When we reached the top of the stairs, I made everyone stop so I could make sure Flimp hadn't picked that precise moment to make his rounds.
"Don't take too long, miss," Will muttered. "This thing is right clumsy to 'old on to."
Once I was certain the coast was clear, we made our slow, bumbling way down the hall to the receiving dock. When we arrived, Henry leaped to his feet. "What took you so long? You've been gone for ages."
"It was only five minutes, Henry. Besides, I thought you weren't afraid of the museum."
"I'm not," he said. "I was just worried maybe Flimp had caught you."
"Well, he hasn't. Put him down gently," I instructed when we reached the coffin.
Once we had Tetley safely settled in the casket, I stepped back and studied him. Such a spiritual conundrum. Did a Christian man who'd been mummified according to ancient Egyptian custom require a Christian burial or an Egyptian funeral rite? If it hadn't been for Tetley's mut clinging to Henry like a macabre shawl, I would never have attempted what I was about to do. However, if Tetley was buried witout his ba, then it might stick with Henry permanently. I couldn't risk that. I could only hope that by covering all the bases, Tetley would find peace at last.
"All right," I said, my voice suddenly solemn as the weight of what we were about to do settled on my shoulders. "This is serious business. Poor Tetley's eternal soul may be at risk." Not to mention Henry's. "So listen carefully to my instructions and do precisely as I tell you. First, the anointing with the sacred oils."
I turned to the tray where I'd set out all the oils I'd collected from home. In some ancient ceremonies, the priests had used their finger, while in other time periods, they used a piece of wood carved to look like a finger. I didn't have one of those, and I was highly reluctant to use my own finger, so instead I was using Cook's pastry brush. With the boys standing around in a semicircle looking appropriately serious, I began.
"I anoint thee, Osiris—"
"I thought his name was Tetley," Henry said.
"It is," I hissed at him. "But the ancient Egyptians always identified the deceased with Osiris so as to invoke his powers. Now be quiet." I cleared my throat. "I anoint thee, Osiris, with these sacred oils given to us by Ra in order that you may be purified and sweet smelling when you reach the Hall of Judgment." With that, I placed a smudge of lavender on his head. Next, I dipped the pastry brush into the cedar oil and touched the area over his heart. "That your heart may be pure and strong." I anointed his elbows and hands with the rose geranium oil. "That your limbs can fight off the demon hordes of the underworld who block your way." I dabbed Macassar oil on his ears. "So that your ears may be open to sound." Cod-liver oil went on his feet (as far away from his nose as possible!), so that they would carry him the entire length of his journey. And so on, until, at last, I once again smeared the top of his head, this time with the eucalyptus oil.
"Hey," Snuffles said with a loud sniff. "I can breathe!"
Will nudged him. "Shh."
"Osiris has now received the sacred oils, which shall bless him and make him whole again on his journey to join Ra." I set the brush down and took a deep breath.
"Now what?" Ratsy asked.
"Actually," I whispered, "next there was usually a sacrifice of some sort of animal, but I've decided to skip that part."
"I should think so," Henry said.
At that precise moment, there was a small thud off to my right. We all startled and looked toward the sound. There stood my cat, Isis, holding a dead mouse in her mouth. As we watched, she walked toward us as calmly as you please and laid the poor rodent at the head of the coffin.
Dumbfounded, I could only stare at her.
"'Ow'd you train her to do that, miss?" Will's voice was tinged with awe.
"I didn't!"
"Is it time for the feast yet?" Snuffles asked hopefully.
"Almost," I said. But before I could resume, there was a sound of clattering, like ... like claws on a marble floor.
I looked up at the door just as the jackal came bounding in. He trotted past our small circle, and the boys drew back with a collective "Oh!"
Panic shot through me; I looked to see where Isis was, wondering what the jackal would do when he saw her.
But oddly enough, he never even glanced in her direction. He click-clacked his way over to the head of Tetley's coffin, sat on his haunches, then looked at me as if to say, You may continue.
Well, he was the god of mummification and an important funerary deity.
With one last nervous glance in his direction, I resumed the ceremony by picking up a small iron adze and gently touching Tetley's eyes and mouth four times. "Osiris, I restore to you your sight and your speech so that you may defeat the demons in the underworld as you travel to be with Ra." Next I picked up the small bag of carnelian chips and repeated the gesture and the spell. I wasn't one hundred percent certain what the carnelian was supposed to do, but since it had been included in most of the accounts of the ceremony, I thought it must be important. "May the power of Ra shine down upon you; may the restorative powers of Osiris be at your fingertips and speed you on your journey. May your ka and ba be united again." As I said those last words, I touched the bag of carnelian to Tetley's chest, just over his heart. The air shimmered, and my spine tingled.
"What's that?" Will asked.
"You felt it too?"
He nodded as his gaze darted nervously around the room.
Just then, there was a faint sighing sound from Tetley. I swallowed the scream that rose in my throat and took a step back. His mouth was open and his chest was expanding, as if he were drawing in a huge breath. Faint tendrils of something—mist? life force? mut?—began to rise up from my poor brother like steam from a boiling kettle. He squeaked and went still, his arms frozen at his sides, his eyes wide.
"Is it supposed to do this?" Ratsy asked.
"I'm not sure," I confessed, my heart beating so wildly I could scarce get the words out.
The mist that had been hanging over Henry now undulated in Tetley's direction. Slowly the spirit began to ooze down into the coffin. Just as I started to breathe a sigh of relief, it paused, hovered for a long moment as if reconsidering, then began to ooze back up and move in Henry's direction again.
Had it changed its mind? Did it not want to go to the afterlife any longer?
Even as my poor mind scrambled for some solution to this problem, the jackal made his move. With a low growl in his throat, he bared his sharp teeth and raised his hackles. We all took a step back.
As the jackal advanced, the mut mist maneuvered itself so that it was behind my brother, using him as a shield! The jackal ignored that and lunged to Henry's right side, snapping at the mist behind him. The mist scooted out and quickly began seeping back into the coffin, the jackal snapping and growling at it the whole way. The mist gathered just above Tetley in one large mass, then rushed into the mummified body until the last wisp of it was gone.
Tetley gave one last sigh, then fell still.
The jackal went over to the coffin and sniffed. Apparently satisfied, he gave one sharp bark and wag of his tail, then took off back the way he had come.