Recreated

Reawakened

The Tiger's Curse Series

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2016 by Colleen Houck

Cover art copyright © 2016 by Chris Saunders

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Houck, Colleen.

Recreated / Colleen Houck. — First edition.

pages cm. — (Reawakened ; 2)

Summary: “Lily must go into the Afterlife to save Amon and protect the world from being overthrown by the deadly Devouror of the Underworld”—Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-385-37660-0 (hc) — ISBN 978-0-385-37662-4 (ebook)

1. Amon (Egyptian deity)—Juvenile fiction. [1. Amon (Egyptian deity)—Fiction. 2. Gods, Egyptian—Fiction. 3. Supernatural—Fiction. 4. Love—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.H81143Ref 2016

[Fic]—dc23

2015015060

ebook ISBN 9780385376624

Random House Children's Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

v4.1

ep

For Matthew, Alan, Sarah, Katie, and Chris,

who love being in my books

even if they're not mermaids or dragons

How could I have done something so foolish?
Amon thought. Leaving the safety of the afterlife for the uncertainty of the netherworld had been a bad decision, a dangerous one. But Amon had felt as if there were no other option. Besides, death was what he sought, though admittedly he would have preferred a gentler one.

As he wandered the stone path leading to, he hoped, a temporary refuge, Amon wondered what form death would take. Would he be swallowed up by a monster that would slowly digest him over centuries? Would he be flayed alive by a creature whose expertise was in making a man suffer? The best case he could think of would be death by venom. The netherworld was full of venomous creatures bent on the destruction of those who wandered into their nests.

Even though Amon courted death, he didn't wish to succumb to it just yet. Lily had only recently returned to her mortal life, and it would be years before there was even a remote chance that he could be with her again. Amon had promised to meet her in the afterlife. Exactly how he would accomplish that now he didn't know, but he had decades to figure something out. The truth was, even if he hadn't met Lily and fallen in love with her, he still would have given up his calling. It had been so many years. Too many. And death wasn't the worst thing he could imagine.

His brief sojourns into the realm of mortals were no longer enough. If he had reunited with his brothers before the judging, they would have known what he was up to, would have talked him out of it. That was why he leapt before he saw them again. He wanted more. He needed more than just a pale shadow of a life.

So he had forsaken his duty. Forsaken his brothers. And now he'd forsaken the gods themselves. There would be a reckoning, but he didn't care. Lily was the only remaining tether linking him to the path he walked. The only reason he didn't give himself over to the next plane of existence. Wherever that might be. So, he fought to bide his time as he waited.

As the days passed, he tore asunder every gnarled and frightening beast of the netherworld that challenged him. Some came at him because he was reckless. Some, he suspected, were sent as punishment from the gods. Others were drawn to his melancholy state. The brief moments of respite he earned were too short. No matter where he went or how evasive he was, the demons always found him.

Though he'd left his mortal body behind, his wandering soul still felt the pangs of the flesh. Fortunately his needs were markedly less than they were in the human world. When Amon thirsted, he begged the spirits who lived in the trees for gifts. When Amon hungered, he stole provisions from the stores of the creatures he slaughtered, and, occasionally, if nothing could be found and the pains of his empty stomach became overwhelming, he roasted the bodies of the beasts he'd slain.

When he was utterly exhausted from the terrors he'd brought upon himself, and he was relatively safe, Amon slept. It was always brief. Always fitful. Dreaming was the only happiness he felt in his otherwise horrifying existence.

The worst part about wandering the netherworld wasn't the endless barrage of monsters or dangers that threatened a second and permanent death. It wasn't the separation from his brothers, his constant companions for thousands of years. It wasn't even the loss of purpose he felt, the absence of self-assurance he'd always possessed, or the knowledge that he had a place in the cosmos, one he was if not satisfied with, then one he accepted.

No. The worst part was also the best part.

He could feel her.

Lily was in another place, another world, and yet, he could allow himself to be with her. When he was certain that no attack was imminent, and he let his tired body rest, he'd close his eyes and see her. That was the part Amon loved. He could hover near her like a ghost. He couldn't speak to her or touch her, and she didn't know that he was there, at least not consciously. Her subconscious mind, though, could sense he was near, that he was watching over her, much like a guardian angel. This was a tremendous blessing. But it was also a curse.

Amon knew a connection as powerful as theirs went two ways. He had hoped that they might simply meet in their dreams. That their bond had been brief enough that their minds would brush gently against each other as they slept. But the link between them proved stronger than that. As Amon walked with Lily through New York, he knew she also journeyed with him through his land of nightmares.

His decision to leave paradise had caused terrible consequences for the girl he loved, and now that he was in the netherworld, there was no getting out. The gods would not help; he'd abandoned their cause. Death would be his only reprieve, and yet every time he thought he'd hurt her enough and would give up, give in to whatever dark creature was currently seeking his demise, he'd feel her, an unconscious appeal to keep trying. To hold on a little longer.

Amon sought answers to his dilemma by peering through the Eye of Horus, but the things he saw confused him. Sometimes it teased him with glimpses of a possible future. A way out. If he could just last long enough, survive in the form in which he currently existed until Lily's natural, mortal death, there was a chance he could find her. That their bond would draw them together once more.

Other times, he saw Lily as a different person, a different creature altogether from the girl he knew. He envisaged himself tortured and abused. His brothers jealous and angry. The gods at war with Chaos. These visions made no sense. Chaos was being held at bay for another millennium. The gods getting together for a meal wasn't even likely, let alone a war.

The uncertainty Amon felt was normal. He was used to the strange shadows of the future and past mingling together. The Eye saw all, and yet nothing it revealed ever made sense. Events were never in the proper order. It took a tremendous amount of focus and energy to direct the Eye to show him any one particular thing. To prevent himself from going crazy, Amon spent much of his time trying to ignore the visions that rattled his brain. Since he'd entered the netherworld, though, the Eye had gone into overdrive.

Still, the Eye's energy drain was worth it when he asked to see Lily's future. The things he saw gave him hope. Hope that they might be together again, that there was a possible future where he could again hold her in his arms.

There were moments when he saw himself cupping her face in his hands, tenderly kissing each of her closed eyelids, tasting the salt from the tears that slowly trickled down her cheeks. These blissful flashes were all he needed to know. The rest he'd let the universe worry about. Perhaps it was selfish of him to maintain their connection, but he just couldn't let Lily go. Not yet. Not when there was a chance.

Though Amon knew that she likely walked the netherworld with him in her dreams, there were times, however brief, when they both slept. During those occasions, it was possible to communicate with her, but Lily's mind always blocked him out, her body so exhausted from the trials of their connection that her consciousness shut down and she slept deeply.

When this happened, he didn't push. She needed to rest, and as badly as he wanted to talk to her, there was no point. He'd doomed the both of them to this fate because he was weak. If he had only loved her enough in the beginning to leave her alone or had sent her away earlier, maybe none of this would have happened.

Of course, without Lily, it was quite possible that he and his brothers would be dead and the world overrun by Chaos. Still, if he'd been a little more vigilant regarding his emotions, then she wouldn't be suffering now. She'd be just another human girl, one of billions in the world. No one of any importance, and certainly no one the gods would be paying any attention to. No one except him.

Amon sighed. The truth was that as long as Lily held his heart, Amon would fight. He was beholden to her; if she wanted him to press on, he would find a way.