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"Gladly,But I will need--"

"My secret naet all you desire…andin Ra’s voice, but either Isis didn’t notice, or she didn’t care

"I swear to heal you," she said

"Then approach, goddess"

Isis leaned forward I thought Ra would whisper his narasped her hand and placed it against his withered brow Her fingertips smoldered She tried to pull away, but Ra held her wrist The sun god’s entire for life: the first dawn; his sun boat shining on the newly risen land of Egypt; the creation of the other gods and mortal h the Duat each night, keeping Chaos at bay It was toowith each heartbeat His secret name was the sum of his experience, and even then, in those ancient times, Ra was unthinkably old The fiery aura spread to Isis’s hand, traveling up her arm until her whole body reathed in flames She screa from her dress

"So," Ra said "You survived"

I couldn’t tell if he felt disappoint respect

Isis rose unsteadily to her feet She looked shell-shocked, as if she’d just strolled through a war zone, but she raised her hand A fiery hieroglyph burned on her palle unbelievably powerful word

She placed her hand on Ra’s poisoned leg and spoke a spell The green venoes fell away, and the two fang hed with relief "At last No pain"

"My lord needs rest," Isis suggested "A long, long rest"

The sun god opened his eyes There was no fire in them now They looked like the milky eyes of a mortal old oddess yptian arh perhaps that was just because she hadn’t yet endured centuries in a prison abyss, fighting Apophis I was te, but ave Isis sideways look "My lord, is this…wo will bother er, my faithful cat Come with me now We have important matters to discuss before I depart"

"My lord? Where are you going?"

"Into forced retireoddess of ic?"

Isis bowed

"Never, my lord!" Bast drew her knives and stepped toward Isis, but Ra held out his arht in ht As for you, Isis, you may think you have won because you mastered my secret name Do you realize what you’ve started? Osiris n will be short and bitter His royal seat will be a pale reflection of er ride the Duat The balance between Ma’at and Chaos will slowly degrade Egypt itself will fall The naods will fade to a distant memory Then one day, the entire world will stand on the brink of destruction You will cry out to Ra, and I will not be there When that day coreed and ambition caused it to happen"

"My lord" Isis bowed respectfully, but I knew she wasn’t thinking about soht Osiris would rule Egypt forever, and that Ra was just an old fool She did not know that in a short tiedy Osiris would be murdered by his brother, Set And someday, Ra’s other predictions would coo, Bast," Ra said "We are no longer wanted"

The throne erupted in a coluold canopy A ball of fire ascended into the heavens until it was lost in the glare of the sun

When the sht

"I did it!" she exclai! I mastered the secret name of Ra!"

I wanted to tell her she had , but I could only watch as Isis danced across the boat She was so pleased with her own success, she paid no attention to theThe lines dropped The sail went slack Oars trailed in the water, and the sun boat drifted down the river, unmanned

My vision faded, and I sank into darkness

I woke in a soft bed For a blissful ht I was back in et up and have a lovely breakfast with my friends, Amos, Philip of Macedonia, and Khufu, then spend the day teaching our initiates how to turn each other into reptiles That sounded brilliant

But of course I wasn’t ho-size bed with soft cotton sheets and a pile of feather pillows The bedroo white, which did not help my dizziness I felt as if I were back in the hoht dissolve into clouds

My legs felt stiff, but Ione of those hotel robes so ered to the doorway and found a lovely living roolass doors led to a veranda that overlooked the sea froht--possibly fifteen or twenty stories The sky and the water were gorgeous blue

My eyes took a ht On a nearby table, Carter’s and my few possessions were carefully laid out --our old rus, and the two scrolls fro from the Chocolate Museum

Carter rapped in a white robe like mine He lay on the couch with his eyes closed His whole body shivered Bes sat next to hi Carter’s forehead with a cool cloth