Thankfully, Amon was able to summon a wind to blow the vile vapors away from our little ledge. When we could breathe again, Amon noticed his shoes steaming. When he tried to remove one, he snatched his hand away. The residue had a soft reddish glow. I crouched down next to him and took his hand in mine, examining the burn on his finger.
Taking a water bottle, I poured a good amount over the burn and then used my T-shirt to dry it. An awkwardness had grown between us and I couldn’t seem to look Amon in the eye.
He sighed. “Hakenew,” he said, and stretched his other hand out to cup my chin. He lifted it and waited for my eyes to meet his. “For seeing to my injury.”
“Welcome,” I whispered.
“I am sorry to disappoint you, Nehabet,” Amon continued. “It is not that I…” He paused, then tried again. “If I could explain…” Finally, he finished with, “You are not…undesirable.”
The fact that he was admitting something pleased me more than I expected. Before he could do anything to stop me, I pressed my lips against the burn on his finger. “There. All better.”
Amon’s hazel eyes were fixed on my lips. I drew closer and this time he didn’t move away.
I stopped a breath away from his lips. “So much for your not wanting to kiss me. Explanation,” I murmured.
Amon blinked, turned his head, and uttered, “Hehsy wehnsesh ef sah.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“?‘Son of a stunted jackal’ would be the closest translation.”
“Ah. Someday you’ll have to give me a lesson on ancient Egyptian profanity. Hanging out with you, I can see where it might come in handy.”
Twitching his fingers, Amon sandblasted whatever substance was coating his shoes until the steaming stopped and he could touch it without getting burned. “We will not talk of this now,” he warned.
I stood and put my hands on my hips. “Fine. Just so long as you admit that you know what I know, that you feel.”
Amon rolled easily to his feet. “Only a sorceress could speak volumes such as that and still say nothing.”
“I’ll ignore that for now, seeing as how you have an injury on your finger of such magnitude as to be of great distraction.”
Amon narrowed his eyes. “You are indeed a witch.”
I gave him a Cheshire-cat smile. “Speaking of magic, what are we going to do about you-know-who, our little stone tormentor?”
“I will send him back from whence he came,” Amon declared.
“We’re going to have to catch him first.”
“Yes.”
Amon stood on the edge of our little ledge looking out at the sea of red slime that coated pretty much everything below. He sighed, seeming to come to a decision. “Lily, it is too dangerous to continue our course when the path has been sabotaged.”
“I agree.”
“The only thing I can think to do is to take us directly to him.”
Dusting my hands, I shouldered my bag. “Then let’s go.”
“But to do so, I must use your energy again. It will weaken you.”
“Well, I’ll recover, right?”
“Not completely. I have already borrowed your energy several times today. You do not notice the drain unless I use a great deal of power, but I have already depleted your stores significantly.”
“By ‘not completely,’ I’m assuming you mean not today?”
Amon made a face. “The longer we are connected—”
“I know. I know. Risking my innards, blah blah blah,” I interrupted. “So let’s do what we need to do to get me a good meal and let me sleep it off. I’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”
Amon frowned and didn’t seem to appreciate my blasé approach to the whole thing, but both of us knew he pretty much didn’t have a choice. Narrowing his eyes, Amon took my hand and pulled me close, then placed his hands on my cheeks. His gleaming eyes shone with conviction as he said, “I promise you, Lily, I will fix all of this.”
“All of what?” I questioned, wrinkling my nose and enjoying the warmth of his hands as it seeped into my cheeks. Raising his head, Amon cried out in Egyptian, and I screamed in pain as the sand began to swirl around us.