Tut by P. J. Hoover

Author:P. J. Hoover
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781466814752
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

12

WHERE I SUMMON SWARMS OF INSECTS

“Gil has the knife?”

I couldn’t believe it. That was impossible. He wouldn’t lie to me. Not for all these years. Sure, he was overprotective, but he wouldn’t take it this far.

“Of course,” Isis said. “Gilgamesh is the perfect protector.”

I tried to clear my head, but it was futile. This just couldn’t be real.

“Please tell me this is a joke.” I leaned against the wall, wishing I could snap my fingers and make this whole week start again. The field trip had kicked off one disaster after another in an unending chain. My five shabtis formed their protective stance around me as Isis’s words sunk in.

“It’s no joke,” Isis said. “Gilgamesh has the knife.”

“I knew the heathen was trouble.” Colonel Cody paced from one of my feet to the other. “We should kick him out of the town house.”

“We’re not kicking him out,” I said. “And he’s not a heathen.” Though he was a liar.

“Who’s Gilgamesh?” Henry asked.

“Where does he keep it?” I asked Isis, ignoring Henry. I’d been living with Gil for nearly three thousand years. He’d never mentioned anything about being the protector of some sacred knife, and I sure hadn’t seen it around our town house.

Isis’s lips twisted in a big, red-lipsticked scowl. “Sadly, I wasn’t told. But if you find it and want to lend it out…”

“You’re kidding, right?” Isis seriously wanted me to get the knife for her? I was going to get the knife for myself and kill Horemheb. That’s what I was going to do. I didn’t want any part of the gods’ scheming and games. That could only end up bad.

“I promise to give you a proper mummification upon your death,” Isis said.

That was not motivation. Not only did I not want to die, I didn’t want to be mummified, either.

“Forget it, Auntie Isis,” I said.

“But I need the knife,” Isis said. She opened her eyes so wide, I worried her eyeballs might fall out. They pleaded with me. Masked in her eyes, I saw the same emotion that I had in mine—thousands of years of revenge, waiting to be unleashed. I wanted to kill Horemheb. Isis wanted to kill Set. We needed to do it to make things right.

“Maybe once I’m done with it,” I said.

Isis patted my head. “I always knew you were a good boy. I told Horus, even though he claimed you were a pain in the—”

I grabbed Henry before she could finish. “We need to go.”

“What about a demonstration first?” Isis said. She snapped her fingers. “Hapi…”

Hapi jogged over with two knives and a roll of bandages in his hands.

“In mummification?” Henry asked, taking a step backward, tripping on his shoelace, which was still untied from earlier.

“We’ve got some great new preservation techniques,” Hapi said. “Check it out.” He pulled something from his apron pocket that might have been an apple at one point but now looked more like a shriveled old-lady face. “See how the likeness is preserved?”

Maybe it was a shriveled old-lady face.

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