The distant speck on the beach had become a man. His shoulders swaying, arms loose at his sides, legs long, head down. He wore a hoodie and aviator sunglasses that hid his eyes. The dog ran toward him, rose up light as air, and put his paws on the broad shoulders of the man in black—a kind of dance. Had she seen it right?—Dog walked like a horned god on his hind legs beside the man.

Nephy and Cyrus’s child murmured. Aurora cooed his name and put her hands around the other child strapped to her chest, holding him against her like a small blue egg from which a deity is born. Then she took a breath and looked back into nacreous light at the man on the beach.

He lifted his head to greet her.

Author’s Note: Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead by Normandi Ellis, Isis and Osiris: Exploring the Goddess Myth by Jonathan Cott, and Egyptian Magic by E. A. Wallis Budge, as well as the photography of Theresa Havens, provided inspiration for this book.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

My deepest thanks to my wonderful friend and agent Christopher Schelling for sticking by me through everything, and to Tyson Cornell for publishing this book. Also, thanks to my professors Stephen Graham Jones, Joshua Malkin, Jill Alexander Essbaum, and Tod Goldberg, and to my cohort, especially Greg Tower, Billy Minshall, Stephanie Kotin, Felicity Landa, and Anjali Becker. Thanks for input and support: Laurel Ollstein, Reina Escobar, Mary Pauline Lowry, Denise Hamilton, Lauren Strasnick, Tracey Porter, Molly Bendall, Hillary Carlip, Sukha Gildart, Sera Gamble, Laura Lee Bahr, Jennifer Becherer, Lisa Locasio Nighthawk, Hope Rieser Farley, Vince Gerardis, Marjo Maisterra, Lexi Rosen, Liz Dubelman, Richard Nash, Lydia Wills, Howard Paar, Leza Cantoral and Lorinda Toledo. I am grateful to Hailie Johnson, Alexandra Watts, Kellie Kreiss, everyone at Rare Bird, my publicist Bruce Mason, and to Scout LaRue Willis for the vinyl recording.
My love, as always, to Jasmine, Sam, Chris, and Gregg.