The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2)(99)

Typical man, I thought. Only seeing the surface. But I kept my mouth shut.

“Anyway,” Bes sighed, “Bast treated me like a little brother. She still does. Has no interest in me at all, but it took me a long time to realize that. I was so obsessed, I wasn’t very good to Tawaret over the years.”

“But she came to get you in Russia,” I said.

He nodded. “I sent out distress calls. I thought Bast would come to my aid. Or Horus. Or somebody. I didn’t know where they all were, you understand, but I had a lot of friends back in the old days. I figured somebody would show up. The only one who did was Tawaret. She risked her life sneaking into the palace during the dwarf wedding. She saw the whole thing—saw me humiliated in front of the big folk. During the night, she broke my cage and freed me. I owe her everything. But once I was free…I just fled. I was so ashamed, I couldn’t look at her. Every time I think of her, I think about that night, and I hear the laughing.”

The pain in his voice was raw, as if he were describing something that had happened yesterday, not three centuries ago.

“Bes, it isn’t her fault,” I said gently. “She cares about you. It’s obvious.”

“It’s too late,” he said. “I’ve hurt her too much. I wish I could turn back the clock, but…”

He faltered. Tawaret was walking toward us, leading the frog goddess by the arm.

“Now, dear,” Tawaret said, “just come with us, and we’ll find your room. No need for leaping.”

“But it’s a leap of faith,” Heket croaked. (I mean she made that sound; she didn’t die in front of us, thankfully.) “My temple is around here somewhere. It was in Qus. Lovely city.”

“Yes, dear,” Tawaret said. “But your temple is gone now. All our temples are gone. You have a nice bedroom, though—”

“No,” Heket murmured. “The priests will have sacrifices for me. I have to…”

She fixed her large yellow eyes on me, and I understood how a fly must feel right before it’s zapped by a frog tongue.

“That’s my priestess!” Heket said. “She’s come to visit me.”

“No, dear,” Tawaret said. “That’s Sadie Kane.”

“My priestess.” Heket patted my shoulder with her moist webbed hand, and I did my best not to cringe. “Tell the temple to start without me, will you? I’ll be along later. Will you tell them?”

“Um, yeah,” I said. “Of course, Lady Heket.”

“Good, good.” Her eyes became unfocused. “Very sleepy now. Hard work, remembering…”

“Yes, dear,” Tawaret said. “Why don’t you lie down in one of these rooms for now?”

She shepherded Heket into the nearest vacant room.

Bes followed her with sad eyes. “I’m a terrible dwarf.”

Perhaps I should’ve reassured him, but my mind was racing on to other matters. Start without me, Heket had said. A leap of faith.

Suddenly I found it hard to breathe.

“Sadie?” Carter asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I know why the scroll isn’t guiding us,” I said. “I have to start the second part of the spell.”

“But we’re not there yet,” Carter said.

“And we won’t be unless I start the spell. It’s part of finding Ra.”

“What is?” Tawaret appeared at Bes’s side and almost scared the dwarf out of his Hawaiian shirt.

“The spell,” I said. “I have to take a leap of faith.”

“I think the frog goddess infected her,” Carter fretted.

“No, you dolt!” I said. “This is the only way to find Ra. I’m sure of it.”

“Hey, kid,” Bes said, “if you start that spell, and we don’t find Ra by the time you’re finished reading it—”

“I know. The spell will backfire.” When I said backfire, I meant it quite literally. If the spell didn’t find its proper target, the power of the Book of Ra might blow up in my face.

“It’s the only way,” I insisted. “We don’t have time to wander the halls forever, and Ra will only appear if we invoke him. We have to prove ourselves by taking the risk. You’ll have to lead me. I can’t stumble on the words.”

“You have courage, dear.” Tawaret held up her torch. “Don’t worry, I’ll guide you. Just do your reading.”

I opened the scroll to the second section. The rows of hieroglyphs, which had once seemed like disconnected phrases of rubbish, now made perfect sense.

“‘I invoke the name of Ra,’” I read aloud, “‘the sleeping king, lord of the noonday sun, who sits upon the throne of fire…’”

Well, you get the idea. I described how Ra rose from the sea of Chaos. I recalled his light shining on the primordial land of Egypt, bringing life to the Nile Valley. As I read, I felt warmer.

“Sadie,” Carter said, “you’re smoking.”

Hard not to panic when someone makes a comment like that, but I realized Carter was right. Smoke was curling off my body, forming a column of gray that drifted down the hallway.

“Is it my imagination,” Carter asked, “or is the smoke showing us the way? Ow!”