“That much is likely true, though I do not see how I may strangle my prey with teeth duller than a newborn cub’s.”
We’re not biting into the jugular of anything, I warned her.
Dr. Hassan went on. “ ‘She is a fierce hunter, has ferocious strength, and is typically depicted with the head of a woman, the body of a lioness, and the wings of an eagle.’ ”
At least two of those are accurate, Tia said to me inwardly.
Shhh. I’m listening, I chastised.
“ ‘She is a protector and a shield. The guardian of the eastern and western horizon. She walks the paths of yesterdays and tomorrows. She’s associated with death and rebirth, which is entirely obvious at this point, and once her wrath has been unleashed, only her mate can cool her blood.’ ”
Interesting, Tia said. And the places where her thoughts took me made me blush.
Stop it and pay attention.
He’s taking too long, she complained.
This is important!
“ ‘She stands between mankind and the Dark One of the cosmos, absorbing the tides of evil he rains down upon the world.’ ”
Oscar glanced up at me when he said it, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. “Seth,” I whispered.
He gave a brief nod, acknowledging he’d heard me. “ ‘In one myth, the sphinx is thought to be responsible for the destruction of mankind, but another says she sees through the eyes of Amun-Ra and uses that power to save the universe.’ ” Sighing, he closed his little notebook. “As you can see, the conflicting stories and brief descriptions won’t be of much assistance. But I will endeavor to obtain everything I can on the legends of the sphinx while you are away, and hopefully I’ll find something that will…help.”
Dr. Hassan looked at me with raised eyebrows and a meaningful nod. I knew what he meant. He wanted me to know that he’d try to find a way to get me back to normal, to separate me from Tia. What he didn’t know is that Tia caught, if not the full meaning, then the gist of the idea, and the concept made her…not angry as I would have believed, but sad.
Don’t worry, I assured her. We’re in this together. It’s unlikely this is anything but permanent, and even if it could be reversed, I wouldn’t do it if it meant you’d die.
She hesitated before speaking. There is no need to dwell on the likelihood of it at present, but should such a thing ever be possible, I would move on.
That I was shocked at the firmness of her resolve was an understatement.
Dr. Hassan interrupted our inward communication. “I apologize that this is all I was able to come up with while you were gone, Lily.”
“Thank you,” I said, attempting to take control of my body again. I found it interesting that I nearly had to push the words out through my lips. Tia wasn’t feeling grateful at all. “It is more information than we had before,” I said with a voice that felt stilted and unnatural. “It will have to be enough.”
It isn’t really enough, though, is it? Tia countered mentally as she reasserted control and raised my arm to study her too-human hand, wishing once again to release the dangerous claws.
Though I knew the claws made her feel more like her old self, they freaked me out. What worried me more was what would happen if she decided to stay in control of my body. Could I get it back? Would I be relegated to watching her live a life, my life, and not be able to do anything to prevent it?
Stop. Please? I added. Asking her to withdraw.
After a tense moment, she did. But I felt her resentment and the loss she experienced as I relinquished her to a lesser role again. Now I knew how it felt being a passenger in someone else’s body.
She’d either hidden the worst of it from me or it didn’t bother her as much. If my little taste of having claws was any indication, I would go insane if the situation was reversed and I was the one confined in the body of a lioness. Tia sensed my panic at being mentally caged and her disgruntled feelings disappeared. They were replaced by a soothing sort of empathy. She understood. And that was when I knew she was a stronger…soul than I was.
Perhaps that was the reason, if the opportunity presented itself, she’d rather disappear than be locked in the same form with me for eternity. Assuming, of course, that we were now immortal. Which I guess we weren’t, since the other sphinx was no longer around. I wasn’t sure what all this meant for the two of us, but we both thought it better not to dwell on it for too long.
Dr. Hassan stood. “Isis instructed me to give you these weapons. They are the ones I recovered from the cave.”
He lifted a sort of harness that fit over the shoulders, and there was a long metal stick in each of the two pockets. Reaching out, I took one and pulled it free. The weapon was sharpened on the end that had been resting in the scabbard.
“Ah,” Tia exhaled the sentiment as she stretched out my other hand and took hold of the other weapon. There was an awkward moment of scrabbling for control as my body was literally pulled in two places at once. Both of us froze.
I apologize, Tia said. I did not mean to assert myself.
It’s okay, I replied. It has to be hard to always be a passenger.
I will watch for now.
I’m sure you’re the better fighter, though.
There is no one to fight at the moment. Take this opportunity to learn.
Dr. Hassan watched us with a barely concealed expression of alarm. “How are you feeling, Lily?”
“I’m good,” I answered while giving him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “It’s just going to take some getting used to.”
“Indeed.”
“So, tell me what this weapon is for.”
“Ah!” He seemed excited and in his true element then. “This is a very rare and ancient weapon used by the gods. Much like Amon’s scimitars, these spears can be used in close combat, but they are also distance weapons.”
“Spears?” They looked more like long sai knives than spears, but the tines on the side were nearly as long as the shaft, like three-pronged machetes. The three elongated blades on each weapon were wicked-looking and came to a sharp point at the tip. “Aren’t they a little short for spears?” I asked.
He held out his hands and I dropped the heavy handle into his palm. When he touched a raised knob in the center, a kind of hidden spring caused them to elongate into full-sized spears. Inside my head, Tia was almost purring with happiness. With a quick press of the button, the weapon compacted back into a size that would fit into the scabbard.
Oscar helped me put on the leather harness and buckle it across my shoulders. “You can use them for both slicing and stabbing at close range or to impale at long range,” he said.
Experimenting, I reached up behind my neck and drew out the spears. They seemed to fit my hands perfectly. I rotated them in my palms, relishing their weight, and was surprised at the natural agility I displayed when wielding them.
I threw one and the head of the spear sank almost liquidly into the thick trunk of a tree a good distance away.
I was about to ask how I felt so comfortable with the weapons when Tia explained. It is likely our instinct. Your senses have been heightened, including your sense of space and touch. Just as I am able to calculate the speed and distance between me and my prey.
But surely it’s more than just the abilities of a lioness, I replied. You’ve never handled a weapon like that before, and it was like I already knew how.
She answered matter-of-factly. We are sphinx. You drew upon the power inside us. I felt it. Did you not?
Now that she mentioned it, I had felt something. A kind of current that ran through me the moment my intention to draw the weapon entered my mind. Distracting me from my thoughts, she asked impatiently, The other one?
I gestured to the other form protruding from his bag. “You have a bow, too, I see.”
“Yes,” Dr. Hassan said as he snapped out of his awe-filled stare and crouched down next to the boulder.
He brought me a gleaming bow
carved with images I didn’t understand. I ran my fingertip along each groove, wondering what they meant. When I showed them to Oscar, he shrugged and said, “I have never seen them before and I hesitate to guess. I would imagine this is what Isis meant about learning along the journey.”
The quiver was full of arrows tipped with gleaming white feathers edged in gold. He saw me fingering one. “They are the feathers of Isis,” he explained. “Their aim is always true, but as you can see, there are a limited number of them. Use them wisely.”
With my weapons strapped on, Dr. Hassan paused. He looked at me with a strange mixture of sympathy and as if I were one of the gods he revered. Finally, he sighed. “I wish I knew how to better assist you.” He paced a few steps off. “If only I could accompany you.”
“If it helps, I wish you could go with me, too.”
He crushed his fedora in his hands. “It’s simply not possible. I asked Isis. I begged her to the point of risking her wrath as I waited here for you, and the only answer I received is that I’d never make it through. Only you are meant to do this. Only you can save Amon. All I can do is prepare you for your journey to the beyond, and to do that I must seal upon you the Heart of the Sphinx, the final piece of the spell.” When I nodded, he said, “Repeat after me.”
As he spoke, each word seemed to latch on to my being, as if each piece of me that he listed in such a way manifested itself physically.
“My hair flows as a lion’s mane. It is my shield.
My face is comely and shines with the brightness of the sun
My eyes see into dark places and open secret caverns
My ears can locate a scarab buried in a desert
My nose can scent a flower petal sunk in the depths of the ocean
My voice is mellifluous and imperils all who listen
My lips are drawn wide to swallow the souls of the evil
My teeth are sharpened weapons aimed for the cruel and crookbacked
My muscles are warmed and ready for battle
My belly is not soft but is as rigid as a boulder
My body is lissome; my form dangerous and enticing
My feet are ready to carry me past hidden doorways
My claws seek your demise and will unravel you utterly
My wings will ward off evil and triumph over my enemies.”
As he finished the last part of the spell, a sharp pain shot up my back that nearly ground me into the dust at my feet. Slowly, I arose and knew that I would never be the same person, the same woman, the same creature again. I was not human. I was not lioness. I was sphinx. I lifted my arm, and though it looked the same, I knew there was an increased hardness in my muscles. My skin tingled from the roots of my hair down to my toes.
My being, the core of who I was, had changed, and yet, from what I could see, I still looked like me. I wondered if I stared into a mirror would I see the same eyes staring back at me or would I see a stranger? Would Amon even view me the same when I saw him? Could he learn to care for the being I’d become? I steeled my shoulders, knowing that it didn’t matter. He needed to be saved and I—no, we were the only ones who could do it.
Dr. Hassan, who now looked at me with even more veneration, quickly explained, “The place you are seeking is called Duat. It is the home of Amun-Ra. You can only access it during the day and discover the entrance to it through a tomb. I can take you to one that’s only a few hours away.”
I lifted my nose and closed my eyes. Tia’s mind joined with mine and we spoke as one in thought. It felt right and seamless somehow. If my voice was the wind, then hers was a deep tide pool stirred by the wind. “There is a forgotten tomb belonging to a lost traveler much closer. We will find the way ourselves.”
Fretfully, Oscar nodded, as if he’d expected such an answer. And because he seemed pained to leave me in the state I was in, we left him instead. We journeyed across the landscape until I could no longer make out the rise where Oscar stood; then, knowing what I needed to do, I raised my hands and called upon the power of the sphinx, bidding the wind to expose the hidden tomb I sensed below. Grains of sand started to shift, and then thousands of stinging granules rose, guiding us toward our destination. After the wind died down, we stepped forward.
The dark cavern that the wind had exposed held the skeleton of a man who’d died in the desert long ago. Though it wasn’t an official tomb like the one Oscar had been considering, it would do for our purposes.
Channeling the power residing inside us, we blew out a soft breath. It ruffled the worm-ridden clothes of the dead man and punched a hole in the darkness of his deathbed. The hole grew, stretching like a fragile bubble until it was nearly big enough for us to step through.
It was a path to another realm, a dimension unlike either of our worlds. My mind interpreted it as a wormhole, but Tia didn’t understand this. To her it was a whirlpool in a black pond leading to a place she had no knowledge of or wish to discover. We both sensed the problem at the same time.
We’re going to need help, she said.
Yes. I contemplated the obstacle and then a memory surfaced. I think I know what to do, I murmured.
Closing my eyes, I chanted the spell Amon had practiced with me and imbued my words with all our energies. A short time later, the dune next to us shifted and roiled.
What is it? Tia said, fearing a large serpent or a pack of jackals.
A friend, I answered with a small smile.
A moment later, a huge figure burst through in an explosion of sand. The great beast nickered softly and trotted toward us, his coat sparkling in the sun like mica. He was beautiful. Much larger than the horses Amon had called before. Stepping up to him, I ran a hand down his silky neck and tried to calm Tia, who was frantic at being near him.
I have answered your summons, Sphinx. Where do you wish to go?
“We are headed to Duat,” I answered.
That is a long journey, and a dangerous one.
“Will you not be able to take us?” I asked.
The stallion stomped his golden hooves and flicked his tail in irritation. Of course I am able to take you, he declared. I am Nebu!
I held out my hand and Nebu stepped closer, pressing his nose into it. Just as his moist exhale tickled my sensitive palm, Tia took full possession of my body, snatched my hand away, and reached for the blades at my back. In a flash she raised the sharpened edge of a mini spear to the great neck of the golden stallion, touching the spiky point of a second to his chest.
“Stay away from us, Unadorned One,” she spat at the gleaming horse.
Tia! What are you doing? I hissed as I tried to reassert control over my own body. He’s here to help us!
“He is not here to help us!” she cried. “This…unicorn”—she hissed the word as if it were something hateful and ugly—“is here to steal you away. You obviously do not understand what he is capable of.”
What on earth are you talking about? He isn’t a unicorn. He’s a horse. Granted, he’s a magical-Egyptian-pretty-much-indestructible-possibly-made-of-sand-immortal horse, but he is a horse. Haven’t you ever seen one before?
“Of course I’ve seen horses before. I’m not a cub, Lily. And he’s as much a horse as I am a house cat. Can’t you see it?”
See what?
“The place where his alicorn used to be.”
I looked more closely at Nebu, and there was a sort of muted glow coming from a spot in the center of his head, but his whole body gleamed enough that I’d assumed it was an especially bright section of his coat.
What’s an alicorn? I asked.
“It is the symbol of his power. He has been stripped of it, like all of his kind. That is why I called him Unadorned. It is an insult to all unicorns. They don’t like to be reminded of their shame.”
Shame?
The stallion bobbed his head and stomped his feet. What is this? Who are you? he mentally shouted, flicking his tail in irritation.
Tia ignored his question and shouted, “Lily is not the
fragile virgin you are seeking!”
What I’m seeking? I seek nothing! he sneered. I might have expected riddles from you, Lady Sphinx, but your words cut to the quick, and I have done nothing to deserve the heaping abuse you’ve piled upon me. I only came here as a favor to the young man wielding the Eye of Horus. It would have been much easier to send one of my children, but he pleaded in such an eloquent manner and expounded upon the virtues of the one he loved so movingly that I decided I wanted to meet you myself. Suffice it to say, I am disappointed. And Zahra, my daughter who carried you to the oasis, spoke so highly of you, too.
“We don’t need you or your special brand of assistance. Seek an innocent elsewhere, for you won’t lay your head in this virgin’s lap!”
Nebu eyed us as if we were a creature he’d never seen before and trotted a distance away.
Tia! First of all, I don’t appreciate the hostile takeover of my body, especially without even a tiny warning. Second, you have no business talking about my virginity or lack thereof with anyone, especially a guy, er, horse. I’d rather not have the fact that I am still a virgin, because my mummy boyfriend pretty much kept his hands to himself right up until his untimely death, advertised everywhere. It’s not that I’m ashamed or anything. It’s just that there has to be some kind of boundary established between us. We need to come up with some rules about what we will and won’t share publicly about each other. Third, what is your deal? Why are you acting like this? What’s your problem with horses and/or unicorns?
“I will not talk about this here. Especially in front of him. He’s dangerous, Lily. You do not understand how monstrous his kind can be.”
Nebu circled around us now, bobbing his head up and down. I suspected the only reason he hadn’t left yet was because of Amon, and I knew to the depths of my soul that we needed him. Seeing that Tia was happy about driving him off, and brandished her knives to give him further motivation, only made matters worse. I needed to manage the situation.