As I sat there cowering, hoping Amon would pull a secret sun-god power out of his bag of tricks to save us, I contemplated my impending death. At that moment, I realized my entire life had amounted to essentially being trapped inside a box. How fitting that I was now going to die in one.
Despite the fact that I liked to believe that I was a regular girl who longed for an adventure with a mysterious man, the truth was, I was about as far away from being a regular girl as I could be. I’d been conditioned like a pampered poodle to be utterly obedient and go only so far as my diamond-studded leash allowed. If the world got too crazy, I’d tremble at my parents’ feet and let them make everything all better. I was a coward.
This little adventure with Amon was so far outside my comfort zone that I didn’t even know who I was anymore. My outer shell had been ripped away and what was left was a raw, scared girl. My confidence, the marrow that made up who I was, and my grasp of what was real and what was imaginary had been ripped apart. The foundation at the core of Lilliana Young had crumbled and only broken rubble remained.
The irony was that as I waited for death, I realized that I was now finally living. I was experiencing the world. I’d run away from home, developed a serious crush on a guy who didn’t feel the same, and traveled to the desert. I was in serious need of a shower, said whatever acerbic comments came to mind, and couldn’t care less about the consequences of my actions.
And now, here I was, nearing death, and I felt…glad.
Being with Amon was the most invigorating thing that had ever happened to me and if I was to meet my end here, then at least I could say that I had truly experienced living in all its sweaty, uncomfortable, harsh, heartbroken, scary, sometimes deadly, but always thrilling glory.
If I was going to leave this earth, I would do it with a smile on my face and consider it a fitting end to the ultimate adventure. “All things considered, I think I’d rather suffocate than be crushed,” I wheezed. “How about you?”
Amon panted. “Why do you speak like this?”
“I don’t know. Just accepting the inevitable, I guess. Please stop straining yourself,” I pleaded as Amon grunted and staggered beneath the ceiling.
The scrape of a shoe on the dusty floor told me Amon had heeded my words. Soon he was next to me, trying to catch his breath in a space almost devoid of oxygen.
“Are you going to die, too?” I asked.
“Perhaps not immediately, but losing you will weaken me to the point that my death will be inevitable. For the first time in millennia I will have failed in my duty.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
Amon put his arms around me, pulling me close. “No. I am sorry for this, Young Lily. I did not wish to endanger your life.”
“Yeah, well, I should have known that taking up with a mummy was not the safest bet.” Stretching my hand above my head, I could easily press my palm against the ceiling now. Amon and I slid down a little, prolonging the inevitable. Turning my face in his direction, I decided to throw caution completely to the wind and asked, “So, does the weight of our situation inspire you to rethink the idea of kissing me? I mean, if I’m going to die, I’d really like to know what a kiss feels like first.”
Amon murmured, “The weight of our situation…weight. Could it be that simple?”
Carefully, Amon moved around me and found the round groove again. He chanted, and I felt the sting of sand as it whipped past me with a hiss.
“What are you doing?” I whispered in the darkness.
Ignoring me, he kept on and then cried out in joy at the whir and click of the walls. The ceiling rose and the floor shifted. The momentum caused me to lose my balance and roll to the side. The cool rush of air filled the room as Amon took my hand and helped me stand.
Soft golden light filled my eyes as Amon’s skin began to glow once more, and he pointed at the thing he’d created—a stone ball that fit exactly into the groove of the floor.