Chapter 12

3 months later

House of 'Normal'

Nina

It's odd, but living in Anubis 2.0 was actually a calmer life than my high school career. Okay, so there were a few incidents with the gods throwing things (or each other) out windows, but as soon as Justin walked in they settled right down. Maybe it's because he's a scale, but the dude just radiated peace and calm. Even my nerves, which had been on edge since I overheard the conversation, were calmed when the kid stepped into the room. And, honestly, I don't even think he knows he's doing it! Maybe Justin was chosen as a scale because of his calming influence, or maybe his calming influence comes from being a scale. Either way no one in my house died within the first three months, so that was a plus.

While living them I thought those three months were about as perfect as they could get, but of course as a dead girl looking back I know of all the secret meetings between Raet and Eddie. Still, I'm getting ahead of myself.

By this point Patricia was 7 months pregnant and it was showing-physically and emotionally. The always cranky girl snapped faster now more than ever, and (as Nile pointed out before getting slapped) Patricia's stomach looked like she'd eaten a planet.

"Are you sure there's only one little girl in there?" Eddie teased gently one night.

"I'm sure," Elena replied walking into the kitchen. "Honestly. Don't you trust be by now Eddie?"

"No," he admitted flatly. "I don't trust anyone who's lived thousands of years-it takes a whole lot less time to get corrupted." I was surprised by the harshness of my Osirian's tone as he spoke to the girl that he often fought with, but never in a real serious manner.

I waited to see if Elena would get angry, but instead she just smiled. "You're smarter than you look Eddie Miller. I don't trust me either. Still, I would never lie when it comes to babies… in a way they're kind of all under my domain."

"I thought Hathor was the baby goddess," Fabian, who'd been in the kitchen grilling some chicken sandwiches asked.

"You're going to regret this," Nile told him with a slight chuckle. Obviously Elena had ranted about this many, many times before.

"Hathor is the patron of mothers, but I'm the representation of birth. There's a big difference. And…"

"You know what, I think we've got it," Eddie interrupted as he hopped over the couch and sat down next to Patricia. "Basically you're the baby girl."

Elena scowled, but we all found it amusing. Like it or not Elena, the cranky god who'd somehow become a friend, would forever be known as the baby girl.

"What have you been up to Eddie?" Elizabeth asked the boy not even looking up from her textbook. "I feel like we never see you anymore with all this time you've been spending at the library."

"Who would have thought that you'd do work at college," Eddie sarcastically replied as if studying was a new invention. Still, Elizabeth was right. Eddie didn't study, so why was he out of the house so much?

"Whatever you say," Elizabeth teased. "But I think the only one at the library more than you is Fabian… Nina do you ever wonder if he's just there because the librarian is hot?"

Fabian's response was to spit out his tea, but Eddie made it all the better. "Now I know you've never been to the library because the librarian is a man."

"You're point?" Elizabeth asked with a tilted head.

Once our laughter died down, Justin spoke calmly, "So are we going to talk about the two letters with return addresses from London schools that arrived in the last couple weeks, or were you just planning on leaving?"

"YOU'RE WHAT!" two gods and a furious teenage girl chorused.

"You can't leave," Elizabeth pleaded desperately. "Why would you even want to?"

"Patricia and I are only here on exchange anyways," Eddie reminded trying to keep his tone cool and calm. "Which is good because Patricia's sister Piper goes to uni there and her parents live only a bit away."

"And let me guess, Eddie won't let you stay," Elena pouted. (Yes, you just heard me right. We had a pouting god in the house.)

"He's not making me leave," I told them all firmly. If I did everything Eddie told me to then I wouldn't do anything at all. "I'm just tired of being scared. I mean we're girls, in college, in a part of the world where many girls are kept illiterate. And with all the turmoil… I wanted to leave."

"And if Nina's going I'm going," Fabian stated firmly (not that anyone didn't know that already. Fabian and I were a serious couple, even if we did nothing more than kiss. Nothing could get between us and we knew it.)

"Well this just sucks," Elizabeth decided firmly. "And to think I was planning all of these fun things we could do and now you're leaving me alone with them."

We all knew Elizabeth was just teasing, but the gods responded indignant as ever. It was weird how Elena and Nile acted so human, but they were gods whereas Justin was more or less human, but acted so aloof.

"I think you should do what makes you happy," the scale told us after a bit of awkward silence. "And I know you're not going to be happy with your godchild in a whole different country."

Justin's words made me smile a little as I remembered the conversation from last week in which my two best friends finally managed to ask me to be their daughter, Alice's, godmother. I'd immediately said yes, but I felt nervous to know that if anything was to happen to Eddie and Patricia I'd be responsible for this kid. Still, they were my best friends; I wasn't going to say no.

"So you're only here for another week," Elizabeth sighed morosely. "Once finals and the semester end you're back off to the land of tea and Tardis."

"Well we don't want you here causing trouble anyways so have fun," a sour Elena told us before storming off. Nile followed after her hoping he can calm her down, so, of course, Justin had to go too to keep them from doing too much godly damage.

"I'll miss them," Patricia told us honestly. "But I won't miss the sound of body smashing gods…"

No. I wouldn't miss that much either.