-Amos Kane-

Kyra waited by the small fire I built, poking a stick at it. "You know, I always admired your fires." She grinned as I rolled my eyes.

"It's a fire Kyra, don't get all excited," I pointed out as I sat beside her, taking in the heat of the flames.

Kyra faced me now, which I waited for her to say something for a few minutes. "What?" I finally asked.

"What happened for you to escape?" She asked directly, there is no indirectness with my cousin.

"A mix of luck and a horrible family reunion." I summed up.

She rolled her eyes. "I assume you mean Set's family."

I laughed nervously. "Who else would I talk about?"

"Well, I think you know I would kick your ass if you started talking about me." Kyra smirked.

Oh yes, Julius and I knew better than to cross paths with Kyra. You had to agree with her, or fear her bow and aim. She was so fascinated with it when gifted to her from our grandfather at the age of ten she lost sleep to practice. She even gave warning shots if we got too deep into an argument when there were far more important things to attend to.

"How did they take meeting you?" I hesitated to ask as the four kids were wrapping up their time by the Nile.

"Pretty well actually," Kyra started. "Then again, I'm not the first family member that suddenly jumped into their lives."

I rolled my eyes again. "I was working on introducing you three, just didn't have the time."

"I'm not complaining," Kyra admitted with a smile. "I actually liked getting that kind of reaction."

"And I've told you repeatedly that you are the weird one." I recalled.

"Mmm," she nodded in agreement as she took a sip of water, "but I'm not the troublemaker, am I?"

Silence as the demigods and Kane children approached, eagerly sitting by the fire. "Amos," Sadie spoke first as everyone served themselves water and part of the bird Kyra had shot down not too long ago. "Since the First Nome is gone, what are you going to do?"

"You always have the best questions to answer Sadie." I grinned. "The First Nome will need to be rebuilt or moved somewhere else. That depends on Carter though. I suggest we wait until the Greek's Gaia is defeated first. For now, the Chief Lector and Pharaoh will be mobile until we get those details finalized," I explained quickly.

"In other words, Amos is coming along." Kyra confirmed. "Otherwise he'll find some other way to get into trouble or just sit around at Brooklyn House and do absolutely nothing."

"Thanks Kyra, I can always rely on you to make me out to be a lazy American." I muttered under my breath.

"Studying books all day is doing nothing," Kyra confirmed. "So, is that okay with you four?"

"Uh," Annabeth was obviously not sure.

"Yes, why wouldn't it be?" Sadie spoke up. "You never know if we need adult supervision."

"We could deal without Coach for a while," Percy added to Annabeth. "We could get him to take a break from this quest."

"Percy," Annabeth warned.

"Plus, the Chief Lector has some cool tricks up his sleeve," Percy continued anyways.

"Do you not remember the threats he gave us?" Annabeth snapped. "Sorry, uh, Amos, but I'm not about to place our lives in your hands any time soon."

I nodded in understanding. "No one should."

Kyra snorted, "that's for sure."

Carter and Sadie's eyes saddened. "I'm an escort for the Pharaoh and his sister," I clarified. "Unless the two of you are in absolute dire straits, I may cross the line and aid."

Kyra kept to herself this time, but I could tell it took a great deal of control. "Sounds fine with me." Percy smiled in agreement.

Silence for a few minutes. "So, do you guys have an imaginary backpack or something?" Percy asked as he took in the six sleeping bags around the fire.

"It's more like a locker in the Duat," Carter explained. "Actually, I didn't know you could put more than your weapons in it."

"Emergency things from years ago." I explained dryly. "Maybe later I'll teach you and Sadie how to do that."

Kyra smirked, "Amos' locker has more books than the library in Brooklyn House."

Sadie gave me a weird look. "Amos, a bookworm?" She considered. "I guess that explains why you get along with Cleo better than we do."

"But don't get me wrong, a bookworm has every chance of being a rebellious monster like everyone else," Kyra explained. "You would be so grounded for this incident."

"More like dead," I clarified. "And a quick reminder Kyra, we're no longer kids."

"Well, you might have authority above me, but I still see the sneaky Amos before me." She meant to tease me before the kids, probably release some of the tension the demigods have towards me. "You wouldn't believe how many times Iskandar summoned him to the Hall of Ages! There was one time that he got in trouble for breaking into the First Nome's library at three in the morning simply because there was a book that would help continue what he was researching."

"Maybe Carter can learn a few things from you then." Sadie nudged her older brother.

"I don't encourage my behavior," I finalized. "And I'm not the only one who played little rebel, Kyra."

She grinned to the mention. "At least no one caught me, did they?"

"I would honestly say you two are more like siblings rather than cousins." Percy spoke up.

"No, we're cousins." Kyra confirmed. "Just very close ones is all. Well, until that San Francisco scene happened, we kind of distanced."

"What happened?" Sadie continued.

"Uh, no." I waved her question off. "We are not bringing that up," I directed to Kyra.

Her eyes saddened in response. "You still haven't gotten over it?"

"Why would I?" I whispered.

"Because good rose from it after fifteen years of questioning it is why!" She snapped. "Well, okay I guess a little good came of it. I contemplated breaking the rules and visiting you in Brooklyn during that."

"You would have been caught, and Desjardins would find some way to punish you as well." I continued.

"Oh, I would find some way to coax my way out. That's the difference between us, you always accept the punishment." Kyra pointed out. "And Ruby was right; it was you he felt threatened by."

"If he was so fearful of the Kanes, he should have gone after Julius or Ruby rather than me." I added. "I knew Ruby was holding back details too, otherwise I would have read the hell out of the possession book before strolling in there."

"Still blaming yourself, you know it could have been ten times worse if you hadn't intervened," Kyra continued.

I glared at her now, "Kyra, this is the end of the topic, am I clear?"

She crossed her arms. "Well, at least you didn't sulk as much as Julius, I'll give you that."

"Does it involve Caroline?" Carter suddenly spoke up.

Kyra relaxed a bit and faced Carter. "Now, where did you hear that name?" She asked curiously.

I sighed and faced the kids, who obviously were listening to our disagreement. "I told him, but only pieces of it," I explained. "And I'd rather not continue, it will just put unwanted fear in their thoughts when they should be focused on this Gaia."

Kyra finally agreed with me and decided not to continue, but I'm certain she will look into continuing it later. "Yes, we should discuss this Goddess problem we have."

"Why she destroyed the First Nome is a good start," Sadie directed.

"I believe I got the answer to that," I continued. "She wants a war between us." I faced Percy, who swallowed his fear with a nod my way. "And I believe it includes the Pharaoh of the Per Ankh." I added, making sure my eyes stayed on the ground instead of giving away Carter.

"And what makes you think that?" Kyra asked.

"I mentioned my name, she asked where he was." I simplified. "And you know, Kane stubbornness and whatnot. She tried to hold me hostage underground, except she didn't put into account that I host one of Geb's sons."

"So she's probably in a foul mood," Percy added. "Well, more than usual."

"We should be careful with what we say aloud," I instructed. "I'm not sure what is going on between Geb and Gaia, she could still be lingering around."

Kyra's eyes narrowed. "You weren't staying behind for the throne, you wanted clues."

I smirked in response. "Well, I had hoped that a certain God would help me get out if it got too insane in there. I ended up getting help from three others instead."

"You thought Set would help you escape being swallowed by mud?" Kyra judged with her eyes.

"Wouldn't have been too hard, just turn into the awful fruit bat and get out through the roof," I explained.

"Fruit bat?" Kyra shot me a disgusted look.

"You wouldn't last a minute being Set's host," I added. "Especially if you think that's bad."

"You don't host do you?" Carter asked.

"No, and I think I'd rather keep it that way," Kyra added. "Especially with the random talking sessions I've witnessed Amos have."

"I haven't quite mastered keeping arguments in my head yet," I admitted.

"Scares the hell out of the magicians, that's for sure." Kyra summed up.

"I'd imagine Set is beyond annoying compared to Horus and Isis," Sadie smirked. "He annoys me each time we meet."

"Well, after a while you get used to the fact that he hates you and yet managed to restrain himself from killing you off a long time ago." I spoke dryly. "Anyways, I know it feels like you've been sleeping all day thanks to time changes, but we should get some sleep," I urged.

Kyra nodded in agreement. Percy and Annabeth didn't complain, they seemed tired when we met anyways so I wouldn't be surprised if they were still catching up. Carter and Sadie kept their place by the fire with Kyra and I. "I hope I didn't stir too much concern," I broke the silence but kept my voice low as to not wake up the Greeks.

"Not going to lie Uncle Amos, but we were pretty freaked out." Sadie confirmed.

Carter hesitated to nod in agreement. "Well, we'll keep together this time," I explained. "I'm sure I just had a taste of what she can do."

Kyra agreed with a small smile. "Family first, that's always a rule I stand by."

I rolled my eyes. "You really shouldn't be grouping yourself with us."

"Awe, but the Kanes are full of endless fun Amos." She teased again. "Especially recently. Besides, you never know when you'll need a professional archer."

"You're an archer?" Sadie asked in amazement.

"Yes, I still carry my staff and wand of course, but I've always relied on my bow and arrows," She confirmed. "It's proved quite useful around the Kane brothers."