They sat in silence for several minutes afterwards; Simon knew that he should say something, explain what had happened, perhaps even apologize for the things he had said that day, but however long he rolled the thought in his head, nothing appropriate came to his mind. He opened his mouth several times, but closed it again right away when the words couldn't come.

  It wasn't until half an hour later that Nefertari finally jumped up from her rock with a frown, and made to stand in front of him, an accusing finger pointed at his chest, the other hand at her hip. Simon felt his brow crease; of course he couldn't really blame her for wanting to yell at him, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to a sermon.

  “This is ridiculous,” Nefertari said, not looking as though she was going to yell after all. “The silence, I mean. We didn't used to not-talk, and I'm not very good at – at talking about my feelings, you see.”

  She gazed at him thoughtfully.

  “Where exactly is this going?” said Simon apprehensively.

  “Be quiet! I'm trying to say something here!” Nefertari waggled her finger at him, still frowning. “You were right.” She took a deep breath. “I had a lot of time to think with you gone. I hadn't realized that … I didn't really see you as a person, as somebody like us, you know?”

  “No I don't?” said Simon.

  “Yes, well, okay, so what I am saying is... Horus and me were alone for a very long time, staying away from other people, long enough to forget that there were other people, you know, real people, with real thoughts and real feelings,” she spat the word as if it was somehow poisonous. ”We weren't really fair to you, when we took you in, though we thought it would be for your best, but if you can forgive us,” she paused, her face scrunched up in a grimace, then, after a long moment of silence, she shrugged, the apology seemingly too painful to form to into words.

  Simon thought he didn't need to hear it. He felt rather ashamed of himself all of sudden, letting Nefertari take all the blame when part of it – most of it, really – was his fault as well. He hadn't exactly tried to be friendly with them either, so furious had he been with them about the kidnapping.

  “Nefy,” said Simon rather exasperatedly. “I haven't exactly been an angel either. I – I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you, and I shouldn't have said all those things about you and Horus, it wasn't my place.”

  “But that's exactly it!” exclaimed Nefertari, jabbing her bejewelled finger at him again. “We've been alone so long before you came... years... cut off from everyone else, long enough to forget what it means to be human, and what it means to fight for your goals, not to give up easily and all that, and that not everything comes free in life, and you made us remember that, Simon.” She shrugged. “But we wanted it easy, we didn't want to be told that there would be efforts involved.”

  “And now you don't? Want it easy, I mean?” said Simon doubtfully.

  “Of course I do.” A smile flit over her beautiful features. “But it isn't easy, and we have to fight for what we want just like everybody else.”

  “We fight,” repeated Simon.

  When darkness falls, we don't just give up. We fight. At last, he was beginning to understand what those words really meant, and it filled him with a fierce sense of longing; an aching for his time, for his home in London, for his late grandfather … He thought about Morgan, how wrong he had been about his cousin all those years, and how, now that he was finally able to admit it, he had wanted them to be close all this time.

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  He gazed back at fabric on his arm, beneath which he knew the curse was spreading like a black sleeve, and suddenly knew what to do; Maybe there was still time to make things right, maybe the curse would take long enough to consume his body for him to return to Giza and travel back to London; it seemed that, all of a sudden, there was nothing more important than seeing his cousin again, to try and make things right as long as he still could. And there was something else he had to do as well, something he should have done a long time ago...

  “I have to show you something,” Simon said nervously, not sure how Nefertari was going to react to the news. He plunged a hand down his collar, fished for the fine, metal chain around his neck –

  The door of the pyramid-library opened, and Nefertari jumped around, worry in her expression. Thoth came toward them on the sandy riverbed, the hem of his robes trailing over the wet ground, his impassive expression revealing nothing about Horus' condition.

  “The arrowhead was imbued with a very rare venom, toxic even to us divine,” Thoth said slowly, with the air of a teacher analysing a scientific fact for his students. He held up the small spike in front of them, upon which glistened traces of a silvery-green substance reminiscent of mercury, and Simon felt an unexpected tightness in his chest. Nefertari made a sudden movement next to him, but didn't intervene as Thoth spoke again, apparently oblivious to the discomfort of his audience.

  “I cannot even begin to fathom where Set should have obtained something as devastating as this...” He gazed at the arrowhead for a moment, with an expression of mingled consternation and fascination, as though he were equally as enticed as he was opposed to the idea of Set possessing such a dangerous weapon.

  “The venom,” Thoth continued suddenly, in his teaching vein, making Simon and Nefertari start, “is intended to keep wounds open, divine wounds, to be specific. It interfered with Horus' powers and impaired his healing, causing a severe loss of life energy...” The tension in the air intensified momentarily, then Thoth broke it by saying, “It is lucky I was able to procure an antidote as quickly as I did – centuries of study paying off... It has stopped the leak.

  Simon could hear Nefertari let go of a breath she must have been holding, and even felt relieved himself: Horus was still alive.

  “I've stopped the leak. A few hours rest and he'll be as good as new,” Thoth said, gazing over their heads into the invisible distance as he spoke, and sounding as though all of this didn't really concern him. He inclined his head to Nefertari. “It was very wise you brought him to me.”

  "Thank you," she replied, relief audible in her voice, “for looking after Horus.” She hesitated for half a second. “I was afraid you wouldn't want to assist us in the current climate,” she added, almost cautiously.

  Simon thought he knew what she meant: While Thoth had done them nothing but kindness, Simon couldn't help being wary about the god, not least because he seemed so passive about the going-ons in Egypt and the Egyptian pantheon, and was, at the same time, reluctant to choose a side. This (rather opaque and obscure) duality and hesitation to declare himself made it difficult to trust the deity.

  For several seconds, Thoth gazed at Nefertari with an unreadable expression, giving the impression he were considering his next words very carefully. Then the god of wisdom said, in a slow, measured tone, “While my wish for equilibrium between the forces prevails, it is often difficult not to let my personal feelings interfere.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” said Simon frustratedly before he could stop himself. Why did everyone always have to talk in riddles? He let the chain of the Infinity Key drop from his fingers again, suddenly uncertain again if it was a good idea to share this one, last secret with Nefertari. He couldn't imagine her reaction being anything than very bad, considering recent events...

  Thoth gazed somewhat unsettlingly at Simon now, and although his expression didn't change, there was something like amusement in his voice when he spoke again.

  “In all those millennia I have known Set, he has always been a very – ah – difficult person, but never as much as since he joined Apep,” Thoth said evenly, and the corners of his lips twitched slightly.