Chapter XI

Katya

If anyone felt worse than Carter, was Amos. I tried to help him. I was worried. What Set did to him, it wasn't easy to get over him. His own will was overridden and replaced with another one.

Amos decided to go to the healers at the First Nome, I felt bad that I couldn't help him in Brooklyn House, but I knew better than to ponder over that too much.

One night, we had a visitor. Amos had gone to bed early. It was before he had left for the First Nome. Khufu was watching ESPN with Muffin on his lap. Sadie and Carter sat exhausted on the deck overlooking the river. I was making sahlab in the kitchen. I was famous for this drink, it was like vanilla hot chocolate. It was a favorite of mine. Carter loved the Ancient Egyptian drink, Sadie preferred English tea.

Philip of Macedonia floated silently in his pool. Except for the hum of the big city, the night was quiet. Until a guy appeared at the edge of the balcony.

I immediately had my sword at his neck.

He had an easy smirk on his face, and annoyingly put his hands up in mock surrender.

Sadie stood up so quickly she knocked over the cup of tea I gave her. Not nice, Sadie.

"Anubis!" She blurted.

I kept my sword against his neck. "Sadie, explain." I demanded.

"Sadie, Carter… Katya," he said, "Would you come with me, please?"

"Sure," Sadie said with a strangled voice.

"Hold on," Carter held up his hand. "Where are we going?"

I let go of Anubis. He gestured behind him, and a door opened in the air—a pure black rectangle.

Sadie took his hand and stepped through into the darkness, Carter followed, and I grudgingly followed right before the door closed.

The Hall of Judgment looked like a living room. It was Carter and Sadie's house in Los Angeles before they got separated. I remember coming here so much I practically lived here.

"The Hall of Judgment is intuitive," said a familiar voice. "It responds to strong memories."

Only then did I realize that we weren't alone. In the throne with Ammit curled at his feet, was my Uncle Julius. I couldn't help but realize how much he looked like Dad.

I realized that he existed in two worlds. He was still there, only taller and stronger, dressed in the robes and jewels of an Egyptian Pharaoh. His skin was a dark shade of blue, like a blue raspberry flavored candy.

"Well, come on," he said. "I won't bite."

I stood back as Carter and Sadie approached him. "You're blue." Carter said.

"Goes with the territory," he laughed. "I'm sorry I didn't bring you here sooner, but things have been…"

"Complicated," Anubis suggested.

"Complicated," Julius agreed. "I have meant to tell you both how proud I am of you, how much the gods are in you debt—"

"Hang on," Sadie said. She stomped right up to the throne. Ammit the Devourer growled at her as she got closer, she growled back, which confused him into silence.

"What are you?" She demanded. "My dad? Osiris? Are you even alive?"

Julius looked at Anubis. "What did I tell you about her? Fiercer than Ammit, I said."

"You didn't need to tell me." Anubis' face was grave but his voice had the slightest bit of humor. "I've learned to fear that sharp tongue." They totally have something going on.

Sadie looked outraged. "Excuse me?"

"To answer the question," Julius interrupted. "I am both Osiris and Julius Kane. I am alive and dead, though the term recycled might be closer to the truth. Osiris is the god of the dead, and the god of new life. To return him to his throne—"

"You had to die," Carter said. "You knew this going into it. You intentionally hosted Osiris, knowing you would die. This is what you meant by 'making things right'?" He was shaking with anger as he spoke. Julius still looked down at Carter with the same expression; pride. He looked at him like everything he did delighted him, I could see how that could be frustrating.

"I missed you, Carter," he said. "I can't tell you how much. But we made the right choice. We all did. If you had saved me in the world above, we would have lost everything. For the first time in millennia, we have a chance at rebirth, and a chance to stop chaos because of you."

"There had to be another way," Carter said. "You could've fought as a mortal, without… without—"

"Carter, when Osiris was alive, he was a great king. But when he died—"

"He became a thousand times more powerful," Carter finished.

Julius nodded. "The Duat is the foundation for the real world. If there is chaos here, it reverberates in the upper world. Helping Osiris to his throne was a first step, a thousand times more important than anything I could've done in the world above—except being your father. And I am still your father."

"Sharp tongue?" Sadie demanded.

Julius cleared his throat. "Katya, my niece. Come here."

That was all I needed. I ran into his arms, and sobbed. He looked so much like Dad it brought back too many memories.

I pulled away and looked at him. He wiped away my tears with his thumb. "You look just like him," he said.

"No, I look nothing like him."

"You have the same eyes. When you look in them, you feel small. The same piercing gaze."

That made me sob harder. I buried my face in his shoulder. When I finally got a hold of myself I backed down next to Carter and Sadie. They both glanced at me but I ignored them.

"Of course, there is another reason I made my choice, as you can probably guess." He held out his hand and a woman in a black dress appeared next to him. She had golden hair, intelligent blue eyes. She looked like Sadie.

"Mom," Carter said.

She looked back and forth from Carter and Sadie in amazement. "Julius told me how much you'd grown, but I couldn't believe it. Carter, I bet you're shaving—"

"Mom," Carter groaned.

"—and dating girls—"

"Mom!"

She smiled at him, and I had to fight the jealousy inside me. Here they were, being reunited with their family, but what about my dad? I looked away from the reunion.

"Oh, and Katya…" Julius started but didn't need to finish as he waved his hand.

It was my dad. I ran up into his arms, then realized he was just a spirit. I could never be hugged in one of his warm embraces.

I looked up at him, and my lip quivered.

"I know, Buttercup," he said, using his pet name for me. "You look like your mother."

"I—"

Just then the Hall of Judgment rumbled.

Julius checked his watch. "We should wrap things up," he said. "The others are expecting you."

"Others?" Carter asked. I had a sick feeling he meant the other gods.

"A gift before you go." Julius nodded to Ruby.

She stepped forward and handed Carter a palm-size package of folded black linen. Sadie helped him unwrap it, and inside was a new amulet—a djed the spine of Osiris.

"Is that a spine?" Sadie demanded.

"It is called a djed," Julius said. "My symbol—the spine of Osiris."

"Yuck," Sadie muttered.

Ruby laughed. "It is a bit yuck, but honestly, it's a powerful symbol. Stands for stability, strength—"

"Backbone?" Carter asked.

"Literally." She gave him an approving look. "Djed also stands for the power of Osiris—renewed life from the ashes of death. This is exactly what you will need if you are to stir the blood of the pharaohs in others and rebuild the House of Life."

"The House won't like that," Sadie put in.

"No," Ruby said cheerfully. "They certainly won't."

The Hall of Judgment rumbled again.

"It is time," Dad said.

"We'll meet again, children. But until then, take care."

"Be mindful of your enemies," Ruby added.

"And tell Amos…" Dad's voice trailed off thoughtfully. "Remind my brother that Egyptians believe in the power of the sunrise. They believe each morning begins not just a new day, but a new world."

The Hall of Judgment faded, and we stood with Anubis in a field of darkness.

"I'll show you the way," he said. "It is my job."

He ushered us to a space in the darkness that looked no different from any other. But when he pushed with his hand, a door swung open. The entrance blazed with daylight.

He bowed formally to Carter and me, then turned to Sadie with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "It's been… stimulating."

Sadie flushed and pointed at him accusingly. "We're not done, mister. I expect you to look after my parents. And next time I'm in the Land of the Dead, you and I will have words."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I'll look forward to that."

We stepped through the doorway and into the palace of the gods.

It had soaring stone columns, fiery braziers, a polished marble floor, and in the middle of the room, a gold-and-red throne. All around us, gods had gathered. Many were just flashes of light and fire. Some were shadowy images that shifted from animal to human. I recognized a few: Thoth flickered into view as a wild-haired guy in a lab coat before turning into a cloud of green gas.

"What have we started?" Sadie muttered.

The throne room was full of hundreds of gods, major and minor, all darting through the palace, forming new shapes, glowing with power. An entire supernatural army… and they all seemed to be staring at us.

"Welcome," Horus said from the throne room.

"Um, hi," Carter said

"He has a way with words," Isis muttered, then said: "Ah, Katya Kane. It is a pleasure to meet you. You had the chance to host a god, why didn't you?"

"I have secrets, as everyone does, I want them to stay secret," I responded icily. Ha, icily, you get it? No, I'm sorry, I'm nervous, it's making me stupid.

So, basically the Isis and Horus offered to join with Carter and Sadie again, of course they refused, and Horus claimed the throne of the gods.

They also said we had a gift waiting for us at Brooklyn House.

We didn't get it until the next day.

The mansion had been completely fixed, all the stuff that still needed done was done. There were new clothes in my closet. Multiple pairs of dark blue jeans, different solid colored t-shirts, and four pairs of black high-top converse. I went out to the terrace, where Philip of Macedonia swam lazily in the pool, and Carter and Sadie were hugging a woman in a leopard print body suit.

I ran up and greeted Bast. "Carter and Sadie were just talking about going to a school that Sadie saw in her dream. To put the djed there."

"Pack up then, we're going on a road trip!" I exclaimed.

On the ride to the school Carter, Sadie and I got to know each other better. I told them my story (minus all things Greek), they told me theirs.

Many times the forces of chaos tried to stop us, many times they almost did. But that was behind us.

Carter put the djed amulet in a locker and locked it with the combination thirteen, thirty-two, thirty-three.

We gathered many initiates over the few months that we've been enrolling at Brooklyn House. But soon I'll be going back to camp. The next time you hear from me it'll probably be then.

Until then,

Katya Kane