we call a fully united soul bearing his true name an Akh. Without his heart, Amon cannot merge the different aspects of himself. Each part that defines him drifts apart like a broken boat out at sea. It makes him…vulnerable. In the afterlife, such a thing might have gone unnoticed if he had not been asked to produce his heart, but in the netherworld…”
“It puts him in danger.”
“Yes. To the point where he might experience a second and final death. Something we cannot allow to happen.”
“A second death?”
“Amon died his first death many centuries ago. He was granted a sort of immortality because he was willing to serve the gods, but heading into the netherworld without his heart was the most dangerous thing he could do. It would seem he courts an end to his existence. If he dies a second death, he is lost to us forever.”
I remembered then how tired, how weary Amon looked in our dream. Maybe Anubis was right and Amon didn’t want to live any longer. I knew for sure he didn’t want to serve the gods, but giving up his life? What was worse was a part of me knew his dissatisfaction with the status quo was my fault. Distracted, I asked, “So Amon is now…what, exactly?”
“A wandering shadow. A facet of his former self. And without uniting the shadow with his true name, I am afraid he will be lost.”
“I thought you said it was no big deal if he was missing his heart scarab jewel when you mummified him.”
“It isn’t. The amulet only leads his Akh back to his body, which he will not need for another thousand years. With the Eye of Horus in his possession, he will be able to find it on his own, but a shadow cannot return to the mortal realm.” Anubis paused, then rubbed his fingers together, looking at them instead of me. “Do you want to know my theory?”
I swallowed and said weakly, “Sure.”
“I believe…Amon left his heart containing his true name with you. Such a thing has only happened once before, and Amon would well know that using magic of that kind is strictly forbidden. In truth the knowledge of it has been hidden from all but the gods. Of course, in Amon’s case, having access to the Eye of Horus, he would be privy to such spells.”
“A sp-spell?” I stammered, a cold sweat spreading across my skin.
“It was used once before by Isis and Osiris. Isis enacted a spell so that she and her husband could never wholly be separated. Even death could not keep them apart.”
“But Seth killed Osiris.”
“He did. Since death is natural and Isis used unnatural means to enact the spell, there were, shall we say…complications. A terrible price was paid, and the balance of the cosmos needed to be adjusted. Such a thing has been prohibited since that time.”
“It worked, though. Didn’t it? I mean the two of them are still together. Amon told me about how she tricked Amun-Ra so she could visit her husband.”
“Yes. It worked,” he admitted.
“Even so, I don’t see what all that has to do with me and Amon. We broke the bond, remember? I had to kill him.”
“You did. But if such a spell linked you prior to Amon’s death, it would still be in effect upon your separation.”
“Well, he didn’t do a spell that I recall,” I hedged.
“I have not come to judge either one of you. What has happened, has happened. My purpose is to rectify the important issue at hand.”
“Finding Amon,” I murmured thoughtfully. He bowed his head in affirmation and I said, “I get it. I do. But I’m afraid you don’t understand. Amon doesn’t want to pick up where he left off. He wants to quit his job.”
“No, Lilliana. It is you who doesn’t understand. Amon must be rescued. If you will not do it to save the cosmos from the worst kind of darkness and evil you can imagine, and if you will not do it to save the lives of Asten and Ahmose, who will die a permanent death the same instant that Amon does, then perhaps you will do it to save Amon from endless torture and pain, for that is what he experiences right now.
“What I fear the most is not his death or knowing that he suffers. It is that he will be found by the Devourer of the Dead, who resides in the netherworld. She seeks out those lost souls who wander