The Curse in Her Blood

Chapter 31

Robin

I was not in the palace like I was supposed to be. I had, instead, gone to the library.

I had to ask where the library is, because it wasn't in Set's palace. No it was in the Upper Kingdom.

Okay, to be fair, Set did have something that could be considered a library, except it was more like an office. Nothing in there was about his spells and rituals, which was what I wanted to know about. In fact, of the scrolls I did find, they seemed to be private matters, like a diary.

I had stopped looking at them after I realized what they most likely were.

The library in the Upper Kingdom was called the Hall of Knowledge, but basically it was the equivalent to a public library.

I had walked in and demanded to be pointed to the section about blessings and had been there for most of the morning. At some point I asked someone to bring me tea and something to nibble on and what I got wasn't edible... or drinkable. So it was sitting untouched because I was too nice to say anything bad about it or send it back.

I should have brought snacks from Duat, they were better than this fancy-shmancy stuff in the Upper Kingdom.

At one point there was a crack of thunder and when I looked out I saw that there were storm clouds in the sky. Since Osiris was the god of the sky I assumed he was in a bad mood, which doubly made me unwilling to send any food back to the kitchen. In fact, now I didn't want to move at all. Maybe if I stayed perfectly still and quiet in this library Osiris wouldn't notice me.

I had a feeling he didn't really read anyway.

I continued to leaf through the scrolls they said were about blessings trying to find what I was looking for, but they didn't seem to have anything about Set's blessings. After a while there was another crack of thunder and that time, when I looked up I could see that there was no clouds in the sky. I quickly got up and went to the window where I could see a boat taking off. It seemed to be leaving Set's palace.

Outside of Peter Pan I had never seen a flying ship before. I watched it climb up into the sky and disappear taking the storm clouds with it with another thundering crack and then just sat there.

Something was wrong, I could feel it.

I packed the scrolls I was reading into the small bag I had brought with me as gently as I could and the quickly headed towards the golden palace's gilded chariot.

I rushed up to the chariot, completely disregarding everyone else around me, and the others in line.

"I'm sorry but this is an emergency," I tell the people waiting and then turn back to the driver. "Please, I need to get back to Duat right now."

He seems to sense the urgency in my voice, so he doesn't question it. I get in and he ferries me across the sky to the palace.

I throw open the doors and scream for Set. Usually if I'm loud enough he'll come to me, but this time he doesn't come.

Not surprising, I haven't been speaking to him.

But the worry and the feeling that something is amiss has not left me. And it's making me very, very nervous.

"Someone come here NOW!" I cry a little too shrilly.

There comes the scrambling of feet on the sandstone slabs of the floor and a line of servants come to me.

They bow lowly to me and I struggle to reel in my wild nervousness.

"Where's Set?"

As per usual I have no idea who says it but someone says: "Not here."

"Okay, so where is he? I'd like to speak to him please."

They exchange glances, and then sweep back into that low bow of theirs. "He's not in the palace. He's left."

"He left?" I cry. Could he even do that? I thought we both had to be here, you know in case the gods try to test me again? "What do you mean he left?"

"He has gone to fulfil his duties on the Atet," one of the servant says and I frown again.

"What the fuck is an Atet?"

But he doesn't have an answer for me. I stand there for a moment and then ask softly: "Well... when is he coming back?"

They shuffle, they do that when they're not comfortable answering. So I repeat my question, a little more sternly.

"We don't know."

What the hell? So he just left for this... Atet thing, which I'm guessing is that boat I just saw leave, and they have no idea when he's coming back?

So he gets to take a cruise and I have to just sit here and wait for him?

That sucks. Could have at least asked me if I wanted to go with him.

"But he is coming back?"

"Of course," one of the servants says. "Maybe be a few days, maybe a few weeks. But he always returns."

Relief washes over me. At least he hasn't just abandoned me here. But the uneasiness doesn't leave me.

I'm now alone in a foreign place, where I didn't trust anyone and I have no idea when the one person I do trust will be coming back.

Things really could not get worse.