CASSIDY'S POV

"Cassidy, what in the world do you mean the descendants are all here?" Eddie asks.

"Look, Nina is here. She knows of the plot of Madame. The fact that she's here means that all of the descendants of the major Egyptian gods are gathering at Anubis to stop Madame," I explain.

"So, who… who are the descendants?" Patricia asks nervously, Eddie's protective arms still wrapped around her.

"Well, Eddie, I…" I stop mid-sentence, quickly realizing neither Patricia nor Liam know of my relation to Eddie. But, it is now a time as any; they must know. It is, of course, a life or death matter.

I sigh and start over. "Eddie, you and I, being, er, brother and sister are both descendants of Osiris."

Patricia and Liam alternate blank stares from me to Eddie.

"Sister? Brother? WHAT?" Patricia demands.

"Hmm, er, yeah, guess we forgot to mention that," Eddie defends. "That's uh, that's my sister!"

Patricia stares at him wide-eyed and open-mouthed. "Huh?" is all she manages.

I ignore her confusion and continue listing the descendants. "Ok, we two are both Osiris. Nina, she's a descendant of Horus, hence the locket. Liam here I think is a descendant of Anubis or Isis."

"The locket?" Patricia says. She looks as if she's recalling something. "Joy said that new girl Esmay had the exact same locket."

"How come no one told me this?" I demand. "Never mind, now I know. She's obviously a descendant, too, whether it be Isis or Anubis. Not that it matters, exactly. The important thing is they're all here."

Eddie gazes at Patricia. "We could end this," he says. "This could be over soon!"

I throw my arms around Liam's neck and kiss him on the cheek. He presses his forehead against mine and smiles. "It's almost over."

"Wait," I interject, facing Liam. "What happened to Madame after that… that incident? We've had a substitute in French for two months."

Liam looks at me in terror. "Oh, God, I don't know! Is she still in the hospital?"

"No," Patricia says. "She is teaching at the middle school. Apparently she complained to Mr. Sweet about the high-school students and got moved to middle school. I don't understand why she didn't tell Mr. Sweet how she got beat up by Liam."

Liam scowls at her. I know this is still a touchy subject for him.

"Actually," I say. "This sounds incredibly reasonable. She doesn't want there to be any trouble so she can still be near us to… hurt us." I hate saying it out loud, but I know it's true the moment I do. Madame needs us close to her.

"I suggest we get Esmay and Nina and figure out how to defeat Madame," Eddie proposes.

"Nina's at the dance. Joy and Jerome have been explaining everything to her," I say. "Let's head over there, then find Madame."

I just can't believe it. All this torture, this madness, it is almost over.

Until I remember something…

"Wait, Eddie!" I exclaim as he's about to leave the room to find Nina. "I-I need to talk to you… alone."

Liam and Patricia exchange nervous glances, but leave the room hurriedly.

"Eddie, there's something I forgot to mention," I say.

Eddie senses the tension in my tone. His lips are pursed thinly. "What?"

"You… you know how I mentioned there's never been two descendants from the same god at one time?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I said that I was born because we'd need more help to defeat Madame. But, you see, there's only ever been four descendants on earth at once. In every great battle, only four are there to save the day - and they all survive."

"That's reassuring, but we need to go!"

"No, Eddie! You don't understand! Only four ever survive! Only four can survive!"

"Cassidy, you don't mean…"

"Yes, I do Eddie. One of the descendants is going to die."