Chapter 28
Nina jumped a foot when she heard a wall moving and then Eddie and Patricia just appeared. She'd been searching for what felt like ages to free them, and then, all of a sudden, they were just there.
"Sorry about that," Eddie told her, a sly little grin on his face. "Where were we again?"
"Sorry?" Fabian repeated, sounding completely horrified at Eddie's nonchalance. Nina couldn't blame him either. He'd been freaking out since they disappeared, and them just showing up al fine and good… it was actually kind of annoying.
Not that Nina wasn't grateful or anything; she was. She was undoubtedly glad that they were safe, but it was just a little annoying how casual they all were about it. That was all.
"What happened?" Nina asked, moving to study them. They both seemed unharmed, mostly, though closer examination revealed they were all scratched up by something, and thin trails of blood streaked from some of the deeper scratches. All and all they were okay though.
"There was a trap door, I sprung it," Eddie answered with a shrug. "Then we found a needle in the hay stack by pretending we were giant nerds like you two, and now we got out of there. Can we keep moving? I'm starting to get hungry and would love to celebrate getting my soul back."
Nina smiled and laughed along with Fabian, but Eddie's words made her heart drop. She still hadn't told them that she had to disappear before Eddie got his spirit back. They would undoubtedly, and rightfully, celebrate Eddie's recovery, but Nina wouldn't be there. Nina would probably be crying on a plane back to America.
But it would be okay because Eddie would be better. Everything in Nina's life had some purpose, and the purpose of her coming back to England was to help Eddie. She understood that, and she was proud of it.
Even if doing so hurt her deeply.
They began walking again, and Nina had to concentrate on none of the remaining curses attacking them. Sure the others had amulets which should protect them, but Nina didn't want to risk it. Wadjet seemed like a relatively chill goddess, but Nina didn't really trust anyone with her friends' lives.
So she focused on sensing the magic around her and unraveling it. It surprised her just how many curses and spells there were, and they just multiplied the further down the tunnel they watched. Robert had really wanted to keep people out, and he'd had a surprising number of godly allies in doing so. A truly surprising number of godly allies. None of them seemed particularly powerful though. Sure Nina knew she was pretty powerful. From what she understood her magic was actually just Anubis's magic that she could access, and Anubis was obviously powerful. Still, Nina had never imagined herself to be more powerful than so many minor gods. It made Nina wonder really if she wasn't a god of sorts herself.
And being a goddess did not sound like fun to Nina.
But Nina was glad that she had the power to unravel curses as they moved forward. She was glad that she had the power to protect those she loved. Who didn't want the power to protect those they love?
"The Ram and the other thing we're looking for is up ahead," Nina declared pulling to a stop. She could feel their radiating power in the room before them. All the other curses combined paled in comparison to what Robert had wished them to hide. And then there was the Ram. Nina could feel the Osirian spirit within it, calling to her, and yet, at the same time, screaming for her to leave, to escape and save them both from a terrible fate.
Don't worry. I will leave.
"Cool then, let's go," Eddie told Nina, the smile across his face brighter than a dozen suns. Nina could almost imagine that he didn't even need the Ram. It was… it was like in English class. Eddie had learned through his quest that all he needed for fulfillment was love and friendship. But life wasn't like a book, and love most certainly wasn't like the pathetic explanations English teachers gave for books.
"Wait," Nina told him, grabbing his hand to keep him from walking past her. "There's something I need to tell you. To tell all of you. I thought Eddie would have figured it out but… but he hasn't. Eddie, Osirian told you about the new curse Rufus brought, didn't he?" Eddie seemed confused, almost as if he'd forgotten the conversation, but then his light eyes grew dark, and he nodded slowly.
"When Rufus tried to become a god, he broke one of the rules of the Osirian," Nina explained slowly. She decided to look at Patricia while explaining. It was far easier than looking at Fabian. Nina couldn't bare the thought of having to look Fabian in the eye as she explained. "The Osirian line received a new curse. They could not be near their Chosen One. They would have to be far enough away that they could not protect their Chosen One. That way, when their Chosen One died, they'd suffer the pain of having failed in their destiny."
Everyone stood in silence for a moment, and Nina found that even looking at Patricia was too difficult. Hell, even looking at the floor was too difficult. The feelings of loss and betrayal practically screamed, filling the room with their cries of anguish. Everyone was silent, and yet Nina still felt the pain.
"You're leaving then?" Eddie was the one to speak first, his voice cracking halfway through the sentence. Nina nodded, still unable to look any of them in the eye, but knowing that it was what she had to do for Eddie's sake. "This is ridiculous. Why can't you just go back to London and I stay here? Why can't we just… why can't we just fight this thing?"
Nina couldn't help herself; she braved a look at Eddie. He was utterly devastated, that was for sure, and it broke Nina's heart. "We can't fight this no more than we can fight our destinies. It just is. And maybe I could go back to London, and you could stay here, but I don't know. I don't know how far away I have to be for you to be safe. And if you ever came to London and we ran into each other? You would die. You would do more than die. I need to disappear, make it impossible for you to ever find me. It's the only way. And I'm okay with it. The three of you… you'll have each other. But this means I need to walk in there and get the other thing, and then I need to leave. You should probably give me a few hours head start- I'm sorry I know you're hungry- just sit down here for a few hours so I can get to the airport and find whatever plane is going far away from here. Then Eddie and Patricia just need to touch the Ram while Patricia says Eddie's secret name. I need you guys not to fight me on this. I've made my choice. And I choose to leave."
None of them seemed happy with it, but it did seem pretty clear that they had no other choice. No one wanted to see Eddie dead after all.
"We'll keep looking," Patricia offered, pulling Nina in for a comforting hug. "We'll find something, some loophole, and they you can come back."
Nina looked at Eddie. He didn't say anything, but he nodded, clearly understanding that Nina was right in this decision.
All that was left was for Nina to hear what Fabian had to say, and so she snuck a look. His face as bunched up into something that tore Nina's heart from her chest, and it got worse when he whispered, "I'll come with you. Wherever you go, I'll come. I get now why you've refused to get back together but it doesn't matter! I can just come with you Nina!"
Hope was a dangerous thing. It toppled dictators and tyranny. Rebellions, after all, were built on hope.
But hope was also dangerous for people. It wanted to settle in Nina's chest, to blossom into something. And she couldn't let it do so. Nina didn't want this hope. It only made everything that much more painful. "No. No you can't. You need to go back to school. You have classes tomorrow. You need to graduate. Maybe then…" Nina couldn't even say it. "You can't come. I won't let you throw your life away for me. I would never be happy knowing that I prevented you from fulfilling your potential. Doing so would just be a crime."
Fabian seemed shocked to even remember that he was still in school, all the more reason for Nina to say he should not be coming with her. He got stupid around her. He forgot about life, and in her line of work that was a dangerous thing. His naivety would get him killed.
"Alright then, we're agreed. I'm going to go in and figure out what all these curses were protecting, and then I'm go and hide it from whoever was willing to kill Cassie for it."
Nina spun on her heels and entered the chamber. It was pretty sparse; clearly no one had thought much about its items in the beginning. The Ram of Mendes was pretty obvious- Nina didn't imagine that the golden ram statue the size of her could be anything else- but it took her a moment to figure out what all the fuss was about.
It turned out that the only other thing in the chamber was a silver rod. It was ornate of sorts, but definitely not the most impressive thing Nina had ever seen. The moment she picked it up she felt a surge of power. She hadn't stuck her finger in an electrical socket, no, no she'd stuck her finger into the whole power grid itself. Nina had never felt anything so powerful. Hell, not even Anubis felt so powerful.
"Whatever you are, I need to keep you far away from whoever wants you. They most definitely are not up to anything good," Nina muttered to herself before sliding the rod into the bag she'd brought with her. She'd need a better way to store it, but at the moment she just needed to leave before she lost the nerve to do so.
Eddie, Fabian, and Patricia had followed her into the chamber, so Nina turned to them. "I guess this is goodbye."
"Be careful Nina," Eddie begged pulling Nina in for a hug. "Or I'll be forced to die coming and saving you, and then, with my dying breath, I'll use your secret name to order you to be safe."
Nina chuckled at the thought. "I'm glad for this last week. It's been hell but… but it was good to be together again. I'd been so busy protecting you from Senkhara that I never got a chance to get to know you. Now I have, and I'm glad. I always wanted a big brother."
"Sorry to break up this love fest, but does anyone else hear that noise?"
It took Nina a moment to realize what Patricia was talking about, but when she did it was too late. Everything happened all at once: the ground began to shake and tilt, Patricia and Eddie fell backwards, Patricia grabbed onto the Ram of Mendes instinctively, she called out Eddie's name in an ancient language, he grabbed her hand, red light flowed between them…
And then Nina knew that, in trying to save Eddie, she'd succeeded in killing him right then and there. Because he was the Osirian again alright, and it was going to kill him.
