Chapter 21
House of Love
"Not. So. Fast," I spun upon recognizing Anubis' obnoxious voice. I wanted to scream out of frustration. Here I was trying to save everyone I cared about, and Anubis was just going to get them all killed!
Raet, however, seemed only slight amused, "You can't control her anymore than you can control me."
"Eve," Anubis cried ignoring the goddess (much to her displeasure). "We have other options, just hear me out for one minute. You do this and you're condemning the world to death."
"And if I don't do this I'm condemning my family to death!"
Anubis took a step closer, but backed away when Raet pulled Claudia in close, "You're not saving your parents. You're not saving Colton's parents."
Couldn't he see that I didn't care? "I don't know my parents," I reminded him recognizing the tears boiling in my eyes. "But I do know Claudia and when I do this I'm saving her, and Mollie, and Alice, and even the unborn twins. I'm saving the innocent."
"You're saving yourself!" Anubis' cry held true anger, which shocked even Raet. "You're saving yourself from pain because you're not going to have to see the world she'll build. You think you're helping those Raet's promised to save? At least death is kind. If you do this then you're as bad as her."
"Maybe I am as bad as her," I whispered helplessly, "But that's because she raised me. She raised me selfish enough to let the world end so I didn't have to live and see it."
"You're nothing like your mother," Anubis hissed. "She stood up for what was right no matter what. You're nothing like the woman I love, but that doesn't matter." The shift in the god's tone had me trembling. He was up to something; he was up to something big.
"Raet," the god bellowed. "I would like to propose a deal. I get in the coffin and you wait 1000 years to enact your revenge. By then they'll all be long dead and those Nina loves will be safe. You've waited millennium to be queen, what's another while?"
"You get in?" Raet sneered despite her anxious eyes. "Why would you do that?"
"There are things that will be missing from your world, Raet," the god answered with a sad smile. "Love will be one of them because you're like every other god and just don't get it. You don't understand how another can go before yourself. But that doesn't matter. I just want an answer. Do we have a deal."
A silent chill fell upon the Du'at as we waited for Raet's response. My mind whirled as it tried to figure out what to do. I couldn't just let a god trap himself in a coffin and set the apocalypse date, but how could I stop him? Why would I stop him? The world had to end sometime, why not in 1000 years? That's generations of happy people that wouldn't exist with my plan. In all actually it was a brilliant plan. No one got hurt for years… except for Anubis. That wasn't too bad a price, right?
No. It was too high a price. Any life would be too high a price, but it was lower than whatever I could offer as I stood there helpless. Finally, Raet responded. "It wouldn't shut on you anyway. You've been in there before and you didn't fit."
Anubis bobbed his head in assent, "That's entirely true. I didn't fit as me, but I could fit like this."
Before I could even comprehend what happened, a shooting pain flew down my side because Anubis' hand was in Colton's chest! I dashed to save him from what had to have been an evil plan, when my knees hit the ground my body inflamed in agony. Tears blurred my vision, but I noticed the golden Osirian spirit flying from my body towards the silver one Anubis had plucked from Colton. Jamming both spirits into his chest Anubis spoke again with a grimace, "So, Raet, do we have a deal."
The goddess smiled wickedly as she motioned it was okay for me to grab Colton from the coffin. Anubis helped me drag the unconsciously limp body from the coffin silently for neither of us were capable of coherent speech. Once I'd gathered Colton and Claudia in my tight embrace I turned just in time to see Anubis extend his hand, "Enjoy your next millennium."
"Oh I will," Raet smirked. "Enjoy your eternity Anu…"
Before I could even blink, the death god had pulled Raet into the shutting coffin. A tangle of bodies disappeared into the marble tomb as I realized what the god just did.
There would be no Apocalypse in 1000 years. He'd outsmarted Raet by blinding her with the one thing she thought she knew but would never really understand-love. Anubis willingly condemned himself to an eternity of entombment with Raet to save the world.
No. I'm not a fool. He didn't do it for the world, I realized as I looked at my mute sister silently crying, he did it for us. Anubis gave up everything so we could return to our mother.
He gave up everything for his love, Nina Rutter.