Horus

Set sweeps his staff at our feet and we make our first mistake. Instead of jumping, Carter tries to back up. The blow cracks against our right ankle, knocking us off balance and we fall down the pyramid's side.

Set laughs. "Have a nice trip!"

Then he picks up the capstone.

Isis

Sadie yanks her hand away from the sarcophagus. Her eyes sting with tears.

And, like I suspected, she is angry.

"You knew my mother" Sadie shouts at me. "You encouraged her to open the obelisk. You got her killed!"

It takes me a moment to calculate the perfect response. By the time I'm done, Sadie's attention is already on someone else. The ghostly image of Julius appears in front of us, shimmering in the light of the golden coffin.

"Sadie." He smiles. His voice sounds hollow. "Don't blame Isis for your mother's fate. None of us understood exactly what would happen. Even your mother could only see bits and pieces of the future. But when the time came, your mother accepted her role. It was her decision."

"To die?" Sadie demands. "Isis should've helped her. You should've helped her. I hate you!"

Her words sting more than I expected them to. Once the initial wave of anger is gone, Sadie does the only thing she has the left to do – she starts to cry.

"I'm sorry," Sadie sputters. "I didn't—"

"Don't apologize, my brave girl. You have every right to feel that way. You had to get it out. What you're about to do—you have to believe it's for the right reasons, not because you resent me."

"I don't know what you mean."

Julius reaches out to brush a tear from his daughter's cheek, but his hand is just a shimmer of light.

"Your mother was the first in many centuries to commune with Isis. It was dangerous, against the teachings of the House, but your mother was a diviner. She had a premonition that chaos was rising. The House was failing. We needed the gods. Isis could not cross the Duat. She could barely manage a whisper, but she told us what she could about their imprisonment. She counseled Ruby on what must be done. The gods could rise again, she said, but it would take many hard sacrifices. We thought the obelisk would release all the gods, but that was only the beginning."

"Isis could've given Mum more power. Or at least Bast! Bast offered—"

"No, Sadie. Your mother knew her limits. If she had tried to host a god, fully use divine power, she would have been consumed or worse. She freed Bast, and used her own power to seal the breach. With her life, she bought you some time."

"Me? But..."

"You and your brother have the strongest blood of any Kane in three thousand years. Your mother studied the lineage of the pharaohs—she knew this to be true. You have the best chance at relearning the old ways, and healing the breach between magicians and gods. Your mother began the stirring. I unleashed the gods from the Rosetta Stone. But it will be your job to restore Ma'at."

"You can help," Sadie insists. "Once we free you."

Alas, that's not how our story goes.

"Sadie," Julius says forlornly, "when you become a parent, you may understand this. One of my hardest jobs as a father, one of my greatest duties, was to realize that my own dreams, my own goals and wishes, are secondary to my children's. Your mother and I have set the stage. But it is your stage. This pyramid is designed to feed chaos. It consumes the power of other gods and makes Set stronger."

"I know. If I break the throne, maybe open the coffin..."

"You might save me. But the power of Osiris, the power inside me, would be consumed by the pyramid. It would only hasten the destruction and make Set stronger. The pyramid must be destroyed, all of it. And you know how that must be done."

I can sense Sadie is about to protest, but the Feather of Truth makes her palm uncomfortably warm. She does know what has to be done. After all, she's seen it in my thoughts. She knew what was coming ever since Anubis asked her his impossible question: "To save the world, would you sacrifice your father?"

"I don't want to," Sadie whispers. "Please."

"Osiris must take his throne," Julius says. "Through death, life. It is the only way. May Ma'at guide you, Sadie. I love you."

With that, the image disappears.

Someone is calling for Sadie.

She looks back. Zia is trying to sit up, clutching weakly at her wand. "Sadie, what are you doing?"

All around us, the room is shaking. Cracks split the walls. How long have we been in a trance for? I'm not sure, but we're out of time either way.

Sadie closes her eyes and concentrates. There goes nothing.

"Do you see now?" I ask her. "Do you understand why I could not say more?"

We'll talk about that later. Now, we have a god to defeat.

Sadie gives me a green light. And so, our minds merge. Emotions align, thoughts intertwine, no more separated by a mental wall. Sadie gets more than just a taste of my true power, and a deep dive in my essence. She sees my wedding with Osiris, my hopes and dreams for a new empire. She gets to see those dreams shattered by Set. She feels my anger and bitterness amplifying hers, feels my fierce pride and protectiveness for my son. And we both see the pattern of my life repeating itself over and over again through the ages, through a thousand different hosts.

Gods have great power, Iskandar had said. But only humans have creativity, the power to change history.

Ruby Kane's thoughts resurface, like an imprint on my mind: her final moments and the choice she made. She gave her life to start a chain of events. The next move is Sadie's. The next move is ours.

"Sadie!" Zia calls again, her voice weakening.

"I'm fine. I'm going now."

Zia studies our face. "You're not fine. You've been badly shaken. Fighting Set in your condition would be suicide."

"Don't worry. We have a plan."

We turn into a kite and fly up the airshaft towards the top of the pyramid. I hope it's not too late.