Reunited

  The crowd erupted in excitement. It was something the king wouldn’t be able to deny. The fact that the people showed no fear of losing their king meant they didn’t know what he had done. I wondered how he’d accomplished it. Had he made a deal with Ananse while we were figuring out how to chop down a tree using ants? I knew the villagers coveted Ahmose’s ability and would pressure him into doing as we asked.

  Reluctantly, he agreed, probably thinking we were going to choose the wrong gourd anyway. Wanting to waste no time, I made a show of choosing the gourd, more to appease the people than the king. I saw his eyes alight as I placed my hand over the gourd containing the snake. I whispered its true name, and the poor creature settled down and slept. Hovering over the gourd containing disease, I paused. Then I went to the one with the map, stopped, and looked between the two of them, finally resting my hand on the one with the deadly map.

  Reaching inside, I took out the map and raised it triumphantly in the air. The people cheered. With a smile on my face, I bowed my head and handed it to the king. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and immediately tried to summon his best tracker to guide me instead. “No, great king,” I admonished. “You promised to lead us yourself.”

  I shoved it into his bare chest, and he leapt away as if I’d thrown him a burning torch. It had already touched his skin, but he carefully picked up the map using the edges of his colorful skirt and shouted to his people to make way. When I reminded him about my weapons, a warrior quickly produced them, and I deftly strapped them onto my back.

  The king dropped all pretenses of civility once we were surrounded by the trees.

  “I can heal you, you know,” I said as I followed him. “If you lead us faithfully and quickly, I’ll remove the venom from your body.”

  “How did you know?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I just do.”

  Desperate for the gift I’d offered, the king discarded the map and led us straightaway to the place we wanted to go. When we came upon the stone well hidden in the copse of trees, he said, “There. I’ve brought you. Now do as you promised.”

  “You haven’t deceived us, now, have you? I’d expect nothing less from you.”

  “No. This is the Well of Souls. Once you go in, there’s no way to get out, at least as far as I know. So I’ll thank you to heal me before you go down.”

  I stepped up to the edge of the well and peered down. There wasn’t a pail or a rope to indicate it was used to collect water. It was just an empty opening that felt…hollow. Like the depths of the well existed beyond the edge of the cosmos. Even with my abilities, I couldn’t hear or see anything. Ahmose picked up a pebble and tossed it in. There was no sound. Still, it felt like the right place. The king was sweating and rubbing his hands together.

  “Very well,” I said, and closed my eyes. I considered letting the poison remain. With the little contact he’d had, it would take years for him to die, but those years would be long and painful. Decision made, it only took a moment to wipe away the effects of the spider venom from his system. “It’s done,” I said. “Try to lead your people with wisdom rather than fear.”

  “I’m glad to be rid of the two of you,” he said as he scrambled away from the well and disappeared into the trees.

  I leapt up onto the edge, the fairy in me delighting in the way my body moved. The lioness balked at leaping into the unknown, as did the human, but I ignored them. My intent was to jump into the well, but Ahmose took hold of my arm. “Shouldn’t we fashion a rope?” he asked. “How will we get back out?”

  “Fly, I should think,” I said, and gave him a cheeky smile before stepping off the edge.

  “Lily! I mean, Wasret. Wait!” Ahmose cried out. He even reached out to try to snatch me from the air, but I’d already fallen too far. The man standing beside the well gave a frustrated cry and then soon followed after me. His large body blocked out the little light that filtered down from the diminishing opening above.

  The shaft of the well was wet with damp, and the air grew cooler the farther we descended. The stones smelled of life and death, growth and decay. It seemed fitting for such a place. Ahmose was able to control the speed at which his body dropped as well as I, so he didn’t hit me on our way down but stayed just above. A silvery, pale gleam lit up the stones on either side of me, and when I glanced up, I smiled, seeing Ahmose glowing brightly in the dark.

  When the yawning pit I sensed beneath us opened, the two of us dropped lightly to the floor of a vast underground cavern, our feet hitting stone. Ahmose’s light filled the space as if he were a lightning bug trapped in a clay water jug. When I asked if he was injured at all, his negative reply echoed, bouncing off rock and scurrying down dark passageways. Each no seemed to warn us not to proceed any farther.

  He asked if he should draw down the power of the moon to illuminate the cavern to ease my passing. I glanced around. The small opening we had passed through cast a weak beam of light, but with my catlike eyes, it was as clear as moonlight on an open plain. I told him to preserve his energy. Saving Lily’s body had weakened him severely.

  Scanning the surface of the dome, I saw other pinpricks of illumination. Each one shone down on us, brightening the Well of Souls. Without my power, I might have mistaken them for holes in the dome that let in light from above. But with my senses I knew each beam was the remnant of a soul, a dying light too forgone, with no hope of moving on.

  The spider had been right about this island being a place for the lost and the broken. The Well of Souls was full of beings that flickered in and out of my vision. Ahmose sensed something otherworldly, but he didn’t have my power to name them. When I did, they flared into view. I knew what they were and, more important, what they’d been. I saw no reason to cause Ahmose unrest by describing the scene in full detail, so I let him enjoy the pretty lights and kept my knowledge to myself. If he asked, I’d tell him. Otherwise, it might be a more pleasant journey for him if he didn’t know the sorrow of the place.

  I could smell the cool dankness of the Cosmic River as it worked, beating against the well. Over time it had caused small breaches. Little pools of the black water had collected here and there in hollowed-out, stony places. I crouched down, peering into one, and saw the lights of the hundreds of tiny creatures that made the river their home. They were no longer living.

  It was easy to understand how the human part of me had mistaken them for stars. They weren’t, of course, but the human mind was very limited. Admittedly, the lioness, the fairy, and the human had been exposed to much more than the average sentient being. Still, their perception of the cosmos was fractured. Hampered by their narrow views.

  The Sons of Egypt weren’t much more advanced, though they did have vast potential. That was appealing to me. I’d need a companion who could learn and grow.

  I stretched out my hand to Ahmose, and though he eyed me curiously, he took it and asked, “Do you know where to find them? I cannot sense their path.” His gleaming eyes peered at me in the darkness and then searched ahead, taking in things mortal eyes couldn’t.

  “No. You wouldn’t. Not down here. Even I cannot discern which chamber holds them. At least, not yet. I can tell you that this tomb, for this is indeed a tomb of the lost and broken, contains dozens of chambers, caves, and cisterns all attached by tunnels. To search them all, we’ll have to pass through them, and I guarantee that not all of them will be empty. Some of the things in here have been locked away for a long time. And some of them may be unhappy at being unearthed.” I paused and looked up at my companion. “Will you be able to retrace our path once we begin?”

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Then shall we proceed?”

  He gave a slight nod, and I turned toward an opening on the right. There was no particular reason to head in that direction except that the brush of air against my skin on the right was slightly warmer than on the left. I considered why I’d chosen it. The lioness was drawn to warmth. The human knew of fantastic stories that told of ghosts
being drawn to cold spots. She was right about that, though ghosts resided everywhere in the Well of Souls, not just in the cold. The fairy in me believed first impressions to be lucky, but I knew there was no such thing as luck. Taking these various concepts into consideration, I thought it might bode well for us to continue through the right passageway.

  We initially proceeded through a series of caverns without any harm. They weren’t exactly empty, but the beings residing there did not represent any danger for us. They were fading ghosts of creatures clinging to long dead bones, most likely the lost villagers from above who’d wandered down seeking either adventure or death.

  I studied Ahmose as we walked, letting him lead the way. Truthfully, it didn’t matter which path he chose; we’d have to continue our search until we found his brothers, no matter what we came across. Once he placed his hands on my waist and lifted me over a section of broken stone. I could have easily levitated over it, but I liked the feeling of his hands on my waist.

  He took my hand possessively in his, and we proceeded. I glanced up and noticed that his hair curled just beneath his glowing ear. It was still raven black and glossy against his sparkling skin. The contrast was quite becoming.

  The different girls whose minds I had access to all admired Ahmose for various reasons. One liked the rugged edge of his jaw. Another, his eyes. Ahmose had broad shoulders and a strong back. He was soft-spoken and kind. His lips invoked pleasant memories that tickled the edges of my mind.

  When I looked at him, all these feelings and thoughts were a part of me. They influenced the way I saw Ahmose and created a foundation, a connection to him that I wouldn’t otherwise have. The first glimpses I’d had of the world around me had come through the eyes of Tia, Lily, and Ashleigh. I understood who I could be and what it was to live as one of them by seeing into their hearts and minds.

  The human, still connected to me, had labeled me as some sort of monster. She thought I was like a Frankenstein. A creature made from different parts. One who terrorized and destroyed. But that wasn’t how I defined myself at all. The reason I’d come into being was not to ravage, but to unify. To see what was missing and add it. To discover what was unnecessary and remove it.

  But despite my dislike for her viewpoint, in a way, she was right. I was an amalgamation of sorts. I wasn’t wholly Lily or Tia or Ashleigh. I’d taken the most interesting pieces of each of them—the best parts of a human, a fairy, and a lioness—and grafted them onto myself. Granted, my body belonged to Lily, but there were subtle shifts inside the body that the human girl couldn’t have made happen on her own. I had some of the traits of the fairy and the lioness, but, unlike when they were a part of Lily, those traits were fully integrated into my body.

  For example, I could now infuse my human cells with the energy of living things. This ability was partially due to the fairy, who absorbed energy from forest trees, but the other part, channeling the power of the starlight, was something even she couldn’t do. As Wasret, I could regenerate indefinitely, the one noted exception being the removal of my head from my torso.

  Where Tia lent Lily her claws, I made them unbreakable. The arrows of Isis no longer limited me, for I could forge arrows of my own making if necessary. All I had to do to defeat an enemy was to whisper his name to the feathered shaft, and it would seek out the heart I’d named, no matter where it hid in the cosmos. But my purpose, despite what they believed, was not that of an avenging angel. I at least knew that much about myself.

  Then there was my ability to communicate mentally. It was no longer limited to my own internal workings like it had been with Lily, Tia, and Ashleigh. If I wanted to, I could mentally converse with Ahmose. But for the moment, I wanted to practice sharing my thoughts verbally. I delighted in the idea that I finally had my own voice, and yet now that I did, I didn’t know what to talk to him about first. I was so new and raw, I couldn’t yet be certain that anything that came to mind would be from my own thoughts and not from those of my predecessors, regardless.

  Despite the fact that I was powerful and knew things instinctively that others didn’t, my inner voices made me cautious and doubtful where Ahmose and his brothers were concerned. The emotions I felt when I considered them were raw and volatile. I didn’t experience these sentiments when confronting others.

  The idea that one or more of the Sons of Egypt might reject the opportunity to become my companion stung a part of my being that I didn’t yet understand. Perhaps this was due to the pieces of each girl I carried inside me. Though I knew I was unique, I couldn’t deny my own innermost workings. My way of viewing the cosmos and the beings who resided in it was tainted by their views, and yet I knew I could form my own opinions, which might or might not be widely varied from theirs.

  Where that thing that made me Wasret came from, I didn’t know.

  In fact, this joining was the first time I had become truly aware of myself as a distinct and separate entity. It was almost as if I’d been asleep, adrift in a womb-like space. The three girls had called to me, pulled me closer each time they came together. With each connection, I gained more sentience. At first I was simply a source of power. A merging of the three of them and their abilities. But now I was also something more.

  We came upon a cavern that housed what Ashleigh would believe to be a banshee. The creature wailed, singing of Ahmose’s death. Both his demise as a human from long ago, as well as each death he’d experienced since, and would yet encounter in the future. I could see the moment when Ahmose heard her beautiful song.

  “She sings of death,” I explained.

  “Strange that singing of death would be so beautiful.”

  “Your afterlife is not death, you know. True death is an instantaneous transition. It’s beautiful beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. It’s glacier blue and sun-drenched gold. It’s harmony, contentment, and perfection. You see, death is an awakening, not an ending, like most beings believe. Her song is just a tiny glimpse of what awaits you.”

  “The idea of peace holds appeal for me. Do you…do you believe that a true death is still possible for me? For my brothers?”

  “Yes. It is still within your reach. A true death is even possible for me.”

  “Wasret?” he asked.

  “Yes, Ahmose?”

  “Is Ashleigh or Tia or Lily dead?”

  I wrinkled my nose as I considered his question. It didn’t hurt me that he asked. Not really. The fairy surged up at his inquiry, blooming like a dying flower, and Ahmose’s words were the sustenance she needed. She wanted to break away, free herself from the bond. But I was stronger now. I was able to hold her back and stay in control.

  “No. They are not dead. They reside in me. They are a part of me.” I did not deceive him. The three girls were still with me and would be until my steps in this realm were certain and I did not need to lean on them for aid. Even after that their voices would remain as echoes in my mind that would forever influence me.

  “I see.”

  “Does this bother you?”

  “No. I am glad that they aren’t dead.”

  “But you wish they were here instead of me.” I didn’t know why I said it. There was something inside that desperately wanted to know the answer to the question, even though logically, I knew the answer didn’t make a difference. Not with the future looming before us, hovering like a great stone over our heads. It would drop long before we were ready.

  Ahmose considered his reply for a stretched-out minute. “I am happy to be here with you. But I am also happy to know that they are not gone forever. You must be aware that I have seen glimpses of you and I together like this when I studied my path.”

  “Yes. I know of it. It frightened the three that were here before me.”

  “It particularly bothered them because they thought it might mean losing themselves.” He winced slightly. “And my two brothers.”

  I frowned. “Your brothers might not accept me and what I am as easily as you do. As for the three girls,
they are not lost. They are still here,” I explained to Ahmose patiently. I sensed it would take time for him to understand this concept.

  “They are,” he said. “But they have no control. They cannot decide where they will go or what they will do. Their existence is limited now.”

  “Limited? How are they limited when they will be witnesses to wonders beyond their imagining? When their lent strength will brighten the dark corners of the cosmos?”

  Ahmose appeared ready to continue the conversation, but then he held back and offered me a small smile and his arm instead. “Speaking of my brothers, we should find them, don’t you think?”

  “Yes,” I answered, taking his arm.

  The man at my side slid his eyes away from me, and a prickly inner turmoil erupted as a result. He was quiet as we passed through a series of empty caves. I bit my lip, concerned that something I’d said had upset him. I didn’t want him to misunderstand me. The human part of me had read his body language and knew something was wrong.

  Strangely, the fairy was racked with emotions of grief. The lioness wasn’t terribly concerned with his reaction to what I’d said or done. A lioness didn’t bother with emotions. She relied on instinct and focused on the task at hand without letting her mind wander to other things.

  Weighing my options, I decided to adopt the response of the lioness in this case and, as soon as I made the decision, the weeping of the fairy and the concern of the human melted away quickly, like starlight through spread fingers. It was a relief not to have a cacophony of opinions attempting to sway my own, each possessing the illusion of control.

  We trod a path through a long corridor and came upon a fork. “Which way?” Ahmose asked, more to himself than me, as he pondered the choices.

  As I stared down the one on the left, my eyes glazed, something whispered softly to me from its depths. My mind churned, laboring like a grindstone over wheat, and yet the thing that transfixed me remained elusive. It beckoned as it moved through holes in the rock and sank itself farther into the dark, panting its hot breath into the air.