Storytime at Brooklyn House

by Shadow Priesstes

Due to a failed prank by Horus the peace discissions between the Egyptian and Greco-Roman Pantheons needed to be speed up so the adventures of both sides got made into books which of course must be first read-over to see if they are right. The only problem is that no one expected unplanned guests falling in, literally.

14. Did we pass or not?

XIV. Did we pass or not?

The ten minutes passed in an agonizingly slow for and for some fast way with a deal of the heavy feelings form before still lingering in the air and around the gathered group. Rachel retreated when the time was up beside her husband, leaving her daughter in the care of her boyfriend after both of them finally managed to stop her tears. The Kane family, well those who did not know about the incident in the ancient past, still felt uncomfortable regards the new revelation. Narmer had attempted to talk with his brother, but he could not get the words out and it did not help that Ashkender had taken the God for whom he died and his priest as company for those ten minutes. Iskander meanwhile had been busy to try talking again with Michel and for a few short minutes had he also been by Zia, it really surprised him how close his bond seemed to be with Nimat's graddaughter and in some hard to definable way it also bothered him, but he did not know the ground for it.

"Is everyone up for continuing?" Thoth asked as many gave him reluctant nods, if for noting else they hoped that the books would take their thoughts away from the new revelation like they managed before.

"The next title is How Zia Lost Her Eyebrows." Alyssa read while some raised their own eyebrows at the title, but she did not spend to much time on it, she wanted to take her thoughts away how Carter's and Sadie's ancestor had hurt his brother who seemed to share some aspects with Amos. There was also still the fact about the knowledge what Geb did, she will need to talk with the God whose Path she followed, that was not nice to threat your child like something you can throw away if you don't like them.

I woke to a bucket of ice water in my face.

Zia allowed herself a small smile, though her eyes were still red and puffy from crying, she thought that she could deal with hearing about Iskander's death, but apparently having said man sitting here while you read how he knew that his time was over had proven her wrong.

"I would appreciate if that doesn't get repeated." Sadie said with a huff, she had returned to her original place after saying thanks to Set.

"Will try." Zia replied back while still having her small smile which was for the time being enough for Sadie, she hated the fact that all of them felt either guilty or depressed.

"Sadie! Get up," Zia said.

"You could have done this first and waited to see if I react." Sadie told the older woman which this time earned her a few feint snickers, good they were getting out of their gloomy thoughts, even though she would have preffered that this did not happen on her expenses, but one could not have everything.

"God!" I yelled. "Was that necessary?"

"No," Zia admitted.

The laughs become somewhat louder while Carter pulled his girlfriend closer with a proud grin on his lips.

I wanted to strangle her, except I was dripping wet, shivering, and still disoriented.

This increased the laughter even more while Sadie blushed, but she also had a smile on her lips.

How long had I slept? It felt like only a few minutes, but the dormitory was empty. All the other cots were made. The girls must've already gone to their morning lessons.

"They left almost an hour ago." Zia informed Sadie, she had wondered why the blonde had slept that deep, now she knew, no she will not get sad again. Master Iskander was happy now and without any worries, she needed to think about that.

Zia tossed me a towel and some fresh linen clothes. "We'll meet Carter in the cleansing room."

"It is not exactly like in the temples." Thoth decided to inform the four of the antique who looked somewhat scandalized while those of the future blushed after realizing what they must have thought.

"I just got a bath, thanks very much. What I need is a proper breakfast."

Cue more laughter while Sadie decided that if this goes on will she use Walt as a shield again and try finding out if the books could be edited or Drew will never let her live some… ok more like most of her comments down.

"The cleansing prepares you for magic." Zia slung her bag of tricks

Zia looked over at Sadie who raised her hands in surrender.

"I'm not a morning person." she told the other, lame excuse? Yes, did she care? No.

over her shoulder and unfolded the long black staff she'd used in New York. "If you survive, we'll see about food."

"Unfortunately something got in between and food was delayed." Sadie grumbled, ugh…those horrid fruit bats.

"What happened?" Ruby asked worriedly, beside the worrisome thought that Iskander would be gone and that it… "On the other hand don't answer that." she said while resisting the urge to send something flying towards Desjardins, the only ground she did not was because she remembered that he had not done anything at the given time and second, he looked completely devasted and she was sure that she saw tear marks on his cheeks.

I was tired of being reminded that I might die,

"Guess how the demigods feel then, annoyingly almost each monster reminds them about that and Percy kind of gets it even from some of their Gods, but that has more to do with his knack to annoy them." Set told her while hoping to keep the number of attacking monsters to a minimum regards her child with her also being there as well as Bast and Ra who had declared themselves as godparents the minute they found out about the pregnancy as ironic as that title sound in their cases.

but I got dressed and followed her out.

"Not that I had much of a choice, at that time would I have been hopelessly lost down there." Sadie told the others, now she got along pretty well on those paths, but at that time not so much.

"It can be confusing for everyone at the beginning." Ruby told her daughter while Julius bowed his head, his older self kind of pushed a still slightly gloomy Osiris to the front.

"Dad, are you alright?" Carter asked when he noticed what his father was doing, well both of them that is.

"Uhm…yes, Alyssa please continue." he said hurriedly when suddenly the older version of his brother looked up in surprise before it was replaced by an unnerving grin.

"Ah, has this something to do with you looking for the library and accidentally entering the girl's dorm when they were getting dressed?" he asked his bet red brother while everyone turned to Julius with wide eyes.

"Is this why the girls looked so annoyed all day why you ducked behind everything when one of them passed by?" Ruby asked her husband, she had at that time already left the dorm and no one told her what was wrong.

"Just continue the book." was the only answer Julius gave, what was it with everyone bringing up embarrassing stories regards him since they started reading? At least seemed Alyssa to have taken pity on his and started reading again.

After another endless series of tunnels, we came to a chamber with a roaring waterfall.

The four of the antique exchanged a small glance with each other, though that of the brother's had been fleeting, this really did not sound like the cleansing rooms in the temples, they had large pools, but no waterfalls.

There was no ceiling, just a shaft above us that seemed to go up forever. Water fell from the darkness into a fountain, splashing over a five-meter-tall statue of that bird-headed god. What was his name—Tooth?

"Excuse me?" Thoth asked before sending a glare at a snickering Horus.

"Sorry, I will be misunderstanding some of your names at first hearing for a small while." Sadie said as she looked at both the God and Cleo.

"Which names will you misunderstand?" younger Julius asked his daughter who only gestured to the book, a clear answer; they should read to find out.

No, Thoth.

Both Thoth and Cleo nodded in satisfaction at the quick correction of the name seeing how 'Thoth' was one of the easier names the God possessed.

The water cascaded over his head, collected in his palms, then spilled out into the pool.

Carter stood beside the fountain. He was dressed in linen with Dad's workbag over one shoulder and his sword strapped to his back. His hair was rumpled, as if he hadn't slept well.

"I certainly did not" Carter said while trying not to flinch. 'You will hear about it in the next chapter if my assumptions are correct, neither dad, uncle Amos from the past and Desjardins will be happy and Set will get probably upset, leave alone the fact that in that chapter Zia's parents get informed about their deaths and that their daughter had a hard time remembering them. Ugh…we might need to put in another pause after that chapter and this is only the first book, I dread the others already.' he added in as an afterthought.

At least he hadn't been doused in ice water.

"Unlike you he had already been awake and dressed when I went to wake him." Zia informed Sadie who let out an annoyed huff while the others smiled at the scene, the heavy feelings dissolving somewhat.

Seeing him, I felt a strange sense of relief. I thought about Iskander's words last night: Your brother will need your guidance.

The siblings smiled at each other while their parents watched them, glad that the bond between them which had been buried for years had rekindled itself.

"What?" Carter asked. "You're staring at me funny."

"You kid of really looked at me strangely." Carter informed his sister who shrugged.

"It was not easy slipping back into a younger sister mode." she told him, now it was easy, but at that time not so much.

"Nothing," I said quickly. "How'd you sleep?"

"Badly. I'll... I'll tell you about it later."

Was it my imagination, or did he frown in Zia's direction?

Everyone turned to said pair who exchanged a fleeting glance with each other before Carter sighed.

"It will come up if I'm right in the next chapter, after which we may probably need another ten minutes." he told the now nervous group as he squeezed Zia's hand to show her that he was there for her.

Hmm, possible romantic trouble between Miss Magic and my brother?

"Not exactly, but you will see." Carter said while gesturing to Alyssa that she should continue, the others who did not know meanwhile looked even more nervous.

I made a mental note to interrogate him next time we were alone.

"That kind of also happened differently then it was planned." Sadie said with a sheepish smile.

"This seems to happen quiet often around you Kanes." Desjardins said while rolling his eyes so he failed to notice how most of the people from his time and those from the present looked relieved that he commented.

Zia went to a nearby cabinet. She brought out two ceramic cups, dipped them into the fountain, then offered them to us. "Drink."

I glanced at Carter. "After you."

"Sadie, the water is not poisonous." Ruby told her daughter who smiled back at her sheepishly.

"I had already a dose of water that morning so I was not up to immediately get more, but eventually I did, only needed to remember something." Sadie answered while the others looked a bit confused, but concluded that they will know in a few seconds.

"It's only water," Zia assured me, "but purified by contact with Thoth. It will focus your mind."

Thoth nodded his head, back then when he had founded the House had he placed a blessing on that statue to help the magicians find their focus much faster.

I didn't see how a statue could purify water. Then I remembered what Iskander had said, how gods could inhabit anything.

Said man nodded his head before looking thoughtful, he certainly seemed like a hypocrite now, he forbade the summoning and even any contact beside fights with Gods while they had keep the protecting and purifying statues and some more in their possession even thought they were bound to those they had betrayed. How ironic seems things to be just like the way how they had saved themselves from fading.

I took a drink. Immediately I felt like I'd had a good strong cup of Gran's tea.

Said woman glared at her family form their time as they suddenly flinched rather visibly, there was noting wrong with her tea, it helped you even to wake up in the morning. The others on the other hand who had never experienced her tea exchanged confused glances with each other, how could one make tea which results the same reactions as the cleansed water in the First?

My brain buzzed. My eyesight sharpened. I felt so hyperactive, I almost didn't miss my chewing gum— almost.

Mrs. Faust still looked annoyed at her family so she missed the contemplating looks from those who wanted to find out how she makes her tea.

Carter sipped from his cup. "Wow."

"Now the tattoos," Zia announced.

"Brilliant!" I said.

"No real tattoos!" come it from younger Julius, Ruby and Mrs. Faust, her husband was kind of busy spluttering after he heard the word 'tattoo'.

"I know." Sadie said while making sure that they don't see the look she was giving everyone from their time, seeing how she now kind of had an actual a tattoo since a whole year on her lover back, it was of course an Ankh slightly wrapped up and surrounded by linen ribbons.

"On your tongue," she added.

Mr. Faust really hoped that they were right and that would not be an actually tattoo, he did not see the sense of those ugly things and he had been in the army.

"Excuse me?"

Zia stuck out her tongue. Right in the middle was a blue hieroglyph.

"Nith ith Naat," she tried to say with her tongue out.

Zia blushed as some of the others started snickering, she really did not know why she even atempted talking with her tongue out when giving them the explaining. Ah yes, she did not know that they will voice record their adventures and then on a later time be forced to send them over to Gods and their children.

Then she realized her mistake and stuck her tongue back in.

This only made the snickers louder.

"I mean, this is Ma'at, the symbol of order and harmony. It will help you speak magic clearly. One mistake with a spell—"

All magicians shuddered, those mistakes rarely ended pretty.

"Let me guess," I said. "We'll die."

"In the worst cases, but it all depends on the spell you use." Thoth elaborated while Alyssa giggled as she saw the next line.

From her cabinet of horrors,

"Ugh…I had been so dumb." Sadie groaned while hiding her face in Walt's shirt as some of the others started chuckling or shook their heads at her comment. The blonde was sure that she would say this sentence also pretty often by other chapters.

Zia produced a fine-tipped paintbrush and a bowl of blue dye. "It doesn't hurt. And it's not permanent."

Mr. Faust relaxed at this, just one small symbol painted on the tongue which is not even permanent, he could live with that instead of one of those horrendous things young people today put on their skin and don't think how that may look in forty years when age fully sets in.

"How does it taste?" Carter wondered.

"I regret asking." Carter while shuddering, the others kind of agreed, it was needed and useful, but the taste was ghastly.

"Thoth, we have a small job for you to do on the side while using Horus as a guinea pig" Sadie called over to the God of Knowledge who looked back at her in confusion and slight curiosity.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked the blonde.

"Try making paint which tastes like I don't know fruits or something bearable." she instructed him while the others were not sure if they should hake their heads or voice their approval, in the end they decided to do neither and to just return to the book.

Zia smiled.

"It is kind of amusing how people react the first time when getting the tattoo painted on." Zia replied before leaning closer to Carter so that only he hears her. "Beside that, you looked cute while doing that." she told her blushing boyfriend.

"Stick out your tongue."

To answer Carter's question, the tattoo tasted like burning car tires.

All magicians nodded their heads, the taste was not pleasant in any way, but one could not complain in the end.

"Ugh." I spit a blue gob of "order and harmony" into the fountain.

It had been really hard to not find the statement amusing.

"Never mind breakfast. Lost my appetite."

Mostly followed by this.

Zia pulled a leather satchel out of the cabinet. "Carter will be allowed to keep your father's magic implements, plus a new staff and wand.

Both Juliuses smiled at Carter who looked back at them, he really liked the bag and on occasions one could even tolerate Doughboy and his complaints.

Generally speaking, the wand is for defense, the staff is for offense, although, Carter, you may prefer to use your khopesh."

"I certainly do prefer it compared to the staff." Carter agreed with the past statement of his girlfriend, it somehow felt right holding it in a fight.

"Khopesh?"

"The curved sword," Zia said. "A favored weapon of the pharaoh's guard.

Everyone nodded their heads though those of the present tried to not grin at the irony that the weapon of the Pharaoh's guards is used by the ruler himself, but they guessed that it king of went in some kind of parallel with his girlfriend being the Eye of Ra who had in a way been the first Pharaoh and neither forgot that Ra had entrusted Zia to Carter's care so it was fine like this.

It can be used in combat magic.

"Which is my speciality." Horus said proudly.

"His ego is making an appearance again." Set whispered to Amos who felt glad that the other was calm again, he could just hope that no bad memories will be brought up again beside the things in the books or he will be busy constantly renewing the seal around their child.

As for Sadie, you will need a full kit."

"How come he gets Dad's kit?" I complained.

"He is the eldest," come it from all around the room as Sadie rolled her eyes, she had already got this explanation seven years ago, there was not need to repeat it in so many ways.

"He is the eldest," she said, as if that explained everything.

Everyone nodded, this was kind of an unwritten law if someone does not take steps around it, this was the ground why the 'last will' got instructed if one wanted to change the inheritance order.

Typical.

Sadie put her hands up in defence.

Zia tossed me the leather satchel.

"Why is it made out of leather if you said that animal products weaken magic?" Mr. Faust asked much to his and to everyone's who knew him amazement.

"While it is true that wearing leather products is not the best for a magician, it has a property to repel magic so another magician can't get to the objects in your satchel by using magic." Ruby explained it to her father who nodded, still stunned that he almost sounded as if he would be interested in all of these superstitions.

"Alyssa." Felix whispered to the girl who nodded and started continuing.

Inside was an ivory wand, a rod that I supposed turned into a staff, some paper, an ink set, a bit of twine, and a lovely chunk of wax. I was less than thrilled.

"Now I certainly appreciate them." Sadie said before anyone could comment and this was the truth, she rarely left the house nowadays without her magic bag on her shoulder or stored safely in the Duat to pull out if she had the feeling that it would be needed.

"What about a little wax man?" I asked. "I want a Doughboy."

Sadie groaned while Carter looked over at her in amusement.

"If you mean a figurine, you must make one yourself. You will be taught how, if you have the skill.

"Unfortunately she has dad's skills in that department." Carter said while his father blushed and gave Sadie an apologetic smile.

We will determine your specialty later."

"Field study can be rather amusing." Ruby said while everyone nodded their heads, it certainly had some amusing aspects to it to try out all those different things till you know what you are the best at and then spend most of your time concentrating on those aspects.

"Specialty?" Carter asked. "You mean like Nectanebo specialized in statues?"

There were several nods at this.

Zia nodded. "Nectanebo was extremely skilled in statuary magic. He could make shabti so lifelike, they could pass for human. No one has ever been greater at statuary... except perhaps Iskander.

Everyone who knew the skills of the old Chief Lector nodded their heads in agreement, mostly the Kane siblings regards Zia's own shabti though Amos noted how Set seemed a bit unsatisfied by something, he was about to ask when Iskander spoke up.

"I thank you all for the appreciation regards the skill of an old man, though I may not be the only one skilled in regards statuary magic. Seeing how I tend to often correspondence with the heads of the other Nomes and the at that time current head of the Twenty-First whom was more then satisfied with Amos's skills in that department." Iskander said while both age groups of said man blushed mostly when those of the present nodded their heads, but did not comment seeing that they did not want to spoil the surprise regards Philip.

Amos also noted that Set seemed to have relaxed again so he kind of had now a guess what the problem had been which made him smile somewhat, in a way was the God's acting adorable, though after he thought this he immediately pushed it away. They will see the case clearer after the baby is born.

But there are many other disciplines: Healer.

Jaz raised her hand grinning.

Amulet maker.

Walt, Sean and Shelby raised their hands, the later two learning most of it from Walt.

Animal charmer.

Felix raised his hand while Hatshepsut smiled at him, the two of them certainly got along well.

Elementalist.

Here Zia, Alyssa and Leonid raised their hands.

Combat magician.

Carter put up his hand while Horus nodded his head approvingly, he would not have an Eye who is not that category, as did Julian.

Necromancer."

Here Walt put up his hand again while exchanging a grin with Anubis, those from the past only looked pleased at the large diversity in skills by the future magicians.

"Diviner?"

"You kind of startled me with that question." Zia informed Sadie who nodded her head, she kind of guessed it from Zia's expression at that time.

I asked.

Zia looked at me curiously. "Yes, although that is quite rare. Why do you—"

"I'm now really glad that you did not answer at that time or you would have been in serious trouble with me." Zia told the other before she turned to her side when someone cleared his throat behind her.

"You mean to say she would have been in trouble with the both of us." Carter informed Zia as Sadie paled, the others on the other hand needed to chuckle at the scene, sure they were not happy about what Sadie did, but this small display was still amusing.

"At least you are fine." Walt whispered to Sadie who leaned back against him, she knew that he was still terribly worried about what he had read not long ago, it felt nice that he cared, but made her also feel guilty.

"I'm sorry." she whispered to him.

"It is fine as long as you are ok." he told her in a gentle tone.

I cleared my throat. "So how do we know our specialty?"

"It will become clear soon enough," Zia promised, "but a good magician knows a bit of everything, which is why we start with a basic test. Let us go to the library."

"This will be good." Sadie said suddenly while Zia giggled, both of them remembering the little incident Carter had, said Pharaoh on the other hand looked embarrassed.

"What happened?" younger Julius asked, his own first test had kind of backfired in a not so good way so he hoped that his kids didn't inherit his luck, but their reactions and the chapter title were not positive indications.

"You will soon hear." Sadie answered back, still grinning.

The First Nome's library was like Amos's, but a hundred times bigger, with circular rooms lined with honeycomb shelves that seemed to go on forever, like the world's largest beehive.

There were some chuckles or in Desjardins's case eye rolls at the strange comparison.

Clay shabti statues kept popping in and out, retrieving scroll canisters and disappearing, but we saw no other people.

"It is a fairly large library and some of those scrolls were requested from the teachers in the classrooms." Zia replied with a shrug, it was noting unusual to see.

Zia brought us to a wooden table and spread out a long, blank papyrus scroll. She picked up a stylus and dipped it in ink.

"The Egyptian word shesh means scribe

Both Zia and Sadie shared a hidden smile at this, Cleo herself was also showing good skills in that department, but till now was she most of the time Sadie's assistant seeing how she contemplated going in some years back to the Hermitage with Leonid, but till now had neither of them made a decision.

or writer, but it can also mean magician. This is because magic, at its most basic, turns words into reality. You will create a scroll. Using your own magic, you will send power into the words on paper. When spoken, the words will unleash the magic."

All magicians nodded their heads again, it was important in their world to know that words have power and not only in their world, everywhere even the simplest word could change many things, it could build bridges, relationships or even destroy.

She handed the stylus to Carter.

Both Sadie and Zia failed to hide their amusement while Carter buried his face between his hands which made the others look at the book curiously.

"I don't get it," he protested.

Carter mumbled something into his hands which most guessed was along the lines that he didn't want to start first.

"A simple word," she suggested. "It can be anything."

"In English?"

There was the mumble again.

"Don't worry Carter, your mother asked the same." younger Julius spoke up while Ruby glared at him while blushing.

"Well, at least my word did not result in your brother looking like a wet cat." Ruby shoot back at which both Amoses glared at their respective, squirming older brother's while the others looked amused at the situation.

Zia curled her lip. "If you must. Any language will work, but hieroglyphics are best. They are the language of creation, of magic, of Ma'at. You must be careful, however."

Before she could explain,

"Somehow the situation with Julius started the same way." Ruby said as she remembered the scene seeing how the three of them took their test together and even arrived only two days apart.

Carter drew a simple hieroglyph of a bird.

"Erm…the whole?" Ashkender asked carefully, it was not a good idea to do that, mostly if you are a beginner.

"Exactly." Sadie replied grinning while her brother let out a groan and mumbled something about birds and his life.

"Uh-oh." was the only thing Julius could mumble.

The picture wriggled, peeling itself off the papyrus, and flew away. It splattered Carter's head with some hieroglyphic droppings on its way out.

Everyone beside a disgruntled looking Carter and those who bit their tongues to calm themselves, broke out laughing.

"Carter, this is not hard to do." Horus told his Eye when Set spoke up.

"Says the God who has trouble writing his name at the end of a papyrus scroll." she told him with an indignant look.

"That is because I need to also read them." Horus whined as Set rolled her eyes.

"This is what one calls responsibility, it is part of being a ruler." she told him in a stern tone, really one would think that one who wants to be king has at least some inkling that it is not about having fun all the time.

I couldn't help laughing at Carter's expression.

The same went for those who imagined it or had also at least once witnessed such an incident.

"A beginner's mistake," Zia said, scowling at me to be quiet.

"And where did that suportative Zia disappear to?" Carter asked the young woman who gave him a beaming smile and a soft giggle.

"She started dating you." Zia replied back in amusement.

"If you use a symbol that stands for something alive, it is wise to write it only partially—leaving off a wing, or the legs. Otherwise the magic you channel could make it come alive."

"And poop on its creator." Carter sighed, wiping off his hair with a bit of scrap papyrus. "That's why our father's wax statue, Doughboy, has no legs, right?"

"Not exactly, but the principle is similar." Julius answered, in Doughboy's case was it really that he was terrible with shabti, not that their parents cared, they seemed to not have high options about that skill even though Amos was certainly gifted at it, but got little praise at home.

"The same principle," Zia agreed. "Now, try again."

Carter stared at Zia's staff, which was covered in hieroglyphics. He picked the most obvious one and copied it on the papyrus—the symbol of fire.

Uh-oh, I thought.

This was also the thought of a good deal of people in the attic room.

But the word did not come alive, which would've been rather exciting.

Sadie put her hands up when people started turning in her direction regards that comment.

It simply dissolved.

"Keep trying," Zia urged.

"Why am I so tired?" Carter wondered.

He definitely looked exhausted. His face was beaded with sweat.

"You're channeling magic from within," Zia said. "For me, fire is easy. But it may not be the most natural type of magic for you.

"This will be the best part." Sadie suddenly piped up and those of the initiates who remembered what will come next also started grinning while Carter groaned again, that lesson with the writing of words had been a disaster in his option.

Try something else. Summon... summon a sword."

"That may work." Amir said, but by the reactions he saw by those from the present was he not so sure about that assumption.

Zia showed him how to form the hieroglyph, and Carter wrote it on the papyrus. Nothing happened.

"Speak it," Zia said.

"Sword," Carter said. The word glowed and vanished, and a butter knife lay on the papyrus.

There was silence for a few seconds before everyone bust out laughing at the result.

"I would say, using Divine Words is not your thing." Thoth said snickering while Horus grumbled in his throne, he had not been paying attention at that time or he would have tried to let an actual sword appear.

"Geee, I did not notice." Carter replied back to the God, at least would that lesson be soon over.

I laughed. "Terrifying!"

It took them three more minutes to calm down enough so that the reading could be continued.

Carter looked like he was about to pass out, but he managed a grin. He picked up the knife and threatened to poke me with it.

"Very good for a first time," Zia said. "Remember, you are not creating the knife yourself. You are summoning it from Ma'at—the creative power of the universe. Hieroglyphs are the code we use. That's why they are called Divine Words. The more powerful the magician, the easier it becomes to control the language."

There were again nods from the magicians, this was one of the most important things they needed to learn.

I caught my breath. "Those hieroglyphs floating in the Hall of Ages. They seemed to gather around Iskander. Was he summoning them?"

"Not exactly," Zia said. "His presence is so strong, he makes the language of the universe visible simply being in the room. No matter what our specialty, each magician's greatest hope is to become a speaker of the Divine Words—to know the language of creation so well that we can fashion reality simply by speaking, not even using a scroll."

Isis and Sadie exchanged a secret smile with each other while Set leaned closer to Amos, she was more then pleased that her Eye was rather good with the usage of the Divine Words and would be better as their training continues, the bond between a God and their host had also such an aspect to it, but not many seemed to use the chance. Thoth also looked pleased at Cleo who blushed when noting the praise in the God's eyes, she did her best to learn and it made her happy that her love for reading seems to pay off and not be useless like some of her classmates in the past tended to tell her.

Mr. Faust on the other side held himself back from shaking his head, really changing reality with only saying something, it sounded completely absurd, but so would be everything here if he was honest with himself. A hidden mansion atop of a warehouse, four ancient Egyptian rulers pretty much alive and taken from the past, his unborn grandchildren as adults, Gods sitting with them and interacting, magic all of this should not even be real, but it still is.

"Like saying shatter," I ventured. "And having a door explode."

Sadie gave a sheepish smile to her uncle as the reminder of the exploded library door come up.

Zia scowled.

"There had once been a small accident." Zia said while doing her best to not look in Desjardin's direction, she would like for him not knowing that she kind of blew up his study door by accident. That had been a long lecturing she got from both him and Master Iskander.

"Ah." Sadie replied, but did not ask further seeing how she noticed what Zia was doing.

"Yes, but such a thing would take years of practice."

"Really? Well—"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carter shaking his head, silently warning me to shut up.

"I think that was a good idea at that time." Zia said with a sigh, shabti or not it acted perfectly like her and she knew how she would have reacted.

"Um..." I stammered. "Some day, I'll learn to do that."

"You know, that statement made me kind of worried about you." Zia told Sadie while the younger initiates were laughing as the adults nodded their heads in agreement with Zia.

"That was the best cover I could come up with." Sadie told defensively while Amos felt thankful that she left the blasting doors apart out inside the house, now he only needed to make sure that his niece doesn't give the baby any ideas, they will have already enough of their own in regards of parentage.

Zia raised an eyebrow.

"I stand by my earlier comment." Zia said while crossing her arms in front of her chest, she was glad that the atmosphere had gotten a bit lighter, but a part of her was still nervous regards the fact that she will in this chapter get the news that the man she had seen as family had passed away.

"First, master the scroll."

I was getting tired of her attitude,

Zia turned to Sadie with a raised eyebrow while both younger Julius and Amos did their best to not look at Ruby.

"Says the one with five times as much attitude then me." she told the blonde who blushed in embarrassment while waving to Alyssa that she should continue.

so I picked up the stylus and wrote Fire in English.

"Ooops…" Sadie mumbled while those from the past looked at her strangely.

"You can say that again, you gave me nearly a heart attack." Carter told his sister, well no one could blame him, he had at that time no clue that Zia was a Fire Elementalist and so more resistant to it then others.

"You were not the only one." Sadie said while those of the past looked even more confused though Amir had a slight clue what would happen seeing whom the young woman followed, at least would his daughter be unhurt due to her inheritance from her grandmother.

Zia leaned forward and frowned. "You shouldn't—"

Before she could finish, a column of flame erupted in her face.

"As said, nearly had a heart attack." Carter repeated while pulling Zia closer who leaned against him with a small smile on her lips, she had seen how scarred he had looked after that incident.

"At least will she be fine due her being bound to fire." Rachel sighed in relief while sending a silent prayer of thanks to her mother-in-law for that gift she had given to Zia.

I screamed, sure I'd done something horrible,

"If it would have been someone else, then yes you would have." Thoth informed the other, but the situation had ended without a great damage even though that girl in the book had been at that time a shabti, but that was still not different from the actual situation.

but when the fire died Zia was still there, looking astonished, her eyebrows singed and her bangs smoldering.

"And we now have the title here." Julian piped in.

"Oh, god," I said. "Sorry, sorry. Do I die now?"

For three heartbeats, Zia stared at me.

"I was contemplating if I should be shocked, pleased, scarred or just murder you." Zia informed Sadie.

"Thanks for picking another option then anstead of the last one." was Sadie's reply, she really preffered living, thank you very much.

"Now," she announced. "I think you are ready to duel."

"Wait a moment, duel?" Mr. Faust asked while first looking over at his wife and then the rest of his family, first that chasm with that damned plank and who knows what attacking his daughter and now even a duel!

"Don't worry dad, a duel is only then suggested if the new initiates show some skill towards being ready to do that." Ruby tried reassuring her father, with more or less luck seeing how he was still giving the Chief Lector a dark look.

"That also could have gone better." Carter whispered to Sadie and Zia who nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, the uppart is that Ramses will kind of figure out who his descendants are, and some side ancestors." Zia whispered back to the siblings.

"Yep, so nice to know that our family was kind of tied together since ages even in the ancient past." Sadie said as she remembered Thoth's words regards Narmer's wife's family.

"As was our bond with the Gods." Carter reminded her, this information kind of still surprised him, but it certainly explained some things that happened in the past, mostly why they were the ones aligned with the Demon Days.

We used another magic gateway, which Zia summoned right on the library wall. We stepped into a circle of swirling sand and popped out the other side, covered in dust and grit, in the front of some ruins.

A good deal of people were trying to figure out where they could have gone while the four from the antique did their best to not flinch, they were not eager to find out what of their past had been let to crumble together there.

The harsh sunlight almost blinded me.

"I hate portals," Carter muttered, brushing the sand out of his hair.

"Set, could this also be unintentionally your doing seeing how you kind of helped making those portals and you don't exactly like Horus." Carter asked the God in red while Horus looked annoyed and mumbling something along the lines of the feeling being mutual.

"I'm not sure about that one, though I will look over that later on." Set answered to the young Pharaoh who nodded his head that he was fine with the idea.

Then he looked around and his eyes widened. "This is Luxor!

Ramses let out a chocking sound while Ruby and her family tensed.

That's, like, hundreds of miles south of Cairo."

I sighed. "And that amazes you after teleporting from New York?"

"Dad would never go there, though now I know why." Carter whispered to the others who nodded their heads, it would make sense why Julius avoided that place after his wife's death.

He was too busy checking out our surroundings to answer.

I supposed the ruins were all right, though once you've seen one pile of crumbly Egyptian stuff, you've seen them all, I say.

Now looked the rest of the antique also sick while the Gods bowed their heads, Isis the most, this was in a big part her fault.

We stood on a wide avenue flanked by human-headed beasties,

The Gods who possessed animal heads stared blinking at an embarrassed Sadie while Ramses did his best to not show his dismay about his temple in Luxor being in the modern times nothing more then ruins.

most of which were broken.

The ruler flinched again while the queen patted him on the back, somehow had Hatshepsut the feeling that she kind of got handed this role due to her being the only female in their small group and her motherly instincts would help her consoling the three men.

The road went on behind us as far as I could see, but in front of us it ended at a temple much bigger than the one in New York museum.

The walls were at least six stories high. Big stone pharaohs stood guard on either side of the entrance, and a single obelisk stood on the left-hand side.

The small smile Ramses had on his face disappeared, there had not been only one obelisk standing there!

it looked as if one used to stand on the right as well, but it was now gone.

"What?" Ramses asked in dismay, he could deal with it being broken, crumbled to dust, but not completely disappeared, what had been done to his work?!

"Erm…you will soon see." Carter told his ancestor who leaned back in his seat, his face pale.

"Unfortunately." he mumbled, he hated this part of his unplanned vacation into the future, the knowledge how that what they did for the ages crumbles to dust, but not through the hands of time and nature, but their own people.

"Luxor is a modern name," Zia said. "This was once the city of Thebes.

"It had kind of been contemplated to rename it already in my time, but it got often put on hold." Ramses informed in a weak voice.

This temple was one of the most important in Egypt. It is the best place for us to practice."

"And also ironic." Amos whispered to Ruby and Julius both of whom nodded though the young soon-to-be-mother threw some worried glances at her ancestor who had now a weak smile on his lips. She really felt sorry for the four of the antique, they were faced with one painful information after another.

"Because it's already destroyed?" I asked.

"Sorry." Sadie told her flinching ancestor who only waved his hand to indicate that it was fine.

Zia gave me one of her famous scowls.

"I think it is cute when you do that." Carter whispered to her.

"No, Sadie—because it is still full of magic. And it was sacred to your family."

"Their family!" both Ramses and Narmer exclaimed as they sat up straighter in their seats while Ashkender looked over at Mrs. Faust and her daughter.

"This is from their mother's side and in some way from their father's side seeing how Lord Thoth had pointed out that there is a high chance that the blood of Neithotep's family was carried over into that of a new ruling dynasty." Ashkender pointed out at which both Ruby and her mother nodded, the later coming to terms with the fact that her daughter's marriage may have been fated and out of their control, while both Narmer and Ramses looked at each other, none of them had expected this development.

"Our family?" Carter asked.

Zia didn't explain, as usual. She just gestured for us to follow.

"We had not time to chat and I king of thought that you know at least a little something." Zia explained herself.

"I don't like those ugly sphinxes," I mumbled as we walked down the path.

Both Sadie and Carter flinched knowing that Carter got into a close contact with one.

"You should not insult them, they have a temper and not only when you get their test wrong." Thoth warned.

"Most things in the mythological world have a temper." Julian pointed out.

"May be true, but some can dissolve it better, you will know that after meeting Hestia, Macaria, Harmonia, Iris and a small few others." Set put in while the others turned to him.

"Which Gods are those?" Carter asked the God, though it was Iskander who explained, having not talked about the Divinities of his other side much in the past.

"Lady Hestia is the oldest of the six siblings born to the Titan of Time Kronos and his wife the Titanes of female fertility, motherhood and generations. She is the Virgin Goddess of the heart, home and chastity, I think the name Harmonia is explaining enough regards that Goddess as for the other two mentioned Iris is the Goddess of the Rainbow and a divine messenger" at this younger Amos looked up as he remembered the talk between Set and Hades, he guessed that he had seen some of the power of that Goddess. "As for the last, Lady Macaria is the daughter of Hades the God of the Greek Underworld and his wife the Persephone the Goddess of Spring Growth, she is the Goddess of Blessed Death and guards the entrance to the Isle of the Blest which is for the souls of people who had three times after their death chosen reincarnation and all three times achieved Elysium, in other words paradise." he finished explaining as some looked at him with slightly widened eyes before turning to Set.

"Let us guess, you have meet the last Goddess rather often." Sadie said while the God gave her a grin.

"I did, also I had often talked to Iris seeing how she has a rather nice vegetarian shop, though I need to point out that she is more then pacifistic in her nature."

"Aha, Alyssa continue." Sadie replied after receiving her answer.

"Those ugly sphinxes are creatures of law and order," Zia said, "protectors of Egypt. They are on our side."

"And depending on who controls them." Carter mumbled under his breath.

"If you say so."

Carter nudged me as we passed the obelisk. "You know the missing one is in Paris."

Ramses scowled at the new knowledge while Desjardins shifted in his seat.

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Wikipedia. I thought they were in New York and London."

"That's a different pair," Carter said, like I was supposed to care.

"I care now." Sadie said while those of the antique wondered which obelisks those two could be.

"The other Luxor obelisk is in Paris."

"Wish I was in Paris," I said. "Lot better than this place."

"I take that back now partially." Sadie said while Desjardins raised an eyebrow, he lived in Paris so what was the problem with the city?

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked her daughter.

"Next chapter." was the unnerving and mysterious reply which made those from the past nervous, well beside Desjardins who narrowed his eyes suspiciously, he had an unwelcome feeling that he will not like the next chapter rather much.

We walked into a dusty courtyard surrounded by crumbling pillars and statues with various missing body parts.

Ramses flinched with each word, it did not help that he had been there only two days before being wisked of into the future.

Still, I could tell the place had once been quite impressive.

"I certainly had been." Ramses whispered, it was a beautiful and grand place in his time filled with a flourish of life and not…that…

"Where are the people?" I asked. "Middle of the day, winter holidays. Shouldn't there be loads of tourists?"

Zia made a distasteful expression.

Now also Sadie had a similar look on her face.

"Usually, yes. I have encouraged them to stay away for a few hours."

"How?"

"Common minds are easy to manipulate."

There were seveal nodds at this, while Mr. Faust looked annoyed, but saw it better not to comment.

She looked at me pointedly, and I remembered how she'd forced me to talk in the New York museum. Oh, yes, she was just begging for more scorched eyebrows.

Sadie gave Zia a sheepish smile while their parents shook their heads at their daughters.

"Do you think that Sadie's dislike for Zia may also come from the fact that she picked up on the fact that there could be in the future something between her and Carter?" Tawaret whispered to Thoth who looked thoughtful at this.

"I may be seeing that it is most of the time evident that females pick up on feelings of romance by others much faster then males and with her having deprived of spending much time with her brother she might have unconsciously gone on the defensive towards any rivals similar how brother's tend to react when their sisters start dating." he whispered back to her, this reading started to turn out as more informative then he would have thought, he would after switching books talk with Athena and ask for her experiences during their own reading session.

"Now, to the duel." She summoned her staff and drew two circles in the sand about ten meters apart. She directed me to stand in one of them and Carter in the other.

"I've got to duel him?" I asked.

"I was not exactly happy about the idea." Sadie said with Carter nodding, he also had not liked the idea that she should duel his sister.

"Hopefully it ended better then the one between your father and uncle." Desjardins said while pinching the bridge of his nose as Ruby nodded, they had been the ones who needed to gather the two together after it was over.

"What happened?" the siblings asked seeing that neither age set of the two men looked about to answer and the two of their time got even slightly consoled by their respective Gods.

"Let's just say that it ended with both learning to know how the healers ward looked from the inside for two days." Ruby elaborated while her children exchanged glances with each other.

"Uhm…neither of us ended up in the healing ward." they answered, sure Carter got hurt, but that got fixed rather fast.

"That is good to hear." Ruby answered so she missed the small flinch indicating that there still were some injuries.

I found the idea preposterous. The only thing Carter had shown aptitude for was summoning butter knives and pooping birds.

Everyone turned to Sadie who motioned for Alyssa to continue.

Well, all right, and that bit on the chasm bridge deflecting the daggers, but still—what if I hurt him? As annoying as Carter might be, I didn't want to accidentally summon that glyph I'd made in Amos's house and explode him to bits.

"I would appreciate of you not blowing my Eye up." Horus told Sadie while Carter rolled his eyes, but was still happy about what Horus said.

"We also agree." younger Julius said, just his luck that his daughter will be good with the ha-di spell.

Perhaps Carter was thinking the same thing, because he'd started to sweat. "

"I did." he confirmed, those had been not pleasant images which had filled his head.

What if we do something wrong?" he asked.

"I will oversee the duel," Zia promised.

"Though no matter the circles, keep your wand ready." Desjardins said while throwing a glare at Julius.

"What happened?" Carter asked in confusion as he saw both versions of his father flinch.

"A spell kind of got side tracked." younger Amos elaborated while those of the present nodded.

"Dad certainly made the wrong impressions of Desjardins as they meet." Carter whispered to Sadie, Walt and Zia.

"And another ground why he was acting the way with us he did." Sadie replied back.

"We will start slowly. The first magician to knock the other out of his or her circle wins."

"Yes you two, knocking out of the circle and not knocking out enough for medical attention." Ruby scolded the brothers sitting with her while their older versions did their best to not look at the two Gods they hosted.

"But we haven't been trained!" I protested.

"One learns by doing," Zia said. "This is not school, Sadie. You cannot learn magic by sitting at a desk and taking notes. You can only learn magic by doing magic."

There were many agreeing nods at this while Set looked amused at the thought of how the people in Hecate's pet-world would react to this statement, but as the Goddess herself had said their magic is weak compared to that of the powers of the demigods and the Egyptian magicians, mostly that they use their wands for both defence and offence and are lost without it except a decreasing few.

"But—"

"Summon whatever power you can," Zia said. "Use whatever you have available. Begin!"

"We certainly did." the siblings said while doing their best to not groan.

"Why do I have the feeling that no matter if they don't land themselves by the healers that something will go wrong and I'm not talking about the passing of the Chief Lector." the last part was hard to say for Amos as he leaned closer to his brother and sister-in-law both nodding their heads while looking nervous.

I looked at Carter doubtfully. Use whatever I have? I opened the leather satchel and looked inside. A lump of wax? Probably not. I drew the wand and rod. Immediately, the rod expanded until I was holding a two-meter-long white staff.

Carter drew his sword, though I couldn't imagine what he'd do with it. Rather hard to hit me from ten meters away.

"Well, there are ways how that…"

"Thoth, long explainings for another time." Isis told the other God who scowled about the fact that he was interrupted.

I wanted this over, so I raised my staff like I'd seen Zia do. I thought the word Fire.

Sadie heard her parents groaning.

A small flame sputtered to life on the end of the staff. I willed it to get bigger. The fire momentarily brightened, but then my eyesight went fuzzy. The flame died. I fell to my knees, feeling as if I'd run a marathon.

"You drew from yourself instead of the staff." Ruby said worriedly.

"I'm fine mom." Sadie reassured her.

"You okay?" Carter called.

"No," I complained.

"If she knocks herself out, do I win?" he asked.

"Shut up!" I said.

"I was checking the level of your exhaustion." Carter told his sister who did the mature thing and pointed her tongue at him while the others looked amused at the exchange.

"Sadie, you must be careful," Zia called. "You drew magic from your own reserves, not from the staff. You can quickly deplete your magic."

I got shakily to my feet. "Explain?"

"A magician begins a duel full of magic, the way you might be full after a good meal—"

"Which I never got," I reminded her.

There were a few snickers at Sadie's comment.

"Each time you do magic," Zia continued, "you expend energy. You can draw energy from yourself, but you must know your limits. Otherwise you could exhaust yourself, or worse."

I swallowed and looked at my smoldering staff. "How much worse?"

"You could literally burn up."

The magicians looked down gravely while Mr. Faust felt his jaw drop, Margaret never informed him that if magic gets overdone then this could happen to their daughter so he did not see the pained expressions on the faces of those from the present or how they did their best to not look in Ruby's direction.

I hesitated, thinking how to ask my next question without saying too much. "But I've done magic before. Sometimes it doesn't exhaust me. Why?"

From around her neck, Zia unclasped an amulet. She threw it in the air, and with a flash it turned into a giant vulture.

Rachel looked over to the thrones at the Goddess dressed in blue who gave her a small smile.

The massive back bird soared over the ruins. As soon as it was out of sight, Zia extended her hand and the amulet appeared in her palm.

"Magic can be drawn from many sources," she said. "It can be stored in scrolls, wands, or staffs. Amulets are especially powerful.

All of the magicians gently touched their amulets, mostly the hosts whose amulets represented the God they follow which on the other hand made said divinities smile at them in return.

Magic can also be drawn straight from Ma'at, using the Divine Words, but this is difficult. Or"—she locked eyes with me—"it can be summoned from the gods."

All present host nodded their heads, they also knew that even in such case one needed to keep a good eye on how much energy one borrows from their partner or it could end bad if one of them is not paying attention.

"Why are you looking at me?" I demanded. "I didn't summon any gods. They just seem to find me!"

"Which seems to be certainly true as these books prove." Sadie said while Anubis squirmed in his throne.

She put on her necklace but said nothing.

"Hold on," Carter said. "You claimed this place was sacred to our family."

"That had been the time I started putting the pieces together." Carter informed everyone.

"It was," Zia agreed.

"But wasn't this..." Carter frowned. "Didn't the pharaohs have a yearly festival here or something?"

"Indeed," she said. "The pharaoh would walk down the processional path all the way from Karnak to Luxor.

Those from the antique nodded their heads in confirmation, it may be a long way, but it was tradition.

He would enter the temple and become one with the gods. Sometimes, this was purely ceremonial. Sometimes, with the great pharaohs like Ramses, here—"

At this looked said Pharaoh up questioningly, he may have had contact with Lord Osiris, Ptah, Thoth and a few times even with Ladies Hathor and Isis, but he was sure that he had been not a host till now.

"On occasions Osiris, but most of the time me." Horus told the man who nodded his head wondering how his father Seti would have felt about this news, would have probably taken him to the side for another long talk like after that incident with his sisters.

Zia pointed to one of the huge crumbling statues.

And now was he back to winching.

"They actually hosted the gods," I interrupted, remembering what Iskander said.

"I should have not commented." Sadie said with a groan.

"It certainly made me suspicious and you did not explain from where you have got the information." Zia told her, but was not sure how she would have felt at that time if Sadie had told her.

Zia narrowed her eyes. "And yet you claim to know nothing of your family's past."

"Wait a second," Carter protested. "You're saying we're related to—"

"It kind of had been a shocking revelation." Carter admitted while his parents smiled at him, they could imagine.

"The gods choose their hosts carefully," Zia said. "They always prefer blood of the pharaohs.

The Gods nodded their heads in confirmation those from the royal blood lines had better chances to be able to host them then most of the others and contraire to popular belief they did not enjoy seeing their host's soul burning out, that would be Apophis.

When a magician has the blood of two royal families..."

I exchanged looks with Carter. Something Bast said came back to me: "Your family was born to magic." And Amos had told us that both sides of our family had a complicated history with the gods, and that Carter and I were the most powerful children to be born in centuries.

The initiates nodded thier heads, the two siblings were certainly powerful while both Horus and Isis beamed at their blushing Eyes.

A bad feeling settled over me, like an itchy blanket prickling against my skin.

"Our parents were from different royal lines," I said.

"Which were still connected in a way as it turns out." Hatshepsut said while looking at both Ramses and Narmer who were again looking at each other.

"Dad... he must've been descended from Narmer, the first pharaoh. I told you he looked like that picture!"

"That's not possible," Carter said. "That was five thousand years ago." But I could see his mind was racing. "Then the Fausts..." He turned to Zia. "Ramesses the Great built this courtyard. You're telling me our mom's family is descended from him?"

"We certainly are." replied both Ruby and her mother with a nod of their heads while Narmer finally took his time to look the blonde woman over more carefully, noting that she really did share some features with his wife.

Zia sighed. "Don't tell me your parents kept this from you.

Older Julius fidgeted somewhat in his throne while Osiris patted him again on the back in an attempt of reassurance.

Why do you think you are so dangerous to us?"

"Or anyone they see as enemy." Sean said grinning together with the other initiates which made the duo blush again.

"You think we're hosting gods," I said, absolutely stunned.

"In the end we kind of did." Carter said sheepishly while looking over at Horus.

"That's what you're worried about—just because of something our great-times-a-thousand grandparents did? That's completely daft."

"As said we did not know at that time that we had them." Sadie added in while looking over at Isis.

"Then prove it!" Zia said. "Duel, and show me how weak your magic is!"

"And that failed." Carter said as he remembered what will come in a few minutes.

She turned her back on us, as if we were completely unimportant.

"I did not want to be confirmed that you were really hosts." Zia said sighing, she wanted to pretend at that time that they were mistaken and she would have people with her closer in age, people who could be her friends, but that needed to wait before it happened.

"It is fine Zia, everything turned out alright in the end." Carter reassured her while the Rashids gave him thankful smiles that he was there for their daughter.

Something inside me snapped.

Sadie groaned while burying her head in Walt's shirt.

"I was such a childish idiot back then." she mumbled while some looked nervous abut what she did.

I'd had the worst two days ever. I'd lost my father, my home, and my cat, been attacked by monsters and had ice water dumped on my head. Now this witch was turning her back on me. She didn't want to train us.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" Sadie repeated her mantra while Walt patted her on the back, there was not much he could do and saying that it was not her fault would be a lie.

She wanted to see how dangerous we were.

Now Ruby also started mumbling something, but it was more along the lines of cursing her own inheritable temper.

Well, fine.

There were several groans at this, they just knew that this will not end well.

"Um, Sadie?" Carter called. He must've seen from my expression that I was beyond reason.

"I certainly did and was contemplating if I should grab Zia and run or try reasoning with you." he informed his sister who gave him an apologetic smile, the upcoming disaster had been her fault.

I focused on my staff. Maybe not fire. Cats have always liked me.

"Seeing how their Mistress was your babysitter they would have been fools not to." Set informed the blonde who nodded.

Maybe...

I threw my staff straight at Zia. It hit the ground at her heels and immediately transformed into a snarling she-lion. Zia whirled in surprise, but then everything went wrong.

The lion turned and charged at Carter, as if she knew I was supposed to be dueling him.

Sadie looked apologetically at her brother while their parents paled.

"Those circles are not there for decoration." Desjardins informed the girl who nodded her head, she knew that now.

I had a split second to think: What have I done?

This was the time when Sadie returned to her earlier mantra.

Then the cat lunged... and Carter's form flickered.

"I noticed that we were being attacked." Horus told them, he had paid not much attention after the entered the library and only noticed that they had changed places when hearing the lioness's growl. He had been kind of perplexed about how he had missed the fact that they were in a duel and not writing on papyrus anymore.

"Thanks." Carter told the God, he had not much against cats, but would not like to end up as Friskies.

He rose off the ground, surrounded by a golden holographic shell like the one Bast had used, except that his giant image was a warrior with the head of a falcon. Carter swung his sword, and the falcon warrior did likewise, slicing the lion with the shimmering blade of energy. The cat dissolved in midair, and my staff clattered to the ground, cut neatly in half.

Carter's avatar shimmered, then disappeared. He dropped to the ground and grinned. "Fun."

"For you, I nearly got a heart attack and a confirmation that you host a God or at least follow the Path of one then in any other way is it impossible for a magician to call up the avatar of a divinity which uses combat magic." Zia told her boyfriend who pulled her close, he knew that now will come the hard part for her.

"Wonderful prospects." Ruby mumbled and they still had plenty of chapters and two more books to go.

He didn't even look tired. Once I got over my relief that I hadn't killed him, I realized I didn't feel tired either. If anything, I had more energy.

The siblings turned over to their Gods, they now knew why that was.

I turned defiantly to Zia. "Well? Better, right?"

Her face was ashen. "The falcon. He—he summoned—"

"As said no magician not in contact with a God could have summoned an avatar to protect them." Zia repeated her earlier statement.

Before she could finish, footsteps pounded on the stones. A young initiate raced into the courtyard, looking panicked. Tears streaked his dusty face. He said something to Zia in hurried Arabic.

Carter pulled Zia even closer to himself while everyone bowed their heads; they knew what was being said… Chief Lector Iskander had stepped into the Halls of Judgement waiting for his heart to be judged.

When Zia got his message, she sat down hard in the sand. She covered her face and began to tremble. Carter and I left our dueling circles and ran to her.

Both set of parents looked up, one in thankfulness the other pair in pride.

"Zia?" Carter said. "What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her composure. When she looked up, her eyes were red. She said something to the adept,

"I sent him back to the First." she said softly while fighting her tears again.

who nodded and ran back the way he'd come.

"News from the First Nome," she said shakily. "Iskander..." Her voice broke.

I felt as if a giant fist had punched me in the stomach. I thought about Iskander's strange words last night: It seems I, too, can rest at least.

The old Chief Lector nodded his head, he did not like hearing about the pain he had caused, but knew that he had lived long enough, as he had already told Michel, it was time to let go, no matter how painful it may be.

"He's dead, isn't he? That's what he meant."

Zia stared at me. "What do you mean: 'That's what he meant'?"

"I..." I was about to say that I'd spoken with Iskander the night before. Then I realized this might not be a good thing to mention.

"It certainly would have." Zia admitted, it hurt to hear how he knew about his passing and at that time when the pain was still fresh it would have been only worse.

"Nothing. How did it happen?"

"In his sleep," Zia said.

Iskander nodded, yes, he had followed the call of the two brothers for falling asleep and dying the way it is natural are similar in their aspects.

"He—he had been ailing for years, of course. But still..."

"It's okay," Carter said. "I know he was important to you."

She wiped at her tears, then rose unsteadily. "You don't understand. Desjardins is next in line.

Said man did not feel any pride in that knowledge, even if it would not involve Julius's children, he would take his Master's passing terribly.

As soon as he is named Chief Lector, he will order you executed."

Ruby flinched, but did not glare or say anything because her children were still here and beside the fact that this had not happened till now in their time she remembered the strange way her children had defended Desjardins and the way everyone from the present seemed to look at him in occasions…it was a look of sadness. She had a bad feeling regards all of this, mostly that while speaking about the House no one even mentioned his name even thought he must be the current Chief Lector except if…she did not dare continue that thought, but it would explain some things which made her feel cold.

"But we haven't done anything!" I said.

"It won't matter to me and the fact that the Master passed on the night you were brought to the First, I will be even harder to reason with." Desjardins spoke up in a pained tone while the siblings nodded their heads, they understood his rezoning.

Zia's eyes flashed with anger. "You still don't realize how dangerous you are? You are hosting gods."

"Ridiculous," I insisted, but an uneasy feeling was building inside me. If it were true... no, it couldn't be! Besides, how could anyone, even a poxy old nutter like Desjardins,

Desjardins stared gapping at the blonde while both Juliuses groaned as Sadie help up her hands in apology.

seriously execute children for something they weren't even aware of?

"He will order me to bring you in," Zia warned, "and I will have to obey."

"You can't!" Carter cried. "You saw what happened in the museum. We're not the problem. Set is.

"Only in part." Amos corrected his nephew while Set stopped pouting and looked at her Eye with a small smile.

"What do you mean?" younger Julius asked, a part of him was still perplexed about the fact how good his brother gets along with the Chaos God while also being thankful that their parents were not here, he feared that his father would have some unwelcome comments towards his youngest son and in the worst case also his unborn grandchild and he was not sure if by the later Amos would even try holding Set back.

And if Desjardins isn't taking that seriously... well, maybe he's part of the problem, too."

Said magician huffed in indignation, but knew that he could not argue in the light of the facts.

Zia gripped her staff. I was sure she was going to fry us with a fireball, but she hesitated.

"I was lost about what to do." Zia admitted, it had been hard, her pain, loyalties, all that she had learned and the new feelings, they had all clashed together like the Red Sea at Musa's command.

"Zia." I decided to take a risk. "Iskandar talked with me last night. He caught me sneaking around the Hall of Ages."

She looked at me in shock. I reckoned I had only seconds before that shock turned to anger.

Zia nodded her head in confirmation.

"He said you were his best pupil," I recalled. "He said you were wise. He also said Carter and I have a difficult path ahead of us, and you would know how to help us when the time came."

"And you certainly did." Carter told his girlfriend who gave him a soft smile.

He staff smoldered. Her eyes reminded me of glass about to shatter.

"You did not exactly help my confusion." Zia informed Sadie while their parents watched their children with sad eyes, because neither of them was there to help guide them.

"Desjardins will kill us,"

Said man did not deny, though he felt grateful when Amos placed his and on his arm in reassurance that if they remember all of this that things will be different.

I persisted. "Do you think that's what Iskander had in mind?"

I counted to five, six, seven. Just when I was sure she was going to blast us, she lowered her staff. "Use the obelisk."

Ruby looked gratefully at the young woman who smiled back at her.

"What?" I asked.

"The obelisk in the entrance, fool! You have five minutes, perhaps less, before Desjardins sends orders for your execution. Flee, and destroy Set.

"Luckily they did not go through with the last part of my sentence." Zia said as she smiled at the God, Lord Ra would have been terribly upset with the loss of his adopted son.

The Demon Days begin at sundown. All portals will stop working. You need to get as close as possible to Set before that happens."

"Hold on," I said. "I meant you should come with us and help us!

"At that time it was not in my power." Zia said, it had not even been truly her at that time when this happened even thought the memories the shabti sent to her made it feel like that.

We can't even use an obelisk, much less destroy Set!"

"Now the first part is easy and we don't plan on doing the second." Sadie said grinning, mostly not now that it would upset not only Ra and Bast, but also her uncle and soon-to-be-born cousin.

"I cannot betray the House," she said. "You have four minutes now. If you can't operate the obelisk, you'll die."

That was enough incentive for me. I started to drag Carter off, but Zia called: "Sadie?"

When I looked back, Zia's eyes were full of bitterness.

"Desjardins will order me to hunt you down," she warned. "Do you understand?"

Unfortunately, I did. The next time we met, we would be enemies.

"Though we overcome the troubles in the end." Sadie said, she was glad that Zia would not be her enemy anymore, she liked her better as a type of older sister.

"That is true." Zia replied back with a smile.

I grabbed Carter's hand and ran.

"Shelby, your turn." Alyssa told her friend and handed the book over.

"Ok, the next chapter is A Bad Trip to Paris." she read and Desjardins was suddenly reminded on the bad feeling he had not long ago.

Okay, before I get to the demon fruit bats,

"Demon what?" come many confused questions when suddenly Desjardins let out a strange sound before narrowing his eyes at the sheepishly grinning siblings.

"You two were in my house." he said with narrowed eyes.

"Wonderful." younger Julius groaned at the news while his older self asked Osiris to take over for him till the children are out of Paris.

"Shel." Sean nudged the girl who nodded and started reading before an argument breaks out.

I should back up.

The night before we fled Luxor, I didn't get much sleep—

Carter flinched, here it comes…

To be continued…