“Trust me, I’m in this one for the long haul.”
It irritated me when Dr. Hassan looked to Amon for approval, but Amon smoothed things over by stroking my arm and assuring him, “Lily has given up more for me than any priest or devotee ever could. Our connection is unbreakable. Palm to palm, we risk together, we live together, or we die together. Be satisfied that any knowledge or secrets you choose to share will be safe with her.”
Turning, I looked up at Amon’s face, but his gaze was trained on his servant, who, after removing his hat, immediately knelt at my feet. “Then I would follow every word that is uttered by your lips as well, my lady.”
“Just Lily,” I offered, embarrassed that this man would kneel before me. “Please, just…” I sighed. “Just help us.”
“I will endeavor to do so, Lady Lily.” Dr. Hassan settled back into his seat and adjusted the brim of his hat before he settled it on his head again. His tone was all business. “I do not know how Amon came to be in New York. That is to say, I knew that he had been moved, but I did not know where he had been moved.”
“You’re talking about his original tomb, under Tutankhamun’s treasure room?”
Dr. Hassan blinked, obviously surprised. “You found this?”
“Yes, that’s where Amon raised the shabtis.”
“How fascinating! You must tell me of this.”
“We will…later. First, you were saying he’d been moved?”
“Yes. I was aware of his location and had been caring for his tomb for quite some time. One day, I entered and felt the warmth of his presence missing.”
“Interesting. So he’s warm even when dead?”
“Not all people are sensitive to it. Apparently, you are one of the exceptions.”
“As are you. Go on.”
“So, I entered the tomb—this was approximately six months ago—and I sensed a change. The tomb had been disturbed. Though it was forbidden, I pried open the sarcophagus lid with a crowbar. Amon was gone.”
Amon leaned forward. “Why didn’t they take the sarcophagus?”
“Presumably, they wanted to remain undiscovered.” Dr. Hassan directed his next comment to me. “You must understand. Only someone using the darkest of magic could have even entered the tomb. It had been protected, the sarcophagus sealed. I had done a sealing spell on the entrance so that only I could access the tomb. If another archaeologist had stumbled across it, then I would have been instantly alerted. The spell was designed to repel the curious and destroy those with evil intent.”
“So you cursed his tomb,” I clarified.
“Essentially, yes.”
“Then why could Amon and I get in without a problem?”
“The curse would no longer apply if the object being protected was removed,” Amon explained.
“I do not understand how anyone could get past it,” Dr. Hassan said. “I included all the standard spell variations: disease, death, the offender’s name being stricken from history, and, of course, that it would affect seven times seven generations of his offspring.”
“The thought occurs to me,” Amon said, “that someone who was not threatened by physical death might have bypassed your curse.”
“That’s true,” I said. “And if he had no children…”
“And no body to get a disease…,” Amon added.
“Then he could enter the tomb with little risk,” Dr. Hassan finished.
“And sending me to New York would make my accomplishing the ceremony difficult, if not impossible, and yet no harm would come to my body,” Amon said. “Even should my remains be destroyed, it is possible for me to re-create my form, even if it had returned to the dust.”
Dr. Hassan sat back. “But who has the power and the motive to try to stop you?”
“I can only assume it would be him whom we were attempting to thwart.”
“You don’t mean—”
“The god of chaos. Seth.”