Chapter 20: A Hard Drive of a Bargain

We were taken into a small lounge that was on one of the highest floors. One of the walls was only windows that looked out to the city of lights below. There were an assortment of tables all around clearly meant for playing different games on. We were walked through the room filled with golden light to a smaller table with only four chairs.

The name of the game was Senet. One of Khonsu's assistants pulled out a long box with three rows of squares along the top. It was like a narrow board of chess except for the hieroglyphs on some of the spaces. Khonsu had an eager smile while they set the game up, but the moment they started his face went blank. His face didn't betray any emotion or thoughts much like the night I first met him. Thoth on the other hand merely looked bored. I couldn't decide who had the better poker face.

Horus tried to explain the rules as they played so I could follow along but I couldn't really get a grasp of it. I was never good at chess and this game had the same level of strategy. What was different was that instead of having pieces with a set way to move, there were four sided sticks they would throw to determine their moves each turn. There were so many different factors to account for I couldn't keep track of them. The only thing I really grasped was that the goal was to get all five pieces to "the afterlife" at the end of the board.

I listened to Horus' reactions to get an idea of who was winning. It seemed like Khonsu had a good start but Thoth pulled off some moves that put him ahead. Khonsu got a good roll this round though. Thoth took his time analyzing the board before rolling his sticks.

Khonsu let his mask slip and looked over at Horus and me with calm pleasure. "You know, you two should consider playing a game with me after I'm done with Thoth. I'm sure we can work out a nice wager to make things exciting."

Horus scoffed, "Yeah right. You just want to hook us in and then extort us for all we have. We're not playing your game."

Khonsu leaned in his chair that was taller than the rest of ours. "What if I told you I know where Set is right now?"

"What?" Horus glared at Khonsu.

"I can't reveal anything else. If you want to learn more you'll have to beat me in a game."

"He's baiting you," Thoth drawled as he moved his pieces.

Horus looked enraged like he was ready to beat the information out of Khonsu. I was worried he really would challenge Khonsu even knowing it would likely be impossible to beat him. Khonsu looked pleased at Horus' reaction and instead moved his eyes to me.

"I can help you as well, human. There is a jar of Anubis' I know the location to."

"I'm sure I'll be able to find it myself, thanks."

"Will you?" He smirked. "I have to say, I would be very impressed if you could." He didn't say more and turned back to the game.

I could understand how Khonsu was able to tantalize people into gambling with him. I wondered if maybe he didn't know about my ability to see the jars. But if he did, why would it be impressive if I found one? Was it in a spot that would be difficult to reach? Would my ability not be enough for us to find it? It made his offer more enticing than it should. But I can barely win a game of goldfish so there was no chance of me winning against him.

The game continued. Thoth was able to pull out from behind and had Khonsu trailing after him the rest of the game. Horus was cheering wildly as Thoth's final piece reached the end of the board. Khonsu's poker face dissolved with a look of disappointment. "I was sure I had you this time."

"Khonsu, luck will only get you so far." Thoth stretched out a hand across the table. "The vial?"

Khonsu snapped a finger and one of his attendants came forward. The woman in a sleek black suit opened a satin box in both her hands. Inside was the bright glow of silver light in a slender glass jar sitting in a bed of red silk. She closed the box and gave it Thoth who then handed it to me.

"There you go. Give that to Anubis. Looks like we're done here." Thoth stood to leave and I followed his lead. I was pushing in my chair when Horus said, "Wait." Horus stared down at Khonsu. "What would you want me to wager if I played against you?"

"You can't be serious," Thoth said.

"I hear that you've been giving yourself up for servitude to other gods." Khonsu glanced over at Thoth as he said this. "So that is what I would like if I win. One year working in my kitchens. Effective immediately."

"Don't do this Horus," I groaned. "We'll find Set ourselves. Don't gamble away a year of your life."

Khonsu snorted, "What's a year to a god, Horus? I'm barely asking for anything for what I can give to you."

Horus' eyes were furrowed but he gave a slight nod seeming to decide on something. He turned to me and said, "I need to do this Nakia. I will only find Set when he wants to be found and he'll have some trap ready like he always does. I need to be one step ahead of him. I won't forgive myself if I pass this up and he does something to hurt my family again."

He turned his backs to us and sat in the seat Thoth had been sitting in moments ago. Thoth flew a hand in the air, "Well, I suppose Horus is going to be here a while. Come, Nakia. We can return to the duat and I can get you transportation to the hospital."

I looked back at Horus and Khonsu setting up for a new game. From the hungry look in Khonsu's eyes I knew Horus wasn't going to win. I went to Thoth and said quietly, "I don't think Anubis would want me to leave him alone. I'll stay here and watch after him."

"That wouldn't be wise. Horus doesn't stand much of a chance at winning and you'll be stranded here with him. You still have to take that vial to Anubis."

"I'll figure something out. I don't plan to stay here long. Could you take the vial to him? Please?"

Thoth looked uncertain but he nodded. I gave him the box and he left with one of the attendance guiding him out. I turned back and went back to my seat.

I didn't need to know the rules to see that Khonsu wiped the floor with Horus. Horus seemed to slump more and more as the game went on. Now he had his head in his hands as Khonsu sat back obviously delighted with himself.

"This was a stupid idea," Horus mumbled in his hands.

"How could you not know this from the start," I replied with some exasperation. I should be more upset with him but I felt like once Set is dangled as a prize in front of Horus there is no way to stop two will fight each other for an eternity. I couldn't blame Horus knowing how terrible his enemy is.

"Well, Horus," Khonsu said as his assistant handed him a folder, "it looks like you are now under my employment for the next 365 days. Just sign this contract and I'll get you started."

Horus glared at the paper Khonsu pushed toward him but he had no choice. He took the pen and wrote on the bottom line, the scratches of the pen hissing its dismay. Khonsu took the papers and glanced in my direction. "Are you sure you don't want to try a round? It doesn't have to be Senet. There are many games here to play."

"I'm good."

"That's a shame. If you'll come with me then, Horus the Child."

"Like you're in any place to call me a child," he grumbled but sauntered out. As they left the female attendant from before broke from the group to me. She was a plump woman with beautiful red hair that was pulled back into a golden clip. She gave a slight bow and said, "My name is Jessica Gleason and I'll be able to assist you during your stay."

"Oh, I'm not staying long. I just… well, I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but it won't take long."

"Until you make a decision, the owner has provided you with a suite, a VIP pass to our bar and restaurants, and a complimentary bag of tokens for your enjoyment."

"Oh, uh, thanks." I took the bag from her which gave the muffled sound of shuffling coins as I did so. She waved me out the door and escorted me to the elevator.

I was stumped on what to do. I sat at a small table in a cafe on the first floor. The hotel had several restaurants so I took the chance to have some pizza while I thought. I slurped the last of the smoothie I got as dessert but I still had no ideas. Horus had really gotten himself stuck this time. All my ideas seemed to fail as soon as I came up with them. Trying to sneak Horus out or somehow tricking Khonsu to letting him go seemed as unlikely as winning a match against him. Yet gambling against Khonsu seemed like the only way to free Horus. Theoretically. If it weren't for Khonsu being a master of gambling only Thoth can beat it would be worth a shot. How in the world did the person who gambled for the moon manage to win?

I was getting nowhere sitting around. It decided to walk around. I could find a bathroom and then look around the casino. I wasn't really interested in gambling but perhaps seeing what was here would give me some ideas.

As I walked around I ended up in a crimson hall lit with red lights and black marble tiles reflecting the light from the floor. I was a bit confused. I was sure I had followed the sign for the bathrooms but there was no one here. There were also plaques on the doors labeled as storage rooms and offices. I was definitely in the wrong place. I was about take the exit at the end of the hall when a door to my right caught my eye.

'When you're in a red hallway and you see a room marked "Machine Maintenance", you'll want to go in there.'

I stood in front of the door Amun had told me about. It felt surreal to me having him predict this very moment. I didn't want to go in. I felt like I was being lured into a trap again. My sense of control was slipping. Set, Khonsu, Amun… they all were pulling strings to get what they want. And we kept playing into their hands because what we want seemed so much more important.

I dn't want to go in, but I don't have much of a choice. I had no idea how to get Horus from Khonsu's grasp. But I did know it's important that he's out there searching for Set. I guess I will be jumping into a river in some near future as Amun had requested. Horus better thank me for this.

I entered the maintenance room and switched on the light. It wasn't as clean and pristine as the rest of the casino was. The walls were grey. The tables were grey. The metal shelves were stacked with various black boxes labeled with different parts, mostly electrical. The only color in the room were the various slot machines inside in various states of disrepair.

I went to the side of the room where it looked like a slot machine was currently being worked on. The side of the machine was open revealing the circuits inside. It didn't look as broken down as the other machines in the room. It stood next to a table that had a laptop open around some scattered parts. Next to the computer was a cardboard box filled with metal parts all of the same size. I sat at the table and started investigating.

Looking through the box I realized it was filled with internal hard drives. Connected to the laptop was a hard drive mount with a hard drive already inside. The laptop was in sleep mode and luckily wasn't password protected. Whoever had been on here last had left a scriptwriter on and it looked like the drive it was working on was the one connected through the USB.

I skimmed through the code but I couldn't lift much from it. It's hard to tell what a code is doing just from reading it. Usually programmers would leave notes in the code of what a set of code was doing but it looks like whoever programmed this was a bit lazy. I leaned back in my chair. Amun said I'd find something interesting with the hard drives but I couldn't really tell what they were doing. If there was some sort of error with the machine then they would have to run diagnostic programs to see where the problem was. So why are they directly opening the program's coding on the hard drive?

I ignored the computer and looked around the desk for some clues. There were some post it notes on the laptop and on some of the office supplies but most of them had deadlines and reminders on them. I looked in the box with the hard drives and noticed a small notebook that had been tossed inside.

On the first page were notes on code, mostly written with abbreviations and shorthand references. I couldn't get much from the first page but flipping to the second page I started to understand what the notes were for. There were mathematical variables on chances, but each variable was accompanied with certain outcomes. The chances of getting two of a kind, three cherries in a row, three jackpots in a row, a winnings multiplier, and so on were written above each equation. But beside these equations were arrows pointing to variables that resulted in numbers far lower than the numbers preceding it.

Now the first page made sense and I knew exactly what they were doing. They were changing the odds, making the chance of winning much lower than they were originally programmed to do. The only variables that weren't being changed were the small reward winnings, probably so people wouldn't feel discouraged while playing. But the last variable, the jackpot, was changed to such a miniscule possibility of winning that anyone who got a jackpot must be blessed with luck from a god.

The front page was actually invaluable. It listed all the function names for these variables so that they could easily be found in the code. That's probably why they have all these hard drives. They were taking out the slot machines hard drives, modifying the software to lower the odds, and reinstalling them to put out on the floor. It was a sleazy move but hardly illegal. Or maybe it was. I'm not familiar with laws around gambling.

But this was all I needed. I knew exactly how to beat Khonsu at his own game. I went back to the laptop and started working.

I had to go to my hotel room and page the assistant from earlier to find Khonsu. The suite that the hotel key opened was ridiculously huge. Not only did it have a large bedroom with a king size bed, but there was also a large living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom with its own hot tub. This room seemed to be more like a place to live than a place to sleep during a vacation.

I didn't stay long. I used the phone to get into contact with Ms. Gleason. Luckily she left me her number among all the other things she gave me. She told me she would find out where he was for me. After rummaging through the kitchen for a drink and flipping through some TV channels the phone rang. "Madam, I am waiting outside your door. Whenever you are ready I can escort you to Mr. Khonsu."

"Oh, thank you. I'll be right there."

I almost left my hotel key and other belongings in my rush to leave. I remembered to grab them and flew out the door. Ms. Gleason seemed surprised at my rush but she kept her composure. "This way," she said as she led me to the elevator.

It was a bit awkward with the two of us inside the small space so I started a small conversation with her. "So how long have you worked here?"

She raised her eyebrows but then smiled. "I've been here for a year. I'm actually waiting to receive a new name tag for my first year here." She gestured to the black name tag that had her name engraved with gold lettering. I vaguely remembered seeing other workers with tags that said the number of years they had served at the casino below their name.

"That's cool. Do you like working here?"

"I do. I've noticed from my past jobs that if you work in a place where the people are enjoying themselves, you'll enjoy your work more. I never want to go back to retail for sure. But it took some getting used to. I don't come from a wealthy background so getting used to serving the upper class took some discipline."

"I know what you mean. I grew up in the middle class but lately I've been living with someone who is crazy rich. I know I should feel lucky but…"

"It feels alien right?" she completed my sentence.

"Yeah, I can't get used to it. I try, but it always feels excessive. And then everyone acts like it's normal so I end up feeling like the odd one out."

"That's my job in a nutshell, hun. If anything, it's helped to-" She stopped short as the doors opened to let in a group of old woman that were chatting amongst each other. The smile slid off her face and she said courtly, "Hello ladies, what floor will you be getting off on?"

"The first floor," one of them said and they continued gossiping as though we weren't there. The ride continued like this until we all got off on the first floor. The three woman got off not sparing a glance at us.

"This way." She led me through the lobby but then took a side hallway in the back that was marked employees only. She led me to a door labeled as the kitchen to the pizza place I had eaten at earlier. She gave me a smile as she said, "Mr. Khonsu is in here. It was really lovely talking to you. Feel free to page me if you need anything else, hun."

"It was nice talking to you too." I smiled back as she opened the door for me. I got the impression people don't bother to talk to her much.

Inside were many people working over chopping boards and pizza ovens. They were dressed in black aprons and rushed about with the sounds of chopping, sizzling and the occasional bell ring when an order was placed in the window. I thought maybe I was in the wrong place when I heard a child's laughter in a side room.

When I entered I saw Horus and Khonsu were the only ones inside. There were stacks of dirty dishes beside a large sink filled with soapy water. Khonsu was laughing at Horus' obvious anguish.

"You need to go faster than that. If you get behind on the dishes you'll back up the rest of the kitchen."

"I'm going as fast as I can," Horus growled through clenched teeth.

"Aw, look at this. This plate still has a spot on it. You'll have to wash it again." Khonsu slipped the plate back into the soapy water.

"How am I supposed to finish these quickly if you keep making me wash the same ones again?!"

"It's your own fault. If you would just clean them right the first time you wouldn't be falling behind."

Horus looked like he was about to explode when I called out, "Khonsu!"

Khonsu looked to the door and grinned. "Hello human. Come to watch the show?"

"I have a name. It's Nakia. And I didn't come to torture Horus. Actually I want to wage a bet."

The plate in Horus' hand fell into the sink with a splash. "No! Don't bother, Nakia. Just go back to Anubis and make sure his wounds heal!"

"Don't worry." I turned back to Khonsu. "I want to gamble for Horus' contract. If I win he doesn't have to work here."

"Oh really?" Khonsu looked me up and down. "Is Horus the Child really more important to you than Anubis?"

"Yeah, Nakia! Don't worry about me! Just get out of here!"

"I don't need to know where a jar is when I can find it on my own. And I need Horus." I looked over to him. "We can't have you stuck here when Set is targeting Anubis. We have enough on our hands looking for his heart pieces."

Horus cast down his eyes in guilt. Khonsu on the other hand seemed to be filled with excitement. "I accept your wager. Now, in return, hmmm…" He thought for a moment and then said, "If I win, I want your ren."

"No way!" Horus yelled in outrage. "Don't you dare ask for that! That is way too high of a bargain for that stupid contract!"

"A human's name is hardly that valuable, or are you saying this human is more valuable than you?"

"She's more than a human! She's the Eye of Anubis!"

"Even so, she'll die in a few decades and Anubis won't have an Eye anymore. She's not a very useful Eye."

"Horus, it's fine," I said.

"But-"

"Really. I accept your wager, Khonsu."

Khonsu clapped his hands together. "Splendid! And what game will we be playing?"

"Slots."

Khonsu giggled. "You are going to play against me with a purely luck based game?"

"I'm not good at strategy games. It's best I stick to something easy."

Horus groaned and sank to the floor still gripping the edge of the sink. I knew it seemed like I was basically giving my ren away, but I had to keep my face even.

"Very well, but you have to at least get a jackpot. Anything less doesn't count as a win."

"That's fine, but I get to choose the machine I play."

"It's a deal then. Come." Khonsu trotted out the door and I followed, leaving a defeated Horus with his mountain of dishes.

"Just pick one!" Khonsu whined.

"I will. Just give me a minute."

I looked around in deep concentration at all the machines. There were many different kinds and many of them were vacant. It seemed that games like blackjack and the roulette wheel were much more popular. The slot machines were also very different than what I was used to seeing in movies. Many of them have digital interfaces, and most had around five or even seven columns rather than the traditional three. What stayed the same for most of them were the symbols like cherries, bells and sevens.

"There! That's the one!" I pointed to a machine at the end of a long line of slots. It had many flashing lights and towered over both of us.

"Good choice," Khonsu said but he didn't seem to mean it. He probably only cared I was done wandering around. "You get one chance. Good luck."

I took a coin from the bag Ms. Gleason had given me and slipped it in. The machine started to light up even brighter and played an annoying 8-bit song. I held my hand on the bar on the side and waited, watching the five columns spin. Though there really wasn't anything spinning. It was a digital screen and the moment I pulled the lever didn't matter. My winnings had been decided the moment I entered my coin. I gave it another second and pulled down the lever.

The spinning slowed and slowed until one by one they came to a stop. As soon as the last column stood still the machine played a song and the lights flashed frantically. "No!" Khonsu cried.

Not only did I get three sevens in a row, but I got two "4x" multipliers beside it, the highest multiplier in the game. A message appeared above the numbers saying "Jackpot! Handpay at counter".

"Oh wow! I won!" I said trying to sound surprised.

"That's not possible! What did you do?"

"What? Are you saying it's impossible to get a jackpot at your casino? Aren't you the owner?"

This got the attention of people passing by. Some even stopped, either to eavesdrop or to point at the jackpot I got on the machine.

"I mean it's very unlikely," he said through clenched teeth. "You must be very lucky."

"Well, someone once called me a lucky flower. I guess he was right. So about Horus' contract…"

Khonsu reluctantly pulled a folded up paper from his inner coat and handed it over. I ripped it in half and let it fall to the floor. I should feel very satisfied but I was nervous.

Luck had nothing to do with my winning of course. I cheated, and I didn't want Khonsu to know. Anyone who played on this machine would get a jackpot with the highest possible winnings. That's because every other possible winning was set to zero while the jackpot was set to one, a 100% chance possibility. The hardest part was getting the hard drive into one of the machines on the floor. But once I put on a grey jumpsuit I found in the maintenance room no one questioned me opening the machine and messing with its insides.

But I needed to leave. This place had security cameras and he only needed to check the tapes to know what I'd done.

"So, I guess we're done here. You can let Horus out and we can go."

"Very well," Khonsu said with a pout. He looked like a kid that was told no dessert until he finished his vegetables. "I will have an attendant get him while you collect your winnings."

"My winnings?" I had forgotten about the actual function of slot machines and looked at the jackpot amount on the top of the machine. My eyes widened. I could feel my heart drop to my gut. "That… that's wrong right? That can't be how much I won…"

"Oh no, that's your winnings. The machine's jackpot was set at a little over a million, and then it was multiplied by eight."

"I just… I just won ten million dollars…"

"Don't get too excited. The government will tax you for most of it. You'll be lucky if you can keep half of it."

"Oh my god… gods… whatever… Ooooh this isn't real..."

Khonsu didn't seem interested in my breakdown and started barking orders into a cell phone. I was shaking, my mind running in circles in no coherent direction. I won ten million dollars. No, I extorted ten million dollars from a casino. A casino owned by a god. If Khonsu finds out I'm so screwed. If there is a hell in the duat that is where Khonsu is going to throw me when I die. I reeaaally need to get out of here.

Khonsu finished his phone call and waved me to follow him. I mechanically followed him to the service counter. It turned into an uproar of applause and congratulations. They brought out this giant check made out for ten million dollars and the casino logo on top.

The woman making out the check asked me, "Can I have your name please?"

I blanched when I realized of course they would need me name. I looked down and saw Khonsu smirking up at me. I couldn't give my real name because I was a runaway, not to mention I'm supposed to be protecting my ren. But if I gave a fake name it would be impossible to cash it in.

So I gave her the only name I could think of. I could see Khonsu's expression sink in the corner of my eye.

"Is this the biggest room they have? It's tiny. Oh well," Horus said as he flopped on the king size bed.

"You would think it's small," I muttered. I couldn't relax like Horus. I wanted to bolt out of the casino as soon as Horus was let out but there was one more thing to take care of. I still felt like any moment someone would burst through the door to arrest me, but Horus assured me we could get to China in a couple of seconds flat. He said something about it being morning in China which didn't seem relevant. Gods tend to make statements that only made sense to them. I paced back and forth until I heard a knock on the door.

"Hello again," said Ms. Gleason from outside the door. "You said you needed my assistance?"

"Yeah, could you come in? There are some things I need you to take care of."

"Certainly." She stepped inside and let the door click shut behind her. Horus sat up from the bed curiously glancing our way. I went to a side table and picked up the bag she gave me earlier.

"We're gonna leave so I don't need these anymore. Could you return them and check us out?"

"Of course, but I think it's better that you check yourselves out. The checkout area is in the lobby. I can escort you there if you like?"

"You don't need to. I'd rather not go back downstairs," I said with a nervous smile.

"But the lobby is right next to the exit?"

"Also, I have something that is too big for me to travel with and I don't really need it. I thought I'd go ahead and give it to you. Just wait here a sec. I'll go get it." I left her looking perplexed as I ran out the room. Horus took the chance to jump off the bed and greet her.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for taking care of my friend. She said you were very good to her," I heard him say through the wall.

"Oh, it was no trouble. I was happy to be of assistance."

"I'm sure you will be," he replied. I saw she found this remark strange when I came back into the room.

"Here's a tip for your work," I said carrying the giant check to her. The thing was clumsy to handle and I ended up knocking a vase over with it. "Whoops."

"Oh my god! Did you win that?" She exclaimed, a hand over her chest.

"Yeah, I got lucky on the slots. I want you to have it."

She gaped and me and started shaking her hands at me. "No, no I couldn't possibly. That's your winnings. I've done nothing to earn it."

"Neither did I, well, sort of. It already has your name on it. But I really can't keep it. I'm in a complicated situation so it's either I give it to you or throw it in the trash. Besides, I already live with rich idiots like this guy, remember?"

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Horus asked.

"After what you did today?" Horus couldn't counter my point and let it slide.

Ms. Gleason was starting to tear up but she still wouldn't take it. "Why?" she asked with a slight sob.

"I know I'm a stranger and I've only just met you, but you really do seem very kind. I don't get to talk to people like me very often, and I mean that in more ways than you'll know. You really do deserve this. Just don't spend it in one place. I hear the tax rate is crazy."

"No, I won't. I… I can't believe this is happening."

"Here. Take it." She was reluctant, but I pushed it at her. I was starting to feel a bit emotional myself but we couldn't drag this out for too long.

"This… oh my god. Thank you so much." She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a tight hug. I hugged her too, but I pulled away sooner than was polite.

"Go ahead and take this. Please check us out of our room too. We're in a big hurry. I hate to be rude but it's really important that we get our stuff together and go."

"No, don't worry… Really, thank you. You have no idea how much this will help me and my son."

"You're welcome. If I get the chance I'll get in touch with you another time," I said patting her back and walking her to the door.

"It was nice meeting you Ms. Gleason," Horus said from behind me. "And you should consider voting for me! I'm running for president in a few decades so if you're still alive-"

"Horus!"

"I mean, if you get the chance, you should give me your support. My name is… ah!" He bent down and whispered in my ear, "Nakia, did you think of a presidential name for me?"

"Yeah…"

"What is it?"

I whispered him the name and he stood straight up again. "Royal Paine! Vote for Royal Paine for president! That's a good name for my campaign, right?"

"Yep," I said. "It's very majestic. Suits you perfectly."

I opened the door and ushered her out. As she left Horus waved goodbye to her as I made slashing motion over my neck mouthing, 'Don't vote for him.' She looked baffled as the door clicked shut.

"Yeah! I already got one vote! You know, these election things are kind of fun."

"Just be sure to finish the time you promised Thoth before you run. I doubt he'll let you put it off too long."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'll get it done. Now let's go back to Anubis. He's waited long enough."

"Alright, but how are we getting there," I asked as he pulled the curtains open.

"With sunlight. I am a sun god. You'll have to hold on tight, alright?"

"Okay?" Horus pulled me into a tight hug, even tighter than the hug Ms. Gleason had given me. I held on as the light in the room intensified. I had to squeeze my eyes but the light still burned white behind my eyelids. My whole body turned scaldingly hot. I wanted to scream, but before I could get air into my lungs it was already over. The light was gone and Horus let go of me.

"Please don't suddenly appear like that, Pharaoh. There are humans here."

"Sorry Imhotep. Just thought it'd be fastest. Hey, you okay Nakia?"

Horus caught me as I staggered. My senses were overwhelmed. I had a hard time grasping my surroundings. I didn't realize I was about to fall over until Horus steadied me.

"I… I need to lay down…"

"Oh, sure. Mind if I carry you?"

"No, go ahead." Horus picked me up. I held my head in my hands suppressing the need to throw up. Imhotep updated us on Anubis' condition as they walked.

"It would have been better to bring back the moon, but the moonlight should be enough. His wounds have healed again and I've been able to reapply the spells I had earlier. He should be well enough to leave in a few days."

"Good…" I could feel Horus' shoulders slacken as he held me. I was relieved too, but I felt too ill to feel like celebrating.

We went into Anubis' hospital room. He was sleeping in bed looking much more relaxed than when I had left him. Paws was resting at his feet as though he never left that spot. He lifted his head when we entered. He had his mouth open and tongue out looking happy to see us. All the curtains were drawn blocking all the light except for the glow around the edges. The main source of light was an oil lantern at Anubis' beside. The moonlight twisted and turned like a snake shining brilliantly bright.

Horus set me down on the couch. I wasn't so nauseous anymore but I still felt exhausted. Horus draped a blanket over me and I curled up into a ball, my back to everyone.

"You gonna be okay, Nakia?" Horus asked.

"Mm-hm."

"You both left in the middle of the night here and it's already midday. I'm sure-" I didn't hear the rest of what Imhotep said as I fell asleep.

When I woke again the room was still lit by the moonlight but the room felt like it was darker. I sat up rubbing my eyes. Paws had moved to the end of the couch with me. He laid on his back in a position that didn't look all that comfortable but he seemed to be sleeping just fine. Anubis' bed was empty. Even the sheets were gone. I got up in a rush but then noticed someone was in the room by the large window.

It was night outside, but the city lights provided some luminance. Anubis was standing with his back to me looking out at the city. He had a slight glow around his silhouette from the light outside. Except for his hair, he looked pale enough to replace the moon. His hospital gown was white and went down to his knees. He had the white sheets from the bed draped over his arms. It almost made him look like he was dressed in robes. The light from the lamp danced across him giving the illusion the folds of his clothing were moving.

I approached him but I didn't want to get too close. I was nervous. It felt like I was meeting a stranger for the first time.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

I surprised him, but he didn't jump in alarm like I had been used to since he got the last heart piece. His shoulders softly jumped and he spun around. It was so bizarre. I could see his eyes change from brown to silver as the moonlight fell on his face. I knew his eyes could do this, but it would never stop being strange to me.

"I am doing better. How is your shoulder?"

"Healing. It'll be fine."

He looked at the bandages peeking from under my shirt. His eyebrows creased. He glared, but turned again away from me to the window. It made him mad and I was on foreign land trying to get my barrings.

"Imhotep said that you should be okay to leave in a day or so. Since we back tracked to China we'll have to go over places we've already searched."

"Where did the moon go?"

"Oh, umm," I stalled. "You should really ask Horus, I mean your brother Horus. It's a long story."

I saw him nod. I felt… scared. I didn't know what could trigger his anger. Back in Tibet when Anubis was taunted into fighting Set, he looked more like a beast than a human. I didn't want him to turn back into that.

I heard Anubis sigh. He gave a small kick at the floor, took a step forward and rested his head against the glass. "Do you think I'm selfish?"

I tilted my head. "For what?"

"I never got involved with Set, not directly. I never took a side. Everyone else seemed to be waging a war against him for so many years and I… I didn't think it concerned me. So I stayed out of it. I didn't help anyone."

"I'm sure… I'm sure it's what you thought was best back then. You couldn't have known this would happen."

He sharply turned, his eyes aflame in white fire. "But you don't get it! I understand why they are so angry with him. I am angry at him as well now. But you know what angers me the most? That he dragged me into his war! I am involved now and I do not want to be! And that doesn't feel right! It is not how I should feel…" He stared away from me. He looked so helpless as he stared into space. "I don't know who I am anymore. I keep looking inside myself trying to find the answers and there is nothing there."

He looked back at me and suddenly had a face of regret. What did I look like to him right now? Could he hear how loud my heart was pounding?

"I'm sorry. Forget what I said. Go back to sleep. I'll go to bed soon." He turned back to the window. I stepped away and went back to the corner of the room. Paws was sitting on the couch watching us. I gave him a hug before pulling the sheets over my head.