Page 158 of Immortal Sun

They don’t look away from my nakedness, instead they walk in and slowly begin to dress me, not caring that I smell of sex, sweat, panther, and dirt.

I don’t get a wedding dress.

I don’t get makeup or a fancy hair style.

I don’t even get ChapStick as they wrap me up in a white tunic that falls to the ground. The clasps are black serpents at my shoulders with a cape that runs down the back, and to add insult to injury…

They give me a veil.

“Ah, a wedding and a funeral,” I say in a lame attempt at a joke that I know isn’t funny because if I don’t speak I think I may start actually screaming. Words are easier to hear than screams even to my own ears.

Daggon’s hands shake as he steps away from me and folds them in front of his golden armor.

“Do you still have the amulet?” Enki asks in a hushed whisper. He’s wearing his full armor again. The others are all dressed like the gods they are. Why do they need to look so intimidating? They’re every inch the immortals they claim to be.

I drag in a deep breath; I suck in my tears. “I have the bracelet I share with my brother and the amulet, and the bell on the anklet is still on.”

“Good. Good.” He nods. “Remember to use it if you need to when you can’t see in the darkness. Anubis will make the journey safe and Inti will light the way.” He hesitates and then leans in. “Life is sometimes just like death, death like life, you never know what you might face in the underworld.”

“What could I possibly face in the next hour before my death?” I smile sadly. “Other than what I’ve already faced?”

Tears form in his eyes, he reaches for me then pulls his hand back, his fingers trembling. “You have no idea, Cleo. None, of how darkness works.”

“Even if I did, would it help me?”

“Not at all.” His smile is back. “You’d just be terrified. But I prefer you brave.”

“At least one of you does.”

“We all do,” Dag says under his breath. “Keep both bracelets on. He’s right, you never know in our worlds, tons of possibilities, no answers until it happens.”

With my veil covering my face, I slowly walk out of the cave and up the stairs for the last time with immortals flanking me.

I don’t know what to think except…Is this real? Can this be real?

Then, the song starts.

Teardrops, they fall back into the Nile as they ascend to the gods, we are broken waiting for your sacrifice, the final power of Apep.

Sacrifice and live.

Live.

We honor you.

I gasp when I hear my mom’s voice.“There is a sacrifice that must always be made to the gods.” She smiled and handed me the piece of bread to offer to the gods, tears in her eyes. “You might not understand it, but it’s necessary.”

I shrugged. “Mom, they’re just stories.”

“And the wars are fake?” Her laugh was sad. “Hold your head high, my girl, always hold your head high even when faced with people who wish you dead.”

At the time I thought it was advice against the bullies at school about my eyes, but now I know.

She meant it for this moment.

My mom—she knew.

Because she, too, was sacrificed at this very gate into the underworld after helping Chaos, maybe she fell in love with him and she never told us. Now I know why she was angry about the bracelets, why she didn’t want us finding our father, she knew this would be our future one day.

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