Lost in Amon

Chapter Six

The Tears of Amon
Part Two

I skirted around Amon for the next couple of days. I didn't know how to act after what I'd said to him, and what he'd revealed. If that woman, that human woman, was his mother...then what did that make Amon? Was he born a human? Or was he a god born to a human mother? My brain didn't know how to process what he'd said. What I really wanted was Salma, or even James, to tell me the theories and history, what they thought, and the research they'd done on the topic. Instead, I had myself, my thoughts, and my broken arm.

Amon moved around the gazebo silently, as usual, doing his own thing. Sometimes he would eat, other times he would sit contemplatively, and most of the time he looked at the pond. I took it upon myself to begin exploring his realm...partly because I wanted to, but mostly because I wanted to escape him. Escape the rising tension between us and the way his eyes watched me now and then, as though trying to solve a puzzle called Etta. The issue was, I wasn't sure I wanted to be solved.

I dug my feet into the warm sand as I walked, each step becoming more tiring than the last. The small granules began to feel hotter with each passing moment. Their sharp heat burned the thin skin between my toes. I looked back at the gazebo, a small dot in the distance, and realised I was too tired to go any further. I looked back to where I had been headed: nothing but pure sand, a mixture of yellow, orange, and bright red burned back at me.

I'd began my walk in a straight line from the gazebo, straight from the edge closest to my stone bed. Amon had watched me curiously but didn't stop me. My body suddenly felt heavy and lethargic and the sun above burned hotter than it ever had before. I let out a deep sigh. I should have brought water. Or asked Amon for shoes. Or prepared even the tiniest bit before I embarked on this idiotic exploration. But I was too busy running away from Amon and all my feelings I'd attached to him.

'What the hell am I doing?' I muttered to my self, taking a step toward where Amon would be waiting. When my foot landed, it hit the cool stone floor of the gazebo.

I gasped. The world spun in a circle—what was up was suddenly down and my left became my right. I looked around in confusion, not sure where I stood or how I stood there. Amon held out a large hand and braced me gently, his grip loose yet heavy on my bicep.

'Are you okay?' He leant his face close to me, whirling blue eyes meeting my dark ones.

'What was that?' I held my hand to my mouth, bile rising slightly.

'I thought you wanted to come back?'

'I did.' I nodded my head but squished my eyes closed as a round of nausea hit me. 'I just...didn't expect that.'

Amon picked me up gently, scooping my legs in his arms and laying me down on the stone bed. It was hard, but the cooling rock had started to feel comfortable. I guess I was growing used to it. However, the one thing I hated was the stone pillow, and I'd stolen a soft one from the mattress on the floor the first day Amon created it. He shuffled that pillow behind my head now, fluffing it up like he'd seen me do many times before.

He placed a cool piece of cloth over my eyes. It was a scratchy cloth made from thin linen, but the cooling material helped ease the dizziness the trip back to the gazebo had caused.

'Here, drink.' I opened my mouth as Amon tipped cool water down my throat. I was used to him caring for me—he had done so from the moment I'd woken up—but something felt different. More intimate than it had before we'd had that...argument? Conversation? I wasn't sure what it was we'd had, to be honest.

'Did you find what you were looking for?' I heard his chair squeak and imagined him sitting in it, shining brighter than the gold it was wrapped in.