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watch. You wake me up at midnight and I ll take over for the graveyard shift.
That okay with you, guy?
Jesse didn t argue. He hardly ever turned in before mid-night anyway.
Besides, he didn t mind spending a few hours away from Bradley and the
God-damned tomb. Both were starting to get on his nerves.
Alone, he slung the AK-47 over his shoulder and walked up the slope,
taking his time and enjoying the cool breeze. It wasn t so bad now the sun
was down. The stars were huge and white and a fat half-moon was climbing
into the black sky. In the silvery soft light the desert looked almost pretty.
A dry voice in his left ear said, Siyo, chooch.
Jesse groaned. Siyo, eduda. What s about to happen now?
There was a dusty chuckle. Don t worry, chooch. No warnings this
time. Turn around and keep your hands off that war gun.
Jesse turned. And found himself face to face with Wile E. Coyote.
That was who it looked like at first, anyway, the same long pointy
muzzle, the same big bat ears and goofy little eyes. But that was just the
head; from the neck down, Jesse saw now, the body was that of a man
about his own size.
Jesse said, Uh.
Grandfather s voice said, This is Anpu. Anpu, my grandson Jesse.
Hi, Coyote said.
That s it, Jesse thought dazedly. Too much time out in the sun today,
God damn that Bradley. Talking coyotes no, hell, no coyotes in Egypt,
must be a jackal. Sure looks like a coyote, though. Then memory kicked in
and Jesse said, Anubis. You re Anubis.
Anpu. The jackal ears twitched. The Greeks screwed the name
up.
Anpu wants you to meet some friends of his, Grand-father said.
This way, Anpu said. The way you were going, actually.
He walked past Jesse and headed up the slope, not look-ing back.
Grandfather s voice said, Don t just stand there, chooch. Follow him.
I don t know, eduda, Jesse said as he started after the
jackal-headed figure. This is getting too weird. How did you get hooked up
with this character?
He s the god of the dead, in these parts. And, in case you ve
forgotten, Grandfather pointed out, I m dead.
Anpu was standing at the base of the fist-shaped rock outcrop.
Here, he said, pointing.
Jesse saw nothing but a big cleft in the rock, black in the moonlight.
He d seen it dozens of times during the day. So? he said, a little irritably.
Anpu stepped into the cleft and disappeared, feet first. His head
popped back out long enough to say, Watch your step. It s pretty tricky.
Jesse bent and stuck his arm down into the crack. His fingers found
an oval shaft, just big enough for a man s body, angling steeply down into
the rock. It was so well camouflaged that even now he knew it was there, he
couldn t really see it.
It s all right, chooch, Grandfather said. Go on.
Jesse stuck a cautious foot into the hole. There were notches cut into
the wall of the shaft for footholds, but they weren t very deep. Gritting his
teeth, he let himself down into the darkness.
He couldn t tell how far down the shaft went, but the absolute
blackness and the scariness of the climb made it feel endless. The rock
seemed to press in on him from all sides; he gasped for breath, and might
have quit except that going back up would be just as bad. The tunnel bent
to one side and then there was nothing under his feet. He probed with one
toe, lost his grip, and plummeted help-lessly out of the shaft and into open
space. Off balance, he hit cross-footed and fell on his ass onto very hard
flat stone.
He opened his eyes he didn t know when he d closed them and
saw immediately that he was in another tomb. Or another underground
chamber, anyway, complete with artwork on the walls and ceiling. This one
was filled with a soft, slightly yellowish light; he couldn t see the source.
Anpu was standing over him, reaching down a hand. Are you all
right? the jackal-headed god asked anx-iously. I should have warned you
about that last bit. Sorry.
Jesse took the hand and pulled himself to his feet. Sud-denly a tall,
beautiful woman in a flowing white dress came rushing up, shoving Anpu
out of the way and putting her arms around Jesse s neck. Oh, poor man,
she cried, pulling Jesse s head down and pressing his face against her
bosom. It was one hell of a bosom. Did you hurt yourself? Do you want to
lie down?
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