Chapter Six

Chapter Six

G rand statues of the gods adorn the gate in front of me and I try not to stare. I thought I'd seen all of the majesty the temples had to offer, but over the past month and a bit, I'd learned just how wrong I was.

The chatter of the other apprentices of Nephthys fills the air, but I don't engage with any of them. I'm too focused on where we are and trying to work out what we're doing here.

Bakrans leads us into a courtyard, her head held high as if she's looking forward to showing us off thanks to her role as head of apprentice training.

None of the others talk to me either, though I know it's my fault for being a little more reserved than I should be. I want to make friends, but every time I try to talk to one of the other apprentices about something, I hear Mum's voice in my head chiding me about how I'm not supposed to appear weak and as if I don't understand something.

In her mind, being Blessed means that I should be seen as infallible, even to people I'm supposed to be learning alongside, and it's freezing me up when it comes to talking to anyone my own age.

"All right, gather around," Bakrans calls.

I turn my attention to her and wait for the instructions.

"Today you'll be going through the scripts for playing the Nephthys role in the creation tableau," she says.

A few excited whisperings go through the other apprentices.

"Isn't it only the Nephthys Blessed who get to do that?" one of the others asks, throwing me a funny look as she does.

"No," Bakrans responds bluntly. "For festivals and ceremonies, it is often a Nephthys Blessed who takes the role, but there are many smaller functions where Nephthys will be played by a priestess who specialises in that kind of thing."

That seems to make the other apprentices excited.

At the other end of the courtyard, another group of people enters, and it takes me a moment to realise why . If we're practising the creation myth, then it means we need the other players, and that's going to include working with the apprentices of the other gods too.

Which means Mesu is going to be here.

A weird feeling settles inside me. Things have been odd since our kiss, and the few times I've seen him, I haven't known what to say.

I rub my scarab between my thumb and forefinger, hoping the luck will mean I know how to be around him if we do end up running into each other. I want the weirdness to end.

"Shoshan, a word," Bakrans says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I tuck the scarab safely beneath the neck of my dress. It's not against any rules for me to wear it, but I know the simplicity might raise some eyebrows when I'm expected to wear much more ornate pieces.

Bakrans gestures for me to step away from the other apprentices.

I rub my thumb across my finger in the absence of my scarab, trying not to let my nerves show on my face. I don't know why she wants to talk to me, but it can't be good.

"In a moment everyone will be getting into groups. Yours is going to be meeting at the pillar there." She gestures over to where someone is already leaning on the column.

"Is my group different?" I ask, confused about why I'm being pulled aside to be told this.

"Your group is all Blessed," she responds. "In the future, you'll have to work closely with the Seth and Isis Blessed, and a little less so with the Osiris Blessed. When we have Blessed apprentices at joint exercises like this, we like to group you together so you can get to know one another."

"I see." I don't mention that I already know two of the Seth Blessed apprentices well. She's probably already aware that my twin brother was chosen by Seth on the same day as I got my own Blessing.

"You can go join them now," she says, effectively dismissing me.

I take a deep breath and head over, wondering if I'm already going to know the people I'm grouped with. I haven't heard much about who the Isis and Osiris Blessed are this year, but I may know them from school or some of my other activities.

I stop in my tracks as I recognise the Seth Blessed leaning against the column. My eyes widen and all rational thoughts disappear. Of course Mesu is in my group, he's learning the same things as I am, but that doesn't change the fact that it feels weird to be looking at him right now.

Especially when the creation myth means we're supposed to be playing a couple.

"Hey, Shan," he says, flashing me a charming smile that only draws attention to his mouth, and sends me back into a spiral of thinking about our kiss.

I push it out of my mind, I can't let myself get distracted, especially when we're in a work setting and neither of us want to make a bad impression on our supervisors. "Mesu."

He raises an eyebrow. "Not very friendly."

"I don't know how to act around you." I lower my voice despite the fact we haven't been joined by our counterparts from the other temples yet.

"Like normal, right? I mean, Ben's over there." He nods to where my brother is talking to one of the other apprentices.

I grimace. "Okay, so normal."

"Normal," he responds.

"When we're supposed to be playing Seth and Nephthys. Normal is a word for it," I babble. "Maybe it would be better if we weren't paired together for this."

"Who are they going to pair you with? Your actual brother?" Amusement fills his voice as he asks.

I wrinkle my nose. "Point taken."

"Mmm, incest is fine for the gods, but frowned upon for the Blessed."

"It wouldn't be real incest," I point out. "We're only learning to play the roles of the gods, we're not supposed to be actually having a relationship."

"Close enough that they still don't want to pair you with your brother."

"Which is probably a good thing. Can you imagine if Mum and Dad thought it would be okay to pair us together?" A shiver runs down my spine even at the thought.

"Believe it or not, I've never once thought of an incestuous scenario between you and Ben."

I raise an eyebrow. "Even when you had that crush on him a few years back?"

He clears his throat. "I wasn't aware you knew about that."

"You didn't hide it very well," I say. "I think everyone figured it out."

"Great, just what I need."

"Except Ben, anyway, he's clueless."

"Not that you can talk, you didn't notice I liked you, either," Mesu points out.

My lips quirk up into a smile. "Maybe you just got better at hiding it?"

"Maybe. And now I've got to act all in love with you for our training."

"Pfft. Seth isn't in love with Nephthys," I point out, trying my best to ignore my traitorous heart fluttering within me and hoping that there's something more to his words.

"Then why did he get all jealous when she gave Osiris a son?"

I shrug. "Power, hurt, annoyance about the fact his brother did that to him. There are lots of reasons that aren't him loving her."

"You live in a very bleak world," Mesu responds.

"That's what happens when your bedtime stories are about betrayals between the gods rather than the crocodile lost in the Thames."

"That was my favourite."

"I remember." I smile fondly at the recollection. "You spent weeks telling everyone who would listen that you were going to become a priest for Sobek, you even started carrying around that stuffed crocodile everywhere you went."

"Ah, Mr Snappy," he says fondly. "I still have him."

"And now you've traded him in for a mythical beast," I muse.

"Hey, set animals could have been real at some point. We have no proof that they didn't exist."

"No proof that they did either," I point out.

"Besides, it's not like you didn't trade in your stuffed cat for a kite. Though where is she? I expected her to be here today." He looks around, as if expecting Kema to appear just because he's talking about her.

"She's in my room. They must have thought dealing with you was enough for me today, I don't have to deal with a kite I'm barely bonded to as well."

"You wound me, Shan. I thought you loved me."

Both of us freeze as the words sink in. He's said them many times before but they take on a different meaning in wake of our kiss, and I'm not exactly sure what to make of it.

My heart has other ideas, and starts fluttering like crazy and urging me to forget where we are, and how many people are around, in favour of exploring more of what those feelings might be.

I take a deep breath, trying not to panic or worry about what it means.

Before either of us can say anything, a girl with wild red ringlets appears and flashes us a warm smile. "Hi," she says brightly. "I'm Horuta. The Isis Blessed. Wow, that sounds so weird still. It's been a surreal five weeks."

"It has," I respond. "I'm Shoshan."

Her eyes widen. "Rashida's sister?"

My ears burn red. "Yes," I murmur.

"And your brother is Seth Blessed?" She looks at Mesu as if trying to figure out if we look like we're related, but doesn't seem to draw any conclusions.

"I'm Mesu," he says. "But if you're looking for Benipe, he's over there." He nods to where my brother is charming anyone who will talk to him. I wish I had his confidence when it comes to other people, but it's something I sorely lack.

"Ah, I see the resemblance," she says.

I give her a tight smile, trying not to worry too much about it. We do look similar, it's not that strange of a thing for her to suggest.

A man approaches with another apprentice trailing behind, a bunch of papyrus sheets in his hand. If I have to guess, he's the Osiris Blessed apprentice and his mentor is bringing the scripts we're supposed to memorise for our roles. Which means it's time for us to put away the introductions and focus on what we're here to do.

My gaze slips to Mesu and I find him looking at me with an intense expression on his face.

I don't think either of us are going to be forgetting his slip today, and it's only going to make things between us even more confusing.