After politely declining the offer to become a poster girl (with a standing offer for employment should she ever wish to pursue it,) Chloe and Morgan had filled out the paperwork, paid the adoption fees, and were on their way home with two new kitten acquaintances, some kitten food to get started, and a few toys. The kittens were very vocal about their confusion regarding their new situation, but Chloe managed to snake her tail around the seat to lightly tap at the cardboard carrier and keep them distracted. Thus, they arrived home in relatively short order and without incident.

Morgan took the carrier while Chloe gathered up the food, toys, and paperwork and they made their way inside their second-floor apartment. It looked exactly the same as when they had left, but something felt a bit off. Chloe couldn’t place the difference, but it was nagging at her. After dropping her armload on the couch, she prowled around the apartment - searching in closets, cupboards, and behind doors. Her ears lay flat against her head and her tail was low and swishing at the tip.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong? What are you doing?” Morgan asked cautiously as she set the cardboard carrier down in the living room.

Chloe shook her head as she re-entered the living room, but couldn’t get rid of the feeling of something being wrong. “I don’t know. There’s a weird vibe. I can’t see it or smell it, but something about our space isn’t…” she trailed off as her ears suddenly perked forward and her pupils dilated. With fluid motion and astounding speed, she leapt across the room to Morgan’s altar where the statues of Bastet and Sekhmet stood and thrust her hands out to grasp something odd. She raised her left hand up to brandish her prize - an inch-long beetle with a black carapace. “It stopped moving when we got inside, so I couldn’t hear it until it tried moving again,” Chloe admitted.

Morgan gently pried the beetle from Chloe’s hand and turned it around a bit to study it. “This looks like an Egyptian dung beetle,” she intoned thoughtfully as she examined it. “Not exactly uncommon in this area, but it’s kinda weird that it’s in our home.”

“Something’s funny about it,” Chloe said defensively, reaching to retrieve her prize. 

Morgan smiled and lifted her hand up out of Chloe’s reach, causing Chloe to pout. “Yeah, it’s not so funny when the tables are turned, is it, babe?” Morgan teased. “Anyway, this little guy is considered sacred in Kemetic beliefs, so I can’t have you disposing of it so quickly.” She twisted her body away from Chloe’s continued efforts so she could hold the beetle in front of her eyes again. “Plus you’re right, something’s off about it…”

Her eyes went wide with shock when the beetle’s head transformed into the shape of a tiny man’s head and said, “Hey, would you mind putting me down, please?” She threw the beetle forward in surprise and it took wing, flying around the room and artfully dodging Chloe’s grasp before finally landing on the altar once more.

“Thanks!” the beetle replied. “Name’s Khepri! Nice to meet you!”

“Khepri, the god who pushes the newly-born sun across the sky and represents creation and rebirth?” Morgan asked in disbelief. “You’re shitting me.”

“That’s the one!” Khepri responded cheerfully. “My other self noticed a bit of a disturbance in the cycles of life and death at this location and sent me to investigate!”

“I’m not sure how much more of this I can take,” Morgan groaned as she put a hand on her forehead. “I’m going to end up with the entire Kemetic pantheon in my living room!”

The man-headed beetle climbed up onto a candle-holder to get a better view of Chloe and Morgan. “Yeah, about that… There’s been a large amount of divine energy centered on this location with a major burst not too long ago. Ra took notice.”

Morgan’s face paled. “The Ra?” 

“Is that a bigger deal than Se-” Chloe began before she was cut off by Morgan’s hand over her mouth. Chloe’s eyes turned toward Morgan in confusion and frustration.

For his part, Khepri seemed to take this all in stride. “Yeah. A bigger deal than Sekhmet watching me from the statue next to me.”

“I had hoped that you would not notice the trace amount of myself in this vessel,” Sekhmet’s voice seemed to mutter from the statue on the altar.

“Girl, please, you underestimate how powerful your aura is,” Khepri replied in his curiously modern way. “I also feel Bastet giving me the side-eye from the other statue. Which explains a lot, actually. Two Eyes of Ra taking an interest in the same mortal household?”

“It’s not like we’re doing a whole lot, these days,” Bastet replied sourly. “What’s wrong with showing a bit of favor to some interesting and devout mortals?”

Khepri shrugged. “Hey, it’s not me you gotta convince. It’s the big guy. Also, I’m sensing some interference with Fate and Death here, so Thoth might have a few questions, as well.” The scarab-bodied god shot into the air and drifted to land on Chloe’s hand, which she brought up to her face to make eye contact. “Feline-kin, huh?”

“Uhm… yeah. Not entirely by choice, but by circumstance,” Chloe replied with a tone of embarrassment. “I used to be a guy, six-foot-four, and very much a human.”

“Huh, genderswap, eh? Sounds like the plot of an ecchi manga,” Khepri said. “So what happened? You begged the goddesses to make you a cute anime girl?”

“I did not!” Chloe retorted. “There was an accident during a ritual to honor the passing of my kitty, Luna, and I was about to die…” 

“Oh! Gotcha, gotcha. The ladies tipped the scales in your favor, but played a little prank on you at the same time. Keeps from messing with my domain of resurrection, but encroaches on Thoth’s record-keeping.” The tiny human-headed scarab rubbed his front legs together in a humanoid gesture of appreciation. “The catgirl look is a nice touch, though, gotta admit.”

“We are preparing a ritual to beseech Thoth’s aid in handling the matter of Chloe’s identity in this world. Currently, all records regarding her life are aligned with her previous male body,” Bastet stated matter-of-factly.

Khepri flew back to the candle-holder on the altar to address the statues. “Ahhh, that makes sense,” he nodded. “Well, if you’re doing things by the book, I don’t have any other immediate concerns. I’ll pop by again when everything is said and done just to see how things are settling. I’ll just report back to Ra that you ladies were showing benevolence to a pair of supplicants in a time of dire need. I’m sure he’ll understand.” 

With that, he simply faded from view.

“I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with Ra even acknowledging my existence,” Chloe admitted after Khepri’s departure. “I’m not nearly important enough for, like, the top Egyptian god to know my name.”

“Hate to tell you this, Kitten, but Ra has some idea of what we know. We are his Eyes, after all,” said Bastet with a note of amusement.

Chloe groaned and covered her face in embarrassment. Or fear. She wasn’t really sure which. “So he’s not going to, like, smite us or anything, right?”

 “Do not worry, Chloe. If anyone were to do any smiting, it would be me. And you’re already on my good side,” Sekhmet replied. “Besides, Ra isn’t inclined to pay attention to individual mortals unless they’re… Oh.”

“Oh? What is Oh? Don’t say Oh!” The words came tumbling forth from Chloe’s mouth in a panicked rush.

“Let’s just say that you’re something of an elevated being. Not a goddess, exactly, but not a true mortal, either. There aren’t many examples of beings like you. At least not within our pantheon. If anything, you’re rather like a Pharaoh. Something like an avatar of the divine on Earth.”

A sudden thought occurred to Chloe. “Wait, so when I was driving and that SUV was about to try and road rage me…”

“That’s right. I stepped in for a moment to… ‘smite’ as you put it,” Sekhmet replied candidly. “It’s not something I would ever do unless your life were endangered or Ra commanded it.”

“So I’m just some kind of a vessel for you?” reiterated Chloe with a tone of annoyance. “What’s to stop you from taking my body for a joy-ride and wreaking havoc here in Nevada?”

“Honey…“ Morgan began, laying a reassuring hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “I know you’re feeling scared, but can you please try to trust them? They’re not trying to use you or hurt you. They saved you, remember?”

Chloe inhaled deeply through her nose as the swishing of her tail gradually slowed. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry.” She stepped away from the altar and sat down on the sofa. “They haven’t done anything for me to not trust them. I guess I just don’t want to end up as a pawn in some sort of divine game of chess.”

“I promise you that unless you are in peril, I will never co-opt your control. I simply have a… personal reason for wanting to see you live and thrive. Perhaps it’s the Hathor in me,” assured Sekhmet.

Morgan sat down next to Chloe on the sofa and pulled her in for a hug. “Don’t worry, baby, I would never let anything like that happen to you. Even if I had to risk divine wrath, I’d protect you with everything I have.”

“Besides,” Bastet noted with a tone of mirth. “You’re a cat, which makes me your protector. Not to mention that I’m one of the mothers of your new form. I’m not going to let you come to harm, even if I have to argue with DADDY about it.”

Chloe’s eyes went wide with a sudden realization. “What the hell am I going to tell my parents?!”