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I looked out over the chequerboard of walls again. I didn’t know what I was waiting for, maybe a large pink neon sign that flashed up and said, “Here it is!”
“Do you remember anything about this place?” Austin asked gently.
I sighed as I racked my brain, trying to recall something. He was being uncharacteristically patient, and I knew he was trying to mend the bond between us that had become so fucked up over the last year. I appreciated the sentiment, but I needed my straightforward, tough alpha male back. Memories tugged at my mind, and I knew there was something I was missing, but I couldn’t quite get to it. It was like a dream you knew you’d had but couldn’t remember upon waking. It was frustrating. I closed my eyes and focused on the buildings in front of me.
“Relax,” I heard him say. “Just let it flow into your mind, don’t force it.”
I took a couple of slow breaths and tried to do as he’d said. It took a few moments, but I smiled as I opened my eyes. Almost like some kind of CGI reconstruction, the ruins in front of me grew, forming walls, roofs, columns, and statues. Torches burned in brackets on the walls, and the scent of incense filled my senses. Then the walls faded, but so did the modern city, and I watched as time moved backwards until we stood on a sandbank that rose above dark, churning waters. I gasped as the water convulsed, and there was a flash of dark scales as something vast moved below the surface.
I backed up farther from the water, and it was only then I realised it was no longer Austin standing next to me, but a man whose face was as familiar as my own, and yet he was a stranger to me. He stretched his hands towards the heavens, and I watched as the light of a thousand stars fell into his hands. The light of the stars spilled on his face, and it changed under the light. Human skin disappeared under fine feathers, and his jaw extended into a sharp, curved beak. Black eyes glittered in the starlight, and the screech of a falcon emitted from his throat, echoing out across the water.
With one gesture, he flung the ball of stars back up into the sky, and light exploded across the surface of the new-born world. The waters receded, and I watched as the sand swirled up into incredible shapes, forming animals and plants before my eyes. Behind me, more figures stepped into the light, striding out across the sands to take their own place in the act of creation. I stood frozen in place, and I knew that was because I had not yet been formed. The threat of Apophis was there, under the surface of the primordial waters he revelled in, but it was not whole yet, and therefore neither was I. I was being shown what had come before. Whether I was being shown now or this was a memory of another time, I did not know. I felt Ra move closer to me before reaching up to touch my face.
Daughter.
He took my hand and opened my fingers, closing them around something soft. Black eyes burned into mine, until all became dark around me and I was once again standing next to Austin in the sleeping city.
“Tory?” Austin was watching me with a worried expression on his face. “Are you okay? Did you remember anything?”
“I did, but... it wasn’t very useful, I’m afraid. I just saw the temple as it was when it was built. I could see the walls and doors, but then it faded and...” I looked down and opened my hand. There, on my palm, lay a single white feather.
“Where did you get that?” Austin inquired.
“I’m not sure,” I muttered. It sounded crazy to say,I think Ra gave it to me when he created the world. “Austin, Heliopolis... That’s a Greek word, isn’t it?”
Austin nodded. “Yes. I mean, Wesley’s the expert, but this place was recognised as a place of learning and religion, especially worship of the sun for over twenty-five hundred years. Heliopolis means City of the Sun. Its original name was—”
“Iwnw,” I murmured.
Austin nodded. “It was where they believed Ra stood and created the world—the most holy and sacred place on Earth.”
We both fell silent as we looked out over the excavation. I couldn’t even think of where we should start looking. Archaeologists had been over this area with a fine-tooth comb, so surely they’d have found anything that was there to be found. I was about to suggest we return in the morning when a plaintive miaow came suddenly out of the darkness. It sounded familiar, but it couldn’t be. A dark, striped shadow slunk out of one of the trenches and wrapped itself around my ankles. I bent down to run my hand over its fur and froze.
“Another cat? I don’t think we can import them into England from here, you know.”
“Well, I suppose they could just hop on a plane,” I replied dryly, sliding my hands under the cat and scooping it up to hold him securely against my chest.
“Hop on a plane?” Austin asked, clearly confused.
“Check your bag,” I told him.
He frowned and turned, lifting the bag he’d set down several metres back. A cat-sized hole was in the side of the nylon fabric, the edges shredded by sharp claws.
“What on Earth?” Austin muttered in bewilderment, and I grinned.
I looked down at the cat in my arms, both amused and slightly disturbed. “It’s Kitty Cat,” I said. The feline in question rubbed his head against my chin and purred.
“What?” Austin exclaimed, not really following. I couldn’t blame him.
“It’s Kitty Cat, Austin. He came with us. He stowed away in your bag.”
“That’s insane. Why would a cat stow away in a bag? It’s a cat. How did he even know we were going somewhere?”
“Because I’m starting to think he isn’t just a cat.” I crouched down and gently set Kitty Cat onto the ground. He wound his way round my legs, and I looked up at Austin. “When I was at Bubastis, I found Kitty Cat in the ruins. He was the one who led me to the entrance to the temple, and then to the throne room.”
I stood up. Austin stared at Kitty Cat, then he looked at me.
“I know it sounds crazy...” I began.
