Chapter One

Sadie Kane

I was not in a good mood today. Yeah, I think that pretty much summarizes it up.

Not only was my brother being a bloody fool moping around the house, mourning about Zia every few seconds, and not even bothering help me train the initiates, Khufu had thrown a mixture of milk, radish and other various spices on the floor when an animal trainer had tried to get him out of his C-eating phrase. Guess who had to clean it up? The animal trainer Cara had just muttered an apology, and then bolted straight up to her room. So that leaves on one person on the list, with Carter going emo and the rest of the initiates scattered across the house, probably trying to avoid the smell.

It smelled pretty bad too, and I had to stop breathing for a moment or two to get the smell out of my head. I closed my eyes, and rubbed the floor with a mop, cursing Cara under my breath. I mean God, why did she ever try to do such a stupid thing?

"Sadie!" Carter's voice ran down the hall, practically bursting with joy. "I think I've found something important!"

I heaved a groan. What could be more important than this? Sighing, I turned around, and face my stupid brother. "What?" I snapped, not really in the best of moods today. "Can't you see I'm-"

Carter wrinkled his nose. "Hey, what's that smell?"

"Ask Cara later. I think she knows a lot about that."

"Um, okay..." Although slightly demented, at least he knew when not to press the topic. "Anyways," Carter began, "I've found a lead on Zia-"

"You mean another false lead," I muttered. "Go going Carter."

"It's not a false lead," Carter insisted. "I know this one is true. She's a reliable source!"

I snickered. "Did you search on the underground Wiki?"

"No, I asked around, made some phone calls-"

"Ahah! So you're the one who used up my entire load in the phone!" I exclaimed. Who ever knew it was him? I blamed Jasper for that last week. Wrong culprit.

"What? It was for something important," Carter protested.

I looked up to the solid brother I once knew. Although he claimed to be slightly over Zia, I knew the difference between lies and the truth. He had been okay from the start, but each day that flew by, he got more and more obsessed about finding her that it turned him...into that. Jumping on every clue or the slightest hint about her. Dragging me along across the planet, just to look for whispered rumors. And I hated it. Hated the fact that my brother was turning into some kind of stalker. But then for the sake of the world, I'm trying to control my temper, and not to lash out at him every three seconds. At least I can say I tried.

"Fine," I sighed again. I could play this game...just to humor him though. Not to do anything else. "What is it?"

His eyes brightened. "In Florida I'll tell you."

"Wait, Florida?" I burst out, not expecting this. "No, you are not taking me there! In case you haven't noticed, we have students here to train." I tried to make me voice firm, but what came out sounded like a nagging mother who enjoyed nagging.

"Come on Sadie," Carter persisted, "there's supposed to be a girl called Cassandra there, who knows it all-"

"A know it all?" It took all my strength to not burst out in laughter.

Carter frowned. "Very funny."

I didn't know what to do anymore. Personally, if we ever found Zia, I wouldn't give a damn if she was hosting Nephthys or not, I'd kill her for turning my brother into this damn mess. "Carter-"

"You know what?" Carter's eyes darkened and he took a step away from me. "Never mind. I'll go alone."

"Are you insane?" I stared at him in shock. "You can't!"

"I can, and I will," Carter said stubbornly.

"Don't be a fool," I said, although he was being a fool all of the time. "Come on, there are more important things here."

"I can't believe that you're acting like this," Carter said. "I know now that I work alone." He turned around and started walking towards the door.

What did I do next? I couldn't let him do this alone. He'd get killed, and then I'd get killed by the gods for letting him walk out like that, and then just for the heck of it, my dad would probably resurrect me and then kill me for that. Or at least it was something like that-in my head at least.

I took a deep breath. "Wait for me!" I called, hoping that he wasn't wrapped up in his own thoughts again. "Give me ten to pack my things."

He turned around, expression suddenly shifting from slightly insane to pure bliss. "Really?" He asked happily.

"Erm, yeah. Don't leave without me!" I said, and rushed up the stairs, narrowly missing the puddle of milk, and praying to all the gods I knew that Carter would stay and not go mad about wasting time. Then, I noticed several initiates milling around the second floor, either chatting with one another or exchanging uneasy looks with me. Somehow, I just got really annoyed.

"What do you want?" I barked, bringing out my wand and pointing it and their direction.

The initiates glanced at one another and started bolting in different directions. They quickly went inside the nearest room, sweat dripping down their faces. Once the last one was inside, it slammed with a big bang.

I just stood there in the empty room, staring at nothing. For the first time in months, I wanted to go back home England. Although the people sucked and it was way more boring than here, at least it was normal and I didn't have to worry about "saving the world" and "becoming a teacher at the age of twelve". I mean, weren't kids supposed to have child labor laws?

And then that's when I saw Anubis-for the first time in months.

I have no idea how he ended up here, but I somehow knew that he was there, right in front of me. Anubis was in his human floor, wearing a beat up leather jacket and matching combat boots. His brown eyes seemed to make me want to melt on the floor-not because of his hotness but because of the fury they contained.

"Hello Sadie," he said pleasantly, as if anger wasn't so evident in him. "Good to see you."

"Uh, hullo," I replied in an equal manner, hoping that this was all a figment of my imagination. "Same goes with me."

Anubis smiled, seeming more relaxed than ever. "Care to tell me why you're running off again?"

I swallowed a gulp. "It isn't what it looks like, I swear. Just a little side trip-"

"Are you mad?" Anubis burst out, his gold chain moving up. "The gods need you here more than ever!"

"What, we don't get day-off's once in a while?" I said lightly, trying to lift the tension in the air.

It didn't work. "And I thought you were more sensible than that." Anubis said.

That comment slightly angered me. "I am!" I shot back. If I didn't like him as much as I should, I would've Ha-Di'd him right there and there. And oh yeah, I forgot that he was a god.

"Then tell me," he said, "how are you going to explain this to Bast?"

Oh yeah, I forgot about that minor factor... "Um...erm...I...uh..." Hey, don't look at me that way! He was just so...argh!

That seemed to defuse some of the tension. Anubis chuckled, and even smiled slightly. "You forgot that, didn't you?"

"Yeah, it wasn't exactly part of my to-do list," I agreed.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it." Anubis said.

Wait, he just turned from full on furious to calm and collected? Now that was a surprise. "And why?" I asked, slightly wary of his offer.

"But only for a week."

"A week?" It was my turn to grin. "Now that's going to be easy."

"Hopefully." Then, Anubis pulled how two round objects from his hand. "Ball shabtis," he explained. "Go, pack. These two will be an accurate representation of both of you for a week, but then the moment that's over; the shabtis will go back to their original forms, no matter what happens."

"Why are you doing this?" I asked again.

"Because..." Anubis hesitated. "I saw what happened earlier."

"The turnips and milk?" I said hotly, blood rushing up my face. "For your information, that was NOT my fault! It was-"

"Um...Sadie?" Walt's echoed down the hall, sounding confused. "Why are you talking to the wall?"

"I am not talking to the wall!" I yelled, totally forgetting me trying to keep out of the temper zone with him. "I'm just talking with my imaginary dead friend over there!"

While Anubis had a bemused expression on his face, Walt's was total bewilderment. "Uh...okay. See you later I guess..." With those words, I heard loud footsteps which sounded like running, and then a slam of a door.

Ouch. Not.

Anubis looked at me. "The Mist," he said, as if that explained everything.

"Right," I said sarcastically. "Okay, scratch what I said earlier."

"It's okay Sadie," he said reassuringly. "He'll get back to normal in no time. It's just some way to get off his worry about Zia. Just promise you'll try to get him out of his obsession. Things could turn out grave if he continues to squander away his time."

"How do you know these stuff?"

He looked at me straight in the eye and gave me a weary smile. "I just know."

I forgot. He's five thousand years old. He's too old for you Sadie, get over yourself! "Oh yeah. Um, thanks for the help I guess," I mumbled, feeling slightly awkward.

"It's nothing. Now get to your room before Carter gets ballistic and leaves without you." Anubis chuckled, black sparks coming off the balls.

Without saying a word, I rushed to my room, getting ready to go on a hare brained quest for my deranged brother and with the help of the god of the dead. Great, wonderful. Hopefully, the airport had tea in flight...