Hello again guys.

Aria

We huddled in the shelter of a big white government building and watched the rain pour down on the Place de la Concorde. Well the others were huddled, I was squatting in the rain listening intently to the conversation. It was a miserable day to be in Paris. The winter skies were heavy and low, and the cold, wet air soaked right into my bones. There were no tourists, no foot traffic. Everyone with any sense was inside by a fire enjoying a hot drink.

To our right, the River Seine wound sluggishly through the city. Across the enormous plaza, the gardens of the Tuileries were shrouded in a soupy haze.

Bast was confused as to what I was doing there but decided to drop it when Carter gasped trying to get up.

"Hold still," Bast told him.

He winced as she pressed her hand against his chest. She whispered something in Egyptian, and he relaxed a little.

"Broken rib," she announced. "Better now, but you should rest for at least a few minutes."

"What about the magicians?"

"I wouldn't worry about them just yet. The House will assume you teleported somewhere else."

"Why?"

"Paris is the Fourteenth Nome—Desjardins' headquarters. You would be insane trying to hide in his home territory." I told him.

"Great." He sighed.

"And your amulets do shield you," Bast added. "I could find Sadie anywhere because of my promise to protect her. But the amulets will keep you veiled from the eyes of Set and from other magicians."

I thought about the dark room in the First Nome with all the children looking into bowls of oil. Were they looking for us right now? The thought was creepy.

Carter tried to sit up but ended up crying out.

"Stay still," Bast ordered. "Really, Carter, you should learn to fall like a cat."

"I'll work on that," He promised. "How are you even alive? Is it that 'nine lives' thing?"

"Oh, that's just a silly legend. I'm immortal."

"But the scorpions!" Sadie scrunched in closer, shivering and drawing Bast's raincoat around her shoulders. "We saw them overwhelm you!"

Bast made a purring sound. "Dear Sadie, you do care! I must say I've worked for many children of the pharaohs, but you two—" She looked genuinely touched. "Well, I'm sorry if I worried you. It's true the scorpions reduced my power to almost nothing. I held them off as long as I could. Then I had just enough energy to revert to Muffin's form and slip into the Duat."

"I thought you weren't good at portals," Carter said.

"Well, first off, Carter, there are many ways in and out of the Duat. It has many different regions and layers—the Abyss, the River of Night, the Land of the Dead, the Land of Demons—"

"Sounds lovely," Sadie muttered.

"Anyway, portals are like doors. They pass through the Duat to connect one part of the mortal world to another. And yes, I'm not good at those. But I am a creature of the Duat. If I'm on my own, slipping into the nearest layer for a quick escape is relatively easy."

"Portals." I muttered. "Great."

Bast glared at me. "What are you doing here. No magician has ever betrayed the house as much as you have in the past year."

I flinched. Bast knew about everything. That shock abruptly turned to anger. "I'm sorry I was suddenly thrust into a totally different life! I did not purposefully betray the house!" I turned away and tried to calm down.

"And if muffin had been killed?" asked Carter obviously trying to change the subject.

"That would've banished me deep into the Duat. It would've been rather like putting my feet in concrete and dropping me into the middle of the sea. It would've taken years, perhaps centuries, before I would've been strong enough to return to the mortal world. Fortunately, that didn't happen. I came back straightaway, but by the time I got to the museum, the magicians had already captured you."

"We weren't exactly captured," Carter said.

"Really, Carter? How long were you in the First Nome before they decided to kill you?"

"Um, about twenty-four hours."

Bast whistled. "They've gotten friendlier! They used to blast godlings to dust in the first few minutes."

"Please don't call them that." I muttered too low for anyone to hear.

"We're not—wait, what did you call us?"

Sadie answered, sounding as if in a trance: "'Godlings.' That's what we are, aren't we? That's why Zia was so frightened of us, why Desjardins wants to kill us."

Bast patted Sadie's knee. "You always were bright, dear."

"Yeah unlike every other magician in the world." I muttered.

Carter shook his head. "I'm still so confused. "I think I would know if I was hosting a god."

"Carter," Sadie said. "When the Rosetta Stone shattered, it let out five gods, right? Dad joined with Osiris. Amos told us that. Set...I don't know. He got away somehow. But you and I—"

"The amulets protected us." He clutched the Eye of Horus around his neck. "Dad said they would."

I started reaching for my own amulet.

"If we had stayed out of the room, as Dad told us to," Sadie recalled. "But we were there, watching. We wanted to help him. We practically asked for power, Carter."

"Wait, Julius told you to stay out of the room." I interrupted. "So why is it i'm not hosting a god and neither are Desjardins or Zia?"

Bast sniffed. "Perhaps you're not-"

"Shut it cat!"

Carter institutionally reached for his sword. Then realized he didn't have it.

"Maybe I'm not as powerful as the others but as far as I know Desjardins is the second strongest-' My voice cracked. "Was the second strongest."

The weight from the past year splashed over me like a bucket of salted ice water. I felt as if my wounds had just been doused in alcohol.

I cried out and collapsed shivering.

Sadie

Okay so maybe I didn't trust Aria but Bast seemed to despise her, and Carter still couldn't move. So when she fell unconscious i was the only one to run to her and check if she was still alive. The weirdest thing happened next she started muttering things about Cronos. (Isn't that a kind of burrito?)[ Carter's telling me I'm an idiot, the thing I'm thinking of is Carne Asade. Who cares.]

Then her temperature rose so rapidly it burned me.

I touched her forehead and suddenly an electric spark went through me.

I saw the smiling face of Zia Rashid, an unfamiliar scowl, my father in a shimmering image, me and Carter staring in terror at Set, then stranger images, a dark haired sea green eyed boy, a smiling girl with blonde hair and startling grey eyes, the deathly glare of a blonde bot with a jagged scar running up his face, the black haired by talking to a sandy haired man, and then there was the small brunette girl with hazel eyes who looked nothing like Aria.

Then I started feeling Aria's emotions. Pain, Sorrow, Loss, Loneliness and something I knew only too well, Regret.

It made me feel awful that this girl my age had hardly experienced any joy or happiness.

Then I withdrew my hand and it faded. For some reason I knew that Aria Kane was my half sister. Aria Kane was exactly like me.

Hey guys so Sadie found out, Bast is a little overprotective, and Carter is as arrogant as ever. It's coming along extremely well.