Seth by Laura Greenwood
CHAPTER3
Menhit
I checked my phone,something I’d been doing at increasing regularity since I’d started messaging with Saul. There was something about him that constantly drew my attention, even if we were only talking via a chat and not in person.
That was the next step, but every time I hinted at the possibility of the two of us going on a proper date, he changed the subject. It was almost enough to make me wonder whether he was actually interested. But whenever I convinced myself that it wasn’t worth going through all of this, he’d say something utterly charming and I’d be unable to ignore him for long.
My phone buzzed in my hand, bringing a smile to my face and filling me with a sense of satisfaction that I hadn’t been hoping for Saul to message in vain. I clicked onto the message, unsurprised to find a photo of his adorable dog trying to squish himself into a chair much too small for him.
< That might not be the right place for Tut. > I sent the message without thinking twice about it. Messaging him was easy and it felt as if I’d known him for years, even if we’d only been talking for a couple of weeks, and only ever online.
< Tut is oblivious to his own size. >
< I guess you’ll have to tut at him until he starts behaving. >
< That was terrible. >
< I’m here for cheesy jokes all night. How do you rate that one? > I grinned to myself, hardly believing that something this mundane could be what it took to remind me of the excitement that dating could bring with it.
< Brie. >
< Huh, surprisingly good, right? >
< I should clarify, I meant an unripe supermarket brie when you know what the real thing tastes like. >
I raised an eyebrow. < So you’ve been to France, then? >
< I’ve travelled to a lot of places. >
< So now I have to guess if you’re really rich, or if you have to travel a lot for work. > It was going to be interesting to see which it was.
< I’ll leave that to your imagination. >
< We’re supposed to be getting to know each other! > The reminder was meant to be playful, but there was also some truth in it. I didn’t want to get caught up in a back-and-forth that wasn’t going to go anywhere. Though with him being human and me being an immortal goddess, there was a risk of that anyway.
< You’re right. It was sort of for work. No secret riches here. >
< How disappointing, secret riches were the only reason I was on a dating app in the first place. > I considered not sending the message, but decided it was fine. He knew me well enough to be certain that I wasn’t that kind of person.
< Decent quality mozzarella. >
< Thanks. But without your riches, I can only afford the supermarket’s version. > I could feel the smile pulling at my lips as I typed, even though I knew it was corny and I shouldn’t be so easily entertained.
“Messaging Saul again?” Bastet’s voice cut through my thoughts, reminding me that I was currently in the real world and not hanging about on my own in my oasis where it wouldn’t be weird for me to be grinning at my phone.
My friend took a seat at the table and made herself comfortable.
“I should never have told you that I matched with someone,” I muttered. She might have been the one who urged me to go on the dating app in the first place, but that didn’t give her the right to meddle. In theory. And it definitely didn’t stop her from trying. Falling for Ptah, or recognising her still existing feelings or whatever it was she did, seemed to have made her a hopeless romantic despite years of experience to the contrary.
“Oh come on, it’s fun. What’s he saying?” she asked.
“Nothing important,” I said.
“And you’re still not going to let me see a photo?”
I shook my head. “Not until there’s something to tell.” I had no idea why I was keeping what Saul looked like a secret, but something about the situation made me think that I needed to.
“You know, I’d have thought that having a friend out there dating would be a lot more entertaining.”
I chuckled. “Sorry to burst your bubble.”
“It’s fine. Ptah said that Baal had some photos to show us from a hundred years ago. He had them magically enhanced so you can actually tell who is in them, which I have to admit is a lot better than staring at someone’s fuzzy face.”
“How did he get that done?”
“I’m not sure, I think it’s a witch who does it. You’ll have to ask him. They’re here with the drinks now.” She nodded to the two men approaching us with drinks in their hands.
“A rum and coke, right?” Ptah said as he placed my glass in front of me.
“Thanks. I have to admit, there are some advantages to having coupled-up friends,” I quipped.
Bastet chuckled. “I’m glad you can think of at least one.”
The two gods took their seats and settled into conversation while I kept checking my phone to see if Saul had responded. There was nothing yet, but that was probably because he was busy dealing with Tut.
Perhaps I should find Rufflebum and send some photos of the cat in return. He wasn’t technically mine, but I found myself increasingly affectionate towards the stray who has made Purgatory his home, especially when he comes and goes from my oasis as often as he does.
“Let’s see these photos,” Ptah said. “I’m interested to see how good this witch is.”
“She’s good,” Baal responded, pulling out a sleeve of photos. “You’ll be wanting to get her to redevelop all of yours too.”
“I don’t have that many that need it,” Ptah responded. “I don’t have your passion for photography.”
Baal shrugged. “I like being able to travel, at least by being a photographer, I can get paid for it. Did I tell you about the endangered tiger I managed to get a photo of in India last year?”
“At least seventeen times,” Ptah responded with an amused note in his voice. “But I’ll listen again if you want me to.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll just go and find something else to take photos of so I can bore you to death,” Baal said. “But you’ll be glad to know that the photos I brought are all of people.” He pulled them out and spread them across the table.
Bastet picked one up and stared at it. “I recognise the temple.”
“You should, it’s yours,” he pointed out. “I did a tour of Africa that year and visited a lot of places.” He shuffled through the photos and selected a few more to show her.
Bastet looked through them, seemingly impressed by the quality of them. “Wow, you even managed to get Seth to pose for a photo?”
Baal chuckled. “Yeah, he was against it at first, but he came around.”
“Can I see?” I asked, intrigued to see what the infamous god of storms and chaos looked like. It might help me with the promise I made to Bastet and Ptah that I’d find him. I wasn’t sure why I’d even made it when I didn’t know how to get in contact with the man, but at the time, it seemed like a good thing to do.
Bastet passed me the photo and I took it from her, staring down at the two smiling men pictured. One was clearly Baal, his dark skin glowing in the sun, and his kind smile possible to make out despite him being no bigger than my thumb in size.
But it wasn’t Baal that caught my attention in the photo, it was the man next to him. Seth wasn’t as tall as the other man, but even from the photo, I could sense the power he exuded. That wasn’t the most intriguing thing about him, though. There was something familiar about his face, as if I’d seen him before.
“You okay?” Bastet asked.
“Seth just looks familiar,” I admitted, setting the photo down. “Is there another photo?”
She nodded and handed it to me. This one was almost a headshot, and only increased the intensity of the feeling like I’d seen his face before. His eyes were intense, like they held the storms he was the god of inside them, and his smile almost made it seem as if he was both happy and uncomfortable to be there.
“So familiar,” I murmured.
“Maybe you met him and just don’t remember?” she suggested.
“It seems unlikely.” He had a face that didn’t seem like it would be easy to forget, but perhaps I was just thinking that because I wanted to believe it, and not because it was necessarily true.
“Then perhaps you saw him across the room at one point or another. You visited Egypt during the height of its power, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume he was there at some point.”
“Maybe.” But that didn’t seem likely. By the time I was visiting Egypt, Seth’s followers and political power had already started to wane thanks to the rumours of what he’d tried to do to his family. Even at the time, I’d known there wasn’t any truth in them, but that hardly mattered to the people. “I might have just seen someone who looks like him,” I responded, placing the photo down.
“It’s probably something like that,” Bastet responded with a nod.
“Your witch has done some good things with these photos,” I said to Baal. “I can see a lot of people wanting her services.”
He smiled. “She did. I’ve been trying to get her to come to speed dating,” he admitted.
“You should, it’s a lot of fun,” I encouraged him.
My phone buzzed, pulling me away from the conversation. I turned it over and checked the message, a smile coming to my face when I realised that Saul had finally responded.
< Sorry, I had to take Tut on a walk. >
< That’s okay, I’m hanging out with friends tonight anyway. I hope he behaved himself! >
I was about to click away from the chat when his photo caught my attention. With a frown, I made it larger and stared at the handsome face.
My eyes widened and I reached for one of Baal’s photos, looking between the two and realising why Seth looked so familiar.
The human I thought I’d been chatting to on a dating app wasn’t a human at all.
He was Seth, the god of chaos and storms. And precisely the person I was supposed to be looking for.
“Menhit, are you okay?” Bastet asked.
“Hmm? Yes, fine.” I tried not to let the panic overtake me as I tried to work out what to do with the information. It was hard not to feel a sense of betrayal, but at the same time, he had no idea that I was a goddess either, so I didn’t really have the right to be annoyed about that.
“If you’re sure...” A worried expression dominated Bastet’s face, but I ignored it.
“I am.” I picked up my drink and took a sip of it. I had no idea what I was going to do about the situation I’d found myself in, but it was going to take careful consideration. Especially because I felt like the connection the two of us had built was too real for me to want to throw it away.
