“Medjed,” she said, “Please go outside and keep a lookout. Warn me if anyone is coming, all right?”
Medjed nodded, then slipped out from beneath the cloth, leaving it to fall to the floor in a heap. Seizing her opportunity, the cat walked over to the fabric, turned in a circle, and lay down on it to sleep.
Satisfied, Neff returned to her work.To Enthrall a Man, she read, making a note on her papyrus.Take a lock of hair from theman you wish to enthrall and soak it in blood from your own hand for one night. Fasten the hair to a waxen figure inscribed with the man’s name and burn it in sacred fire while speaking these words…
15Sita
Sita sat at the bottom of the dark pit, gripping her candle like a lifeline. Karim’s rapid footsteps had faded into silence, and the only sound that remained were her own panicked breaths.
He’ll be back soon, she assured herself.He promised.
She sat uncomfortably on the pile of rubble, leaning her back against the wall of the pit. Rocks poked her, and every time she shifted, a bolt of pain lanced up her leg. She’d told Karim that it wasn’t broken, but something in her ankle had snapped on impact.
She didn’t want him to worry.
Or maybe she didn’t want to admit to herself that in an instant, all her plans had been dashed.
If her ankle was broken, how would she escape Perset and make the journey across the desert back to Khetara? Stopping both Mery and Setnakht already felt like an impossible task, and now this…
I am a fool, she thought miserably.How did I ever think I could succeed?
Sita sat up and gritted her teeth against the pain.
Stop thinking and focus on the candlelight. Wait for Karim to return.
She stared at the flame, doing her best to steady her breathing. At first, the light was still, but after a while it began to flicker.
How is there a breeze down here?She squinted into the darkness, but the candle only illuminated a small area around her. For all she knew, the pit might lead to a tunnel. If she were able to walk, she could explore her surroundings, but that was out of the question.
The breeze flowing toward her strengthened. It carried a scent as strange and familiar as a forgotten dream.
The flame guttered.
“No! Please!” Sita cried, shielding the candle with her hand.
The light went out.
Darkness swept in, thick and stifling and complete. She dropped the candle and wrapped her arms around herself, a hysterical moan of terror rising in her throat. Whether her eyes were open or closed made no difference at all.
Suddenly, it was very hard to breathe.
Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think—
The weight of the darkness pressed inward, growing heavier, crushing her. She felt her body disappear into the void, piece by piece—first her feet, then her legs, then her hands and body and neck, until she was only a mouth struggling to breathe and a mind drowning in despair.
There, in the pit, she’d fallen into the very place where she’d buried all her guilt and shame. With no love or light to drive them away, they threatened to consume her whole.
In the darkness, she heard Maet’s mother crying over her daughter’s body.
She saw the dead on the floor of the Horus Room.
She felt Mery’s breath in her ear and heard the words thatturned her world upside down.
Just as Osiris had his sister-wife Isis and Set had Nephthys, so will I have you.
Little by little, the memories began to tear her apart.
“Please,” she said, sending a prayer into the endless silence. “Someone help me.”
