Page 62 of Ra
He flashed a sad smile. “Thank you. But it wasn’t necessary. I belong here.”
Azi nodded, slowly assessing the situation. “You do know that you can’t live here, right? Your fans will start arriving in throngs tomorrow.”
“I hope to be gone by then.”
“Where are you going?”
“Back to where you found me. I shouldn’t have come, Azenath.”
“How are you planning to get there?” Azi asked.
“I’m working my way through the old prayers, surely one of them has to work, right?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. You’re just human now, remember? You’d only be praying to yourself.”
He turned back to the wall, and pressed his hand against the outline of himself. “I just want to go back.”
“Why? When I first met you, all you wanted was to live,” Azi said.
“I shouldn’t have been here. There should never have been a chance to live again.”
“I don’t know, I thought it was kind of fun.”
Ra looked over his shoulder at her and flashed another smile before he concentrated on placing his hand on the heart of the image of himself.
“So, do you think that the image of you is so washed out compared to the others because you’re not there anymore and they are?” Azi asked as she slowly approached him.
“What?” he asked, turning to her just as she stopped beside him.
“Your image is pale, hardly any color, they’re all bright and vivid.”
Ra backed up a bit and looked at the images of himself and all the other gods. “I suppose.”
“Do you really want to rejoin them?” she asked, watching him as he ran his hands over the faces of the other gods.
“It’s the only thing I know to do. I don’t know how else to make this right.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m trying to make things right. Whatever occurred between myself, Neith, and the others should not have had an effect on your life. And from all accounts I’ve seen, it’s affected all of your life. Every bit of who you are has been guided by those with an agenda to resurrect me — us. I am truly sorry for that, Azenath.”
“You can’t blame yourself for the actions of others.”
He nodded. “But I wanted to live again, too. I didn’t care what the consequences were.”
Azi watched as his lips began moving, his hands pressed alternately from one relief of the gods to another.
“If you really want to go, I brought this,” she said, extending her hand with her golden scarab sitting on her palm.
He nodded and smiled genuinely for the first time since she’d arrived. “The sacred scarab.”
“Take it,” she said, lifting her hand just a little to indicate he should take it from her.
“I believe it is you who has to place it in its spot.”
“What will happen if I do?” Azi asked.
“I’m not sure. Hopefully it will return me to whence I came.”
