Hey… peek-a-boo! I'm BACK! Shhh don't cry so loud I have a head ache! I'm back and since I made you wait so long for an update… how about I finally give you some answers? What is in the box? Why does Raet want it? Why must Nina not know about it? You can't know everything mind you… but you might just learn a thing or two if you keep reading!

Chapter 16

House of Demands

Eddie

"You know, Eddie, I'd be much more helpful if you'd really explain what we're looking for." Crap. I'd been so busy ripping through books and worrying about the girls that I hadn't realized that Fabian didn't know. I hadn't told him because... Because saying it aloud would make it real and this was the last thing I wanted to be real.

"You're going to need to sit down," I told my friend with a resigned sigh. He didn't of course; neither of us would consider taking a break until we found answers. Still, I slowed my pace of reading as I tried to find the words to explain what was going on (without angering Fabian so much that he killed me). "You remember last year when I died?" If I had to tell the story then it really was best for me to start at the beginning.

"Which time?" Fabian asked with a false chuckle. I too laughed because it is a bit ridiculous to think of having died twice and still being alive…if only my resurrection hadn't caused so many problems for those I cared about.

"The first one. When Anet stabbed me and then," I felt a choke in my throat as I grew closer and closer to the truth. I knew I had to tell Fabian but… he'd hate me for it. I hated me for it! It was all because of me that this was happening. If I'd just stayed dead then Patricia would be safe back in England and Nina and Fabian would just have had a normal term as archeologists… it was all my fault that this world was now going to Du'at. Still, I knew Fabian deserved the truth so I hoped my sincere apology shone through my words. "Then Nina brought me back."

"And why do you look so upset about that?" Fabian had abandoned his work in favor of moving closer to study my face. "You're alive and now you have a daughter. Isn't that good?"

How far it was from good. "That's the thing… when Nina brought me back she stepped into the Du'at… she was just supposed to stay on this end she was never supposed to be there."

"Eddie what happened?" Fabian's voice was turning into a growl as he pushed for the words that would make him hate me. "What happened when she crossed over?"

"See when we went into the Du'at together it was fine because we had godly help getting in," I knew I shouldn't be delaying, but I just needed more time to prepare myself. "But when Nina crossed over she did it all on her own. No one, not even the Chosen One, can do that without repercussion."

"What. Kind. Of. Repercussions?" With the clear diction of each syllable I knew Fabian had already decided I was in trouble without even knowing the full truth.

I felt my brows pull tight as I answered his question. "The thing I haven't told Nina is that that box in the Du'at, the one she must not touch under any circumstances, is a shadow box."

"Don't be ridiculous," Fabian cried stumbling back as he recognized the name. "Shadows aren't tangible subjects that can be bound by a box. They're just dark areas on the ground where light can reach because of some object blocking the path!"

"Fabian I have died twice now and our loved ones have been kidnapped by the sun goddess!" I reminded him. As much as I liked Fabian, it was frustrating that his sense of logic always seemed to override the fact that he'd seen just as much of Nina and my world as anyone else. "I think we're going to just have to trust those ancient Egyptians when they said that the soul has five parts. The Ib-your heart where your emotions are and what is weighed against the feather of truth."

"The Ba or your personality, your Ka which is what leaves you when you die, and your Ren slash secret name." I'd known Fabian, the historian, would have heard of this, but his lack of belief, despite everything we'd seen, still shocked me.

"That's only four," I reminded my friend weakly. "The final piece is your Sheut or your shadow. You wouldn't have notice it because you never look but Nina doesn't have a shadow. She hasn't since she brought me back. When she stepped into the Du'at to bring me out the parts of her affected by being the Chosen One were fine, but what you look like, which is what your Sheut represents, that has nothing to do with Nina being the Paragon. It wasn't affected by the curse so when it touched the Du'at it recognized as dead so now…"

"Now it's stuck there, in that shadow box," Fabian's voice was hoarse as he slid down the wall to the ground shocked and grieving. "How could I have been so thick! I should have noticed before that Nina had no shadow!"

"Don't beat yourself up about it, really, I didn't know until I became the Osirian again. It's just not something you pay attention to- a person's shadow."

"But what happens to Nina without it… I mean why does Raet even want Nina's shadow!"

I didn't know the answer to either of those questions, not really, but I answered with my gut instinct. (And since the problem was Nina's my gut was probably right.) "Pharaohs were said to have locked their shadows in boxes throughout Egypt… I think Nina is fine without her shadow she's just a bit less connected to this life and a bit more connected to the next." If it was the right piece, such as the sheut, you really could lose a part of your soul and live but to losemore than one piece… "the thing is shadow boxes are labeled with a person's their true name. When Nina saw her true name written her Ren recognized itself and another part of Nina's soul, so it too left her and stayed in the Du'at… I mean you really don't need your Ren either so it's not like there are any harmful qualities coming from her lack of these pieces but…"

"But 40% of Nina's soul has been in the Du'at for months now and the other parts are just more attracted. And the other parts… those she does need to survive." Fabian wasn't yelling yet, which I appreciated, but I could tell he was furious only to be finding this out now. Still, I couldn't risk it getting back to Nina that she was missing parts of her soul. Like I told Fabian the parts she was missing weren't necessarily necessary, but the "Harry Potter" nut would have a mental breakdown if she realized that 2/5ths of her were already dead.

I'm the boy who keeps dying, but it we didn't find the answer to our problem it wouldn't matter what Raet did to Nina because she was already half dead anyways.