Previously:

"Bennu might actually be in Arabia," Reese answers. Neah looks startled. "According to legend that is where he lived."

"We're in the wrong desert!" Ashlee says again. Annoyed doesn't seem to cover her apparent reaction any more.

--

"What about the thing on the ceiling?" Pizoku reminds them. They were so sure it meant something, that it really doesn't seem like a good idea to just not investigate the possibility.

--

"Do you think that means anything?" Pizoku turns to see his mother looking up at the ceiling of the room. Everyone looks up to see an odd swirling pattern on the ceiling. Overlayed on top of it there is the image of a bird, a phoenix, and on each side of the phoenix it appears that there is a sun.

--

"They're here." Raul looks extremely horrified.

--

"Amanda, meet Zach, our guide to Duluth, and Snowball, our bait."

--

"And where is my sister?"

"She and TJ are acquiring a car," Amanda responds. She smiles somewhat apologetically.

Josh closes his eyes in an resigned sort of acceptance. "And by acquiring a car, you mean stealing, don't you?"

Episode Ninety-Seven

"Good Work is Hard to Come By"

He isn't sure if the others anticipate it or not, but when the wall behind them explodes, Pizoku is already on the ground under the arms of Jilan. The dust wafts away on the breeze and across the way they see them approaching.

Jilan looks back over her shoulder as Raul pushes out from under her other arm. "It's the Ancient Ones."

A young teenage boy with strangely red eyes is leading the way, flanked by two oddly glowing shapes of what could possibly be people. Two young girls also stand beside them with the blank expression worn only by those who are of the Nine.

"So yeah," Taylor says while standing up and dusting off his pants. "Blowing up a wall. Highly impressive. I tremble with fear."

The earth rumbles as the teenage boy glowers and looks entirely angry. "Insolent child! You dare to mock the power of the Great One?"

Taylor snorts and looks back defiantly. "Yes, I dare to mock the power of the Great One!"

"Oh, is that who you are?" Reese asks as he allows Neah to pull him to his feet. "He's the Great One."

Neah nods and looks back at the fuming teenage boy. "Great Ones keep getting younger and younger."

"Are those the Ancient Ones?" Ashlee covers her eyes with her hands to make it easier to see the oddly glowing possible persons. "I thought there were four of them."

"It seems the Great One has been downsizing," Kha'lei muses. He and Ashlee exchange looks.

"It's so hard to find a good lasting job these days," Jilan adds as she joins in the fun. Kha'lei grins at her and she winks. Ma'at looks a bit wary.

Izanami is a bit unnerved by their behavior, having just been in the custody of Marisol after all. "Are they seriously antagonizing the evil glowing ancient god beings?" She kept glancing at them and beyond them, searching for a possible sign of Naoki.

Pizoku looks at his mother and smiles. "Yep."

The Great One, however, has begun to smoke at the ears and the earth has taken on a rather constant tremor. "What is the meaning of this most preposterous behavior?" He turns to rail on the cowering figure in the dust behind him. Izanami gasps when she sees her husband. "You promised their obedience!"

A bruised Naoki Takenouchi glares up at the Great One. "I promised they'd be in Heliopolis. I never promised obedience." He smirks and indicates over towards Taylor. "He's gonna kick your ass."

The Great One is put out. "Treacherous Takenouchi! You shall be punished." He mysteriously heaves Naoki to his feet and turns him to face the others. "You shall now have the pleasure of watching your family be annihilated." He raises an arm towards the Nine. "Destroy!"

Pizoku has little to no time to react. He can only make out the rush of movement in front of him as he feels heat of fire hurtle towards him. He thinks he sees Jilan. He hears his mother screaming. The sounds of rocks cracking and exploding with loud booms take over his senses before the darkness settles in instead.

Meanwhile, outside East High School

Josh walks up to the sleek red vehicle as the window smoothly slides down to reveal Marissa in the driver's seat with TJ at her side. "You know stealing a car isn't exactly low profile."

Marissa gives her a cheeky sort of smirk. "We prefer to think of it as liberating the car."

Josh looks back at her with a dubious expression. "Liberating it from what exactly?"

"A kid whose rich daddy buys him things he really doesn't need or deserve," TJ replies leaning back in her seat like it was the most comfortable thing she'd ever been in.

"Hmm, I know that type all too well," Amanda muses.

TJ tips her sunglasses down her nose a bit and looks past her friends. "Is this the bait?"

Amanda glances back to see Zach. "The cat's the bait," She corrects. "The boy's the guide."

TJ leans forward to look towards the ground. "There's a cat?"

Josh sighs. "They have names, you know."

"Zach and Snowball," Marissa says with a wave to the two. "I remember." She turns to her brother. "Are you going to get in or would you like to stand there and be morally superior for a bit longer?"

Josh sticks his tongue out at her as he watches Amanda heaving her things into the trunk of the car with Zach's help. Snowball has already found a spot on TJ's lap and is purring quite content like. Josh sighs in defeat and prepares to get in the back seat next to Amanda when something inside him tells him that he shouldn't. Not yet.

Instead he backs away from the car, his sister's confused expression looking back at him. He can feel it. Something dark. Something very wrong and very close and also very far and he really doesn't like it. He looks up at the morning sky above them. What was once blue is becoming dark and foreboding and the feeling shivering up his spine becomes too much for him.

Marissa watches in utter confusion as her brother turns and runs. She hardly even notices that Amanda screams when the lightning strikes.

To Be Continued...