Another Pan by Daniel Nayeri

the key to unearthing the truth behind the five great legends . . .
myths,
as they are called by . . . most scholars. The historicity of the stories is doubted by many, but I think anything is possible.”
    “Five legends?” John asked.
    “Yes, yes, John,” said the professor hurriedly. “The five stories that are told in the
Book of Gates
. Remember, I showed you an English translation in our library at home?”
    John flushed and dropped lower in his seat. Professor Darling was getting excited again, talking with his hands above his head and walking around. Wendy groaned. Her dad’s fairy-tale theories about Egypt had given him a reputation as a kook. No one denied that he was preeminent in the field, but maybe he just believed more than he should have.
    “Well, an English translation from our house is one thing . . .” Professor Darling stopped. As soon as the professor said the words
our house,
someone in the back snickered.
    Someone whispered, “We can’t all live in a free house on Marlowe’s dime.”
    Someone else responded, “I wonder if our tuition pays for his storybooks.”
    Professor Darling reddened but continued, pretending not to hear. “An English copy is one thing, but the long-lost original . . . well, some people say that it can do a lot more than just
recount
the five stories. It has the power to
unlock
their mysteries to the world.”
    Professor Darling wiped a bead of sweat off his brow. Wendy knew that discussing his less conventional theories with a Marlowe crowd always had this effect on him. He switched to something less risky. “The five legends in the
Book of Gates
revolve around great loss. Five people — unknown to history, but tied together by a single cursed bloodline — who have suffered injustice on an eternal scale, the life of each becoming a legend in its own right.”
    “What do you mean,
unknown to history
?” asked a soft-voiced girl in the back, a freshman also accelerated into the class along with John. “I mean,
you
seem to know about them.”
    “Ahh,” said Professor Darling. “We know of them through
myth,
Jenny. But these stories have not made it into conventional Egyptian history, or even mainstream mythology. They are part of a much more obscure, much more
secret,
lore. A lore that is shunned by scholars and Egyptians. A lore that would tell us that even the death god was something different from what is commonly believed.”
    The class was quiet for a moment. The professor went on. “As I was saying, each of the five legends tells the story of a grave injustice. In one story, the injustice may be the loss of a person’s heritage. In another, maybe great love. But in all of them, there is something that caused a great bitterness to grow and fester inside — a bitterness over a life not fully lived. The ancient Egyptians used to say that this bitterness, this desire to take back what was lost, has a life of its own. It lingers in the world of the living. And so, these five characters continued to
linger
. You see, none of this would matter if the heroes of the five legends had just had a normal death and burial. But that isn’t
exactly
what happened, now, is it?”
    Some of the sleepy students perked up. The professor was pacing the floor with a far-gone look, lecturing wistfully, from memory. Even Marla was interested. “What did happen, then?” she whispered, an almost sadistic look in her black-lined eyes.
    Professor Darling shot Marla a smile. “Well, they were mummified, of course! We all know that the Egyptians believed that mummification was the way to transmit a body into the afterlife. But we also know that it was only the pharaohs or the extremely wealthy who could afford to be mummified. These five characters were certainly not historic icons. But legend has it that they were each
somehow
mummified, which is an astonishing fluke in itself. It was the mummification that preserved the bitterness in their bones.”
    “So, wait a minute,” said