Chapter Six – A Magical Lecture
"Amos Kane, you have broken the rule again!" Desjardins voice boomed from the bowl as I rolled my eyes. "And you tricked us, you slimly little snake-"
"I didn't trick you." I started plainly. "I went through the portal as asked."
"Lie after lie." Michel shot down, not in the mood to believe anything at this point. "You interfered with our procedures to keep the children safe. Now they hold a large bounty on their heads. As for you, you are harboring enemies to the Per Ankh!"
"Why should Carter and Sadie get blame for what they couldn't control?" I snapped. "They don't even know what happened tonight, I already explained this-"
"Julius had made them amulets, Amos." His tone grew deadly. "Horus and Isis, I think you can put two and two together."
Oh great, so now I've been dragged into this circus. "It's not their fault-" I started.
"That doesn't matter now, Amos! You know that. They are hosting powerful gods and must be stopped immediately." Michel reminded me of the rule Iskandar had placed since the fall of Egypt.
"Horus and Isis are the least of our problems!" I defended. "We still have yet to find two of the five, and one of them happens to be Set."
"We are arranging a group to take him on. No need to concern yourself, Kane. You need to hand over the children or else face the death sentence awaiting you." He finalized.
"I would be a far worse uncle compared to Set if I did that." I spoke sourly. "Therefore I await your arrival, and I certainly hope you're ready for a fight." I waved my hand over the bowl to 'hang up' on him.
Maybe stubbornness is a curse on our family. Either way, I was officially set on protecting my nephew and niece. And teach Desjardins a lesson in manners that apparently he had forgotten over the years. From the sounds of it, they are not focused on the threat on their doorstep and would rather chase the Kanes down for Julius's arrogance.
I've known that the rules against the gods have never been lenient, always strict no matter the host. We came upon Set hiding in a teenage boy, and had orders to kill. However, I had other ideas and instead trapped Set and his family into the Duat together, nearly killed me to do so, but the kid was still alive. Never seen him since, I'm sure he was fighting for his life somewhere.
Moreover, how dare Desjardins threaten me with my life? I have been obeying for too long, and I am not about to let Carter and Sadie die over this. He may be a little more powerful than me, but I can still hold up in a fight against him.
I tried to sleep, but the events of Christmas Eve kept replying themselves. I eventually gave up and entered the Great Room, sat on the couch in silence. I reviewed yesterday again, taking in the explosion I witnessed just outside the museum, the three different fights that almost occurred, and the horrible mess I made when I tried to make the Chief Inspector sound reasonable.
Despite the warm temperature, I still felt a chill every so often. Like someone was watching, which I seriously wouldn't doubt seeing the amount of lines I crossed. More than likely some kid from the First Nome putting in extra hours at the scrying bowl.
I sat up in realization. Today is Christmas. Moreover, my nephew and niece are here. And me being so focused on my work and saving them, I completely forgot until now. I apparently have been forgetting quite a few things. What the hell do kids like these days?
After a while of thinking on it, I quickly decided it would be inappropriate. They lost their father last night and now found themselves with an uncle they barely know and the confusing mess the world of Egyptian magic is. Plus they are getting stronger in hours instead of days for a typical initiate. I need to train them before it gets too hectic.
Two hours of sitting and the clock read five. I decided to prepare breakfast. May have overdone it seeing as I had filled the entire buffet table once Sadie came down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. "You appear to have gotten some good rest." I smiled a little to her taking in the table. "Help yourself. I haven't used this table in six years that I overdid it."
I didn't need to say another word on the subject as she filled her plate with bacon, pancakes, eggs, anything. She finished and ended with a tower on her plate. I smirked in response as I led her to the terrace. "Starving are we?" I asked with good humor as she sat at the table next to me and quickly started eating.
"Well, sort of." She explained as she grabbed her fork and observed how she could get to the pancakes covered in bacon now. "Gran never made breakfast. If you didn't notice with the biscuits last night, she's a horrible cook."
I shrugged. "I ignored it." I explained. "Did a lot of running around that I didn't care."
"Anyways, it's been awhile since I've had an actual breakfast." Sadie gave up and grabbed a strip of bacon to chew on.
"Six years?" I asked.
She hesitated to nod. My question left an understanding silence between us as I took a sip of coffee. Khufu entered, hungry look in his eyes. "Sorry, I keep forgetting the littlest things." I apologized and got up and approached the left corner of the ledge, a box containing two deceased flamingos.
I grabbed a flamingo and handed it to him, which his eyes lit up. "Little present, I figured you were the only one keeping me sane that I should try." I admitted, which Philip started to wake up.
I threw one in the pool for him as well before sitting at the table again, Sadie giving me a weird look. "Uh, what is that?" She could barely bring herself to ask.
I sighed and sat down. "Khufu has an interesting eating habit. He only eats things that end in O." I hesitated to explain.
She thought for a moment. "Flamingo?" She was scared to ask. "Aren't baboons herbivores?"
I stopped her there. "Don't question him; he'll give you an entire lecture." I warned, which she just gave me a weird look. "Well, if you can understand him. Otherwise I suppose it would just appear as a crazy baboon in your face."
Philip sent a wave of water out of the pool, grabbing Sadie's attention. "What was that?" She asked out of alarm.
"Oh, that's Philip of Macedonia." I introduced.
"Philip, what a weird name. What is he though?" She asked.
"A crocodile. An albino one at that. Don't tell him though, he gets cranky." I explained briefly. "As I'm certain you know, they are carnivores. So almost anything meat is good enough for him, not picky compared to Khufu."
She picked up a piece of bacon and threw it to the pool, which Philip happily snatched up in seconds. "You have a lot of weird pets running around here." She pointed out as she took a sip of orange juice. "I thought Carter would be up and running by now." She admitted. "It's Christmas, doesn't he get up early?"
I recalled the days I spent watching Julius, and their Christmas was usually spent on a plane to go to their next museum. Last minute presents for Carter that Julius would pick up from a nearby gift shop. So of course he wouldn't be like the rest, he valued sleep over Christmas. "At least he's sleeping." I pointed out, which she nodded in response. "I hope you don't mind my horrible hosting abilities, I didn't think I would get any new initiates. I also figured I wouldn't be cheap either."
"That's okay Uncle." Sadie smiled out of approval. "It's kind of not a celebratory holiday this time around. I'm glad you didn't, otherwise I would have to fake it. The breakfast is great, and I'm going to spend it with my brother finally. That's good enough for me."
