Thoth by Alessa Thorn

7

Kema had woken on the embalming table, and for one brief second, she thought she had died. The pain in her side was a dull ache, and there was a blanket on top of her. Her throat was dry as dust, and that convinced her that maybe she hadn’t slipped her mortal coil just yet.

Kema lifted her shirt and traced the fresh scars she had, thanks to the chimera’s tail. Bronze residue still clung to her skin, and she knew that Thoth had healed her.

So he should after what he did to me. Kema swung her legs over the side of the table and hopped down onto wobbly legs. She stumbled over to the sink and drank handfuls of water until she felt steadier. Voices were getting louder in the hall, and she heard someone say ‘Anubis.’

Oh God, if Anubis is here too, I might actually pass out again. That didn’t stop Kema from wanting to find out.

Unfortunately, instead of the God of the Dead, she found Set, Thoth, and a woman arguing. For a moment, Thoth’s hard eyes softened when he saw her.

Stay mad at him; he almost got you killed. If he had wanted her dead though, Kema doubted he would’ve bothered using any of his precious magic to save her.

“Is Anubis really gone?” she asked.

“Yes,” Set replied.

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe he doesn’t want to be found?”

Thoth nodded. “In the first thousand years or so, I considered that, but after a while, I became worried. Anubis loves the dead. He genuinely cares about them. His power helps keep the Duat in balance, and unlike the rest of us, he actually has maintained his duties as a god,” he explained and then looked at Ayla. “Oh, Ayla, this is Kema, and Kema, you already met Set last night.”

“Not properly,” Set replied, offering Kema one of his large hands to shake. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m glad Thoth’s eternal bad mood hasn’t scared you away.”

“Not yet. Though he certainly tried with the chimera,” Kema replied.

“That was one hundred percent an accident,” Thoth argued. All three of them ignored him.

“Whatever. It’s nice to meet you both,” Kema said to the couple.

“Are you going to help us search for Anubis too?” Ayla asked hopefully.

“No, she’s here to clean up the chaos she created while we look for Anubis,” Thoth interrupted.

“Kema seems clever enough to help with both,” Set said and favored her with a charming smile.

“I want to meet Anubis, so count me in,” she agreed. “Besides, I don’t know how to clean up my chaos as you put it, and I’m certainly not going to be bait for every damn creature you want to banish, sorcerer.”

“You’ll do as you’re told until your debt has been repaid,” Thoth growled. Kema lifted her middle finger at him, and Set stifled a laugh.

“She’s right. The more that can help, the better in my opinion. You can teach your apprentice here some magic as you go,” he said.

“She is not my apprentice,” Thoth replied stubbornly.

“There’s no way I’d agree to be his apprentice. I’m too smart for a start,” Kema said, flicking her braid over her shoulder. Thoth’s eyes narrowed, but she ignored him. “Besides, I still have a day job to do, and after we banish the other nineteen creatures, I won’t have to darken your doorstep, Thoth. You could take this off me right now and never see me again.” Kema stuck her arm out to Thoth where the bronze cartouche glittered.

Thoth gave her an unamused smile. “Nice try, but you’ll be helping me whether you like it or not.”

Kema sighed and focused on the bits of paper stuck to the walls that Thoth had collected in all the years that Anubis had been missing.

“Maybe he’s not in Egypt,” Ayla suggested finally.

“He is,” Thoth and Set said together.

“He is,” Thoth repeated. “Anubis wouldn’t leave. He wouldn’t be away from the Duat for so long, and it’s easiest to get to from Egyptian soil.”

“What if it’s not by choice?” Kema asked. They gave her quizzical looks, so she tried to explain. “Think about it. If Thoth is right, Anubis wouldn’t willingly leave the dead unattended because his power feeds the Duat. What if he’s got no choice but to stay away? Maybe he’s hurt or captured.” Thoth frowned, and he and Set exchanged silent, loaded glances.

“They would have to be powerful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human sorcerer strong enough,” Set mused.

“Maybe not these days, but when Anubis first went missing? There was enough magic in the humans then that one of them could’ve been stupid enough to attempt something,” Thoth replied, rubbing his chin.

“How long has he been gone?” Kema asked.

“I last saw him four thousand, four hundred and ninety-two years ago.”

“Seriously? And you still haven’t found him?” Kema hummed, looking him over. “Maybe you’re not as great as you think you are.”

“Keep talking. I’m thinking of the perfect place in the Duat I’m going to send you to learn some manners,” Thoth replied.

“Well, if you don’t find Anubis, and the Duat is breaking, then I doubt I’ll be wherever you put me for long.” Kema lifted one of the photos, a blurred silhouette of a wild dog running across a sand dune. “Have you asked any of the other gods if they have seen him?”

“We would have to find other gods to ask and waste more time,” Thoth pointed out.

“What about the Greek gods? They aren’t exactly hiding. Hades is a powerful god of the dead, and Hermes is the god of the lost things. Maybe they could help.”

“Ask Hermes?!” Thoth demanded, voice raising.

Set stepped in between them. “Calm down, it was only a suggestion, and she doesn’t know any better.”

“I would rather spend every night for the next five hundred years shoving souls back in the Duat on my own then go to the damn Greeks for help!”

Kema and Ayla exchanged confused glances. “So it’s a pride thing? Right. Because that is going to help find Anubis quicker.”

“We aren’t going to rule your suggestion out,” Set replied before Thoth could. “You have to understand, there are rules when gods ask each other for help. Let’s put that idea in the maybe pile, okay?”

Kema shrugged. “I suppose you know best, Set.”

“Set knows best,” Thoth muttered under his breath. “Ask Hermes for help. And you wonder why I don’t want her for an apprentice.”

“You say that like I would have you,” Kema said and yawned. “Well, almost getting eaten by a chimera and chatting about Anubis has been fun and all, but I’m going home. Some of us non-gods have work in the morning.”

“Make sure you stay hydrated. Your body is going to need rest after such a wound, even with Thoth’s magic helping with your healing,” Ayla said.

“We will see you again soon, Kema,” Set added, shooting her a wink. Kema said her goodnights and headed for the door.

“I’ll walk you out. I don’t need your light fingers causing any more trouble,” Thoth said, hurrying to catch up to her.

“Get over it. I’m not going to steal from you again. I don’t need the money.”

“Because you still intend to play pretend as Madame Heka?” he asked, disbelief lacing every word.

Kema grabbed her bag and what remained of the baklava from the kitchen. “I don’t see why not. I’m good at it, and I have regular customers that pay my bills. Why do you care? I’m not using your cards anymore and can’t cause you any more trouble.”

“It’s not only about that. You have the ability to do real magic,” Thoth argued. His bronze-colored eyes darkened. “Fortunetelling for money is cheapening your gifts.”

“Fortunetelling for money keeps me off the streets. As for my ‘gifts,’ it was using your cards and magic that caused the creatures to get through, not mine. I’m just good at reading people,” Kema replied as they wandered through the book-lined halls to the front door of the bookshop. She looked around a little wistfully. “Do you ever open up this place for customers?”

“Not recently,” Thoth said, following her gaze. “The last time I did, I had a bride hide under my counter and cause me all manner of trouble. Can I ask…did you end up marrying him?”

Kema laughed. “God no. They never found me to force me to go through with the arrangement. He was a businessman who wasn’t the type to accept defeat, and I wasn’t going to live with a man like that after I left him at the altar.”

Thoth clicked his tongue. “It wasn’t true love after all.”

“Love is the biggest con there is, and I’m not a sucker,” Kema replied.

“At last, something we can agree on.” Thoth looked her over. “Are you hurting anywhere?”

Kema shook her head. “I’m okay. No thanks to you.”

“I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, and I did heal you afterward.”

“You used me as bait, Thoth. What did you think was going to happen?”

“Certainly not that it would go straight for you so quickly. I have a theory that it could have smelled the magic that summoned it on you and…”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s gone now. You got what you wanted, and that’s all that matters, right?” Kema bit down her temper and tried to open the door. It didn’t budge. “Let me out.”

“I’m…sorry,” Thoth said through clenched teeth.

Kema stopped struggling with the door. “You are?”

“Yes. I didn’t want you to get hurt.” Magic fizzed in the air between them, and Thoth held out a pack of cards. “Here. You won’t cause an ifrit to burn down the city with these.”

Kema took them and gave him a small smile. “You hope I won’t.” Thoth made a sound that seemed torn between despair and frustration.

“Try not to,” he said, before opening the door for her. “Be ready when I summon you next, and don’t run away from the shop next time.”

“Maybe you should just message me like a normal person,” Kema suggested, stepping out onto the footpath next to her apartment building.

Thoth laughed, and the night around them seemed to still just to listen to the sound.

“And where would the fun in that be, little sorceress?” he asked before the door shut, and the shop vanished.

Kema looked down at the deck of tarot cards in her hands. They were all decorated with hieroglyphs. Kema shuffled them, the feel of each card warm and comfortable in her palms as if it were a deck she had owned for years.

Kema closed her eyes and turned the top card. It was Thoth, with an ibis head and wearing a black and bronze robe.

“The Magician. Of course,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Fucking smart ass.”