A drop hit Sudi’s forehead. The water burned, scalding her skin.
Meri slapped her hand over Sudi’s mouth and held her tightly to keep her from crying out. Sudi felt defiled and, using the tail of her T-shirt, she frantically wiped at the water. Finally, she was able to peek out again and watch, through tear-blurred vision.
A procession of men and women dressed in white followed the priest into another room. The people looked ordinary; they could have been Sudi’s neighbors or classmates. Nothing about them appeared particularly evil. Sudi continued watching, and then at the end of the line, she saw the three girls from her drama club who skulked about the hallways at Lincoln High. Dressed in transparent linen gowns, they danced with sinuous grace, so unlike the shyness they showed at school. Sudi wondered if the cult leaders had deceived them, or did they know they were devoting their lives to bringing chaos to the world? Sudi felt guilty that she hadn’t done more to defend the girls when other kids made fun of them. Maybe one word of kindness could have made a difference in their lives.
The three girls spun across the threshold, singing. Then the voices of all the worshippers rose, and the din of rattles, drums, and clappers joined the revelry.
Sudi motioned for Dalila and Meri to follow her. She sprinted across the corridor and snuck inside the sanctuary, easing along the back wall behind a line of pillars. She hid in a dark alcove behind a row of reclining jackals, her heartbeat thudding in her ears. Meri and Dalila squeezed beside her, trying to control their nervous breathing.
The priest in the leopard skin waited in front of a pair of ornate gilded doors.
Two other men, completely shaven of all body hair and wearing low-slung white kilts with pleated front panels, took embers from a stone cauldron and lit incense. As the smoke curled into the room, the two men stepped to either side of the shrine. When the priest nodded, they opened the doors, revealing the statue of a man with an animal’s head that resembled an anteater’s, with tall, square ears.
The worshippers fell to their knees, but the priest remained standing, gazing up at a statue of his god Seth. A strange aura emanated from the towering image, and soon the air became dense and cold, frosting the pillars and floor with odd patches of ice.
“That’s unusual,” Dalila whispered. “Only the pharaoh was allowed to stand before a god.”
“Maybe the priest is descended from the first pharaohs, like we are,” Meri answered in a low voice.
Silence filled the room; the worshippers anticipated something momentous.
Then the priest spoke. “Du ut des.”
The congregation repeated the words.
“What does that mean?” Sudi whispered.
“‘I give in order that you give,’” Dalila replied softly. “They want something from Seth.”
“Father of Anubis,” the priest said, lifting a vessel in his hands. “We give you this offering.”
He poured water from a heset jar over a long object covered with a white cloth that lay on top of a wooden funerary couch.
Sudi set her wand down. Then, holding on to the snout of one of the jackal statues for balance, she pulled herself up onto the tips of her toes to see.
Scott lay on the table in front of the priest, apparently unconscious.
Terrified, Sudi ducked back down behind the pillar.
“It’s Scott,” she whispered. “What will we do if they start to sacrifice him?”
Dalila opened her mouth to speak, but the priest’s deep voice interrupted her.
“God of violence, chaos, and storm,” the priest said, and the vaulted ceiling amplified his invocation. His words resonated and seemed to come from all directions. “Spirit of anger and rage, bring forth the Descendants of Horus who block our way.”
“That’s us,” Meri whispered, pressing closer to the floor.
Dalila looked as if she were going to faint. “Do they know we’re here?”
“I don’t think so,” Sudi answered, and climbed back on the jackal statue, her feet resting on its forepaws. She strained her neck, trying to see what the priest was doing to Scott.
Thunder shook the walls, and the boom resounded through Sudi. Her hands slipped, and she lost her balance. She fell into one of the patches of slick ice and skidded across the floor.
The congregants turned and gazed down at her, their eyes fierce with hate, and then they broke into jubilant song and prayer.
Thunder shook the room, and the pillars holding the oil lamps rocked uneasily. Flames sparked and spit red embers into the air. The two lower-ranked priests who had opened the shrine walked Dalila, Meri, and Sudi to the front of the sanctuary.
“I’m sorry,” Sudi said, even though she doubted that her friends could hear her over the uproar. She had been too reckless; it was her fault that they were all going to be sent to live with the demons in chaos.
They stopped in front of the high priest.
“You two could have done better without me,” Sudi said to Meri and Dalila. “You’d probably have already rescued Scott.”
“All the votes aren’t in yet,” Meri answered. “It’s not time to give a concession speech.”
Sudi nodded, but she didn’t know how Meri could remain optimistic.
“We still have the Book of Thoth,” Dalila added and faced the congregation, holding her back straight. “I left the leather pouch behind the pillar. The priests didn’t know what was inside it, so if we can get back to it, we can still find an incantation to stop them.”
Sudi nodded, but she didn’t feel confident.
The two lesser priests lifted the funeral couch and carried Scott across the sanctuary. They set him down in front of the line of jackal statues.
“They’re not going to sacrifice Scott,” Sudi whispered.
“Not when they have the three of us,” Meri answered.
Before Sudi could apologize again, the high priest held up his hand and the room became silent.
“Bring Sankhkara forward,” the priest ordered, watching Sudi closely. “Let’s see if your love spell is stronger than the power of Seth.”
The congregants shuffled, opening a path that led to an upright coffin on the opposite side of the room. The image of a man was sculpted on the gold front. The two lesser priests unfastened the lid. The mummy stood inside, now wearing a headpiece and jewelry made of lapis lazuli.
Sudi wondered how the mummy had traveled from Lincoln High without becoming breaking news on Channel 7. Someone in the congregation must have helped him. For no reason that she understood, she thought of Carter. He couldn’t be one of them, but she searched the crowd for him anyway and felt a sense of relief when she didn’t see him. But then she caught another familiar face. She looked again, uncertain. Had she seen Brian? Was he part of the cult? Her stomach knotted. Maybe that was her strange connection to him.
The mummy lurched forward, his arms crossed over his chest. Slowly, he brought his hands down to his sides. People stepped back when the mummy passed them as if they were anxious about their safety.
“Sankhkara died on his sixteenth birthday,” the priest said to Sudi. “A strong soul, but too trusting. We used his kindness to deceive him. He had a proper burial, but we desecrated his tomb and made it impossible for him to pass through all the gates and join the blessed dead; he no longer had the Book of Gates to guide him because we covered it and replaced it with spells of our own. Now we use his corpse to kill.”
Sankhkara stopped in front of the priest.
“Destroy the three,” the priest ordered. “Start with the one you love.”
The congregants eased back as if they had witnessed Sankhkara’s brutality before.
Sankhkara shifted his weight, turning clumsily, and through thin slits, his death-frosted eyes found Sudi.
She cringed and backed up. Her throat tightened around a scream. The mummy had been sent to the party to end Sudi’s life, but she had never considered how he had planned to do it. Even now she couldn’t imagine what his brittle body could
do, but she also knew she didn’t want to find out.
He took slow, awkward steps toward her and stopped, his face inches from her own.
Meri and Dalila squeezed closer, wrapping their arms around Sudi’s waist.
“He’ll have to take all three of us together,” Meri said, pressing her cheek against Sudi’s shoulder.
Sankhkara raised his arm.
Dalila cried out and buried her face against Sudi.
“I’m so sorry,” Sudi said, and tried to remember the spell she had cast on him before. Maybe if she could make him fall in love with her again she could stop him. But her mind spun, and the incantation that came forth was a jumble.
“Send a circle of fire around this one here,” she said and stopped. It was useless to try. She closed her eyes and waited for the attack.
The priest laughed, enjoying her failure.
“Beware the priest,” Sankhkara whispered. “He’s a spirit who feeds upon weak and helpless souls. I’ll protect you as best I can.”
Sudi’s eyes flashed open.
“He’s not going to kill you,” Meri said.
“Your love spell is stronger than the priest’s command,” Dalila added.
Sudi glanced at the priest and caught a flicker of rage before his expression turned coldly confident again.
“Why wasn’t the priest able to remove my spell?” Sudi asked in a hushed voice.
“Our magic must be far stronger than we think,” Dalila answered.
“Great,” Sudi said. “Now all we have to do is figure out how to use it.”
The priest grabbed Sankhkara’s arm and pulled him back. “So, her love spell is stronger than your fear of the second death?”
“What is the second death?” Sudi asked Dalila.
“His soul will be damned,” the priest answered before Dalila could speak, “and he’ll forever be excluded from the cycle of life.”
“You can throw my body to the dogs,” Sankhkara responded defiantly. “I’ll gladly suffer the fate of the damned. It was worth knowing the love I felt when I looked into her eyes again.”
“Again?” Sudi asked. “What do you mean, again?”
But no one answered her.
The priest raised his hands to the statue of Seth.
“Lord of chaos, who brought death into the world,” the priest intoned. “We give you the three Descendants and the son of the pharaoh Mentuhotep.”
A crash of thunder startled Sudi. The boom reverberated through the sanctuary. The floor shook, and the vibrations quivered up her spine. Cracks shot across the ceiling. Tiny veins ran down the walls. Chunks of plaster fell, and dust clouded the air.
“Seth is going to kill us,” Sudi said. “And I don’t think he cares how many of his worshippers he takes with us.”
“Why should he?” Dalila answered. “He’s been trying to end the bloodline of Horus since practically the beginning of time.”
Meri pinched Sudi’s arm. “Carpe diem.”
“Is that a spell?” Sudi asked.
“It’s Latin for ‘seize the day,’” Meri answered. “Mom uses it whenever she has an opportunity.”
Then Sudi saw the reason Meri looked so happy. Most of the worshippers were staring up at the statue, their faces filled with awe. Others had fallen to the floor, bowing with their eyes closed. A few had hidden their faces in their hands. No one was watching Sudi, Meri, and Dalila.
“Go,” Sankhkara ordered and trundled forward, determined to protect them from anyone who tried to stop them.
The girls ran back to the pillar and hid behind it.
Dalila grabbed the leather case and pulled out the scroll.
“Do something while I find the right incantation,” Dalila said.
“Like what?” Sudi asked.
“I don’t know,” Dalila answered. “Try anything.” Her fingers fumbled with the scroll, her hands trembling so violently she couldn’t open it. She lost her grip, and the papyrus fell. It rolled across the floor away from her.
Dalila started after it as thunder exploded and rumbled through the sanctuary. She lost her balance and pitched backward, slamming into the wall.
Three fire lamps tumbled from their pilasters. Pottery smashed, and flames raced across the spilled oil toward the scroll.
“No!” Dalila shouted.
Sudi dove after the papyrus. She landed on her belly and skidded toward the flames. The fire reached the scroll first. Flames licked the edges, and smoke curled around the ancient writing.
Sudi tried to grab it, but the blaze shot higher, scorching her. She jerked her hand back and licked the blisters, then reached out again and clutched the scroll. Flames hissed and shot after her. She scooted back.
Meri slid next to her, and together they beat out the fire on the papyrus.
The worshippers watched. Some edged closer.
The papyrus was still smoldering when Sudi handed it back to Dalila.
“We don’t have time to look for an incantation,” Dalila said, her eyes fixed on the congregants.
The two lesser priests circled around them, crowding nearer.
“Seize them,” the high priest ordered, but the lesser priests remained wary. And then Sudi saw the reason for their hesitation. Sankhkara guarded the front of the pillar, bravely ignoring the flames.
Sudi pulled Meri and Dalila behind the pillar again. Smoke stung her eyes, and she coughed as the fires continued to burn toward them.
“Maybe if we used our other powers,” Dalila said, holding her hands over her mouth and nose to filter the smoke.
“You mean, change into a bird?” Sudi asked over another roll of thunder. “What good would that do?
“A cat’s not going to help,” Meri said. “But a cobra could scare them.”
Sudi and Meri stared at Dalila.
“I can’t,” she answered.
“It’s our only chance,” Sudi said. “Your poison could kill one of them, and maybe that would frighten the rest away.”
Dalila turned pale, and Sudi understood. Dalila would never be able to transform into a cobra and strike, because hurting someone was against her gentle nature.
“You don’t have to bite anyone,” Sudi said. “Just spread your hood and hiss. Maybe that will be enough.”
“If we don’t do something, they’re going to kill us,” Meri added.
“I haven’t been able to change into a snake,” Dalila said. “I become that monster Ammut.”
“Just try,” Sudi coaxed and held on to the pillar as another thunderclap ruptured the air and made the floor sway.
Dalila closed her eyes and began reciting her incantation. Her face convulsed, and then her lips and chin stretched into a long, tapering jaw with jagged, dangerous teeth. The thick, armorlike skin of a crocodile began to cover her cheeks and snout. Her mouth snapped hungrily.
Sudi and Meri jumped back.
“Maybe we didn’t think this through,” Sudi said.
Tawny-colored fur spread over Dalila’s arms. Her hands turned into paws with sharp, curved claws. Hair grew, circling her reptilian face with a lion’s mane.
Finally, her legs bent and shrank into stumps, and within seconds her back end looked like the rear of a hippopotamus. Her short, thick tail twitched. She roared and waddled through the fire out into the congregation.
“It’s Ammut!” someone yelled.
“They’ve conjured the devourer of hearts!” another voice shouted.
Screams became louder than the thunder.
The priest’s panicked voice shouted over the cries. “Seth will protect you.”
Sudi peeked out and watched the congregants. Their fear of Ammut seemed stronger than their belief in Seth. They pushed and shoved, trying to escape Dalila, but the fires blocked their way. They slammed into each other and stampeded past the statue of Seth in an attempt to reach the exit without running through the flames.
The giant statue swayed.
The priest ran to it and braced his hands against the legs
to stop its fall, but the image toppled anyway. Granite splintered. The impact hurled dagger-size chunks of stone around the room.
Sudi ducked as a slab hit the pillar and made it wobble.
The shrieks and wails from worshippers continued to rise, and then the last congregant limped from the room. The panicked voices and running footsteps faded. Quiet returned. The crackling fires were the only sound left in the room.
Dalila transformed back into a girl and couldn’t stop grinning. “They think we conjured Ammut,” she said. “They were afraid I was going to eat their hearts as punishment for their wicked lives.”
“You should have seen yourself,” Meri said, and placed a hand over her mouth trying to stop her giggles. “Your butt was humongous.”
“We’d better get Scott and leave,” Sudi said, “before someone decides to come back.”
“I think they’ll be too afraid to return,” Dalila said, surveying the broken granite. “The statue was Seth’s visible body on earth. He’ll demand retribution for destroying his image.”
A clatter made Sudi turn. Rocks tumbled from a pile of rubble. The high priest pulled himself up and wiped at the blood trickling down his face. His attention focused on Sudi.
“I will appease the lord of chaos,” he said as a black aura grew around him.
At first Sudi thought it was only the smoke from the fires, but the nimbus around the priest continued to grow, churning wildly. Demonic shapes formed and darted from the cloud as if eager to attack, only to roll back as other, crueler faces swelled and retreated. The stench of tombs and death saturated the air.
“What is it?” Meri asked, her fingers cold in Sudi’s hand.
“I don’t know,” Dalila answered, pulling Sudi and Meri backward behind a line of flames.
The priest curled his fingers and gathered the spectral streams into a ball. He flung the sphere at Sudi. The orb screeched toward her, and the sanctuary filled with the cries from a horde of demons.
The thick blackness spun toward Sudi. The demons imprisoned within it squirmed and thrashed, writhing over and around each other, trying to be the first to attack. She stood defenseless, watching death hurtling toward her, and forgot to breathe. She had failed her parents, her sisters, and her friends, but mostly she had failed herself.