"Do you have to go in person? Can't you just scry or message her or something," Athena asks.
"This is too important for that darling, but I promise I won't be gone long," her husband replies as he grabs his white lab coat. He can tell by the look on her face that she's still not happy that he is going to see his ex.
"You could come with me," he suggests with a smile as he takes her hand.
"And look like a jealous wife," she offers.
"And look like a goddess who is concerned about the future of the world," he says.
"I don't think the others would welcome a Greek in their realm," she tells him.
"We are going to the library. That is my territory, besides you'll be with me. No one is going to say anything about you being there," he insists.
"I would love to see your library," she says with a smile of her own.
"I bet," he laughs thinking she's using library to represent one of his body parts.
"No, I really would like to see your collection of books," she now insists.
"Oh, you really mean the library," he says.
"What did you think I meant?" she asks confused now.
"Never mind," he says. "If you're going with me, you should tell Mom. We wouldn't want to worry her about where we ran off to."
"Oh, you meant..." she now says looking down and laughing herself.
When Thoth and Athena arrive outside of Library of Egypt - Duat Branch, Athena is taken-back by the architectural presence of the place.
"It's beautiful," she says gently placing her hand against the wall letting her fingers runs over the carvings.
"Thank you," he says taking her free hand. I put a lot of thought into the place," he says just as the doors open.
"Djehuti," a woman says excitedly, until she sees Athena. "Oh, you brought her."
"Seshat," the god says leaning in and kissing her cheek. "You remember Athena."
"Yes. How can I forget," she says sadly. "How may I assist you today?" she then says to Thoth in an attempt to change the subject from his wife.
"I, we, came to speak with Ma'at," he says.
"She is here," Seshat says stepping aside so they may enter. "She is in her office."
"Also, could you find me anything we have on Isfet or Nu," the god now asks his assistant.
"But I thought..."
"I don't mean Apophis," he explains. "I mean Chaos itself."
"Yes, of course, anything you wish," she says bowing to him.
As Thoth and Athena walk away, Athena whispers, "She hates me."
"Yes she does," he snickers.
"Sweetheart, it is not funny," she says.
"She'll never act on it," he assures her. "She is incapable of doing anything to hurt me. You have nothing to fear."
"I do not fear her," Athena says getting her inner warrior up. "I just wish to avoid any entanglements with your former..."
"Assistant," he finishes for her. "I promise, my sleeping with her meant nothing."
"I, on the other hand," a new female says with a laugh as they reach the doorway of a luxurious office toward the back of the library.
"Ma'at," Thoth says taking her hand and kissing her cheek.
"Athena, please come in," the Egyptian goddess says with a warm smile. "Welcome to our library." If you didn't know better, you would think Ma'at was an attorney. Her office is lined with law books. There is a beautiful set of wings on the wall behind her desk. Sitting on her desk is a replica set of scales like the ones used to balance a spirits heart against her own feather. An ankh is sitting on top of a stack of papyrus sheets with hieroglyphs on them.
"Apophis didn't work out, so Isfet is making another attempt using Nu," Ma'at says as she walks around the room in thought.
"Greek Chaos could be working with him," Athena warns.
"Yes, that would make thinks much worse for us. You say the children are joining forces to fight this?" Ma'at asks.
"Carter, Sadie, Walt, Zia and Alyssa," Thoth explains.
"From our side we have some of our best Greek and Roman children Percy, Jason, Nico, Leo, Frank and Hazel," Athena adds.
"And then there is Sani," Thoth says.
"Your son," Ma'at says causing Athena to raise an eyebrow. "Yes I realize," the goddess continues. "He is the spitting image of you Thoth, your curly blonde hair, and Athena your gray eyes. I realized the first time I saw the boy at your wedding. Only a fool would not recognize that he is yours."
"My father," Athena says, "Can never know."
"Yes, I can understand how that might present a problem. That old prophecy and all," Ma'at says.
"You know about that," Thoth asks surprised.
"I believe Demeter mentioned it at the wedding," the Egyptian goddess says. "Trust me I will not tell anyone, especially Zeus. As for Nu, I will do anything I can to assist. As you know, I cannot eliminate Isfet. It takes both chaos and order to keep the world in proper balance, but he must be controlled."
"Do you think that Nu and Chaos will try using a flood?" Athena asks Ma'at. "Nyx and Erebus seemed to think that would be their method."
"Nu being water and Chaos coming from space, they can control the tides. Using the seas against mortals would be easy enough for them, but how can they affect the gods that way?" the goddess replies. "I do not doubt that they will include flooding, but I would expect more."
"I am taking everything I have written on Isfet and Nu back to Olympus with me. Athena and I will go through it, see if we can come up with a strategy," Thoth says standing to leave.
"You will be the best to accomplish this," his ex says standing to see them out. "I wish you success," she continues kissing Thoth's cheek then Athena's as well.
"Thank you for your kindness," Athena tells Ma'at gently hugging her.
"We'd better go see what Seshat has found," the god says taking his wife's hand.
Seshat has a table full of scrolls ready for them. "I had no idea I was so prolific on the subject of Nu," Thoth says.
"A few of these are not yours," the Egyptian goddess says.
"As I said, I want to see everything," he says picking up a scroll. "Is this everything?" he now asks.
"I still have the shabti searching not only our library but others," Seshat tells him.
"Thank you," the god says then looks at his wife. "I'm not sure we can carry all of these without tearing them up. They are quite old."
"I could get Hermes...No wait, this is your Underworld not mine," Athena says.
"Lord Hermes is allowed into the Duat," Seshat says. "Ever since the Ptolemaic period."
"I'll select as many as we can safely take then send her brother for the rest," Thoth says.
"I'll prepare them for transport," the goddess says then bows to Thoth.
"These say that Atum is the father of Shu and Tefnut," Athena says looking up from a scroll. "I thought Anubis said..."
"There isn't much difference. Atum, the evening sun, is only one-third of Ra. I suppose Shu might want to think of Nu as part of his creation. You also have to consider that some believe Ptah was the creator god or even me," Thoth says. Athena smiles without saying anything. "I wasn't," he tells her with his own grin.
"Honestly, I can't find anything here that would make me think Nu has anything to gain out of this," Thoth says taking his glasses off and tossing them on the table covered in scrolls. "He knows as well as Ma'at that he can't survive without her."
"Maybe he's not involved," Athena says reaching for another scroll. "Maybe this is all on Chaos," she continues.
"Then why would the House of Life be pulled into it?" he asks.
"What if it's because the kids have created a friendship, and we can't do it without them," she suggests.
"Maybe," he says leaning back in his chair.
Sadie has just gotten home from school after staying late for play rehearsal and is walking up the staircase to her bedroom. She has her ear buds in so she doesn't hear a low voice going, "Pssst." She is startled when a face creeps out of the wall.
"Hey doll," he says when she stops and pulls the buds from her ears.
"What are you doing here," she asks Uncle Vinnie, aka Setne, aka Osiris's number one most wanted spirit. Setne is the ghost of a long dead magician and son of Ramses the Great, which technically makes him related to Cater and Sadie through their mother's side of the family. He was about to be put to death, for real death as in Ammit eat his heart death, but had to be spared to help Carter, Zia and Sadie capture the shadow of Apophis a couple of years back then he got away. Carter says he looks like a grease ball Mafioso and everyone else agrees.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" he asks with a nasty laugh.
"Where are you?" she asks.
"Nice try, doll, but I'm smarter than that," he says with a grin.
"Well, what do you want?"
"I got some information I thought you might like to have, for the right price," he tells her still grinning like he's up to no good, which knowing Setne is 100% guaranteed.
"I have homework to do," she says acting like she's going to put her buds back into her ears and ignore him.
"Okay, okay, you drive a hard bargain," he says then looks both ways like he's afraid someone else might come upon them talking on the stairs.
"I'm waiting," she says tapping her foot.
"As you know, I've been keeping a low profile since our last victory," he starts.
"Our last victory? You're kidding right?"
"The way I sees it, you couldn't have gotten to Apophis's shadow without my help. I was the key to the entire plan. Anyway, I've been spending some time down with the demons. Most of them aren't looking to devour my soul. Mind you, I'm not there all the time, so you shouldn't waste your time going there to look for me."
"Is this story going anywhere?"
"Anyway, I been hearing some things. Some things about Nu and some little hot Greek number he's wanting to hook up with."
"Chaos?" she asks.
"That's her. Anyway, I heard some demons talking about a little job Nu wants them to pull off. Now, I've never been a huge fan of Ma'at you understand. She's got this thing about laws, and I've never been real big on following them."
"Yes, I know."
"Still I don't want to see the little lady get kidnapped or even worse, killed," the ghost says.
"They're planning on kidnapping Ma'at! When?" Sadie asks showing concern for the first time during this conversation.
"Didn't hear all the details, but I think it's soon," he tells her.
"And you're sure about this?" she asks.
"Absolutely. So, I take it you are going to try and stop this little kidnapping from taking place?"
"Of course," she says looking at him like duh.
"Well, I certainly hope that when you save her that you'll be sure to tell your dad who it was that gave you the intel," Setne says.
"Oh, you can be sure I'll tell Dad about this little conversation," she agrees.
"Then my work here is done," he says grinning once again. Instantly, he vanishes from the wall. Sadie runs up the stairs yelling for Carter, Zia, Walt anyone who beat her home from school and might already be in their rooms studying.
