Damali pulled away. "You've given up, haven't you?"
Eve shook her head. "We have called theSunnutu . . . the divine physicians, and Imhotep, the physician-healer to whom the Caduceus first belonged. Even as his breath expires, we will labor in spirit to fight this tragedy."
"We continue to pray forSeneb -his health, soundness, and wellness, from theMetu Neter, " Aset said quietly. "But he may experienceKhepera . . . ultimate transformation, daughter."
"No . . ." Damali whispered. "He already died and came back to me from the darkness into the Light. That is not hisshai ."
"None of us believe it is his destiny," Ausar said, his regal Pharaoh robes billowing as he came to Damali's side with Adam. "I, of all Neterus, believe in resurrection, even after battling Set-the wicked one."
"But we have prepared Carlos's body," Adam murmured, touching Damali's shoulder. "Just in case . . . if what is in his heart is not the weight of the feather of Ma'at or lighter, her scales will not balance and his Ka-his soul-and his Ba-his heart soul, which dwells in the Ka and has the power of transformation-cannot reunite with his Khu-his spiritual soul. He has been scattered within. Before, when Set, also known by many other names, attacked Ausar, he'd scattered his body. This is why Aset could find those pieces and heal the physical. But in time Set learned that the body matters not; to kill a man forever, scatter his spirit. Thus the body dies, energy imploding as the soul flees its shell. At this moment, Carlos's organs are healed . . . but there is much more involved."
"If I had gotten to him sooner," Damali whispered, hugging herself. "I should have never left him, even for a moment to secure the teams."
"You could not properly heal his body while on the earth plane," Aset said sadly. "Until we purged you of the taint Carlos had, you could only minimally reverse the damage. This was the one time when the one-flesh marital rule worked against you. Even as a Power, your Guardian brother, the healer Berkfield, could do more than you could. The taint from the Unnamed is truly unfathomable."
Damali looked over at Carlos's body, which had been prepared for the possibility of burial. Tightness filled her chest, a dread so profound that it stole her breath. She moved to him in mechanical, jerky steps, unbelieving. They had given him the all-seeing eye, so that he would not be blinded to the truth or his enemies on the other side. They had put the regal staff and crook in his grip, that he might walk into the Neteru Kings' Council already bearing the symbols of office . . . and they had left Ma'at's feather so his heart could judge him. But that was the place that the Darkness had attacked.
More fine linen was waiting to wrap him. Damali shook her head and gently cradled Carlos's head between her palms. Drawing on all the love within her, she murmured into his ear, "Say it in your mind, baby . . .Rex a em Ab a sekhem a em hati a . . . I know my heart, I have gained power over my heart.Ba ar pet sat ar ta . . . soul is of heaven, body belongs to the earth. Carlos, are you ready to depart this earth? Are you ready to leave me? Say it!Un na uat neb am pet am ta . . . tell Ma'at as she weighs your heart that the power is within you to open all doors to heaven and earth-because youare a millennium Neteru and you've got work to do," Damali urged, beginning to sob.
"Tell her you were already baptized by the fire, and came back in the water-Father Pat took you to the water and opened your heart to a second chance that can never be taken back . . .Sekhem a em mu ma aua Set -I have gained power in the water as I conquered Set. Put this man in the spiritual water, Ma'at, put his heart there so that it's weightless! He was even born a water sign . . . give him a spiritual bath that he may gain power in the water and conquer this thing that has a stranglehold on his heart,"
She rested her head on his forehead, trembling, her voice becoming a fragile whisper. "Please, baby, do it for me, Carlos. Cast that demon out of your heart and come back to me tonight."
CHAPTER TWELVE
He heard his wife's voice like a distant whisper in his mind. He felt her tears-warm, a soft pelt against his face. He repeated the words that were muffled, trying to decipher what she was trying to tell him. A dark void suddenly splintered with light. Pain shot through his breastbone and he literally felt and heard it crack.
Carlos sat up gasping, clutching his chest. Metal objects were in his hands. Something fell from his forehead and clattered to the ground. He dropped what he was holding. His chest hurt so badly that he couldn't open his eyes. The room was spinning. He almost fell. Strong arms caught him. He couldn't breathe. Agony roared inside his head like a lion. The sound of his own blood rushing within his skull was deafening. He heard the blade of Ausar chime, felt the backdraft of a purposeful swing-then smelled sulfur. The putrid scent made him clutch the edge of the table, lean over, and hurl.
Then the pain eased to a dull ache. Hot flashes and chills fought for dominance in his body, making him shiver. A cool palm wiped perspiration from his brow. Panting, he rolled over on his back and shielded his eyes from the bright, bright lights.
"Tua Neter,"Ausar said in a thundering voice. He knew that voice anywhere, and he heard Adam's refrain.
"Yes . . . Praise Divine," Damali whispered as she kissed his forehead.That made him slowly open his eyes.
"Tua-k, Tua-Tu,"Aset said, and then Eve repeated her words for him in English.
"Thank you," Eve breathed out and closed her eyes. "Thank you Divine All for bringing our young Pharaoh back alive."
Damali rounded him so that he didn't have to see her upside-down. Ausar still had his blade in his grip, bicep pulsing.
"They got it," Damali said. Tears were streaming down her face, but he couldn't even lift his arms to wipe them away. "That was the last of it . . . it came out of your chest and Ausar took its head." She gathered him in her arms, holding him like he was a fragile treasure. "You keep dying on me, Carlos, and one day I might have to kill you."
She made him smile, weakly, but he really wanted to laugh. But his smile broke her tension and he felt her cheek move against his with a slow smile of her own.
"You oughta know, dead or alive, you can't get rid of me, boo," he croaked.
He'd meant to make her laugh, to further ease her trauma, but instead it broke loose torrential sobs. His foxhole humor had opened her dam.
Little by little as sensation flowed into his arms, he was able to slowly lift them to hold her. All he wanted to do was pet her back, rock her in comfort. It wasn't until she lost it and he glimpsed where he truly was, saw the tear-stained faces of Neteru royalty, that he realized just how close he'd come to lights-out. He'd been two seconds from Ma'at's final judgment scale.
Shell-shocked by that reality, he held his wife a little tighter. Up until now, he'd felt pretty close to invincible. But the harder Damali cried and the more he took in his environment, the more he knew . . . damn . . . after all, he was mortal. If she couldn't heal him down there in the family room, and had brought him to a Neteru OR . . . shit . . .
"I tried," Damali said hard against his neck. "It was so bad, Carlos-you were busted up on the inside sobad, and even the Caduceus couldn't fix it all fast enough."
Her words came against his skin in hot, wet bursts of quiet hysteria,escalating, building like a wave that he knew would soon consume her.
"I called Heaven, wings out, asked them in my soul to take me instead," she said in gasps. "There was a whole building, two teams-my husband was dying and there was nothing I could do!"