Cat Girl

Cat Girl: The Adventures of an Egyptian Demigod
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PROLOGUE=== July, 1996

Archeologist Jason Thorn sat in his stateroom on the cruise ship Miranda, brow furrowed. His frusturated eyes stared down at his sketchpad. He'd been attemtping to draw an Eye of Horus, the ancient Egyptian symbol of wealth and royalty, but of no luck: The final product looked like the Rx you see on prescription bottles at the drugstore.

Jason angrily crumpled it and strode out onto the deck. A Mediterranean breeze whipped his black hair. The sea view was beautiful, like turquoise. ''Easy, Thorn. ''He reminded himself. ''You're not here for pleasure. ''Indeed no. Jason was going to Egypt for yet another archelogical dig, in the Valley of Kings. His other one in mandarin China had been a huge success, and hopefully, so would this one although Jason had his doubts.

The idea of poking around in underground, corpse-filled chambers made the archeologist a little uncertain about what was in store for him. Jason trotted over to one of the three plastic deck chairs on the front deck and prepared for a lazy afternoon. Until she showed up.

A somewhat tall woman with wavy strawberry blond hair sometime in her thirties was leaning on the deck rail, gazing out into the sunset. Sexy was the right word for her. Clad in a tan peasant blouse and torn jeans that would have looked bizarre on anyone else. "So. This your first trip around the 'Terranean?" She asked, settling down in the chair next to him. Mutely, Jason nodded. "Yeah." "Not here for the tourism, though." He quickly added.

The woman laughed. "Seems like no one these days is." She sighed. "Egypt has just plain gotten lost in the shuffle. So who are you?" He held out a hand. "Jason Thorn." The woman raised her eyebrows. "The Jason Thorn, the archelogist?!" He smiled wryly. "Who'd you think it was, Bill Clinton?" This last remark caused both of them to laugh.

"And who are you?" He asked, feeling curious. "Matthews. Bast Matthews." Her last name was said in hesitation, as thoug she didn't actually know her last name. This was the beginning of a brief but sweet relationship.

Bast and Jason continued to see each other over the next two weeks of the voyage. After they docked in Cairo, Jason wanted to keep in touch with her via E-mail and over the phone, so they did, even arranging to see one another on Saturdays, when Jason was free. By October Jason found out that Bast was pregnant, and by that time he had plans to marry her.

They becme engaged, but the wedding never happened. Two weeks after their daughter, Hatshepsut (Hattie) was born, Bast disappeared, as though off the face of the earth, leaving Jason with a daughter to raise. The only thing of Bast that Jason had left was an earring, the gold earring she always wore. Later it would become Hattie's.

After Bast left, Jason and Hattie went back to Jason's hometown of New York City. Jason had always known there was something unnatural about Bast, something profoundly different. He would not know for three more years that he'd fallen in love with a goddess. A real and actual Egyptian goddess.