Oh wow, this chapter is twice the length of the previous one. I hope that makes up for the delay. I can't believe how many people are following this story and put it on their favourite lists! Thanks everyone. Drop a review to let me know what you think of the story progressing. This may have 7 or 8 chapters.

Listening: Believe by The Score

Sciron was one of the most infamous Roman demigods in history.

He'd swindled and killed many heroes, looted the best ships, had control of the winds, the water, and the lands around his cliffs as well. His command over ancient sea creatures was legendary and he even had a large turtle, trained to obey his every command.

When Theseus had managed to trick and murder him, Sciron had basically become the laughing stock of the Underworld.

Whoa! they'd say. Want us to wash your feet, mighty Sciron? I wouldn't want you to accidentally trip and fall, whoopsie!

Two thousand years of ridicule and dishonor tended to weigh on one's mind. So, when the primordial goddess of the Earth, Terra, sent one of her minions—an impressive Cyclops who had shrunken heads hanging around his waist belt—with the hope of rebirth, Sciron had jumped at the chance.

Riches beyond measure, jewels not yet found by humanity, all the world's treasures his for the taking? Not to mention, to live back on earth again? Sign him up!

The Doors of Death had been literal doors when Sciron had died back then. Now, it was a strange metal box with designs over it.

It carried him high up to the surface.

Morpheus waited for him at the top. The god had placed Thanatos under a strong spell. The god of death was asleep, his hauntingly beautiful face at peace. Sciron remembered staring at him, and feeling ashamed of abandoning his afterlife that he almost marched back in. Morpheus had grabbed him by the neck and tossed him back into the world, tutting, "You serve the Goddess Terra now. You cannot back out, sea spawn."

Cut to two years later, Sciron was in one of the goddess's strange lairs, guarding a full mortal and a half-blood child.

A child who happened to be his half-brother. Wonderful.

He still hadn't got his riches by the way. Terra was a conniving little bi—

"I'm hungry!" the prisoner announced in English.

Sciron dropped his head and growled. That was another thing. He was back on Earth, but it wasn't his land anymore. He was in the twentieth century, in fact at the very end of it. Saying things had changed was an understatement.

One of the major Lingua Franca had shifted to the west, picking up a bastardized version of Latin that had none of the nuances and strength of the revered language. It used alphabets from Modern Latin and called itself English, named after… you guessed it, the English.

Sciron eyed the prisoner with a warning. She was just a young girl, locked in a cell with a couple of blankets to keep her cosy, a crayon and a piece of paper to occupy herself.

He could crack open the ground and swallow her whole. Or perhaps just bury her feet in the soil and watch her wither away into a pile of bones. He could flood her cell with seawater and drown her. Or, he could just shoot her with his fancy new thingamajig, a metal hand-held device that could catapult pieces of metal at incredible speeds. There were far too many ways he could kill her.

The girl raised an eyebrow, staring at him, utterly unimpressed. "What? You constipated or something?"

"I have been instructed to not harm you, mortal," Sciron warned her. "But push me far and you will see the limits of my patience."

She made a face. "I need to eat to survive, mortal! I'm literally asking for the basics here. Some ramen if you got it."

"You…" Sciron stared, "You eat Romans?"

The girl exhaled heavily. "Ra-men. Like the god Ra and the plural of you, men."

She couldn't eat a god and people, can she? "Careful! Don't invoke names like that."

"Why, you scared?" she smirked. "You think he's gonna come here and annihilate you?"

"I could annihilate you," Sciron threatened. He wished she would stop talking. She'd tried calling for Poseidon, sending prayers out loud. But when Sciron had shouted at her and she shouted back, she'd somehow realised that they were not in the territory of the Roman or even Greek gods.

And some-freakin'-how, she knew they were in Egypt.

It probably had to do with the accursed electric box with a glass window that spewed a channel and news that Sciron hadn't managed to turn off. He should have just destroyed the damn thing, but turning the box on was the only way the prisoner stayed semi-quiet.

"I don't know how to make… the thing you just said," Sciron said, leaning back on his chair and balancing on the two hind legs.

"Ramen."

"Stop saying the name!"

"It's just noodles. Are you an Egyptian demigod?" she asked, curious.

"Quiet."

"I don't think you're Greek."

Sciron closed his eyes. "Let me guess. You had another dream about me?"

She giggled. "I saw you trying to chat up this dude on a cliff."

He frowned. "Chat up?"

"Flirt," she explained. "You were trying to impress him with what you could do with the water. He didn't look so happy. Probably 'cause you drowned his crops."

Sciron gritted his teeth. "I have been ordered to not harm you. But you think there aren't other ways of suffering? You like dreams so much, how about I send some of my own your way?"

She fell silent. Thank the Titans. Sciron tried to relax, shaking the memory from his shoulders. He wanted to enjoy the peace that enveloped him.

"Bah!"

He was so close to murdering the Jacksons.

The infant was not even a full year old. But by his scent, Sciron knew that he'd be prime monster food.

Perseus, the file had said. Terra had been quite interested in him. Sure, she'd give Cassandra the authority to direct her armies, and Cassandra had specified that they needed Kimberly Jackson for the valuable dreams she'd had. But the child was even more valuable.

A son of Poseidon. Sciron shook his head in disgust, getting to his feet.

Pepe, as Kimberly had fondly called the baby to soothe him, was in his crib, trying to hold onto the bars to sit up. Sciron towered over him (as an adult often does) and said, "And what do you require?"

The baby grinned up at him. He had managed to take out his little pacifier, waving it around in his chubby fist. With an impressive show of strength, Perseus, (or Pepe or Percy-whatever) threw the pacifier out of the crib, past Sciron.

"He likes throwing things," Kimberly explained unnecessarily.

"Ah!" the baby exclaimed, falling onto his back. He rolled up to sit and looked at Sciron. Lower lip trembling, Perseus stuck his arms in the air. He opened and closed his fists.

Sciron was not picking up a baby. He'd spent enough time on those cliffs to never run astray with children, and forget the Fields of Punishments, no infants there. He wasn't about to get close to a babbling child, especially another demigod, especially his sibling.

"He's going to cry if you don't cuddle him," Kimberly warned.

Sciron grimaced. The wail of a baby was legendary. He'd heard of such torture down in Tartarus. He had been fortunate enough to never end up there, though rumour had it, prisoners were subjected to the noise of screaming toddlers for endless hours.

But this was just one child. He'd faced worse punishment than this. He leaned down, placed his hands under the boy's arms, and lifted him into the air.

There. He did it.

The baby stared at him. Tears filled his eyes.

"Wait," Sciron said. "Don't—"

Perseus opened his mouth and let out a yowl to drown out all the shrieking in hell.

Sciron almost threw him back into the crib. He held him out and cringed at the noise. "What's wrong with him?!"

"What's wrong with you?" Kimberly demanded. "That's not how anyone holds a baby!"

"Then what do I do?!"

"Give him to me!"

"No!" Sciron snapped. "You stay in there, just tell me."

Perseus hiccupped and continued his assault on their ears. Sciron's skull ached. Fat tears leaked out. His sobbing might just wake up Terra if he was any louder.

"Hold him close to your chest," Kimberly fumed.

Sciron made a disgusted face. He brought the baby closer, one arm acting as a seat, the other on his back. Perseus hiccupped again, hands clasped in tight fists near his face. His small head fell on Sciron's shoulder and he quietened, letting out pitiful whines.

"How long do I hold him like this?" he asked, wincing when the baby wiped his drool on Sciron's jacket.

Kimberly was laying down on her mat in her cell. She propped her chin on her hand. "Till his mama comes home."

Perseus perked up, looking up with teary eyes. "Amma!"

"Yes, mama!" Kimberly cheered him.

"AMMA!" Perseus shrieked. Sciron jerked his head away in pain. His ears blistered.

"I told you," Sciron said, irritated. "Cassandra only seeks to know more about your dreams. We'll let you go as soon as that happens."

"That's nice to know. And how do you expect a six-month-old to understand that?"

Sciron saw the problem. Perseus was clapping his hands saying "Amma, amma!" breathlessly. The moment he realised his mother was nowhere near him, they'd suffer the consequences.

"I can calm him down," Kimberly sang.

Infuriating child, Sciron grumbled. Still, she was only mortal. And his metal bullets can injure her. If she tried to escape, he could use force to bring her back.

"Fine," he said. Kimberly scrambled to sit up on the sheets. Sciron grabbed his keys and approached the cell, unlocking it to pass the baby over, less than gracefully.

But a true demigod even as an infant, Perseus brushed off the rough handling and curled up to his aunt, quiet and mumbling into her neck.

"Get me his teething ring," Kimberly said, her voice low and soft as she bounced the baby.

Sciron looked over the small bundle of toys Cassandra's men had brought along with the Jacksons. "What does it look like?"

"Bright and multicoloured plastic keys. Pepe needs it since he's teething. His molars are coming in. You're such a big boy, huh?"

She tickled his tummy and he giggled, though half-hearted. Sciron turned his nose up at the stuffed toy, the rattler, an empty milk bottle, and a soft blanket in the small crib. No plastic keys.

"They must not have brought that," Sciron said, shrugging and picking up the rattler. "He can bite this."

Kimberly froze for a moment. "The keys aren't here?"

"No," Sciron said, eyeing her suspiciously. She ducked her head and quickly snatched the bright blue hand-held rattler from him. Sciron observed her closely. She was suddenly demure and anxious.

Perseus grabbed the rattler with a grin and shook it vigorously. The noise rang out like plastic bells and Sciron sat back on the chair.

"You'll really let us go?" she asked in a small voice, looking at him through the curtain of her blonde locks.

He placed an arm over his closed eyes. "Depends on what Cass has to say. You're lucky she's the one in charge. If it was Ajax…"

Sciron whistled, trailing off.

Kimberly looked up. "Who's that?"

"You don't want to know," Sciron waved her concern away. "Besides, he's on a sabbatical."

"What?"

"On holiday."

"Villains get days off?"

"Don't talk."

"Is it like… paid days off?"

No. Sciron exhaled. "Quiet."

The baby babbled to himself. Sciron looked at the dark ceiling feeling his nerves settle.

"I'm still hungry, though."

He closed his eyes. Sciron, the first recorded son of Neptune, got resurrected to babysit a mortal and an infant demigod. This was way below his pay grade. This was not what he was promised.

Cassandra's side offer sounded more enticing by the day.

Cairo was a beautiful place to visit in the evening.

The sun was beginning to set now, casting rays of red to shine over the tall buildings and wide roads. The number of people on the grounds dwindled and they were able to sneak their way into a supermart.

Lily checked their lookout to make sure nobody had eyes on them.

"We're in another country," Sally whispered, staring down at Percy's teething ring that had been a temporary illegal portkey.

"You're okay," James placated her. "We'll get you back home with your sister and son. But we need to lay low for a bit. Cairo's not too fond of us."

They were waiting in an underground parking lot. Shiny cars stood in rows and Lily checked her reflection in the nearest one.

"We can't wait," Sally insisted. "We need to trace the magic trail or something, right?"

"It leads us here," Lily said. "They came here where a car was waiting for them and drove away."

Sally immediately looked up before crowing in delight. "Ha! Cameras!"

She pointed up to a ceiling corner which was pointed right at them. Lily felt exhaustion slowly seep in, but she nudged James and they made their way across the lot.

The security guards' station was near the entrance of the building. Lily cast a disillusionment charm over the three of them, confident that nobody else can sense them out like Sally did.

A couple of confunding charms later, James was rewinding the tapes to check the footage from the past few hours.

"They're okay, right?" Sally whispered, staring at the spaced out guards in worry.

"It doesn't hurt them," James said, looking at a couple of other monitors. "Is this Kimberly?"

He paused a video and Sally squinted at the grainy monochromatic screen. The woman had a fancy blazer and trousers, her light hair in thick waves. It was hard to tell the woman's age, but she didn't need to know. Sally shook her head. Kim wasn't so put together. This woman didn't look sixteen either.

"I've seen her before," Lily said suddenly, staring at the woman. She narrowed her eyes, trying to place her. Dark and clean skin, glassy large eyes, thick waves of curly hair, immaculate and well dressed…

"She isn't veiled," James said. "Maybe not a citizen. Could we have seen her in England?"

Lily frowned, unsure. Something about this woman made her uneasy.

"Roll the clip," she said and James played it.

The trio watched the sped up video showing the woman talk to a pair of tall men, both armed with wands. Lily gritted her teeth. So wizards were involved? The mysterious woman looked like she was giving them instructions.

Lily wasn't sure what to think when the woman paused and looked up at the camera.

Sally leaned back in surprise and even James gaped. Okay, Lily admitted to herself. That was creepy. It's like she knew someone would be watching her intently. Was the look for the security guards or them?

The woman didn't blink, holding her gaze to the camera before finally looking away. She stepped towards a bike, unclasping a helmet from the handlebars and put it on. As she rode out of sight, the men slid and locked the door of a van they'd been standing behind and Sally gasped.

"Play it back!" she said, and James reversed it, to play the scene again.

"See the blankets?" Sally said, pointing to the van just before its door was closed.

Lily spies the sheets and blankets in the back shifting. There could be someone underneath but no face or body was visible. Magic was often hard to spot when electronics were involved, but there was definitely something odd about the van in its entirety.

"Same spot the trail ends," James pointed out. "I can see the license plate."

Lily memorized the number. "Okay, I got the plate of the bike too. Whoever that woman is, we need to be careful."

"They have wands," Sally said, accusingly.

"We've never seen them before," James said, crossing a finger over his heart.

One of the guards made a noise of protest. He blinked up at them as though slowly realising that they probably shouldn't be in the booth.

"Let's go," Lily whispered.

Exiting the booth was a problem because there were five people waiting outside for them. Lily froze and Sally walked right into her back, stumbling back. A soft breeze trickled over them, removing the disillusionment charm right off their skin, revealing them to the people waiting outside.

"Evans and Potter," Arwa Karim called out. She wore a lovely patterned Islamic dress as though ready to waltz into a meeting room and come back out with five different artifacts negotiated.

Lily swallowed, "Professor Karim. How nice to see you again."

She glared daggers at Lily. "Do you have our government's permission to be here in the city?"

"This is an emergency—"

"No papers, no allowance," the professor said. "Place down your wands and back away, hands in the air now."

Badbadbad, Lily swore. They'd known this was a possibility. Ever since Lily and James had basically duped the Cairo Museum of Antiquities, Professor Karim had had it out for them. Rightly so. Still, it had been Lily's fault that they'd ended up in that spot, and trying to make amends had pissed off a lot of people.

Sally raised her arms in the air slowly, shaking. Lily winced at the double frightened look on her face. She had all the grace of a teenager trying to be the adult she wanted to be.

Lily wasn't going to fail her. She'd made a promise.

The sun set a few hours ago.

Sciron had learned how to operate the microwave oven, but he still preferred cooking over an open fire. That was safer anyway. He boiled the ramen and warmed up the milk for the infant.

Perseus kept up a constant stream of complaints, from whining to giving those blasted hiccups that made his aunt coo every time. When their food came, Kimberly kept humming as she fed Perseus. He stared at her as he grabbed for the bottle but then closed his eyes to eat.

When the baby let out a loud burp and settled happily over her shoulder, Sciron sighed in relief.

Kimberly giggled.

"Quiet," he said, the word starting to lose all meaning.

"Aren't you gonna eat?"

Sciron placed a covered box on the table. He unpacked a bowl of steaming hot rice and a small tub of molokhia, its savoury aroma permeating the air.

Kimberly stared at him. "What is that?"

"Molokhia from the city," Sciron sniffed, feeling everything in his body relax at the prospect of having the entire dish to himself.

"It smells amazing," Kimberly whispered, entranced.

Sciron mixed some of the green goodness with the rice and maintained eye contact with Kimberly as he gobbled up the first spoon.

"Ice cold," she hissed.

He shrugged. "You wanted noodles."

"You'd have given me this if I asked?"

"No."

She huffed, eating her ramen one-handed while Perseus dozed.

Sciron was halfway through his dinner when Kimberly broke the silence yet again to ask, "So about my dream..."

He nearly threw his spoon at her. "Are you incapable of shutting up for five minutes?"

"But I'm kinda bored," she complained. "You were really different in the dream."

"Don't you dare wake him up."

"You were with your boyfriend again," she said eagerly. Sciron rolled his eyes.

"He wasn't my boyfriend."

"He was your something."

Not even close. Silas had been Sciron's everything.

"Eat or I'll take it away," he warned her.

Kimberly chewed thoughtfully. "Fine. I'll talk about something else."

"That's not what I said."

"So, there's this guy at school," she continued like he hadn't said anything. "He's really cute and he always tries to sit next to me in Trig. But he's never asked me out. I'm sorta getting mixed signals from him. What should I do?"

Sciron exhaled. "Why don't you dream up an answer?"

She narrowed her eyes. "It's not like I can control my dreams!"

"You haven't even tried."

Kimberly looked interested. "Wait, you're not kidding? I can really control them?"

"Half-bloods can," he mumbled. Sciron himself had a moderate ability to influence his dreams. It was Neptunion nature to be fluid through different states of beings, especially when unconscious.

Kimberly gave him a wide grin. "You are a demigod! I knew it!"

"Quiet."

"You look sort of like Poseidon," she said thoughtfully. "He's the only god I met though, so there's no litmus test."

"I'm not his son," Sciron grunted, vehement.

"Yeah… I don't think you're Greek. But, you're still somewhere in that realm."

Sciron stood up abruptly and Kimberly snatched her plate to hide it behind him, quickly slurping up a dangling string of noodle. Perseus stirred but fell back into a stupor in seconds.

"That's enough," he told her quietly, hands shaking. "Please stop talking for the rest of the night."

She stared, eyes wide in fear. He waited for her to rebuke him but she kept mum for several long seconds.

He slowly went back to his chair to finish the rest of his food. Kimberly ate up quietly. The baby breathed softly.

The walls of the jail building felt like they were closing in on him. Sciron shook off the nerves and tossed the empty boxes into the bin. When she finished her ramen, he took her plastic dish and threw them away. They wouldn't need it for another night.

After nearly an hour of awkward glances from her, Sciron said. "Lights out."

She only nodded. Perseus blew a spit bubble in his sleep as she arranged him on the lumpy sheets on the mat, getting comfortable and laying down.

Sciron planted his butt on the chair and turned out the electric lights in the small building.

"Damn," she whispered, the moment it was dark.

He didn't check, preparing to nod off, but she made a concerned noise and he looked at the ceiling to summon his strength.

"What is it?" he called out, low enough to not startle Perseus.

"Uh," Kimberly whispered. "Can you get Mr. Dolly?"

He made a face in the dark and even though she couldn't see it, she rushed to explain, "The stuffed dolphin. He doesn't sleep without it. When he wakes up in a few hours, he's gonna need it."

Sciron was already tired after the day he'd had. He'd forgotten that infants did not sleep through the night.

He stood up and went to pick up all the toys from the table in the front room. For good measure, he took the diaper bag as well and left everything with Kimberly in the jail cell.

"Thanks," she whispered, quickly placing the large blue soft toy beside Perseus. The dolphin was bigger than him.

Sciron shrugged. "You stayed quiet for an hour, that deserves a reward."

Kimberly mumbled something.

"What?" he said, a little severe.

"Well, you did say please."

He blanked out for a moment. Kids these days.

There was something oddly sweet and lonely about Kimberly tucking herself under the sheets. Sciron rubbed his face harshly and said, "This time tomorrow, you'll be back home."

Kimberly craned her neck to look at him. The moonlight streaming in through the windows did not light up the place enough, but he could see her silhouette.

"Promise?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Sure."

She smiled and placed her head down. "His name's Ryan."

"What?"

"The cute boy in my trig class."

He sighed. "Go to sleep."

"It's 1997," Kimberly whispered. "I should ask him out. I mean… girls can ask guys out, right?"

"Quiet."

She huffed. "He's probably just shy. But I waited like two months and he hasn't made a move."

Sciron placed his head on the desk in front of him, covering his ears.

"Sally says he does like me," Kimberly continued in a low voice that he could, unfortunately, still hear. "I have a habit of losing pens all the time. But Ryan always has a spare for me. I ask him one like every week and he gives me his."

Sciron can almost hear her smile in the darkness. "He always has a pen for me."

"If I give you my opinion, will you shut up and go to sleep?" Sciron said, barely holding back from snapping at her.

"Yeah!"

"Ask him out when you see him again. No beating around the bush. Maybe replace all his pens you lost."

"How… how'd you know I lost them?" she asked. He could hear the blush in her voice.

"Wild guess."

She sighed. "Yeah… you're right, I'll ask him out! You know, Sally's been pushing me to do something about it?"

"Kimberly, go to sleep."

She paused at his use of her name. Sciron hoped that would deter her, but she said, "YOLO."

"What?"

"I am gonna ask him," she said, more resolute. "I'm awesome. Ryan would be lucky to have a gal like me. We'd be the cutest couple in school. Can't deny the world that."

"The world's asleep," he reminded her.

Kimberly exhaled again, this time with finality. "Thanks… say, I don't know your name."

Names have power, he immediately thought.

"Sciron," he said against his beliefs.

"Good night, Sciron. You're not so bad."

He almost scoffed at her words. She really didn't know her myths at all. But it was different to have someone be… nice to him.

The trio ended up in closed jail cells with their wands and all effects taken away.

This didn't seem like a regular custody situation. Lily and James were in one cell and the neighbouring one held Sally. They were chained to the same long bar that was affixed to the wall their cells shared. The corridor was empty.

"I've never been arrested before," Sally whispered, horrified at the lightly glowing handcuffs.

"You're not the one in trouble here," James told her. "It's us they're after."

"Why? What did you do?"

Lily leaned her head against the cold wall and made a face. "Well… it's sort of a long story…"

"I'm not going anywhere," Sally snapped, shaking the cuffs vigorously.

James nodded carefully. "This isn't the first time Lily's had a vision. She's had some before, but the strongest one was some time back… November '94."

"What was it?"

Lily opened her palms. "I saw a jewelry box with this gorgeous, gold collar necklace. It had a large green diamond in the centre—"

"It was supposed to be blue," James muttered.

Lily sighed. "We've been over this, the diamond was green."

"I know, I was there when you opened the cursed box. But when you first had your vision, you told me it was blue," James insisted.

"I don't remember that."

"You did!"

"We're not arguing about this again, Jamie," Lily said, already tired.

"You found a necklace with a large diamond," Sally condensed it.

"Yes," Lily rushed in. "It was fit for a queen! But it wasn't Egyptian and didn't fit into any of the Pharaoh styles, dating back through the millennia."

Sally shrugged. "So?"

Lily couldn't believe her throwaway comment. Didn't the teen realise how monumental such a find was?

James leaned in. "Finding an ancient non-Egyptian piece of jewelry in an Egyptian temple is no simple matter. It was in the middle of the desert, outside Cairo boundaries. That area had been under Egyptian and Roman rule over the ages, but this necklace proved that someone else took command of that place at some point in time. It's simply not recorded in history. We found something new and incredible to add to the history books."

Sally looked between the both of them. "So… that's good. Isn't it?"

"We took it to the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo to submit it and get verified, but that's when I felt its magic. It was growing."

Lily squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "The necklace was signalling someone. Something powerful. The moment we took it out of the temple, it wasn't protected any longer."

The jail cells were quiet. Sally's back hit the wall with a thump.

"You made Cairo a beacon for an ancient being to wake up and come here?" she whispered. "A non-Egyptian god in Egypt?"

James winced. "We tried to get it out, tried to tell the museum authorities to return the thing, but it was already in the system and being processed. We broke in, made a duplicate, and replaced it with that."

Sally's jaw dropped.

"A duplicate that fooled two of our experts," someone else said.

Lily snapped her eyes open, staring at Professor Karim and a tall man in uniform standing by the entrance.

"Omar!" James said, eyes lighting up. "How are you? You got that promotion?"

Omar Diab folded his arms. He was a heavy set man, young and full of righteous energy. "You're under arrest, James. Please restrain your enthusiasm, it will do you no good."

Arwa spoke something in Arabic and her brother, Omar nodded.

"Miss Evans," he called. The handcuff on her wrist disappeared and the door opened. "Please follow us for your interrogation."

Lily squeezed James's hand and stood up, deciding to not make a fuss. She'd known this was a possibility. Cairo would not be friendly with them, not after they'd been on the run from the Aurors here.

Omar had been a minor officer when they first met him two and half years ago. He wore a shiny crest on his blazer now, so James was right. He did get his promotion to Deputy Chief Auror.

Rightfully so. He was the first person to figure out that Lily and James may have cheated the museum by way of tracking the excessive magic James had used to duplicate the necklace. No matter how much they'd tried to cover their tracks, traces still lingered. The necklace had been growing in power every hour it was away from the once secure temple.

Why did Lily get that vision though? Was someone hoping she'd break the necklace out? Had someone used her?

She entered the interrogation room and Omar cuffed her right hand to the hold on the table. It was a cement box room with no apparent source of light. The place was still bright enough for her to see with ease.

Surprisingly, Arwa joined them, closing the door behind her.

The siblings sat at the table across from her and Omar brought out a file. They'd made an arrest file just for her?

"This interrogation is recorded for the purposes of observation and prisoner processing," Omar announced, tapping his wand on a crystal ball that hovered in the air adjacent to Lily. It glowed bright white signalling it was recording.

"Forging an ancient artifact, lying to the authorities, escaping without due notice, and conjuring an unsanctioned portkey to London," Omar read out the points from her file.

"These are your transgressions from November, 1994. Today, you have additional charges of a second unsanctioned portkey, illegal entry into the country, trespassing on multiple accounts, and performing magic on muggles."

Lily nodded urgently. "There's a really good reason for all that!"

"Do not talk about your visions again, Miss Evans," Omar warned.

Damnit!

She tried to calm herself down. "I changed my name. It's Lily Potter now."

"Yes," Omar said without batting an eyelash. "Please begin your statement and exclude excuses about visions, Mrs. Potter."

Lily placed her hands flat on the table. "That muggle out there? Her name is Sally Jackson. Her son's a wizard. Possibly. He has some kind of magic, really powerful magic. Her son and her sister were kidnapped and brought to Egypt by way of portkey. We're only here to retrieve them, nothing else."

Omar and Arwa did not look pleased with her explanation.

"That's your official plea?"

"It's the truth! You can crosscheck with her. The abductors brought them to Cairo and drove away in a van. That's why we were in that booth; we were checking the video recording from the cameras."

Arwa frowned and nudged Omar. He shook his head. "We've examined your portkey trail. You came from the US, not from London."

"... yes. That's because Sally lives in New York."

"We do not have open portkey paths between the US," he pointed out. "You did not have clearance to make one."

"This was an emergency," Lily needled.

"Did you alert the Embassy?"

She bit the inside of her cheek, frustrated. "No, we did not. There was no time."

"You did not follow the proper channels," he continued. "Did you assume we wouldn't find out?"

Lily tried to keep a cool head. "Kidnapping cases from the US will be taken up by the muggles. And they won't be able to find anything since wizards are involved in this. Check the footage, the men in the video had wands!"

"We would have been called in the case," Omar said. "We actually do have a working understanding with the muggle police in Cairo."

"But that would take days!"

"And what d'you think is going to happen now?" he rebutted. "We're going to keep you in custody overnight. Tomorrow morning, we will contact your Embassy and you and your husband will be deported to England. Miss Jackson will be obliviated and sent to the US, and we'll have an open case on her son and sister. Except now, everything will happen a day late, thanks to your actions."

Lily covered her face with her palms. "You need to start the search for them right away! Kimberly has abilities, she has dreams of what's to come."

Arwa made a noise of derision. Omar exclaimed. "I said no talk of visions!"

"She dreamed the same thing that I saw!" Lily whispered. "Thousands of miles away! I've never even met her and we saw the same thing! That's why they took her! And the boy too! He's just a baby, there's no telling what they'll do to either of them. This isn't about me, alright? This is about a sixteen-year-old girl and a six-month-old baby abducted, trafficked overseas into your country!"

Her voice had climbed high to the end of her reproof. Her interrogators were not pleased.

Arwa's eyes tightened. "You always had such a way with words."

"Their lives are in danger!"

"And we will definitely follow up on them," Omar said. "But you are not and will never be allowed into Egypt."

This did not look good. Lily had sworn to find and return the Jacksons safely. She couldn't break her word. In the Wizarding World, such promises could be binding far beyond the situation itself.

"Unless…" Arwa added.

Lily perked up. "Unless what?"

Omar smiled. "Unless you return the necklace and the box to us."

Her shoulders slumped. "I told you then, I'm telling you now. I can't. It's too dangerous to bring both items here."

"The box had ancient hieroglyphics consistent with the Athenian times of Cleisthenes," Arwa said. "The collar necklace had traditional Archaic Greek inscriptions but there were older markings, pre-Hellenic era. Clearly, there had been some type of territorial expansion attempt into Tunisia, all the way to Cairo and Alexandria sometime around 550 BCE."

Lily's jaw dropped. "Greek? Ancient Greek remnants here?"

"There have always been Greek-based assets recovered in North and East Africa," Arwa nodded. "But this necklace was intact and pristine, warded by ancient magic in a way the others were not. It was one of a kind and could have changed the way we see history and the Mediterranean colonization. You and James single handedly stopped that field of study for both Egypt and Greece."

Lily swore silently. Arwa would never forgive her for it. Not unless she actually brought the necklace and its jewelry box back. But that was the one thing that could not happen.

The necklace still had ancient magic, calling out to some terrible power of old. The temple had been the best place for it, but she'd found the second-best place to hide it. Hopefully, it would be safe as long as it needed to.

"I'm sorry," she told them.

Omar shook his head. "Your apology does not mean much, considering your actions. If you choose to not return the stolen objects, you will be deported in the morning. That's the kindest conclusion for you here. You're very lucky, Mrs. Potter."

He stood up, collecting the file and stepping out. Arwa made to follow him, but Lily quickly said, "That necklace would have brought something terrible to the city. Arwa, please believe me!"

She glared down at Lily. "Of course, I believe you! I did the preliminary examination, I know the kind of magic contained in it was unfathomable for us! That's not the issue."

Lily sat back, stunned. "Then… why are you mad at me?"

Arwa gave a hollow laugh. "I risked a lot by letting you and James walk into the museum. Yes, it would doom us to keep the necklace. But you betrayed my trust and turned your back on me, instead just asking me to help you get it out safely."

Oh… oh.

Lily swallowed. "I didn't want you to have to lie to your superiors."

"Really? That's what you were thinking of? You weren't thinking that this was a problem that only you could solve? I could have helped restore the necklace back in the temple," Arwa said quietly.

"We could have patched up the problem if you'd chosen to trust the people around you, but you didn't. This isn't some cool adventure that you're on, Lily. Real people are involved. Real fates are concerned. You let your visions lead you around the world just so you can escape what's really happening in the UK."

Lily fell back on the chair, breathing hard. Terror bubbled up her throat and rendered her nauseous. Arwa had basically thrown the fact in her face.

"Move away and live somewhere else," Arwa whispered sadly. "Or stay back and fix your problem at home. Use the gift you have to foresee things about your war and not what's happening on the other side of the world. What point is such power if you squander it fleetingly?"

There it was. The whole fabric of Lily Potter's fears laid out for the world to gawk at.

"You really hate me, huh?" Lily whispered.

Arwa sighed. "Not everything is about you. I know it's not so easy to live a life with your head stuck in the clouds, dreaming of far away problems that you can help with, just because you won't be personally affected by it. It's time to come down to earth and make a choice. If you're really going to help someone, put them first."

Arwa didn't hate her for taking the artifacts away. She hated her for lying, the pretense, and the charade Lily and James had put in their hurry to get out of Cairo.

She was right though. Lily was in a war. Which means they could blame Voldemort for all their problems. But unlike so many other witches and wizards hiding and fighting, Lily and James had gotten a respite for being new parents. And this was what they did in their time off.

What was the saying? The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Check out my Ao3 account for the visualisation of Kimberly and Sciron.