not asking for you to watch over me, lend me power, or even protect me from what awaits us. Odds are we won’t even survive, but we’ve got to try. All I want is permission to travel to the netherworld. Nothing more. I appreciate your story. I understand your dilemma. But we’ve been sitting here rehashing the past long enough. It’s time to take action.
“So I guess the real question is, Are you two gods going to stand up and act like the omnipotent, omniscient beings you’re supposed to be? Or are you going to sit here and wallow in the past until it’s too late to accomplish anything meaningful and, as a result, relegate the innocent who have done nothing to deserve your disregard to a fate worse than death?”
Amun-Ra tapped his lip with a forefinger, contemplating what he was going to do with me, while Horus smiled broadly. “Oh, I like her, Uncle. Please say I can keep her.”
The sun god ignored his nephew and instead studied me. Finally, he shook his head. “I cannot help you.” When I opened my mouth to protest, he held up his finger. “It goes against everything I believe to assist any member of my family in the overthrowing of another. If Seth escapes, he escapes, and I will use the opportunity to guide him in the correct path as I did before. I must remain neutral, no matter the consequences, no matter the cost.”
“But—” I managed to get out before he cut me off.
“However, I will make no attempt to stop you should you wish to travel to the netherworld.”
“You know he’ll never agree to take her without your approval,” Horus protested.
“Lily and Tia have a pronounced ability to talk immortals into supporting their agenda. I have no doubt they’ll convince him.”
“Who’s him?” I asked, but both gods disregarded my question.
Amun-Ra rose from his chair and a servant girl immediately appeared. “Please escort this young sphinx to a sleeping chamber,” he instructed her, “and do not allow Horus to know which one.”
The girl nodded and indicated I should follow. Horus cried out in surprise, making a fumbling attempt to jostle his way around Amun-Ra to join me. “Relax, Nephew, you shall see her again before she departs on the morrow.”
After we turned down several hallways and smooth-tiled corridors, the girl came to a stop.
“Here is your chamber,” she said. “I’ll return just before dawn to help you with your ritual bath.”
“Ritual bath?” I echoed.
“Yes. You do wish to enter the netherworld, correct?”
“I do. I just didn’t know there was a special bath involved.”
“To enter the afterlife as a mortal, you must first cross the sky river and present yourself for judgment. If accepted, you will then be granted access to the netherworld.”
“Judgment? Who will be judging us?” I asked.
“Ma’at, of course. Your heart must be weighed. That is why you must prepare yourself ahead of time.”
The object that was now the subject of our discussion began thumping wildly. Are they going to rip it out of my chest? Was I going to have to die before walking the pathways of the afterlife and the netherworld?
After she left, I paced the room until Tia reminded me that I needed to rest. She was right; I wouldn’t have enough energy to convince the gatekeeper to the afterlife, let alone save Amon. Obediently, I washed my face and put on the nightgown the servant had laid out.
I settled into the bed, closing my eyes and attempting to sleep, but several hours passed until rest found me. Even then, my dreams took me to the netherworld.
Amon was awake and traveling through a forest, unlike any I’d ever seen before. The blue trees shimmered, moving in the breeze like wind chimes, their leaves coated with what appeared to be sparkling minerals or sugar.
Though it was raining and he turned his open mouth to the sky, Amon caught nothing. His lips were chapped and he tried continually to wet them. That was when I saw her. A tiny sprite with translucent wings sat in the crook between the trunk and a branch of the tree watching him.
Finally, he spotted the little tree sprite. “I won’t hurt you,” he said kindly. “Please, don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” she said with a touch of an accent I couldn’t place. “There are beasties who come to the Turquoise Forest who are much more frightening than you are. You’re a strange sort of monster.” She put her hands on her tiny