Long time, right? Well, I'm alive. I think. I hope. I know. Uh... so review if you think Isis is losing it or if you like this!
DISCLAIMER: Certain parts of The Throne Of Fire are here, edited for my own purposes.
Chapter IX: The Problems.
KAYLA'S POV:
I charge forward, diving out of Wendigo's way. I have a plan- although I'm not too sure if it will work.
I lock myself in its bathroom and pull out the little black dress from my backpack. I eye it apprehensively, wondering if Set would like to see me dead. It was his idea about the dress.
Once I think about it some more, I figure that he didn't exactly want me dead, but he wouldn't mind if I almost met Anubis formally.
I zip up the dress and tied on the gladiator-style heels. I attempt to apply lipstick, but I end up looking like a horror movie.
Hathor appears in the mirror, laughing at me.
"Honey, your lipstick is all wrong. And your dress is crooked."
"It's not as easy as you make it look like," I say, struggling with the eyeliner, "I'd rather go through the Houses of The Night rather than do this. Why couldn't Wendigo be a bunny?"
"Why don't we switch spots?" Hathor offers.
"Wait- what?" I ask, dropping the eyeliner pencil into the sink.
"Yeah," she says, "It's my night on the sun boat. It'd be easier for you to fight and me to flirt… and also, there's something you need to learn tonight."
"Let me guess," I snarl, struggling to fix the pencil, "That you are sexier than me in every possible way and it's easier for you to tell lies, cheat and flirt than to openly fight. It's a deal! Just get me out of this dress!"
She sighs in relief and presses her hand against the mirror.
I press mine against hers and I feel a jolt of electricity as we swapped bodies.
I crash-land and then almost throw a fit.
I'm still in a dress, albeit a modest one. The dress is dark brown and I'm bedecked with more gold on my body than what L.A's women wear in general. There's this jeweled golden neck collar, and I'm positive, judging from how stiff my hair was, I probably looked like the bride of Frankenstein.
I'm also back in Wendigo's living room, but it's like the action is behind a thin glass screen. Behind me, there's a river that looks like Mississippi River and the shoreline looks faintly like New Orleans. I froze a scream building up in my throat.
"Mouse, c'mon, keep up," Mo said, laughing as he ducked from the netjeri blades, "We got dinner to do, but we need to get to that portal-"
In mid-sentence, he was hit straight in the chest as he turned to look at me. He keeled over, obviously in shock, and looked at me, in the eye, one last time and said: "RUN!"
And then, he died.
Carter grunts in pain as Wendigo swept him off his feet and he hit the floor. Hard. Walt falls from his position on Wendigo's back and lands on him. They hold onto each other, stumbling and Wendigo begins to laugh.
"Mo!" I wailed, running towards his body, checking for a pulse, "Mo!"
I shook him, anguish filling me. All the blades stopped and disappeared into thin air, as Horus began to form at the behind us, slowly pulling out a crook and flail to smite me down where I stood. Then, I left my best friend, my soul brother, my partner-in-crime, my only connection to my old life behind as a memento to a heartless war god. Then I ducked from the blazing crook and dove into the portal,
Wendigo reared over Walt and Carter,
Snap out of it! Hathor orders. I see 'me' walk in, looking sexy. Walt- and for this, I respect him forever- averts his eyes and Carter and Wendigo stop, look and their jaws fall open. Wendigo turns human.
I turn around and walk down the stairs.
On the River of the night, there was a magnificent barque with a white sail, emblazoned with a symbol of the sun. It's painted black, gold and green and floating on top, is a chair of molten gold carved with glowing white hieroglyphs. On the deck are Anubis, Horus and bright lights that buzz around. On the throne, there is a wizened old man, who is wearing the pharaoh's crown of red and white, with the crook and flail. He is gumming his crook like a pacifier. Horus and Anubis are wearing man-skirts. Horus has a red man-skirt with his khopesh some sort of utility belt thing around his waist. Anubis has a black man-skirt with netjeri blades hanging from his belt thing. They are both bare-chested and wear heavy kohl. Horus has a gold jeweled collar and Anubis' is silver. They have no shoes on.
I bow mockingly to Horus.
"Lord Horus," I say, "Hello, Anubis!"
Horus glowers but Anubis gives me a smile, a salute and a "Hey."
And now I can say I know why Sadie has a picture of him in her room. And now, I know I will die happy.
"Ready?" I ask, cracking my knuckles.
"We should ask you that," Anubis teases.
I smirk.
"Boys," I say, falling back to those days where Carter and I didn't get along, "Stop being silly. Protecting the sun god is more of a goddess' job. Two gods couldn't be left alone on this boat."
Anubis laughs.
"Kangaroos!" Ra sings, jumping off his throne and nearly falling off the boat. I catch him.
"Ra," I say, firmly, like the way I talk to babies or that drunken old man that was in 'Off Their Rockers', "You will sit down and you will sit down now. Or else."
He gibbered and blubbered and then gulped and skipped away to the throne and put the Royal Rump on the throne.
The gods give me a look of appreciation.
We sail into the dark. The cityscape of New Orleans melts away. My stomach gets that familiar free-fall sensation as we pass deeper into the Duat.
"Second House," Anubis says, sitting down.
Horus sits too, but I stand and stare. The darkness was creepy. It swallowed us up. It was everywhere. There was no shoreline, no landmarks, no visibility, and no nothing. If it wasn't for the Throne, we could have fallen into the gaping mouth of a river demon and we wouldn't even know until we were being digested. We keep on sailing through the empty void.
The river narrows and we accelerate. The free-fall feeling happens again. We're in the Third House and, yet, nothing's happened. It is too quiet. I wish something would happen already.
Right after I wish for action, Anubis and Horus spring up as black volcanic rock begins to appear on the shorelines. They pull out glyph paint and begin to pain hieroglyphs onto themselves. I read what they painted on themselves (Fire Shield.) and grabbed up a paintbrush and painted it on my arms. And, then, I spontaneously combust.
I bite back swear words as the boat is awash in ruby red light. I turn to look ahead of us and I see that about 100 yards in front of us, the tunnel opens into a large cavern- the boiling Lake of Fire is right below us. We're picking up speed, heading down the series of rapids like a waterslide, at the end of the rapids, the water becomes a fiery waterfall (a fire-fall?) and drops straight down into the lake about half mile below. We're hurtling towards the cliff with absolutely no way to stop.
"Oh sh-" I begin, as we fall off the cliff.
We emerged from the fire, protective glyphs burnt off.
"The Fourth House," Anubis coughs.
We sail forward as Ra hisses at the building on the shore. We sail through the Lake of Fire until the shores narrow and the flaming current turned into water. The ruby glow fades away as the river gets faster. Now, we're in the Fifth House.
I begin to worry about Walt and Carter. Are they still alive? Did Hathor creep them out? What are they up to right now?
Even though the river is dark, the Throne of Fire is almost too bright too look at. Our boat casts a warm glow over the shores. On either side of the river, ghostly villages appeared out of the gloom. Lost souls run to the river bank to watch us pass. They stretch out their arms towards Ra. They smile as they bask in the light. Their forms solidify and color returns to their faces and clothes. As they fade behind us, in the darkness, I'm left with the imprint of their grateful faces and their outstretched arms.
The Fifth and Sixth Houses passed by quickly, though I'm not sure how many hours passed by. We see more ghost villages, beaches made out of bone, entire caverns where winged bas fly around in confusion and banging their heads against walls and swarming the sun boats like moths around a porch light. We went through some impressive white-water rapids, the kind that you only get in Colorado River during flood season, but the crew lights made it look like nothing. It was pretty quiet…
Until the water serpent bursts out of the water.
I jump on the spot, searching for a weapon, my heart beating so fast I can barely breathe. I'm shaking as I hear the water serpent swim around our boat, temporarily stopping us. I pick up a staff and ready myself.
The serpent begins playing around with a large boulder. I relax. Anubis smiles at me.
The stone falls onto the boat and I cry out. He gives me a sharp look and then, pushes me out of the way when a water serpent comes rushing out of the river, angling for my neck. I regretted ever having my plan. Horus and Anubis kill the serpent and gave me ironical smiles. I shake my head, filled with gratitude. Anubis shakes his head, as if to say, The party's just started!
We go along for a while, when the water serpent's mate comes after us. It smacks against the deck and sends me flying. I scuttle backwards as its iridescent eyes follow me and then it knocks me off deck.
I nearly die. Even as a goddess, the dreams of millions of souls- divine, mundane and monster- is enough to unravel your DNA. I keep my mouth shut, holding back every urge to scream. I know if I swallow the dreams, I'd die. Strength, says Hathor's voice. I bite my lip and as the water serpent comes rushing for me, mouth open, I grab its neck and strangle as hard as I can.
Bellowing, it rises out of the water, flailing. It smacks against the deck several times, flopping around. I whip out the ribbons, screaming with triumph and whip it around the serpent. It screams out as pink light emits from it and turns it into screams and rushing noises. I straddle, tightening, screaming, unaware of what's happening to it. I fall over and the ribbons go limp in my hands. I stare at the remainder of the serpent.
"Nice war spoils," Horus sniggers, "Boots are so in."
I put them on and roll my eyes. Then, I look at the two scars around my arms. Anubis tuts.
"Dream magic," he says, pulling out a first-aid box, "is one of the most powerful magic to exist. It can even defeat gods and it is hard to detect. All of these dreams are enough to scar the most powerful of goddesses. Luckily, this salve-"
"No," I say.
"What?"
"No," I repeat, looking at Horus who stops sniggering, "These scars are battle marks. A reminder to me and to all of us that I fell into the River of Night and I survived. A reminder to you that I am no pushover," My eyes harden as I say, "A reminder to you that I am Hathor."
Horus falls silent and looks away. When he looks me in the eye again, it's with grudging acceptance. He bows his head slightly.
Ra, meanwhile, has been singing an Egyptian lullaby about how the baby shouldn't cry or the priest won't let it mummify. And if the priest didn't turn it into a mummy, it'd be stuck on Earth without its daddy. And if it got stuck in Earth all alone, all that would be left of it would be a big pile of bones.
Finally the river slows and widens. The water turns as smooth as melted chocolate. The sun boat enters a new cavern and the and the ceiling overhead blazes with blue crystals, reflecting Ra's light so it looks like the regular sun crossing the regular sky- albeit a shinier sun and a more brilliant sky. Marsh grass and palm trees line the shore. Farther away, rolling green hills are dotted with adobe white cottages. A flock of swans fly over us. The air smells like strawberries, lilac and chocolate. My whole body relaxes- the way it does when you get your stolen goods safely out of the way.
"Aaru," Horus announces, looking younger, happier, smoother, "I'm starving."
Our boat turns toward a dock, where a man and a woman stand, waiting for us. One is Osiris and the other is a beautiful ghost woman. It sinks in. I'm meeting Carter's parents.
Osiris- Mr. Kane- shakes our hands.
"My Lord," Anubis says, "My Lady."
"Father," Horus says stiffly, "Ruby."
Osiris shakes my hand and his grip tightens almost immediately. He eyes me, pale brown eyes glittering. Then he lets go.
"Lady Hathor," he says, amused.
"My Lord," I say, awkwardly, "My Lady."
Ruby Kane eyes me and then smiles brightly. She touches Osiris' hand and then, almost imperceptibly, he nods.
"You have three hours until those gates open," she says, "Come. Welcome to Aaru."
Ruby is beautiful. She has wavy blonde hair and baby blue eyes full of life. She's wearing a white dress that seems to be made from mist.
Mr. Kane looks like a pharaoh. He has a neatly-trimmed goatee and glowing scalp. He smells faintly of amber and frankincense.
"Anubis, Horus, my Lord Ra- you bring him with us- let the ladies have some bonding time," Osiris orders.
Anubis eyes me strangely as Horus guffaws. Then, he gives me a small smile and mouths: Good luck.
I hold back the urge to smack Horus and my eyes thank Anubis. Then, we part. I follow Ruby into a small dining room. Then, my heart stops. It's the Brooklyn House's dining room. My heart breaks. It's the only place I think of as home, right now.
"Kayla," she says, simply, sitting down next to me.
I stiffen.
"How do you know my name?"
"You're that girl. Well, you have to go. Isis is coming soon-"
"You're a diviner, aren't you?"
She smiles softly.
"Yes, I am. So are you apparently."
I nod, taking a bite of the KFC-style chicken.
"Listen!" she shouts, suddenly, make me choke on my chicken, "She's coming for you! You have to go back to the mortal world!"
I see Isis, magnificent, beautiful, queen-like, and most importantly, hella angry.
I dive out of the window. I grab onto a pole and slide down, skinning my arms and legs. The water serpent hide boots protect my feet from the impact and I hear her howl with rage and fly out of the window after me.
Hathor! I scream with my mind, as Isis begins to dive-bomb me, SWITCH WITH ME NOW!
Right when Isis nearly strikes me down, we switch. I find myself sitting on a couch between Carter and Walt, across from an old Japanese woman, who is exquisite. We're drinking green chai and I'm in a little black dress and I have my serpent hide boots on. My arms have the dream scars and I'm bruised and battered. I gasp and splutter, spilling my green chai a little.
"Miss Montgomery, as I was saying, each of you can ask three questions, and then, you must leave."
"Okay…"
"Kuan Yin, Japanese goddess of wealth and fortune. Basically Google personified," Walt says helpfully, handing me a shawl.
"Thanks," I say, wrapping it around my bare legs and Carter relaxes.
"Excuse me, Lady Kuan Yin, may we have a few minutes outside to choose our questions?" he asks.
She smiles sadly.
"Go."
We stand up and walk out, the shawl falling off and me not being able to get while looking dignified.
"So, where were you?" Walt asks.
"I was guarding Ra," I say, eying Carter's leather jacket jealously, "Pup, can you give me your jacket because I will die without something around me."
"You're so melodramatic," he teases, shrugging it off. I grab it and zip it up.
"What happened while I was gone?" I ask.
"Hathor flirted with Wendigo!" Carter blurts out.
"She was all over him!"
"She nearly kissed him!"
"She was in my body!" I say, horrified.
We all laugh.
"Okay, so what should we ask?" Walt asks.
I hear a rattling noise. I ignore it.
"We should make a list," Carter says, handing me my phone from my backpack.
"Okay, how about two questions about the quest and one personal question?" Walt suggests.
"Yeah," I say already forming my question.
I hear the rattling noise again.
"Let's ask the basics; where to nest, how to get there, what should we do," Walt says.
I hear the rattling noise again.
"Guys- do you hear that?" we all ask in unison, "Yeah," we reply, "What is it?"
"Creepy," we say, after a pause.
The rattling noise gets really loud and we turn around. We see a large rainbow-colored dragon, with a rattlesnake's tail.
"Oh, that's pretty-" Walt begins.
He stops because the ground below us explodes as the dragon angles towards us.
And one of our questions should have been: Will we survive?
ZIA'S POV:
Zia felt a deep, deep weariness, one that sunk straight through her bones and weighed her down throughout the day. It had been two days since Carter, Kayla and Walt left and she could almost feel their intimacy from where she stood, on the grand bay window. She wondered where they were and why no one came to her for Ra. Her thoughts drifted back to Kayla. She didn't know why, but it hurt her, badly, to see Carter care about another girl. The last day they were here, she saw them laugh and Carter seemed to be comfortable around her. And just when her feeling began to make sense too…
For some reason, Sadie wasn't afraid about Kayla stealing Walt. In fact, she had laughed, as if she knew Walt was hers forever. Zia wanted an iron-cast certainty like that.
Zia saw that her knuckles had turned white from gripping the railing too hard. Her vision was blurring and hot tears were running down her cheeks. She gasped and gasped until her lungs hurt and her eyes were dry. Then, fiery, angry Zia wanted revenge. A voice in her head whispered to her, telling her she could have revenge, if she listened.
She listened all right. It was perfectly normal for her to hear voices. She was Zia Rashid, for gods' sake.
Minutes later, Zia had travelled through the Duat and found herself on a street in Rochester, Minnesota, watching three figures walk. One was Kayla. She could see her dark brown legs disappearing into thick boots. And that dress! Zia had always wanted one like that. She resolved in attempting to make peace, and perhaps, helping. She opened her mouth to call out, and then she saw Carter give Kayla his jacket and hand it to her. Her heart broke.
She watched them walk and as tears began to blur her eyes, she sent a flame beneath the ground, and directed it underneath their feet. As she went into the Duat, she saw three figures go flying into the air. Only when she got to the Brooklyn House did she realize what she did.
Isis, the goddess of deceit, thanked her, and the curse set in again, wiping her memory of this. She continued to roam around the hallways, her body lying on the living room floor. Not that she even knew, of course. Not that any of them knew. Only Bast- stuck in her cage- knew. Only she knew and she couldn't get out.
ISIS' POV:
Isis smiled a slow, wide smile as her rainbow dragon dived and went for the kill. Plotting, confusing, deceiving, murdering- all in a day's work.
So, review please! I won't be able to update soon! Love you guys!
