I was going to meet Adrian at Amanda's tomorrow morning, at a time earlier than I hoped. But time was of the essence. The only reason I hadn't dragged him there straightaway was because he refused to go anywhere without a minimum of eight hours of sleep. Like he hadn't slept enough before crawling out his grave.

Once Gran and I got back home, I proceeded to consume the contents of our entire kitchen, my stomach acting something like a black hole. No amount of food filled me up - I still felt empty after a massive dinner and an infinite amount of junk food. It was a strange feeling - a horrible sort of hunger that would be dulled by no food. No drink.

Frustration propelled me to a house down the street. I knocked hard on my best friend's door, again and again. She'd surely kill me for not coming to her the exact moment of my return, but she'd be over it soon enough.

The door opened and Jayda's expected embrace made me feel as if a python was squeezing the life out of me. "You should've called me," she cried. "I was worried sick, Neith! I thought something horrible happened! I had to hear you were okay from Jake. I can't believe you talked to him before me."

"Sorry."

She pulled back, smacking a balled up fist against my shoulder. "I hate you."

"I missed you too."

Jayda and I had been attached at the hip since I first moved to town. I was ten, strange, and too awkward to make any new friends. She'd approached me on my second day in school, handed me half of her PB&J, and that was that.

She let me in and we went to her bedroom, taking bags of chips with us. We sat down and ate with the television on, not saying a word. She didn't ask me any questions. Not until I unwinded enough.

Halfway through an episode of some mindless sitcom, she gave a little nudge with her elbow. "Do you want to talk about what happened? Jake said you had a nervous break."

"Not tonight. Right now, I just I need normal."

Jayda grabbed my hand, saying nothing, just offering a smile and another chip.

⁂

Hot, sweaty bodies surrounded me, jumping up and down in time to the beat of the music that roared through the air. Hundreds of voices shrieked lyrics in time and out of tune, shaking their bodies, sending perspiration flying off their skin.

"Relaxing," a voice shouted beside me. "Isn't it?"

I turned to face the young man who had spoken. He was dressed in attire that mimicked the other concert-goers that surrounded us - torn jeans and worn out combat boots. Gold flecks of glitter were dusted over his skin, looking far better on him than it did on the others. I wasn't a fan of the look, not really, but I had to admit it suited him.

In the chaos, it was hard to tell if he'd been speaking to me. "Sorry?"

"You humans can be talented. Sometimes."

Humans?

"Anubis!"

He sighed. "That would be my name."

"Where-"

"Relax. You'll wake up in bed. I only summoned you here for a talk."

"Why?"

"Because you're getting hungry. And you're only going to get hungrier until you satiate it."

"With what? Don't say brains."

Anubis scrunched up his nose. "Of course not. That's vile."

"Then what?"

"The murder of your murderer. Are you really this dim witted?" Anubis pushed the man beside me aside so he could move closer. "You're wasting time. You can't fix this. Undo this. Your seer is a child. Better have tried to thwart me, and all have failed."

"Wait, are you spying on me?"

"Of course. I'm spying on all of you. You think the jackal on your back is a souvenir?"

"Why are you doing this? What do you want?"

"Chaos, obviously. Do you understand what's going to happen if you don't do what I want? What you'll turn into?"

"No, Dog Man, I don't. Because you're not telling me."

"I prefer to show." Anubis reached out, pushing his thumb against my forehead. "Tada."

I looked up at him, simultaneously unimpressed and confused.

And then it happened - just like with the tarot cards. A horrible buzzing filled my ears, and this time, it was so loud I couldn't hear the music anymore. The sound was suffocating, assaulting me from every direction. It made my ears ache, my head pound.

I dropped to my knees, trying to speak or scream or do something to prove that there wasn't something wrong with my hearing. My hands clapped over my ears, but I pulled them back almost immediately, sickened by the feeling of something sticky dripping from my skin.

Blood.

I turned my hands over, staring at the fluid staining my hands, the fluid dripping from my fingertips. It seemed to come from nowhere. And it kept coming. Flowing from my fingers like a steady stream.

I looked up where Anubis had stood a moment ago, but he was gone. The other concert-goers were on the ground, broken, dismembered. The reek of rotting flesh filled the air, like they'd been dead for some time.

"Anubis!" I screamed, turning my head to find him.

Instead I found a replica myself staring back at me. And though she looked like me, she couldn't be. Her skin was gray, bits of human flesh sticking to her chin with blood. A human arm was in her grasp, torn from a nearby body. Aware of my gaze, she tipped her to the side, a blank look upon her face.

I closed my eyes, screaming louder. "Anubis!"

"That is what will happen if you don't do as I say."

I opened my eyes.

No more blood. No more bodies. No buzzing.

Everything was just as it had been a moment ago.

Anubis grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet. "You can't undo my curse, human. You can't find a way out. What I showed you is what'll happen if you don't listen."

My palms, slick with sweat, pushed him away from me. "Why are you doing this?"

"I want something."

"Which is what?"

"Real estate."

"What?"

Anubis rolled his amber eyes. They were identical to those of the jackal that dug me out. "You're taking away from my musical experience. Ta for now, human." With a snap of his finger, my vision went black until I woke with a gasp in my best friend's bed, covered in gold glitter and cold sweat.

A u t h o r ' s N o t e

Forgive me for the late update. More (on time) updates on the way. I'm already writing the next one. Will be posting an upload schedule for all my stories soon. This awesome GIF is by @SherWritesBooks .