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( note: we now return to our regularly scheduled first-person narrative. )
One moment, the only thing I saw was Eddie glowing gold as he sacrificed himself to save the world. The next moment, I'm waking up on the ground somewhere completely white. Pushing myself off the ground, or whatever I'm lying on, I look around. There's no end in sight, no chairs, no people. It's just nothing. I'm standing in the middle of nothing.
This isn't good.
"Hello?" I call out, my voice echoing. What exactly is my voice echoing off of? There's no walls, and I don't think I'm in some really strange cave. "Look, wherever I am, I really don't wanna be here, so I could just go back—"
"You don't have to yell," a voice behind me remarks exasperatedly. I yelp and spin around. A lot of weird things have happened to me, but I admit: the weirdest is probably the fact that I'm staring at a guy who looks just like that actor Rami Malek in those museum movies, the ones where everything comes to life at night. I mean, right down to the voice and the costume. "I'm right here."
"Holy Ahkemenrah," I mumble.
"What?" whoever it is questions with a shake of their head. I eye them, taking a step back—like there's anywhere for me to actually go! "Ashley, it's me. Anubis."
Uh... "What?"
"You said once I sound like this pharaoh character from the museum films," he says, gesturing to himself, "so I thought this would be the best form to take. I thought my true form," this being a man with the head of a jackal, "might've scared you and I supposed you would be scared enough when you saw where you were."
I nod slowly, about 99.9% sure I'm hallucinating. "Where am I? Am I in the Egyptian underworld?"
Ahkmenrah-Imposter—no, I'm sorry, this is apparently Anubis—answers with a chuckle, "Duat? No, certainly not. No, you're in the world between the living and the dead. Limbo. Well, that's the closest translation to English. But I think it fits." He motions to the white world around us. "It's unique to you."
I scoff, glancing at the nothingness. "Unique? Wasn't aware I was into completely white walls, no furniture. This is boring."
Anubis rolls his eyes. "Gods, I forgot what you were like," he mumbles. I glare. "This is just a corridor, Ashley." He throws his hand toward a simple wooden door behind it, which definitely just appeared out of nowhere. You're kidding me. Definitely hallucinating now. "Your limbo is this way."
"What, next are you gonna ask me how low can I go? 'Cause I've come to learn I have no qualms about punching."
"I know. I saw you with Robert Frobisher-Smythe, then with the Sophia girl."
"You've been spying on me?"
"Of course not. But when I learned he was trying to bring Ammit into the mortal world, well... I decided to keep myself aware. There's a reason why she was trapped in that gem. Her goals were too much, even for me."
"You didn't think to, like, throw us a clue to help at all?"
"Where do you think that power in your charm came from?"
"Oh, you mean at the very last second? You could've sent a sign that the Staff of Osiris—which we thought was our way to save the world—was actually the thing that would destroy it. That would've been nice to know before, you know, I put it together!"
Anubis already looks exhausted with me. Yeah, this is pretty much exactly how I pictured him looking back when he was stuck in my head (which I still can't believe happened, like that still feels like some kind of fever dream). "Can you just go through the door, dear descendant?"
I interrupt sharply, "Give me one reason why I should."
"Because you won't be able to leave until you do."
Okay, that's a pretty good reason. I bite the inside of my cheek, and after a stare-down with him, I stalk forward, turning the doorknob and pushing it open. I step through the doorway, but my feet stop. Because I'm standing in the entrance hall of Anubis House. "Wait, this is the house."
Anubis nods, closing the door back. "You feel safe here. A bit strange if you look at your history with the house, but I suppose the people here have a bit to do with you feeling safe."
I face him. "Why am I here? Why am I in this—this limbo?"
"Truthfully," he says, "even I am not sure. This is the first time this has ever happened in three thousand years. I didn't think it possible until now."
"The first time what has ever happened?"
"The Osirian."
"Eddie," I mumble, and a blurry flash of him collapsing appears in my mind. "Where is he? Is he okay? Is he here?"
Anubis waves it off dismissively. "He's all right. But his powers are lost. He's no longer the Osirian." Eddie's... not the Osirian anymore? Wait, what does that mean for me and Nina? "When he sacrificed himself to stop Ra's anger from pouring down on everyone, his powers were taken rather than his life. But because of that, and how strong a connection you and he have—stronger than any Osirian and Bringer of Death in all of history—you're here."
"In limbo."
"Yes."
"Can't I just leave?"
"It doesn't work that way."
"Then how does it work?"
"You've always wanted answers about your family," he tells me, beckoning me to follow him into the living room. "You've lost too many before you should have. I can bring them here." I stop in my tracks. "Your parents, Sarah, Lily. All of them."
Weakly shaking my head, I respond, "Why? They've all been dead for years. What's the point?"
"Because you deserve to know your options before you make your choice."
"Choice? What choice?"
"You choose between your blood family and your found family. Whichever you choose, I'm here to help you."
"I can make that choice right now. I don't need to see any of them to make it."
"I know. But you can't make your choice yet."
I cross my arms. What is he playing at? I know what my choice is. Why would he want me to see people whose losses I've dealt with, grieved, and moved forward from? Do I have to play this game, whatever it is? What, is this the Game of Life?
Okay, that joke is wasted right now.
"Fine," I say finally. "The faster I see what you want me to see, the faster I get to make my choice. So, who's up first?"
Anubis glances behind me, rolling his hand.
Then, a voice I haven't heard in a year, because he's supposed to be dead and I literally watched him die. "This is ridiculous." I abruptly spin to face the voice, my eyes widening. In what world is he family?! I mean, I guess he's a distant cousin, but I don't claim that! "You take me out of one hell and put me in another by bringing me here."
"Ashley," says Anubis, "I trust you remember Rufus Zeno."
"He can't be here," I tell him, stepping behind him to get myself as far away from Rufus as possible. "He tried to kill us, he kidnapped my boyfriend, I could go on! He can't be here."
Anubis turns to face me. "Ashley, if you want answers, he has some—"
"I don't need any answers from him! He doesn't have anything I don't already know."
"How about why he wanted you last term?"
"We know why! He thought I had info about your mask."
"Wouldn't you like to hear it from him?"
"No!"
Seemingly unimpressed with my refusal to speak to Rufus, Anubis rolls his eyes. "One question."
You know what, if it'll get Rufus Zeno out of my sight, I'll do it. "Fine." I step around Anubis, crossing my arms as I look at an annoyed Rufus. "Is the reason why you told Vera you wanted the Bringer of Death to be brought to you because you thought I knew where the Mask was or had some hint of how to get there?"
Rufus doesn't answer immediately. He just glares, then he glances behind me at Anubis, and then he answers plainly, "Yes."
"Okay, thank you. You can go now."
"And no."
...That's unexpected. I turn back, eyes narrowed. "What?"
"I didn't think you had what I needed," he continues. "I knew about the Mark of Anubis, the one you had. I also knew what it would do to you."
Oh. Oh, he didn't actually need my knowledge. He needed Anubis'. Facing the suddenly nonchalant god (again, I'm going insane), I say, "Oh, so it's your fault! That's good to know." Back to Rufus, because this plan seems both brilliant and stupid at the same time. "What makes you think I would've told you anything? He didn't even know where the Mask was!"
Rufus scoffs. "You expect me to believe that?"
"We literally spray-painted the real Mask because we thought it was the replica. Don't you think that if he," I nod back to him, "had realized that was the real one he would've let us do that? This guy wouldn't know his own Mask if it bit him."
Behind me, Anubis says, "I would argue but I told you the true power came from the gem and the gem was missing at the time."
"See?"
Rufus hardens his glare and begins stepping toward me. "You insolent—"
I duck behind Anubis as he rolls his hand, just like he had before he appeared. "Goodbye!" And Rufus disappears in a beam of light. Huh. Anubis claps his hands together, turning around. "Now you know something you didn't before."
"Yes," I reply, "that pretty much everything is still your fault. I mean, you did put Frobisher in an eternity-coma, not to mention curse my family with death. You know, I just realized you knew that the entirety of last year and never said anything. Hey, do you think we can summon a clown here? 'Cause I seem to remember someone disliking modern clowns and, well, I think they're very nice, actually."
"Only if you would like me to summon a Weeping Angel which I do believe you're still frightened of—"
"I despise you."
"Yes, I know."
"I want my choice now."
"Not yet."
"Then when?"
Anubis gestures to the sofa. I reluctantly sit, slouching against the cushions. Crossing my arms, I stare at him, waiting for him to say something. I just want to go ahead and make my choice so that I can go back to the real world, graduate, and enter the next phase of my life. I just... I can't see the point in this. I mean, I guess there's some semblance of comfort in knowing that we were mostly right about why Rufus was out to get me last year, but not much. We were mostly right.
But Anubis isn't the one who speaks. Because I blink, and suddenly, sitting on the sofa across from me is a young couple, exactly how I remember them the last time I saw them. My father, blond hair and blue eyes just like mine, and my mother, brown hair and eyes just like her brother's.
"Where are we?" asks my father. I'd forgotten what his voice sounds like.
"You are in Anubis House," the namesake himself answers. "In the world between the worlds. Limbo. This is where your grandmother lived when she was young. It's where your daughter lives now."
"Our daughter?" says my mother, and suddenly, they both seem to notice me sitting there, eyes welling up with tears. I've seen them in dreams so many times, but I always knew, in the back of my mind, that it was a dream. But this doesn't feel like a dream, not like a dream should feel. "Ashley!"
My legs work on their own as I jump up, rushing over. I wrap my arms around them, basking in their warmth. "I can't believe you're here." I sit between them, their arms around me. "How have you—how have you been? I mean—it's—"
"Really, it all feels like a dream," Mum says. Now I can see the resemblance between her and Sweet. I couldn't before, just looking at photographs. "How time has passed. How long has it been?"
"Eleven years," I answer. "It's been eleven years. But Olivia has been—she's been so great. She's raised me so well. I'm so glad she was there when you couldn't be."
"Eleven years?" Dad repeats, his voice cracking. "You must be about eighteen by now."
I nod. "Yeah. I am. I'm actually, um... I'm supposed to be graduating tonight. I had this whole thing planned for the party with some of my friends. You'd really like them. They're my family. And I have a wonderful boyfriend, and he's... amazing. He makes me laugh."
Mum smiles at me. "You love him?"
"I do." And I turn back to Dad. "And Olivia just got married last summer. It was so wonderful, and she had two empty seats for you and Mum, symbolically. Her husband's really nice. You'd like him, too."
"I think I would," he says, "if you and Olivia do."
I push a loose lock of hair behind my ear, directing my next words to Mum. "And... I've met your brother. Eric Sweet. Before I ever knew he was your brother, before he ever knew I was your daughter. He's the headmaster at the school I'm at. His son Eddie, he's one of my housemates and one of my best friends. Why did you never tell us you had a brother?"
Mum takes my hair and twists it around her finger, like she used to do reading me a story to fall asleep. "I left that part of myself behind. I felt ashamed of how I'd come into the world and now I regret it. But I am so glad you've found him and his son. Eddie, you said?" I confirm. "My nephew. What's he like?"
"Uh, annoying," I answer bluntly, causing them both to laugh. "But he's selfless. He, uh... he actually saved the world today. Just him, no help from me or anyone else. But that's still two saves for him compared to my three, so..."
"Saved the world?"
"Long story. I'm not sure you would believe me, even if we are in limbo and that guy over there is the Egyptian god Anubis himself, so..." Mum and Dad slowly eye Anubis, who's in a chair now and waves at them. "Okay, maybe you would believe me. But it's still so complicated and if I were to start explaining, we'd be here for millennia. Long story short, Anubis House is full of secrets. Eddie and I are a part of it."
"Have you been in danger?" Dad asks concerned.
"Yes. But nothing we can't handle." I realize then that if I keep talking to them, I'll stay here forever. I can't do that. I have to end this, despite how much I want to stay. I force myself to stand, taking their hands and pulling them up. "I think you have to go now."
"But why?" he questions. "We've just got here."
"I know," I reply quietly, hardly able to see them through the blurriness of tears. "But you can't stay forever, and neither can I. One of us has to leave, and this is my limbo. I can't even be sure this is real, but if it is... I love you both so much. And I miss you so much. And I'll be okay. So will Olivia. We'll be okay."
I close my eyes as I bring them both in for a hug, squeezing them shut as a blinding white light appears. When I open them, they're gone. I wipe my face with my sleeve, turning to Anubis, who's standing now. "Thank you. For that."
"I'm afraid I'm not done yet," he replies. "There's two more people I'd like you to see, and they're a package deal. Much like their twenty-first century counterparts. The Chosen One and the Bringer of Death."
I look at him inquisitively, wondering if he's saying what I think he's saying. Then I turn around, and there I see them—Sarah Frobisher-Smythe, as she was the last time I saw her, and Lily Henry, as she always is in my dreams. The twentieth-century Chosen One and Bringer of Death.
"Wow, um," is the only thing I can think to say seeing them side-by-side. I've seen them together before, yes, but that was ghosts, and they looked like ghosts. Now they're flesh and blood. But Lily is much younger than Sarah, because she died decades before Sarah did. "Wow."
Lily smiles warmly. "I would have thought you would have more to say."
"Well, I—I do," I stutter. Directed to Sarah, I say quickly, "Your father's alive and living in Egypt. Did you know that?"
"Yes," answers Sarah with a knowing smile shared between her and Lily. "But I was told only recently. I was also told he caused you some trouble."
"Yeah, I kind of... punched him," I mumble that part. "But hey, you've got a brother, don't know if you knew that. And a great-niece, she's called KT. She's awesome. She's American. Have you ever wondered why so many Americans wind up in Anubis House, 'cause I've been wondering about it forever and—"
Lily interrupts, chuckling, "Ashley, you're rambling. I suppose that's the shock. I'd react the same if I were you."
"Did this ever happen to you?"
"I think you already know you're the first. My Osirian and I weren't close. Certainly not like you and Eddie."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"You have reason to doubt it?"
"No, it's just... I don't think I ever realized that it's unusual that he and I are best friends," I remark, shrugging. "I know it's normal that Nina and I are, because you two were close once upon a time," I gesture between them, "but... apparently the bond between Eddie and I is the reason why I'm here. Why you're here."
Sarah's smile only grows warmer. "We're here for you. But I must ask—how is Nina?"
"Nina?" I repeat with a light laugh. "Uh, she's... doing really well. She didn't return to school this year because her gran's been ill, and her being around Eddie and me both is dangerous, but I've kept in touch with her. We've been talking a lot. I wish she had been here, though. I've missed her."
"A force of nature," Lily states. "The Bringer of Death and the Osirian. No longer."
I exhale deeply. "Look, even if Eddie doesn't have his powers, I think the 'force of nature' thing might still apply. I mean, we're still both pretty stubborn, and really annoying, so even though we can't do the pretty glow-y thing anymore, I'm pretty sure we're still a force of nature. He was never just his powers, and neither am I."
"You're so much more than that," Lily agrees.
Sarah nods, and steps closer to me. She takes my hands. "Keep your friends close to you. They are your true family. Please tell Nina I say hello."
"I will," I promise. Sarah smiles and steps through the door, disappearing into white light. "What happened? Where did she go?"
Lily offers her arm to me, and confused, I take it. She leads me out of the living room into the entrance hall, taking me up the stairs. "She left. It's all right, she wanted to. I wanted to speak with you myself." By now, we're in the girls' hallway. She opens the door to my room, exactly as it was this morning. "I'm sure you have some questions for me."
I sit on the edge of my bed, her beside me. "All those hieroglyphs in your diary... you really dreamed all of these things? The Cup of Ankh, the sinners and Ammit, and now the Pyramid of Ra?"
"I dreamed so much more than those," she tells me. "But I didn't realize what they were at the time. The hieroglyphs seemed important, so I wrote them down."
"But you glued the pages together."
"Because I realized someone was reading my diary and not placing it back where it should be. I would have torn those pages out if I thought whoever it was wouldn't look for it. Victor and Rufus knew as many of Anubis House's hiding spots that I did, and I knew I couldn't burn them because someone would need them one day."
"So you hid them in plain sight. Nice. Why did Sarah have the diary when she died? I would've thought it would go to your next of kin. That wouldn't have been Sarah, would it?"
"I left the diary to Sarah the last time I saw her, long ago. I left her my ring, too," she points her finger at the chain around my neck, "because it caused too much hurt to look at it. I knew one day she'd meet both the Chosen One and the Bringer of Death, and I told her when she did to give you the box. Admittedly I hadn't thought it would be after she passed."
"What about the charm?"
"I couldn't part with it. I kept it with me until the day I died. I wrote into my will that it go to a granddaughter of mine, the one who shares so much with me, including her date of birth. I'm sure my descendants thought me a mad woman until you came along." She places her hand on the side of my face, like a grandmother. "Ashley Amelia Adams, born on the 31st of October at midnight."
"How did you know?"
"Before me, my own great-grandmother was her generation's Bringer of Death. I traced my family tree all over the world in the 1940s, after the war ended. She and I had the same birthday, just as you and I do. I assumed it would be the same and when I realized I was pregnant with your grandfather, I knew what would happen in time."
"Did you ever resent it? Wish you were born a day before or a day later?"
"Sometimes. Especially when it drove Sarah and me apart, and when Rufus put his own wants above that of the world. He nearly killed us when he did that. But I look at you now, and I realize I could never have been anything else."
"What about your parents? I mean... the Henry curse. You must have..."
"Yes. You and I are so alike, Ashley. So much more than our appearances and what we're called. Do not look at 'death' and think 'destruction.' Look at 'death' and think 'transformation.' That's what it means, it's what it always has meant."
I look at her, wondering if she had overheard my conversation with Mara somehow. "How can you be sure?"
"Well, you haven't killed anyone, have you?" Lily asks, her voice taking on a less-serious tone. I laugh, shaking my head. "That's how I'm sure." Now she stands, holding out her hands. I take them, standing in front of her. We're the same height, which I should have expected. "Your time here is coming to an end. You can make your choice now."
I almost forgot I have a choice to make, even though it's been made the entire time I've been here. "Thank you for coming here, Lily," I tell her genuinely. "I'll never forget it."
"Nor will I." She steps toward the attic door, turning the doorknob. "You've figured out who you are while in this house. I think it's time for you to return to it, my dear." And she smiles at me, and she steps through the door.
And Lily Henry is gone.
I blink, and I'm back in the entrance hall. Anubis is standing by the doors, his hands clasped in front of him. "I've made my choice," I inform certainly. "I want to go back. I want to go home."
All he does is smile. "I knew you would. Your choice was made long before you ever came here. You choose your friends over and over again. And they choose you. Right now, they're waiting for you to wake up." He points at my charm, which is glowing red now. "Jerome's there, too. And Joy." He opens the door, and a white corridor awaits me. "Go on, then. There's no place like home."
I tilt my head. "Wizard of Oz? Seriously?"
"Perhaps the next time you see me, I'll have a witch's hat and a broom."
"Only if you're wearing magic ruby slippers."
Anubis laughs. I straighten my shoulders and walk to the door, nodding at him once. Then I step through, into the white light.
When I open my eyes, a cough accompanies me as I breathe in fresh air. I'm back in the real world, back in the woods where I was before the whole limbo thing. My head is in someone's lap and I can hear various gasps from around me.
"Ashley?" says a voice, and immediately, I recognize it as Jerome; it's his lap my head is in. Interesting. "Can you hear me?" I sit up, nodding, but barely get a chance to breathe before he's pulling me into a hug, his hand on the back of my head now. "Don't do that again."
"Do what?" I ask, pulling myself away from him as I look at the relieved faces of my friends—the New Sibunas and even Sweet and Victor loosely included in that. "How long was I out?"
"Almost twenty minutes," Fabian answers, checking his watch. "We were going to give it another ten before we called for an ambulance. Do you know what happened?"
"Yeah, I—" I look around, pointing at Eddie. "You gave up your powers. Are you okay?"
Eddie nods. "Yeah, I'm fine, right now I'm more worried about you. Twenty minutes, do you remember anything that happened?"
"Some kind of limbo thing," I answer, and everyone looks at Victor. "Should I ask?"
Victor's the one who vaguely answers, "The legends are true. What did you see?"
The pyramid takes my attention all of a sudden—specifically the stone statue by it that has a familiar, evil face. "Uh, nothing I'm going to tell you. Is that Sophia?" The three new Sibunas confirm with a nod. "Well, I guess if anyone ever deserved to be Medusaed..."
Jerome laughs, pressing a kiss against my hair. "Yeah, she's back."
"Uh, can we go graduate now?" I ask, pushing down on his leg so I can stand, but the second I do, I find my legs are just a bit weak and I stumble back into Alfie and Mara, who each take one of my arms. "I'll be fine. But graduating sounds very nice right now. Can we go?"
( see u guys on monday for the FINAL chapter of ashley's series!! )