Breakfast the next morning quickly became tense.
A strange man waited for everyone at the head of the table. When Jesse greeted him, he introduced himself as Amos. Machaela and Jesse, and everyone else, recognized the name from the tape, of course, but no one really knew what to expect from him. Had hosting Set changed him? How much had he healed? Machaela and Jesse kept a wary eye on him, ready to go on the defensive if he was still possessed by Set.
After a couple of quiet minutes, Carter came in looking very freaked out, but wouldn't tell anyone exactly why. He did mention that Apophis was trying to escape, which rather killed whatever good mood everyone had. He refused to provide any more details, but that was enough to inhibit conversation. By the time Sadie came in, nobody was eating. Instead of staring at each other, as they had been, they began to stare at her, waiting for more information since Carter refused to give it.
"Morning," she muttered. "Penguin in the fireplace, if anyone's interested."
"Sadie," Amos told her, "tell everyone what you told me."
So, between sips of her drink, she launched into telling about her dream. Obviously still shaken by what she had seen, she described her visit to the Hall of Ages and the conversation between Desjardins and Vladimir she had witnessed. Upon hearing Vlad planned to attack, Machaela and Jesse started planning defensive strategies.
When she finished, the only sounds were the fire and Philip.
The first to find his words was Felix, and he was nervous. "So we're all going to die, then?" he asked.
"No." Amos leaned forward in his seat. "Absolutely not. Children, I know I've just arrived. I've hardly met most of you, but I promise we'll do everything we can to keep you safe. This house is layered with magic protection." He gestured to Bast, who was opening a can of Fancy Feast with her fingernails. "You have a major goddess on your side and the Kane family to protect you. Carter and Sadie are more powerful than you might realize, and I've battled Michel Desjardins before, if it comes to that."
Machaela and Jesse looked a bit dubious, but kept quiet, content to plan defense strategies for protecting the house. There was the roof, the terrace, and the east wall…
"If it comes to that?" Alyssa asked. "It sounds pretty certain they'll attack us."
Others around the table nodded in agreement, turning to Amos for his answer. Even though they didn't know him, as the only adult, his opinion automatically carried weight.
"Perhaps," Amos answered, scrunching his brow, "but it troubles me that Desjardins would agree to such a foolish move. Apophis is the real enemy, and Desjardins knows it. He should realize he needs all the help he can get. Unless…" His voice trailed off, and he didn't finish. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn't pleasant. "At any rate," he continued, "if Desjardins decides to come after us, he will plan carefully. He knows this mansion will not fall easily. He can't afford to be embarrassed by the Kane family again. He'll study the problem, consider his options, and gather his forces. It would take several days for him to prepare—time he should be using to stop Apophis."
Walt raised his index finger, his natural gravity calling all attention to him. Even Khufu, the resident baboon that only ate things ending in –o, looked up from his grapes suspended in Jell-O. (Jell-O was apparently magical, possibly due to the capital O. Khufu would eat anything suspended in Jell-O.) "If Desjardins does attack us, he'll be well prepared, with magicians who are a lot more experienced than we are. Can he get through our defenses?"
All eyes turned to Amos, many remembering the last time the defenses had been breached, last December. It hadn't been good. Two longnecks had attacked the house, killing Philip and opening the path for Set's carriers to chase Sadie, Carter, and Bast through Brooklyn and Manhattan. They had only barely escaped, and Bast had been sent back to the Duat for a short time.
"We must make sure it doesn't come to that," he replied. "Desjardins knows what we're attempting, and that we only have five days—well, four days, now. According to Sadie's vision, Desjardins is aware of our plan and will try to prevent it out of some misguided belief that we are working for the forces of Chaos. But if we succeed, we'll have bargaining power to make Desjardins back off."
Cleo raised her hand, like she was in school. "Um…We don't know the plan. Four days to do what?"
At this, Machaela and Jesse knew questions and surprises would be thrown around the table as the rest of the trainees were clued in on the plan. Deciding they didn't need to hear that, they stepped out, heading to their rooms.
"Plan?" Machaela asked as they crossed the hallway.
"Of course."
Hurrying into Machaela's room, Jesse started looking around. "We have a lot more magic snipers than combat-ready trainees. Do you still keep that box you had in Egypt?"
Machaela snapped her fingers, as if he had reminded her of something. She quickly turned to her bed, from under which she pulled a large case. Plopping it onto her bed, Jesse barely had time to read "Emergency Defense" on the cover before she opened it to reveal magic supplies.
"Is this the one you're talking about?" she asked.
He nodded, looking into the box. Hundreds of pieces of wax formed into shabtis, an extra kopis, a khopesh, and two spare magic kits lay inside, but she moved all those aside to reveal a scroll down in the bottom.
"I put this in here, too," she told him. "For safe-keeping. It's a shabti spell I hadn't heard of, meant for a larger collection of shabtis. We didn't have a use for it, but we will. Check this out."
She gently took it out of the box, remembering Iskandar giving it to them, among other things, the night he had died. She couldn't believe it had been three months already, but she pushed the thought aside for now.
"Here," Machaela said, opening it. "This is the shabti spell." She pointed to the writing on the scroll. "Amos will want to see this."
But Jesse had noticed something. Taking the scroll from his sister, he shook his head. "This isn't for shabtis," he told her. "This is for summoning weapons."
"What are you talking about?" she said. "It was a shabti spell a moment ago." She took it back. "You're right. It's a summon—wait. Woah!" She held it where Jesse could see it too, and they watched as the writing shimmered and changed, now showing an elemental spell.
"No way!" Machaela exclaimed. "He gave us an Omniscroll!"
"A what, now?" Jesse asked, still watching the scroll as the spell changed once again.
"An Omniscroll," Machaela repeated. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before!" Jesse just looked at her, not knowing the term. "An Omniscroll is a spell book that has a copy of every spell in writing anywhere in the world. It's a very hard spell, and very rare."
"Wow," Jesse told her, looking back at the scroll. "No wonder he wanted us to be careful with it."
They looked at each other, then, without words, put the scroll back in the case. A scroll that rare needed to stay hidden. They decided to wait until they knew more about what was going to happen. For now, they would simply keep their classes going.
Helloooo, readers! here's the newest chapter, and i'd love to know your thoughts on it. RL has been hectic, but if there's still interest, i'm gonna try to get back to my weekly updates. thoughts?
