Neith's Curse

On March 17th in the Twenty First Nome, the magicians of Brooklyn House gathered around the dinner table, all facing towards Sadia Kane. Her brother sat to her right, with Zia Rashid on his right. To her left were her boyfriends, Walt and Anubis, sharing a chair and a body. And directly in front of her was a large chocolate cake with 14 flaming candles embedded in its surface.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," the magicians sang. Felix tried to interject "cha-cha-cha" after every line, but no one joined him. "Happy birthday dear Sadie..." Khufu the baboon was clapping along, although off beat. "Happy birthday to you!" Walt caught Sadie's eye and winked. She smiled back.

"Who wants cake?" she called down the table. Every hand shot up. She began cutting slices and passing plates.

When it looked like everyone had finished, Carter wordlessly handed Sadie a present on a gift bag. Sadie hadn't seen it earlier, so she assumed he'd had it stored in the Duat. She tore the wrapping paper out eagerly.

The present turned out to be a $15 iTune gift card and a bag of Jelly Babies. "Thanks, Carter," she said. He grinned.

"Open mine," Walt said, passing a slim wrapped box and a bag of candy to her. "I hope you'll have enough Jelly Babies," he joked as she picked up the bag to see what was in it.

"I can never have too much candy," Sadie said. She gently opened the paper on the box to reveal a beautiful amulet of the hieroglyph ha-di.

"It's just decorative," Walt revealed. "Or at least, it's supposed to be." He exaggerated an expression of trepidation.

"I'll try not to blow it up," Sadie promised.

"Open mine!" Felix shouted from almost the other end of the table. He leaped up and carried it down to her.

In the next twenty minutes, Sadie received a lumpy penguin shabti from Felix, the book Emma from Cleo, a Macy's card from Alyssa, and caramel filled chocolates from Julian. She also received a lot of cards and some beautiful drawing from the youngest kids. And almost every single person had bought her a bag of Jelly Babies.

"I remembered you said you liked them," Julian said apologetically as Sadie received the candy bag from him.

"I love Jelly Babies," she assured him. "I'll just try not to eat them all at once."

As everyone slowly left the table, Sadie swept all the candy into Carter's gift bag and took it upstairs to her room. She swept the door shut with her foot and upended the bag over her bed. All the plastic bags of Jelly Babies poured out onto a huge pile.

She stared at them for a second before breaking down laughing.

Sadie started to pick them off her bed to put back in the bag - there hadn't really been a point in dumping them, it had just been hysterical to see all that candy on her bed. She found herself opening a bag almost unconsciously and popping a Jelly Baby into her mouth.

Well, I should probably get started on these, she thought. It might take awhile to finish.

It didn't take long at all to finish the first bag. Or the second. Or the third. After every bag, Sadie would try to set the candy aside so she could get ready for bed. Each time she failed, and as she began to eat faster, she realized that this was something beyond her control. Whatever was happening to her, it wouldn't stop until she had finished all the Jelly Babies, and it kept making her eat them faster.

Her stomach was starting to churn. Her mouth had a sickly sweet flavor that she didn't think would ever go away. The pile of empty bags beside her kept growing higher, and finally, she dropped the last bag on top of it and bolted to the bathroom.

Carter knocked on Sadie's bedroom door. Without a response, he slowly cracked it open. Sadie was nowhere in sight, and he let himself in.

He was caught off guard by the mound of candy bags by her bed. Wow, she really does love those, he thought. He couldn't believe she would really eat them all in one sitting, though. He knew it would have made him sick.

"Sadie!" he called softly. An answered groan came from the bathroom. The door was ajar, but Carter knocked on it anyway.

"Sadie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said weakly. Carter heard the sound of retching. He peeked around the door to see Sadie hunched over the toilet, her hands resting weakly on her knees.

"Regretting all those Jelly Babies?" Carter asked.

"Yes," she moaned. "It's because of Neith..." She broke off again, and Carter looked away from the vomit.

"Do you need any - anything?" Carter asked. He had to say something.

"No," Sadie sighed. "Goodnight, Carter."

"Good night."

Neith's curse had been fulfilled. Sadie Kane's prey had turned on her. She was beset upon by a pack of wild Jelly Babies.