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He s like a shark’s "So what do you say, Carter? Sadie? Play me at senet Three pieces for ht, so you till need one additional person to stake a wager For every piece your tearant you an extra hour If you win, that’s three extra hours--just enough tihth House"

"And if we lose?" I asked

"Oh…you know" Khonsu waved his hand as if this were an annoying technicality "For each piece I move off the board, I’ll take a ren from one of you"

Sadie sat forward "You’ll take our secret names--as in, we have to share them with you?"

"Share…" Khonsu stroked his ponytail, as if trying to re I’ll devour your ren, you see"

"Erase part of our souls," Sadie said "Take our ed "On the bright side, you wouldn’t die You’d just--"

"Turn into a vegetable," Sadie guessed "Like Ra, there"

"Don’t want vegetables," Ra muttered irritably He tried to chew on Bes’s shirt, but the dwarf god scooted away

"Three hours," I said "Wagered against three souls"

"Carter, Sadie, you don’t have to do this," my mother said "We don’t expect you to take this risk"

I’d seen her so many times in pictures and in my memories, but for the first time it really struck me howto look like her They both had the same fiery determination in their eyes They both tilted their chins up when they were expecting a fight And they both weren’t very good at hiding their feelings I could tell from Mom’s shaky voice that she realized what had to happen She was telling us we had options, but she knew very well that we didn’t

I looked at Sadie, and we careeave your life to close Apophis’s prison How can we back out?"

Khonsu rubbed his hands "Ah, yes, Apophis’s prison! Your friend Menshikov is there right now, loosening the Serpent’s bonds I have so et there in time to stop him? Will you return Ra to the world? Will you defeat Menshikov? I’ a hundred to one on that!"

Mom turned desperately to erous"

My dad was still holding a plate of half-eaten birthday cake He stared at thein the world

"Carter and Sadie," he said at last, "I brought Khonsu here so that you’d have the choice But whatever you do, I’ht, that won’t change"

He met my eyes, and I could see howus Last Christmas at the British Museum, he’d sacrificed his life to release Osiris and restore balance to the Duat He’d left Sadie andtime for that Now I realized what it was like to be in his position He’d been willing to give up everything, even his life, for a bigger purpose

"I understand, Dad," I told him "We’re Kanes We don’t run from hard choices"

He didn’t answer, but he nodded slowly His eyes burned with fierce pride

"For once," Sadie said, "Carter’s right Khonsu, we’ll play your stupid game"

"Excellent!" Khonsu said "That’s two souls Two hours to win Ah, but you’ll need three hours to get through the gates on time, won’t you? Hht e of the underworld, so he’s disqualified fro…"

"I’ll do it," Bes said His face was grim but deterhted"

"Stuff it, od," Bes said "I don’t like it, but I’ll do it"

"Bes," I said, "you’ve done enough for us Bast would never expect you--"

"I’rumbled Then he took a deep breath "Look, you kids are the real deal Last couple of days--for the first tiain I, just tell Tawaret…" He cleared his throat and gave Sadie a ful look "Tell her I tried to turn back the clock"

"Oh, Bes" Sadie got up and ran around the table She hugged the dwarf god and kissed his cheek

"All right, all right," he areed

Our parents stood

"We cannot stay for this," Dad said "But, children…"

He didn’t seeht Good luck probably wouldn’t have cut it I could see the guilt and worry in his eyes, but he was trying hard not to show it A good general, Horus would have said

"We love you," our mother finished "You will prevail"

With that, our parents turned tooutside the pavilion darkened like a stage set The senet gahter

"Shiny," Ra said

"Three blue pieces for you," Khonsu said "Three silver pieces for a the sticks Bes had several thousand years of ga the pieces andsure Ra didn’t eat the We just rolled andfor our souls, or true names, or whatever you want to call them