, I will allow you to watch as I prepare your beloved incarnation of the sun god for the afterlife.”

Anubis generated a thick pad of wrappings with a flick of his wrist and wiped the blood from Amon’s chest. As he did so, he spoke to me. “Do you know the true purpose of a pyramid?”

My eyes darted up to the god, knowing he was trying to distract me from what was happening. Anubis’s dog nudged my hand and looked at me with mournful eyes as his master repeated the question. “What? No. I guess not,” I said.

“It is a place of ascension. It is also called a house of nature, a house of energy, and a house of the soul.” Anubis raised his hands and Amon’s body lifted off the stone slab. He had crossed Amon’s hands over his chest, in the style most common for mummies. As I watched, Anubis rotated his wrist in a circle and sand rose from the floor, creating long strips of cloth that wound around Amon’s feet and started enveloping his entire body.

Anubis continued, “You see, a body is much like a pyramid. It can channel vast amounts of energy. It can house a soul, and yet it is made of natural materials that eventually return to the dust from whence it came. But, to fashion a mummy is to create an everlasting body—one that will be fit enough so that the ka, or the soul, that leaves it, may take it up once again.

“To accomplish this, there are certain things that must be done when a person dies. The first is to preserve the body, as I am doing now.” The wrappings had now reached Amon’s neck and I could no longer hold back my tears as the linen cloths completed the process and covered his head. Anubis peered at me underneath Amon’s floating body, and said, “I am attempting to comfort you. Please pay attention.”

I glared at the god, but he ignored me and went happily back to his macabre duties. He fashioned a beautiful sarcophagus out of the sand—a polished wooden casket, richly ornate with carvings depicting Amon’s recent battle with Sebak and his army of the undead. I gasped when I noticed a likeness of myself standing with Amon at the top of the pyramid.

“It…it’s lovely,” I said in awe as I reached out to run my hand over it. With my fingertips, I traced a depiction of a girl with sun-streaked hair, wrapping her arms around a man gleaming with the sparkling rays of the sun.

“Do you like it? Sarcophagus art is one of my specialties.” Anubis cleared his throat and I stepped back as Amon’s wrapped form floated toward the coffin and then settled into it. “As I was saying, to create a mummy three things must happen.”

“Preserve the body,” I whispered as I stood to see what Anubis was doing. He was stooped over Amon. He created beautiful jeweled brooches from the sand and then placed them one by one in the sarcophagus next to Amon.

“Very good,” the god of mummification said. “You have been listening.”

“What are those?” I asked.

“Protective amulets. They will ward off those who seek to do evil as Amon’s body sleeps. Even though the current grand vizier is approaching through the tunnels and will be here soon enough to remove the brothers to a hidden location, I feel it is now imperative to take every precaution. I did not think the amulets were necessary before, but the fact that Amon’s body had been removed from the vizier’s care this millennium proves that no safeguard should be ignored. Now—” Anubis lifted his hand to draw up more sand, but nothing appeared. “That is odd,” he murmured.

“What’s wrong?”

“The last piece is the one that goes over the heart. It is in the shape of a scarab.”

“A heart scarab?” I asked.

“Yes.” Anubis peered at me. “Do you know where his is?”

My throat tightened, and instead of answering, I asked a question. “What happens if you don’t have it?”

Anubis scratched his ear. “Nothing, I suppose. The heart scarab only helps the wandering ka find its body, but Amon should not have a problem with that.”

“Good.” I decided then to keep the heart scarab a secret. If there wasn’t anything detrimental about me keeping it, then I wanted it. It was the only piece of Amon I’d have after all this was over.

“There. The body is finished.”

“So what’s the third thing?”

“The third? We haven’t even performed the second.”

“Oh. I thought the amulets were the second thing.”

“No. The second part is invigorating the body by providing sustenance.”

“Won’t food, you know, rot after a few days?”

“Yes, but I did not say I would provide food. The word I used was ‘sustenance.’ ”

I frowned and folded my arms. “I believe I do have some familiarity with the word.”

“Many people misunderstand it,” he said, ignoring my statement. “By sustenance, I mean that I provide energy, enough that the body will be sustained for at least a millennium, and perhaps a bit longer. The strength necessary to maintain Amon’s body when he wakens is contained in his canopic jars.”

“Which is why he needed me when he couldn’t find them.”

“Yes.”

“But won’t sharing your energy drain you?”

“Since I am a god, my stores are vast enough to sustain the three sons of Egypt in the interim without detriment to myself.”

He leaned over Amon’s form and touched his shoulders. I could actually see the energy in the form of light begin at Anubis’s shoulders and roll down his arms and into Amon’s body in waves. When he was finished, he stepped back.

“There. And now the last thing.” He walked to the head of the sarcophagus and impatiently waved his arm, gesturing me over. “Come. You may join me in this final act.”

“What do I do?” I whispered.

“We must recite a spell from the Book of the Dead and commemorate his name as we do so. In naming him, we connect his body, his ka, or soul, his ba, which is his character, and his shuwt, or shadow. The name is the fifth piece that binds the other four together.”

Wardens of the sky, the earth, and beyond,

The sacred barque has begun its journey,

Taking with it this cherished son of Egypt.

His name was given by the great god Amun-Ra.

It will be reclaimed. It will be recovered.

Bestow a wreath of vindication upon his neck,

For he has overcome his earthly travails.

Give his soul peace, and when the time comes,

Let him find his way back to his body.

The Eye of Horus will be his guide.

We are they who remember his name after death.

We are they who carved his name on this sarcophagus.

We are they who engraved his name upon our hearts.

He is, AMON, henceforth and forever.

We call his power, his soul, his body, and his shadow, and give this name to each.

May this body be protected,

So that he can rise in glory once more.

Go forth now, Amon, to a place of rest,

Until such time as we shall meet again.

When his spell was complete, Anubis raised his hands, palms up, and a swirling cloud of sand solidified until it fashioned into an ornately carved lid. It lowered with a definitive thump, settling in place, and I felt as if my heart was locked in the sarcophagus with Amon.

A grave heaviness settled over me and I couldn’t breathe. I was suffocating. I placed a trembling hand on the polished wooden face as darkness crept in at the edges of my vision and the last thing I remembered was collapsing.

When I regained my senses, the heat of the pyramids was gone. I found myself surrounded by Egyptian relics, but something was different. I placed my hand on a cold white tile floor and pushed myself up to a sitting position.

A noise nearby made me turn. In the shadows stood a large, handsome man leaning against the wall, a statue of a pointy-eared dog sat at his heels.

“Anubis?” I gasped. He was dressed like a businessman in a suit and tie.

He stepped forward. “I will leave you where you first discovered Amon. Goodbye, Lilliana.”

With a wink, Anubis and the dog statue disappeared. “Wait!” I called, but there was no answer.

Scrambling to my feet, I noted irritably that I was once again wearing my designer shirt, cropped trousers, and Italian leather sandals. My bag, notebook peeking out, was propped against a wall, and the college brochures were arranged in an efficient semicircle. “Amon?” I cried, and dashed toward the sealed-off section in the Egyptian exhibit.

Beyond the plastic I found the same copper mirror, the same tools, the same boxes and sawdust, but there were no telltale footprints. No sarcophagus. No large box with a sign that said
UNKNOWN MUMMY FROM THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS
. Amon was gone. It was as if he had never been a part of my life. Never existed.

A golden gleam caught my eye and, hopeful, I made my way over to it, only to find the golden statue of a falcon—
Horus the Gold.
I pressed my hands against the glass, tears sliding down my face. I tricked my mind for a brief, indulgent moment into thinking he was here, with me. But he wasn’t. Amon was gone.

Sucking in a shaky breath, I wiped my face and, bag in hand, exited the exhibit. Numbly, I walked toward the museum entrance and was surprised when a hand touched my arm. “Miss Lilliana? Are you all right?”

I let out a shaky breath and attempted to smile, though I wasn’t sure my lips were able to form much more than a grimace. “Hi, Tony,” I said. “I’m fine. It’s just been a really, really long day.”

“Ah, then have a good evening, Miss Young.”

“I will. Oh, and, Tony?” He turned. “Please call me Lily.”

He gave me a warm smile. “Of course, Miss Lily.”

As I exited the museum, the scents, sights, and sounds of New York City overwhelmed me. They were familiar but no longer what I loved.

How could I forget the sand-swept vistas, the desert oases, the ancient pyramids, and the mummies brought to life, and go back to the life I knew before? I was utterly changed from my time with Amon. It wasn’t right that we had to be separated. I couldn’t even put flowers on his grave.

Still, I was grateful to know that he existed somewhere and would continue to exist long after I was gone. I took some comfort in his promise to watch over me wherever he was, and deep in my heart I knew he would always be with me.

Amon had said that a bond like ours meant we might see each other in our dreams. I knew that killing him was supposed to have broken our bond and yet he didn’t feel so very far away. Closing my eyes, I lifted my face to the sun and felt its warmth on my skin, imagining it was Amon caressing my cheek. The heat traveled down my shoulders and torso before it focused on my heart.

It burned, and I smiled as I felt my heart beating. Then I looked down, puzzled as I felt something shift in my shirt pocket. I reached inside to find Amon’s heart scarab. It wasn’t my heartbeat after all. It was the stone drumming a slow rhythm, its soothing beat warm and alive in my palm. Though the odds seemed insurmountable, Amon’s heart was a small miracle that gave me hope.