Anubis and I emerged from the darkness onto a small hill that overlooked an empty graveyard. It was empty as in there were no mortals around. Plenty of dead people though.
All around the small graveyard, there were ghosts partying, laughing and talking loudly. No doubt that no one else would've been able to hear or see them.
"How come they're all here?" Thankfully, Anubis understood my question perfectly. He set his wary eyes on the party going on before him. It wasn't exactly a normal thing for ghosts to resurface into the mortal world. Well, as far as normal goes in a world where gods and magicians co-exist.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Please, sit." He waved his hand at a dead tree that sat on top of the hill and next to it, toilet paper appeared from thin air and formed into a picnic table.
Mummy linens. I thought, suppressing a shudder as I sat down on one side, Anubis sitting on the other. He still had his eyes set on the ghosts dancing and chatting down below, the sound of them partying sounded faint from above the hill. With that, I took the opportunity to really look at him this time. And no, not in the creepy way. (Stop snickering, Carter.)
Beyond his dashingly good looks, I could actually see hints of concern and stress. There were worry lines stretched across his forehead as his eyes darted across the graveyard, his lips pressed together into a thin line, which he only ever did when he was under immense stress (which, he hardly ever was. I mean, come on, he's a god.) The last time I had seen him this agitated was..no, it couldn't be.
With a small voice, I called for his attention. "Anubis?" I wasn't sure if he heard me, so I did the most nerve-wrecking thing I could think of; I grabbed hold of his hands and clasped them together with mine.
The action surprised both of us, but at least he was finally focusing on me, an actual living being, instead of on the group of spirits down below.
"I'm sorry, Sadie, I must have zoned out," he said, but I could sense it was much more than that.
"What's wrong? Why did you want to talk to me about all of this?" I nodded my head towards the graveyard party. A group of ghosts were now playing a game of limbo with one of the fallen branches of our dead tree.
Anubis sighed. "Right, I'll get straight to the point."
"Wow, that's a first. I mean, no offense to you or the other gods or anything, but beating around the bush is definitely a power all of you have-"
"The spirits of the dead have broken out of the Duat," he said blankly.
I must've been gaping like a fish, my eyes wide open as I opened and closed my mouth, trying to find the words to say. "I- what?" was all I could muster. A million thoughts rushed through my mind, but one question stuck out from all of them.
"Is mum okay?"
A sort of warmth filled in Anubis' eyes, replacing the anxiousness within them. "Yes, she's fine. She's with your father." The simple answer was enough for me to finally breathe properly. I hadn't realised I was holding in my breath.
"Okay, so spill. This isn't like when Apophis was unleashing Chaos and was feeding off of the spirits, is it?" My body let out an involuntary shudder when recalling the events from three years ago.
Anubis shook his head, looking down at our hands that were still clasped together. He made no attempt to pull away, so neither did I.
"No, it's nothing like that. At least with Apophis, we had someone to battle against and set things right. But in this situation, Lady Kane, I'm afraid we gods are quite...how would you call it? Stumped?" He involuntarily tilted his head slightly to his right, looking confused. The sight made him look like a puppy, but I decided to keep that bit of information to myself and nodded encouragingly for him to continue.
"What's happening now...it's nothing like we have ever seen before. You see, the afterlife is not as easy as it is commonly thought to be. It can be quite tricky. For one, once a spirit reaches the Duat, they have to navigate themselves through a series of challenges, make it past several demons lurking around before being able to reach the Hall of Judgement. Those who fail to ever find it are doomed to wander the Duat, lost."
Goosebumps trailed along my arms. I remembered when Carter and I had to go through the 12 Houses of the Night on Ra's sunboat. So many lost souls who beamed up at us, thinking we were Ra so that they could finally feel his godly presence, only to look crestfallen when they realised we weren't the sun god. I could never imagine what it'd be like to be like them; a lost soul, desperate for something to look forward to.
"Those who do manage to find the hall then have to go through the Weighing of the Heart, where if a heart is lighter or equal balance to the Feather of Truth, the spirit would be able to pass into the Fields of Aaru, paradise for the dead. However, if a heart was heavier than the feather-
"Yea, Ammy would eat their heart." I nodded along, trying hard not to get a headache for the information overload, despite already knowing all of the information.
Anubis quirked up his eyebrow at my choice of nickname for Ammit, but I just rolled my eyes at him, signalling for him to continue.
"Yes, that is correct, and the souls of the wicked would be doomed to wander Duat aimlessly for all eternity. Well, until now." The same anxiousness and concern refilled into his eyes and I couldn't help but feel those exact emotions as I saw them.
"Wait, so when you say the spirits of the dead are resurfacing into the mortal world, you mean-"
"Every spirit. The ones who resided in the Fields of Aaru, the lost, the wicked; every single one who saw the opportunity to come back, came back. Most do not mean any harm," he said as his eyes drifted back to the graveyard party happening in front of us. "But the wicked souls, the ones condemned to have their hearts devoured, they seek revenge. They want to wreak havoc wherever they go, and there isn't anything the gods can do about it. Nothing I- I can do about it."
I saw the pained expression he momentarily allowed to show on his face and I knew exactly how he felt. My mind went back to the first time we visited the Hall of Judgement. The once marvelous chambers had fallen into disrepair after Osiris was imprisoned by Set. Anubis was devastated that he couldn't do anything to help the downfall of the hall. Now I sensed he was feeling the same way all over again.
"Anubis, it's not your fault, really." I bit my lip nervously as he unclasped his hands from mine and buried his head in his palms. Honestly, I was shocked. I always had the impression that these almighty Egyptian gods always had everything under control and they would have some kind of plan to solve all their problems. At times like these, I had to remember Anubis was still somewhat a teen, in god years. He was like, what, around 5000 years old? Yup, still a teenager.
Seeing him in this state devastated me, obviously, but I was still unsure of how to act around him. Have I mentioned we haven't seen or talked to each other in 2 years? Yea, that takes a toll on you and your relationship with someone.
But after what seemed like forever, I finally managed to muster up the courage to sit next to him and hug him from his side. And yes, it felt as awkward as it sounds.
Anubis is at least a head taller than me, so that gave me the idea to be able to wrap my arms around his waist as my head would lay on his arm. Needless to say, it was quite the unnatural position to be in. I could feel the heat rising to my face as he looked up from his hands to find me awkwardly hugging him.
The embarrassing things I do for people I care about. Ugh.
To my surprise, I felt the arm my head was lying on move to my shoulder, pushing me closer until my head was directly against Anubis' chest. I felt his chin rest on top of my head as he rubbed my shoulder soothingly. Now I was really feeling my face heat up. God.
(Carter says I'm describing this way too detailed, but it's important to me and this is my story, so shut up, Carter.)
As I was saying, there I was, just trying to enjoy being wrapped in Anubis' arms and being so close to him after so long, but I knew my time was limited.
"Anubis, how did this happen?" I cranked my head up to meet his eyes, ignoring the urge to just melt on the spot.
He sighed, almost sounding like it was in defeat. "The way the spirits of the dead manage to stay in the Duat, it's a bit complex."
Now it was my turn to be confused and tilt my head sideways like a puppy. "What do you mean? I thought they just..had to stay in there and wouldn't even have the magic to get out."
Anubis nodded his head. "That's correct, to some extent. They weren't able to get out before, but not because the gods placed some sort of barrier magic to prevent them from escaping. They were kept inside because of their living mortals."
I must have looked really puzzled because at the sight of my face, Anubis cracked a small smile. Well, at least my confusion was doing one of us some good.
"The mortals, they have more power than they think. Especially in the matters of honouring their dead. When they continue to remember and honour their loved ones who have passed, it strengthens the spirits of the dead in the Duat. But it's not straightening in a physical way, more like it strengthens their will to remain in the Underworld. Their living mortals remembering them gives them more of the drive to..stay dead. I realise this probably doesn't make much sense. It's hard to explain to mortals," he said as he looked down at his lap, scratching the back of his head.
I had to admit, it was very confusing, but it kinda made sense at the same time. Putting all the pieces together, I came up with a conclusion, but I prayed to the gods of Egypt that I was horribly wrong.
"So, the spirits resurfacing into the mortal world could only be caused by one thing..." I trailed off, looking at Anubis, who was nodding.
"A majority, not all, of the living mortals haven't been paying their respects to the dead."
Suddenly my heart was racing at a thousand miles per hour. If this was a matter of mortals not honouring their dead, that meant the gods wouldn't be able to do anything about it. This was solely a matter of humans just remembering to remember their loved ones.
All the questions in my head came rushing out without me even thinking. "How did this happen? What are we supposed to do? The magicians can't fend off thousands, no, millions of spirits, and even so, they're already dead! How are we supposed to stop them?"
The defeat in Anubis' eyes told me the answer I suspected, yet hoped to not be true.
There is no stopping them.
I unwrapped myself from his arms and sat straight, looking forward at the landscape of greenery before us as my mind reeled in all the information I just received. Just as I buried my face in my hands and sighed, I heard Anubis clear his throat.
"Well, technically, there is one way." At the sight of the hopeful gleam in my eyes, he quickly added, "But it's tricky. And dangerous. Very dangerous, even for you."
Hearing that made my eyes roll. "Pfft, you're telling me what's dangerous? You should know by now that the Kanes are up for any challenge, no matter the danger," I said, almost a little too proudly.
"No, Sadie, the solution I'm talking about, it really will be dangerous for you, and I mean, only you. Granted, both you and Carter are the most powerful magicians to walk this earth, but given that your brother is already the pharaoh, this is something you have to venture into alone."
Uh-oh. I was not liking the sound of that. And I was especially not liking the tone Anubis chose to say it with.
"What, uh, exactly is this solution?" The look on his face almost made me not want to know the answer.
"You have to become a goddess. A new goddess that takes charge of honouring the dead."
At that moment, my ba decided it was perfect time to wake up.