A/N: so with my internet refusing to work I had time to read some of the books in my little library and re-watch the Patalliro! episodes I managed to download before I could not log in anymore the results were the following:
Finished reading "The call of Cthulhu" or however that name gets spelled out
Got up with a long story plan for Pattaliro and seeing how the other site I'm on has got a section for this and I an account up there I finished the starting chapter for that story
Got to fully revise my first original novel "La Carneval Noire" a 92 pages and XIII chapter's long story in World documents, the table of contents not included with a few sketches by me. I cleared out some residual mistakes and added a couple more sentences to the story and now sent it to the third publishing challenge
Got an idea for a SECOND novel which will have the title "Past the Crimson Shores", this story unlike my Carneval will not be a crime/mystery, but an adventure/sci-fi, I will start typing probably on Sunday because I'm requested on a party by a friend who wants to celebrate the coming out of a book he had translated
I got through the Kane Chronicles books and as I worked on new one-shot ideas well this come up
P.S.: the fic with more details about how a certain incident mentioned in this fic happened (and there may be some references to my two other KC one-shots) will be done also soon, the plans are ready since a while, but I had no time to get it done also I apologize if people find characters OOC or some facts. Those facts if they should have gotten too twisted are needed for the story. Also those who read my two PJO reading series I will continue them, but in the case of "The fate in our hands" is my mind a bit stuck on happenings and reactions by the MARK OF ATHENA and it is not easy pulling it back to the Lightning Thief, but after I manage that I will continue as for the other one I'm planning what should happen next.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Kane Chronicles the rights and idea belongs to Rick Riordan who is doing a great job with his books, other characters belong to the people of Egypt I have minimal rights for the plot and of course the OCs are mine, but that is all. Also I would like to remind everyone that if you don't like what you read then don't waste my time with complaining and I'm sure that some will ignore this part the moment they spot the above mentioned incident and the consequences. Really, I have also come around fics that started fine, but then turned into something I didn't like, what did I do? Just closed the page and left it like that and don't complained to the author. Beside that it is now kind of really clear that my German teacher in the University was right as are some of my friends that I have a slight disgraphia so sorry for some mistakes.
I. Okay, whose idea of joke was this?
It had been a peaceful day at Brooklyn House, the first in the past month mind you, one could not even notice that the whole interior needed to be redone after a group of magicians, under them the Pharaoh himself, five Gods – one of them wearing only a crimson cloak and matching coloured lingerie -, a bunch of penguins and a baboon had been chasing a poor and deadly frightened mouse around the whole building for three full days.
Let's just say that Horus's new prank idea to make Set unknowingly consume a potion which would make him speak like a frog for the reminder of the week had backfired in an extreme way. That of course made the contract discussions with the Gods in Manhattan even more deep going and faster then either side had intended to when the Egyptian Pantheon returned five years after they left.
"So, does anyone know why we were all told to gather up here?" Sadie asked her brother expectantly as the two of them stood in front of the stairs leading up to the attic of Brooklyn House.
"I don't know, Horus is unfortunately not one who tends to elaborate things better if you get confused." Carter told his sister with a sigh, it had also not helped that he had at that time been busy making out with Zia when Horus just popped in and the two needed to separate. He kind of regretted that he didn't let his girlfriend grill the God who was again using a pigeon as temporal host.
"We should go up and then we might know more." suggested Cleo, she had over the past five years since the war against Apophis gotten somewhat over her shyness or as Sadie suspected it had much to do with her boyfriend Leonid who was standing beside her, they got together during their English classes which was both geeky and cute.
"Agreed." Jaz said happily as she looked over at the rest of the gathered group, Zia was holding Carter's hand as was Walt doing by Sadie, when the Gods returned had Thoth found a cure for Walt and he was now not always dependant on Anubis, Felix, Sean, Alyssa, Julian and Shelby were also nodding, their curiosity was going overboard, the rest of the initiates had been sent on a study trip for two weeks.
"Well then, let's find out." Sadie said in a determined tone as they walked up the steps and pushed the lid leading to the attic up.
Upstairs the group found themselves inside a large open space, the roof windows lit up the attic room with natural light. There were many old artefacts, trunks and boxes placed like strange pyramid constructions into one farther side of the space while somewhat farther from the door they saw two long couches, two smaller sofas, a sitting matt, a loveseat, two armchairs and what was the most disturbing seven thrones which's symbolism certainly gave them a good guess whom each of them belonged to. The moment the last of them had entered the attic there was a sudden flash of light and the thrones got into the possession of their intended owner.
"Dad, what is happening here?" Carter asked when he spotted Osiris, but it was Thoth who answered.
"Well, you see due to that failed prank idea" Thoth started with a nervous grin while on his right Horus flinched when Nephthys kicked him in the shin.
"A spectacously backfired prank." come an angry female voice from one of the longer couches where Amos was sitting beside a beautiful looking red haired woman in a crimson coloured dress which perfectly matched the red suit the Chief Lector was wearing, though today was he lacking the leopardfurr cape.
"Yes it certainly did and well, you know that we needed to hasten the discussions with the Greco-Roman Pantheon, so I met up with Athena and we had this idea how to help things go further." Thoth said before pulling out three books from his bag. "We decided that we will let everyone read the other group's adventures, it will give those on the other side an insight into what the House of Life is and what the magicians can do and you all went through while their stories will show you the life of a demigod and give you a better understanding for them and what we may expect in some months." the blonde God finished as Horus got another kick while Tawaret stood up from her spot and walked over to the sitting pair and placed her hand on the woman's belly.
"It will be a good idea, if my calculations are correct will we need a good deal of knowledge about this situation in three months." the hippo like Goddess said gently as she took her hand away from the woman to whom she had become a type of chaperone, whenever she was without someone who knew what to do if there should be complications.
"There is at least this." the woman said with an annoyed huff while resting her head on Amos's shoulder which resulted in a new kick for Horus, Anubis to look lost about how to feel while Isis looked apologetically at her annoyed looking little sister, Osiris only had a small smile on his lips together with his host Julius.
"What do you mean our adventures?" Sadie asked while giving Anubis a glare, they may not be dating anymore, but she still had some powers over that guy.
"Your recordings were by the Muses turned into three books as were the adventures of the demigods, though while we have only three we need to read to make sure that nothing was left out are their books ten in number so the reading of those had already started last week." Anubis said carefully, glad that he could turn away his gaze from the duo on the couch because he still didn't know how he felt about the whole situation his idiotic cousin had caused to happen.
"Ugh…you tell us that soon there will be a bunch of Gods and their kids reading about our adventures?" Sadie asked with slight horror now that she knew that Drew and Lacy with whom she was going to school with were actually demigods and half-sisters. A scary thought being related to Drew, she always knew that Lacy was brave.
"Yes, so take now a seat everyone so that we can start." Horus said in hopes to stop his aunt, once sister, in her assaults against his poor leg. Really, he didn't even understand what her problem was in the first place, but she had been like this since Set had officially set her free from their bond, or in the speaking terms of the mortals divorced from her.
The younger members of the group immediately made a race for the sitting mat which got pretty fast occupied by Felix, Sean, Alyssa and Shelby. Cleo and Leonid managed to get the rights for the loveseat and were sitting comfortably together, Julian and Jaz sat down on one of the shorter sofas while the Kane siblings and their respective partners took seat on the couch beside Amos. When all were seated was Thoth about to ask who wants to read first when there was suddenly a flash of light and two separated groups landed almost on the ground, but luckily had a few people blocked their fall with wind, sand and the 'pillow' spell.
When the light dimmed on the other hand and they all got a good glimpse on the unplanned visitors a good deal of jaws dropped. This was understandable seeing how at least four members of one of the groups should be dead since a good few thousand of years, their features didn't even need to be looked upon because one glance and it didn't take long for people to recogrinaise that they were in the presence of the ancient pharaohs Narmer, Ramses the Great and Hatshepsut the fourth person had many similarities with Narmer so they must have been siblings. The other group caused also some shock seeing that it consisted from the Kane siblings grandparents the Fausts, their father and uncle looking much younger, their mother who seemed to be pregnant, another pair who made Zia grip Carter's hand tighter telling him that those two may be her parents and the last two were the two past Chief Lectors Iskander and Michel Desjardins, both looking shocked by the sight of the Gods sitting with magicians. There was some shocked silence before Narmer stood up and spotted Horus.
"What is the ground that you had summoned me and Ashkender here?" he asked Hours and seemed to miss the flinch passing over the present Gods faces unlike the people of the present who wondered if something bad had happened to the other man.
"We don't know, neither of us had summoned you." Horus answered as he was attempting to not look in the direction of the pharaoh's brother or the woman in red who had stood up from her seat and made her way across the room.
"What do you mean? Could this be the work of some evil force which tires to still crush us in revenge for uniting Egypt?" Narmer asked in a dark tone not noticing the nearing woman, but then the man on his side spoke up.
"Brother, you are acting paranoid if it had been an evil force brining us here then none of the other Gods would be present, as for the revenge, I told you that I could mend the drift which had been caused." the man spoke defiantly as he tried to touch his brother's arm, but it was shrugged away.
"Your plan is to join the priests of Set, I wont allow such a deed from a member of the house serving the God Hours, mostly not my younger brother, if needed I will do anything to make you give up on this foolish plan." Narmer snapped and the Gods flinched again making the other guests have a dark guess that the pharaoh in his idea to protect his brother had done something drastic which neither of them wanted to know. Fighting those thoughts was even worse for Carter and Sadie who saw the frightening parallel between their ancestor's younger brother and their uncle who had a pained look on his face indicating that he knew what happened in the past.
"Oh, I'm sure about that one, most followers of that Bird Brain " Horus certainly looked annoyed" tend to be narrow sighted with some refreshing exceptions "Carter and Julian were not sure if they just received an insult or a compliment ", but this is unfortunately not why we are here and as you were told neither of us knows how you got here so sit down and let us proceed, after that Thoth will try to find a way to send you back." growled the woman dressed in red as she stood only a step away from Narmer who at first looked stunned that a woman would dare using such a tone with him, but then his eyes took in the colour of her hair and that of her strange dress and his face morphed into a scowl.
"I don't take orders from a woman who serves that unclean creature." he said and most occupants of the room were ready to step in before blood would be spilled, but luckily had Amos reached the pair and gently grabbed the woman's arms, much to his younger selves shock, and started pulling her away.
"Stop it, you know that it has no use and you are stressing yourself unnecessarily seeing how the books will be already doing the job for you." he said in a gentle tone at which the woman let out and angry huff and with a last dark look towards the pharaoh let herself be lead back to the couch while some people of the present looked together, Amos's skills still stunned them sometimes.
"I think you still should follow the suggestion pharaoh Narmer." spoke up a new female voice when turning around the pharaoh found himself face to face with another woman whom this time was dressed in the robes of the pharaohs, his brother and the other man in similar robes had already sat down on one of those strange seating constructions.
After the old rulers were seated as were their other guest, the Fausts took the chairs while the rest the remaining larger couch thought before anyone could ask anything mostly, how some people are doubled here a note appeared in front of Isis who picked it up.
"This note come from our allies who seem to have experienced the same strange light and visit from the past." she said in a stunned tone as she read over it.
"So it was not another joke from Horus going terribly wrong?" Nephthys asked testily, she was still angry at her nephew, once older brother, for destroying all her chances to get her ex-husband to give her a third chance, was it really so hard to see that a part of her actually loved him?
"Why do you think that this could be my fault?" Horus demanded, but was faced with raised eyebrows and some inkling their heads to the side in a certain direction.
"Because one of your jokes resulted in him." the woman in red said while pointing at a squirming Thoth.
"I try to not think about it." he said while Anubis shook his head hastily, he also liked to ignore that story.
"And another of your brilliant prank ideas resulted in your uncle/brother getting a speed gender change at the worst of times possible and ending knocked up by our uncle." Sadie elaborated while those who didn't know the situation looked at her with wide eyes, after turning away from a squirming Horus who was glared on by both his mother and aunt.
"Sadie, you say it as if either of us were coherent in our head when that happened." come it from the duo dressed in red at the end of the couch making everyone snap their heads into their direction. Ruby looked stuck between looking shocked and giving her brother-in-law a hug in delight, Julius kind of looked unsure seeing how he pressed his brother to start a family, but he didn't have such and extreme way in mind while said brother's younger version looked about to faint.
"Uh…his uncle…" Mr. Faust asked, his wife had told him some things about her family history, but sitting here and actually seeing all this weird stuff was a bit much to take in.
"Lord Set?" asked suddenly Ashkender having put together who the woman in red was and seeing how the man who had lead her back was also dressed in the colour of chaos was he probably one of his priests from this time, it kind of shocked him to see the God he decided to follow turned into a female and expecting the child of her priest.
"WHAT!" screamed a good deal of the guest in shock and some in fear, younger Amos also nearly fell from the couch and gave his brother a dark look as if asking him; 'It was your idea that I get a family!' There were even some who looked ready to use the Ribbons of Hathor if needed.
"Oh, please sit back on your places; these reactions are starting to get annoying after the first time we told them." Set grumbled while giving Amos and accusing look. "You wanted to tell the whole family not me, I was fine with only a few knowing." he or now she said to the man beside her.
"I know, but it would have been hard to keep secret, you know how Sadie can't stand secrets "at this said girl blushed "this was the only way to keep them all still." Amos told the annoyed looking God in a calm tone surprising those who didn't know about the fact that he was not only following the Path of Set, but was also his Eye and the Keeper of his Names.
"Fine, but there was still no need to put me on a maternity leave." she said feeling annoyed that Ra wanted her till the baby is born to not guard him on his nightly journeys or he would now be by him and Bast making the boat ready for their trip in three hours.
"So, you two are having a baby?" Ruby asked finally at which the duo nodded and the younger Amos almost choked, he was still in a type of shock which was slowly slipping over into denial.
"This is pre…" but before Desjardins could continue Iskander spoke up.
"We should hear what stands in that note and then we may know why we are here and who those around us are we don't know." said the old Chief Lector, he was also shocked by the revelation they had got a few minutes ago, but he had also seen the control Amos seemed to posses over the Red Lord, something which only Ra had ever managed and he wondered what this meant for them all together with the presence of the other Gods.
"It doesn't say much, only that those responsible for fate had received a message and thus granted some people from the past a chance to not only see the future, but also other things, but to whom which role belongs they will need to find out on their own. It says that some are here to learn to know family because some things are fated to happen and can't be changed, some are here to make them realize things they had refused to see in the past, others to help finding the right path, but why that is will be keep a secret." Isis finished explaining.
"Well then, I think we should start some introductions to those who don't know who the others are, but leave it to the minimum of the names so that we don't give away spoilers." Tawaret said as she walked over to where Ruby and Rachel sat looking a bit suspiciously at the nearing hippo Goddess. "Don't worry dears, I only want to put a protective charm on your wombs seeing how these books will have some stressful parts and I don't wish either of the babies to come to harm." she explained in a gentle tone so that both mothers agreed much to the protest of their husbands even thought they knew who the Goddess was.
"That is fine, I think it will be easier if we don't give to much away." Amos spoke up as he threw a glance at this brother to not say a word and let Osiris be on the surface to hide who he is. "I'm as a few of our visitors already know Amos Kane." he said as he ignored the scowl of his ancestor while still acknowledging the man sitting beside the king.
"I'm Sadie Kane and this is my older brother Carter." Sadie said drawing Ruby's attention to her, she had noted that the two of them looked alike and the boy not far from her looked just like Julius.
"You are my children?" she asked to make sure.
"Yep, you are currently carrying Carter around I will come later on." Sadie said happily it will be nice to have her mum here, even if younger and pregnant, it was still great that she could touch her unlike her ghost.
"Wonderful." Ruby said as she leaned against a gapping Julius who tried to also avoid the look his father-in-law was giving him.
"I'm Walt Stone one of the initiates here at Brooklyn House and also the lieutenant of our Nome." Walt said while Sadie leaned against him which made the younger self of her father narrow his eyes at them.
"I'm Zia Rashid my title will be in the books." Zia said as she felt her old teacher smile at her warmly, she knew that he was happy that she was well while her parents gapped at her in shock.
"You are our child?" her father asked in shock, his wife was only in the fourth month of her pregnancy so knowing that they will have a healthy girl was more then a blessing for them.
"Yes, I am father." Zia replied with a warm smile, it felt wonderful saying those words and watching her father wrap his arms proudly around her mother who had tears in her eyes made it even better.
"We are also initiates of Brooklyn House" spoke us Jaz who decided to introduce the others of their group to make things go faster "I'm Jaz and this beside me is Julian, those on the loveseat are Cleo and Leonid while those on the mat are Felix, Sean, Ashley and Shelby." she finished.
"Then it is our turn which may be shorter seeing that Amos does not need to introduce himself again. I'm Ruby Kane and this is my husband Julius and my parents are sitting on the two chairs." Ruby said happily, she was excited to meet her children.
"I'm the current Chief Lector of he First Nome of the House of Life, Iskander and this beside me is Michel Desjardins." finished the old man turning to the last pair on their couch.
"I'm Amir Rashid and this is my wife Rachel." this only left one group.
"The names of two of us have already been spoken and I doubt that from the last two of us would one forget that name of pharaoh Narmer." spoke the woman who had first spoken after Set had been made to sit down again. "My name is Hatshepsut one of the few female pharaohs of Egypt." she finished turning to the last man who regarded her with interest.
"I'm pharaoh Ramses the Second." he said which made Mr. Faust look at both his wife and daughter remembering them telling him that they were descendants of a pharaoh with that name.
"Now that we are done with that is it high time that we start to read to see if everything is in place before we send it over to our allies." Thoth said gleefully as she held the book up again.
"So who wants to start?" he asked excitedly.
"What are these books about?" Ashkender asked curiously.
"They are about the start of the new age we currently live in." Cleo explained to the man who nodded to her before turning back to the God.
"I would not mind to read." he offered and Thoth let the book float over, it had a charm to turn into the language the reader understands the best so there should be no problem. "The title is The Red Pyramid." some flinched at this while others looked over at Set.
"You can stop that, the happenings in that book were only partly his fault, others had just as large roles in that chaos." Amos spoke up, he had once listened to this recording and with things being calmer around him had he time to analyze the whole line of happenings which made him come to this conclusion. Ashkender got the message and hurried on reading before anyone could comment, but from the corner of his eyes could he see the God in red give a small smile to the other.
"It seems to be in Carter's view." he said at which the siblings glared at Thoth.
"It was made out of a voice recording so it will switch between the siblings." the God said as the duo buried their faces in the necks of their respective partners which made two fathers narrow their eyes while they wives only rolled their eyes while making plans to chat with their daughters.
A Death at the Needle
Those who knew what the title meant flinched while the others looked uneasy.
WE ONLY HAVE A FEW HOURS, so listen carefully.
If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance.
The siblings continued to hide their faces in the necks of their partners as everyone turned in their direction, they initiates only smiled at the memory about how this start had made them only even more eager to hear, it was like in a crime or spy movie.
"And you think that I'm dramatic?" Set whispered to Amos who only gave back a small smirk.
"I never said that the Kanes weren't also dramatic." he whispered back in amusement while ignoring the unbelieving look his younger self was giving them, he kind of felt sorry for himself seeing what will be coming his way, but he will be fine.
Go to the school. Find the locker. I won't tell you which school or which locker, because if you're the right person, you'll find it. The combination is 13/32/33. By the time you finish listening, you'll know what those numbers mean.
Everyone from the present nodded in understanding.
"You wont tell us what the numbers mean am I right?" Ruby asked, she had always been curious and somewhat impatient.
"Sorry, but we can't." Jaz said seeing how their two leaders were still busy being embarrassed.
Just remember the story we're about to tell you isn't complete yet. How it ends will depend on you. The most important thing: when you open the package and find what's inside, don't keep it longer than a week. Sure, it'll be tempting. I mean, it will grant you almost unlimited power. But if you possess it too long, it will consume you. Learn its secrets quickly and pass it on. Hide it for the next person, the way Sadie and I did for you. Then be prepared for your life to get very interesting.
"Now that is an understatement if I have heard one." Walt said grinning down at his girlfriend, it was better then paying attention to the younger version of her father who was giving him a dark look, and at least had his present side accepted the relationship. You don't want to get on the bad side of a person who is hosting Osiris.
Okay, Sadie is telling me to stop stalling and get on with the story. Fine. I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum.
At this looked the four past nobles with confusion at each other while those a bit further from the future turned with blinking eyes and raised eyebrows to a blushing Julius Kane.
"Darling, did our son just say that you blew up the British Museum?" Ruby asked in a sweet tone which made her husband squirm in his seat while by the thrones was the older Julius having a mental talk with Osiris about how frightening she could be when she did that.
"A wonderful example." Mrs. Faust said while shaking her head, but she knew that her daughter had unfortunately inherited her stubbornness.
"Erm…" was the most intelligent thing Julius could get out.
"I don't even want to know why you did that." Desjardins said while shaking his head, the Kanes were never normal in his option and it seems he got proven right not only with this blowing up a museum thing, but he got a good guess why the Gods mostly the Demon Days are present. Not ignoring the fact that Amos was not only following the God of Chaos, but also had…he will not think about that no matter how that being looked in the current moment.
"And you gave me a lecture for almost burning down the kitchen?" the younger Amos asked while the initiates together with the siblings turned to their uncle who decided to follow his nephew's and niece's former example and hide his face in Set's hair who looked amused as she remembered seeing that memory.
"It was his first attempt at making grilled lamb when he was fifteen." Set elaborated with a small laugh making the younger magicians nod in understanding while Amos gave a small glare to the God as he looked up from his hiding place, no one noticed Horus's yelp in the background. "What, they wanted to know and you didn't look as if you would elaborate." was her only answer to the man who returned to his hiding seeing that he was currently avoiding his younger selves slightly panicked gaze, Narmer and Desjardins were easier to ignore. Really, they were overreacting the whole situation and it was not like that they were the ones with a God turned Goddess with both claustrophobia and mayor abandonment issues, who also happens to be carrying your child which you created without remembering how, he kind of got a whiteout since meeting Set's new form in the museum.
"I think you should continue." Thoth suggested to the prince who nodded in understanding.
My name is Carter Kane. I'm fourteen and my home is a suitcase.
"I should explain in the next sentence." Carter said hurriedly when everyone was starting to look at his dad again; the man only gave his son a thankful smile.
You think I'm kidding? Since I was eight years old, my dad and I have traveled the world.
This relaxed both Ruby and her parents.
I was born in L.A.
"Oh, the irony." Set said while her amber coloured eyes, like the colour of desert sand, flickered for a few seconds to her brother who was suppressing a smile.
"Why is that?" Ruby asked not understanding what was ironic about living in Los Angeles, she liked it there.
"You see at the current time we are building an alliance with other Gods who have followed the Flame of the Western Civilization here." Carter started to explain, he decided to let his uncle be somewhat free from responsibilities as best as it is possible seeing how he has enough to do.
"Which Gods?" asked both Ramses and Hatshepsut seeing that it was more around their times that there were other people invading who followed foregain Gods or heard about them from travellers.
"The Greco-Roman Gods, technically it is mostly a good thing seeing how they have a good deal of demigod children, half-mortal and half-god, so we may face less shock when Set has the baby" there were some nods and a small yelp "we are actually doing this reading to check if the happenings in the book got written down accurately before we send them over, they are doing the same with their books which will be more then our three. Thoth, are you sure that they have ten books?" Carter asked the God suddenly.
"Yes I saw them, five-five books showing the up leading and happenings of both wars, but as said I only saw them for a few seconds and only got to read the titles." the blonde replied.
"Really, what were the titles?" Sadie asked while Ruby looked just as interested like the younger initiates.
"The titles were, well some sounded not all too pleasant, not that ours are all to better, but maybe less unsettling."
"Thoth!" some yelled impatiently.
"Sorry, got carried away, well the titles were: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian, The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades and I'm not sure about the last book's title." the God admitted while looking back at the others.
"Ok, some of those sound really unsettling." Jaz admitted she shuddered when she heard the titles of the fifth and sixth book.
"That is true, but returning to the original topic, when the Greeks followed the flame most of their important locations also followed them here like their home on Mount Olymphos is now hidden at the top of the Empire State Building, Mount Otrys where the palace of the Titans stands close to the Garden of Hesperides is now at Mount Tam near San Francisco as for Los Angles" here Set paused for a few seconds "that is where Hades's Underworld is placed." he finished with a small grin to the shocked people.
"You moved with our daughter to live above the Land of the Dead?" Mrs. Faust asked her son-in-law, her tone shocked while her husband tried to get to the terms with the fact that there are more Gods running around and if he understood right had these, just like in the case of his son-in-laws brother, children with mortals.
"Though I still don't fully understand why you find it so ironic, beside us living above the world of the dead?" Ruby asked while taking in the amused looks of the initiates and the squirming of her children and was her daughter blushing? Luckily had she not spotted Anubis who cursed himself that he didn't take up his half-human form, the black fur served good to hide his blush, but he hoped that as long as he doesn't look at Sadie he would be fine.
but my dad's an archaeologist, so his work takes him all over.
"What is that if I may ask?" Hatshepsut asked interrupting seeing how none of her fellow pharaohs seemed to be up to asking even thought they looked just as curious as her.
"An archaeologist is a person who searches for the past in a way, they visit old ruins and try working out how people had lived in ancient times or how much things have changed in thousands of years, it is kind of hard to explain without getting you more confused with the terms we use." Cleo told the queen.
"It is fine, I think I kind of understand what you wanted to say." the woman replied with a small smile before gesturing to the prince that he can continue.
Mostly we go to Egypt, since that's his specialty.
Julius nodded at this while the four nobles from the far past exchanged uneasy looks with each other.
Go into a bookstore; find a book about Egypt, there's a pretty good chance it was written by Dr. Julius Kane. You want to know how Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built the pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb? My dad is your man.
Walt flinched at the reminder so Sadie grabbed his hand again to her younger father's displeasure while this time it was Ramses who interrupted.
"Why would those things needed to be written down in public places, our people know that and most of our neighbours know at least the basic for the pyramids." Ramses said, he didn't like how suddenly everyone avoided their gazes mostly by the Gods was the Goddess Isis staring at her folded hands.
"Let's just say, Ra had warned what would happen, but someone didn't listen." Set spoke up before giving Ashkender a look that he should continue which the prince did, but his throat felt suddenly as if he would have ventured out into the desert without water.
Of course, there are other reasons my dad moved around so much, but I didn't know his secret back then.
"You didn't tell your son what he is?" Desjardins asked in surprise while Julius looked over at Carter.
"You didn't know?" he asked his son while by the thrones Osiris gave his host a mental pat on the back in sympathy.
"No, Sadie and I only found out later together with our heritage." Carter said to his father who slapped his forehead.
"And what about me?" Ruby asked, but Anubis had already waved his hand that Ashkender should continue.
I didn't go to school. My dad homeschooled me, if you can call it "home" schooling when you don't have a home. He sort of taught me whatever he thought was important, so I learned a lot about Egypt and basketball stats and my dad's favorite musicians.
Julius squirmed under the gazes he was getting while trying to figure out why he didn't tell his son about his heritage, meanwhile was Osiris still trying to reassure his host with failing attempts.
I read a lot, too—pretty much anything I could get my hands on, from dad's history books to fantasy novels—because I spent a lot of time sitting around in hotels and airports and dig sites in foreign countries where I didn't know anybody .My dad was always telling me to put the book down and play some ball. You ever tried to start a game of pick-up basketball in Aswan, Egypt? It's not easy.
Now were most people looking at both father and son incredulously before Set spoke up.
"It is easier if you can control the desert." she said while rolling her eyes when noting a good deal of people, her family included, looking at her. "You know that I was also a kid once." she said while glaring at her siblings.
Anyway, my dad trained me early to keep all my possessions in a single suitcase that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment. My dad packed the same way, except he was allowed an extra workbag for his archaeology tools. Rule number one: I was not allowed to look in his workbag. That's a rule I never broke until the day of the explosion.
"Ugh…I think I have told you Carter that most people would have already gone mad with curiosity if faced with that rule."
"I know Sadie, I know." Carter said while rolling his eyes before freezing down and looking at his sister who also had a shocked expression as they did their best to not look at their uncle who will in a few chapters know that they kind of blasted the library door to shreds.
In happened on Christmas Eve.
"You blew up the British Museum from all times on Christmas Eve?" Ruby asked her husband who of avoided her gaze.
"Would you have preferred it on a visitation's day to your parents?" he mumbled to himself.
"What was that?"
"Nothing Ruby." Julius hurriedly replied while Amir only shook his head at him.
We were in London for visitation day with my sister, Sadie.
"Huh?" come it from some of the visitors.
"Did they finally divorce?" Mr. Faust asked hopefully, but flinched by the glare his daughter was giving him.
See, Dad's only allowed two days a year with her—one in the winter, one in the summer—because our grandparents hate him.
"Nothing new there." said the Kane and Faust family before looking at each other blinking.
"And still there is a family dynamic." Desjardins whispered to Iskander who only shook his head, he found both Julius and Amos to be endearing young men after one gets to know them.
Ascender was about to start reading again, but then he spotted the next line which made him look up at the siblings who nodded to him that he should read it, their will be fine.
After our mom died,
A shocked silence fell over the attic as those who already knew bowed their heads while those who didn't know stared in shock at the book, finally it was Ruby who spoke up.
"So this is the ground why I was not mentioned." she said in a faint tone before standing up and hugging both of her children then she returned to her husband's side who wrapped his arms protectively around her.
"And why do I have a feeling that this happened because of one of your foolish acts." Mr. Faust growled as he glared at his son-in-law, his daughter should have never meet this guy.
"Granddad, leave dad alone" Sadie spoke up in her father's defence.
"But…"
"Ruby had known that she would not return, she had known already months before it had happened." Isis spoke up suddenly in a sad tone, she had liked conversing with the other woman, it was probably because of this that she allowed her soul to be so close to her husband who was now hosting Osiris.
"Beside, that as much as painful it was for all of us, it was her sacrifice which gave us the chance to be still here today." Amos added in with a sad smile on his lips, Bast had an important role in the happenings which had shaped the new age they are now living in.
"I see, let us please continue then with the reading it won't bring us further to dwell on it." Ruby said suddenly before either of her parents could say something, but it would have been more her father anyway then her mother, she only held his hand tightly.
"Also if it helps any, Osiris has kind of allowed us to visit you when we like." Carter added in at which his mother gave the Ruler of he Dead a warm smile.
her parents (our grandparents) had this big court battle with Dad.
"Of course." Ruby said while rolling her eyes.
After six lawyers,
"Uh…six for each side or six altogether?" asked Desjardins in either case those bills would have been not pretty.
"The later." Carter said.
two fistfights,
Both Ruby and her mother glared at their husbands.
and a near fatal attack with a spatula
Many stared blinking at the book then turned to a blushing Julius while by the thrones was Osiris suppressing a small snicker, he had been allowed to see that memory and it had been certainly amusing.
"I don't even want to know." Ruby said as she shook her head and signalled that they could continue.
(don't ask),
Most people nodded.
they won the right to keep Sadie with them in England. She was only six, two years younger than me, and they couldn't keep us both—at least that was their excuse for not taking me.
Ruby glared at both of her parents who flinched, most of the others also looked annoyed and Carter tightened his grip on Zia's hand, just to be on the safe side.
"We will talk about this later on." Ruby said to her parents before turning back to the book, she will certainly give loud to her option about her parents not liking their grandson.
So Sadie was raised as a British school kid and I traveled around with my dad. We only saw Sadie twice a year, which was fine with me.
"We have our odds, but that doesn't change that we are siblings." Sadie said when noticing their parents looking at them.
"That is true." Carter added in.
[Shut up, Sadie. Yes—I'm getting to that part.]
"And here is your proff." Jaz said with a small laugh while both Ruby and Julius relaxed, they didn't want their children to see each other as strangers.
So anyway, my dad and I had just flown into Heathrow after a couple of delays. It was a drizzly, cold afternoon. The whole taxi ride into the city, my dad seemed kind of nervous.
"Like whenever we are visiting my parents." Ruby whispered to her husband who didn't answer.
Now, my dad is a big guy. You wouldn't think anything could make him nervous. He has dark brown skin like mine,
"I think anyone can see that the two of you look alike." Sadie said in an amused tone to her blushing brother while their mother was again glaring at her squirming parents.
piercing brown eyes,
Here queen Hatshepsut let her eyes wander over the mentioned man as well as both his brother and son before her gaze shifted to the two sitting on her right. She noted that they all had the same eyes, she wondered if there could be a relation.
"I really like your eyes." Zia whispered to Carter who tried not to blush, but he was fighting a loosing battle.
a bald head, and a goatee, so he looks like a buff evil scientist.
At this broke a good number of people out laughing while both Juliuses spluttered at the last part of the description.
"Sorry dad." Carter said sheepishly while both older and younger versions of his uncle needed to hold onto their sitting places to not fall off of them when their laughter only increased.
It kind of took five full minutes till everyone had calmed down as for those who didn't get what was so funny, they didn't ask.
That afternoon he wore his cashmere winter coat and his best brown suit, the one he used for public lectures. Usually he exudes so much confidence that he dominates any room he walks into,
Most of those who knew Julius nodded, even if some grudgilly while Ashkender was kind of reminded on his brother, now that he thought about him he could see some similarities by the male members of the Kane family. If this was the case then his poor brother will be in for a shock when he also realizes this possibility.
but sometimes—like that afternoon—I saw another side to him that I didn't really understand. He kept looking over his shoulder like we were being hunted.
Most members of the room looked at the book in confusion.
"Dad?" I said as we were getting off the A-40. "What's wrong?"
"No sign of them," he muttered. Then he must've realized he'd spoken aloud, because he looked at me kind of startled. "Nothing, Carter. Everything's fine. "Which bothered me because my dad's a terrible liar,
"Agreed." said everyone while Julius pouted.
"He certainly shares that fact with Osiris, beside being terrible at apologizing." Set whispered to Amos.
I always knew when he was hiding something, but I also knew that no amount of pestering will get the truth out of him. He was probably trying to protect me, though from what I didn't know.
"It would have protected them more if at least one of them knew." Amos said with a sigh which made his brother look at him nervously.
"What do you mean?" Julius didn't like the idea of his children in danger and something in Amos's tone bothered him, but he didn't know what.
"You will see when we continue." was the only reply he got.
Sometimes I wondered if he had some dark secret in his past, some old enemy following him, maybe but the idea seemed ridiculous. Dad was just an archaeologist.
There were a round of snorts at this.
"Oh, how naïve I had been back then." Carter said with a laugh before giving Sadie a look when he saw that she was about to comment, probably that it was more denseness then naivety and he was still stuck in that.
The other thing that troubled me: Dad was clutching his workbag.
There were many suspicious looks at the book from those who didn't know what happened.
Usually when he does that, it means we're in danger.
Ruby grabbed Julius's hand, she was starting to get why they got a protective spell put on their unborn children, she would not manage to listen to her husband and children being in danger without panicking, which was not good if you are pregnant.
Like that time gunmen stormed our hotel in Cairo.
Julius winched when Ruby's grip hardened on his hand while Zia leaned against Carter, she felt slightly guilty how they were treated by them.
I heard shots coming from the lobby and ran downstairs to check on my dad. By the time I got there, he was just calmly zipping up his workbag while three unconscious gunmen hung by their feet from the chandelier, their robes falling over their heads so you could see their boxer shorts
There were a good deal of laughs at the mental image.
Dad claimed not to have witnessed anything, and in the end the police blamed a freak chandelier time,
"And those work to protect people." Desjardins said while shaking his head, yes a chandelier knocks out three gunmen and hung them out.
"Mortals, some of them believe anything." Thoth said with fond amusement.
we got caught in a riot in Paris. My dad found the nearest parked car, pushed me into the backseat, and told me to stay down. I pressed myself against the floorboards and kept my eyes shut tight. I could hear Dad in the driver's seat, rummaging in his bag, mumbling something to himself while the mob yelled and destroyed things outside. A few minutes later he told me it was safe to get up. Every other car on the block had been overturned and set on fire. Our car had been freshly washed and polished, and several twenty-euro notes had been tucked under the windshield wipers.
"Nice turning of events, but you really should have told him." the younger Amos said to his brother, Carter had two times been close by when Julius needed to use his powers so why could he not tell the boy and maybe start teaching him?
Anyway, I'd come to respect the bag.
"I king of have my own now." Carter said smiling.
It was our good luck charm. But when my dad kept it close, it meant we were going to need good luck.
Ruby bit back a groan while Rachel gave her a reassuring smile, she understood that it was not easy for her to hear how two of her loved ones were getting into danger, she herself also feared when her daughter would be caught up into all of this.
We drove through the city center, heading east toward my grandparents' flat. We passed the golden gates of Buckingham Palace, the big stone column in Trafalgar Square. London is a pretty cool place, but after you've been traveling for so long, all cities start to blend together. Other kids I meet sometimes say, "Wow, you're so lucky you get to travel so much." But it's not like we spend our time sightseeing or have a lot money to travel in style. We've stayed in some pretty rough places, and we hardly ever stay anywhere longer than a few days. Most of the time it feels like we're fugitives rather than tourists.
More confused gazes while both Iskander and Desjardins looked suddenly over at the Gods, something was starting to slowly get clearer in their minds while the Fausts decided that it would be a bad idea to speak their thoughts.
I mean, you wouldn't think my dad's work was does lectures on topics like "Can Egyptian Magic Really Kill You?"
"Yes." chorused almost everyone in the room.
and "Favorite Punishments in the Egyptian Underworld"
"That is a good topic." said both Set and Anubis at the same time making the later divinity avoid his father's gaze.
and other stuff most people wouldn't care about.
Those from the ancient times did not understand how people could have changed so much since their time.
But like I said, there's that other side to him. He's always very cautious, checking every hotel room before he lets me walk into it. He'll dart into a museum to see some artifacts, take a few notes, and rush out again like he's afraid to be caught on the security cameras.One time when I was younger, we raced across the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch a last-minute flight, and Dad didn't relax until the plane was off the ground, I asked him point blank what he was running from, and he looked at me like I'd just pulled the pin out of a grenade. For a second I was scared he might actually tell me the truth. Then he said, "Carter, it's nothing." As if "nothing" were the most terrible thing in the world .After that, I decided maybe it was better not to ask questions.
"Wish I would have." Carter whispered to those sitting the closest to him.
My grandparents, the Fausts, live in a housing development near Canary Wharf, right on the banks of the River Thames. The taxi let us off at the curb, and my dad asked the driver to wait. We were halfway up the walk when Dad froze. He turned and looked behind us. "What?" I asked.
"Ah, seems that I'm now also joining in." older Amos said in an amused tone while looking over at his nephew and niece who both grinned back at him.
"Great, he will be also visiting." mumbled Mr. Faust in annoyance, but at least had they been spared most of the time from him unlike in the case of his brother.
Then I saw the man in the trench coat. He was across the street, leaning against a big dead tree, he was barrel shaped, with skin the color of roasted coffee. His coat and black pinstriped suit looked expensive. He had long braided hair and wore a black fedora pulled down low over his dark round glasses.
"Now I mostly go around in red." older Amos said with a small grin.
"We can certainly see that." Desjardins said in distaste while Narmer nodded his head his brother only rolled his eyes, he personally was proud about having him as a descendant of their family.
"I'm not ashamed about my allegiance" Amos said while fixing the other with his gaze before continuing in a more amused tone ", beside that some reactions people get when they see me is quiet amusing."
"I can certainly remember some amusing incidents." Set said with a grin.
"I still have trouble believing this." the younger Amos whispered to both Julius and Ruby.
"Though you need to admit that red is certainly a fitting colour for you." Ruby said not exactly helping her brother-in-law.
He reminded me of a jazz musician, the kind my dad would always drag me to see in concert.
"They are not bad." said Julius, both Amoses and Set together.
"You have been on a jazz concert?" Isis asked her brother while looking at him.
"Of course, the last time was a week before Horus decided to do something amusing." Set replied back in a cold tone.
Even though I couldn't see his eyes, I got the impression he was watching us. He might've been an old friend or colleague of Dad's.
"More like his brother who was there on a doomed mission to talk some sense into your father." Amos said, in the end had things turned out for the best, but he would have still liked his family to be in less danger.
No matter where we went, Dad was always running into people he knew. But it did seem strange that the guy was waiting here, outside my grandparents'. And he didn't look happy.
"Did you expect me to be?" Amos asked his nephew.
"No, it your case would I have used a binding magic on dad the moment I saw him." Carter replied back while Julius looked nervously at the younger version of his brother who looked thoughtful.
"Carter," my dad said, "go on ahead."
"But—"
"Get your sister. I'll meet you back at the taxi. "He crossed the street toward the man in the trench coat, which left me with two choices: follow my dad and see what was going on, or do what I was told. I decided on the slightly less dangerous path. I went to retrieve my sister.
"So I'm the less dangerous task?" Sadie asked her brother who leaned closer to her.
"Imagine those two getting into a fight now." was his only reply as Sadie shuddered.
"Agree." she said while waving away the questioning gazes they were getting.
Before I could even knock, Sadie opened the door. "Late as usual," she said. She was holding her cat, Muffin,who'd been a "going away" gift from Dad six years before.
There were many fond smiles at the mention of Bast.
Muffin never seemed to get older or bigger.
"That is not normal for a cat." Amir said in a stunned tone.
"You will see, but she is the best cat." Shelby said with a bright smile.
She had fuzzy yellow-and-black fur like a miniature leopard, alert yellow eyes, and pointy ears that were too tall for her head. A silver Egyptian pendant dangled from her collar. She didn't look anything like a muffin, but Sadie had been little when she named her, so I guess you have to cut her some hadn't changed much either since last summer.
[As I'm recording this, she's standing next to me, glaring, so I'd better be carefulhow I describe her.]
"She is certainly her mother's daughter." Iskander said as he gave a smile to the blushing mother and daughter pair.
You would never guess she's my sister. First of all, she'd been living in England so long, she has a British accent. Second, she takes after our mom, who was white, so Sadie's skin is much lighter than me. She has straight caramel-colored hair, not exactly blond but not brown , which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors.
Everyone looked at Sadie who this time had light blue streaks in her hair.
That day it had red streaks down the left side.
Narmer wanted to groan while his brother continued with his reading, he was really starting to be less frustrated and more amused by his brother's vehement war against anything that had to do with the cult of the Red Lord.
Her eyes are blue. I'm serious. Blue eyes, just like our mom's. She's only twelve, but she's exactly as tall as me, which is really annoying.
"At least not anymore." Carter said in relief while Sadie stuck her tongue out at him.
"You got your father's genetic." Amos told his nephew.
She was chewing gum as usual, dressed for her day out with Dad in battered jeans, a leather jacket, and combat boots, like she was going to a concert and was hoping to stomp on some people.
Sadie blushed at this seeing how she noticed both Walt and Anubis nodding their head in agreement.
She had headphones dangling around her neck in case we bored her.
[Okay, she didn't hit me, so I guess I did an okay job of describing her.]
There were again some snickers.
"Our plane was late," I told her. She popped a bubble, rubbed Muffin's head, and tossed the cat inside. "Gran, going out!" From somewhere in the house, Grandma Faust said something I couldn't make out, probably "Don't let them in!"
Ruby gave her mother a look at this.
Sadie closed the door and regarded me as if I were a dead mouse her cat had just dragged in.
"She would be offended for this one." Set said in an amused tone as he glanced over at Horus who was doing his best to stare at the ceiling, the memory still hurt him.
"So, here you are again."
"Yep."
"Come on, then." She sighed. "Let's get on with it."
That's the way she was. No "Hi, how you been the last six months? So glad to see you!" or anything. But that was okay with me.
"Sorry." Sadie whispered to her brother.
"I'm also sorry." he whispered back to her.
When you only see each other twice a year, it's like you're distant cousins rather than siblings. We had absolutely nothing in common except our parents.
"Not for long." the two said in union.
We trudged down the steps. I was thinking how she smelled like a combination of old people's house and bubble gum
"At least not anymore." Sadie mumbled to herself while some who heard her snickered.
when she stopped so abruptly, I ran into her. "Who's that?" she asked I'd almost forgotten about the dude in the trench coat.
"I know that I may have seen Sadie only rarely, but that neither of you know me." the younger Amos said frowning, sure he and Julius had on occasions their quarrels and he was busy leading Brooklyn House, but that still didn't explain why his brother's children did not know him.
"There were some things which made you not able to see us for a long time, the book will answer." Carter told his uncle who nodded.
He and my dad were standing across the street next to the big tree, having what looked like a serious argument. Dad's back was turned so I couldn't see his face, but he gestured with his hands like he does when he's agitated. The other guy scowled and shook his head. "Dunno," I said. "He was there when we pulled up."
"He looks familiar." Sadie frowned like she was trying to remember.
"See we kind of remember, but the memory had been pretty old." Sadie said, but it only relaxed her uncle a little.
"Come on." "Dad wants us to wait in the cab,"
"I don't know why I even commented." Carter said while Sadie grinned.
"So she is like Ruby even in character." Julius said to his son who nodded.
I said, even though I knew it was no use. Sadie was already in the of going straight across the street, she dashed up the sidewalk for half a block, ducking behind cars, then crossed to the opposite side and crouched under a low stone wall. She started sneaking toward our dad. I didn't have much choice but to follow her example, even though it made me feel kind of stupid.
"Yes, direct charging is always better." Horus said while some gave him strange looks.
"Six years in England," I muttered, "and she thinks she's James Bond."
Some people shook their heads at this.
Sadie swatted me without looking back and kept creeping forward. A couple more steps and we were right behind the big dead tree. I could hear my dad on the other side, saying, "—have to, Amos. You know it's the right thing."
"No," said the other man, who must've been Amos. His voice was deep and even—very insistent. His accent was American. "If I don't stop you, Julius, they will. The Per Ankh is shadowing you."
"What!" there were a good deal of shocked yells.
"Julius." Ruby said to her husband, what had he done.
"I think that it may have something to do with the presence of the Gods here, but I believe we should only fell judgement when we have finished reading." Iskander said in a firm tone while everyone bowed their heads in acceptance.
"What had this to do with the Gods being present here?" Ramses asked in confusion, noting how most looked uncomfortable.
"The book will explain." Isis said.
Sadie turned to me and mouth the words "Per what?" I shook my head, just as mystified.
"Let's get out of here," I whispered, because I figured we'd be spotted any minute and get in serious trouble. Sadie, of course, ignored me.
"They don't know my plan," my father was saying. "By the time they figure it out—"
"And the children?" Amos asked.
"Thank you Amos for thinking about their safety." Ruby said before standing up and giving both the present and future form of her brother-in-law a hug.
The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. "What about them?" "I've made arrangements to protect them," my dad said. "Besides, if I don't do this, we're all in danger. Now, back off."
"I can't, Julius."
"Stubbornness runs in the family." Amos said with a small grin.
"Then it's a duel you want?" Dad's tone turned deadly serious. "You never could beat me, Amos."
"Well, now he has me." Set said in a defiant tone as she looked over at Julius with narrowed eyes making the man squirm in his seat while his brother from their time blushed against his will.
"Set, leave Julius alone." older Amos said as he placed a hand on the God's arm who nodded and turned her gaze back to the book.
I hadn't seen my dad get violent since the Great Spatula Incident, and I wasn't anxious to see a repeat of that,
"You know I really wanna know what happened!" Julian said and the rest of the initiates nodded their heads in agreement.
"Maybe after the books." Carter suggested.
but the two men seemed to be edging toward a fight. Before I could react, Sadie popped up and shouted, "Dad!" He looked surprised when she tackled-hugged him, but not nearly as surprised as the other guy, Amos. He backed up so quickly, he tripped over his own trench coat.
"That was not fun." the current Chief Lector grumbled under his breath as the others broke out laughing.
"I found the memory amusing." Set whispered to him while Sadie gave her uncle an apologetic smile.
He'd taken off his glasses. I couldn't help thinking that Sadie was right. He did look familiar—like a very distant memory.
"Now not so distant." the siblings whispered, they really adored their uncle and were protective about him.
"I—I must be going," he said. He straightened his fedora and lumbered down the road. Our dad watched him go. He kept one arm protectively around Sadie and one hand inside the workbag slung over his shoulder.
Julius flinched by the soft growl which reached his ears before he heard the voice of Tawaret in his head. 'Due to the pregnancy will his reactions be controlled by hormones, this also means that he will be more protective towards certain people like your brother, don't worry Amos keeps him in check.' and she was gone from his mind.
Finally, when Amos disappeared around the corner, Dad relaxed. He took his hand out of the bag and smiled at Sadie. "Hello, sweetheart." Sadie pushed away from him and crossed her arms.
"Oh, now it's sweetheart, is it? You're late. Visitation Day's nearly over! And what was that about? Who's Amos, and what's the Per Ankh?" Dad stiffened. He glanced at me like he was wondering how much we'd overheard.
"It's nothing," he said, trying to sound upbeat. "I have a wonderful evening planned. Who'd like a private tour of the British Museum?"
"Amos, thank you again so much for carring about the safety of the children, I'm sure that you will make a good father." Ruby said while hitting Julius on the arm. "As for you, you take our children to the place you will blow up while having the Per Ankh shadowing you?" she asked in a threatening tone.
"I think you should continue reading." Hatshepsut told the prince at her side gently.
"You are right." he answered before continuing.
Sadie slumped in the back of the taxi between Dad and me. "I can't believe it," she grumbled. "One evening together, and you want to do research. Dad tried for a smile.
"Sweetheart, it'll be fun. The curator of the Egyptian collection personally invited—"
"Right, big surprise." Sadie blew a strand of red-streaked hair out of her face. "Christmas Eve, and we're going to see some moldy old relics from Egypt. Do you ever think about anything else?
"Sorry." Sadie said when she got stared at for the moldy comment.
Dad didn't get mad. He never gets mad at Sadie.
He just stared out of the window at the darkening sky and the rain."Yes," he said quietly. "I do."
Whenever Dad got quiet like that and stared off into nowhere, I knew he was thinking about our mom.
The atmosphere turned sombre again while Ruby leaned against her husband.
The last few months, it had been happening a lot. I'd walk into our hotel room and find him with his cell phone in his hands, Mom's picture smiling up at him from the screen—her hair tucked under a headscarf, her blue eyes startlingly bright against the desert backdrop.
Some of the females had tears in their eyes at this.
Or we'd be at some dig site. I'd seen Dad staring at the horizon, and I'd know he was remembering how he's met her—two young scientists in the Valley of the Kings, on a dig to discover a lost tomb.
"Why…", but Ramses was interrupted.
"It is common nowadays that the tombs get searched." Osiris told the rulers calmly while the future members of the Kane family exchanged glances, they really had some ironic connection with death.
Dad was an Egyptologist. Mom was an anthropologist looking for ancient DNA. He'd told me the story a thousand times. Our taxi snaked its way along the banks of the Thames. Just past Waterloo Bridge, my dad tensed. "Driver," he said. "Stop here a moment." The cabbie pulled over on the Victoria Embankment.
"What is it, Dad?" I asked. He got out of the cab like he hadn't heard me. When Sadie and I joined him on the sidewalk, he was staring up at Cleopatra's Needle. In case you've never seen it the Needle is an obelisk, not a needle, and it doesn't have anything to do with Cleopatra. I guess the British just thought the name sounded cool when they brought it to London. It's about seventy feet tall, which would've been really impressive back in Ancient Egypt, but on the Thames, with all the tall buildings around, it looks small and sad.
Those who knew the other significance of the obelisk looked either sad or shuddered while the four past nobles felt a pang in their chest as they wondered what prophecy Ra had once told someone, but deep down they knew that it was not good, prophecies rarely are.
You could drive right by it and not even realize you'd just passed something that was a thousand years older than the city of London. "God." Sadie walked around in a frustrated circle. "Do we have to stop for every monument?"
My dad stared at the top of the obelisk. "I had to see it again," he murmured. "Where it happened..."
Some people started to feel a cold chill in their stomachs.
A freezing wind blew off the river. I wanted to get back in the cab, but my dad was really starting to worry me. I'd never seen him so distracted. "What, Dad?" I asked. "What happened here?"
"The last place I saw her. Sadie stopped pacing. She scowled at me uncertainly, then back at Dad.
"Hang on. Do you mean Mum?"
"Please no…" Ruby said in a small voice, she had as a child always loved hanging around that monument to know that it had been the place where she…
Dad brushed Sadie's hair behind her ear, and she was so surprised, she didn't even push him away. I felt like the rain had frozen me solid. Mom's death had always been a forbidden subject. I knew she'd died in an accident in London.
I knew my grandparents blamed my dad.
"And seems we will stand correct." Mr. Faust said, but then two canine like growls made him freeze down.
"You were told that she knew what would happen so stop it." Anubis growled out, his face changing between that of a normal human and a black jackal.
"You should realize it mortal that you can't control the path your children take, she knew that if she goes she would not return and she didn't turn away." Set added in while Ruby couldn't help herself she blushed slightly at the hidden praise in the words of the two Gods.
But no one would ever tell us the details. I'd given up asking my dad, partly because it made him so sad, partly because he absolutely refused to tell me anything. "When you're older" was all he would say, which was the most frustrating response ever.
"It is not always good to keep secrets from your family even if you do it to protect them." Osiris said to both his host and his younger counterpart.
"You're telling us she died here," I said. "At Cleopatra's Needle? What happened?" He lowered his head. "Dad!" Sadie protested. "I go past this every day, and you mean to say—all this time—and I didn't even know?"
"Do you still have your cat?" Dad asked her, which seemed like a really stupid question.
"That was the worst change of topic I have ever heard." younger Amos told his brother with a raised eyebrow before turning to the other side when he heard a laugh.
"You won't say that after meeting Chiron, he is worse at that." Set said as she remembered her occasional trips to Camp Half-Blood.
"Of course I've still got the cat!" she said. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Pretty much." Felix said grinning, he wondered if his penguins were still playing on the small iceberg he had made for them outside.
"And your amulet?" Sadie's hand went to her neck. When we were little, right before Sadie went to live with our grandparents, Dad had given us both Egyptian amulets. Mine was an Eye of Horus, which was a popular protection symbol in Ancient Egypt.
"Yeah, but I would have preferred to not lose it." Horus grumbled to himself, that had hurt.
In fact my dad says the modern pharmacist's symbol, Rx, is a simplified version of the Eye of Horus, because medicine is supposed to protect you. Anyway, I always wore my amulet under my shirt, but I figured Sadie would've lost hers or thrown it away.
To my surprise, she nodded. "'Course I have it, Dad, but don't change the subject. Gran's always going on about how you caused Mum's death. That's not true, is it?"We waited. For once, Sadie and I wanted exactly the same thing—the truth."
The night your mother died," my father started, "here at the Needle—"
A sudden flash illuminated the embankment. I turned, half blind, and just for a moment I glimpsed two figures: a tall pale man with a forked beard
Every gaze wandered over to Desjardins who did his best to ignore them, but he still felt bothered by the feeling of some of them, but he didn't know why.
and wearing cream-colored robes, and a coppery-skinned girl in dark blue robes and a headscarf—the kind of clothes I'd seen hundreds of times in Egypt.
Rachel noticed her daughter blushing which made her bite back a groan, she would have liked for Zia to be much later in the books not right in the first chapter.
hey were just standing there side by side, not twenty feet away, watching us. Then the light faded. The figures melted into a fuzzy afterimage. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, they were gone.
"Um..." Sadie said nervously. "Did you just see that?"
"Get in the cab," my dad said, pushing us toward the curb. "We're out of time." From that point on, Dad clammed up."This isn't the place to talk," he said, glancing behind us. He'd promised the cabbie an extra ten pounds if he got us to the museum in under five minutes, and the cabbie was doing his best.
"Julius Kane!" Ruby yelled at her husband the museum was twenty minutes from the Needle!
"Sorry, this will be in the future." was the only thing Julius could say.
"Dad," I tried, "those people at the river—"
"And that other bloke, Amos," Sadie said. "Are they Egyptian police or something?"
"Something better." Amos said.
"Look, both of you," Dad said, "I'm going to need your help tonight. I know it's hard, but you have to be patient. I'll explain everything, I promise, after we get to the museum. I'm going to make everything right again."
Osiris felt his host cursing himself, things had not turned out the way he had planned them.
"What do you mean?" Sadie insisted. "Make what right?"
Dad's expression was more than sad. It was almost guilty. With a chill, I thought about what Sadie had said: about our grandparents blaming him for Mom's death. That couldn't be what he was talking about, could it?
No one dared to say a word.
The cabbie swerved onto Great Russell Street and screeched to a halt in front of the museum's main gates.
"Just follow my lead," Dad told us. "When we meet the curator, act normal."
I was thinking that Sadie never acted normal, but I decided not to say anything.
We climbed out of the cab. I got our luggage while Dad paid the driver with a big wad of cash. Then he did something strange. He threw a handful of small objects into the backseat—they looked like stones, but it was too dark for me to be sure. "Keep driving," he told the cabbie. "Take us to Chelsea."
"You are trying to send us on a wrong track." Desjardins said while looking over at Julius.
"I'm not sure why I'm doing this." was his only reply.
That made no sense since we were already out of the cab, but the driver sped off. I glanced at Dad, then back at the cab, and before it turned the corner and disappeared in the dark, I caught a weird glimpse of three passengers in the backseat: a man and two kids.
I blinked. There was no way the cab could've picked up another fare so fast. "Dad—"
"Shabti." everyone said in a knowing tone.
"London cabs don't stay empty very long," he said matter-of-factly. "Come along, kids."
He marched off through the wrought iron gates. For a second, Sadie and I hesitated.
"Carter, what is going on?"
I shook my head. "I'm not sure I want to know."
"Sometimes I'm still undecided." Carter said with a shake of his head.
"Well, stay out here in the cold if you want, but I'm not leaving without an explanation." She turned and marched after our dad.
Looking back on it, I should've run. I should've dragged Sadie out of there and gotten as far away as possible. Instead I followed her through the gates.
"I don't like the foreshadowing, but at least you would have taken your sister with you." Ruby said with a groan.
"This was the end of the chapter." Ashkender spoke up.
"Then I will continue." the queen spoke up as she took the book into her lap.
An Explosion for Christmas
"Love the title." Ruby mumbled sarcastically.
To be continued…