Time passes. The House of Life is formed, and gods are banished. I retreat to the Hall of Judgement, overseeing the souls flowing through without Osiris to preside.

Days, months, years pass. Centuries. I don't keep track. I can't. In the Land of the Dead, time is meaningless. I can tell that it's passing, though, because when I talk to the other gods and visit graveyards and funeral homes, I can see evidence of the changing world all around me.

So I know it's much later when a deep reverberation shakes all layers of the Duat. Something has happened - something monumental.

I let Hall of Judgement fade away and bring in a new version of reality: one of my favorite graveyards near New Orleans. It'll work as a starting point, but I'm not going to find out anything if I just hang around in places of death. So I loosen the bonds tying down my substance and relax into the thinnest layer of the Duat.

I'm planning to go visit Thoth. The birdbrain can be somewhat absentminded at times - all right, make that very absentminded - but he has the closest ties with the House of Life, who control pretty much everything in all three hundred sixty nomes. But before I can make my way towards him, I feel a summons tugging at me.

I let myself be pulled towards the source, and a moment later I find myself in Nut's residence. Although in is probably not the best word, seeing as there are no walls, no ceiling, nothing but a platform with furniture on it, hanging in the sky. Nut is sitting on one of the couches, waiting for me.

"Hello, Anubis," she says. "Sit down."

"How long has it been?" I decide to dispense with the formalities. Then again, I usually do.

"Since I last saw you?" Nut thinks for a moment, tapping a starry fingernail against her chin. "Perhaps two hundred years."

"Two hundred years." Honestly, by now I should be accustomed to the feeling of disorientation that comes whenever I realize how much time has passed, but it's still a lot to process. I mentally go forward along the timeline. "So... this is the twenty-first century?"

Nut nods. "Please, Anubis, sit."

I take a seat across from her. "What just happened?"

"A magician named Julius Kane tried to host Osiris. In doing so, he released Set as well, not to mention Isis, Horus and Nepthys."

"Ah." I stare at the clouds around us. "What happened to the magician?"

"History has repeated itself," Nut replies gravely. "The magician - and Osiris - are now being held prisoner of the Red Lord."

"He's planning something." I'm asking a question, but it comes out sounding like a definite fact.

Nut nods. "But that's not all." She holds up her hands, palms facing forward. Stars of different colors swirl across her skin, coming together, until I'm looking at the figures of two teenagers. "The magician's children, Sadie and Carter Kane... they combine two royal bloodlines. They are extremely powerful. And they were there when the five were released."

"They're hosts? Which gods?"

In answer, more stars coalesce across the image. Multicolored wings bloom behind the girl's back, while the boy's eyes blaze silver and gold. Nut could have just answered with speech, but I think she enjoys showing off.

"Isis and Horus." I lean in closer, trying to catch the image. Something about the girl... it looks familiar. I'm searching for a sign to place her - not easy with an image of blurred stars - and then my eyes land on her hair. The color is bleached out, but I can still distinguish the unusual colors. Red and gold, like a fire. As though she smeared cochineal powder in her hair...

"I know her," I murmur.

"Excuse me?" Nut allows the starry images to lapse into scattered clusters again, but the image is still hanging in my mind, along with more memories.

"She was there. The - the first time it happened. When Set took the throne - she was there as a ba. She must have visited the past through some memory enchantment. I forgot about her because, well, it was the seizing of the throne; of course you're going to forget a little detail like that. But now..."

"I see." Nut nods. "Anyway, Anubis, I'm going to need one of them to visit soon, but I can't leave here, and I'm not strong enough to summon a mortal soul all the way from wherever they are. If you could intervene - give their ba a little nudge in the right direction - "

"Of course." A question suddenly occurs to me - quite a strange one, but I feel a pressing desire to ask. "Will it be the girl or the boy?"

Nut shrugs. "I don't know. Any one will do."

"I'd rather the girl." I don't know why I'm saying this.

"Why does it matter?" Nut is looking at me thoughtfully.

I shrug this time. "I don't know. I just don't like Horus, I think."

"Are you sure that's all?"

I'm thrown by the question. "What?"

Nut laughs. "Never mind. I think that will be all, Anubis. You can go now..."

I nod and let myself disappear. It's not until I'm back in the Hall of Judgement, processing this new and shocking turn of events, that the meaning of Nut's words hit me, and I feel my face burn.

Sorry, it's majorly incomplete, but I can't do more because my copy of the Red Pyramid is lent out to someone else and I want to publish it before school today, seeing as I haven't updated on anything that isn't Reading The Sword Thief in FOREVER. So, yeah. Please review. There will be more to come!