Élphame

Chapter Three

          "What did number six ask, again?"

          "What culture worshiped Ra as the sun god? or something like that."

          "That would be Egypt."

          Darcy sighed in frustration. "That's what it was! Ugh, I'm no good at Egyptian mythology."

           "You know, saying that Ra was the sun god is an oversimplification," Naomi informed her. "Ra's name was actually changed many times throughout the years. He went from Re to Atum to Atum-Ra. And he had different names and personalities depending on the time of day it was and the sun's position in the sky. For instance, the morning sun was--"

          "Interesting as that sounds," Darcy interrupted, "I'm gonna take a reign check on the whole explain-each-and-every-aspect-of-each-ancient-culture's-religion lesson."

          "Hardly each and every aspect, Darce," Naomi said defensively. "Most of what we know from ancient mythologies and religions are ambiguous at best. Most of it is just speculation and educated guessing. We only know a small sliver of most ancient practices."

          Darcy stared blankly at her for a moment. She shook her head. "I swear, you're honestly sometimes as bad as F--" She stopped mid-sentence.

          That caught Naomi's attention. "As bad as who?" she asked.

          Darcy coughed and laughed nervously. "I, uh... No one. Forget I said anything." Naomi could tell she was trying to sound casual, but her copper skin was pale and her hands were clammy.

          Suspicious, thought Naomi. "Come on," she pressed. "You can't just leave me hanging. Who am I like?"

          "Really, it's nothing," Darcy tried to brush her off again.

          "If it were nothing you would tell me," Naomi countered. "Whose name were you going to say?"

          "You don't know him, so forget it."

          "Darcy, you know the more you try to hide it from me the harder I'll press."

          Darcy sighed. "Fine, you win. I was going to say... Fergis! Yeah, my cousin Fergis."

          Naomi raised an eyebrow. "Fergis? You have a cousin named Fergis?" Naomi didn't believe that for one second. Darcy spoke of her many, many cousins often, but she'd never spoken of a Fergis before. Even if she did have a cousin Fergis, why would she try to hide his name from her?

          Darcy seemed determined to play through with the lie, though. "Um, yeah. My cousin Fergis. He's really into ancient cultures and stuff. You reminded me of him when you were spouting off random facts about Egypt."

          "He's got a pretty European name for a Native American family, don't you think?" Naomi pointed out, trying to trap Darcy in her lie and wheedle the truth out of her. "Scottish, I believe."

          "He's adopted, okay?" she snapped. "Just drop it, you're being stupid. Anyway, you were saying about Ra?"

          Naomi blinked, feeling like she'd been slapped. Darcy was hiding something from her, that much was obvious. Not only that, but she was lying to her face to keep it hidden.

          "Forget it," Naomi mumbled. "It doesn't matter, and it obviously bores you."

          Darcy sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to--"

          "It's fine," Naomi cut her off. "You're right. I'm stupid. Here." She placed her pudding cup on Darcy's lunch tray. "I'm not hungry anymore." She scooped up tray and dropped it at the tray return before exiting the cafeteria, ignoring Darcy calling her name behind her.