Horus and the Curse of Everlasting Regret Read Online Free PDF Page B

watched Perch lap up the cream. “I’ve often wished for a familiar, someone to keep me company. Eternity, as you might imagine, is an awfully long time.”
    Peter said with a tone of slight skepticism, “So you are animated by
magic
? How did it happen?”
    Horus gave a dry cough. “I’ll try to keep it short. Let’s see, this was about 701 BC or thereabouts. Our kingdom was in conflict with Assyria. My older brother wasn’t pharaoh yet, but he was a commander at the time. He fought proudly, and I…didn’t. I did more…” He paused, as if uncertain about saying it aloud. Then he said all at once, “Uh, destroying our enemies’ belongings. Looting. All right, robbing, really.”
    Tunie’s uneasiness at this personal history must have shown on her face.
    Horus leaned forward and rushed to say, “Oh, believe me, I wish I could take it all back! I’ve had ages to learn how horrible I was. At any rate, in one home as I was, uh, smashing a set of figurines—statues depicting Nephthys, protector of the dead—an old grandmother cursed me to ‘an eternity of regret in the house of death’ for my ‘destructive nature.’ A heavy figurine fell on my head and killed me, right then, so I died days after my tenth birthday. She fumbled the words a bit, so I’m not stuck in a tomb anymore, now that I’ve been unearthed. I can move, but only at night. I have found, though, that I cannot leave the rooms of the exhibit in which I am kept. Yet traveling between museums seems to work, and this small kitchen is accessible. I’d bet something about the curse drew you to me, too, since you can see me when most can’t.” Horus made a rustling noise as he shrugged. “Curses. Who understands them?”
    “I’d never believe it if I weren’t sitting here, talking to you.” Peter sounded bewildered. He absentmindedly handed his cookie over to Tunie. She accepted it with a smile.
    “One thing I don’t get,” Tunie said, “is why I can see you tonight. I’ve cleaned this place a bunch of times. Why couldn’t I see you before?”
    Horus glanced back and forth from Tunie to Peter and raised his palms. “Perhaps you both had to be here in order for me to be revealed?”
    Tunie considered this. “Does everything you touch turn invisible to others, the way Mr. Narfgau couldn’t see us when you put your arms around us?”
    “Not exactly,” Horus said. “People don’t see things related to me. For example”—he hefted the rock in his hand—“every day, I smash a display case to take out this rock. Did you notice the broken glass?” he asked Tunie.
    Tunie shook her head, eyes wide.
    Horus continued. “Neither did anyone at the British Museum when this exhibit was there. If I stand in someone’s path, he or she will usually walk around me. People don’t sense me in any way, even if they bump into me. I’ve tried leaping on people’s backs, and they don’t stumble or even seem to feel it. When I make a mess, no one notices. Sometimes, if I’m doing something directly in front of a person, he or she will grow confused and turn away, like your Mr. Narfgau. I’ve never turned anyone invisible before, but then, no one else has interacted with me the way you did tonight.”
    Peter was listening intently to Horus.
    “It makes sense, if the curse keeps people from seeing things that would draw attention to you,” Peter said. “If a person saw us interacting with something invisible, that would be strange and attract interest. It could be the curse sort of…clouded us in front of Mr. Narfgau because of that.”
    Horus agreed. “Precisely. Of course, I haven’t had much opportunity to test the curse. Very few people visit the exhibit after hours—usually only the cleaning crew, or a night watchman, or a museum curator. For the most part, I am on my own.”
    Peter asked Horus, “What happens if you try to leave the room?”
    Horus looked uncomfortable. “It is…terribly unpleasant. It feels a bit like, uh,