Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“Cassius!” Stephanie’s at his side in an instant. “What’s wrong?”
“Father.” Cassius chokes. “Why? Why?”
Frost appears across the table where we’ve been eating.
And as a chilly wind presses through the room, we all look down and see on the table, etched through the frost: “I will sacrifice and save until I can no longer. Be well, my son.”
Cassius looks away, and just like it appeared, the icy frost is gone.
And we’re at the table with various sweets before us.
I’m traumatized.
Horus is gone.
And someone was just lost to Cassius. When will we get answers, and why does it feel like all is lost? It’s so unsettling that I want to run and hide myself away.
Cassius jumps to his feet and leaves the room like the fires of hell are after him.
“Leave him,” Stephanie whispers and grabs a bottle of wine. “Let’s just continue with our meeting; he’ll be back when he’s ready.”
Ready for what?
Is it always like this?
I grab my chair with shaky hands.
Minutes later, Cassius is back, and he looks oddly… happy. His eyes are shining blue, and even weirder, he grabs a glass of wine and then starts eating the leftover chicken still sitting mid-table.
Nobody seems to care.
I reach for my water, ready to ask him what just happened, when the sound of the front door opening goes off like a bomb in the house.
He puts his wine down and leans back in his chair, an amused expression on his face.
I don’t think anyone could have prepared for our visitors.
CHAPTER TWENTY
九死一生
kyuushin iishou
“Nine deaths, one life” or “near-death experience”
~Japanese proverb
Horus
“NO!” Bannik and I shout in unison.
“Interesting.” She laughs, and suddenly I can see shapes in front of me. It’s enough to see Sariel, he illuminates everything in this sick cave of darkness, but what he illuminates, I wish I could forget.
She has snakes wrapped tightly around her throat like a necklace. They dangle from her hair, falling down to her waist. Her eyes are black, her lips blue. “Hello, pretty little god of the sky.”
I take a step back.
Bannik grabs me by the wrist and stands in front of me. He’s so weak, one hit from her and I wonder if he would survive it, or if his hell is just perpetual pain. Can he even die? “Say your peace and leave, witch.”
“Witch?” She pouts and crosses her arms, making her golden bracelets slam against each other. “A witch? I’m merely a fallen goddess that needs to be fed…” She peers around Bannik. “And this one seems delicious enough to eat… I told you I would come for you.”
I take a deep breath. “Do your worst; I’m here for an eternity anyway.”
“You think so?” She looks to Sariel and growls, her teeth clicking against each other. “This one might just free you by being… benevolent. I hate the angels that fall and fall again only to rise. I despise them.” She eyes Bannik up and down. “But you, your life will always be mine. There are some who fall too deep, isn’t that right?”
Bannik shakes at my side and continues to shove me behind him. “Yes.”
“Good angel.” She winks her black eye at him and stares at Sariel, tapping her mouth with her golden tipped finger. She’s in a golden gown that falls from her shoulders like a cape. It would be pretty if it wasn’t on a monster. “What will you sacrifice?”
“Myself.”
“You said that, but you see, that’s a trade where you give me you, and I give you one thing, and you seem to have two things here, so… you’re going to have to make a choice.”
Sariel actually smiles. He looks younger, his hair has gone from red and white to jet black now, and it shines like the sky that holds the stars. His eyes are bright blue. “You’ve been down here too long.”
Her smile falters. “Well, that’s no fun; you’re just insulting me when we both know how this is going to end. You’ll sacrifice yourself blah blah blah, and then you’ll set one of these immortals free, and the other will, of course, become even more bitter, and surprise! I have more to feed off of!”
“Watch,” Sariel whispers.
She frowns. “Watch what? Is there a hidden camera or—”
“Watch,” he repeats.
Bannik’s hand falls from my wrist, he starts walking toward Sariel, but I grab him. I don’t know why. It’s instinct. I grab him and pull him back.
Sariel smiles. “Watch.”
“Shut up!” she yells. “Shut up! What is this?”
Sariel laughs. “Apophis, of course, you know what will happen to you, don’t you? Once I sacrifice?”
“Apophis?” I whisper. The absence of light itself. She is darkness in my realm; she is Medusa in others. No matter what, she is the opposite of me.
The exact opposite.
I freeze. I can barely breathe.
Ra has battled for centuries with this goddess, and now she has my eye, the all-seeing Eye of Horus.