Chapter Fifteen

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Texas

“Wait.” Khamari lifts his hands. “Wait,” he says again, keeping his eyes glued on our enemy. “We shouldn’t fight. We need them on our side.”

I let out a breath, but I keep my stance. I’ve seen pictures of them from my research a few months ago, but I never thought I’d encounter a Wepwawet, an Egyptian werewolf. One of the humongous wepwawet growls, standing on its haunches.

“I don’t think they want to negotiate,” I whisper. The only thing they look like they want to discuss is where to start in the plucking and chewing of our limbs.

“Trust me. That’s not the way. I think we have to…recite something.”

“Oh, right. Whose temple is this?” I look up and find the Eye of Ra etched in the sandstone.

“Temple of Ra,” Khamari says as he walks between me and the wepwawet.

“Okay, we have to like suck up to him, right?”

I can’t see his face, but his shoulders are shaking, and I’m pretty sure he’s laughing. “Yeah. Something like that, but more formal and genuine.”

“Do you remember?”

“I don’t. I just memorized Alexander’s funerary text.”

“Let’s try it.”

“No.” His voice is tight with tension. “Using his text hasn’t worked out well for me. That’s only going to enrage them.”

The bird caws above us again and drops a rolled-up scroll on the ground.

“Pick it up!” one of the wepwawets barks.

“Wash yourselves in the water.” The other one points his paws toward a pond that sure as hell wasn’t here when we first arrived.

“Go!” the wepwawet growls when we don’t immediately move.

We wade into the water and quickly dispense our clothes. Trust me when I say there are no quick peeks from either of us. Not when those werewolves are snarling nearby. After we finish, we both find towels to dry, and our clothes are fresh and pressed.

I stare at my garments. “What just…?”

“I don’t know, but they are getting impatient.” Khamari eyes are trained on the prowling canine guardians.

We find the parchment right where the bird dropped it. I bend over, unroll the parchment, and…keep unrolling. Khamari grabs the other side and stretches it out. I glance over my shoulders and find the wolves are in position, standing like statues.

“Damn.” Khamari bends over, reading the text. “It’s in hieroglyphics.”

I snort. “Of course it is.” I run my hands over the thin papyrus. “It…” I stop, gasp. “Huh.” Right before my eyes, the symbols transform into something I can understand. As I touch the text, I read out loud. “‘A homage to thee, O thou who hast come as Khepera…Khepera the creator of the gods. Thou riseth, thou shiniest…’”

I look up and find the wepwawets retreating backward into the temple. When I stop reading, they stop retreating.

“Keep going,” Khamari encourages. “Keep reading until they leave.”

I pick up the papyrus, moving my hands over the symbols, and recite the hymn as it reveals itself to me. “‘May I advance upon the earth; may I smite the Ass; may I crush the evil one; may I destroy Apep in his hour…’”

After I finish the text, we enter the hall of the temple and come into bleached, white sandstones. Rows of tables with bread, pastries, meats, and steaming, spiced dishes line the tables that are pushed against a wall. A small, round table set for two is in the center of the room.

Khamari waves at the table. “They want us to eat.”

My stomach clenches in pain. “Yeah, I could eat.” I grab the empty plate and stack food on my plate. Khamari does the same.

“I know I’ve asked you this before, but…if we eat in our dreams, are we stuck here?”

Khamari takes a bite of beef, licking his fingers. “This isn’t a dream. Trust me.”

I nod, breaking a piece of bread in half and dipping it into some sort of spiced butter sauce. “I’m starving.”

“Me too. I haven’t eaten in…well, since I got down here.”

“Well, thank you, Ra.” I put prayer hands.

Khamari winces. “What?”

“Doesn’t it feel…wrong? We both grew up Christian. You’re a Baptist. I’m a Catholic.”

I throw back my head and laugh. If Grandma Lou could see me, she would literally birth a cow.

“Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.” He shakes his head, sawing into another piece of meat.

I sigh. “I’m saying thank you. I’m not praying to the guy.”

“I know…but doesn’t this all feel weird? Like other gods exist?”

“Khamari. You suck people’s blood and walk in their dreams. A few hundred years ago, people would’ve considered you a god.”

“I’m not perfect.”

“I know that, big head.”

Khamari leans his head back and laughs, and I join him. For me, it’s mostly hysteria. Here I am, walking, talking, breathing in another dimension or whatever with a whole ’nother set of gods, on a mission to do…who knows what? I’m tired of feeling like a pawn.

I stop laughing, and the deliciously seasoned food suddenly tastes like ash. “Why do you think we’re here?”

“A good question, young one,” someone says from behind me.

I jump from my seat, ready to fight.

Standing in front of me is a man wearing a falcon mask and a sun disk on the center of his head. A golden hue surrounds his body.

“The reason you are here is a question you will answer before your time is done.” Another man with skin the color of charcoal enters the hall. He looks like a warrior—an ancient warrior equipped with breastplates and a white headdress. A wrap is tied around his waist, falling just above his knees. A bird, the one I recognize from outside, circles him as he walks. The bird has gray feathers, a white breast, and long yellow talons.

Khamari stands and quickly bows.

Snort.

He doesn’t appear to have any conflict with his faith as he bows at a couple of Egyptian gods. I dip my head to acknowledge them. We’re still in the getting-to-know-each-other phase in this weird-ass adventure.

“Why are we here?” I repeat my question.

“To answer the question, you must understand the trials that your predecessor, Alexander, has undergone.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” I say, staring at him. “Alexander is nothing to me. Not my predecessor, my uncle, my man…nothing. We want to destroy him. So whatever trials and tricks you have up your sleeve, don’t base it off his actions. Please,” I add, ’cause I’m not trying to be too rude.

The golden one introduces himself. “I am Ra, the sun god.” He glows so brightly after he says his name that I shield my eyes.

“And I am Osiris, the god of the Underworld, the judge of the dead.” The one with darker skin introduces himself when he reaches the table. He, like the oversize wolves, is about nine feet tall. At first glance, his skin looks charcoal, but there’s a metallic green sheen that covers his face and torso. He has mummification straps wrapped around his arms.

“We know who you are, Raven.”

“Texas,” I quickly correct.

“There is no need to assume another identity, because there is nothing you can hide from us,” Osiris says. “A raven is a symbol of good luck. The messengers of gods in your world. Your name is as it is and as it always will be.”

Khamari gives me an I-told-you-so look.

“Osiris and Ra can call me that.” I point to Khamari. “But not you.”

“And this is exactly what you must learn. What you must overcome.” Osiris directs his long finger toward me. “I am yesterday, but you are not.”

“Huh?” I shake my head. “What does that even mean?”

“You will come to understand, young one.”

Damn, I hate riddles. I look at Khamari. “We’ll be here until we’re eighty.”

“Don’t worry, I like a challenge,” Khamari answers in a smooth, confident voice.

Before I can properly roll my eyes, Ra adjusts his attention to Khamari. “You like control. Control makes you feel you can predict tomorrow.”

“I like to stay prepared.” Khamari’s voice is as stiff as his posture.

“You call it preparation. But it is fear.”

The light in Khamari’s eyes dims.

Well, dang. Who knew we’d have an Iyanla Fix My Life episode down here?

“Do you know why Alexander fears the Underworld?” Osiris asks.

We both shake our heads.

“The creature that lurks near the river still hunts for him. Twice a day, he tore off his flesh. There was nowhere he could hide. Alexander thought himself a god. He, the one who came to our shores, our lands to pretend to build relationships, to understand our culture. He calls himself a uniter, but he only destroys. Therefore, we did not destroy his soul. We felt it would fit to relive the pain he caused the world. To end his existence would not be enough.”

“But a soul like his… He will always seek to return to the living.” Osiris moves to stand across from Ra. “He does not break easily. His pain transformed him into something greater. In every way, we showed him he is not a god. And now, he wants to prove to us and to the God in The Above, that he is one of us…that he is better.”

“Alexander has the advantage in The Above. He has learned to survive the harshest environments. He has learned about himself, though he may never reveal all that he is. You two are no match for Alexander.” Ra slowly shakes his head. “But…things are happening, even beyond our control.”

“I thought you were gods?” I challenge.

“We know yesterday and tomorrow. We will help you prepare for tomorrow.”

Ra turns to Khamari. “Know there is nothing you can do to change what is. You cannot change the course of the river, the path of the sun. But you always have a choice on whether to embrace it. That choice may propel or delay, but it never changes the outcome. Do not resist. There you will find true power.”

“And you…” Ra turns to face me. “Yesterday is done. It is time to face the sun.”

“Sure, sure.” I nod, not understanding a damn word Ra is saying. “Sounds good. What else?”

“When my body was broken,” Ra begins, “I experienced many trials. I relied on myself, and…I relied on others.” He puts his hand over his right eye. “Eat, drink, rest. But within the hour, you must take a journey to follow my path. Khamari, you have the names of the gods that protect the gates in your notebook.”

The god points to the jacket. The very jacket he stuffed his little notes from Alexander.

“State their name and your business—to complete my path.” Upon his announcement, he disappears into thin air.

I swivel my attention to Khamari. “Umm…what just happened?”

A scroll and hourglass appear on the floor as if to answer my question.

Osiris doesn’t disappear. He walks away, talking to us with his back facing us. “Find Ra. Find yourself.”

Khamari picks up the sand-filled hourglass. I walk over to the scroll and unroll it. Fortunately, it’s not a million feet long like the funerary text. The hieroglyphics and pictures depict a long, golden snake. I scan my fingers over the picture, then snatch my hand away, shocked at the texture. The thin paper feels like the scales of a snake.

“What’s wrong?” Khamari asks.

“N-nothing.” I focus the fingertip of one finger to only skim over the hieroglyphics. “‘To be the sun, we must bring order to the chaos… Take the path of Ra west to east and battle Apep and battle yourself.’”

A weird look crosses Khamari’s face. “Apep, or Aphosis, is a deity of darkness,” he whispers.

I laugh, and it sounds like a chain-smoker’s hack. “They want me to be the sun and battle darkness. I guess they haven’t heard about my little issues in these parts.” I roll my eyes and read the rest. “Oh…dang.”

“What?”

“We have twelve regions to travel to…in twelve hours.” I glance at the hourglass. “I guess that’ll tell us how long we have left. He says we have an hour to get ready, right?”

Khamari nods slowly, his eyes glazed and unfocused on the hourglass.

“Why do I feel like I’m in a low-budget, choose-your-own-adventure video game?” I grab the plum wine and drain the cup. I can taste alcohol, but it does nothing to dull my irritation.

Khamari follows my lead and gulps down his drink. He’s not staring me down—for once. He’s looking at the entryway that we came through. I glance behind me, checking to see if another god or monster or whatever is rolling up behind me.

“What’s up?” I turn to face him.

“Just…trying to figure this out.”

“They told us. And we only have hours to go through Ra’s journey.”

“But why are they making us do it? What test do they want us to pass?”

I nibble my lips. “Maybe it’s not a test. Maybe they’re trying to help.”

Khamari crosses his arms. “If they want to help, they should’ve just given us the Emerald Tablet instead of making us do the trials.”

“Again, you aren’t getting your hands on the tablet. Maybe we should leave it here. Let the gods take care of it and Alexander.”

“I can’t believe you’re admitting defeat. We haven’t even—”

“It’s not that I can’t take him.” I raise my hand. I mean, according to the gods and Anton, I can’t, but I’m not admitting that out loud.

“But he could survive down here for centuries. I can’t imagine how much mental, physical, and spiritual strength it takes…” My voice trails off when it hits me.

“That’s why he wants us to find his body parts. We’re training. That’s with all that worthy stuff Anubis and his canine friends keep saying. Maybe…” I grit my teeth. “Maybe we aren’t ready for Alexander just yet .” I point my thumb over my shoulder. “Whatever is out there is going to help us get ready.”

“Or…I could use the power of the tablet and banish him to the Netherworld and destroy all vampires for good,” Khamari grumbles.

“Give it up, Mr. Control Freak.” I grab a chunk of meat and down it with more juice.

“I’m not a control freak.”

“You remember when you had a profile for rising high school quarterbacks and Coach Landy sprung that interview with you?”

He crosses his arms. “Yeah. So what? I hated it.”

“It was a good thing. You all but called that journalist ‘paparazzi.’” And at the time, it had irritated me to no end because I admired journalism.

“Did you see how his eyes lit up when he found out about my background? Poor boy from Jamaica does good in America. If that pap—”

“Journalist,” I cut in.

“Fine, journalist would’ve had his way. He would’ve made it seem like Coach Landy handed me my first football.” He shakes his head.

“You were always so private,” I say, remembering deep cuts into our past lives.

“Never with you,” he says, his eyes on me.

It was true. Which is why it felt so good when he whispered his darkest secrets and his dreams in my ear underneath the stars. He told me about his life in Jamaica. The guy is a survivor, hustler, dreamer, but somehow, he never lost the goodness in him. Which is why he needed everything in its place, because most of his life, including now, has been chaotic.

“Well, the guy didn’t do a bad job on the article. Even when you flipped your shit when he arrived at the gym.”

“Never read it.”

“I did.” I’d read it so many times, I know it word for word. “‘Today I became a fan of Khamari St. John. Not because he’s a NFL pro in the making, but because he has the charisma to inspire loyalty and the dedication and intelligence to excel. But don’t get him wrong. This does not come easy for Khamari. He is obsessed with training and studies his opponents so well he knows every consideration they’ll have on the gridiron. If anything slips past him or his team, he does not welcome the rare surprises. One should never, ever underestimate St. John. You won’t know you’re in danger until you’re bleeding. Ask Jed Richardson, the quarterback at Southside High School.’”

“Wow.” Khamari slowly claps at my recitation.

“I know, right?” I tap my forehead. “Steel trap right here. Which is why it was a pretty shitty thing for you to tamper with my genius.” I say the last part lightly, but yeah, even I could hear the bitchy undertones.

He stares at me for a bit. He mutters something under his breath.

“What?”

“Ra and Osiris are right about you, too. You’re stuck in the past.”

“I’ve got a pretty good reason.”

Khamari looks away. When he turns his head, I can see the clean lines of his profile. His jaw muscles flex, causing the tendons in his neck to distend. I can tell he wants to snap. I cross my arms and wait him out.

But he just closes his eyes, sighs. “Can you re-read the part about the journey, the hour breakdown for the twelve regions?”

“Sure.” I re-read what we must do at every hour. After I finish, he stands. “We’re on the west side of Duat.”

“How do you know that?”

“Look outside.” I peer out the window and notice the mixture of pinks and purples. The sun is setting.

“So that means we need to go back to the boat and pass through the Waters of Osiris.”

My heart slams against my chest. “Do you think…” I lick my lips. “Do you think that snake will be there?”

“Some snakes love water so…yes. We should prepare for that.”

We finish our food and head down to the boat.

“Huh. It’s daytime.” I stare at the sky. It isn’t high noon, but it looks like the sky just before the sun sets.

The murky water looks like tar, but when Khamari dips the oar into the water, it’s not as thick. I grab a set of oars, with rings welded on the sides of the boat.

“I’ve got it,” Khamari says as he pushes off the shore.

“We don’t have a lot of time and—”

“I need you to be on the lookout. Make sure nothing sneaks on the boat, slithers from the water, or falls from the sky.” His plan is solid, so I agree.

Something that looks much like a boat flies in the sky above us. We see Ra again, but it seems like he doesn’t notice us. His head is partially covered in a blue-and-green helmet shaped like a beetle—no, a scarab. He holds a staff and floats on above us.

“It’s the first hour,” Khamari whispers.

“Yeah. So far, so good,” I whisper back.

His plan is solid, so I agree.

For a while, all is eerily quiet. And I hope, I even pray, that we make it through Water World without a run-in.

But the thickening mist that surrounds our boat scatters my optimism.

My heart jumps clear out of my chest when an entity wearing a sheer white robe appears out of the fog. “OMG. What is that?”

Khamari grabs my hand. We both stand.

“I am Sia, minor god. I offer you my ear. State your business and tell me the name of the god to enter the gate.”

Khamari pulls out his notebook and utters the god’s name and states our business. “To complete the path of Ra.”

When she backs away, two large wooden doors appear.

As if taking a mind of its own, the barque steers us near the shore.

“How did you know what to say back there?” I whisper to Khamari.

“Alexander told me the names. I guess he was right on that account.”

The barque bumps onto the shore before we can finish our awkward-ass conversation.

“I’m not sure if we can get off.” Khamari scans the landscape. “We don’t have the time.”

I glance at the hourglass and notice the sand isn’t slipping through the narrowed glass. “Looks like they are making the time for us. Let’s get off and see what’s up.”

Khamari offers me his hand, the same hand that, if allowed, would take the Emerald Tablet and hand it on a platter to Alexander. I jump off the boat onto the grassy shore.

There’s a fire going, and three impossibly tall, hooded figures stoke it.

Khamari and I look at each other and then head over to the fire.

“Khamari. Raven. Welcome. Take a seat near the fire, and I will show you the first test.”

Heat from the fire warms my skin. One of the hooded figures steps away from us, from the fire. “Watch the fire, and you will see your test. To ascend to greatness, you must overcome who and what you see in the fire.”

I lean in closer, and the fire shoots into the air as if doused with gasoline.

“What in the hell?” I scramble to my feet, but I’m not near the fire seated on desert sand.

I’m standing in the water, a vast ocean. My ankles down to my shoes are wet. “Khamari!” I spin around, looking for him, sloshing myself from my frantic search. “Where are you?”

“Where are you ?” A voice that sounds so familiar stops me in my tracks. But absolutely no one’s around.

“Is this the test? Getting me wet and freaking me out?”

“Mhmm. You are easily shaken,” the voice says. But this time I know where it’s coming from.

I look down into the water and see my reflection.

At first.

Then a spiked silver-and-black crown shrouded with rays of light appears on my head. There’s a cross at the center of the crown that falls just above my nose. My pupils disappear, leaving the whites of my eyes exposed.

“What the—” I stumble back away from the warped reflection of me.

Berserker me. The form I take when the darkness takes over. But the reflection doesn’t disappear. It rises from the sea dripping with water. Elevating just above the waterline.

“Why do you run?” Berserker Texas asks me.

“I’m not running.” I slide into fight position. This is a trial to kick my own ass, I see. I don’t much like this side of me, and I have a whole dose of aggression to release.

I don’t ask questions. Dashing forward, I punch, but the berserker feints and dodges my attack. I roll into the ankle-deep water, and now my entire body is wet. The water feels as if a ten-pound weight is wrapped around my body, and the coolness from the water chills my skin.

The berserker floats closer to me. Like a child chasing a butterfly, I stretch out my hands, but she’s just as elusive.

This time, I pull off a wrestling move, grab the bottom of her flowing robe as leverage, then grab hold of her waist to yank her to the water.

She bends over, slamming me into the water. My back aches from the whiplike smack from the water and from the whack against my back.

“Do you feel better now?” she asks me.

My heart pounds like war drums in my chest and in my head.

“About what?”

“Fighting me. You’re always fighting me. Why?” She stretches out her hand like she’s trying to help me.

Yeah, right.

I grab her wrist, twisting until she falls to her knees. Then she swipes her hand into an arch, hitting me with a backward slap. We fight hand-to-hand like this for what seems like hours.

My body is soaked—not just from the water, but from exhaustion.

“Do you feel better now?” she asks me again.

“No!” I wipe blood with the back of my hand.

“Then why do you fight me? Why are you fighting yourself?”

“I’m not… You aren’t me. You’re just some janky Temu version of me.”

She rises from the water, so high there’s no way I can reach her without jumping like a fool.

“I am you and you are me. You lack control, so we cannot see.” She points to her white eyes.

“You lack clarity of thought so you cannot hear me. You would rather listen to the souls of the fallen than know and learn your own mind.” She points to the crown on her head.

“Your heart is fractured. It is not only Khamari who you do not trust. You do not trust yourself. And if you cannot see or hear or feel, then you cannot connect with me, your higher self.”

I stand to my feet. “But if I let you take over, the darkness will take—”

“I am dark.” She points to the tendrils around her body. “I am light.” She points to her crown. “I am you. Just like our creator. Our Architect.”

She reaches for my hand. This time, I take it. When our hands connect, a surge of power overwhelms me.

“Who are you?”

“Raven Texas Wright.”

“And who am I?”

“Raven Texas Wright,” I answer.

The whites in our eyes disappear and return to normal. “Remember this well. If you fight yourself, you will dilute your power.”

The water disappears, and I’m back at the fire. Khamari’s here. Staring down at me. My head is resting on his lap.

A look of concern furrows his brows, but then he smiles. “You’re back.”

“Yeah, I…needed to handle something.” I scramble away from his lap.

“You’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” I avoid his gaze. “Better than fine. Looks like you were able to get through your trial pretty quick.”

“Yeah. I figured out what I needed to do, and I did it.”

Khamari gets a gold star. Meanwhile, I kicked my own ass.

“Let’s get out of here.”

I slowly stand. I’m not looking forward to the next adventure.