"Braelynn could you come here please?" her dad called.
She went downstairs, an earbud in one ear and the other dangling down. "What is it?"
"You remember Julius, right? Mom and I worked with him" he asked.
"Yeah. What about him?" she answered.
"His brother, Amos, contacted me recently. I just talked to your mom, and with our family history, your mom and I agreed it's best you go with him for a bit and learn how to control your abilities" he told her.
"Abilities? What abilities? And what does our family history have to do with anything?" she asked, taking her earbud out.
"Brae, you're descended from two of the pharaohs of Egypt. You're a magician" he answered.
"What? There's no way" she argued.
"I'm descended from Cleopatra VII, and your mom is descended from Hatsheput" he told her.
"That doesn't mean I'm a witch or whatever" she retorted.
"Magician" he corrected. "And it means you're blood of the pharaohs. If you don't learn, it could be dangerous for you."
"I'm obviously fine" she told him.
"Brae listen to me, you're going. I'm taking you tomorrow. Go pack a bag" he ordered.
She huffed, put both earbuds in, and went upstairs to pack.
The next morning, she was bringing her duffle bag downstairs.
"You ready?" he asked her, reluctance spread across his face.
"Yeah" she answered. She was dressed in faded jeans, a grey sweatshirt, a leather jacket, and faded black converse.
"Brae it's cold out put something warmer on" he told her.
She rolled her eyes and grabbed a winter coat, pulling it on over what she was wearing.
"Before we go, Mom and I were going to wait for your birthday to give this to you, but I think now would be just as good a time" he pulled out a small black box and handed it to her.
She took it and opened it. Inside was a silver bracelet with an ankh. "Thanks dad" she told him, putting it on.
"That symbol is-" he started.
"Life yeah" she finished with a smile. "You've pointed it out to me a hundred times."
He smiled. "C'mon they're expecting us soon."
They got in the car and drove to Brooklyn House.
"Dad what is this place?" she asked, immediately seeing the mansion on the top of the abandoned warehouse they were pulling up to.
"Brooklyn House. Headquarters for the Twenty-First Nome" he answered as they went up to the door.
Braelynn knocked, and a kid who looked a few years older than her opened the door. He had darker skin, brown hair and brown eyes.
"Where's Amos?" her dad asked him.
"He's not here. I'm his nephew, Carter Kane. Can I help you?" the kid asked.
"Amos said I should bring my daughter here for a bit. She's fourteen, we agreed that she needs to learn before anything happens" her dad started, getting interrupted by Braelynn smacking his arm as a gesture for him to stop.
"Yeah he said we'd be getting someone new today" Carter said before turning to Braelynn. "I'm fifteen. C'mon in."
Her dad hugged her and she followed Carter inside. The first thing she saw was the Great Room, a four-story tall room with balconies that look over it on the upper floors. The walls had every musical instrument imaginable hung across them, as well as what had to be hundreds of Egyptian weapons. Against the far wall was a very large fireplace with an equally large plasma screen above it. It had a leather sofa on either side, and a large snake skin rug in the middle. In the center of the room was a statue of Thoth made of black marble.
"Hey everyone come here" Carter called, and about twenty kids of all ages came. Once everyone was there, he told them, "This is Braelynn."
The others introduced themselves one by one.
"C'mon I'll show you your room" Carter said as they began to disperse.
"Okay" Braelynn agreed, and she followed him through the mansion.
He led her to an empty bedroom, in which she set her stuff down and took off her winter coat.
"Thanks" she said with a smile.
"No problem. So, I'll let you unpack and stuff" he said, smiling back before he left.
She looked around the room, and it seemed like whoever set it up knew her. It had a large bookcase filled with books, with the exception of the shelf holding a stereo, and a balcony overlooking the river below them. She looked around for a few minutes before setting her bag on the floor beside the bed and going to explore.