Chapter 9

Z

I

A

Brooklyn House
December 21st

My first thought was to look in Sadie's room but that thought left my head when I saw Walt's door was partially open. It had been closed since the day he died on Sadie's request. Silently I opened the door, with the light of the hallway bring in light so letting me be able to see Sadie's shaking body on the bed. Slowly she neared the bed and sank on the soft cushion next to her.

"Sadie"she whispered, laying her hand on Sadie's shoulder. Sadie looked up at me, her eyes red and filled with tears, and immediately jumped into my arms. She clung on me like her life depended on it. She broke into sobs as I hugged her back.

"Why does this happen to me?"she sobbed, "First Walt and now.."

"Sadie he's a god, remember that, it takes more that a spell for a mortal to end a the life of a god."

"What if he ends up like how Bes did?"She asked pulling away and rubbing her tears from her cheeks.

"Well find something Sadie, right now you need to rest."

"No I need to-"

"Zia's right Sadie, you need to sleep, plus I brought you some Sahlab." Carter said, making himself known at the the door, with a tray with the warm drink and cookies.

"Lets got to your room and-"

"I think I'll stay here for the night"she whispered. Nodding, I gave her one last hug and got off the bed.

"You should talk to her Carter."

"I'm not good at making people feel better Zia." Looking past me towards his sister lying figure.

"Then just be there for her Carter." I lean up and pecked him on the lips."You are her family, that is something that can never be replaced."

"I know" He whispered, kissing me back "Goodnight Zia"

"Goodnight Carter."

Closing the door behind me, I headed down the stairs, towards the kitchen but came to an immediate stop when I heard snuffling coming from the living room.

And there he sat the usual cheerful and vivacious baboon that greeted us in the morning, was in distraught tonight. Having been the only one who could understand him, Anubis and Khufu had grown close throughout these last couple of months. Both enjoyed each others company, shown in their daily night routine, where they would sit together, talk about their day as if there were no language barrier. Each drinking their Sahlab, although Khufu liked dipping Doritos in his, before they retired to tonight it was suppose to be the same, instead now he sat all alone.

"Oh Khufu." I sighed, sitting next to him, only for him to to shriek and say "N-ooo"

That was Anubis's; s seat and no one else could sit there, that message was clear. Instead I sat across from him as he kept on sobbing. Sometimes silence is better then to give false hope and he understood that as he finally calmed down and began to retreat to his bed. After turning off all the lights, I headed upstairs to my room. I quietly passed by the infirmary when I noticed that the lights were still on.

"You knew this was going to happen" Horus's voice coming from the door, as I leaned forward to hear.

"No, this wasn't part of my plan this is just an inconvenience."

"An inconvenience" an object crashed against the wall "This is my cousin we are talking about. I may not know the grudge that both of you have for each other about that girl or what the hell happened during that time, but you already hurt him enough." I opened the door silently to see that it was Ra who had been pushed against the wall and was being held forcefully by Horus.

"We all rarely see him smile, he's broken and now that he finally started opening up and living you cause this. So you better fix this 'inconvenience' or you will wish that you were in his position."

Then he let go of him and turned towards me, smiling kindly as if nothing had happened. "Ms. Rashid."He said as he entered the portal and disappeared leaving me and Ra alone.

There were a few seconds of silence before I approached Anubis's bed.

"Zia?"

"Yes" I answered without taking my eyes off my objective of dabbing a cold cloth on his forehead. Mostly when someone is sick they are at peace, surrounded by nothingness, all troubles disappearing. Not for him, he was in pain that much was obvious to me, as I had suffered the same torment for months when I was under the sleeping spell when hosting Nephthys. If what Horus had said were true, it was Ra's fault he was in pain. Through the last three months of acting as siblings we had both grown close. Maybe since we were both grown in Egypt or that I was able to speak in my native language of Arabic with him and actually hold a conversation. Either way we enjoyed each others company and understood one another; and for that I felt protective of him and I did not want him to be in pain.

"Are you alright?" I sharply turned to him, no longer avoiding his presence.

"You knew this was going to happen" I said cutting to the looked surprised for a moment because of my accusation, before his face went back to being calm.

"No, I did not know that Setne had grown so powerful enough to this." He answered of if that fixed everything.

"Then what about sending him there in general? I may not know everything about Anubis but I know that that is a place that means a great deal to him and to you as well." His face immediately changed from being calm to serious.

"It needed to be done, he needed to be there." I got up from the bed, leaving all rationality, and interrogated the god before me.

"Why is this so important to the two of you? It is obvious that you to knew this woman more than what a god would with a regular mortal."

"She was no regular mortal, she was my priestess and my host." He fiercely answered as he approached me.

"Then what about Anubis? As far as I know I am the only one that has been host to two gods."

"He is what led to all the problems I must now fix." He said facing me and leaving barely any space so that I had to rise my head to see him directly. "He broke the rules and now he must deal with the consequences, even if it is till now."

I scoffed, turning my head away and crossing my arms against my chest.

"I'm here to fix things even if it may not seem like it" He whispered, gently cupping my chin with his hand so that I would face him, "Believe me Zia, do not be angry with me, especially not with people I am attached to."

Then he slowly swooped down capturing my lips for a second before pulling back startled, as Anubis's mumbled voice came from the bed.

"You're crazy."