-Zia Rashid-
Thankfully, Sobek had swum away. This left us time to focus on the area. Unfortunately, there were no signs of the Pharaoh or any wreckage. Perhaps Amos had meant something else? Or maybe was confused and mistook what had happened?
Zack seemed slightly discouraged as well, but chose not to say anything. I suppose he had learned the hard way not to speak his mind too quickly, finding that most of the time I can prove him wrong. This is also proving to be a bit of a taxing partnership.
Then again, the first magician I had paired up with for missions had been Desjardins. Iskandar had insisted despite my protesting, at the time I hadn't really enjoyed Michel's company. The first day had me in a mood, but Michel had quickly grown on me. He had a parental attitude that he wasn't afraid to show towards me, and it showed when we visited 'The Hermit of New York'.
The ever grouchy and rule-abiding magician had shown who he really was that day. I learned a lot from it, and I chose to keep in mind that perhaps first appearances are simply a façade. Later I had realized the need for such aggressive appearances. The Per Ankh was filled with backstabbers that would gladly take to your weaknesses. It seemed the only glue to it all had been Chief Lector Iskandar.
I'd like to consider the current Chief Lector and me as a partnership as well, though I realize he seems to dismiss the idea. I've watched him attempt to build an appearance to intimidate, but this is simply not fit to his personality. Admitting his hosting had proven to be better than his own attempts.
I must have annoyed him enough that he chose to have me join his niece and nephew. That or he was evacuating me from the First Nome for the inevitable attack he was preparing for. However, he still pushed me out of the First Nome after we had defeated the Lord of Chaos. Excuses of how I need to make something of myself outside of magic and Egyptian Gods.
"Can we trust this Kaden kid?" Zack decided he wanted to talk.
I rolled my eyes. Even as a teenager, it seems people still question him. "Yes, I personally know him."
Zack nodded, "Yeah, I saw him at Brooklyn with the Pharaoh. But can we trust him?"
This is why he is annoying. Who does he think he is digging into the matter? I quickly decided I need to come up with a story to get him to stop and protect Amos' identity. "Yes, he is the Pharaoh's cousin." I spat out before I could process what I had just said, biting my tongue after the fact.
Zack's eyes lit up, apparently filled with even more questions. "Wait, so you're saying there's another Kane running around?"
This wasn't what I had wanted, and I definitely had no plans of making things more difficult for Amos to deal with. However, I had already said it, there was no chance I could back out of this. "Anderson, he was raised by his mother."
"Still, you're saying it's the Chief Lector's son? Or was there another Jabari spawn?"
I highly doubted Zack really had anything to do with the estranged Jabari Kane. He was a rather popular name within the Per Ankh, enough that the name Kane earns disgust without mention of first names. "Yes, and no," I answered quickly.
Zack took a moment to absorb this information. "Is he a godling then?"
"No, in fact, he was simply visiting his cousins for a week."
Zack snorted in amusement, "Oh, so he doesn't want anything to do with his old man I take it?"
Okay, he had a point. This was starting to sound closer to Anubis. I'm also not certain how Amos feels about the Chief Lector version of himself if anything at all. "I've yet to ask, and I don't plan to."
"Fair enough," Zack deciding he's done trying to pry information out of me. "So, what's next? This appears to be a cold trail. And we have the Chief Lector's kid who clearly needs medical attention that we can't give."
I hesitated, I know what we need to do with Kaden. However, it means giving up on finding Carter for the time being. My right hand formed into a fist as I peered back at the sleeping form that's still breathing heavily. "Alright, we'll make our way back to Brooklyn."
At least Kyra would appreciate returning him home. Letting him leave had been a massive mistake it seems. Amos is the kind of person that doesn't like to simply 'sit on his hands' when he sees a problem. While slightly annoying, especially in this regard, it appeared as if this behavior had been engrained in both Kane brothers. I didn't find a reason to fault him for it.
Michel had warned against questioning some of these habits. When I had first met Amos, he seemed to have nobler habits than a typical hermit would. It almost seemed arrogant, as if showing off his bloodline without a hint of grace in it. I was actually disgusted upon leaving his mansion the first time we had paid him a visit.
Desjardins explained it briefly before we went back to Cairo. He told me of Jabari Kane and his gigantic reputation, and how it was practically demanded that his children represented it as well. While these habits were trained early on, apparently their mother made sure they experienced New York to give a slight reprieve.
While I now understand, some of those habits still bother me. I was born in a village, not a mansion. Thankfully Amos prefers not to enforce those habits on anyone. Though we seem to still fight over the topic of him preferring to be called by his first name and totally dismiss his title of Chief Lector.
Zack popped his neck with a quick side-to-side motion of his head. "I'll start making some headway then."
"Zack," I managed to grab his attention before he could even start to turn the boat around. "You've been a lot more help than I figured you would. Thank you."
He grinned, "Well, whatever I need to do to clear my name of kidnapping the Pharaoh."
I rolled my eyes, that was his fifth time bringing it up. I hadn't forgotten his intentions, there was no reason to keep reminding me. I went to hide my annoyance and plopped beside the sleeping teenager.
Digging through my bag, I found the apple I had thrown in before I left New York. I brushed it off a bit before taking the first crunch. Silently thanking myself for having the foresight to grab it as I chewed on it.
I could recall the time my father had come home with a basket of them, placing them on the table for us to stare at with admiration. I think I had three siblings, two younger sisters, and one older brother. We learned not to start grabbing things, especially something as luxurious as apples. Our father spent hard-earned money for us, and we wouldn't ruin it with our greed.
Our mother wasn't happy seeing a basket of apples. Insisting he could have spent that money on something with protein, anything but just apples. I remember he had the same look of disgust on his face.
He told her how his 'haul' was taken from him by an insistent American. Some deal was presented to Father, but he called him insane and went to leave. The American started a fight and took his findings. It was then he started home practically empty-handed. He then claimed he found the thief again, who offered the basket of apples as payment.
Mother decided he must have stolen it. She shoved the basket back in his hands, telling him to return it and apologize. He had hesitated but handed one to all four of his children before leaving.
This memory, surprisingly, came to me when Sadie insisted I just bite into one rather than stare at them a year ago. At the time I wasn't sure I would even like it, and I had been debating as to if I should just do so or not. Sadie had annoyed me enough to finally do it.
I hadn't told anyone about this. Honestly, it's not really anyone else's business but my own. Having a memory finally of my family, I was going to cherish it and hope I can find something else to trigger more. It's the reason I've been taking chances on new things.
"Zia?" I jumped in immediate response before I turned my head.
He had apparently sat up, bracing his right arm against his chest. His expression quickly turned apologetic, but his brown eyes seemed fairly spooked. "Sorry, I didn't-"
"Kaden," I emphasized his name to make sure he doesn't forget, "it's fine, you just surprised me. I figured you would have taken a long nap."
He took a moment to process. "Err, about that-"
"We're heading back to Brooklyn. We weren't able to find Carter or any boat wreckage. Right now, we need to get you out of harm's way," I went to explain as fast as I can.
He frowned at this news. "I understand you want to help, but as far as I can tell your help has put you at risk," I explained quickly. "You are important whether you like it or not. Consider how your father would feel."
Both of his eyebrows raised, clearly confused for obvious reasons. "The Chief Lector? Don't tell me you forgot about him already." I made sure to keep talking before he could start asking questions.
It took a moment for him to process it and then noting the adult steering the boat before he sighed in slight annoyance. "Zia, they're back in Brooklyn."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean you can go around risking-" I stopped to the further annoyed look on his face.
"Carter is in New York with Friedrich. The Chief Lector is there too, but I don't know for how long." His left hand clenched into a fist.
"How do you know that?" Zack spoke up. "Honestly, you're already on a winning streak of bullshit kid, so you better have a good reason."
Kaden halted himself, guilt traveling across his facial features. Honestly, even if it's not true, I'd like to know what he has to say. "'Ana 'athaq bik."
As per usual, Amos couldn't really tell the difference between speaking in English and Arabic. Except he now started ranting in Arabic about Carter acting weirder than what he figured to be normal. I sighed as I noticed Zack had given up trying to understand Kaden's ranting. While nice to know Zack isn't fluent, Amos still thinks he needs to hold back simply because he needs to be reminded what language he's even speaking.
"Kaden, vous parlez arabe."
Thankfully he had paused, being able to recognize French as a different language. Zack seems to still not understand and kept himself preoccupied with the boat's movement. Amos noted this too, but he also seemed slightly interested in how easily I had jumped between languages.
I smiled, recalling when we had first come upon this similarity the first week of him being Chief Lector. As it turned out, Chief Lector Iskandar had practiced jumping languages with both of us. Unfortunately, Amos is a tad limited since he stopped at four. He only picked up French and Alexandrian Greek and decided it was enough. I happen to know German and Spanish as well, so I typically win when we go about testing each other.
He decided this time not to ask, instead wanting to take full advantage of speaking French. First, he went to explain how he seems to have a link to his older self, maybe something to do with ka's being switched as well. I didn't really believe this, so he went to make a hieroglyph in the air, apparently not surprised to find it purple.
I was very surprised to see this. Not only because he clearly is stuck with the Chief Lector's chaotic pool of magic, but he's somewhat capable of turning it towards Ma'at. As far as I know, the only Order born from Chaos has been Ra himself. Chaos will swallow Order, but not the other way around. So for him, a magician of Order, to bend chaotic energy to a point, this is fascinatingly new.
He didn't give me time to say anything after that, disbanding the spell before the adult could notice. The news he rapidly spilled put my nerves on edge. Carter doesn't seem to be acting like his usual self. It also seems that Amos' wariness of Torsten is justified. Unfortunately, the Chief Lector had decided his younger self had seen enough and forced him to wake up.
I surprised myself when I realized I had forgotten about the fruit in my hands that I had only taken three bites of. I'll have to inform Zack that we won't be heading to New York, and instead wait for information as to where Kyra ends up taking the Chief Lector. We'll need to regroup, especially since Amos had just been attacked.
My fingernails dug into the apple a bit as one other subject still bugged me. "Êtes-vous au courant de votre hébergement?"
"Max m'a informé." He was quickly uncomfortable as he has right to be. "Il a été me tracasse depuis."
I nodded, though I wouldn't know who Max is. "I happen to be the Eye of Ra, and before that, I had hosted Nephthys. I know how scary it is."
He had a number of questions form, his eyes stated so. "We can continue later on that," I fished the sandwich I had hurriedly made and bagged out of my bag and handed it to him.
Amos opened his mouth, apparently about to protest as I got to my feet. "It's nothing fancy, just a peanut butter sandwich," I spoke swiftly. "I highly doubt you've eaten anything today, so just eat it."
His mouth immediately went to a thin line in response. I caught myself smirking at him as he decided to not argue and do as he was told. The Chief Lector, on the other hand, would have just brushed off my comments and kept with whatever was preoccupying his time.
"Zia?" Zack's voice sounded worried.
I turned to approach the front of the boat. "We need to halt our path to Brooklyn, some news has come up," I started.
Zack's eyes were more focused on the distance. "Why is that?" He seemed only slightly curious.
"We need to wait for further news on the Chief Lector. We'll need to regroup with him rather than run into New York alone," I explained swiftly.
"Hmm, okay. So, we have more guests," he extended his right hand to a familiar reed boat heading towards us.
Oh Ra, why? My hands are full as it is. It took a moment before I could process why this boat seemed familiar, eyes widening to the crimson jacket and fedora steering. I wasn't even aware that he had time to fix it after we evidently destroyed it.
"It's friendly," I assured Zack as he was showing signs of prepping for a fight.
His expression was immediately doubtful. "It's the Chief Lector's boat. If you attack, I'll have to defend them from you. Are we clear on this?"
His head lowered in response, "Alright, I'll just let you handle this."
I watched as Zack went to sit on the left side of the boat. Apparently, he'd rather not socialize with Kaden, which I'm completely fine with. My eyes went back to the boat as it was closing in on our right side.
"Amos, Kyra, I was just making plans to-" I completely dropped what I was saying when blue eyes locked on mine.
He smirked and decided to climb right into our boat, Annabeth leaving the hut of the boat to join as well. "Well, plans to do what?" Percy was kind enough to remind me.
"Why are you traveling in the Chief Lector's boat?" I screamed in annoyance. "How did you get access to it?"
Annabeth climbed into the boat now as Percy's mouth went to a thin line to my anger. "Actually, that explains a lot. I can see him being the kind of dude that would use some reed boat."
Before I could scream at him for being disrespectful, Annabeth joined in. "Set was worried about you, so he sent us to come help. As to the boat, he just told us he had one we could use."
My right hand immediately went to the bridge of my nose. Of course, Set is the reason they keep showing up, he is the deity of foreigners. "A suggestion then, do not agree to any of his terms." Percy was about to speak. "Ever, understood Jackson? I don't think I really need to go into detail, do I?"
"You know," Percy started with an annoyed tone of his own, "I don't really think the Pharaoh would appreciate the tone you've been using on us, Zia. We're trying to get on better terms, and you just keep at your disgusting temper every time."
I tsked and scanned the boat. Zack is still sitting, but with his arms crossed with no intention to interfere with our newest development. Amos had apparently scarfed the sandwich I gave him, brown eyes studying the situation before him.
"We're trying to help. You're looking for Carter, so are we. Just accept it already," Percy pushed on. "Besides, Set expressed that he doesn't approve of your buddy over there."
My eyes narrowed in response. "I don't care how Set feels. You shouldn't either, or at least not nearly as much as you have been. It's poison, and if you truly want to be on friendly terms, you won't follow his lead."
Percy simply smirked at me. "Sorry, you didn't look the type to dis your Chief Lector."
I scowled immediately, "You have no idea as to their hosting. The Chief Lector does not listen to everything he says, he knows how foul it is personally. Set is even using his Eye's resources to his advantage, where the rest of our gods wouldn't dare." I gestured to the boat still sitting beside ours.
"Zia," Annabeth spoke calmly, earning our attention. "Listen, we understand you don't trust us or Set. Right now, Carter needs our help. When Amos turns up, we'll talk with him as to the situation we're in with Set."
I cleared my throat, noting Amos still has his eyes on us. "Carter just returned to Brooklyn House with a 'friend'. Kaden just informed me that the Chief Lector has been attacked by this man and that Carter isn't acting like himself."
"Kaden?" Percy asked now.
I gestured my head towards Amos now. "He's Amos' son," I added before they could start questioning.
Annabeth waved at him, which just made him uncomfortable. "Oh," Percy cleared his throat, "so what's the plan then?"
"We were going to wait for an update as to the Chief Lector's whereabouts. I suppose you can join if you wish since you're here anyway."
"Oh wow, thanks for the invitation," Percy chased his sarcasm with a smirk.
Amos Kane's boat disappeared, solidifying that invitation. I just hope it means that the actual owner will be on it the next time I see it.
