The Memory Painter

Ma’at shook her head. “It’s unfortunate, but we are not defeated. This passage will never be used again.”


Thoth didn’t know what she meant until they’d descended the stairs. While Ammon continued on with Hermese, Ma’at stopped and ordered him to wait. She left him leaning against the wall and slipped behind an alcove. Soon Thoth could hear rocks moving, then the ground above him began to shake. At first, he thought it was another explosion—until he saw the walls of the entire passage above them come together to form a ceiling. Ma’at had sealed the entrance.

Thoth grabbed the arrow’s shaft and broke it off so that only a small bit of wood protruded from his chest. He felt like he was about to collapse.

When Ma’at rejoined him, she saw the bloody arrow on the ground. Thoth could read the question in her eyes. He stopped leaning against the wall and tried to stand up straight. “I’ll be fine,” he said.

She lit a torch to guide the way. The tunnels were in darkness now—as was everything else. The magnetic force that fueled the city—their lights, their machines, everything—was no longer accessible. Thoth couldn’t begin to fathom the consequences. The technology his ancestors had fought to preserve was all but lost.

He grew weak, no longer certain that he could make it back to the meeting hall, when Ma’at spoke. “We turn here.”

Thoth shook his head. “But the Temple of Re is this way.”

“We’re not going back to Heliopolis. We’re going to the Hall of Records.”

Thoth had dreamed his whole life of seeing the Hall of Records, but right now, he could only think of Hermese. Again Ma’at seemed to intuit his thoughts and said, “Hermese is already there.”

They continued to make their way through the tunnels. Ma’at forced him to use her body as a crutch. “Your father would be proud,” she said.

Thoth gave her an appraising look. “You had feelings for him.”

Ma’at hesitated. “We were going to be married. He was waiting until you returned home to tell you.”

Her confession couldn’t have shocked him more. There was so much he didn’t know about his father.… What other secrets had he taken with him to the Duat? The torchlight cast eerie shadows on the walls. He did not know if the day’s events had overtaken him, but the world seemed to take on a dream-like effect. “Where are we now?” he asked.

“Under Hor-em-Akhet.”