So...well, I am very very very very very sorry.
Sadie: you better be. YOU LEFT ME ALONE IN SCHOOL FOR HALF A YEAR!
Me: Sadie, calm down. Its okay-I'm back, and it wasn't for almost half a year.
Sadie: YOU LEFT ME! *glares*
me: ...
Sadie: Well, hurry up! Do your stuff!
Me: Okay, okay. I thank all my reviewers for their patience (I feel so bad) and...on with the story! (and...where's Carter)
Sadie: ...

Carter

I was not happy. First, I find out that Amos might get killed, then a new student arrives, the girl I like disappears, and...Well, I went to school. I hated school. When I was homeschooled, I never had to do homework-much less fractions, decimals, and all the other stuff that made my head hurt. Now, to add to those math problems and science questions that I had to do, I needed to look for Zia. Again.

I just sighed and walked to my bedroom, where I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow [yes, Sadie, school actually did tire me out that much].

Unfortunately, my ba decided to take a little vacation.

As my spirit rose out of my body (which still creeped me out a little), I floated out of the Brooklyn House and flew towards...something. It felt like forever, but by the time I got there, I was sure that this was no part of Brooklyn.

The landscape had absolutely nothing on it, except for a giant brick wall that I was certain that mortals could not see.

Sand covered the ground, constantly shifting and turning, making me think that Geb was having a hard time falling asleep today. Or maybe it was him trying to reach the sky to see Nut. That was also a possibility.

A woman suddenly appeared in front of me-she was a beautiful, and I would have almost thought that she was a goddess of beauty, but as far as I could remember, there was no Egyptian god of beauty.

"Hello, Carter Kane," she said, party her ruby red lips and smiling, revealing perfect white teeth. Her straight black hair was tied back with a red headband with a white feather stuck in it, and it ended just below her shoulders. Her warm brown eyes seemed to draw my soul into them, and she wasn't wearing any shoes. She did have, though, a long white dress that shimmered like snow every time she moved. She had on Egyptian jewelry that looked a bit heavy-after all, it was gold, but she looked completely comfortable.

"Uh, um...hi," I said, trying to talk like a normal person. [Sadie-just shut up!]

She smiled again. "Carter, I sense that you do not know who I am. I am Ma'at, goddess of the balance of this world."

I just stared at her. This was Ma'at? I hadn't expected her to be so beautiful...more like Isis-stiff, formal, and not this gentle. In a way, she reminded me of Nut-from what I had heard about her from Sadie.

"Um, why did you need to talk to me?"

"Well, I'm sure you are aware that Apophis is rising."

That hit me hard. I mean, everyone knew that it was true, but until now, I had only half believed it.

"Apophis unbalances everything," she said, sighing. "I wish that it could remain peaceful, but it is only because Apophis draws closer than ever to fully rising that I am able to contact you."

"Oh..."

She smiled. "Oh, I'm sure you can beat him," she said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Of course, there will be sacrifices and such, but you'll defeat him nonetheless. And I'll do everything in my power to ensure that you and your sister do not visit your father sooner than your time, as an aide."

With a start, I realized what she meant...that Sadie and I wouldn't die. A flood of relief filled me. But then I thought about all my other friends... "Who else will...die? Walt?"

Everyone knew that Walt was going to die, but I knew that Sadie-more than everyone else wanted to believe that he would live.

"Ah, but I cannot tell you too much of your own future," she chided gently. "But I can tell you this: Find this area – there, you will find the shadow of your guardian friend. It will be practice for the main event, which you will realize once the time draws near."

I frowned. That made about zero sense to me.

"Oh, and deliver this message to you sister." A roll of paper appeared in her hand, and she gave it to me.

"What is this...?" I asked, taking it from her. It was warm in my hands.

"It's a message. Now, you must go, before the others become concerned."

With that, I felt a strange sensation, as if I was going down a roller coaster, and I woke up.

The first thing I noticed was Sadie, her hand posed above my head as if about to slap my face.

"Sadie!" I yelped, putting my hands above my face as she tried to hit me.

"What?" she demanded. "You weren't waking up, so what else was I supposed to do? Oh, what's that?"

She grabbed the scroll from my hands and started reading it. The farther down she read, the more shocked she looked.

Apparently it was more interesting than it looked.

"What does it say?" I asked, sitting up.

"None of your business," she replied, quickly rolling it up. Then she looked at me closer. "Carter...have you been talking with Ma'at?"

"Um...yes...how do you know-"my eyes fell on the scroll. "Right..."

She rolled her eyes. "Brother dear, tell me when you finally start thinking straight-or else I might have to fix you the hard way." Then she walked out of the room.

I decided that I didn't want to know the 'hard way'.

I got dressed quickly (unfortunately, back to the white pyjamas, since I had to use a portal to get back to BAG), and ate breakfast. I would have to search for Zia later, and I really didn't want to have to deal with Taiza again. Last night was bad enough, and I hardly talked to her. In a way, she reminded me of Sadie, but she wasn't Sadie's good side. She was more like...an annoying twin of Sadie's.

"Carter! Leaving so soon?" she asked, startling me.

"Um, yeah...why?"

"No reason," she said, though I could see she was trying not to smile.

"All right, fine. What do you want?"

She hesitated, then half-smiled. "I'm...I'm actually getting bored here. Could I maybe...go to school?"

I must've looked pretty shocked, because she rushed on, talking even more rapidly than before.

"I mean, it's great here and all, but I just don't see how it could be entertaining here with nobody else, especially now that Amos has run off somewhere."

I stared at her. "But didn't you just say that Amos was missing?"

"No, I said that he was gone. I didn't say exactly missing."

I rolled my eyes. "There really isn't any difference. So where is he?"

She shrugged. "He said something...I think he said to tell you guys Phoenix."

I gaped at her. Not Phoenix again?

"Wait, no...Felix. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he said Felix. Does that make any sense to you?"

I slowly nodded. His location had something to do with Felix...

"I'll get back to you later. But for now, I really need to get to school...um, bye, I guess."

I ran upstairs and created a portal (Freak had run off somewhere, and the portal was hard). I thought of my school, and stepped through the portal, thankfully remembering to close my mouth first.

I walked out of some artifact – it was a couple of blocks away from the school, but I was fine with that. As long as I could change first...my clothes weren't even close to the school uniform.

I walked as fast as possible back to the hotel that we were staying in, trying to ignore the strange looks that I was getting. I guess it wasn't every day that you saw a kid in white linen pyjamas walking down the streets of Brooklyn while carrying a normal pair of clothes.

Eventually I got back to the hotel, where everyone was looking a little bit worried. After I explained everything, Sadie rolled her eyes, no doubt thinking There he goes again about Zia.

I sighed. Would she ever learn? After all, with her and Walt...well, I wasn't going to hold that against her, but I wish that she'd just stop making fun of me. It wasn't that much to ask for...was it?

Suddenly the bus honked at us, startling me out of my thoughts. We slowly climbed on, and I was sitting by myself until Taiza came on.

She looked around for a minute, and I realized in those few seconds that everyone else from our Nome had sat with somebody else. I groaned – that meant that she would have to sit with me.

She realized that a few seconds after I did, and she had an odd expression on her face – maybe amusement, or even disgust? I couldn't be sure.

"Hi," she said, sitting down and putting her bag in her lap. She frowned, and stared past me out the window.

"So..." I started, not really knowing what to say. "Why do you hate me so much?"

She looked at me and frowned again before answering. "I don't hate you. I just..." she paused, as if she were searching for the right words. "I just don't really like boys. They aren't very...well, usually they're not mature, and it can be really awkward...from the experience of being in the same class in a public school, take it from me."

"Oh." I replied, and stared out the window. I didn't want to know about those awkward things that she had mentioned.

After a long time, we finally got to school.

I got out, happy to finally be free of the noisy kids. Taiza was, once again, right beside me.

"You know, I can't very well just walk into class. You have to bring me to the office and tell them that I'm new here."

I stared at her. "Why?"

She sighed. "Because that's the way it works!"

"But why me?" I asked again, not very sure why I had to do everything for her.

"Because no one else in our grade from the Brooklyn house is still here," she answered me (again).

I looked around. It was true – everyone had already gone inside, and there was hardly anyone here.

"We better get going," she said, shifting her backpack. "And you should be grateful – after all, you're missing math."

"How do you know that I have math first thing?" I asked, staring at her dumbfounded.

She waved my schedule in the air. "It was very easy to steal," she said, grinning. Apparently this was her idea of fun.

"Fine," I grumbled, and together, my mind returning to Zia, we walked in to the school.