Chapter 15
Charlotte
“Now now, little falcon,” Thoth says without even looking up, “Jealousy does not become you.”
Jealous? Oh!
I realize that Horus saw Thoth place that kiss on my head. Could that really make him jealous? Based on the scowl still on his face as he comes prowling over, the answer is yes. That realization causes my face and neck to heat. I know if I looked in a mirror I would be red all over, but I don’t want to admit it’s from his overprotective reaction. Let’s just say it’s embarrassment. I’m definitely not getting turned on by the amount of muscles coming my way.
“Hello, Horus. Did everything go well with your mother?” I ask, trying to diffuse the tension.
He looks briefly at my neck, which must be the shade of a red ladybug at this point, before sliding up next to me and answering, “It went well. Isis would like to meet you once we are done here.”
“She wants to meet me?” I ask, my mind whirling with possibilities on how to address a goddess. What are the rules of etiquette? Do I bow? Do I curtsy?
Horus interrupts my mental panic by replying, “Of course she wants to meet the woman who seems to have turned my head.” It seems my face is going to stay a permanent shade of red. “Also, she wants to know more about the piece of the tablet that you found. We need to put together a plan to go and find the missing piece.”
“Before you go running off on a tablet rescue mission,” Thoth interrupts, “Ms. Fletcher and I were just working to decipher the message that came with the tablet piece. She seems to have figured out the last clue to this strange puzzle that Thalia left us.”
Horus’s gaze shoots to Thoth. “Thalia wrote this? How can you be sure?”
Thoth looks down his nose at Horus while he replies, “Are you questioning my knowledge, little falcon?”
“Of course not. I’m just curious as to how you made that deduction is all,” Horus says while crossing his arms. Horus doesn’t seem to accept Thoth’s attempt at intimidation.
“It’s her, Horus. Just accept that I know,” Thoth answers in a soft voice.
Horus visibly relaxes and seems to understand the connection between the handmaiden and Thoth. “Alright, well, what did she have to say?”
Thoth’s eyes brighten and he turns towards the displayed images. He presses a few buttons on his tablet and a third image pops up on the display. It is the translation Thoth was working on with his tablet. Based on the scratched out portions and circling of others, he seems to have figured out a translation that makes sense.
“There were a couple of words that I had to stumble over and some I had to rework from Ms. Fletcher’s colleague. She did translate them correctly, but there are additional meanings to the glyphs that she is probably not aware of yet. What I have reworked seems to make some sense and is written like clues. Thalia must have done a massive search into the beyond to see where these tablet pieces would end up and how we could retrieve them. What are your thoughts, Ms. Fletcher?”
I stare at the new translation and gather my thoughts.
“These are definitely clues. The first one is pretty easy and self explanatory,” I reply.
“My thoughts exactly,” answers Thoth.
Horus looks between the two of us, crosses his arms, and says, “Please share with those not obsessed with puzzles.”
“Aww, come on, muscles. Look at the second sentence. Just take a small guess,” I answer with a smirk barely masked on my face.
His jaw ticks and then he looks back at the images for a moment. “Clearly one is in Greece. There are a bunch of temples in Greece though.”
“But it specifically mentions a warrior goddess. Who could that be?” I say before Thoth can butt in and ruin this learning moment for Horus.
Horus thinks for a moment before answering, “Athena. Are you saying that one of them hid it in the Acropolis?”
“Very good, little falcon. See, you do seem to be good at puzzles after all,” Thoth comments.
“But that was a huge risk! Why would they leave it in a temple that might get destroyed?” Horus asks, throwing his arms in the air.
“So was the jewelry box, but my guess is that they were either led to these places through some sort of magic or divine intervention,” I answer. “Regardless, we have some starting points as to where to look for the other pieces.”
“We?” Thoth asks with one eyebrow raised.
“Well, yes,” I say, looking between both gods. “I want to help. You wouldn’t have found the first piece without me and I want to see this through.”
Thoth and Horus share a look I can’t interpret. Thoth looks like he is about to reply, but Horus cuts him off. “Of course, you have been very helpful. Let’s just focus on recovering the first piece of the tablet and we can work out the rest later.”
Thoth’s brows shoot down and he seems to not agree with what Horus said. “While you track down the tablet piece, I will try to work through the rest of Thalia’s message to see if I can narrow down the search for the other pieces.”
“Sounds like a plan, old bird,” Horus replies and then turns to me. “Before we start our search, let’s go meet Isis and inform her of our plans.” I must have been unable to keep the anxiety off my face because he follows up by saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll be right beside you, doe eyes.”
I look down and blush again. Horus seems to be able to read me well even after such a short time.
I take a deep breath and square my shoulders. “Alright, muscles. Lead the way.”
As we walk out of headquarters, I remind myself that I’m meeting Horus’s mother, the goddess of healing and magic, because nothing ever goes wrong when meeting the parent of a person you kind of, sort of like.