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Chapter 35

House of Powers

"We can't all go," I told my anxious friends on our way to classes. "It might just freak them out of a horde on teenagers come barging into their old people home. Fabian and I both knew Sarah, so we're the most likely to be recognized. So why don't Fabian, Eddie and I go during lunch."

"How come Eddie always gets to go?" Alfie groaned and I gave him a look. "Right, sorry." He answered abashed. I wish Eddie didn't have to follow me everywhere (and me follow him likewise), but with this curse we can't afford to take chances.

Plus, you never know when you might need some freaky Osirian powers. If something was to go wrong or we needed to do the hand-throw-stone thing, I'd need Eddie by my side.

"Would Nina Martin please come down to Mr. Sweet's office," I heard the headmaster call as I was about to go into first period. Eddie shot me a look and I only shrugged. Why did Mr. Sweet need me?

"Ah Nina," Mr. Sweet called when I poked my head through the door. "Come in and sit down." The boisterous man had regained the bound in his step missing when he sent us off for our trip to Egypt. Then he had obviously been thinking of the dangers we'd face, but now he just seemed like his old self.

"What can I do for you Mr. Sweet?" I asked and the man waved his hand.

"Please, when not in a school setting call me Eric. I am your uncle after all," he told me with a smile that I feigned in reply. Maybe we were related and maybe he was my mom's Osirian, but thinking of Mr. Sweet as Eric, or even worse 'Uncle Eric' was horrific.

"You're not in trouble, don't worry." I hadn't thought I was in trouble (you tend to know something like that), but his assurance that I wasn't here to be punished only heightened my confusion. So why then was I here? "I only have a few things I feel it necessary to discuss, about you and Eddie." Oh. This was an Egypt thing. "And Eddie and Patricia."

"She's not pregnant if that's what you're going to ask." My gods of the afterlife I was starting to get annoyed with the questions. Everyone knows I'm Patricia's best friend these days, but I wish they could just go to her. It's like people automatically assume that I'm against the engagement and would do anything to call it off.

"That wasn't what I was trying to imply…" A red face Mr. Sweet defended. "I'm merely asking if you know their reasons behind the move."

"Mr. Sweet, I mean Eric. I'm not going to discuss your son and my best friend's love lives with you. If you want to know their reasons behind it maybe you should ask them instead of trying to weasel information out of me."

"I wasn't trying to weasel," Mr. Sweet stuttered. "I just thought that because you two are so close."

"If you want to talk Chosen One and Osirian we can, but I get the impression you'd like to leave that part of your life behind you," I told him coolly. He knew of the curse and he had a right to stay away, but I wished he had come to the funeral. The connection Eddie and I have is the strongest thing I can imagine and I don't understand how he could not come to say goodbye.

Mr. Sweet was sweating as he spoke. "It is true that I don't like to think of the shadow war that goes on around us daily, but I do. I was born knowing what I was and when I heard Suzan, your mother, had a daughter at exactly the same time I had my son I knew Eddie had replaced me. I spent years of my past protecting both of you and trying to convince myself that what I knew was wrong. But that's not what I want to talk about exactly. I want to talk about you two's relationship."

"Were you really planning on leaving me out of this conversation?" Eddie, who obviously had followed me instead of going to class, asked as he stepped into his dad's office.

Maybe Eric Sweet was just finally getting to know his son, or maybe he heard the boy eaves dropping, but he didn't look surprised when Eddie showed up. Instead, he just waited for Eddie to sit down and continued. "I hope you don't think I withheld this information because I have some evil scheme," he began. "I just never knew exactly what to say. I won't give you a history lesson-I'm sure you know all about Amnertis and Asim-I just hope to shed some light on what it means to be the Chosen One and the Osirian."

I didn't imagine there was much more Mr. Sweet could tell us that we didn't know, but I sat on the edge of my seat as he spoke. "The term Chosen one originally referred to the person who, through the power of Anubis, could, on special dates, reassemble the Cup of Ankh that Amnertis broke. Over the course of history however other gods and goddesses have seen the Chosen One as a human to grant powers to so she or he can do a god's dirty work. With the cup all assembled that will mainly be what you and all future Chosen Ones have to deal with." I'd kind of figured that out already. (Though the idea of a god/dess wanting something of me was much scarier than the idea of pesky ghosts trying to take over the world.)

"As for you Eddie, with the original task of the Chosen One completed the job of the Osirian is even more important. You can banish spirits, as, if what I've overheard is correct, you did with Senkarah. You have visions of dangers that will in any way affect the Chosen One. That's why you had visions last year even without Nina around. You weren't protecting her directly, but without your powers the world would die and Nina with it. You can heal Nina, but since her ribs are fine I think you know that. The soul is split into 5 parts, one of which is the ba that travels in dreams. The Osirian spirit can anchor the ba of the Chosen One which allows you to protect Nina in dreams from spirits and demons." So Eddie's presence wasn't just comforting; he was literally keeping me from being sucked into the dream/visions. "Finally, you and Nina can form a mental bond, you might call it telepathy, which theoretically allows you to speak mentally across great distances."

I could see the wheels in Eddie's mind turning as he processed all his abilities. "So basically if it will help me keep Nina safe I can do it?" Eddie concluded and his father nodded.

"It might seem odd to you Nina, but I know exactly what it feels like to be the Osirian. It's like there are two spirits inside you-your own and that of the Osirian. Most of the time you're just you, but occasionally, when your Chosen One needs you, the other spirit takes over and there is only one person in the world who you would do absolutely anything for."

Mr. Sweet might not be the Osirian anymore, but I couldn't help but wonder if that Osirian spirit ever fully leaves. For as the man looked deep into the past he held a steadfast determination to protect a women who's been dead for 13 years.

I know it's weird, and not much after I forgot to update yesterday, but I needed this chapter out there for both this fic and the sequel.