-Sadie Kane-

I rub my eyes to wake up some more as a yawn escapes. The boat is rather sociable beyond the cabin area. But it quickly calms when I open the door. "You must have slept well," Yev starts. "We traveled through the rift and you didn't even stir from that."

"Vika threw up again," Mariano adds, grinning from ear to ear to the glare the Russian woman is shooting his way.

"Oh," I yawn again to the thought of it, "I was pretty tired. Where are we now?"

"We're close to dropping you two off," Uncle Amos admits, and he doesn't seem happy about it.

"Oh?"

He hesitates but quickly decides we need to talk some more, gesturing me to sit. "I want to pass some things over to you before we part ways. I intended to set something up for this, but never got around to it."

Now, I figured he was talking along the lines of like Dad and his bag of stuff that Carter inherited. But ending up with a collection of different shabtis with my uncle listing off what they are all able to do was something I never would have considered. "Wait, sorry, library shabti?"

"It's retrieval like the ones in the library, but this is more my personal library he has access too."

"You're giving me, the girl that despises school, a library?"

"Yes, otherwise I'm certain you'd break into it without my permission anyway," my uncle jokes. "I have some interesting reads in there, including Julius' books."

"Did you buy Dad's books?"

"I considered it more like funding him."

"Because Amos can't help but enable his older brother," Caroline adds.

Amos wants to protest that, but quickly shuts his mouth instead and nods. "She's actually on to something there. Moving on…"

The animated crimson coat and matching hat are next. Technically still a shabti if you think about it hard enough. Uncle Amos explains how it operates briefly for me. "And try to not set it on fire again, otherwise you might have to rebuild it yourself."

"Noted, don't get into a fight with Sekhmet."

And while this was a lot already, somehow there was still an army of shabtis he has surplus of. "I know you're more of a cat person, but Subira is the one I keep close at hand if not Phillip." It's a small white dog. "I've had her since I was younger than you are now, and unfortunately she's had to be rebuilt five times during all of that."

"I didn't realize that statuaries could have a signature," Yevgeni suddenly pipes in, earning our attention. He takes a step back in alarm, "Sorry, I was intrigued. But why are they all white?"

"Statuaries have a signature in a sense after awhile of practice. Some prefer to disable their shabtis, like specifically not giving them a right index finger, or even a deformation in a specific spot," Amos answers rather easily, not seeming offended by the question having been asked. "I never liked the idea of taking something physically away from them, but felt like keeping them white in color made it easier for me and others to spot."

"So Doughboy?" I ask.

"I already told Julius that he should have made him legs. There's a reason why he hated magicians. If you cannot trust your shabti, then don't expect them to trust you."

"Hmmm, I can see you got along great with the rest of the House's statuaries," Vika's brother points out quickly. "And by that, I mean despised."

My uncle seems stunned by the boldness in the statement, but Rua immediately pulls Yev away. "Leave them be, why are you interrupting their family discussion right now?"

I raise an eyebrow towards my uncle. "Well, were you?"

"House of Life statuaries eventually hit a wall concerning morals. Are your creations just tools for you in the end, or do they mean more than that? It's been a consistent problem."

And my uncle leans more towards his shabtis being more like beloved pets. I could see Yev's point about someone disagreeing with these viewpoints. But then again, which ones are more powerful at the end of the day?

A few more shabtis added to the collection. There's a theme of animal-based shabtis as well, but I chose to not speak on it. There's a hippo, lion, horse, camel, and a pigeon. A few human-like shabtis tossed in, but they are not as detailed but hold specific roles that are important enough. Definitely not Iskandar's Zia shabti quality, and I doubt they could really be mistaken as human anyway.

Carter and I were brand new to magic then. But had Iskandar managed to trick his own apprentice into believing it was Zia too? He must have, considering Set's rage to finding out it wasn't the host of Nephthys. He must have known that Amos was hosting Set against his will. That explains why they had seemed desperate to find him the time we spent in Cairo. Iskandar saying if he had more time, he would have protected Carter and I like he had protected Zia. From his apprentice.

I swallow that down. Uncle Amos already does circles of blaming himself for it all. If he doesn't already know of it, then why should I bring it up when he'll just spiral all over again. I doubt Iskandar had intended to view him as an enemy. Probably tried to protect him from himself more likely.

He has my attention again when his iron staff ends up in my hands. "I can't take this," I start.

"Well, you don't have to use it all immediately if you don't want to."

"No," I swallow in air to try and stop from downing from the emotions hitting all over again. "This is yours, I can't."

My uncle takes a moment to process what I'm saying. Takes in the number of items he's pretty much handed me at this point and nods. "Sadie, I can't protect you and Carter anymore. If my staff ends up being the last resort that helps you survive, it's yours."

"This is already more than Dad gave Carter." I clench my jaw as I take in the pleading look on his face. "We'll be okay."

I'm realizing that his comforting words were not just meant for me. I release the tension in my face as my uncle's clear worry hits me like a speeding train. He's spent so much time supporting us, protecting when he can. Maybe the overprotectiveness is guilt from Set? And now he's fearful because he's back in a position where he won't be able to keep us safe.

"Michel Desjardins had that staff commissioned," he hesitates to say. "I remember telling him that I didn't need it. I wasn't really going to be attacking anyone, and if I really needed to, my wooden staff would be just fine." His eyes come back from the distance they had gained. "He snuck it into my bag because the old man wasn't going to take a no from a kid like me anyway. Ended up using it to protect Julius in an emergency. I never really questioned his judgement after that."

I process that, staring down at his iron staff. The last time I talked with Desjardins, I had called him an awful friend as he had arranged assistance from the Paris Nome to deal with Friedrich. He had simply smiled back at me in response, supplying advice for the situation we were in. I felt awful for it when Carter had told me what Sabat had read, but didn't tell him as much. The grouchy Frenchman was accustomed to people spitting in his face.

I tighten my grip on the cool metal in my hands. "Okay, if it'll put you at ease."

I ended up with about two bags full of shabtis, some emergency items that my uncle claims he has had since his squadron work. Apparently, Dad hadn't been very keen in keeping prepared for anything, Amos ended up being overly so. I also wouldn't be surprised if Desjardins had supplied more of this for him to keep around in case.

Mariano Rua approaches, at first hesitating for a moment, but notices that my uncle had wrapped up his passing of personal belongings. "We are here."

"Where?" I ask, peering around the boat until I notice a rather large stone door to our left. Two obelisks along the side, the wall being an inky red that I can't see through.

"Sadie," my uncle grabs my attention, though seems like he'd rather not, "I've been containing a powerful artifact here. It's what Caesarion is looking for."

Oh, right, I had honestly forgotten about all of that at this point. "Oh, cool. Why are we here then? Move it somewhere else?"

"Amos' magic will only hold here for so long," Vika answers. "The plan is to retrieve it, and he has asked I stow it away for him."

"Only Vika," my uncle glares at me to add further seriousness.

I stiffly nod to the clear order in his tone. "Okay, and then to the Houses?"

"No, Lady Kane," Rua answers. "Vika has offered we take her boat for that trip ourselves. Amos has assured that it's safe for you two to emerge from the duat here."

"I would appreciate a layout of any traps," Vika voices towards my uncle.

He nods and goes into depth. In summary, my uncle loaded the place with fire, sand, and storm traps. And apparently one that will blast "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots. "Music is very powerful magic, Sadie." I'm not sure about that still.

"Is that everything? Anything else you might have forgotten?" Vika pries, and I can tell that she seems to think he is withholding something.

"That's the entire layout, I promise. And there's nothing that should be a threat above us," he reassures immediately upon the ask.

She has a look of doubt on her face but unboards anyway. I jump off onto the sand after her. "Listen to Vika, Sadie. And thank you, both of you."

The boat starts moving, Caroline making sure to wave back at us. I make sure to respond with the same wave. I can only hope that the four bas make the trip safely.

Vika only took a moment to inspect the door, in which we realized the two obelisks seemed to be protecting the door with red hieroglyphs. She then turns to the obelisk to her right before intoning "shatter" to make the stone crumble as if it was made of sand instead. The next one falls victim the same way. The red hieroglyphs fade from the door in response.

"That was easy," I voice.

"If you are any good at manipulating minerals, yes," Vika quickly reminds me that she is in fact an earth elementalist.

She places her hand against the door, and with no sudden reaction to the contact, she pushes it open. It's a bit daunting staring into a purely dark space beyond the entryway. Vika summons her staff and lights the top of it in a blue glow, I quickly do the same with my wooden staff.

"So, the first two steps are safe, then we need to jump over the sand trap," Vika lists off quickly, and I'm astonished she was able to list it by memory so easily. "Don't touch the wall to the left, that's a fire trap."

The space isn't very big, I note I can almost make out the opposite wall from where we are. With the amount of traps Amos had rattled off, he wanted to make sure no one could just walk in. Vika jumps ahead, checking her footing before turning to me. "If you want you can stay there."

I think about that for a moment. Uncle Amos probably limited foot space in hopes of a slip-up. "You seemed concerned that he didn't tell us everything," I voice.

Vika nods, "He wasn't exactly forthcoming about any of this. I wouldn't be surprised if he's hoping we don't succeed."

Well, I'm not happy about that at all. Why would he hope we end up hurt instead? I'm still debating, but step up to the sand trap. I back up some so I can leap, my right foot almost hits a glowing hieroglyph but I'm able to negotiate my balance with Vika willingly being a center of balance so I can put my foot into neutral territory.

Like I figured, he made sure foot space was very limited. I mentally note to never mention the fact that Vika and I are in each other's personal space. Instead, watch Vika take a huge side-step to her left, being very careful to not make contact with the wall. There's no space for me there as well, so she moves to the next safe spot. I then do her earlier move, and sigh as I realize that I'm going to be stuck behind Vika at this rate with how minimal the space given is.

Eventually, we come up to a small heavy table with a box on top of it. It's a nicely decorated wooden box, with a horn sticking out of it and a metal pin to a large circular black thing. Vika didn't bother with it, so I took a moment to observe it. "Isn't this a music player? Grama Phone or something?"

Vika takes a moment to process what I had just said. "It's a gramophone, and yes, it plays vinyl. Looks like it was adjusted to play more modern discs."

She continues with her path, but I'm still interested in how this is considered a trap that my uncle rigged up. Gramps and Gram have one back in London. Gran would listen to her music while cleaning up around the house, humming along as she went. But they never let me touch it, but I think I remember how it works.

"Well then," I freeze to that voice from across the room. "I see he was fast to change his mind. Sent you two here, did he?"

He's against the far wall, blonde armored form as he's glaring holes into me. "Well, I'm not about to break our arrangement."

The Russian magician pulls her wand out in response. "Blin, should have known. Rua said you were still in the world."

He stands from the wall, eyes shifted to Vika now. "That Italian bird? Tried so hard to get your brother out of the closet he was in. Did you know they were discussing finally coming out to you and Vladimir? Ironic that Jabari Kane put a stop to that."

"One could place the blame on you," Vika spits back on the god of chaos. "Don't try to manipulate old wounds, Set."

Set spreads his hands out as he laughs as if she told a great joke. "What is there for me to manipulate? You're the one that went on a rampage since, were you not?"

"Set," I speak, looking to stop him from annoying the Russian. "Uncle Amos said he has something here that we need to grab. Where is it?"

Set just rolls his eyes at me for it. "Listen, niece, that's not how this is going to work out. And to be honest, I'm surprised he even told you. He knows that our ties are diminishing since his death."

He takes a step closer, and I can tell he doesn't intend to be very helpful. "I will allow the pair of you to turn back and leave. One more step, however…" He grins at the implication.

"Set, you should help us instead. We have bigger issues right now. The House of Life is about to attack Camp Jupiter-"

"Good, tell your brother that I hope he breaks a leg too. I don't care anymore about your pathetic issues," Set snarls. "Why should I? You humans are all the same in the end." His anger had a hint of hurt in its tone there.

"You're upset about Amos," I puzzle out fast, and Set's black eyes narrowing in response tell me enough. "What if you come help us?"

"There is no helping you. Blood and power are all you keep craving. Diplomacy was never an option on the table, yet you keep making me believe it. Now go, Isis, and find someone else to annoy. I'm through."

"I understand," Vika voices now. "We hardly ever deviate from our usual ways. War and death to get what we want is all we know."

Set tsks at her words. "Lady Menshikov, then you will understand where I stand if you want to pretend to understand the cycle of host deaths I've endured. You'll turn back and live your life until you rot from whatever stupid human quality takes you too."

Words will not coax him. Isis voices. He will not be reasoned with now.

"We are not here for reasoning," Set answers, pulling his staff out as he faces me. "He sent you to retrieve. I'm here to guard. That was in our agreement, and out of respect I intend to keep my word."

Oh, I guess Vika was right to assume my uncle wasn't being entirely honest. Would have been nice if he warned us though. "By the way, cranky red god will be there to say hello." Something.

"Too bad we are all too stubborn to walk away then," Vika clarifies where she stands on this now. "No hard feelings, Red Lord."