As my ba left my body, it kept its human form, which was better than the winged poultry look, but it kept growing and growing until I towered above White Sands. I"d been told many times that I have a lot of spirit (usually not as a compliment), but this was absurd. My ba was as tall as the Washington Monument.
To the south, past miles and miles of desert, steam rose from the Rio Grande-the battle site where Bast and Sobek had perished. Even as tall as I was, I shouldn"t have been able to see all the way to Texas, especially at night, but somehow I could. To the north, even farther away, I saw a distant red glow and I knew it was the aura of Set. His power was growing as his pyramid neared completion.
I looked down. Next to my foot was a tiny cl.u.s.ter of specks-our camp. Miniature Carter, Amos, and Khufu sat talking round the cooking fire. Amos"s boat was no larger than my little toe. My own sleeping form lay curled in a blanket, so small I could"ve crushed myself with one misstep.
I was enormous, and the world was small.
"That"s how G.o.ds see things," a voice told me.
I looked around but saw nothing, just the vast expanse of rolling white dunes. Then, in front of me, the dunes shifted. I thought it was the wind, until an entire dune rolled sideways like a wave. Another moved, and another. I realized I was looking at a human form-an enormous man lying in the fetal position. He got up, shaking white sand everywhere. I knelt down and cupped my hands over my companions to keep them from getting buried. Oddly, they didn"t seem to notice, as if the disruption were no more than a sprinkle of rain.
The man rose to his full height-at least a head taller than my own giant form. His body was made of sand that curtained off his arms and chest like waterfalls of sugar. The sand shifted across his face until he formed a vague smile.
"Sadie Kane," he said. "I have been waiting for you."
"Geb." Don"t ask me how, but I knew instantly that this was the G.o.d of the earth. Maybe the sand body was a giveaway. "I have something for you."
It didn"t make sense that my ba would have the envelope, but I reached into my shimmering ghostly pocket and pulled out the note from Nut.
"Your wife misses you," I said.
Geb took the note gingerly. He held it to his face and seemed to sniff it. Then he opened the envelope. Instead of a letter, fireworks burst out. A new constellation blazed in the night sky above us-the face of Nut, formed by a thousand stars. The wind rose quickly and ripped the image apart, but Geb sighed contentedly. He closed the envelope and tucked it inside his sandy chest as if there were a pocket right where his heart should be.
"I owe you thanks, Sadie Kane," Geb said. "It has been many millennia since I saw the face of my beloved. Ask me a favor that the earth can grant, and it shall be yours."
"Save my father," I said immediately.
Geb"s face rippled with surprise. "Hmm, what a loyal daughter! Isis could learn a thing from you. Alas, I cannot. Your father"s path is twined with that of Osiris, and matters between the G.o.ds cannot be solved by the earth."
"Then I don"t suppose you could collapse Set"s mountain and destroy his pyramid?" I asked.
Geb"s laughter was like the world"s largest sand shaker. "I cannot intervene so directly between my children. Set is my son too."
I almost stamped my foot in frustration. Then I remembered I was giant and might smash the whole camp. Could a ba do that? Better not to find out. "Well, your favors aren"t very useful, then."
Geb shrugged, sloughing off a few tons of sand from his shoulders. "Perhaps some advice to help you achieve what you desire. Go to the place of the crosses."
"And where is that?"
"Close," he promised. "And, Sadie Kane, you are right. You have lost too much. Your family has suffered. I know what that is like. Just remember, a parent would do anything to save his children. I gave up my happiness, my wife-I took on the curse of Ra so that my children could be born." He looked up at the sky wistfully. "And while I miss my beloved more each millennium, I know neither of us would change our choice. I have five children whom I love."
"Even Set?" I asked incredulously. "He"s about to destroy millions of people."
"Set is more than he appears," Geb said. "He is our flesh and blood."
"Not mine."
"No?" Geb shifted, lowering himself. I thought he was crouching, until I realized he was melting into the dunes. "Think on it, Sadie Kane, and proceed with care. Danger awaits you at the place of crosses, but you will also find what you need most."
"Could you be a little more vague?" I grumbled.
But Geb was gone, leaving only a taller than normal dune in the sands; and my ba sank back into my body.
S A D I E.
32. The Place of Crosses.
I WOKE WITH m.u.f.fIN SNUGGLED on my head, purring and chewing my hair. For a moment, I thought I was home. I used to wake with m.u.f.fin on my head all the time. Then I remembered I had no home, and Bast was gone. My eyes started tearing up again. on my head, purring and chewing my hair. For a moment, I thought I was home. I used to wake with m.u.f.fin on my head all the time. Then I remembered I had no home, and Bast was gone. My eyes started tearing up again.
No, Isis"s voice chided. We must stay focused.
For once, the G.o.ddess was right. I sat up and brushed the white sand off my face. m.u.f.fin meowed in protest, then waddled two steps and decided she could settle for my warm place on the blanket.
"Good, you"re up," Amos said. "We were about to wake you."
It was still dark. Carter stood on the deck of the boat, pulling on a new linen coat from Amos"s supply locker. Khufu loped over to me and made a purring sound at the cat. To my surprise, m.u.f.fin leaped into his arms.
"I"ve asked Khufu to take the cat back to Brooklyn," Amos said. "This is no place for her."
Khufu grunted, clearly unhappy with his a.s.signment.
"I know, my old friend," Amos said. His voice had a hard edge; he seemed to be a.s.serting himself as the alpha baboon. "It is for the best."
"Agh," Khufu said, not meeting Amos"s eyes.
Unease crept over me. I remembered what Amos said: that his release might have been a trick of Set"s. And Carter"s vision: Set was hoping that Amos would lead us to the mountain so we could be captured. What if Set was influencing Amos somehow? I didn"t like the idea of sending Khufu away.
On the other hand, I didn"t see much choice but to accept Amos"s help. And seeing Khufu there, holding m.u.f.fin, I couldn"t bear the idea of putting either of them in danger. Maybe Amos had a point.
"Can he travel safely?" I asked. "Out here all by himself?"
"Oh, yes," Amos promised. "Khufu-and all baboons-have their own brand of magic. He"ll be fine. And just in case..."
He brought out a wax figurine of a crocodile. "This will help if the need arises."
I coughed. "A crocodile? After what we just-"
"It"s Philip of Macedonia," Amos explained.
"Philip is wax?"
"Of course," Amos said. "Real crocodiles are much too difficult to keep. And I did tell you he"s magic."
Amos tossed the figurine to Khufu, who sniffed it, then stuffed it into a pouch with his cooking supplies. Khufu gave me one last nervous look, glanced fearfully at Amos, then ambled over the dune with his bag in one arm and m.u.f.fin in the other.
I didn"t see how they would survive out here, magic or no. I waited for Khufu to appear on the crest of the next dune, but he never did. He simply vanished.
"Now, then," Amos said. "From what Carter has told me, Set means to unleash his destruction tomorrow at sunrise. That gives us very little time. What Carter would not explain is how you plan to destroy Set."
I glanced at Carter and saw warning in his eyes. I understood immediately, and felt a flush of grat.i.tude. Perhaps the boy wasn"t completely thick. He shared my concerns about Amos.
"It"s best we keep that to ourselves," I told Amos flatly. "You said so yourself. What if Set attached a magic listening device to you or something?"
Amos"s jaw tightened. "You"re right," he said grudgingly. "I can"t trust myself. It"s just...so frustrating."
He sounded truly anguished, which made me feel guilty. I was tempted to change my mind and tell him our plan, but one look at Carter and I kept my resolve.
"We should head to Phoenix," I said. "Perhaps along the way..."
I slipped my hand into my pocket. Nut"s letter was gone. I wanted to tell Carter about my talk with the earth G.o.d, Geb, but I didn"t know if it was safe in front of Amos. Carter and I had been a team for so many days now, I realized that I resented Amos"s presence a little. I didn"t want to confide in anyone else. G.o.d, I can"t believe I just said that.
Carter spoke up. "We should stop in Las Cruces."
I"m not sure who was more surprised: Amos or me.
"That"s near here," Amos said slowly. "But..." He picked up a handful of sand, murmured a spell, and threw the sand into the air. Instead of scattering, the grains floated and formed a wavering arrow, pointing southwest toward a line of rugged mountains that made a dark silhouette against the horizon.
"As I thought," Amos said, and the sand fell to the earth. "Las Cruces is out of our way by forty miles-over those mountains. Phoenix is northwest."
"Forty miles isn"t so bad," I said. "Las Cruces..." The name seemed strangely familiar to me, but I couldn"t decide why. "Carter, why there?"
"I just..." He looked so uncomfortable I knew it must have something to do with Zia. "I had a vision."
"A vision of loveliness?" I ventured.
He looked like he was trying to swallow a golf ball, which confirmed my suspicions. "I just think we should go there," he said. "We might find something important."
"Too risky," Amos said. "I can"t allow it with the House of Life on your trail. We should stay in the wilderness, away from cities."
Then suddenly: click. My brain had one of those amazing moments when it actually works correctly.
"No, Carter"s right," I said. "We have to go there."
It was my brother"s turn to look surprised. "I am? We do?"
"Yes." I took the plunge and told them about my talk with Geb.
Amos brushed some sand off his jacket. "That"s interesting, Sadie. But I don"t see how Las Cruces comes into play."
"Because it"s Spanish, isn"t it?" I said. "Las Cruces. The crosses. Just as Geb told me."
Amos hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. "Get in the boat."
"A bit short on water for a boat ride, aren"t we?" I asked.
But I followed him on board. Amos took off his coat and uttered a magic word. Instantly, the coat came to life, drifted to the stern and grasped the tiller.
Amos smiled at me, and some of that old twinkle came back into his eyes. "Who needs water?"
The boat shuddered and lifted into the sky.
If Amos ever got tired of being a magician, he could"ve gotten a job as a sky boat tour operator. The vista coming over the mountains was quite stunning.
At first, the desert had seemed barren and ugly to me compared to the lush greens of England, but I was starting to appreciate that the desert had its own stark beauty, especially at night. The mountains rose like dark islands in a sea of lights. I"d never seen so many stars above us, and the dry wind smelled of sage and pine. Las Cruces spread out in the valley below-a glowing patchwork of streets and neighborhoods.
As we got closer, I saw that most of the town was nothing very remarkable. It might"ve been Manchester or Swindon or any place, really, but Amos aimed our ship toward the south of the city, to an area that was obviously much older-with adobe buildings and tree-lined streets.
As we descended, I began to get nervous.
"Won"t they notice us in a flying boat?" I asked. "I mean, I know magic is hard to see, but-"
"This is New Mexico," Amos said. "They see UFOs here all the time."
And with that, we landed on the roof of a small church.
It was like dropping back in time, or onto a Wild West film set. The town square was lined with stucco buildings like an Indian pueblo. The streets were brightly lit and crowded-it looked like a festival-with stall vendors selling strings of red peppers, Indian blankets, and other curios. An old stagecoach was parked next to a clump of cacti. In the plaza"s bandstand, men with large guitars and loud voices played mariachi music.
"This is the historic area," Amos said. "I believe they call it Mesilla."
"Have a lot of Egyptian stuff here, do they?" I asked dubiously.
"Oh, the ancient cultures of Mexico have a lot in common with Egypt," Amos said, retrieving his coat from the tiller. "But that"s a talk for another day."
"Thank G.o.d," I muttered. Then I sniffed the air and smelled something strange but wonderful-like baking bread and melting b.u.t.ter, only spicer, yummier. "I-am-starving."
It didn"t take long, walking the plaza, to discover handmade tortillas. G.o.d, they were good. I suppose London has Mexican restaurants. We"ve got everything else. But I"d never been to one, and I doubt the tortillas would"ve tasted this heavenly. A large woman in a white dress rolled out b.a.l.l.s of dough in her flour-caked hands, flattened and baked the tortillas on a hot skillet, and handed them to us on paper napkins. They didn"t need b.u.t.ter or jam or anything. They were so delicate, they just melted in my mouth. I made Amos pay for about a dozen, just for me.
Carter was enjoying himself too until he tried the red-chili tamales at another booth. I thought his face would explode. "Hot!" he announced. "Drink!"
"Eat more tortilla," Amos advised, trying not to laugh. "Bread cuts the heat better than water."
I tried the tamales myself and found they were excellent, not nearly as hot as a good curry, so Carter was just being a wimp, as usual.
Soon we"d eaten our fill and began wandering the streets, looking for...well, I wasn"t sure, exactly. Time was a-wasting. The sun was going down, and I knew this would be the last night for all of us unless we stopped Set, but I had no idea why Geb had sent me here. You will also find what you need most. What did that mean?
I scanned the crowds and caught a glimpse of a tall young guy with dark hair. A thrill went up my spine-Anubis? What if he was following me, making sure I was safe? What if he was what I needed most?
Wonderful thought, except it wasn"t Anubis. I scolded myself for thinking I could have luck that good. Besides, Carter had seen Anubis as a jackal-headed monster. Perhaps Anubis"s appearance with me was just a trick to befuddle my brain-a trick that worked quite well.
I was daydreaming about that, and about whether or not they had tortillas in the Land of the Dead, when I locked eyes with a girl across the plaza.
"Carter." I grabbed his arm and nodded in the direction of Zia Rashid. "Someone"s here to see you."
Zia was ready for battle in her loose black linen clothes, staff and wand in hand. Her dark choppy hair was blown to one side like she"d flown here on a strong wind. Her amber eyes looked about as friendly as a jaguar"s.