Many things. Your quick thinking. Your level of courage in the face of death. Your determination. But most of all, your heart.
“You could sense all of that?”
Yes. Your heart is a good one. The strength that centers it is love. There is no ambition or greed in you. From my perspective, the only thing holding you back is the limitation you put upon yourself. You cage your desires and your passions and willingly live in captivity. You know what you want but are afraid to reach for it. That you were able to come this far speaks to the depth of feeling in your heart. When I discovered these things about you, I thought I might be able to help you embrace that side of yourself and unlock the things you keep most hidden. This is why I accepted you and gave up what I was to help you become your most powerful self.
I didn’t know what to say. Having Tia with me was like having a guardian angel who understood everything. Who accepted my strengths and weaknesses and was willing to stick with me and loan a supporting hand regardless of whatever trouble I found myself in. And I was about to find myself in a mess of trouble.
“Thank you. For believing in me, I mean.”
I am not the only one. Your mate has an abiding trust in you as well.
“How do you know that?”
He spoke to you last night as he wandered the netherworld.
“He did?”
Yes. You didn’t see that part. The young man wasn’t aware that I was listening in, but he hoped you’d understand his message just the same.
“What did he say?”
Flowery things. Most of his words were insignificant, meaningless emotional professions of various lengths. The only time I really paid attention was when he spoke words of encouragement and of how he looked forward to your reunion, as dangerous as such a thing may be.
I slowly let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
You…you wish to hear his words of devotion?
“They mean everything to me,” I admitted.
Then next time I will make an effort to pay better attention. To me he sounded much like a lovesick bullfrog in mating season, croaking in an ever-increasingly flamboyant manner to capture the attention of his intended female.
I laughed. Especially when I realized that her thoughts contradicted her words. Amon’s words of devotion had touched her, though she didn’t truly understand the purpose of it. “Just you wait until it happens to you, my friend,” I said. Then I sobered when I realized she was no longer going to get the chance to fall in love if lions even did.
Quietly, I asked, “Do you love your male counterpart? He was a rather handsome lion.”
Our notion of love is different. I am bonded to my family, not to one lion in particular. We function as a cohesive unit. Each one is important. We do not seek to isolate ourselves from the others like you do.
“We bond with our families, too, but when we choose a partner, a mate, we want that relationship to be special, different. Something magical that exists only between the two of us.”
I am not sure that your way is better than mine. As you can see, your exclusive bond with this male means you mourn when he is removed from your immediate proximity.
“That’s true,” I admitted. “I feel broken without him. A bit lost.”
You sacrifice much for a slim chance at happiness. A steady, productive life might be more fulfilling.
“That sounds too much like the life my parents have planned for me.”
I did not mean you shouldn’t explore and do the things that please you. I meant that it is important to find moments of joy in the here and now, not to set all your hopes upon one dream, upon one man.
“I’ll take it under consideration.”
Thank you.
It wasn’t that she was wrong exactly. I never wanted to be one of those girls who pined her life away for a man. But I never imagined someone such as Amon either. I ran my palm across the heart scarab at my waist and felt a little flutter jolt through me. My heart was tied to his, and until it wasn’t, I’d do anything in my power to be with him.
I could now smell Oscar but I couldn’t see him. It was noon and the sun was directly overhead. Cupping my hand over my eyes to shade them, I turned in a circle. A sound behind me caught my attention and I spun around quickly, crouching down, ready to attack.
Dr. Hassan dropped a full canteen, the water gushing out in thick waves like a heart that had been stabbed. He stood there, the shock registering on his face as he scrutinized me.
“Lily? What have you done?”
Slowly, I straightened, rounding my shoulders, the bones cracking from the release of my tense muscles. “What do you mean, ‘What have I done?’ ” I said. “Haven’t I accomplished what you sent me out to do? You should be pleased that I didn’t die on the journey.”
Oscar’s mouth was gaping open as he took in my appearance. “You…you,” he finally stammered, “have the huntress with you now.”
“Yes. We are here,” Tia replied using my voice, which irritated me and downright shocked Dr. Hassan.
“But…Lily. You have merged your forms.”
“Wasn’t that what we were supposed to do?”
“Yes. No.” He shook his head. “Not exactly.”
I put my hands on my hips and watched as he removed his hat and ran a hand through his short white hair, making it stand on end. He then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. “I don’t understand what you’re so upset about,” I said. Then, seeing him continue to dab at his forehead, I added, “Maybe you need to sit down.”
Guiding him over to a fallen tree and retrieving his canteen, I bade him to drink a long swallow before I sprinkled the remaining water over his handkerchief and pressed it against his slightly sunburned cheeks. I allowed myself to briefly marvel at how my very pale skin had not been sunburned at all, considering how much sun exposure I’d had. Actually, the heat didn’t bother me nearly as much now as it did when we’d first arrived.
“There,” I said. “Now, tell me what we did wrong.”
“We?” He wrung his handkerchief in his hands. “That’s just it. There shouldn’t be a ‘we.’ ”
I frowned and then realized what he must be talking about. “Oh, yes. Tia told me that it would take time for our minds to merge. She assures me it’s normal.”
“Tia? Normal?” Dr. Hassan squeaked. “Now, listen to me, Lily, and do not withhold the truth,” he admonished, taking my hands into his. I nodded, the confusion likely evident on my face. “When you”—he paused, as if searching for the right word—“joined with the huntress, did her body disappear?”
“Yes,” I answered frankly.
“And did you…kill her?”
“No!” I exclaimed, aghast at the very notion that I could cause harm to Tia. “She gave up her physical form.”
“Oh dear.” He sighed and glanced at my eyes as if searching for something and then looked away, as if he couldn’t stand what he found. “That is what I feared.”
“I’m afraid I don’t grasp what all the fuss is about.”
“Yes! Speak your thoughts clearly, old one. What do you accuse us of?”
I clapped my hands over my mouth, then hissed, “Tia! Let me do the talking.”
In my mind she responded, You do not say the words you wish to say for fear of hurting his feelings. I prefer directness.
Noted, I shot.
I proceeded to ask the next question she really wanted to know but managed to rephrase it in such a way as to be a bit more polite. “You’re acting a bit like a harbinger of doom,” I said with a half laugh that dried up in my throat as quickly as the water from his canteen disappeared into the sand. My feeble attempt at lightening the mood failed miserably. “Tell us what we did wrong, please.”
“Lily,” Dr. Hassan began. “You were supposed to slay the huntress.”
“Slay her? You never said that!”
“It was implied.”
“Not really.”
&nb
sp; Why is he upset about this? Tia asked, an edge to her thoughts that I couldn’t identify.
I don’t know. Out loud, I asked, “What difference does it make? Her physical form is gone. She gave it up.”
“You don’t understand. She was supposed to try to kill you, and you her. One of you would die, and the one who survived would absorb the energies of the fallen.”
“The spell said we’d both die.”
“Yes, in reabsorbing the power of the fallen, the old you would die and be reborn. The huntress is not supposed to sacrifice her own life. At least, not in this manner.”
“Okay.” I waved my hand in the air, flustered and altogether unhappy at the cryptic meanings and ambiguous instructions I’d received thus far. Tia was right to ask for more direct communication. “So she did. It is what it is. What difference does it make?” I asked.
“The difference, Lily, is that irrepressible changes will start to happen within you.”
“Clarify,” Tia said, and this time Oscar was upset enough that he didn’t seem to notice that she was the one who’d asked and not me.
“If you had slain the huntress as you were supposed to,” Dr. Hassan explained, “then you would have absorbed her energies, her power. You would have earned the right to harness them. Her awareness of herself would be gone. Only her instinct would remain. Because she sacrificed herself, and you allowed her to merge with you rather than take what was hers, the two of you will share a body along with the power of a sphinx. Essentially, you will no longer have complete control over yourself. This phenomenon is already evident, as you have spoken without meaning to.”
“Isis should have told me what I was supposed to do.”
Oscar shook his head. “You were meant to discover your purpose on your journey.”
“Well, I did a bang-up job of that, then, didn’t I?”
So now I was going to lose myself to the mind of the lioness? How could Oscar and Isis let me go without telling me something so vital? They’d said to embrace my instinct, and my feelings had never once told me to kill. How could I have messed this up so completely? And an even more startling notion entered my mind—what if this mistake I’d made could somehow hinder me from saving Amon?
I searched my memories for the moment when I’d let the whole thing fall apart, but I couldn’t pinpoint any one error. Could it be possible that I wasn’t meant to kill her? That my instincts had been correct after all? I tried to cling to that hope, but it was hard to do when Dr. Hassan seemed so sure that this wasn’t going to end well. Tia had withdrawn so completely that I could barely feel her presence. Stunned, I sat down next to Oscar and cupped my head in my hands. “What’s going to happen to me?” I whispered. “And what does this mean for Amon?”
He blew out a breath. “There is no reason to believe you will not be able to wield the power of the sphinx, and that is what you will need to access the netherworld. As far as your unique problem goes, I don’t know everything about the lore of the sphinx, but I will share with you all that I can and hope you will find something therein of value.
“The best case I can think of is that the two of you will accomplish your purpose and will somehow find harmony and be able to reside peacefully in the same form. But I must warn you, there is a very real possibility that the huntress will overpower you and the person you are will be lost. The path you walk, you must walk together. If not, the tug-of-war for the right to control your body will begin.”
I breathed in and out slowly. Focusing on each inhale and exhale, feeling like the presence that had become a part of me had utterly betrayed me. I wanted to claw her away from my mind, but it was impossible. A tiny whimper escaped from my lips instead as I realized the depth of what I’d agreed to do.
You knew this? I accused. That I was supposed to kill you?
In a small voice, Tia admitted, I did.
How could you?
For a long moment, she didn’t answer, and when she did, the words were not what I expected.
I am not a coward, so put thoughts of that nature far from your mind. I do not fear death. At first when you entered our territory, I wondered if you were even strong enough to defeat me. As I chased you, your redolent stench of fear was disappointing. You smelled like prey. Not a worthy adversary at all.
But then you called out to me. Challenged me. The sign of a worthy heart. A heroine’s spirit. You’d passed the test and had the right to your boon. But the boon you sought was not what I expected.
Your heart spoke of love and family. I was surprised to discover that you hadn’t come seeking my death at all, though I knew that was supposed to have been your purpose. I focused on your heart, trying to sense what you were going to do. Your deep loneliness was nearly unbearable, and that emotion was echoed within me. Since the death of my sister I’d felt alone even in a pride as large as mine was. I decided to give you a choice and offered myself up to you. If you killed me, then I would have accepted it.
You had incentive and had the means. There were jagged branches nearby that could have easily been used to thrust into my neck or eye. You could have had a knife on you as well, for all I knew. The choice was entirely in your hands. My life was yours for the taking. My heart was ready for the sacrifice.
I hadn’t even noticed the branches. She was right that killing her was not on my mind. My instincts had told me to give myself over to her, and it appeared that drive had been echoed in her as well.
When enough time had passed, I assumed then that you wanted what I wanted. The secret wish of my heart. To have a sister once again. If this was not your desire, then I am sorry, Lily. I assure you that it was never my intention to draw you away from your course or to eradicate your essence to assert my own will. If you doubt this, you have the ability to read my heart as well as I can read yours.
When her thoughts quieted, I closed my eyes and felt for her warm presence inside my mind. At first I was only aware of a heartbeat, and I wasn’t sure if that was merely the beat of my own corporeal heart or if there was a part of her that still existed on another plane. Stretching beyond the physical, I went deeper and Tia bared her soul to me. I wasn’t sure how long we were inwardly communicating, but when I opened my eyes, I had the answer I was searching for.
“Tia is a part of me now, Dr. Hassan. You don’t need to worry about us. We’ll work well together. The only exception being her craving for raw meat. That’s going to have to change. A rare steak or some sushi every so often is all you’re going to get.”
Oscar looked at me for a long time and then nodded. “I hope for your sake you’re right, Lily.”
Reaching over, I took his fingers and squeezed. “We’ll be okay. I promise.”
He gave me a worried nod and then said, “Well, I suppose the first thing we need to do is show you your weapons.”
As I followed him over to his dusty bag, which he’d left in the shadow of a large boulder, I said, “We will miss our claws.”
He seemed uncomfortable by my use of the plural, but he recovered quickly, coughed, and said, “About that. You have claws.”
I could feel the sudden thrill in Tia. “Wait. Do you mean we have a weapon that looks like claws?”
“No. You’ll have to draw on the power of the sphinx to make them appear.”
“How do we do that?” Tia asked through me, but then apologized and took a mental backseat again.
He replied, “Normally, I’d say you have to channel the huntress, but since she’s there…”
“I should just let her take over?”
“That would be my guess.”
When I nodded and figuratively turned over the keys to Tia, it was a strange feeling. I became smaller somehow. It was as if I was seeing things from a distance. It wasn’t a frightening thing. In fact, I felt protected, as if I’d been shrouded in a warm blanket and I could just sit back and let someone else take the reins for a change.
In a sort of fog, I half listened to Oscar instructing Tia on how to channel her
power, and when she called upon it, an electric burst of energy surged through my body. I was suddenly very alert but my own senses were numb. With fascination I watched my hands change.
There wasn’t any pain, only a fiery sort of warmth that burned, but not in a bad way. The bones lengthened, a liquid heat tingling toward each of my fingertips, until an extra knuckle formed. Power rushed down my arms and silver light emerged from the tips and flowed out from each digit until finally solidifying into steel claws. I twitched my fingers and lifted them in fascination.
Holy Egyptian Heaven, I thought. I’m Wolverine!
Tia didn’t understand my reference, but the exhilaration she experienced was indescribable. She felt invincible, more like her true self. She waved the claws in the air before testing them out by scratching a large boulder. A chunk of stone carved completely off the rock. Oh boy. We’d better be careful with those, I warned her.
“They are perfect,” she murmured aloud, causing Dr. Hassan to wince yet again.
Uh, how do we get back to normal? I asked, not as comfortable with my new set of claws as Tia was. Tia voiced my concern to Dr. Hassan.
“You retract them,” he said. “Reabsorb the power into your core.”
Before I could even ponder what to do, the claws had disappeared and I was staring at my own pale hands once more.
Easy, Tia said to me with a smirk that I could tell was showing on my face.
“This is not the only power you will have at your disposal,” Oscar added, twitching as he glanced my way, as if uncomfortable to be addressing my inner lioness instead of me. “There are other powers that Isis hinted at that you will discover on your journey. They will manifest only when you’re ready to wield them. I am aware of some legends that may lend inspiration but they could be complete fabrications as well. You are the only one, er, ones who will be able to determine the reality of your gifts. Calling forth your claws is the easiest to master since the huntress is well versed in how to use them.”
He gave us a sheepish look and said, “I wish I’d had more time. This is everything I could remember off the top of my head. I hope some of it helps.” He ran his fingertip down the notebook and began. “ ‘A sphinx is said to have the power to manipulate the wind, find the truth in a man’s words, and kill by strangulation.’ ”