Prologue
Down in the city, a girl and her dog walk along a busy street. The girl is around twelve, and her puppy is trotting along the sidewalk happily. They are making their way to the local park. Once at the park, she walks her puppy some more, and when she is about to return back home, she spots a group of kids, maybe sixteen or seventeen, running down the street. They all have an aura of power around them, and she smiles in triumph. Her dog barks at them as they pass, but they don't notice, but she and her dog are hidden from them, and the rest of the city. She pulls up her sleeve to reveal a bracelet shaped like a snake. She presses a diamond on the snake's head, and speaks softly.
"Lord Apophis? Yes. I found them. Okay, Father." She presses the jewel again and tugs her sleeve back down, and continues down the street in pursuit of the teens.
The girl is in Egypt now, in Cairo. She is in the abandoned temple of Apophis, sitting with her legs crossed on the ruined altar. Her daemon has taken the form of a small griffon and is sitting at her feet. She checks her watch, glances around, and sighs.
"He should've been here by now, surely, Tauranos?" she asks her daemon. He looks up at her, his tawny eyes filled with impatience.
"Yes,-'' he says, and is cut short by a screech from the south of the temple.
She grins. "That must be him." She stands and strides toward the southern exit, and Tauranos pads after her.
The girl and her daemon are now in the great hall of Apophis. Tauranos has taken the form of a hawk. The girl is wearing traditional Egyptian royal clothing, and in her dark auburn hair there is a golden laurel wreath. Tauranos is perched elegantly on her shoulder. She walks down the long hall, her chin raised, until she reaches the throne. The man sitting on it is dressed as a king; he wears the double crown.
She bows deeply, and Tauranos glides to the ground next to her and inclines his head.
"Father, Tauranos and I have found the Kanes."
The man on the throne smiles wickedly, and he chuckles.
"Good. Now, I have a new assignment for you. You like to spy, don't you?"
Now it is her turn to grin. "Of course, Father."
"Then I bid you go to New York, and go along as one of their petty little trainees." He says with a lazy flick of his hand.
"Yes, Father," she smiles coldly and turns to leave the hall, Tauranos finding his spot on her shoulder again as she exits the hall.
"Tauranos?" she asks and looks sideways at him when they stop underneath the entryway.
"Yes?" he answers.
"Start spreading the news," she says in a singsong voice. "I'm leaving today. I want to ruin all of them; all of the Kanes," she mocked the old song.
Carter sat in his room in the Brooklyn Mansion, bored. He put down his book and stood up from his chair to look out the window. Outside, the Brooklyn skyline was glowing orange and red. The sun had just set, and he could make out an odd shape on the roof of the warehouse next to the one the mansion was settled on. Looking closer, he saw another two smaller figures next to it. One of them was shaped like a person, but the other looked like…a serpopard. Carter froze as the person launched themselves toward the serpopard. The smallest shape looked like a hawk as it dived, fighting along with the mystery person.
Carter ran out of his bedroom, banging on every door down the hall to get everyone's attention. The trainees peeked out of their rooms, confused. "What's going on?" Sadie asked.
"There's a serpopard on the warehouse next ours. But there's someone out there already fighting it." Carter said quickly, and ran down the stairs, sword in hand.
The girl had just taken out the serpopard when the trainees rushed outside; ready for battle and looking towards the warehouse she stood on. She watched as they huddled together to talk, some of them occasionally glancing towards her. Tauranos perched on her shoulder. She sighed.
"Mortals take a long time to make up their minds, don't they, Tauranos?" she asked him. He nodded and hopped down from her shoulder. He morphed into a large autumn-colored cat, earning a couple looks of alarm from the Kanes and their trainees. She picked him up and scratched behind one of his ears. He gave a short purr, and turned his tawny eyes towards the group of teens outside the doors of the Brooklyn mansion. The one called Carter stepped forward, towards the edge of the roof.
"Welcome to Brooklyn," he called.
Carter watches the girl smile and put the cat down. She reaches down to grab her backpack, which Carter hadn't noticed, and jumps onto the roof of the warehouse the mansion is settled on. Her cat-shape-shifting-thing jumps after her, and turns into a brown fox.
Carter holds his hand out.
"I'm Carter." He says.
She ignores his outstretched hand. "My name's Aris. This is Tauranos," she says, gesturing to the fox beside her.
He withdraws his and speaks again. "Follow me." He turns, and the rest of the trainees go back into the house. Sadie and Carter both wait for her to follow, but she waves them off and says, "I'll be there in a second."
Once they go inside, she pulls up her sleeve to reveal the snake bracelet again. She presses the diamond briefly. "I got them." she says, and pushes the button again. Tugging her sleeve down, she picks up Tauranos and walks inside.