25. Sett
Sett
W atching Drew get further and further away from me, watching him get stuck with the same monster my guts twisted. My entire body convulsed. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand leaving him behind and yet I couldn't stop it.
Anubis dragged me back with all his strength as I unlocked the door to Drew's house, finding shelter in it without him.
I was disgusted with myself. Disgusted and furious.
"I can't believe I let this happen."
I should’ve been stronger. I should’ve been better. I should’ve been prepared. I should have acted like a god and saved my beautiful, sweet Drew, but I was barely able to save my own son.
I collapsed on the hallway floor and watched my hands. The same godly hands that had failed me yet again. I may have been strong, but my brother was stronger, even without his full power set. How ridiculous did that make me?
I was a joke. I didn't deserve to be here. I should’ve been the one left behind. Not Drew.
"You didn't let anything happen, Father. We had to run. We had to save ourselves."
Anubis's words pulsed through me like a tidal wave and I snapped.
"I'm not worth saving if I can't save Drew!" I shouted, my voice making the walls tremble and dust fall on our hair.
"Wh-what the hell happened to you, Father? What happened to me?"
He collapsed on the floor in front of me as Gene and Yaya appeared at the top of the landing, their eyes searching for him, full of anguish and hope.
"Wh-where is Drew? Where is my brother?"
Gene barreled down the stairs looking under every nook and cranny as if his brother had shrunk and fallen in between the cracks of the hardwood floor.
"You!" Anubis said and rose to meet Gene's gaze. "You…you were there. In the dark. You're familiar."
Gene blinked in disbelief.
"Ani? You don't remember me? We've been trapped together for the past three days and you don't remember me?"
Ani rubbed a hand over his face and sighed.
"Everything is a blur. Horus…he kept me under his thumb the whole time, but…the more I look at you, the more I remember."
"You can look at me all you want, as long as you people tell me where my brother is!" Gene raised his voice but I didn't miss the way he slipped his hand into Anubis's.
"He…he sacrificed himself to save us," I said and the words felt bitter and gross in my throat.
"He…he what?" Gene looked from me to my son and Yaya descended the stairs, her forehead creased with concern.
"There's no way my grandson is dead. I would have felt it," she said.
"He's not," Anubis said.
"But he's my brother's prisoner again. He gave up his freedom for us."
Anubis squeezed my shoulder and turned to Yaya. "He gave up his freedom to save me. And I plan on repaying my debt to him by saving him."
He moved to open the door when Yaya raised her voice. "You're not going anywhere, young man."
Anubis turned to her and grinned. "I can assure you, ma'am. I'm neither young nor a man."
Yaya put her hands on her hips and glared at Ani. I don't care. You're not stepping right back in that god's trap. My grandson gave up everything to save you and his brother. You're not giving yourself back up to that grotesque god."
Gene nodded. "She's right. You walk back in there he'll get you again."
Ani wrapped his hands around the ankh and pursed his lips. "This seems to protect against Horus's influence."
"But it doesn't protect you from Drew's power. He'll freeze you in time and then Horus will make him kill you. You're not going anywhere," I said.
"But Father, we need to sa?—"
"Back away," I growled. "Now."
My words had an instant effect on Ani who did as ordered with very little say in the matter.
"Ew. I don't like that," he said and took the necklace off. "What is this?"
I snatched it from his hand and rose to my feet. "It's the only way I can save him."
"Everyone needs to relax right now before I make them," Yaya said.
Gene frowned. "Yaya, how can we relax when Drew is captive."
Yaya stepped closer to her other grandson and squeezed his face in both hands. "Your brother has been this man's prisoner for a very long time. He's strong. He's resilient. He can withstand it. You two on the other hand, we can't have you fall into his hands again. He clearly cares about Drew. About his power or something. He doesn't care about you and he won't hesitate to kill you. Again."
"Again?" Gene muttered. "I’ve died haven’t I? I’ve died these last few days and then…come back to life.”
“You felt it?” I asked.
“Felt what?” Gene asked.
“The loops. Spiti has been looping time in order to save you,” Yaya replied.
Gene bit his lip and slowly nodded.
“Now it makes sense. I…I thought I was going crazy.”
“But how did you feel it? You haven’t been at home. You shouldn’t have felt it,” Yaya said.
Gene closed his eyes and rubbed his chest.
“I don’t know.”
Yaya put her arm around Gene and led him up the stairs.
“It’s okay, my boy. Come on. Let’s get you all warm and clean. And you,” she turned to me at the top of the stairs. “If you're going to rescue my grandson you need to be better prepared."
I wanted to defy her. I wanted to open the door and go back out there, to him, to my soulmate.
But going against Yaya Penelope right now might be a fate worse than death so I followed her into the kitchen where she proceeded to feed and water the young men. They ate and she cleaned up their faces with a wet towel.
"Now," she said. "Going back in there is a suicide mission. My Andreas is very strong. He will freeze you before hello."
I nodded. "It's why I hesitate to go back," I explained. If it weren't for Drew's power, I would go back in a heartbeat.
"We need to find a way to liberate him before you go in to rescue him. But how? Everyone will be susceptible to Horus's mind control."
Gene looked from one to the other all confused. "Don't you just have to wait for Drew to run out of breath?"
Yaya chuckled. "Your brother has grown a lot stronger, Evgenie," she said and patted his hand.
"What? How?"
Yaya looked at me and so did Gene but before I could say anything she spoke. "I have a feeling you'll find out soon enough." She glanced from Gene to Anubis and I bit back a smirk.
It was good to know I hadn't been the only one to notice the attraction between the two. Even if Anubis's head was still a mess, Gene seemed to anchor him, and Gene couldn't stop sneaking glances at my son.
"I'm so confused," Gene sighed.
"Don't you worry about that now. Let the adults talk."
"I am an adult, Yaya!"
"Shhh. What did I say?"
Gene frowned and bowed his head over the stew, clearly not in any capacity to go against his grandmother.
"So? Sett, Anubis? You're gods. You must have ideas."
Anubis looked down and focused on his food, leaving me to take the brunt of Yaya's attention.
"If there was enough sand around, I could free him a hundred times over. But that house is as clean as it gets."
Yaya grimaced. "Sand? What sand?"
"Father is a master of sand magic. His sand can clear the mind but he can only work with what he's got."
Yaya gasped. "All this time, sand was all you needed? Why the hell didn't you ask?"
I pulled back with a frown. "What do you mean?"
She tutted. "If there's no sand in the house, why don't you take it with you?"
She approached a cupboard and it flew open under her guidance. A vial found itself in her hand and she turned, walked to the French door fridge and placed the vial under the ice water tap, only it poured sand instead of water.
She watched me as the tap kept going and going. Even when it was supposed to overflow, it didn't.
"You know for a god, you're not very smart," she said.
"He's been out of the game for a long time. It's not his fault," Ani said. "Well, it is, but it isn't."
I glared at my son but he just brushed me off.
It was so odd seeing him in such a different body than I was used to. His face, it was so youthful. Innocent almost, but he and I both knew he'd been through as much, if not more, as I had. He was, after all, the judge of all afterlife. He had to make tough decisions all the time. And I knew not being able to weigh his father's heart and judge it, not being able to help him to the afterlife, had hurt him far more than he ever let on.
"Did you park your brain somewhere and you forgot where? Because that's the only way I can explain it. If you and my grandson had told me the truth from the get-go we could have avoided all these time-loop bullshit."
"Yaya!" Gene exclaimed.
"What?" she asked, all indignant and a little proud of herself.
He shook his head.
"She does have a point. Yaya knows how to fix everything. You should have come to her sooner," Gene told me.
"I thought you didn’t know what we were talking about,” I said.
Gene shrugged. "I know she's right."
"That's my boy." Yaya patted Gene's head and offered me the vial. "One bottomless vial full of sand for your magic."
I wrapped my hand around it and pushed the chair back.
Maybe I had abandoned my brain somewhere along the way in all those years of grief. Maybe I hadn't lived and that had made me regress into a mindless, weak man. But Drew was my lifeline. That much I knew.
And I needed to save him.
There was no shame in asking for help. Even for a god. We all needed it sometimes. Especially if it meant saving our loved ones.
I may have saved my son, but it was time to save my second true love.
"Go save my grandson, you big dummy."
I couldn’t have agreed more.