“With all due respect, Pharaoh,” Horus was saying, ignoring the stranger's comment, “I think you're being rather short-sighted. Trust has to be earned, as has respect and loyalty. Has our long journey not taught you anything? You cannot go around putting your faith into strangers, humans, no matter how innocent and harmless they may seem. What with the human's abilities, he might have been feigning from the start!”

  Nefertari snorted impatiently. “Are you implying that Simon is merely holding up the appearance of a scientist from the future, while in reality he's a mighty sorcerer who has managed to fool even the great god Horus?”

  Simon's heart skipped a beat at her words: Him, a sorcerer?

  A sound as though Horus was chewing his tongue again came from the riverside, then he snarled, “My first priority, Pharaoh, is, and has always been, your safety. Assume, for a moment, that I'm right. What if the human isn't who he claims to be? What if he has powers greater –“ Apparently it was too difficult to speak of someone stronger than himself, for there was more tongue chewing, then he continued, “What if I am right? The creators –“

  “ – are a legend, Horus,” Nefertari cut him off loudly. “A story told to divine children such as yourself, nothing more than a story to keep you in line.” Horus made a move as though to interrupt, and the tall, dark stranger cleared his throat, but Nefertari continued swiftly, “And let's face it, your parents aren't exactly the most reliable source out there either, are they?”

  Simon couldn't make anything of the comment, but Horus was chewing his tongue again, no doubt swallowing an angry retort, an insult he couldn't throw at the girl he had sworn to protect.

  “Be that as it may,” Horus said moodily. “Nobody has ever been able to evade my judgement.”

  “Then perhaps it was wrong of you to spy on him in the first place,” Nefertari snapped at him.

  “I don't spy, I observe. There is a difference, and I'm telling you that something has changed, that he has changed.” Horus had abandoned all pretence now, though he was still struggling to keep his voice even, “With his mind being concealed as it is, I can't even begin to guess if for the better or the worst, or what he is planning in that tiny brain of his, and we can't risk him luring the false god on our trail.”

  “Look, it all comes down to this, one thing,” Nefertari said, her nostrils flaring. “We don't have time to argue about this. We have to move now, and I'm not letting Simon out of my sight. For now, I'm willing to trust him”

  “Ra forbid you two stopped quarrelling,” said the stranger in his monotonous voice, sounding quite indifferent.

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  Then, before either of the other two could continue their argument, he opened his cloak, producing a flash of silver, like a blade. For a moment it looked as though he were going to attack them, but then the stranger held the silvery flash out to Nefertari. Simon craned his neck, trying to get a better view of whatever the object was, but couldn't make it out from the distance.

  “The Book of the Dead, as you requested, descendant.”

  “I didn't except you to help us, God of Balance,” Horus started on the stranger instead, in a voice of forced calm that nonetheless dripped with acid. “Doesn't it go against your code to aid either side?”

  The stranger's head turned toward the god slowly, as though he were measuring his options. They held each other's gaze for several seconds, then Horus looked away. Simon couldn't help feeling astonished: This God of Balance had to be quite the entity if he managed to quell Horus' contentiousness with a single look.

  The God of Balance did not press his advantage, however.

  “Take it, or leave it. It is all the same to me,” he said evenly, his eyes still fixed on Horus.

  “Thank you, Thoth,” said Nefertari quickly, inclining her head to the god as she took the item. “It will be of great assistance.”

  Thoth? Simon felt his brow crease. Another deity thrown into the mix.

  Inclining his head to Nefertari too, Thoth made to turn around –

  Simon's breath stalled – what if they were going to come up here? If they moved past the greenbelt, they would see him, they would know what he had been doing...

  “You do know how to use it, descendant...” Simon could hear Thoth's voice saying as he turned around. He untangled himself from the bush's embrace quickly, used his hands to climb back to the top of the hill, and sped back toward the camp, where he intended to feign sleep until he was roused by his companions. At the same time, his thought were racing and chasing each other across the part of his brain that usually extracted sense from nonsense, confusing it.

  So Nefertari trusted him... More than that, in fact. She had actually defended him in front of her divine lapdog … Of course, the two were often at odds with each other, but this time around it seemed different, almost as though Nefertari was really beginning to trust him, even like him... He didn't know what to make of that. He had thought it would elate him somehow if his plan finally begun to work, but now he felt … Nothing. Nothing but a tiny twinge in his chest...

  And what was that part about him being a sorcerer? Did that mean there was indeed such a thing as magic? He thought back to the vision he had had … Had that been magic? Could Horus be right and he really was some sort of magician? The thought flattered Simon. He imagined himself throwing fireballs, shaping water, calling the winds down from the sky, making the Earth quake with a single thought …

  He smiled to himself as he dropped back down into the sand, thinking what he could do with powers like that. He would be rich if he ever made it back home. Millions of people would pay good money to see him demonstrate his abilities, to get a glimpse of those wondrous things he would be able to do … He would finally be more important than Perfect Morgan … With this enticing thought lulling him in, Simon drifted off into blissful sleep.