CHAPTER SEVEN

❝I like to think that the moon is there, even if I am not looking at it.❞

Albert Einstein

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Ahkmenrah is a very bright boy. He's always been told that; his parents said it, his tutors said it, and his brother said it (albeit mockingly and usually after beating Ahkmenrah up). He knows algebra and geometry, speaks multiple languages (he's still working on his Shoshone, as a surprise for Sacagawea), has read every scroll and book that he could get his hands on, and can recite the script to The Maltese Falcon almost word for word. (The staff at Cambridge had a real thing for Humphrey Bogart.)

But the most important things he knows are the things he's learned about Luna Evangeline Clair. (He's sort of in love with her name, reader; it's adorable.)

He knows her favorite musical is The Sound of Music, and that she played Gretl in her 7th-grade production. He knows she hates raisins with a passion and refuses to even look at them. He knows she likes to paint, and even though she says she's not very good at it, he really wants to see her paintings. He knows she likes to give handmade gifts and her favorite non-musical song is "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell and she has a thing for people with curly hair and her eyes sparkle whenever someone makes a stupid pun.

He knows she's perfect. And he can't get enough.

Tonight, Luna's brought her phone and earbuds again--"It's Wicked time!"--and they're sitting in the Sanford Hall of North American Birds in the dark, directly in front of a glass case of twittering stuffed golden birds--the plaque in front says American yellow warbler--and listening to "Defying Gravity".

As the song fades out, Luna pops her earbud out and looks up at him, a soft smile on her face. "Tell me about your family. Your childhood."

Ah. Ahkmenrah has wondered when this day might come. He's a little hesitant to talk about it; he's never actually told anyone what happened. But it's Luna, so he takes a deep breath and gives her a serious look. "My family story is not a happy one. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"I want to know everything about you," Luna whispers, and even in the dark, Ahkmenrah can see she's blushing. His stomach does an awkward little flip-flop. He doesn't remember ever feeling this way about a girl before. It's new and exciting and strange, but he doesn't really mind it all too much.

Ahkmenrah takes another deep breath, shifts on the floor so he's facing her, legs crossed (their knees almost touching), and begins. "I was born at midnight, the evening after a lunar eclipse. My father was there, and he always said that the moment he saw me, he knew he had to find a way to keep us together forever.

"So he commanded the high priest of Khonsu, the god of the moon, to cast a tablet of gold. The true secrets of the tablet, he never revealed to me; he said only that it was to keep him from losing me. My mother always said that it was Khonsu's gift to our family, drawing us closer. I still don't understand how the tablet works completely.

"I had an elder brother, too: Kahmunrah. He never liked me very much; he was always finding ways to spoil things for me. Putting salt in my wine, snakes at the foot of my bed, or hiding behind a corner, just waiting for me to walk toward him so that he could hit me."

"He sounds like a jerk," Luna mutters, and when Ahkmenrah looks confused, she corrects herself. "Really rude. Mean."

"Ah, yes. He definitely was that. But other than that, we were a generally happy family. All was well--until Father fell ill. I was seventeen, Kah was twenty-two. Kah expected to reign while Father could not, expected to become pharaoh. I always thought he hoped Father would die so that he could be pharaoh indefinitely. He was always that way, ravenous for power. He craved it, needed it, as normal beings need air to breathe.

"But then Father and Mother chose me in place of him. They told him he was too violent, that he had too short of a temper to rule, which of course just made him more angry. Looking back, I was probably too young to rule, but I had advisors, I had Father, and the people were happy, so all was well."

Ahkmenrah pauses, his breath catching in his throat. This is the part of the story that he's afraid to tell.

Luna's hand reaches across the minute space between them and covers his gently. He smiles gratefully at her and exhales sharply. "I'm sorry, I just... It feels strange to recount my own death."

Luna's mouth forms an O and her eyes widen. "You...remember your death?" she asks, her voice barely a whisper.

He nods. "Yes. It was almost midnight. I was walking Mother back to her chambers. She was saying something about a celebration, a great feast in honor of my nineteen summers. I don't think I was paying much attention. She made me promise to get some sleep, so I let her inside and went to my own chambers. And--"

Luna squeezes his hand. "You don't have to say anything, if you don't want to."

Ahkmenrah shakes his head. There's a strange urge inside him now to finish the story. He has to know if he can do it. "And then I was awake and there was a knife in my chest. Kah was standing over me with this maniacal look on his face, and then he stabbed me. Over and over and over and over. And then everything went black, and the next thing I knew, I was awake in a glass case, watching an old man in a blue suit sweep the hardwood floors of a building I'd never been in before."

Luna's eyes search his, shining in the dim light from the case of birds, and then her arms are around his neck and her hair smells like peaches and honey (yes, they had both in Egypt) and she's whispering, "No one should ever have to relive their own death, I'm so sorry," in his ear. Ahkmenrah feels everything, every place his skin touches hers. He feels more alive now than he has in many years.

After a long, breathless moment, Luna pulls away, her hands lingering on his shoulders for a split second before they fall back into her lap.

They stare at the glass case together in silence, watching the yellow birds hop from branch to branch but not really seeing them. "Tell me about your family," Ahkmenrah says finally, his voice barely audible.

"Um, okay." Luna sounds almost nervous, but Ahkmenrah's grateful for her willingness. He wants to hear everything. "Well, I don't have any brothers or sisters; it's just me and my mom and dad. My dad's a salesman for a big tech company in Manhattan and my mom sells original paintings online."

"What does she paint?" asks Ahkmenrah.

"Uh, the sky, mostly. The moon, the stars. She's always loved that; she says the moon has a special grip on her." Luna smiles softly. "We have family dinners every Thursday night and my mom always makes something new. Last week, it was falafel and it was amazing. We might have to break the rules and have it again."

"You're very lucky to have a loving family," Ahkmenrah tells her, and he means it. He'd give anything to have his parents beside him again.

"I know," Luna replies, and she scoots closer and leans her head on his shoulder. "I'm very grateful for them." She pulls out her phone and earbuds again, and offers him one. "You wanna try something new?"

Ahkmenrah accepts the earbud gratefully, and Luna presses play on a song called "Something" by the Beatles, and they listen and listen until Jed and Octavius find them, saying that there's a checkers tournament going on in the main lobby and that somehow, one of the Neanderthals is undefeated. Luna gives him this goofy grin and Ahkmenrah knows that he'd do anything for her. Anything.

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hoooo boy. poor baby ahk. i'm so sad for him. i agree with luna; no one should have to relive their own death.

q: do you have siblings?

a: yes. three of them. i'm the oldest. i'm always tired.