Thank you guys for all the reviews and patience during the holiday season.
merendinoemiliano: I read your comment and thank you so much for the review! I love the genderbent versions myself and feel that there is a total lack of them. As for which god/goddess Julia will merge with, I'm going to keep it with the original versions, only changing their genders as I have done with the rest of the characters. I agree with your point, but I have a reason for this. There are certain aspects of Mythology which dictate the gods being able to change their appearance and even gender at will. So, I would like to keep the names the same (maybe add nicknames... ex: Anubis will probably be called Annie by Samuel) to avoid confusion, but go with the belief that they can change gender at will. I am not against same sex couples at all (I'm bisexual XD) I just really want to test how a change in gender changes the dynamic of the relationship (specifically for Sanubis. The fact that Anubis would be a girl and raised in with very traditional believes would change a lot about her personality. After all, women were supposed to be much more meek and silent than men ). Sorry about the long reply. Thank you so much for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
The ground rumbled, shaking the artifacts in their glass cases. The blue light turned to searing white, and the Rosetta Stone exploded, fragments blasting out in all directions, and I closed my eyes to avoid the shrapnel. The force rippled out with the strength of a bomb, sending Samuel and I flying back into the wall. My head slammed against the stone, my teeth slamming together, and I felt immense pain before everything went black.
When I regained consciousness, the first thing I heard was laughter—horrible, gleeful laughter mixed with the deafening blare of the museum's security alarms. I felt like I'd just been run over by a tractor, and my lip was bleeding where my teeth had gone through it. I sat up, dazed, and spit a jagged piece of the Rosetta Stone out of my mouth. Opening my eyes slowing, I looked around at the destroyed gallery which doubled and swimming. Waves of fire rippled in pools along the floor. Giant statues had toppled. Sarcophagi had been knocked off their pedestals. Pieces of the Rosetta Stone had exploded outward with such force that they'd embedded themselves in the columns, the walls, the other exhibits.
Worriedly, I looked around for Samuel, as was relived to find him next to me. He was knocked unconscious but looked relatively unharmed. I shook her shoulder, and he groaned, holding his head. I quickly looked for any major damage, but only found a small bump in the back of his head. He wasn't bleeding, and without a flashlight I had no way of checking him for a concussion, so I deemed his condition acceptable overall and turned to look at our surroundings.
In front of us, where the Rosetta Stone had been, stood a smoking, sheared-off pedestal. The floor was blackened in a starburst pattern, except for the glowing blue circle around our mother.
She was facing our direction, but she didn't appear to be looking at us. A bloody cut ran across her scalp. She gripped the boomerang tightly, her shoulders tensed and jaw set, ready for a fight.
I didn't understand what she was looking at. Then the horrible laughter echoed around the room again, and I realized it was coming from right in front of me. Something stood between our mother and us. At first, I could barely make the figure out—it shifted back and forth like a heat induced mirage. But as I concentrated, it took on a vague form—the fiery outline of a woman. She was taller than Mom, and her laugh cut through me like a chainsaw.
"Well done," she said. "Well done indeed, Julia."
"You were not summoned!" My mother's voice trembled. She held up the boomerang, but the fiery woman flicked one finger, and the stick flew from Mom's hand, hitting the wall and shattering into hundreds of pieces.
"I am never summoned, Julia," the woman purred. "After all, who would want to summon violence and and disorder. But when you open a door, you must be prepared for unexpected guests to walk through."
"Back to the Duat!" my mother roared. "I have the power of the Great Queen!"
"Oh, scary," the fiery woman said with amusement. "And even if you knew how to use that power, which you do not, she was never my match. I am the strongest, the most cunning, the most powerful of all. Now you will share her fate."
I couldn't make sense of anything, but I knew that my mother was in troubled, and I had to help save her from a living campfire. I tried to pick up the nearest chunk of stone, but I was so terrified my fingers felt frozen and numb. It dropped with a thud, breaking apart into even more pieces. My hands were useless.
Mom shot me a silent look of warning: Get out. I realized she was intentionally keeping the fiery woman's back to us, hoping Samuel and I would escape unnoticed. I decided to trust in her, turning to Samuel. He was still groggy, half sitting up with his head in his hands. I managed to drag him behind a column, into the shadows. When he started to protest, I clamped my hand over his mouth. That woke him up, and he looked around, eyes widening.
Alarms blared. Fire circled around the doorways of the gallery. The guards had to be on their way, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing for us. After all, the curator would eventually get free and could testify against us. Not to mention the security footage that would no doubt incriminate all of us heavily.
Mom crouched to the floor, keeping her eyes on her enemy, and opened her painted wooden box. She brought out a small, flat rod like a ruler. Muttering something under her breath, the rod elongated into a wooden staff nearly as tall as she was.
Samuel made a squeaking sound and stared at me for an explanation, or at least a confirmation of the weirdness. I couldn't believe my eyes either, but things only got weirder.
Mom threw her staff at the fiery woman's feet, and it changed into an enormous serpent—ten feet long and as big around as I was—with coppery scales and glowing red eyes. It lunged at the fiery woman, who effortlessly grabbed the serpent by its neck. The woman's hand burst into white-hot flames, and the snake burned to ashes.
"An old trick, Julia," the fiery woman chided. "I had hoped the years of troubles had given you more creativity."
My mom glanced at us, silently urging us again to run. Part of me refused to believe any of this was real. Maybe I was still unconscious and this was a concussion-induced nightmare. Next to me, Samuel picked up a large chunk of stone. I clamped my hand onto his wrist, begging him silently to wait.
"How many?" my mom asked quickly, trying to keep the fiery woman's attention. "How many did I release?"
"Why, all five," the woman said, holding up her fingers as if explaining something to a child. "You should know we're a package deal, Julia. Soon I'll release even more, and they'll be very grateful. I shall be named queen again."
"The Demon Days," my mother said. "They'll stop you before it's too late."
The fiery woman laughed. "You think the House can stop me? Those old fools can't even stop arguing among themselves. Now let the story be told anew. And this time you shall never rise!"
The fiery woman waved her hand. The blue circle at Mom's feet went dark. Mom frantically grabbed for her toolbox, but it skittered across the floor out of reach.
"Good-bye, Osiris," the fiery woman said. With another flick of her hand, she conjured a glowing coffin around our mom. At first it was transparent, but as our mother struggled and pounded on its sides, the coffin became more and more solid—a golden Egyptian sarcophagus inlaid with jewels. My mom caught my eyes one last time, and mouthed the word "Run!" In an instant, the coffin sank into the floor, as if the ground had turned to a sink-hole.
"MOM!" I screamed.
Samuel threw his stone, but it sailed harmlessly through the fiery woman's head. She turned, and for one terrible moment, her face appeared in the flames. What I saw made no sense. It was as if someone had superimposed two different faces on top of each other—one almost human, with pale skin, cruel, angular features, and glowing red eyes, the other like an animal with dark fur and sharp fangs. Worse than a dog or a wolf or a lion—some animal I'd never seen before.
Those red eyes stared at me, and I knew I was going to die.
Behind me, heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor of the Great Court. Voices were barking orders. The security guards, maybe the police—but they'd never get here in time. The fiery woman lunged at us. A few inches from my face, something shoved her backward. The air sparked with electricity. The amulet around my neck grew uncomfortably hot.
The fiery woman hissed, regarding me more carefully. "So...it's you."
The building shook again. At the opposite end of the room, part of the wall exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Two people stepped through the gap—the woman and the boy we'd seen at the Needle, their robes swirling around them. Both of them held staffs.
The fiery woman snarled. She looked at me one last time and said, "Soon, girl."
Then the entire room erupted in flames. A blast of heat sucked all the air of out my lungs and I crumpled to the floor.
The last thing I remember, the woman and the boy in blue were standing over me. I heard the security guards running and shouting, getting closer. The boy crouched over me and drew a long curved knife from his belt.
"We must act quickly," he told the woman, placing the sword along my neck. I tried desperately to move, but couldn't even twitch a finger.
"Not yet," she said with some reluctance. Her thick accent sounded French. "We must be sure before we destroy them."
She muttered something over me, and the pain and exhausted suddenly became too much. I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.
Wow! It's been a long time since I updated! Things have been absolutely crazy at my house (I'm an aunt now! :D ), so as you imagine, I haven't had much time. Hope you guys like the chapter since I made it a bit longer. I also updated the story cover with an image I drew. I really like how Carla came out but not as much Samuel. Oh well. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and I'll try my best to update more soon.
Cat
