Post by sailornull on Jul 13, 2020 16:11:12 GMT -5
Lisette Chenault carried carefully wrapped artifacts from crates filled with shredded palm fibers to her mother’s work table and arranged them neatly to one side so Maman could get to them when she needed to compare or examine the pieces. Maman dictated into a wireless headset connected to her iPad as she examined each piece. Right now, she was studying a small stèle that had been laying in the sand in front of a building they’d found half-buried in their allotment, and dictating as she went.
“Stèle 1 – the only stèle found on site so far – is intact. It is approximately ten centimeters thick, with four holes, one in each corner, that match corroded copper pins in a recess in the wall above the door to the structure. The text on the stèle is in Old Egyptian. I’ll attach a photo here. It translates to “The Daughters of Bast welcome all enemies of Apep. May the sun warm your heart, and – “
Lisette tripped as she carried one of the artifacts to the table. Her grip loosened, the wrapping came undone, and she snatched at the item, an amulet in the shape of a cat seated regally with its tail wrapped around its feet.
“Hello, Kitten. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever take up the amulet.” The voice in Lisette’s head sounded like her maman did when she was amused by something she had done, except for two little details: 1) she was speaking Egyptian, and Lisette understood it as clearly as if she were speaking French, and 2) she was purring.
“/inɛk/? /ix/? /muːt/! /bɑstɛt pɛtɛħɛstuː tɑiːzɑt/”
“Slow down, slow down, chérie. What do you mean, Bast made you her daughter? And when did you learn to speak Egyptian better than I do?”
“I did that, my dear.” The voice filled the room with a purring note of motherly love, as well as a fierce protectiveness. “When Lisette caught my amulet before it could fall to the floor, I examined her and found that she is much like the girls who once lived in the House you are studying. The Daughters of Bast were protectors of Khemet, and learned in my house how to control and use their power for the benefit of those around them.”
“Protectors of Khemet?” Maman asked, frowning.
“Their powers?” Lisette asked uncertainly. “Like the heat I’m feeling in my chest?”
“You might want to move somewhere you won’t endanger any of your mother’s artifacts, Kitten. The first transformation can be a bit… spectacular.” Bast’s voice wasn’t quite laughing. “Perhaps outside would be best.”
“We’re in the basement! And the middle of the building!” Lisette protested.
“Then I suggest you run, dear,” Bast purred.
Lisette let out a frustrated huff and slammed into the door, still clinging to the amulet, and ran for the fire stairs. When she realized she was holding the artifact, she hung it around her neck so there was no risk of dropping it. The instant the cat touched her chest, she felt as if she were in direct sunlight, filled with energy. She slammed into the fire door, nearly tearing it off its hinges as she ran through, bounced off the stairwell wall, and bounded up the stairs on all fours, leaping like a cat chasing a particularly annoying squirrel.
By the time she reached the fire exit and its crash bar, her body had transformed in a flash of divine light, from her usual 13 year old body to the body of a humanoid cat. Not that she noticed, other than to notice that she was running faster than she had been at the bottom of the stairs. And that she was incredibly grateful the fire alarm was on the INSIDE of the door, so when it slammed closed behind her, it was only painful and not deafening.
She was distracted by other problems when she reached the campus yard, though. Like the feeling the fire in her chest was about to burn through her – and then it suddenly did, exploding from her mouth and eyes in a flare of solar power that shot into the sky as high as the war walls. The flare continued for nearly a minute before it burned out and she collapsed into a deep sleep.
When Lisette woke, she was in her bedroom, and Maman was standing by her bed, stroking her fur. Wait a minute. Fur?
“You can change back now, chérie. Bast says that once the initial transformation is past, you’ll be able to learn how to control your powers, and the first step is learning how to change between forms.”
“Change… between… forms.” Lisette held up her hands and turned them, staring at the claws, the fur, how long and slender and graceful they were. “You… you aren’t mad?”
“Oh, she was,” Bast laughed. “If I had had a hundred mothers like her, with powers like yours, Khemet would still be standing in all its glory.”
Maman smiled wryly and ducked her head. “We have reached an agreement, Bast and I. You will remain here and learn how to master your powers when I return to the field this season.”
“But Maman! My friends! The small places you can’t reach! Who will keep your notes?”
“I know, I know. I will just have to let your friends talk with you on my computer. And I will have to keep notes in the field the same way I do here, won’t I?” Maman gently stroked Lisette’s head. “But first, we must find you a suitable school. You know that not just any school will do. Why, you could end up in a school full of Budges if we are not careful.”
Maman made an exaggerated expression of disgust, and Lisette joined her in laughter. Trust Maman to use the name of that English tomb-robber to lighten her mood.