Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

she came to a stop, practically panting with excitement. Everyone paused, turning to her as they sensed something was up.

“If we’re going to have any hope of finding Arthur,” Red said, grinning, “we’ll need some pussies.”

“What?” I said from behind, caught off guard by that.

“Of course!” Mowgli laughed, nodding, though some of the others still looked confused. “That’s just her lewd way of saying we need to find Sekhmet.”

“Again… what?” Others seemed to understand Red’s statement, but the name Sekhmet was lost on me.

“There’s a whole hell of a lot that goes into answering that question,” Mowgli said, leaning forward. “The simple answer is that she was an Egyptian Legend, a goddess, according to them.”

“Like how Thor is a god, but… not really?”

“It’s all relative,” Mowgli said. “I mean, is a certain level of power and magic what makes someone a god? Per their religion, yes, she was a goddess, but she was no more from some heavenly realm than you or I.”

“Explain the pussy comment,” Pucky said, still grinning at Red for that one.

“Cats,” Red said. “Sekhmet wasn’t just the daughter of Ra—another Legend that has since been killed off, by the way—she was, or is, a tracker. There’s a reason cats were said to serve as guardians of the underworld in Ancient Egypt, and that was because of their ability to track those Myths and Legends who were reborn, such as Arthur, or absorbed back like Riak did with Morganna.”

“And Sekhmet can do this?”

“Her sister, Bastet, can,” Elisa said, nodding, getting into this. “And rumor has it Bastet was cursed, unable to ever leave the form of a cat—and that Sekhmet now watches over her.”

“So we have to find Sekhmet, and her sister the cat,” Pucky said, nodding. Even Mowgli seemed to buy this.

“Only one problem,” he said.

“I know,” Red cut him off. “Finding her. But she’s missing two items, both of which she’d do anything to have back. I happen to know where to find one of them.”

The others leaned in, eagerly. It looked like we had our mission.

32

“The Sekhem Scepter of Power,” Red said, as we all joined together in the enclosed courtyard, ready for Hekate to prepare the portal. “It had been used in burial rituals, waved over powerful dead to put a spell on them and keep them that way.”

“That way meaning… dead?” I asked.

“Exactly.” Turning to Hekate, she asked, “If we can get her scepter, you can make a portal to her?”

“All it takes is an item that was close to the subject,” Hekate said. “And then yes.”

“Then we’re in business.”

“And the other item?” I asked.

“I don’t know where it is, but heard she had lost it, too. The sun disk, with the Uraeus rearing cobra.”

“Last I heard,” Elisa said, “it was taken by the new Wadjet, or Buto. The serpent goddess.”

“Who was defeated in the Vietnam War,” Mowgli said with a frown.

“What the fuck?” Chris mumbled next to me, and I just held up a hand, telling him it was better not to ask—that rabbit hole could be left for a long car ride or trek across the desert.

“The focus here is on the scepter, because I know where to get it,” Red said. She then took her dagger and asked, “You can make a portal to the person who made this?”

Hekate frowned, but nodded.

“I’m not following,” Elisa admitted.

“The man who made this blade happens to collect magical items,” Red explained. “He had this dagger, until I nicked it. He wasn’t exactly the giving type and I figured he owed me when…” She glanced at me, frowned, and said, “Let’s just say he pissed me off.”

“She means she went down on him and he passed out after without returning the favor,” Pucky whispered into my ear. Chris overheard and chuckled, but Red kept on without paying us any attention.

“I’ll have to watch my magical knives next time that happens,” Chris whispered back, earning him a nudge from Hekate.

“That won’t ever happen,” she said, glaring. He kissed her on the lips.

“Can we focus?” Red said, and other Myths were looking our way, so I took a step sideways and joined in with the glaring at Chris thing, which he rolled his eyes at but at least he shut up.

“Do it,” Elisa said to Hekate. “Please. And Red, how many do we need?”

“Our small team should do,” Red said, nodding to me and Pucky, then glancing at Sharon with trepidation.

“Sharon proved quite useful at the college,” I spoke up before I’d had time to think about it. But hey, she had and deserved her spot on the team.

“Agreed,” Elisa said. “But we’ll also need Hekate to open the portal from the other side.”

“Leaving me, what… here?” Chris asked.

“You have no powers, and you’re not a Protector,” Mowgli said. “It would be unwise to send you into danger.”

“But I can—”

“Mowgli’s right,” Elisa said sharply, shutting down any chance Chris had. I was guessing her authority stemmed from her being one of the originals. “But…”

Chris perked up. “I like buts.”

Even Hekate rolled her eyes that time.

“But,” Elisa continued, “I have a mission for you later, when we get back and with Hekate on board… well, let’s just say it would be a great test for both of you.”

“Test?” Hekate said scornfully.

“You did just join us based on lust for Chris. You have to admit it would be foolish to trust you right away.”

“What did you have in mind?” Chris asked, before the witch could protest further.

Elisa shared an approving look with Mowgli, leading me to believe they’d already discussed the idea, then said, “You’d infiltrate the witches… and become one.”

Hekate couldn’t be silent for that. “You know what that means! You’d ask me to—”

“What, betray your sisters?” Pucky cut in.

“No, er… It’s complicated.”

“But if you’re on our side,” Elisa said, “then it isn’t. He doesn’t have to kill anyone, not if you can get the three leaves. Of course, there’s so much more to it, isn’t there?”

Hekate nodded, glaring at Elisa. “You all look at