Archive of Our Own ^beta

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A long infinity ago, Ra was sitting proudly on his golden throne. He was watching with the eyes of his mind the Homo-sapiens evolving and conquering the world. He saw them discovering the fire, inventing the wheel, making weapons, creating jewelry, sewing dresses, building empires, writing poetry, enunciating theorems, individualizing.

It took so much even for the all knowing king to admit people could be as beautiful as the Gods.

'Ra, my child...' Goddess Hathor spoke from the skies.

'Mother?'

'It has ultimately happened. The Gods stepped on their pride and fell for mortals. Soon, a new species will be born — the demigods.'

'Almighty queen mother, I, the king of all, am just a peasant in front of you. I don't understand what overwhelming power these half-blood creatures could have. Please, tell me! Why are they a threat to us?'

'My dear child, I am the first mother of all living beings on Terra. I know what my children can do, even the unborn ones. I feel the power of godly blood! Half-humans half-deities with the strength of a God and the feelings of a mortal!'

Her voice thrilled the mountains and shredded the sky with lightning bolts.

'Don't let this happen. Forbid now and for all the relationship between the Haven and the Earth! I command to you.'

Ra didn't have what to do but to comply. No one would ever know that their lord was one of the first Gods who had fallen in love with a mortal.

That was his first bad choice, because, sometimes, parents have to listen to their kids too.

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If you haven't listened to our last two recordings, I need to explain to you a few things. My name is Sadie Kane and this is my elder brother, Carter. A year ago, we found out that all the Egyptian Gods and myths are actually real and we are magicians and descendants of two powerful pharaohs. Such a crazyness, right? But let's start with the very beginning.

Six years ago, our mom died. I was brought up by my grandparents in London, while my brother traveled with our dad all over the world. We used to see each other only two times a year, in summer and on Christmas days. Last winter, our dad passed away trying to release five Gods from the Rosetta Stone, and we were possesed by two of them — Isis and Horus.

Our uncle, Amos, took care of us and clarified the entire situation. We went to the first nome of the House of Life (witch is an organization of Egyptian magicians and has three-hundred and sixty nomes worldwide) in Cairo to train and learn how to use our powers. We defeated the God of Evil, Set, who possesed our uncle, and recorded our entire adventure, along with a call for the young magicians. So, our new home — the House of Brooklyn — became a boarding school. We thought this was the end of the story. Not even close.

The serpent Apophis, the most powerful and destructive monster in the Egyptian mythology, was about to rise and devour the sun, helped by some rebellious Russian magicians. Carter and I found the three parts of the Book of Ra and woke up the God of the sun, who had been once the king of the Gods and used to fight Apophis every night. But he was a little bit senile. A little bit more.

You may now wonder if we tell or not the truth and what on earth you have to do with that. We don't have much time to explain. The idea is that you are like us — and that means you're in a huge danger. Come to us, in Brooklyn, and we will teach you to use your abilities and fight for Ma'at. And, sure, some boring things about the Ancient Egypt from Mr. Wikipedia right here. [Ouch! That hurt, Carter.]

But, first, listen to how we managed to save the world. Again. Well, maybe with some help this time.

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Thanks for the introduction, Sadie! Here is Ariana Blue, demigod, and magician of the House of Life, live and in stereo. All the magicians have heard my name, but, like always, I remain anonymous for the mortals. Listen closely to this story, I promise you, it's a good one. Well, maybe besides the part where [coughing sounds] died, but I won't give you spoilers.

It all began on a casual Saturday. My parents had gone to a wedding, so I was home alone with food supplies, a full HD TV, and Greek mythology themed books ready to be read. What more could a pathetic girl ask from her ordinary and meaningless life?

The sun seemed to shine even brighter when I received a call from Ms. Casidy, my best friend Maria's aunt. She's a single woman in her early thirties, with the same passion as me — mythology.

'Hi, Annie.'

Yes, those days my name wasn't Ariana yet, but don't worry, you'll soon understand everything.

'I've just found some books in my house that I no longer need. I have a feeling that you'll enjoy them. May I come to you for a few minutes to drop them?'

Of course I said yes. My only two friends, Maria and Lora, were on vacation with their parents, so I didn't have much to do. Her voice cracked when she said 'thank you' and a shiver went down my spine.

I was wondering what was going on with her and whose ass I was gonna kick for making her sad when the doorbell rang. Well, that's what I call quick.

'Lora?!' I yelled when I saw my friend standing in front of me, while she was supposed to be hundreds of kilometers away. Her long blonde hair was messy as always and her big brown eyes shined like never.

'What are you doing here?'

'Annie, do you trust me?' she asked all of a sudden, looking right into my eyes. That shiver reappeared.

'Of course!' I said without hesitation. Little did I know.

'Unconditionally?'

'Unconditionally.'

'Then come with me,' she said, heading to the door.

'Not so fast, monster!'

Lora smiled arrogantly at Ms. Casidy's statement. They were standing face to face. Ms. Casidy looked like she was ready to cut Lora's eyes with her fingernails, while my friend was overbold. I didn't dare to ask her where my books were.

'This apartment isn't big enough for a fight, Neith. Don't you have mercy for her? Let this little girl see her brother. Do you really wanna destroy her house and kill her friend in front of her?'

Fight. Brother. Goddess. I didn't know what they were talking about. I was the only child of my parents. I wasn't in the mood for jokes or theatrical interpretations, but I had the feeling it was more than that. The only thing I knew was that I didn't want to stay between them.

'You both get out of my house!' I said.

Lora turned to me and I had a heart attack. Her eyes were glowing red and piercing my soul with incredible hate.

'I'm not leaving this miserable town without you.'

Before I acknowledged what was happening, she grabbed me by my throat. There were two problems with that. First, I didn't remember her to be so strong. Second, her nails had become claws.

'Come on, Neith. Do your magic and this girl dies.'

'Lora, go to hell,' I managed to mumble not to look as scared as I really was. If only Maria were here...

'You'll soon thank me, filthy demigod.'

'Keep talking,' Ms Casidy said.

I felt my feet warm. The floor shone brightly yellow and the carpet melted into sand. I thought we were gonna lend on my drunk neighbor, but we fell into a sandstorm. Trying to regain her balance, Lora cut my throat. I screamed and cursed. The pain was so real this couldn't be a nightmare. The sand dispersed and I saw a big city at a number with a lot of zeros of meters under us. Now I had another reason to yell, along with my new apparent schizophrenia.

Lora attempted to grab me, but she exploded in red sparkles — a possible cause of future PTSD. Ms. Casidy caught me and somehow slowed us down, so we reached the ground safely, behind a big building that could easily be a cathedral. I crumbled to the ground, pressing my hands on my injury. With a single touch, she stopped my bleeding. I could feel the scar disappearing. Then she stood up and looked around.

'Saint Petersburg?! How? We should be in Cairo!'

With the pain gone, I had time to feel the shock entirely. I was lucky I was a person who believed in magic and Gods and things like this, otherwise, I would've probably passed out or began to cry. But I took a deep breath and tried to figure out what the heck was going on.

'Ms. Casidy,' I said slowly, 'Neith was an Egyptian Goddess, right?'

She looked at me mercifully.

'It's the time to tell you a story.'

The coldness was pervading my bones. Ms. Casidy was only dressed in some striped trousers, a cotton T-shirt, and a cowboy jacket (yes, I know, her fashion sense is crazy), but she didn't seem to be affected.

She gave me her jacket and sit on the grass, next to me. There were almost no humans on the streets. It wasn't normal for a grand and important city like Saint Petersburg to be so deserted, but this was the less weird thing to happen today.

'Annie, you told me you believe in the old Greek legends about Gods and heroes. Do you?'

'Yes,' I said firmly. 'I strongly believe there is a real side to each story. And after all I've seen today...'

'Annie, my beautiful girl, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth. But it was for your own good. Once I'll explain to you, there will be no turning back. They'll come after you.'

'Who are they?'

'Right now, us,' a voice said.

Ms Casidy's pupils dilated. We turned to face two boys and a girl. She was kind of ugly, massive, with spiky blonde hair and green eyes. The boy next to her was an Asian, bald and with black eyes. They seemed both ruthless, merciless, and stupid in anything that didn't involve harming others. The boy who'd spoken was standing in front of them. He had black hair with blue reflections and green eyes. He was handsome and gorgeous and just so... different. He looked kinder than the other two. His beautiful eyes were tender and gentle. He was looking at me with such interest as if I were a long lost treasure. All three were carrying curved swords, wooden staffs, and boomerangs. They were probably between fifteen and nineteen years old.

'Go away from her!' Ms. Casidy and the green-eyed boy said simultaneously.

'Leave my sister alone, Goddess,' he told her gravely.

'What?!' I shouted. That sentence perhaps made my remaining neurons hang themselves. I concentrated on that guy. Lora had been saying something about my brother, too. My brain was telling me no way, but my heart's opinion (that no one asked for, by the way) was uh-oh, that makes sense. My heart was racing like a cheetah. I had that beastly aesthesis that he was part of my herd.

The boy could very easily lie or make fun of me to see if I fall for that trick, as well as the others, but I knew he was right. It was the first and not the last time I experienced that. You know something for sure, that information is cut in your brain, but you aren't able to cotton on how or why. Now that I look back I realize maybe those wishes of having a sister or brother weren't just wishes, they were my unconscious will to take back what had once been mine. Or a frustration that those things should've been mine and weren't.

They both made some steps forward.

'What do you plan on doing with her anyway?' he asked. 'You can't bring her to the House of Life. They will imprison or even kill her.'

'Just because you're part of the family, I can reveal to you I won't do this. She shall train with the Kanes.'

All three of them gasped.

'She will go to Moscow and train at the First Russian Nome. Another friend is waiting for her there. And with this, I said all I'd wanted to.'

And he did something incredible. A sphere of pure blue light came from his hands. Like in Dragon Ball (or Barbie Fairytopia, but this doesn't sound badass), he sent a flash of energy to Ms. Casidy.

'Close your eyes!' she yelled.

I conformed. Even with my eyes closed, the light was blinding. When I finally opened them, my eyes widened. Ms. Casidy, or better said Neith, had created a magical shield. She was now dressed in a camouflage suit. Her long black hair was braided. On her head, she wore a tiara made of branches and flowers. She was holding a bow and an arrow. Her goldy form, I thought.

'You truly are a Goddess!' I remarked in a moment of brilliance.

'I am Neith, Egyptian Goddess of hunting and nature, protector of the forest, mistress of archery.'

'And a vapourish bitch,' the girl completed.

The battle was insane. Neith struggled not to abandon her protection circle. It was obvious she couldn't fight at her full power, or else she would vaporize us, but I still wondered how could those wizards and that witch fight with a Goddess. And they were winning.

The Asian was creating lightning bolts and storm clouds with his staff, while the girl made hieroglyphs appear with her boomerang. Each of the symbols either exploded or hit the shield. Occasionally, they would throw little things that transformed into animals or monsters. But my supposed brother was definitely the scariest. I don't know why he had weapons with him. He didn't need them.

What were they trying to do? Kill a Goddess? A lightbulb went on and I figured out their goal — to break the shield. And they did. The Asian and the girl crumbled to the ground, sweating. The green-eyed boy grabbed his wand and said some Arabic words. Another hieroglyph shone in front of us, but this one had much more power.

Neith yelled and fell on the ground, overwhelmed by the bloody red symbol. He came towards me. I wanted to run, but I knew it would be to no avail and I would look stupid as well. So I stood my ground and waited for him. He stopped at some centimeters away.

'Hello, Ariana Blue. I've been waiting to finally meet you. My name is Caleb Blue and I am your brother.'

Great introduction. I didn't know what part to deny first.

'You are making a mistake. My name is not Ariana. I'm Annie.'

'Thanks to Lora, I know. Then, let's rephrase. Hello, Annie. Your real name is Ariana and I'm glad to take you home.'

A little statue appeared out of thin air in his hand. He placed it on the ground and opened what I appreciated was a portal.

'Do you want to come with me?' he asked gently.

No, it's not like you've just kicked a Goddess's ass for that, I thought.

'Do I have a choice?'

'No, but not because of me. Be sincere to yourself, Annie. Do you really want to go back?'

'No,' I said immediately.

'Do you truly want to forget all that's happened today and restart living your normal life?'

'No,' I said.

The other two wizards were approaching us. I lowered my eyes, but Caleb grabbed my chin and made me look him into his damn beautiful eyes.

'Your eyes...' I told him. 'They remind me of...'

'They are my mother's. Our mother's. If you want to meet her and find answers to all your questions, come with us.'

I looked down at Neith. I regarded I didn't have any reason to argue with Caleb now. I would discover everything —about me, about the Kanes — and then find my own path.

'You'll never have to look down ever again. I will help you reclaim your birthright.'

"Fight insanity with even more insanity," I read once.

So i jumped into that damned portal.

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Caleb, the two strangers (whose names apparently were Sarah Jacobi and Kwaii oh-so-misterious-i-don't-need-a-family-name) and I were walking down the Russian Nome's corridors. I was listening to the story of Egypt, but as it had never been said before. The Egyptian pharaohs were far from dead and buried and so, unfortunately, were their Gods.

'This is the eighteenth nome of the House of Life and the most important Russian one. Here I will train you.'

I almost chocked.

'Training? Like magician training? You said I'm a demigod, but Egyptian Gods don't have children with-'

'I'll explain to you in a few moments, when we'll also meet your friend.'

Only a few people passed by. They were clearing the path for us and whispering to each other. So all of them were magicians...?

'You took a hostage?' I asked him.

'Of course not. He'll train with you too. I'll treat him like my own relative. Well, in fact, we really are related! So let's get to the prison.'

I stopped.

'Can you repeat the last part?'

He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand.

'Not to imprison you, dummy!'

We climbed down to the basement. Even if I acted like I didn't have any problem with this, I was so scared. I was scared of Sarah and Kwaii and the rest of the magicians I would meet. I couldn't wait to see that 'friend' they're talking about. I accepted the idea that this boy named Caleb was my brother, but he was so cold. He was letting me wait to find out what the hell I was because he didn't have lust to repeat himself. I wanted to yell at him, 'it's the first time we meet after fifteen years and you don't even hug me?'

I woke up from my thoughts only when we arrived in from on a prison cell. My heart dropped.

'Annie!'

'Andrew?'

'Oh, how cute, you know your names,' Kwaii complained.

'Shut up,' I told him.

Andrew had been my classmate since we were seven. I admit, I had a crush on him, my fault, but we would barely speak to each other. I would've never imagined to have a magical adventure with him by my side. I would've never imagined to have a magical adventure at all!

And now, he was lying in a prison cell. He was as skinny as a skeleton, with black short hair, a shadow of a future mustache and a funny rat face. Yeah, I know, I have great taste in men.

'Now that you're both here, it's the time you find out all the truth.'

'I've been waiting for hours to listen to the shit your miserable mouth will say,' Andrew told him.

'Aeons ago,' Caleb began, 'Ra's order was loud and clear. When the Gods saw mortal women were atractive and elegant, the king forbid any kind of relationship between them. It seemes the demigods posses a power equal as their parents', plus a mortal life, which lets them taste feelings an imortal being could not comprehend. They feared such a creature could rise and destroy them.

A thousand years or something like that ago, a human did the unthinkable — he fell in love with Hathor, Goddess of love, beauty and music and she loved him back. They had a child, a boy, who was killed and history tried to erase his existance from Earth's memory. That's why you haven't ever heard about Egyptian demigods.

Sixteen years ago, the story repeated. I, Caleb Blue, was born to our mother, magician Daleea Blue and the Egyptian God Khonsu. Have you ever heard about him, Annie?'

'No, never.'

'But what do you think it's the matter with him?'

In my mind there was no doubt. All this craziness was making sense.

'He's the moon God, right?' I said.

'Yes,' Caleb replied smiling. 'Our parents managed to hide me from the House of Life and the Gods. One year later, their second child was born — and her name was Ariana Blue. Our power levels were too high not to be sensed. And the cherry on top of this lethal cake came a couple of months later, when you, Andrew, were born. You are the child of magician Hyra McCallfy and Egyptian air God Shu. Your real name is Seb McCallfy.'

Too much for my brain. Andrew — or Seb? — covered his ears.

'I don't wanna listen to you anymore! This is bullshit! Lies! Rubbish! Garbage! This-'

'I'm glad you have a large English vocabulary, but I want to hear all Caleb has to say, so shut up!' I yelled at him.

He sneacked his thin hands between the bars and grabbed my wrists.

'Please, Annie. I know you're a dreamer and you have your head stuck on some cloud, but you're too intelligent to believe what he says!'

'But I feel he is telling us the truth. Don't you? Besides, I saw with my own eyes! Maria Casidy's aunt is actually an Egyptian Goddess and Lora is a monster! I saw these people using magic-'

'You're just as sane as they are.'

I sighed. I knew it would be hard for someone like him to believe in such impossible things. Caleb continued:

'Iskandar, the former Chief-Lector, wanted to kill the women and the three children, but that would make Khonsu and Shu very angry. They are powerful and vital Gods. No one wanted that to happen. So the mothers were imprisoned in Nomes across Russia, while the children were given to families that wanted a child and couldn't have one. Of course, they paid attention for the adoptive parents to be similar to the kids, so no one would question their origins.'

'You know, you should write a book,' Andrew bursted out. 'Now let us go. Or at least me. If you want to steal my organs or-'

'What and idiot brat,' Sarah interrupted him. 'I could bet you're an atheist. Let's make this nonbeliever swallow this tongue.'

She took an amulet out of her pocket. It was a golden wolf with a topaz eye. With a special word, her boomerang-wand lit bright red and the amulet grew and grew until it transformet into a real wolf made entirely out of gold. He barked at us. Andrew screamed like a little child.

I was terrified too, but that was my chance to prove to myself I really was a daughter of the moon. I remembered how the son of Jupiter I read about could persuade wolves do what he wanted.

I wasn't allowed to show fear. I stood up and approached him. He showed me his teeth, but I stretched my hand to tauch him. He let me pet him.

'Yes, Andrew. I really believe what he is saying.'

Caleb seemed very proud.

'You need to thank Sarah and Kwaii right here. They are the ones who found and trained me after I'd run away from my home. They told me about your existance. We assassinated the formed leader, Vlad the Inhaler, and I became the new boss. Now, I owe them to fight against the Kanes.'

'But who are they?' I asked. 'Neith was talking about them as well. She wanted to bring me to them.'

Caleb clenched his fists, while Sarah showed me the ugliest look possible (spoiler alert: she was so ugly and scary!).

'They are criminals who helped king Ra, the God who made up this damn rule we don't have the right to live, rise and wanted him to fight Apophis, the embodiment of evil and chaos, while he doesn't even remember his name. He's an old relic that's supposed to save us all. They killed people for not having the same beliefs as them. Besides that, they work with the House of Life, but betrayed those magicians too to study the path of the Gods.'

'But why is this so bad?' Andrew finally made an intervention. 'We are the children of the Gods. Isn't it normal to follow their path?'

'Gods are mischievous,' Kwaii said with a horrible English accent. 'If you unite your mind and body with theirs, you'll become thirsty for power. You'll destroy yourself.'

'And you expect us to fight against them,' Andrew said sorely. 'Why would we do something like that?'

My brother opened his mouth, but I asked promptly:

'May I speak with him alone for one second?'

Caleb rised his shoulders with indifference and all three of them left.

'Annie, you're sick. I get it you're unhappy with your life, but I don't wanna fight any war! That's none of my business. I will go home and forget all of this. I will try hard to forget how they broke into my house and kidnapped me.'

That hurt.

'How can you say this? Don't you desire to meet your biological parents?'

'My biological parents are home! I refuse to believe I'm the son of I don't what what God of wind that never even tried to contact me.'

I looked around to make sure no one was listening to us.

'Look,' I whispered, 'I don't trust Russians. North Coreans either. But we are magicians and demigods. We need to train. My brother will help us. After we understand what's happening with us and what's the situation, we'll be able to investigate further and learn if those two are as kind as Caleb praises them.'

Andrew didn't look too glad.

'So we just drop school and abandon our families to team up with some magical guys we've just met.'

I smiled and even tried to laugh.

'I could bet you did things far more interesting than this.'

He did the same.

***

After Seb was freed, Caleb guided us to our rooms, which were next to each other. They were okay, with a big comfortable bed, a wooden wardrobe, a wooden desk and chair and some weapons hanged on the wall.

Caleb entered with me in my room and closed the door. My first instinct was to pick up one of those swords, but my brother hugged me tightly. I was surprised, but I embraced him back. Yes, we surely shared the same blood.

'You have no idea how much I wanted a sibling... how much I wanted my parents to understand me and love me for who I am...'

Caleb rubbed my back and stroked my hair.

'Did you find out you were adopted?' he asked me.

'No. But I've always felt that way. I'm afraid the House of Life didn't make the best decision.'

I was fighting with tears.

'Shhh, don't worry. We'll get revenge soon. When you are prepared, we will get to see our mom. I promise you.'

I hugged him tighter. At that point I trusted him.

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So, hello everyone, Seb at the microphone. When I asked Caleb how much this training would last — just to know if my mom would organize a pre-funeral for me —, he told me 'we'll see'. I surely wasn't expecting to spend more than a month in the Russian Nome, without access to the outside world. We weren't even allowed to visit all the Nome, we had only a sector for us, where the other Russian magicians didn't have the right to come. And I truly wanted to visit Saint Patersburg!

Ok, let's get back to the story. That evening, we got to meet Caleb's girlfriend, Zia Rashid. She was a sexy metis Egyptian girl, with golden eyes and short black hair. She was gorgeous in her camouflage trousers and black undershirt.

'Sorry for being late. We were... on a quest.'

We shook hands.

'Zia will teach you magic and history, while I will train you with weapons. For now, it's better to keep you away from the rest of the magicians. Sarah and Kwaii will also play an important role.'

Annie — or, excuse me, Ariana — and I looked at each other. I couldn't imagine fighting with those two. But, long story short, we somehow survived.

I got dressed with some black ripped jeans, a back T-shirt and a black leather jacket (I swear, all the clothes were black!) and went into the back garden for our first magic lesson. Ariana was wearing black and white striped trousers, a white skivvy and a black leather jacket. I could say from Zia's piercing look that it was too much white for their taste.

Zia guided us to a stone pilar. She put a piece of papyrus on it and wrote a symbol.

Zia slightly moved her hand through the air and a brown bag appeared out of nowhere. She took out two wands and two staffs and passed them to us.

'This is esh, the hieroglyph of fire,' she explained. 'Take your wands, invoc the word and make a fire column rise.'

I looked over her shoulder to see Sarah Jacobi standing at the back door. She reminded me of that morning and I felt I was ready to vomit. Brilliant, now I would look like a fool in front of that bitch.

Ariana was the first to try.

'Esh,' she said plainly and, as expected, nothing occured.

Zia put her hands on her hips in a way that would have made Shakira jealous.

'Are you kidding me? This is a divine word, the most sacred form of magic. Feel what you say. Imagine it happening.'

Ariana closed her eyes and concentrated. She put her wand and her other bare hand over the symbol. After a few second, she repeated the spell softly.

I fell on my ass when a five meters fire column rose to the sky. Zia, unfortunately, didn't have time to back down. The fire disappeared and a very eyebrowless Zia was staring in amazement at Ariana. Then she smiled. Perhaps she had a spell to repair that.

I, just as expected, didn't succeed.

'Don't worry, Seb. Not all magicians are good at spells. That's not all we do. There are a lot of specialities. We should discover the following days what kind of magicians you are.'

After the expelieyebrows lesson, it was time to teach us about the ancient Egypt, the history of the House of Life, what was permitted and what was not. I almost feel asleep, but Ari seemed to enjoy it. She already had lots of knowledge. Then Zia gave us a piece of papyrus and showed us the most important hieroglyphs.

'This is Ma'at,' Zia said. 'Order and piece.'

'And this is Isfet, chaos and supreme evil,' she said pointing at another symbol

'And we are fighting for Ma'at,' Ari said.

Zia smiled.

'Of course we are.'

Her answer was strange. She replied as if we had asked, 'We are fighting for Ma'at, aren't we?' I am pretty sure that was the moment Ariana decided Zia can't be trusted.

After that, we went to a big empty hall to train with Caleb. On our way, Ariana whispered to me:

'Your problem is you don't believe. In order to do magic, you need to have faith in what you do.'

That was true, but I was somehow too pissed off to try too hard. I couldn't comprehend how she accepted so fast what was happening to us.

On a long wooden table were laying hundreds of weapons — dozens of different swords, knives, bows, arrows and shields. I had to admit, this was pretty cool.

'Choose you weapons,' Caleb told us.

I was looking for a sword, but all were strangely curved. Finally, I managed to find a normal straight and long one, like in video games. Ariana grabbed two knives, each of them half the size of my blade.

'Interesting and nonconsformist choices. Seb, you had a variety of traditional Egyptian swords, named khopesh, but you preferred a Roman gladius, from when the Roman Empire conquered Egypt. Ariana, a knife demands a quick and intelligent fighter. They're not as strong as a sword, but are easy to maneuver and efficient.'

At that point, the training was no longer a joke. Caleb launched himself into an instruction with weapons and martial arts. I was terrible, but Ariana was even worse. How can I say, in a diagrama, the sports are in one circle, and she is in the square 100 miles away from it. [Thank you you didn't hit me for saying that, Ari.]

But Caleb knew how to do his job.

First, he brought a girder that is used by the gymnasts and tutored her to mentain her stability even in the most unlikely situations, to make those 360 degrees jumps and to stay on her hands. I confess, I was making fun of her... until it was my turn. Now I appreciate gymnasts more.

'Hey, couch, sorry to question your unique ways, but how will this ballet help us beat up bad guys?'

'Well, as far as I'm concerned, you're not a wrestler or sumo fighter,' he said.

'Well, as far as I'm concerned, you're right.'

'So you won't be able to defeat your opponent just using raw strength. You need to know how to dodge, eschew and turn the odds in your favour.'

I didn't like that arrogant asshole, but he was the brother of my new friend, the friend I was in this situation with, the friend who would have my back and vice versa. Plus, he was right.

***

As the weeks passed by, it became crystal clear my specialty was combat magic, while Ariana excelled in elemental magic, controlling the element water.

The training was herculian. From 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. we were exercising and practicing and fighting. But the most vigorous part followed a month after that, when Zia and Caleb decided that we are ready to train with the other magicians. And our amazing teachers were (you guessed!) Sarah and Kwaii.

We were astonished by our own progress. In four weeks, I was a swordsmaster. I perceived my weapon as an extension of my hands. Ariana also made progresses with the knives and martial art, but she was incredible summoning great quantities of water without getting tired.

'I see you trained well,' Kwaii told us.

'Am I hearing well? You made us a compliment?' Ariana asked with sarcasm. I'd never been prouder of her. I ended up thinking about her as my sister.

But, of course, I missed my family. The first two weeks, Ariana told me she was glad she had a break from her parents (well, stepparents), but I heard her recently crying in the bathroom.

Kwaii acted as if he hadn't heard.

'You've learned to use the staff, wand, papyrus, amulets, weapons et cetera. Now, because you're demigods, you should have the ability to do all the spells you've learned without using magical objects or spoken devine words, just like Caleb. And, obviously, much more.'

His smirk made me feel uncomfortable. The battle with the Kanes was coming and Ariana and I had to find a way to uncover all the truth. (And, maybe, meet our true parents, because Caleb and the others were extremely reluctant.)

Ariana kept pushin Zia to speak to us, because they had become relatively good friends, but she was keeping secrets too. She even told Ari her tragic life story, how a monster had destroyed her town, how she had been possessed by a Goddess who had almost killed her and how Caleb had saved her. But she wouldn't tell us more about the Kanes or the path of Gods.

But let's get back to the part of the story when I get my ass kicked off and propulsed into the universe. Kwaii and Sarah charged us into a battle with no weapons or magical instruments. They didn't have much either, just their wands, but they were in advantage.

At first, all we could do was eschew and avoid their spells, until we were knocked out. We used to end up in the infirmary, until one day, when they didn't come to train us. Caleb and Zia were probably minding their own business, not knowing we were all by ourselves.

'It's time to investigate,' she said.

We went to their rooms and listened through the doors, but they weren't there.

'If they are up to something secret,' I concluded, 'they would perhaps go to the basement.'

Ari nodded.

The door to the basement was locked. She whispered a divine word and opened it. My heart stopped at the terrible sound it made, but then I realized there was no echo. A redish light lit the ghoulish stone stairs. The torches on the walls were also shining bloody red. One cold shiver after another were going down my spine.

Ari freaked out and almost fell on the stairs when we heard Kwaii's voice.

'The half-bloods are making significant progress, my lord. They will soon be ready to fight for you, my lord.'

'Well done, my lieutenants,' a voice replied.

I've heard several horrific voices that would make me tremble at my life — my math teacher's, my senile aunt's —, but this one sounded like all the bad things in the world came together to form a unitary voice. It was deep, harsh like smashed stone and... snaky.

'But how are you so sure they will free willingly join me? You haven't told them the truth, have you?' the voice continued.

'I'll do my best to persuade them,' my lord. That definitely was Caleb's voice. 'I'll tell them we need to stop the Gods' domination and destroy the evil people. Together, we'll make a new world. I already gained my sister's trust. I'm sure I can convince her. And she will convince Seb McCallfy.'

I looked at Ari. Her cheeks were turning as red as the atmosphere.

'Very well, my most trustworthy acolyte. The clock is ticking for the empire. And... oh, kill the magicians from the dungeons.'

'Yes, my lord,' Caleb, Sarah and Kwaii said at unison.

My jaw dropped. Ari dashed up the stairs and back at the surface. I ran after her and grabbed her arm.

'Hey, I'm sorry for you and your brother, but we could've heard other valuable information!' I yelled-whispered at her.

'Are you deaf?!' she yelled-whispered back. 'They're gonna murder someone! We need to reach that dungeon. The real one, that is not in the basement.'

'Okay, but how do you plan to do this? We have no idea where it is. And, even if we had, oh yeah!, the doors are locked!'

Ariana ran dragging me after her.

We rushed along the hallway and reached one of the doors we were forbidden to open. A red hieroglyph shone on the wood. We had tried before to open it with the appropriate spell, but to no avail.

'I think I get it now,' she said. 'Zia and the other lied to us. They're not fighting for Ma'at, but for Isfet. Do you know what that means?'

'That they're probably working with that evil snake?' I tried.

'Apophis. Maybe. But it also means they used chaos magic to seal the doors, that's why all their hieroglyphics are red and why our magic was too weak.'

She lost her enthusiasm in a blink.

'I just wish... I wish we had more time to focus on our demigod powers. The Gods are protectors of Ma'at, so if we use our godly side we should be able to break the spell.'

'I can't believe our godly parents just let us rot in here. They haven't even given us a sign. Something to guide us.'

'So now you acknowledge why we must destroy them.'

We bounded and turned around to see Kwaii and Zia Rashid.

'Liars!' Ari shouted, but she only looked at Zia, who seemed to feel guilty. I guessed she was talking about her and Caleb.

'Ariana, I'm sorry you two had to find out the truth in such a painful way, but you don't understand!'

Tears were going down Ari's cheeks. She made hellbently a couple of steps forward.

'No, you are the one who doesn't understand. YOU ARE A SCRIBE OF THE HOUSE OF LIFE!' she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The red hieroglyph carved into the door exploded into a sparkly waterfall.

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The hieroglyph exploded, along with Zia's nerves. Sarah clenched her teeth at the words 'house of life', but she was calm. Too calm. Zia made a couple of steps towards us, but Sarah put her arm like a barrier between us.

'Stay right here, Rashid. I haven't spent so many weeks with those crybabies without even being able to teach them the lesson they deserve for you to destroy the plan now!'

Jacobi turned to face us.

'Our idiot leader made stupid decisions in his desperate try to protect his dear little sis. But that's over. You'll go to your rooms and pretend you didn't hear anything. We'll explain the situation to you latter.'

I've heard this sentence too many times and in almost each case it was followed by a lie or worse — silence. Ari's eyes locked with mine.

'We need to get out of here,' she told me in Romanian, so we wouldn't be understood. 'We need to open a portal.'

'Move or you will be moved!' Sarah screamed.

'But how? We don't have any relic.'

'Some Gods can open portals out of nowhere. Maybe so can we,' she said.

Sarah prepared her wand and Zia followed her example.

'But first, we must fight. And win,' she added.

'Ha-wi,' Sarah said. A giant red fist appeared.

Ari took her staff and hit the floor. A protection shiled appeared. She and Zia were focused on each other like two lionesses. Sarah's fist crushed into the shield and Ari lost her balance for a second.

Think fast, Seb, I thought. Which divine words can you summon to get you both out of this?

Oh, yes, my favourite spell!

'Ha-di!' I said. 'Destroy!'

'N'dah!' Zia yelled. 'Protect!'

'Sa-hei!' Ariana shouted. 'Demolish!'

As you can probably deduce, Ari was the smartest. My magic and Zia's nullified each other, while she made the entire Nome shatter. The wall behind our enemies collapsed.

Then someone hit me... with the door. All four looked in amazement at the boy who had just entered the door. He seemed to be just a little older than me. He was wearing some kind of whitish-yellowish pijamas. He had light brown hair and brown eyes. I recognized the amulet at his neck — my father's symbol.

'Come with I if you want life!'

This sounded more like a phrase Jesus would say, but we understood enough.

Sadie is already mad because we reduced her to silence, so I'll skip the part with the battle. The idea is we managed to knock them out for almost two whole seconds. We took advantage of them and ran the hell out of there.

Thy Russian boy, whose name was Leonid, summoned a wind to carry us faster. Sarah created a storm cloud and was now following us at full speed. Behind her, through the wind, I could see Zia. The beautiful, soft, and intelligent girl was acting like a berserk animal. Her eyes were glowing red — not like chaos, but like fire, lava.

We rushed through everything in our way. And I really mean through. We broke walls and windows down. The magical wind eventually dispersed and we fell in the Nome's front yard. A sand portal was waiting for us. Zia appeared too and Ari created another protection shield against her. She was just throwing firewalls in it. From her bare hands.

'Where are we going?' I asked him.

'Kane,' he replied. 'America Nome.'

'Oh, okay. America sounds good. America sounds great.'

Ari was about to collapse. Jacobi emerged from the main gate (or what had remained from it) and was approaching us. She was holding a young lady by her collar. The woman was wearing Russian magician's black clothes. She had long red-haired, big green eyes and prominent freckles.

'Tell the sis' of the Nome's leader what you've done,' Jacobi told her.

'I follow the path of Serquet,' she declared proudly.

She seemed to be in her late twenties and I thought it must've been weird for her to be interogated by sociopathic teens.

'The path of the Gods...' Ari muttered.

'Watch and learn,' Jacobi declared. 'Ha-di.'

I didn't stay there to watch the woman's death. I didn't help her either. I grabbed Ari by the arm and, masked by the blinding light, we jumped into the portal. I was hoping I left Russia behind forever and that Ari was thinking the same as me. I had to trust her. And I had to trust our saviour.

'If this delivers us to Groenlanda...' I began, but the next second my face made contact with the pavement.

We stood there on the cement, in the night's dark, saying completely nothing.

'So, why did you save us?' Ari asked Leo, shattering the silence.

'I follow Shu,' he explained. 'Shu talked with me. Shu told to me about you. Shu put me save you. He can't.'

Translation: he was following my useless father's path who cared so little about me that he forced this poor boy to do his job.

'So you learned the path of the Gods in Russia's heart,' Ari told him,' and right under Sarah, Kwaii, and my brother's noses.'

She was talking slowly so our new friend with poor English skills would understand her.

'That was courageous.'

'Okay guys, let's leave the compliments for when we're safe and move on.'

I looked around.

'So, that's it? Are we in Brooklyn? Have we escaped? Are we free yet?'

'Yes, don't know, yes, yes,' Ariana answered.

A huge, shining, busy city was surrounding us. I didn't bother to ask how no one saw us falling from a sandy cyclon. Ari didn't let me just question a person where we were, so were walked down the boulevard, looking for a sign. Actually, looking everywhere. Everything was so impressive, comparing to our little town. Finally, we saw a big white building.

'University of Memphis?!'

'Quick question,' Ari said. 'Where and how far is Memphis from Brooklyn?'

'I don't have any idea where we are on the USA map,' I replied.

A monkey came running towards us from the university. Believe me, it was scarier than it sounds. We backed down, but the baboon fell in love with Ari's leg and wrapped his hands around it as in a hug.

'Who's there, Newton?' a male voice yelled.

A middle-aged man, with brunette hair like a broom and a white gown, appeared at the building's door. His eyes were two white shining moons.

'Could it be...?' the man said.

'Einstein...?' I tried.

He approached us. He gently put his hand on Ari's shoulder and gazed at her face. His eyes widened.

'As Thoth, the God of knowledge and wisdom, it would be embarrassing to make such a horrible mistake. But you truly and irrefutably are Ariana Blue, right? And one of these young men is Seb McCallfy, isn't he?'

I lifted my hand.

'Hi.'

'Glad to meet you, Godlings.'

This was the first time I had actually met an immortal being. So, was it that common? You just walk relaxed on the streets and bam! you knock over a God. You meet your friend's aunt and bam! she's a Goddess. How many had I seen at home without even knowing?

'Um... ah, yeah,' we said petrified.
He laughed and hugged Ari tightly.

'I'm so glad to finally meet you, my goddaughter!'

Thoth's home was huge and full of baboons. Baboons here, baboons there, baboons everywhere. They were using laptops, writing, reading, or cleaning. Stacks of books and papers were almost falling on us. Microscopes, musical instruments, and much more were laying on the tables.

'I've always thought owls were the symbol of wisdom,' I said.

'They are,' Thoth agreed. 'But for Greeks. They are Athena's sacred birds. A sweetheart that Goddess, really. But I personally prefer baboons.'

The animals were watching us, especially Ari. Thoth invited us to take a seat at a small round table.

'Mendeleev, please bring us some tea and coffee, thank you,' he told a baboon. 'Yes, yes,' he said to us. He touched his fingertips softly. 'Very wise of you. To obey the Russians to obtain training and information, then figure out you need to make your own opinion about the Kanes and discover your powers on your own. And Leonid. Very brave and courageous boy! Shu picked you well.'

The baboon came back with a silver tray. Thoth drank a mouth of tea. 'I am not surprised. You have my blessing, girl. No one knows this, but I was the godfather at your birth.'

'And believe me, that's awesome,' Ari told him. 'But, why are we here? And why can't we reach out to our parents?'

Thoth sighed.

'It's not that simple. It never is. Your godly parents are forbidden from contacting you. And so are you mortal mothers. Of course, they could have broken the rule, but now that Ma'at is unstable, we must do everything to respect it and help it become stronger. Yet you can count on me. And the Kanes. And, for the sake of Ra, beware my sister, Hathor. She is the Goddess of love, beauty and joy, but don't forget that her other form is Sekhmet, divinity of pleagues and medicine. She's still angry that her child was killed a long time ago.'

He came closer and put his hand over his mouth.

'Not to mention that she has a crush on your dad, girl. Aaaand she's tremendously jealous of your mom.'

I burst out. Wise girl hit me with her fist in the arm. Of course, it didn't hurt.

'Laugh, laugh, but she will try to stop you two, and Caleb as well, from reaching your goals. She will do everything to kill the children of Khonsu and your mother, although she basically is your aunt. Your dad isn't the flirty type. She felt disgraced that he'd fallen in love after such a long time, and it was with a human.'

'Gosh, why do Gods have this affinity for incest?' I wondered.

'She is a Goddess,' Ari concluded, 'and she hasn't got any restrictions. Why hasn't she killed us so far?'

'Because she is still a guardian of Ma'at. The same desire to protect order and peace that is keeping you away from your families is at the same time protecting you from your immortal enemies. Plus, Khonsu and Shu would punish her really really bad. But she can help the Russians do that for her.'

He yelled at a baboo to give him the laptop. The animal did as asked and Thoth started searching.

'I will open you a portal to go to your destination. But, first, you must hear the Kane's two recordings and decide if this is what you want to do.'

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I couldn't believe who my father was. From Sadie and Carter's story, he was just like the Greek Gods — a total jerk. Infinite power combined with all human flaws. Even better than the McDonalds combo.

Thoth opened a portal for us.

'This will lead you to Brooklyn. For real this time, because this time that's where you have to be.'

'Thank you for everything,' I told my godfather and hugged him tightly. 'I'm so glad I got to see you. At least I know which God I can trust.'

'Don't think like that,' Thoth said. 'To defeat Apophis, you need to persuade the war Gods to help you. I believe you'll do just fine.'

I was about to jump into the sand spiral. As Seb was saying his farewells to Thoth, I looked behind me one last time.

'And, don't forget,' he added, 'don't expect to find a friend in Sadie Kane. But I have a feeling Carter will be a valuable ally. My protégé Cleo Pearl as well.'

Carter was like me from so many points of view — we were both nerds, had exigent fathers, and people would make fun of us because we're not so cool as others. I liked the way he was speaking and thinking, from what I could figure out from the recording. I felt bad for him. Zia, the girl I used to look up to, the girl who stood up for me before Sarah and Kwaii, hurt him and betrayed the House of Life.

Just as I did?

Leonid pushed me into the portal.

We were standing in front of an abandoned three-storeyed storehouse. The broken windows and ruined walls were almost falling apart. Yet I knew we weren't in the wrong place. Everything in magic happens with a reason.

'Do you feel it?' I asked Seb.

'I don't feel anything. But I know this is not what it seems.'

'I like your reply,' I told him.

'What happens?' Leo asked confused.

I touched gently the front door. Blue and yellow light threads came from beneath my fingers and spread on the wooden surface. The yellow ones formed the symbol of the House of Life.

I was feeling numb. This was the organization that wanted us dead. Still, we had to unite in order to defeat the serpent.

The storehouse changed its appearance. It got higher. The crystal clear windows shone in the morning light. The golden decorations on the doors blinded me. The moment I leaned forward to open the door, a red sand vortex showed up. A massive black man stepped before us. He was dressed in a shiny white Elvis Presley suit, in perfect concordance with his long black dreads and small round glasses.

He had a staff in his hand.

'Another Russian magician using chaos power?' Seb questioned and grabbed his sword.

The man showed us his white-gloved palms.

'Oh contrairé,' he said. 'My name is Amos Kane. I think we should go inside and talk, shall we?'

Seb and I looked at each other. The way our relationship had developed was unique. Now we could communicate just with our eyes. We could entrust each other our lives. And I didn't want to ruin that by telling him my feelings.

Amos pointed the door and it instantly opened. A silhouette jumped on me before I could react and knocked me down from my feet. It licked my face and stared at me. It was a shabti wolf.

'Hi, uncle Amos,' a black boy said running toward us. 'Sorry for that, I was just perfecting my shabti skills.'

The doggo vanished and a pendant was lying on my chest. The boy helped me get on my feet.

'Are you new students?' he asked.

'Uhm...'

'Carter,' Amos said, 'is your sister at school with the others?'

'Yes,' he replied. 'Only Walt, Bast, and Khufu are here with me.'

'Good. We need to talk.'

***

Seb, Leonid, Carter, Amos, Khufu, and I were sitting at a round table in the middle of the library, which was actually a human-sized bee shelter. Sky Goddess Nut and earth God Geb were painted on the ceiling and floor. In the walls' holes were papyrus rolls.

I felt Carter's eyes on me, although I didn't have the courage to look him in the eyes. My black clothes reminded him of the Russian rebels who wanted him dead. My long brown hair, brown eyes, nose, complexion, eyebrows and my everything reminded him of my father and the terrible experience he had had with him.

Bast was looking at us as if we were in a busy metropolitan city and we had some odd big rucksacks. The cat Goddess was fierce in her color shifting cat costume.

Only Khufu seemed to want to kiss me and feed me Cherioos.

'So now the game changes,' Carter concluded. 'Until now, the only plausible thing to do to defeat Apophis has been to use empathic magic on him.'

'Carter!' Bast scolded him.

'I know, I'm sorry Sadie and I have been up to this without telling you. But the important thing is now maybe we don't need to do this.'

'One of Khonsu's specialties are secret names,' Amos declared. 'If you inherited those abilities, maybe you can remember king Ra who he is and return him to his former glory.'

'I swear I will try my best,' I said, 'but I have no idea what kind of powers I possess.'

'That's right,' Seb approved. 'You all act like we're ticking bombs, but we're as much of a victim as any of you.'

'Look,' said Bast. 'I admit I am very reluctant about you. But I admire that you risked so much to come here. Leonid, you made the right decision to help them. If you truly want to fight with Ma'at, we are your allies.'

'Thank you,' I said.

'But I hope you realize what you've done,' Amos told us gravely. 'Caleb Blue shielded you from Sarah Jacobi and Kwai's wrath. When they see you next time, it will be in a life or death situation. They won't hesitate to kill you.'

'Caleb bad,' Leo agreed. 'Caleb killed Vlad Menshikov. Caleb the leader. Sarah and Kwaii afraid he.'

' Bast! Carter!' a female voice yelled from outside the room.

The door was pushed open and a girl rushed in.

'You won't believe what Isis has just told me! How could she keep-'

She stopped in confusion. Perhaps she was Sadie Kane. She looked older than her real age. She was taller than me and gorgeous as hell. [And now she's teasing Carter that I've never said this about him.] She had the most beautiful eyes. What a shame that when they found mine, I could feel them darkening.

She was a fraction of a second far from wrapping her hands around my neck when an old man only dressed in a white skirt joined the party.

'Cleopatra Selene! Cleopatra Selene! Give me zebras!'

He was coming after me with his skelly arms open. I freaked out and jumped from my chair. I backed down a few steps.

'Ra, my lord!' Bast said.

'That's Ra?!' Seb and I exclaimed.

Sadie grabbed the man's shoulder and dragged him behind.

'What are you doing in my house?!'

'Your house?'

My Godfather had said I wouldn't find an ally in her. But it was more than that. She loathed me.

'I know you hate my father for taking Bes, the dwarf God, away from you,' I told her. 'But I'm not like him or my brother. I've risked everything to make up for all the bad.'

The idea came to me on spot.

'I'll make Ra king again. And I will fix Bes.'

'What...' Leonid started in bewilderment.

'I'll explain to you later, buddy. Now you may want to stay as far as possible from them.'

I pierced Seb with my eyes.

'Not the moment,' I whispered.

Ra clasped his hands.

'Ra will get stars and zebras! Maybe cookies!'

***

My room was awesome. The bed was comfortable, the wardrobe was big and a huge HD TV was dominating the desk. I also had a minibar and no weapons hanging on the walls. The balcony let sunlight throw a golden aura.

The clock showed 10:07 and I already wanted to get some sleep. Luckily, I couldn't even lay down because of the pain in my stomach. I would walk in circles and fuss and bustle and torment. How was I going to keep all my promises? I would disappoint everyone. I would soon have to go to breakfast and I had an insatiable desire to hide in a corner.

I decided changing my look was a step closer to changing the situation.

'Hope I'll find cool clothes in here. And no black. Something vintage or soft grunge would be nice,' I said to myself as I opened the closet's doors and saw blue jeans, high heel boots, striped trousers, T-shirts in pastel colours and long coats. And, of course, some magician clothes.

'Thank... you...' I muttered.

All the clothes were exactly my size and miraculously didn't fell from my bone and skin construction. Even the boots fit my feet perfectly, despite my tiny ankles, so I figured out it was enchanted.

I chose wide green trousers and a red skinny tank top, with some brown high heeled boots and a blue denim jacket. I combed my hair, which was now reaching my waist. It had grown in a month as in five.

Someone knocked at the door and slightly opened it.

'Hi,' said Carter Kane.

'Hi,' said Ariana Blue.

'I'm sorry for my sister. And for my behavior as well.'

That was unusual for a boy.

'Thanks. But I guess I have to prove to you I'm not like my... family.'

'I can tell you're not,' he told me unyieldingly. I was surprised. 'You betrayed your brother. You barely got out alive from Russia, but you didn't go home. You came where you are needed. We were all surprised by your existance. History is more messed up than we thought. But we'll get used to the idea.'

'Right... I totally forgot about my family. Well, my stepfamily. I should call them. Do you have any phones here?'

He took out his mobile from his back pocket. Of course it was an iPhone.

'Here, have mine.'

'Thanks.'

'Look, Ariana...' Carter seemed to be ashamed. 'I wanted to ask you something. About a girl.'

Zia. Amos' voice reverberated from his room. He was arguing with someone. I walked down the corridor and Carter followed me. I stopped in front of the room where the screams were coming from.

'Don't even think about that! Let her alone!'

'Kids, come here! It's important!'

I handed the phone back to Carter.

'This will have to wait,' I said and we conformed with Bast's requirement.

I almost fell down the stairs when I saw Neith in the middle of the big room.

'What on Earth are you doing here?!' I asked her. 'How is Maria doing?'

'And more important, how did you manage to break our security sistem?' Carter questioned.

Neith didn't take notice of him. Seb, Sadie and an older guy were coming down the stairs too. Amos and Leo were a few seconds late.

'Ariana, I'm glad you and your friend did it,' she said. 'I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, but I went to your parents and explained them the situation. Don't worry. Maria is fine, she's where she should be.'

'Neith.' Bast was standing with her arms crossed in fron of the hunt Goddess. 'What are you doing here?'

'I'm here with your salvation.'

'Continue,' the boy told her.

'Imagine the most evil, mischievous, cunning, ambitious person you can. Then multiple them with one hundred. They are nothing' — she said that nothing like she was fighting for air — 'compared to Setne. He was an Egyptian prince that did odious crimes while alive, and continued them in the afterlife. He's managed to escape being judged by Osiris for hundreds and hundreds of years. But the worst part is he is our only chance, because he found out secrets no mortal should know and wrote a book — The Book of Overwhelming Apophis. But nobody knows where it is hidden.'

'How do you know that?' the black boy who must have been Walt asked.

'Yes, Thoth didn't tell us anything about this guy Setne,' Seb demured.

'I have my own ways,' Neith said mysteriously. 'Th Gods of knowledge doesn't know everything.'

'So, basically,' Sadie said, 'what you're saying is that we must find and persuade a malefactor ghost to show us where that book is, without being killed or worse, and the problem with the doomsday is solved?'

Bast closed her eyes, as if saying I can't believe this.

'It won't be that easy, Sadie. After centuries of freedom, Set was finally sent to his judgment.'

'That's right,' Neith completed. 'His appointment before Osiris is today, at six o'clock. You must hurry, cause this time...'

'This time dad is the judge,' Carter completed in a grave voice. 'And he won't let that criminal breakaway anymore.'

My brain was overloaded. I had barely arrived there and the situation was already pink? What about Ra? What about that dying Walt Stone? We didn't have time to wait for the other or think this through. We just went on to save the world, without trusting each other, confused and with hope in our souls.

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No words can describe Duat. An endless ocean, parallel with our reality. You must let your soul and instincts be in charge, or you'll drown in those waves. Breathe and you won't just float or swim, you'll control the water.

'I bet we won't take the bus,' Seb said.

A bloody red river was sinuating in front of us. Suddenly, an old wooden boat, like the ones drawn in history books, appeared in the distance from the heavy mist. Lamps were illuminating the construction.

'No. We'll use our parents' boat,' Carter informed us.

When it accosted, I saw the lamps were actually light spheres floating around. The captain was no one else than a demon with an ax head. Because why not? But the true magic took place when we climbed on. I felt like the protagonist of a Barbie movie.

A blinding light shone for a second. The boat decided we weren't fashionable enough for its deck. Sadie's urban clothes transformed into an Egyptian white dress. She had golden bracelets and rings on her hands and was wearing leather sandals. Carter was topless and barefooted, like an ancient Egyptian warrior, with just a piece of material at his waist and some heavy necklaces. The Eye of Horus and the tyet were glowing with power. Walt looked the same as Carter, but at a closer look I was terrified to observe he looked better as he was approaching the domain of the dead. Not better than Carter. Better than... you got it! Seb and I were looking stunned at the Kane siblings, and they — at us.

I realized my hair was up. I was wearing a dark blue dress, so long it was literally sweeping the floor. A cape of the same length, like the night sky, was shining on my back. I fingered my hair to find out it was caught with a crescent moon decoration. I turned to see Seb and I mimicked a wow! His 'skirt' was making holographic illusions impossible to describe. What the heck was the logic, no one understands.

Sadie remained surprised a few seconds, but then the changes seemed to irritate her even more. And I cared. I fucking cared a lot, even though she was basically a stranger.

Ra clapped his hands. Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you the senile grandpa had insisted to come with us too.

'Stars! Zebras! Beautiful stars!'

I had no doubt he wasn't talking nonsense. It was like his mind was trying to send messages the brain couldn't process. His algorithm used a pseudo code. Stars were the constant for Ariana Blue. I was wondering who he was referring to when he was asking me to bring him zebras. Maybe they were someone who could help us.

'Tawaret will probably kill you if you're thinking about showing up at her asylum,' Sadie told me unexpectedly.

'I will fulfill my promise,' I replied without looking at her.

After a short trip, Carter, Sadie, Walt, Seb, Ra and I were in front of two huge obsidian doors. A golden wolf was their guardian.

'Oh, don't be afraid. That's Anubis,' Sadie told us.

'That thing is a God?' I asked.

'I don't think so. Sadie...' Walt warned.

But, of course, she didn't listen. 'Hi, boy.'

The dog growled when Sadie approached it, showing its sharp white teeth.

'Okay, this is not Anubis. Unless he is having a bad day.'

'Let me deal with it,' Walt said. 'Hello, guardian. I am Walt Stone and I'm here with Sadie and Carter Kane, Ariana Blue, Seb McCallfy and lord Ra. We want to make a declaration in Setne's trial.'

The dog bowed its head to the left as if thinking whether it was such a bad option to eat us or not.

'So you're telling me this guy is a sau, a tamer, and a probation lawyer?' Seb asked.

The doors opened and we froze.

'...and you killed the guards and escaped for the third time!' a male voice thundered.

'In my defense, I killed them quickly. I took care of them not to suffer.'

'Dad!' Sadie shouted. She ran to Osiris and hugged him.

The God with blue skin, black hair, and a black Egyptian beard was sitting proudly on his throne. He was wearing a skirt and an ankh at his neck. The crock and flair were crossed on his lap.

'Sweetheart, this is not the time. I'm in the middle of a trial.'

'Unacceptable! Vexatious! Derogatory!' yelled another voice.

The rest of us approached. When Osiris saw Seb and me, his smile faded away.

'King Ra...' he managed to mutter with politeness.

He stood up.

'So the rumors are true... I would've never believed this...'

The ghost in front of him began to laugh. He was a middle-aged man, with black hair and red glowing eyes. His bones were visible through his olive skin.

'But what honor do my eyes have?!' the ghost asked euphorically. 'Oh, beautiful Khonsu child, you'll free me because it is in your interest, won't ya?' He was tied up with the seven ribbons of Hathor.

Perhaps it would've been properly to salute the judge first, but I didn't.

'So you are Setne,' I told him.

Ra suddenly grabbed my hand and began dragging me to Osiris. Carter and Seb tried to help me.

'Look, look! Stars!'

It couldn't be more embarrassing. On my left, a minor God with a George Washington wig was about to make an implosion. Ra fell down and I escaped. I closed my eyes and tried to pull myself together.

'Lord Osiris.' I bowed. 'I'm honored to meet you.' I was so anxious I was gonna say something wrong or not understand parts of what he would tell me. 'And I wished it was in better circumstances. But we need your help.'

'Dad,' Carter continued. 'You won't be glad, but you must hand down Setne to us.'

Amit was laying near the balance.

'Exactamente, Julius,' Setne emphasized. 'Look, your kids and this beautiful Godbreeds must-'

Osiris held out his arm and the ribbons of Hathos became tighter and tighter until it almost asphyxiated the ghost (which is ironical, because he wasn't theoretically really breathing).

'Enough! Order!'

Osiris calmed down and sit on his throne. He massaged his forehead.

'Let's make our introductions properly.'

'Okay, but faster,' complained Sadie.

'Lord Osiris,' Seb said, 'I am Seb McCallfy, son of Shu. This is Ariana Blue, daughter of Khonsu. The rest of us I'm pretty sure you already know. As your son's just told you, we need Setne.'

The dead were no longer smiling. He was boiling in anger.

'So you came here to unleash even more evil on Earth and persuaded my child-'

'Father,' Carter said loudly. Louder than he should have. He got his dad's attention and explained to him how they had met us and how Setne was the key to our salvation.

'I can't let the evilest creature that has ever stepped on the planet to go with you,' he said.

During the negotiations, Ra and Walt were just standing next to each other. Occasionally, the God would play with one of his amulets.

Then a portal appeared out of thin air behind us and a teenage boy entered the hall.

'Anubis,' Sadie said breathlessly.

'We're in the middle of a very important-'

'I'm sorry, uncle,' Anubis cut Osiris short.

He was walking towards us. He was dressed exactly how Sadie had described him in the recordings. He was sexy, yes, but not my type.

And he was carrying a black bladed knife.

'Anubis, no!' Walt shouted and surprised all of us. I turned to see him and a hand grabbed my torso. The next thing I knew was a cold excruciating pain in my belly. I fell down before anybody could react. But I didn't hit the floor — someone caught me.

'Forgive me, Osiris. I'm sorry, Sadie.'

I was hearing the voices as if I was underwater. A yell here. A sigh there. I couldn't move. I was feeling sleepy. In a few seconds, I couldn't breathe. The wound was no longer hurting me. I realized the God of death and funerals' dagger must've been poisoned. I was gonna die. Period.

I felt warmth growing inside my chest. I fought and found the power to open my eyes. Ra was leaned over me, with his hands on my body. Golden wires were spread above me. It looked like heaven to me, but such things as heaven and hell didn't exist. At least not in Egypt. And I was Egypt. We were all Egypt.

I mourned at the wound's pain. But that meant I was still alive. I could sense life's pain. BECAUSE PAIN MAKES YOU ALIVE, HUMAN BEING!

My sight was no longer blurry. The hands wrapped around me helped me sit.

My heart stopped for a moment. Ra's eyes were no longer far, far away. They were piercing my soul.

Zia.

He didn't speak, but I heard his voice.

'Ariana!'

Ra returned back to his normal state of mind and the time resumed its normal course.

'Well, that was awesome,' said Setne. 'Happy you're alive, really, you're my number one demigod. But our time is limited and the universe won't save itself!'

'Are you fine?' Carter asked me.

I realized Seb was the one holding me. At least one good thing in this mess.

Long story short, to end my part of the story in a positive note, Osiris agreed to give us Setne. Carter, Seb and I were going to be lead by the ghost in an encounter to find the Book of Overwhelming Apophis. Walt and Sadie had to find Bes' shadow and exercise for the real match. Ra would stay here with Osiris, who decided to send monsters after Anubis to bring him to the hall to be judged.

The plan was made. The teams were created.

But I had other ideas for Seb.

Setne looked at me and smirked. He was probably sensing the defiance in me. I smiled back.

Seb had to get Ra his zebras.

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When the three of us and Setne were about to get on the boat, Ariana touched Seb's shoulder firmly and stopped him.

'You need to find Zia,' she said. My heart bounced. Seb narrowed his eyes.

'Say that again,' we both demanded.

'Look,' she continued, 'after Ra'd healed me, he telepathically spoke with me. I don't know why, but he needs Zia.'

He is not the only one, I thought.

'Great,' Seb said. 'And how the hell do you want me to do that?'

'Go back to the House of Brooklyn and talk to Amos. When the Russians attack the house, you must capture Zia. We don't know how much our mission will last, or even if we come back home. If we don't succeed, Ra needs Zia to regain his power.'

We processed that in silence.

'I'll have to trust you, Wise Girl,' Seb said. 'You are the God of knowledge's goddaughter after all. You sure you'll do fine without me?'

'We have to,' she replied smiling. Indeed, a wise answer.

'Brilliant!' Setne exclaimed. 'Not only that I get rid of one of us, but I also get to see Wise Girl discovering one of her abilities!'

Ariana sighed.

'I guess I have to make a portal.'

'But that isn't one of Khonsu's abilities. It sounds more like Isis to me,' I protested.

'Oh, Carter, Carter...' Setne said. 'All I can say is that you will be amazed.'

Ariana arranged her long brown hair and faced the black stone wall. She closed her eyes and held out her arms. Her fingers were fussing like spider legs. After several seconds of concentration in which nothing happened, she kneeled down and touched the ground. I could see her eyes moving under the eyelids.

Blue light wires came from under her fingertips and spread to the wall. They went up the stone and rotated in a circle. It began to shine golden as the threads were slowly fading away. Ariana opened her eyes and smiled brightly at her creation.

Although Ariana arrestingly resembled her father, in that very moment I noticed also how different she was. She didn't have that proud or selfish attitude and her smile was soft, not cold like Khonsu's.

'Amazing!' Setne clapped his hands as if he was at a circus representation.

'Good luck,' Ariana told Seb as he jumped into the portal.

'Hope this doesn't spit me in the middle of an Italian mafia or something,' he screamed while disappearing into the sand.

'Well, let's save the universe I guess,' Ariana said.

'Ladies first, Godbreed,' Setne said seductively and bowed before her.

We went aboard with a sigh.

I gave the captain orders while Ariana was supervising Setne. He was going on and on with his blah-blah about his life full of crimes and questions about demigods, but she didn't mind him. She was leaning on the golden balustrade, her gaze far away. I didn't want to bring her back memories of the time spent in Russia, but I needed answers.

I gently touched her back to get her attention.

'I'm sorry for asking you something like this, but-'

'You want to find out more about Zia, don't you?' she teased me.

I shook my head in approval.

'Carter, I listened to your recordings. I strongly believe in true love and maybe, just maybe, in faith and destiny. Nevertheless, you should move on and forget about her.'

My face dropped. She went so fast from what seemed to be a warm confession to a painful truth she said with such dead eyes and no empathy.

'Tell me about her,' I demanded.

She closed her eyes and bowed her head.

'She was my best friend at the Nome, apart from Seb, of course. She was so nice, kind, soft...'

'Why are you using the past tense?' asked, my mind dizzy and my blood pressured.

'Carter, Zia is still alive and kicking. The new Zia. The cruel and merciless Zia is doing great. The former Zia, the person I just was speaking about is dead.'

'What did she do?'

'I don't know if it's my brother's influence. But when I mentioned to her the words House of Life, Sarah Jacobi had to hold her not to attack me, do you understand?'

She was starting to get really mad.

'She went from being a lady to acting like a bloodthirsty totally out of control monster in two seconds. She isn't reliable and can easily be fooled.'

'Hm, this sounds like my ex-girlfriend,' Setne let us know.

We gazed at him in frustration.

'Nevermind. Oh, look, we're almost there!'

We debarked in front of a tunnel. Our clothes returned to normal.

Setne took a deep breath. 'Ah, the comforting smell of chaos.'

Ariana quickly checked if he was still tied up with the ribbons of Hathor. He took the lead and we went in.

'Are you being serious that damned book is at the end of this tunnel?' Ariana asked. 'We could find it without you.'

'Oh, really?'

He stopped in front of her and pointed a rock from the ground.

'Without me, you would've stepped on it and die. This place is full of traps and you two totally need me to deactivate them.'

We continued our path. Setne would tell us where to step and, occasionally, open secret trapdoors and tap passcodes or push maneuvers.

Shortly after, we were standing in a cave the size of a cathedral but decorated like a cemetery. On the wide round, walls were coffins with brightly colored hieroglyphs drawn on them. My eyes had to adjust to the blinding ray of sunlight that was barely coming through a hole in the ceiling. In the center of the room, a golden statue of a bull was dominating anything else.

'Here we are, kids. This is the Serapeum.'

'What is this place?' we asked Setne simultaneously.

'Children nowadays don't read anymore,' he sighed. 'We are in the temple of the Apis Bull. This guy was the ancient Egyptians' most sacred animal. He was assigned a crucial role in Hathor's worship, being constantly sacrificed and revived.'

'And the book is...' Ariana said.

'Hidden in the dais of the statue,' the ghost replied.

'And we can just go and take it,' I emphasized.

'Try,' he dared us with a smirk.

At Ariana's signal, the seven ribbons of Hathor became visible just for a moment. She gave him a warning look that changed Setne's mood dramatically. His eyes clearly wanted to send one message: behave well and let me fool you, or else...

I made a few steps towards the golden bull and the cave began shaking. Small stone pieces hit me in the head. The girl came behind me and we both watched in horror and amazement how the golden "skin" began peeling and flying into the air, revealing a very and too alive bull. The animal pranced and flames came out of his nostrils.

'Or,' Setne said, 'you can distract his attention while I take the book. Agree? Perfect. Good luck.'

'Fucking asshole,' Ariana muttered.

The bull smelled the air and headed toward us. His hoofs dug into the stone.

'I don't trust him,' I told her. 'I make a diversion. You go and take that book.'

'What? N-no!'

'Too late.'

The bull started running. The demigod ran aside.

'Horus, I need you.'

'Of course you do.'

My teen meter falcon-headed avatar appeared. I drew my sword and my avatar did the same with his golden five-meter weapon. I created a protective shield and the bull bumped his head into it at full speed. My teeth and neuronal synapses vibrated. I saw Ariana from the corner of my eye arguing with Setne and tightening the ropes around him, but I was already too busy.

The bull crushed again and my avatar collapsed. I fell to the ground. I held a scream as my right leg toused.

'Horus, mayday, mayday, a little some help here.'

He didn't reply. Perhaps I was too deep in Duat, too close to chaos to speak with him. I had to use my own magical powers.

'N'dah! Protect!'

This time, when the bull attacked, the shield dispersed in a sparkling rain.

Setne saluted me while escaping behind the animal to the exit. The beast had cornered me. When I looked at Ariana with hope, she was propping up the platform and seemed nauseous. I will let her make a parenthesis here to explain again what happened.

[So, I was in shock. I was blocked, I was scared, I was petrified. I had spilled all my feelings on Setne when Carter's magical bird vanished and he was about to get killed. I couldn't let him die partly protecting me. I let Setne go with the book and concentrated. This was the irrefutable time to unlock my powers.

I am sure you've heard this "concentrate" before. But what does it exactly mean? It's not like concentrating on a test. My brother had thought me I must find my inner... everything. I need to dig in myself and become conscious of my heart, my breath, my blood pressure. My own existence. So I did. I could hear m heartbeat like a drum. I thought about my past life and how much I had suffered because I really wasn't like the rest. I remembered my joy when my brother had found me, the pain the Russians had subjugated me to. I thought about my best friend Maria, my true mother Daleea, and that boy Carter Kane who was about to die in front of me because he was braver than me.

I felt such warmth I felt I was gonna melt. My eyes were pricking. I had to believe I was ready. That I was good enough. My brown eyes flooded with tears. I looked at my reflection on the golden top of the pedestal. Then I closed my eyes, let the tears fall, and looked back at my grey eyes. Perhaps the time stopped.

'Congratulations, little Godbreed,' said a wavy female voice in my head.

'Who are you?'

'My name is Nephthys and I am the Goddess of water and rivers, my dear elemental magician.'

I made up my mind in a second.

'Nephthys... I wanna follow your path.'

'Say no more. My husband isn't right every day, but I think this time he truly is.'

I summoned my wand from Duat. And broke it in half. The loud crack got the bull's attention.]

When the bull was about to attack me, he turned to face Ariana. She touched the ground with her fingers and those blue wires reappeared. The monster ran to her and I think I screamed. The wires went toward him and suddenly lifted up in a water wall. The bull hit his head and fell with huge noise. She stood up and approached him.

'Sa-hei! Bring down!' she said lifting his hands.

The blue hieroglyphs shone into the air and a wave of pure energy pushed the bull back. He flew into the opposite wall, which collapsed over him. She ran to me.

'Are you okay?'

Two seconds before she had been more reckless than Tris Prior, now she was touching my arm in concern.

'How did you-'

Then I noticed her eyes.

'We need to find Setne,' she said. She made a grimace at my bleeding leg, but she dragged me to follow her and we both ran back into the tunnel.

'What was in your head?!'

Now she was angry.

'You barely know me. You are in a life or death mission with the purpose of saving the world and you risk your life for a stranger!'

I had to stop for a moment.

'I didn't really think about you.'

She narrowed her eyes. Maybe that wasn't the best pick-up line.

'I just... I thought that was the best thing to do in order to save the world. If I had died, you would have managed to bring Sadie the book and save the world.'

'So let's do that,' she said. 'Well, besides the part with your death.'

'You are too good.'

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Setne was desperately trying to get onto the Egyptian Queen, but the Ribbons of Hathor were holding him and the book back. Ariana made a signal with her hands and the links brought him in front of us. I immediately got the book.

'Hey, kids!' he exclaimed excitedly. 'You alive? And escaped so soon? Wow, you are good!'

The Ribbons let him fall on his butt.

'What now?' Ariana asked me.

'We go get Apophis' sheut,' Setne replied laying on his belly.

'You shout up,' she said and asked me again, 'what now?'

'We continue our journey to get Apophis' sheut,' I told her.

'Okay,' she agreed.

'Yeah, this surely is my ex,' Setne complained.

As we went aboard, her foot slipped and I scarcely grabbed her not to collapse.

'You used too much magic,' I told her. She was massaging her forehead with her fingers.

'It's not that,' she said. 'I... I did something.'

'Ariana, the fact that you exist already is something. I don't think there is anything to be cataloged as "unsuitable" for you.'

'I host Nephthys.'

What? Stop, period, cut it. When? How?

'Well, this definitely is something,' was the only thing I said.

'Yeah, I take that YOLO thing pretty seriously.'

She was constantly closing tightly her eyes and brushing her face with her palm. I helped her stand and didn't put any questions. I knew what she was going through. Nephthys was trying to take control of her entire mind and soul, memories, thoughts, and feelings. I remembered the first time I realized Horus had entered my body. It was not nice.

I gave Bloodstained Blade the orders and we sailed on the fire river.

I was quietly watching the view, while Ariana and Nephthys didn't seem to come to an agreement. I was wondering where would this lead to. A demigod and a God, uniting their powers. She had earlier summoned a spell, but also a wall of water without using magical instruments. So maybe, combining their powers with a deity's, demigods could also achieve power over the elements that God controls.

'Hello, Carter. Good to see ya again.'

I drew my sword and turned to face Set, God of evil and deserts, who had tried to kill us and our uncle just months ago. He wasn't impressed by me at all. He was wearing his common red suit, but his black hair was braided just like Amos'.

'But hello there, little demigod. Nice to meet you. Also nice to see you, Nephthys, my unfaithful wife.'

'Hello, Set!' Setne yelled from the captain's compartment, which made me uneasy.

'Go away!' I shouted. Ariana was just piercing him with her gaze.

'Oh, Carter, Carter... I like you, really. You're a sweetheart. I am here to warn you.'

'About what? You want to possess my uncle again, eventually kill him and conquer the world?'

'Yes, no, oh Gods yes. Look, boy. Stop making me the bad character in your story. I may be the God of evil, but even I can't enter a human's mind and body if we don't have something in common.'

'Amos doesn't have anything in common with you,' I protested, with my khopesh still before him.

'Are you sure? Everyone has a dark side. I am the bad guy who protects the good. I am the chaos in order and peace, just like your uncle's jazz improvisations.'

I let my sword down.

'Okay. Then, what do you have to tell us?'

'For the first time,' he began, 'the situation is better than it seems. You will manage to stop the reptile rise with the Book of Overwhelming Apophis and so on and so forth. He isn't at full power now. The ones who you really need to concentrate on are your brother — he looked at Ariana —and those rebellious magicians. They will try to wake Apophis up again and the second time you may not be so lucky. Plus, Ma'at will be seriously shattered by this constant chaos.'

'So we have to kill my brother, Sarah, and Kwaii to finish this once and for all,' Ariana concluded.

I couldn't imagine what was in her heart saying those words. I would never be able to hurt Sadie, no matter how much worse she would do. I didn't feel sorry for Caleb — after all, he'd convinced Zia that I was the villain —, only for Ariana.

Set smiled.

'Oh, this will be so thrilling to watch! Anyway, tell Amos I said "hi". We're going to meet again soon enough.'

Set glared at where Setne's voice had come from before. Suddenly, a three-meter pillar of fire enmeshed the God. Two seconds after, he was gone.

'What a graceful presence!' Setne yelled. 'Now get ready, children. We're almost there!'

A cold strong wind began blowing. I looked to my right to see a red and black stone beach. Small blurry stains were coming from the distance. One of them came close enough for me to realize it was actually a giant bird, like a Phoenix.

'It's a trap!' Ariana shouted, covering her ears. Nephthys was clearly talking to her. 'Setne is bringing us to the Land of Demons!'

The boat accelerated. The captain jumped on the prow.

'Mr. Kane and Miss. Blue, it is time for you to die.'

'Bloodstained Blade, I am your superior and I command you not to kill us,' I told him as firmly as possible.

'If I remember correctly, Miss. Blue gave Setne permission to give me orders at the beginning of our mission. You are just dumb kids.'

I looked in disbelief at Ariana who facepalmed. She stood between me and the monster.

'You are right, I was stupid. Perhaps I've spent too much time in Seb's company. But I will make up for that and clean this mess. Maw! Water!'

A huge block of water appeared above the ax-headed creature. The impact of the fall crushed him to the ground. The water began metamorphosing, dividing into long and slim shapes. Soon, it took the form of chains and belt him up. A great alternative for the Ribbons of Hathor, which can only be summoned once. The monster was opposing. Ariana's hands were wide opened and shaking violently.

I drew my sword and pierced the demon's heart in one move. He turned into sand. Ariana and I ran to the captain's cockpit. She tightened the Ribbons while I regained control of this boat.

'Filthy traitor,' Ariana said.

Setne could barely breathe. His face was purple and his eyes black of anger.

'I promised you I would not try to murder you only until you find the book. You did it, now I am not bounded by any promise.'

'But you are by the Seven Ribbons,' so you'd better continue helping us,' I told him.

Ariana widened the magical ropes.

'But I do help you,' he protested. 'Bloodstained Blade wouldn't have taken us here unless he thinks he can kill you. If my plan had gone well for me, you two would have been dead. If my plan would've gone well for you — and it really did! — you would've been on your way to Apophis' sheut. That's a totally fair 50-50 chance!'

Ariana and I changed looks. It's amazing how close people can get in just a few hours when their life is constantly threatened by Gods and monsters and golden bulls. We continued sailing with the crazy killer player ghost as our guide.

We accosted and Setne asked me for a writing feather. He used it to draw hieroglyphs on our foreheads.

'I'm afraid to ask what those mean,' I told him as we finished.

'Thank me, brats,' he replied. 'This is a spell that will make the demons believe you are one of them and so you won't be killed. What a shame.'

The place was deserted. After a few meters though, I caught my breath seeing monsters of various shapes and sizes walking among us. Ariana's amazement was even bigger. She jumped back when a sword-headed monster with spiky wings and razor teeth approached her.

As we were getting closer, my head began aching and I had shivers. I was feeling nauseous, crushed. A cold wind almost tore me down. Setne caught Ariana's arm and pulled her between us.

'The chaos power would've ground us already if it weren't for you,' he told her. 'You are our link to Ma'at. If you fall, he falls. No pressure tho.'

We entered another cave that soon opened into a stone knap. Above us, dark clouds and lightning were ruling the black sky. In front of us, a small portion of land was circled by white smoke. Perhaps there was an endless abyss, so I didn't want to come too close to the edge. On the island, the serpent's shadow was wrapped around a dark obelisk that was reaching the clouds with its top.

We could barely stand, so I couldn't figure out how the heck we were gonna capture the shadow.

'I have a spell that should be enough, especially told simultaneously by a blood of the pharaohs and blood of the Gods. Listen-'

'Stop!'

My blood froze in my veins. I was suffocating, I could no longer breathe. I looked beyond the chasm, on the other side of the of this hell, and I saw her.

Zia.

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I know all these sucked for Carter. He was finally reunited with the love of his life but eventually had to kill her before she killed us first. BUT, I was one hundred times more willing to throw myself into that pit. If Zia was here, that meant my brother was with her. And if my brother was there, Sarah and Kwaii had to be nearby.

The first feeling I had when I saw Zia, though, was not fear, but shame. She had been my teacher. She and Caleb had thought me the magic I know, and I was using it against them! Still, this was the right thing to do. I was determined to do anything I could to save the world and my own life along with it.

'I can say the things are getting hotter in here,' Setne giggled. Carter and I turned on our heels and threw him an uglier look than Medusa's.

Unfortunately, he was right tho. The next thing Zia did was to send a fire column towards us. We jumped aside to avoid her wrath.

'How could you, Ariana?!' she yelled in despise. 'Why?!'

I stood up. My scratched knee hurt.

'Why?!' I was beginning to get frustrated. 'Are you being serious? You want to help Apophis destroy the fucking universe! How could you ever speak about betrayal when you betrayed the entire mankind?!'

Eight magicians dressed in black, teens and adults, appeared behind Zia.

'I thought you were a smart girl,' she said. 'I thought you understand Gods need to be eliminated. They have been ruling the world for far too long! They are unfair, inconsiderate, vain, selfish, and so on. But guess what? Humans are just like them, apart from their immortality. Both species need to be exterminated.'

'I realize that now, standing in front of you,' I spouted.

Zia was gorgeous. Her black medium-length hair with longer front edges was shining in the soft thread of light that was coming through a crevasse. The coffee-colored shirt and shaggy black trousers matched her copper skin. Of course, both my brother and Carter were head over heels for her. She was everything I wanted to be — beautiful, confident, likable.

'Zia, please,' Carter begged her. 'Caleb lied to you!'

'No,' I said. 'Caleb might have shared with her his insane beliefs, but she is just like him. You, lady' — I pointed my finger accusingly at her — 'are a murderous psychotic bitch and you can't deny it. You didn't even have the guts to tell your pupils your true plans. Most of them have no clue what garbage they are in. We won't let you brainwash them and use them as weapons!' I screamed.

'We?' she asked in faked surprise. 'You mean this boy who can barely articulate a speech when he sees me, the demigod who began training a month ago, or the ghost who's running away with your precious book?'

'What?!'

We both looked behind to see a big and awful... nothing. Perhaps the chaos energy was too powerful for my spell to last and Setne had managed to escape and run away. My head started aching horribly.

'Shit, shit, shit.'

Zia and the magicians jumped from the cliff. Amulets transformed into hawks and eagles and transported them to us. They circled us. I knew from the recordings Carter wouldn't be much of a help with all the feelings for Zia drizzling in his mind and, although I was feeling pretty good physically speaking, perhaps I didn't have the energy and training to fight all nine.

Okay, I thought. This is the best moment for my incredible powers to stop playing hide and seek and unleash themselves.

I summoned all the magic I had in me. I liked this. I liked this so damn much. My body turned warmer and my bones became stronger and electricity was flowing through my nerves. I wasn't able to see what was going on with my appearance, but I deduced from Zia's face something happened.

The eight magicians attacked, while Zia was watching and Carter was desperately trying to reason with her. I let myself down, touched the ground, and stood up. A four-meter blue light wall followed my movement.

The villains were casting spells and summoning amulets that transformed into lions, tigers, and crocodiles. It was strange. I was experiencing physical weakening and mental strengthening. Fighting was making me tired, but at the same time was dispersing the forces of chaos.

A sharp pain traversed my chest like an arrow. I was doing great at keeping the shield standing, then I saw Zia had got annoyed and threw herself into battle.

'Don't hurt her,' Carter told me as if I had done anything bad until then.

'I would enjoy seeing you protecting us,' I protested.

The air between us and our foes vibrated and a sand portal appeared. A blonde girl with red locks jumped out. The attack stopped for one second and Sadie joined us. She had cried.

'Are you okay?' I asked in common sense. She frowned. Walt wasn't with her. I really need to learn to shut up from time to time.

'Sadie, what happened?' Carter asked. He finally put on the big boy pants and joined us. I was still maintaining the shield in order to protect us, but no one seemed to care much.

'Some good news: I know how to tie Apophis' shadow to the statue and destroy the serpent. Even more bad news: Walt is dead and we couldn't get Bes' shadow.'

Zia threw her staff and broke my shield like a crystal plate. Carter and Sadie couldn't ask for Horus or Isis' help, as well as Nephthys couldn't reach me. I had to be inventive. I was the daughter of the moon God, after all. My father's kingdom was the night, the land of dreams and magic. The sky was (literally) the limit.

I felt like a chain broke inside me. That was it. I could be and make anything.

Carter, Sadie, and I charged into battle. I was going to bring Zia to Ra.

Carter drew his khopesh, while Sadie grabbed her wand and staff. They both headed to the magicians, while I went after Zia. She cast a spell and a ring of fire circled me.

Keep calm, I told myself. Think logically. You are surrounded by fire and don't have water. What else can extinguish it? Wind. I thought about Seb. Well, I wasn't able to make actual wind. I prayed at my dad to give me strength and a sphere of blue energy appeared between my hands. I slightly diverted my hands and the orb followed their movement, growing in size, then I parted my arms with all my force. The sphere expanded, swallowing me and my surroundings, extinguished the fire in its path, and dissolved.

I collapsed. Yellow dots were dancing before my eyes and I was ready to throw up, but I laughed in euphoria. For the first time in my life, I felt unstoppable, like there was nothing I should be afraid of. Then Sadie screamed. I made the most stupid mistake you could ever commit on the battlefield — I turned my back to the enemy, in order to sight search for her. An enemy had hurled her to the ground. She was bleeding on the cold stones, while a magician was approaching her.

I stumbled as I was trying to stand up. I didn't notice Zia until it was too late. The next thing I heard was a yell. It took me a few seconds of incommensurable pain to work out it was actually mine. I fell and laid in the fetal position, with a ten-centimeter dagger coming out of my belly. My eyes full of tears, I saw the evil magician raising his sword to give Sadie the ultimatum. I cried out and took my hands off the wound. I heard steps behind me. Zia was coming. Still, crying and screaming, I materialized an electrifying blue stake. My hands were shaking and my body was torn apart. I lifted my head just to have a better aim and propelled the prick.

It thrust right into the magician's neck. He fell on the ground, just like my head. I wasn't dying, but I couldn't get up either. My intolerance for pain made me want to punch myself. I had no option other than to lay there and wait for Zia to kill me. Who would stop her, anyway?

Blood spilled all over me and a body crashed onto me.

'Not today, bitch queen.'

I immediately made out Seb's voice. Two hands grabbed me and dragged me from beneath Zia. An arrow had pierced through her chest.

'Thank you,' I told him.

'You're always welcomed.'

Suddenly, Zia drew her wand.

'Ha-wi,' she said, without even looking at us. 'Hit.'

All Seb had to do was to make a 'go away' sign with his hand and the giant red fist balked into a wind wall. The spell dispersed into smoke. When it disappeared completely, Zia was crawling into a sand portal. It closed before we could react, leaving only a fuming statue behind.

The other foes had been defeated.

Carter and Sadie ran towards us.

'Oh my Gods, Ariana, are you okay?' she asked me. 'You saved my life earlier!' Her wide bright eyes betrayed her insecurities.

'Yeah, no problem.' I smiled at her and she smiled back.

Carter aided me to sit down. He was clearly shaken by his meeting with Zia.

'Seb, what are you doing here?' he asked him. 'You were supposed to protect the Brooklyn house.'

'Oh, I did that too. But then Amos came at me and told me that Set had said to him that you need help. And I was like "And what are these useless Gods doing anyway? Why do I have to do all the hard work?" and he was like "I'm killing you with my bad boy look" and I was like "Here we go again".'

'How did you even got here?' I questioned him reluctantly.

'Oh, funny story. It seems like we demigods have these radars incorporated into us. All I had to do was to think about you and, the more energy and magic you would use, the easier it was for me to follow and locate you.'

A shiver went down my spine. If Caleb had this ability too...

'Setne had already disarmed all the traps, so they weren't a problem for you,' Carter concluded.

'Wait, WHAT TRAPS?'

'Guys!' Sadie shouted. 'I'm sorry to interrupt your girly talk, but...'

She pointed at the serpent's shadow.

'Just one problem — Setne took the book away,' Carter said.

'Let's not panic and think,' I proposed. 'So, Sadie, if you know how to capture the shadow, do that. Carter and Seb, go after Setne. Maybe he didn't manage to get on the boat and away. Meanwhile, I'm gonna prepare something for my wound as fast as possible in order to make myself useful again.'

'Sounds like a plan to me,' said Sadie.

I was glad she hated me less now that she saw she can entrust me with her life. Seb was about to leave when I stopped him.

'Do you have any idea where my brother, Sarah or Kwaii are?'

'Probably Caleb didn't abandon his post as the First Russian Nome's boss. As for the other two...'

'They probably thought Zia can handle Carter and me alone and they continued their plan to attack the Brooklyn house.'

'Oh, Gods,' Seb sighed. 'You repair something, then another thing breaks down. I swear, why did my mother make only one Seb? I see each of you needs one Seb...'

We all laughed as he ran beside Carter and into the tunnel.

Chapter Text

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'So... what happened to Walt?' I asked Sadie.

Good job, Ariana. Ask the girl with magical powers who hates you what happened to her dead boyfriend while you are injured — that's called a strategical move brought to the next level.

'Well, I opened a portal and we arrived safe and sound in Saïs.'

She was preparing for the spell to catch the serpent's shadow. Meanwhile, I was trying hard to remember a remedy for stabbing wounds and losing blood fast.

'Apophis' minions were waiting for us there,' she continued. 'It's a miracle Sarah and Kwaii were neither there nor here, after you.'

'They must be plotting something important,' I agreed.

She nodded and brought out a small shabti of Apophis from her bag. I summoned mine from Duat and mixed some random powder and solutions I found in there as a receipt I barely recalled said.

'Anyway. So we fought, of course. We did everything we could.'

Her breath was unsteady as if she had asthma.

'We used everything we had. And we defeated them, but it was too much for Walt. Maybe I could've saved him. He was still alive after the fight, but then we had to find Bes' shadow, and the spell he cast in order to catch it consumed the last pieces of strength that remained in him. And he died right there, in my arms.'

I must admit — the news themselves didn't move me. I scarcely knew Walt. I felt sorry, but I wasn't too sad. Yet Sadie's cracking voice, the tears flowing down her chicks — her broke and shattered being made me cry.

I finished the cataplasm and cast the spell. The blood stopped and the wound closed in a matter of seconds. I was still in pain, though, and the loss of blood made me really dizzy. Perhaps Sadie noticed my guttural voice caused by the crying because she turned her eyes to me.

I stood up and shambled my way to her, without losing eye contact.

'Let's do it.'

She wiped off her tears. I did the same.

'You need to back down,' she said.

'No way,' I replied. 'If there is a lesson I learned from this battle, besides the fact that you can't trust Carter when it comes to sexy girls,' — Sadie smirked at my remark and her eyes shone so beautifully, like the ocean waves in the summer sun —, 'is that I have these powers. I am not boasting. Actually, it would be a crime to deny them. Because I know I can do so much more. I can use these abilities to do either good or bad, and I choose good. I demand you to trust me and not to judge me for actions that aren't even mine. I understand from your recordings that you would feel awkward whenever someone would say you can't be your father's daughter because of your skin color. Well, imagine people say that you can't be a good person or even that you shouldn't exist because you are your father's daughter.'

Sadie had stopped weeping. It seemed like I was capable of doing an unimaginable thing — something that had never been heard of in the history of mankind — I really managed to shut Sadie's mouth up.

[Sadie says it is because she was devastated by Walt's death and I shouldn't make fun of it. It's not my fault! You thought me to make fun of morbid and taboo things.]

Maybe I was expecting her to apologize. Instead, she smiled and said:

'Let's do this then. Together.'

And I felt the need to hug her, which is exactly what I did. She squeezed me surprisingly tight. It was heartbreaking to notice how hard she needed affection.

'It hurts. The arrow wound. Ouch.'

Again, she didn't apologize, but she pulled back and cast the spell.

I couldn't comprehend how she had learned it in such little time. All the divine words she was pronouncing entered one ear and exited the other one. Indeed, magic was her strong point. Mine too, in a completely different way.

The serpent's shadow didn't seem so frightening now, surrounded by the force of Ma'at. The chaos energy had no monopoly over us. The unconscious bodies of fallen Russian magicians weren't bemusing anymore.

Yellow hieroglyphs arose before us and the serpent's shadow began writhing against the stone needle. Sadie kneeled, urging to control it. I wondered how in Hades, or, how in Osiris and Anubis, I could help her. Let's see, I thought. Come on, Annie. A logical solution. What about an... energy field? Like in those Bakugan or Yu-Gi-Oh anime I had watched as a kid. Yes, Ariana, how much of a logical solution. It had no reason not to work.

I knelt and touched the ground. I visualized those blue veins flowing through the earth again, and they appeared. This time, their purpose was not to "carry" the magic but to discharge, to exhale it. The spaces between the threads filled with an ashen blue which emanated light. I moved the threads to form the symbol of the House of Life around Sadie and stepped out of the power shape.

She was dased, but I assured her with a glance that I knew what I was doing. Sort of. I tried to send her power through the field. The same feeling you have when you donate blood and the nurse drains the blood from your veins with the syringe engulfed me. The light shone brighter and brighter around Sadie when my wound started burning and I fell on the ground in order to throw up. As soon as my stomach emptied and the pain in my torso was acceptable, I looked up at the stone column.

The shadow was no longer there. Sadie approached me, with the small statue of Apophis in her hand. It didn't look any different. She kneeled near me and my stomach transformed into a tornado again. My forehead was about to explode. My field had vanished.

'We did it,' she said, sweat droplets coming down her face, washing her red chicks.

'Right, now, if you don't mind, could you put that Antichrist away from me?'

She giggled and put it into her bag, then into Duat.

'Let's go after those useless boys,' she said.

She helped me stand and ran into the tunnel. Well, she ran. I would walk faster than expected, bump into a wall, and repeat the process until we saw the light.

'Where the hell is the boat?!' I said.

'Where the heck are those two?!' Sadie exclaimed.

We looked around as if expecting to see the two heroes coming to us, with Setne in one hand and the book in the other one.

'What are we doing now?' I asked. 'Wait?'

'We can't.'

'Then what?'

'I don't know!'

Even if we could have opened a portal, we had nowhere to go. We were trapped by the Night River, waiting for something — anything.

'Ariana, we need to move. This is the worst position our enemies could find us. I bet Sarah and Kwaii are on their way right now.'

That was the moment I broke down. I watched the desolated surroundings — the fire river, the black sand, and red stones. We were supposed to be in a magical realm, but it looked like a post-apocalyptic dystopia.

'And where in the world are the Gods?! What are they even doing? I get that in this desperate situation they need to focus on maintaining order and peace over their part of the Earth, but they are still supposed to help us, aren't they? For God's sake, we are trying to save the planet and they don't give a fuck about us! They let us alone to just deal with it! We are humanity's last stand and everyone and everything's against us!'

What I didn't say, because I didn't want to seem selfish, was that I desperately wanted to get to see my father and mother.

I got down on my butt and Sadie followed my example.

'I wish Bes were here... He would've never abandoned us.'

The idea hit me like a truck. The odds were so low, but it was our last resort.

'You said you have his shadow,' I told her.

'Yes, indeed.'

'I will use it to bring your friend back.'

Her eyes widened.

'Just like that? Without a spell? Gods, you won't even get to see him, Tawaret will murder you the moment she sees you,' she cried.

'Great. Another reason to hate Gods: they judge you by your father's mistake,' I mumbled.

'Ariana, I've been thinking... maybe I could do the reverse of the execration spell that we will use on Apophis on Bes. I don't know if it will work, but you're already too tired and injured.'

'I need to try and I will. All my life I've been useless, barely able to protect myself. The month that passed from the moment I found out about my origins was traumatic, yet the best of my life. I finally know what I couldn't fit in the people's world. This past month I've evolved more than I could've ever hoped to, and I discovered more about myself than I could've dreamt about.'

'Hashtag relatable,' Sadie laughed.

'I am going to do the best I can. Because I know I can.'

'You are like a bag character of a young adult novel. Too powerful, too perfect, finds out she has way too many powers in a too short period of time,' she concluded.

'Maybe, but if the Gods are going to stay with their arms crossed, this is what we need.'

'Okay then, your highness. Hope Isis will help me open a portal, considering you just cursed her entire species.'

Chapter Text

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'Isis, are you there? Isis? Hello! Rogger.'

I'd been trying for some good minutes to get in touch with Isis, but what Ariana said during her middle age crisis was right — the Gods let us down when we need them the most as if we're not on a mission to save their holy butts.

I turned back to squawk at Ariana, but I found her asleep on the black sand, with her head resting on her hands. I hadn't even noticed how tired she should've been after she had almost died two times in a row and fought an army. What she didn't mention though, was that she made all of this still dressed as an Egyptian princess. When I had first seen her, I was mad, because of her similarity with her father. Now I could tell she looked great, in her blue dress and cape, like a true Egyptian Goddess.

'Indeed, her powers are striking,' I heard Isis' voice in my head.

'Oh, look what deity made some time to speak to an ordinary human! I'm genuinely touched,' I told her in disgust.

'Dear, I'm sorry about what happened to your friend Walt, and I apologize I couldn't help you enough, but I have a lot to take care of. Ma'at is so weak at this point, we the Gods are using all our energy to keep the planet from falling apart.'

Her voice was gentle, yet deep and still, like a queen's.

'Yeah, let's get over it.'

The thing I wanted to hear the least at this point was "I'm sorry for your loss". I didn't want to even think about this. One of my crushes was dead, while the other one had stabbed my new demigod friend and would soon be punished by my father Osiris. I wanted to slip under a blanket and stay there all my life.

'Isis, where even are Carter and Seb?' I asked.

'I'm afraid I can't see them, yet I can tell you for sure they're with Setne. Since your boat is gone, I assume you request a portal.'

'If possible,' I said with sarcasm.

I shook Ariana to wake her up. She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes, like a sleepy child. I helped her stand up when the portal appeared behind her.

'Where to?' Isis asked me.

'Bes,' I replied. 'The House of Rest.'

It's not necessary to say Tawaret, the minor Goddess that takes care of old Gods and not so secretly loves Bes, had a heart attack. Like, I'm not kidding — she started sweating and trembling and her face became red. I had to stand between them to make sure Tawaret wouldn't kill Ariana right there.

The House of Rest was one of the twelve Houses of the Night, through which Ra had to go in order to cross the Night River and rise his boat in the sky. The place looked exactly like an almshouse, except for the fire river and the black beach next to it.

'What in the name of Ra IS SHE DOING HERE?!' Tawaret exploded. She was dressed in her common nurse suit.

Ariana whispered into my ear, 'It's alright.'

She carefully stepped towards the hippopotamus lady.

'Hi. My name is Ariana Blue.'

Tawaret exhaled noisily, as a savage rhino ready to attack.

'I know this! What are you doing here?! After all you've done, you have the guts to show up here and-and what?! See the amazing job your father's done?!'

I bit my lips. It was harder than I'd thought to stay quiet.

'With all my respect, please don't judge a daughter by her father's mistake. I apologize in the name of Khonsu. I am here to correct what happened to your friend, Bes.'

Tawaret's fury was replaced by insecurity and sorrow.

'I am not letting you near him. I won't let you touch him,' she said.

'Please,' Ariana demanded. 'Let me try my best. Nevertheless, I don't have the strength to kill a God. So I can't worsen the situation. You may stay by my side and, if you think I'm doing something wrong, you can stop me.'

Ari offered me her hand and I gave her the small statue of Bes — his shabti. Black mist was dancing around. She stayed still a few seconds, with Bes' shadow being tied to the figure in her hand. She turned to Tawaret, without taking her eyes off the artifact.

'We have his sheut,' she said.

Tawaret covered her mouth with her hoofs.

'My cake! My cake! Give it back!'

We all gazed at the place where the elderly voice came from. Two old Gods, one looking like a goose and the other one like a snake, were having a quarrel in the fire river. The snake God was eating a piece of cake and running from the other one.

'Give me back my cake,' the goose God was crying out.

These snakes... that's why I don't like them.

'Hey!' Ariana yelled and went towards them. The two immediately paid attention and got out of the lava. She stopped at the shore, with the old guys looking at her in awe.

'Your highness,' she said to the snake, 'it is not polite to take what is not yours. You can share the cake with your friend here.'

I wasn't quite sure a snake and a goose had ever been friends, but their eyes shone so brightly as if Ariana just reminded them of the reason they were alive.

'Right...' said the snake and offered his new buddy the plate.

'Tawaret...' I called her out softly. 'I was thinking the same as you. But Ariana is not her father. She is my friend.'

In the end, Tawaret agreed to let Ari try. She brought Bes, the ugly dwarf God, in his wheelchair. He looked exactly the same as the last time I'd seen him. Lost.

'My love,' she told him and I had to keep my tears from falling down my cheeks, 'they are here to help you. Please, come back to us.'

Too many 'please' in one day for me.

'So, what are you going to do?' I asked the demigod.

'I have no idea,' she replied. 'But I know I will do it.'

That was my girl — 0% plan, 100% confidence. She kneeled before Bes, holding the shabti between them.

'Hello, Bes. I've heard so much about you. I'm sorry for what my father took away from you. I'm here to give your name and life back to you, but for that, I need your help. I can't do this on my own, do you understand?'

Bes remained impassive.

Ari pocked the edge of the shadow and it simply peeled off the statue. She stood up and the shadow began waving around her hand and arm. It was widening and flowing from her waist to her shoulder and legs. It suddenly sped up to me and Tawaret, surrounding us in a black glittery fog. Then it flew back to Ari. She put her hand before it as in telling the sheut to stop and when she touched it, it shone bright blue. She guided the shadow to Bes, but it was behaving as if the God were a stranger it wanted to avoid.

Ariana wielded the shadow with one hand, while with the other one she touched Bes' forehead, the same light appearing at the contact.

Ariana's next words made my blood freeze in my veins:

'Tell me your secret name.'

Once I had done the same as her. When Carter had been severely injured, I had persuaded him to tell me his secret name in order to heal him. But a mortal to find out a God's secret name?

My thoughts were interrupted by Ariana screaming in agony. I figured out she learned his secret name and now was watching his memories. In millions of years of being alive, Bes probably had lived a lot of painful moments. The light became blinding.

'Bes!' Tawaret screamed.

I looked away. When the light dispersed, Ariana was laying before the wheelchair, breathing heavily and holding her forehead.

Tawaret and I ran to them. I sit next to her, holding a hand out to Bes. He didn't seem to have changed.

'Bes, are you alright? Did it work? Do you remember me?'

'Bes, are you hurt?' Tawaret asked him. She cleared a hair lock on his forehead and my heart dropped. A symbol of the moon the size of a fingernail was burnt in the God's skin. I was sure Tawaret would murder Ariana, which was still tormenting on the ground.

Then the light of Bes' eyes reappeared and he blinked a few times. He made eye contact with me, then with Tawaret.

'Holy Ra... how much have I been knocked out from this battle?' he said dizzily. 'Let's go get that bitch serpent!'

Tawaret and I both rushed to hug him. Although this was one of the worst days of my life, along with the days I lost my mother and father, after my heart had been ripped out of my chest and the boys I loved had been taken away from me, although I was miserable, dirty, hurt and in pain, I was euphoric. My friend was finally back. But it was not my credit.

Bes arranged his hair so it would cover his new tattoo. He helped Ariana rise.

'Well, despite the fact I've lived so long and that I am one of the wisest Gods, I would've never expected to be saved by Khonsu's child. Thank you, demigod. You really made up for your dad's sins and I am grateful to you.'

'Thank you and it is finally nice to meet you, Bes,' she replied. 'My name is Ariana, by the way. I don't mind being called Annie. And I give your secret name back to you.'

Bes frowned and checked out the moon symbol on his forehead. It was gone.

'I had to find it out in order to save you. Now I give up on it,' Ariana said.

Bes wiped off his temple.

'Phew! What a relief. Not that I want to detail, but I didn't even say it to you. I don't know how you did find it out, but you are fair. I like you.'

'Finally,' Ariana said in relief, 'someone who doesn't want me dead.'

'How did you even do it?' I questioned her, just a little bit jealous, while Tawaret was kissing and ashaming Bes.

'I really don't know,' she told me, radiating. 'But now I know I can do it. If I follow the power of Ma'at, I can carry out everything I have in mind.'

Her smile abruptly fell apart and she scowled. I knew exactly what she was thinking.

'That's exactly what the Gods are worried about. That's why Ra decided that demigods should not exist. You are different than the Greek or Roman half-bloods my history teacher used to read us about. You don't just use magic. The magic of Ma'at is carved in you and you can use it however you want, which allows you to control areas that aren't under your godly parent's governance. You are more than a mortal, or a magician, or a God. Whatever cage they would come up with to imprison you, you would always find a way to escape. They are afraid of you because they can't control you.'

Ariana closed her eyes and brushed her palm over her face.

'Ugh! That's why we shouldn't have been born!'

Bes and Tawaret joined us, serious at Ariana's somber voice.

'Every time a demigod is born, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath to see how it will land. Two times it was good. But one time, it was bad.'

Bes nodded.

'I don't even wanna imagine what your brother is able to do, girl, considering he's older and had trained much longer than you.'

Tawaret quivered.

'Bes, you three have to go now.'

I made a short summary of the current shit we were in — how Carter and I met Seb and Ariana, how Caleb was working with the rebellious Russians for Apophis, what our plan was, and how Zia Rashid was the key to make Ra great again.

'I can't see Carter and the other half-blood, either,' Bes announced.

Ariana gasped.

'How stupid I am! I completely forgot!'

We all harked.

'When Seb came to rescue us, he said he had discovered another demigod ability. Only by concentrating on my magic, he was able to locate me.'

'I've never heard of such thing before,' Tawaret said.

'If Carter and the son of Shu are still together and alive, it is worth trying,' I decided.

Ari imbibed.

'Bes, I know this is not a good moment, but Thoth, my godfather, told Seb and me we would need the war Gods to join the battle in order to win against Apophis. Our fathers, Khonsu and Shu, are from this category too, aren't they?'

Bes meditated about the information.

'The magicians and Gods agreed the half-bloods shall never meet their parents. But this is a desperate situation, so if they don't change their mind, they're assholes.'

The ugly God smirked.

'Besides, I'm on your side. I will fight for you, the way you did for me.'

Chapter Text

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'Gods, when I said I want beautiful girls to fall from the sky I didn't really mean it!' Seb yelled as I landed on top of him.

Ariana was smashed between Setne and Carter, while Bes was standing with his arms crossed in the middle of this chaos.

'But I know you boys are damn good at hide and seek,' he commented.

I had no idea where we were. [Carter just said "What a surprise, Sadie!"; don't mind him.] The surroundings looked just like all the places in Duat — the Night River flowing near a beach of black sand and red rocks.

Carter helped Ariana stand up. She lost her balanced and my brother hopefully caught her on time. He had to hold her in his arms to prevent her from falling. Setne took advantage of this and tried to run away again, but Bes rushed to him and fastened him by his neck.

I got up and Seb ran to them, brutally grabbed the ghost's arms, and took the Book of Overwhelming Apophis away from him one and for all.

'This. Is. MINE. Fuck you! I've run after you through all this magical post-apocalyptic doomsday-dimension for this pile of papers and you're not getting away with it,' he said with rage. Then his eyes softened and his muscles relaxed. I felt him. We were finally back on track.

'Bes.' Carter said, as always, the most obvious thing. That made our attention focus on the dying girl from his arms.

'It's nice to see you again, kid. You did a great job.'

While Bes and Setne were quarreling, we laid Ari down and explained to the boys what we had done. She was cold and sweating and, by the time I reached the end of the story, she had fallen asleep.

'I don't get it,' I said. Five minutes ago, she was doing just fine. Maybe too fine, considering how much magic she consumed.'

Seeing her resting her head on Carter's shoulder, I couldn't help thinking about Walt. And Anubis. Or Anubis. Oh, nevermind!

'The way demigods burn up their energy is medley. It's so different from us — the magicians. It seems like they can use a great quantity of magic without feeling exhausted. Their body fights with the tiredness as much as it can, until it finally loses the battle and shuts down,' Carter concluded.

'Gods...' Seb sighed. 'I feel like a brand newly discovered disease. We can know nothing for sure. We have to make experiments.'

'I feel you. That's called "thug life". The problem is now you are the only demigod to help us do the spell of execration on Apophis,' I told him.

'Excuse me?! I am not good at magic. I am like Carter — a combat magician. I didn't even discover my demigod powers besides that GPS thing.'

'Seb,' Carter said, 'we're in the same situation. Sadie will mainly cast the spell, while we must try our best to help her and give her power. Your friend has done enough so far, don't you think?'

Seb showed a wry face.

'I believe so...'

I summoned my bag. As soon as I took out Apophis' shabti, an earthquake occurred. It was as if someone had thrown a stone and the earth below us was water. The sand was shaped into rings surrounding us now.

'Uh... I'm pretty sure this wasn't my fault,' I said.

'HAHAHAHAHA!'

Setne laughed maniacally.

'Apophis' sheut triggered an alarm. An army of monsters will be here any moment soon!'

'What a shame it won't be anything left for them to kill, because we will destroy you first!'

I froze. We looked in despair at the rock chine in the remoteness.

'No no no no,' Seb said. 'Not now!'

Bes cursed and Carter squeezed Ari more tightly.

We heard the River forming waves behind us and we all looked in amazement at the golden boat sailing towards us. On the prow, on his golden throne, sat Ra, the Sun God. My heart skipped a bit. That meant the Sun already set and it was the time for Ra's boat to make its ritual of going down the Night River through all the Houses of the Night to rise again the next morning.

'Children, listen carefully,' Bes told us gravely. 'We have neither time nor resources. I will fight these idiot Russians and keep them away from you.'

'Bes, no, Carter said. 'We already lost you once-'

The magicians began their descend and were coming to get us.

'Kids, go,' Bes said. 'You have the book and the serpent's shadow. Go at the first Nome in Cairo and gather the war Gods. Apophis will rise soon.'

'Bes, please,' I begged him. 'I can't lose you too.

He didn't even look at me.

'Don't forget, there is this prophecy I was forbidden to tell you, but screw the rules. It says: "the greatest war will be ended only by Gods and demigods fighting alongside each other"'.

The boat and the enemies were near. I could hear Apophis' monsters coming from the distance.

'Seb, get them away!' he screamed.

Then he turned and yelled his common BOOOOO! at the Russian army, dispersing some of the magicians.

'I'm sorry,' Seb mumbled. He stood up and distanced his arms before him as if trying to hug the air. A violent wind blew us on the boat.

I rose on my feet and I went blind for five seconds because of the sudden move. I watched Bes being overwhelmed by the enemy forces, magicians, and monsters alike, while the boat sank into the darkness of the tunnel. The last thing I saw was a bolt of lightning, probably Kwaii's, and everything was covered in a bright light that died moments later.

'NO!'

I howled in dismay. Only then I noticed Bast, Ra's loyal guard, who was running to me. She kneeled before me, although I have no idea when my legs had become numb, and hugged me tightly. This has absolutely been the worst day of my life.

While Bast was petting me, I looked over her shoulder at the others. Ari had hit her hair and had blood running down her cheek and neck, but at least she was awake.

After I regained the physical strength to stand up, we bunched up in a circle. I summed up for Carter, Seb, Bast, and Ra (although I don't think he understood something) how we found Bes' shadow, but lost Walt, how we gained the Book of Overwhelming Apophis — and Seb lifted it proudly so all could see it —, how Ari helped Bes recover his ren — his secret name —, and how he sacrificed himself for us.

Bast was visibly moved by Ariana's achievements.

'B-but... I just saved him...' Ariana said quietly, referring to Bes.

'Guys, I don't want to interrupt you,' Carter interrupted us, 'but Setne got away.'

He was bandaging Ariana's head.

'I THINK YOU'RE KIDDING ME!' Seb exploded in anger. 'I can't believe it, it's all my fault! I forgot about him and-'

'Seb,' Bast said softly, 'it's okay. You've done enough. I need to thank you and Ariana for saving my kittens and trying to save Bes as well. I was wrong about you and I'm sorry I judged you. Especially you, Ariana. A wolf and a lioness can fight side by side, after all.'

Ariana smiled gratefully.

'So where are we off to?' asked Seb.

'The question is, are we going to the First Nome or to the Brooklyn House? I am sure they will strike both places. And others,' Ariana replied.

Carter finished her bandage.

'You said that we need Zia for Ra to become king again,' he told Ariana. 'So where do you think she would go?'

I was thrilled my brother was talking about Zia without daydreaming about how perfect she was or crying because she didn't like him. Perhaps he was hoping not only Zia would make Ra return to his normal self, but also vice versa.

'I think we shall go home and protect the children. Then, we will go to Egypt and fight the finale battle.'

'Bast is right,' I agreed. 'Moreover, I have a feeling we will meet Zia there.'

'Zebras! Stars! Ya-hoo!' Ra sang.

He and Ari locked eyes and I understood it was more about this demigod and the God who had forbidden her existence.

Chapter Text

S
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So. Let's do a little recap because I always get lost when it comes to magic-related things.

One month and a half ago, Ariana (with only one "n"!) and I were living simple lives as high schoolers in a small city in Romania, a country that most people can't even point on a map. That fatal Saturday were absolutely no signs that our fate and stars had gone mad — no storms with black clouds and lightning, no face of Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ in the breakfast toast, nothing. Still, while little innocent me was playing on the PlayStation in my room, a Russian girl and a North Korean boy blew off the door of my house and kidnapped me.

I was taken to Russia, in a building that later on I found out it was called Nome, and imprisoned. My face dropped when my dear classmate Annie walked on the door, along with those two and another boy who seemed slightly familiar. My face dropped again when Ari told me the one who had tried to kill her was my other dear classmate, Lora, who was actually an Egyptian monster.

I'd never felt such deep loneliness as in the first days spent in the Russian Nome. Not only did I miss my home, family, and friends, like a normal human being would do, but Ari was so far away from me. I knew she wasn't like the girls I used to hang out with. I'd always think about her as a shy girl who wasn't quite content with her life and who would find her happiness in books and stories, rather than in the real life.

But I'd never expected her to do something so incredibly brave and dangerous.

I'd never expected her to accept Caleb's proposal and our new identities as magician-demigods so easily.

I was so angry with her for the first days. I thought she had to be so damaged inside and to feel so unfulfilled. I didn't want this.

Then, I touched and wielded a sword for the first time. It was more beautiful than I wanted to admit. Once I wasn't blinded by anger and resentment anymore, I was able to see the real Annie — Ariana Blue.

I couldn't help but wonder why I hadn't tried to speak to her and spend more time with her. Although we had been together at school for so many hours for so many years, neither of us had been interested in each other.

I don't like being sentimental and things like that, but when I watched Ariana casting spells and controlling water, I finally saw her as the Egyptian princess she was.

[Ari is telling me my description of her makes her blush. Look how cute I am.]

So I accommodated with our new lifestyle, although we both missed our adoptive families and friends.

Then we eavesdropped on Caleb's little talk with the devil himself and had no other choice than to use what we had learned against our own teachers. No problem by me; I was more than happy to show those idiots they had messed with the wrong guy, yet I felt bad for Ariana.

After all, we took our lives into our own hands and decided to go to the Kanes in order to find answers. Like in any good Netflix series, though, even more questions found us.

So look at us now. Look how far we'd come. From a happy uninteresting life as normal teenagers to staying on my painful ass on a golden ship, sad because our dwarf God friend had sacrificed himself for us and waiting for Ariana's masochistic brother and his psycho Russian bitches to come and kill us. Now I can say with a bright smile on my face: fuck my life.

Ra's boat accosted on the roof of the old warehouse, in front of the Brooklyn house. There, her skin gently touched by the morning sun rays, stood no other than Zia Rashid. Carter gasped, while Ra began singing something close to a love lullaby.

'Sadie was right.' Ari gripped my arm. 'Zia came here. You need to distract her attention while I figure out how she can help Ra,' she whispered. Then she yelled at the others, 'Go with Seb!'

Bast clenched her fists. Reluctantly, she let her master in Ari's accompany. Carter, the cat Goddess and I followed Sadie, who marched in anger towards Zia. Perhaps she blamed Apophis, Caleb, and all who had anything to do with them for the deaths of Walt and Bes.

I was relieved Zia was alone. She stood with her arms crossed, blocking our entrance into the mansion.

'You'd better be here to apologize to me for almost setting this beautiful hair of mine on fire,' I said.

'The only thing I'm sorry for is showing you so much of my knowledge,' she replied bitterly.

'It's not too late to change sides,' Carter tried.

'You have exactly one minute to rethink your future actions before I transform you into ashes,' Sadie rephrased.

'Maybe the world wronged you,' Carter continued. 'I know your story, you have all the rights to act like this. But mass destruction is not the solution. This world may need fixing, but it's worth preserving.'

Zia covered her ears with her hands and tucked her head in her chest as if she had a headache.

'You know my story, not me!'

I was sure I had read that on Instagram. She lifted her head and in her eyes was burning a deadly fire. And no, it's not a metaphor, I'm not good at metaphors. She was literally seething.

'The ones who have to reconsider their choices are the demigods. Seb, I give you one more chance. Take Ariana and come to our side. Apophis will forgive your unfaithfulness. If you do this, we are willing to spare the children from this house.'

All the eyes were drawn on me. I shouted up. What could I say? I thought. Am I selfish if I say no? Am I a bad person if I say yes?

'Don't pretend to be a caring and
understanding person,' Ariana said from behind us and climbed down from the boat. Did the old crazy God tell her how to use Zia? 'Apophis is afraid of us, just like the other Gods.'

Zia crisped and I realized that was the truth. Does Caleb even love his sister? I wondered. Was he interested in her only because he was afraid his sister could destroy his boss' plan?

'I bet you plan on killing us as fast as your goal is achieved,' I told Zia. How do you know Apophis isn't going to eliminate Caleb after he finishes being his pawn?'

Wrong choice of words. Zia widened her eyes in shock.

'ATTACK!' she screamed.

'Too late,' Ariana said.

I drew my sword and summoned my wand. I noticed a piece of jewelry in Ari's hand — a golden necklace. Her fist was clenched against the pendant.

I didn't have much time to think about it. From all around the building, enemy magicians dressed in black appeared from behind bushes, trees, and walls like ants. Others were coming on gigantic shabti birds and hell knows what other winged miracles from the sky.

The doors of the house opened and an imposing army of children and teenagers, in their armor that consisted of T-shirts and jeans, armed with wands and staffs flooded the roof. Meanwhile, the Russians had reached us.

'I need one of you to go after Zia,' Ari yelled after us.

'I'm coming,' Carter replied immediately.

And the battle started.

Everything that was happening around me was a blur. Somehow, fighting for my life with the people who'd abducted me, wanting so hard to protect these children I'd barely met and my new friends, and desiring for this to be over, I knew exactly what I had to do.

I wasn't good at magic and casting spells. So what? I had the sword and my father's powers.

At my right and left, the residents of the Brooklyn house were fighting to protect their home. The elemental magicians were using fire, earth, water, and wind. Combat magicians were fighting with curved Egyptian swords, knives, and shields. Hieroglyphs were exploding everywhere. I couldn't realize which side was winning.

I cut and hit before me with my trustworthy Greek blade. I summoned the air and made it into storms and winds which flew the enemies from the building. I would occasionally even kick with my dear Sneakers some bad guys in the balls.

At some point, the Russians stopped getting near me. They were pushing the Americans, desperately trying to finish them and get into the house. Let's not discuss the injured who were bleeding on the floor or that one two-meter large book of David Copperfield which I was sure was a former acolyte of Apophis. Sadie was fully enjoying knocking people out with Ha-di. Alone in the middle of the action, I decided to help some of the younger children.

Some tiles fell from the roof fell and crushed on the ground. I looked up and saw that Ariana, Carter, Zia, and that Brazilian girl named Cleo were- I want to say fighting Zia, but they were too busy avoiding the fire blasts and saving their asses from being burnt alive to have any spare time to counterattack.

I summoned a breeze beneath me and impelled myself among them. I jumped up one kilometer into the sky when Zia threw a fireball towards me.

The battle would have finished sooner if Ariana had been at full power. But after one day and one night of using magic without resting, she was lucky she was able to stand on her feet. She couldn't do more than eschewing. Carter and I were tired as well; and Cleo, an Elementalist, couldn't do much harm with her earth magic. So two boys and two girls — two demigods and two magicians — ended up scarcely being a match for Zia.

Cleo transformed the roof under Zia's feet in quicksand just in time. Ari fell on her knees, still holding on to the necklace. Carter leaned over her and she whispered something into his ear. Cleo bent down because of the struggle of keeping Zia in one place. The fire magician was preparing some of her blasts to shoot Cleo. I moved faster than her and summoned the air around her to form chains that caught her arms. For the first time, I felt the energy being drawn from my body like a huge syringe was sucking my blood.

Ari and Carter were still talking and he seemed impatient.

'FASTER!' Cleo and I suggested politely.

Carter lifted his arm before him and a yellow glow covered it. It shaped into a giant fist, becoming tighter and tighter around Zia, almost suffocating her. At this point, the red hot flames were coming directly from her body, transforming her into a human combination of a flame launcher and a fireplace. She was screaming awfully. The whole fight was like an exorcism scene from "The Nun".

Ari took the advantage and approached her, holding the necklace by the rope in front of her as if it could protect her. With my eyes narrowed by the sweat drops pouring from my hair and through the fog caused by the exhaustion, I saw the pendant was actually a... bug. A big golden cockroach.

I wasn't sure it was because I was about to pass out, but that bug started glittering.

'Zia,' Ari said with her voice on the verge of breaking, yet it never broke, 'Ra chose you to be his host.'

Zia yelled in pain as the raw fire was emerging through her body.

'And I will let him in instead of you,' she finished.

Through the veil that was covering my eyes, I figured out Ari was trying to learn Zia's secret name in order to allow Ra to be hosted by her.

The world was blearing. I felt my head heavy and my legs weak. Then Ariana screamed and I fell asleep.

Good night.

Chapter Text

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When I said "good night" I should have actually said "good two days of sleep".

Just imagine. I woke up feeling as if I'd been sleeping for centuries. I was about to call out my mom (i mean, my stepmom) and tell her that I'd had the strangest and longest dream possible. Then I looked around at the room I was in and remembered it all.

Ariana, Carter, Sadie, and I were sleeping on couches in the Big Library sala, which was still looking like a monstrous bee shelter with wooden furniture. In a few seconds, the three of them woke up one by one. Hopefully, we were all wearing casual clothes.

'How long have we been asleep?' I asked.

'It seems like it's already morning,' Sadie noticed and pointed at the sun rays coming through the glass disk in the center of the roof, a bullet hole in Nut's starry chest.

'What happened last night?' Ariana asked.

'What happened to Zia and Ra?' Carter questioned as well.

We jumped out of the improvised beds and opened the double door that led us into the living room. The magicians — children, teens, and young adults — were all having breakfast at a long table that one day ago had been on the balcony. At the end of the table was sitting now one else than Amos Kane. At the other end — Khufu, with a box of Cheerios on his lap.

'Oh, children, you awake,' he said.

The others looked mesmerized at us. Some of them had scars or bandages, perhaps from the last night's battle.

'Well, yeah...' Carter began.

'Finally!' one little boy at around eight years interrupted him. 'You slept for two whole days!'

'WHAT?'

We had to pick our jaws up from the ground. At first, I didn't really understand the meaning of the words. But then I remembered we were in the middle of a fucking war. What had happened meanwhile?

'Come and eat something,' Amos tried.

Four chairs near him were empty. Carter and Sadie sat to his right, while Ariana and I were on his left.

The magicians' gazes were a little bit too insistent. Luckily, Cleo was there too. I have to admit I didn't mind the eyes of a stunning Brazilian girl on me.

'So these are the demigods...' whispered a redhead girl who seemed just a little older than me.

I was starting to think I had developed Alzheimer's, judging by how many things I had forgotten. When we had first arrived at that house, apparently three-four days ago, the others were at school and we didn't get to know each other.

Ari clearly wanted to crawl in a crevasse and stay there all her life. She looked at me beseechingly, trying to clutch on me with her eyes.

'Oh, these are Ariana Blue and Seb McCallfy, daughter of Khonsu and son of Shu,' Sadie introduced us. 'Now, let's get to real business.'

'Yes, uncle Amos,' said Carter, 'what happened after Zia and the Russians attacked the house?'

'And where is Zia? Did she manage to run away?' Ari asked.

Amos made a sour face.

'The battle was, indeed, rough. Luckily, we didn't suffer losses. The children defeated the Russians and we only had minor injuries. I must say, I am very proud of them. And of you, of course.'

He took a sip from the teacup and put it down. The sound of porcelain softly hitting porcelain reverberated into the room. No one was talking anymore; just looking entranced at us.

'The thing is, your fight with Zia was... — how do modern kids say? — nasty. The fire magician was destroyed by the prodigious quantity of power she liberated at once. Sadly, Zia has died.'

I swear I could see the words hitting Ari, Carter, and even Sadie as a truck.

'It can't be,' Ari and Carter whispered.

They were both in shock, but for different reasons.

After the news sank in, I felt an immense void in my stomach. It hurt. I couldn't understand why. I wasn't and I am not a sentimental person. Zia had tried to kill us.

"Do you understand, Seb?" I told myself. "She tried to murder you and Ariana. What if she had succeeded? Would she have felt bad? No."

"I know, Seb,' I replied to myself, 'but I spent a month with her. She was my teacher and my friend."

"You're stupid."

"You too."

'I know,' Amos said with empathy. 'Such a promising young lady...'

'And Ra?' Ari asked hopefully.

'The same as the last time you saw him. He's in his room with Bast.'

Ari's face dropped.

'So all this for nothing...'

'Uncle Amos,' Sadie interrupted the depression, 'what's the situation? Did Apophis invade Egypt?'

Amos put the fork down on the plate and embraced all the magicians at the table with his look.

'Apophis' minions — Caleb Blue, Sarah Jacobi, Kwaii, and the other rebels — attacked Cairo yesterday. The magicians from the First Nome are bearing arms right now. They also declared an emergency state and requested all the other Nomes help by sending fighters, but a lot of other Nomes all around the world are under attack as well, especially in Greece, Italy, Sweden, and Norway.'

He frowned saying those names.

'Do they have casualties?' Carter asked.

No one replied, still their grim faces served as an answer.

'And yet you cast a sleep spell on us?' Ari's voice rose, causing some of the younger children to shudder.

Amos hoisted his head and his sunglasses shone as if he were an anime character.

'Miss Blue, you must understand. The four of you had to rest as much as possible. Because you are not going to fight this war. You're gonna end it.'

'Stars! Beautiful stars! Zebras! Many zebras!'

I wished I could be Ra. He was powerful and everyone expected something big and important from him, yet no one was afraid of him and he didn't seem to be too concerned about the situation we were in. Let's not even speak about the gorgeous cat woman who was standing with her arms crossed by his chair.

The king God gazed full of hope at Ariana, his toothless mouth crooked into a childish smile.

Ari slammed on the bed.

'Zebras?' Ra asked in confusion.

'No, no zebras!' Ari blurted out. Perhaps yelling at the boss King who can determine your demigod fate was not the wisest thing to do.

Ari rested her forehead in her palms. 'I completely messed up! The zebra is dead and it's all my fault, cause I couldn't do anything right, okay?'

We all kept a moment of silence.

'Maybe we don't need Horus,' Sadie spoke first.

'Sadie,' Carter pleaded, but she continued:

'Horus can become king.'

'Horus?' Ari and I asked.

Bast snarled.

'A long time ago, Isis, Horus' mom, poisoned Ra. She was also the one to heal him, so you would think she isn't so bad. Wrong. Her goal was to put her miserable hands on my master's secret name, without which she couldn't cure him. The shame and disgrace Ra felt when his secret name was unraveled partially caused his downfall. And all because Isis wants her son on the throne.'

'Look, I am Isis' host, so I know her,' Sadie said. 'The thing is, she is right. The Egyptian Gods need a new and fresh leader. Horus — as the God of war and battle — is exactly what Egypt needs now. Plus, that would make Carter the pharaoh.'

'Sorry?' Ari pierced Carter with her eyes. 'We listened to your two recordings. You were talking about this possibility, but...'

'But I'm not ready for this,' Carter finished.

'Anyhow,' I concluded, 'we need a king. If not Ra, then Horus. It's the same thing for me. The problem is the war against Apophis.'

'Seb,' Ari began, 'these matters are strongly bonded. 'To fight a war, we need an army. To gain an army, we need a good political tactic and a perfect game.'

'Ari, you literally jumped into a portal and followed your brother into a one-month magician-demigod Russian-style training minutes after you found out about our heritage, and now you need a plan?!'

'The Gods will listen to and follow Horus,' Sadie concluded.

The discussion came to an impasse. You know, that moment when people stay silent and just look tensed at one another.

'Stars?' Ra asked.

'Oh, for Gods' sake,' I shouted. 'Wake up to reality once and for all. People are dying. We don't have time to, like, have auditions or whatever you would want. We need to act now!'

Ari gazed at Ra, who returned her his best smile.

'Moon,' he said and we froze. We'd figured out that by "stars" he meant "Ariana" and by "zebras" he wanted to say "Zia", but this was the most accurate thing he'd said since his awakening.

'He recognizes you,' Bast said silently.

Ari looked with such mercy at him as if she was seeing her old grandpa dying in a hospital bed.

'We are done acting like sticks in the mud,' Sadie declared. 'All the persons we tried to save didn't make it. Ra, Bes, Walt... We spent too much time on nothing. It's time we counterattack so hard Apophis won't know what hit him.'

'Sadie is right,' Ari said, but it was crystal clear she wasn't going to let Ra down.

'Sadie, can you contact Isis?' Carter asked.

His sister nodded.

'We need a portal immediately. We'll take the Book of Overwhelming Apophis and our most skilled magicians and go to Cairo. But we won't jump into battle alone.'

This was the Carter I knew. I mean, yeah, we'd spent more time sleeping together than actually getting to learn more about each other, still, the two previous recordings spoke for him. He was finally acting like the leader he was.

'Ariana, Seb, hopefully, you'll meet your parents today. Because we'll assemble the Gods of war.'

While the theme song from 'Marvel: Avengers' was playing in my head, a sudden realization traced Ari's face like a lightning.

'Hathor,' she mumbled. 'She will do anything in her power to stop us.'

Chapter Text

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'Sekhmet, Hathor's original form, was once the "Eye of Ra", sent by the sun god to go down to Earth in order to exact retribution on humanity for their crimes against the gods. She did as she was instructed and began a horrible slaughter, killing almost everything in her sight. When Ra looked down upon the Earth, he was horrified by the carnage and ordered Sekhmet to cease her rampage. Sekhmet, however, refused, having become overcome with bloodlust, and continued with her slaughter.

Fearing that Sekhmet's actions may lead to humanity's extinction, Ra and the other gods devised a plan to stop her. They took 7,000 jugs of beer and mixed it with pomegranate juice (which stained the wine a blood red), whereupon they poured the mixture onto Sekhmet's path. The goddess gorged herself on the "blood," becoming so drunk that she fell into a deep slumber, and she would not wake until three days later. During that time, Ra took some of Sekhmet's essence and used it to form a new goddess - Hathor. Now kind and benevolent, she would only take the form of Sekhmet when it was deemed absolutely necessary, and only at the request of her father, Ra.'

Despite Carter and Sadie almost being killed by Sekhmet, when my brother had told me about this Goddess of beauty and joy who, from time to time, would take the form of the war patron, and who was jealous of my mother because my father had chosen her over a deity, my first thoughts were: Hm... is she really that bad? I mean, a bipolar woman with a great unluck when it comes to love... We have so much in common we could be friends!

'We can only hope she isn't on Apophis' side, considering that the commander of his army is a son of Khonsu,' I said.

Carter, Sadie, Seb, Bast, and I were standing on a sand peak. Amos, Cleo, Julian, Jaz, Leonid, Khufu, and three older trainees — two girls and a boy whose names I didn't keep in mind — were our backup. We were about to find out soon if our small army would be enough.

Going to the very First Nome in Cairo, Egypt, felt like going to my motherland. Even though I hadn't been born here, it was the place where the history of the House of Life had begun. I couldn't decide if it was right to think this way. I had in my veins a combination of godly and magician blood. Neither of the parts wanted me; perhaps they would've been satisfied if I died in the battle. My brother had told me that the House of Life was responsible for our family's downfall, but I was no fool. I knew the Gods had the same mentality, only that the magicians had acted quicker.

Oh, sorry, I went with the flow. I forgot to mention the gruesomely gigantic serpent that was wrapped around the pyramid. Apophis' body was formed of reddish Chaos sandstorm and lightning, rippling with Chaos energy. The Isfet hieroglyph was blazing on his cobra's crest. His mouth looked like a pink cavern with huge dripping fangs. His red eyes were fiercely glowing. Magicians surrounded the monster like ants, casting spells, wielding weapons, and leading shabtis into battle. Unfortunately, not all of them were on our side. Gods scattered across the sky and the land. Neith, Sobek, Tawaret fought alongside magicians in this desperate war.

'My husband, Horus, Isis, Thoth, Geb, Nut, and I are also here, my dear,' Nephthys told me. 'Don't despair.'

'What about my father and Shu? Or at least Shu? Leonid is following his path, why-'

Leonid touched Seb on the shoulder.

'Shu is not here. Can't talk he.'

'They will come. They first need to... free themselves from Ra's law. You can't expect them to just run afoul of the oldest and most sacred law of us. If they do, other Gods will soon feel entitled to act the same.'

I repeated to my friends what Nephthys had said. 'Why don't you try being more like the Greek Gods? They don't give a fuck,' I added, offending her.

I shiver went down my spine and an arrow of pain thrilled my head. I realized Nephthys' heart skipped a bit.

'Oh, she's here... and she's promising vengeance.'

'Where?' I asked aloud.

'What?' Carter said.

'Where is Sekhmet?' I asked again.

'Not Sekhmet,' Nephthys corrected me. 'Hathor. She's hiding in here and she's not angry at all. She's exciting, glad, and thrilled — that's why she didn't change form.'

'What does Nephthys say?' Amos asked, clearly guided by Set.

'She is sure Apophis will win. That's exactly what she wants.'

'I can't believe a creature of Ma'at would destroy the Earth just to get revenge!' I exclaimed doubtfully.

'So that stupid whore is against us,' Sadie said embittered.

We all stared at her.

'Language!' Amos and one older boy said.

'Ups, my bad,' Sadie apologized. 'That was Isis talking.'

'It's time to attack,' Carter decided.

'No,' I told him. 'It's time to counterattack.'

We stormed the valley, an assail that would have made even the soldiers at Area 51 piss their pants. Carter and Sadie took the form of birds and flew before us, leading the trainees. Seb summoned a wind tornado that bore him on the way to the pyramid. Leonid, on the other hand, without the help of Shu, had to choose the good ol' running instead, as well as Amos, Bast, Julian, Jaz, Khufu, and me. Cleo transformed the ground into quicksand that, instead of swallowing her alive, waved like the magic carpet from "Aladdin" and carried her into the battle.

My friends started fighting. The Russian magicians were almost all defeated, yet Apophis seemed to do great. Carter was surrounded by a ten-meter high falcon-headed warrior avatar. He was swinging his six-meter long khopesh against Apophis and his acolytes, but the serpent didn't even blink. Amos' help was no one else than my good friend Set. It was almost impossible to say where one began and the other ended. Amos was in the middle of a fire tornado, wielding weapons and throwing energy blasts. Sadie was surrounded by Isis's magical aura. She had these beautiful wings made out of pure light on her back. She was fighting as the natural magician she was, with the staff and the wand.

I summoned my demigod powers for the second time. This time, though, something went wrong. It was neither pleasant nor easy. It felt like dragging something from beneath the water, then realizing that object had been the ocean bottom all along.

When I managed to catch it, it was as if all my previous wounds were being reopened at once. I tried to bear the pain and didn't let go of it. Finally, it was as if I had unchained a beast. To say it was terrifying is like saying the Plague had only killed a few people in Europe. Merely then I understood why the Gods dreaded their own children. How could you demand the others not to fear you while you're scared of yourself?

'Not now,' Nephthys scolded me. 'It's very well, my dear. Listen to me: at the first sign of fatigue, you give up on your demigod abilities and use my powers. As a last resort, turn to the magician instruments.'

At least I had something close enough to a battle plan.

'What's happening?' I cried. 'What's different this time?'

'Only now you reach to the depths of your nature, my dear,' Nephthys said. 'It will be worse, but you have to leave crying and questioning for another time. Now, for better or worse, jump into that battle and do your best!'

Only then I realized I was in the middle of a battlefield. A man dressed in black approached me with a khopesh, but a high wind threw him twenty meters behind. Seb came to my side and helped me stand up.

'Come to your senses,' he shouted, shaking my shoulders. 'What happened to you?'

I wiped off the tears from my eyes. We were in the middle of a sand storm and I could barely hear him.

'You're right, sorry, it won't happen again.'

He narrowed his eyes. Another magician came running towards us. Someone cast a ha-wi spell, making the poor woman crush into Apophis' chaos aura. Her body turned to sand instantly.

'By the way, what happened to you?' he asked.

He took out a small mirror from the back pocket of his trousers.

'Are you seriously carrying a mirror?!' I yelled.

'Do you think I just wake up with this sexy hair?' he shouted back.

I stared at my reflection. My eyes had turned grey, like the first time. But this time I also noticed blue locks in my brunette hair.

'Come on, now! We have to clear Carter and Sadie's path!

Carter had abandoned his avatar and was now trying to make it as close as possible to the pyramid. Sadie was at his aid.

Apophis began moving his tail, hitting magicians, both fighters of Ma'at and his own lieutenants. He swept the ground, rising a sand tsunami. Fortunately, adrenaline and fear took over my mind and body. I touched the ground, covering it with blue light. I rose my hands and the wall of light followed. The sand crashed into my shield. I grit my teeth, feeling as if it had crashed into my head.

'I SMELL DEMIGODS HERE,' Apophis spoke.

'Apophis,' Amos said, 'I have come here today, as the Chief-Lictor of the House of Life, to doom you for all eternity! Leave!'

'Oh, but please, stay just a little longer,' Set spoke through Amos' body, 'so I can destroy you with my own hands!'

Set sent a fire column at three Russian magicians who were killed on spot. I dragged Seb by the sleeve towards the Kanes.

'What happened, serpent?' Set asked. 'Ran out of minions?'

He laughed maniacally. I held out my hands to the right and left. I let the same energy as before come out of my hands and shaped it into a tunnel. We ran towards our enemy. Carter and Sadie were still struggling against the wind at dozens of meters on our left. Seb manipulated the air around them to obey him, not to the chaos, creating a tranquil dome.

'STUPID MORTALS,' Apophis howled. 'THIS IS THE ENDGAME.'

A thirty-meter lightning stroke the sand before us, casting us behind. Apophis lifted his tail to reveal the entrance to the First Nome. My brother, Sarah Jacobi and Kwaii were lined up on the doorstep.

'Indeed,' I screamed, standing up. 'This is the Endgame!'

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Nephthys sized control of my magic. She helped me channel it, liberating it as a splashing wave through all my pores. I managed to blindside them. I fell on my knees screaming. The energy destroyed everything in its path up to the three foes.

'Ha-di,' Sadie yelled. 'Destroy!'

'Ha-wi,' Carter tried, although he's not the best at spells. 'Hit!'

Seb concentrated and created a wind wall, which he then propelled forward.

Perhaps the three siblings — Nephthys, Horus, and Isis — spoke to us at the same time, because all of us knew what to do, aside from Seb. Ambush.

'Inside!'

Our attacks didn't hurt them, but we managed to back them down. We jumped inside the pyramid, which wasn't the Nome itself, but one of the many secret entrances. The interior was almost empty and guarded against the hell of the outside world.

I wasn't even able to look at Caleb's face.

'Finally, only the seven of us,' Sarah groaned.

'Do you really know to count that far?' Sadie asked sarcastically.

Sarah growled like a wild animal. 'I can't wait to take revenge on each and every one of you.'

'Fuck off, Sarah,' I said irked.

'Nephthys...' I called her.

The pyramid started shaking. Rocks and wooden crosspieces were falling down from the walls. Apophis was threatening to destroy the building — with us inside —, so we had to hurry. I didn't know how much the Ma'at magic could last against the monster until everything collapsed.

'This is the day you die, idiots!' Sarah screamed.

Without any more words, Sadie attacked Sarah, while Carter charged Kwaii.

Seb and I had to deal with the toughest opponent — my brother. We gathered our forces. I felt Seb slowly taking control of every molecule of air in the room, summoning winds around him. I reached out for my demigod energy. The same god feeling as the first time veiled me. I looked over Caleb's shoulder at my reflection on the faience wall. I gasped when I saw how I didn't only have blue locks, but all my hair was blue. My eyes shined pale white, making me worry for a second that I had gone blind.

Caleb, on the other hand, did nothing. This was starting to baffle and rile me up; I must admit, I wanted to see his power. Seb was about to charge, but I held out my arm before him. I finally managed to gather enough courage to look Caleb in the eyes.

He was tired.

He was grieving.

And, behind all these, he was seething.

The other four magicians were fighting, yet time seemed to stop for us.

'You killed Zia,' Caleb spoke.

'She attacked us and used too much energy,' Seb said. 'It's not our fault. You sent your girlfriend out to fight your war. We did what it took to survive!'

'You think everything is so perfect now, Ariana, don't you?'

'He's trying to manipulate you,' Nephthys warned. 'Do not listen to him!'

'What can be more beautiful than discovering that you possess these amazing powers of yours?! You used them to get rid of your pathetic mortal life from before! And now you suddenly became the most powerful person here! You were spied, little sister. I know everything you've done! How did you feel when you managed to give the dwarf God his secret name back so easily? What about when you stood up all by yourself to a whole army of magicians?'

Seb got ready to attack, but I held out my arm before him.

'You use your blood to run away from your failures as a human, because that'sthe only thing that makes you superior to others! You are so greedy! I'm sorry to shatter your dreams and illusions, but why do you think Gods won't just screw their thrones and come live a normal life on Earth? Because they don't want to?! Oh, believe me, the thing is they can't, because the weak and the strong can't coexist! You may now be so delighted, so beguiled by your perfection, but you can't do shit! Your deceiving strength is what will ultimately kill you! So wake up and smell the reality!'

The only response I was able to offer was putting my arm down, allowing Seb to attack. I fell on my knees. I crouched to the ground, bemused and dizzy, yet the tears wouldn't fall.

'Don't let him do this to you! Help your friend now, or else he'll be killed!'

I stood up robotically, aware of the fact that Nephthys was right. I watched Caleb throw Seb into the stone wall. What can be more beautiful than your brother beating up your ex-crush?

'You took away Zia,' he said. 'Now it's my turn to kill.'

'YOU WANT TO DESTROY THE WHOLE MANKIND AND I AM THE EVIL ONE BECAUSE I COULDN'T STOP HER FROM KILLING HERSELF?!' I cried in despair.

Carter's avatar cast Sarah into the wall behind her. She fell to the ground, unconscious. A stain of blood soiled the stone where her head had hit. Seb helped Sadie with Kwaii, holding him back while she cast the spell ha-di on him.

Caleb's eyes turned red and teary and the sight of their dead friends, yet he didn't say anything. I summoned my powers and sent an energy blast towards him. He hit my missile with his bare hand, deflecting it. It crashed into the wall on my left, causing an earthquake.

He reached for his coat pocket. He was dressed as usual — dark blue jeans, a blue shirt, and sneakers. He took out a silver necklace, with a big spherical pendant made out of silver straps. A dim yellow light flared inside it as if it were caged.

'This is Zia's vital essence. It's the only thing I was able to recover from her. These are her remains.'

Caleb moved his gaze from one Kane to another, putting the necklace around his neck. Carter and Sadie were both trying to regain their breath after the fight. Seb was stoned, unable to figure out a move.

Caleb turned his head towards Carter, who was lying on the floor, his clothes steaming. I had a heart attack when my brother started going in his direction. Nephthys was desperately trying to gain control over my body.

Use your demigod abilities. When you get tired, use mine. As a last resort, conjure your magician blood.

Nephthys was no yelling at me, imploring me to listen to her. But meditating on my brother's words, I realized my mistakes.

'Screw you!' I said, not sure whom I was talking to.

Carter was struggling to get back on his feet, but failing lamentably each time. I ran and knelt before him, trying to comfort him. He glared in disgust at Caleb. Perhaps he thought that was the boy who took the love of his life away from him.

'What's the plan?' he asked, looking me into the eyes.

Caleb had said the truth. I had been so busy with my new powers and life that I didn't realize it all comes with a price. I didn't have a happy, adventurous life ahead of me — but one filled with danger and death. I had believed I was invincible and forgot about my human side. Even when I had done kind acts, like saving Bes, I had been concerned about me and my reputation.

Now I had to deal with a stronger enemy. My godly side was useless. But I wasn't just a God. I was human. A sudden and ardent desire of showing the resistance and nerve of humankind enmeshed me.

'Ariana,' said my brother.

He was a few meters away from us. His clenched fists were glowing with energy.

'I'll warn you only once. Get out of my way.'

'And I'll tell you this only once. No.'

Seb was occupied with helping Sadie. Carter caught my arms, breathing heavily.

'Go,' he said. 'It's my battle. Don't be stupid and shelter yourself.'

'It's not yours,' I replied, gripping his shoulders. 'It's ours.'

I turned to face Caleb.

'I won't back down,' I declared. 'If you want to hurt my friends, you have to kill me first.'

An idea shone in the back of my mind.

'STOP IT! YOU'RE NOT READY!'

I slapped my own forehead, sending a very clear message regarding my opinion on Nephthys' advice.

'We are ready,' I told her.

'Only the two of us,' I continued. 'Human versus human. No magic. No powers. A physical battle — martial arts and swords.'

I was aware of the fact I wasn't nearly as strong as Seb or Carter when it came to weapons. They were the true swordsmen. Still, with Nephthys by my side to guide me, I stood a chance.

'Fine. Let's do it, right here and right now. The final battle,' Caleb accepted.

'I'm counting on you, Nephthys. Please.'

'Oh, Father... Oh, Ra... What have you just done...'

I summoned my belt from Duat and fixed it around my waist. It had my two trusty short swords and a knife. I took out the swords, burst on my feet, and slashed. The next second, Caleb's blade was pressed against my crossed blades. Our reflections stained the iron like blood. My eyes and hair were back to normal. Caleb's emerald green eyes were shining with rage.

'I can't believe they took my mother, sister, and girlfriend away from me!'

I was pushing my swords as hard as I could, but I wasn't strong enough.

'Stop blaming others for your mistakes! Did Apophis really hypnotize you or were you born evil?! Tell me!'

I jumped behind before his blade could cut right through my skull. Seb was about to join the battle, but I warned him to stay away.

'Forth! Right! He'll hit from behind! Eschew! Caution!'

The earthquakes began. The pyramid was now violently shaking, whole blocks of stone crashing. We were coughing, choking on the smoke.

'Nephthys,' I told her, 'speak with your siblings, Isis and Horus! Carter and Sadie must go and cast the execration spell on Apophis RIGHT NOW!'

Seconds later I realized I was no longer able to spot them, which meant they were off to fulfill their mission. Once the spell started, I could just die. It wouldn't matter. Yes, this was the first time I actually believed I was going to lose and die.

'Tell me the truth!' I tried once more. 'I'm begging you! What is that you want? To get revenge? Or you simply take the joy out of destroying innocent lives?'

Caleb's blade cut my arm. I crouched on the ground, unwillingly eschewing his next move. Seb could no longer handle being a spectator. A wind column took Caleb by surprise and threw him twenty meters away.

That's it, I thought. We broke the deal. Now he'll use his powers. I can no longer prevent it.

Then we heard Apophis speaking:

'STOP! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME! I WILL MAKE SURE YOU'LL DIE AN AGONIZING DEATH!'

'No! The Kanes!' Caleb yelled, realizing he had been fooled.

An explosion occurred. The wave of energy it sent was so powerful it knocked us out. I was sure the vibrations shattered Duat itself. I wasn't sure what had happened. Was Apophis defeated? Was it so quick? Or was this only the beginning? Either way, the pyramid was about to fall apart.

'Fast! Invoke Ma'at!'

'I can't...'

I remembered what Sadie had said in the recordings about invoking the Ma'at. It required the magician to be at piece with the universe, and I clearly was not. I grabbed my knife and made my way through the ruins towards Caleb. The sudden realization of what I had to do punched me in the gut.

A hand clutched my ankle. I yelled because of the shock. It was Sarah Jacobi.

'You think you can leave me here to die?' she asked, crawling on the debris.

I did the first thing I could think of. I pulled her hair, lifted her chin, and sliced her neck. Her blood splattered me. I remembered the times we user to live under the same roof.

Caleb howled. His eyes shimmered blue. I was sure he would attack, but instead, he spoke, as if he were possessed by the oracle of Delphy:

'I call the darkness onto me,
From deepest depths of land and sea,
From ancient evils unawoken,
Break the one that can't be broken.
To blackest night I pledge my soul,
And crush my heart to burning coal
To summon forth a deadly power,
See my hated foe devoured.'

Blue energy emerged from his body. He yelled, lifting his arms above his head like he was carrying the weight of the entire world. Then he cowered and, just as I had done before, the magic followed his movement, creating a blue tsunami ten times stronger than mine, blowing off everything in its path.

The whole pyramid exploded.

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We were awoken by the screams.

I was lying on a pile of rocks. I opened my eyes and saw Sadie struggling to get on her rump. Voices that seemed to come from everywhere around us were cheering and screaming, but I was too tired. I could barely keep my eyes opened. Every inch of my body hurt so bad.

'Hold on. It's over. It's okay. It's all over.'

I felt warm hands on me. They lifted me, carrying me from one heap of rocks to another. Brilliant. I heard uncle Amos asking me if I was fine. I mumbled an "uh-huh" and closed my eyes.

'Where are Ariana and Seb?!' he asked.

This instantly caught my attention. For one moment, I couldn't remember who they were. Then the battle with Apophis came back to my mind.

That Caleb.

The fight with Sarah and Kwaii.

Ariana protecting me.

The Gods of War joining the battle against Apophis; deities fighting side by side with the magicians that had banned them.

Sadie and I casting the execration spell on the serpent.

'Have we done it?' I asked, talking to no one and everyone at the same time.

'Yes, kids, you genuinely did it. You saved Earth. Apophis is gone now. You did very well,' said Amos, resting his hand on my shoulder.

I finally opened my eyes. Uncle Amos had left, leaving me at the mercy of strangers.

'Kid, are you alright?'

'What do you need?'

'Shall I bring you some water?'

'A healer, please!'

Men, women and teenagers alike, speaking all kinds of English accents, were hustling around me. I turned my head to look at my right and saw ruins. Even through the haze, I realized there had been a pyramid. Amos and Bast were digging frenetically into the mold. They took out from beneath the rooks and wood two bodies.

A man began reciting some incantations. My sight became gradually clearer. My muscles started to feel less like boulders. The pain in my body relieved. My heart skipped a beat when I identified the two silhouettes as Ariana and Seb.

'Stay still, stay still! Sit down!'

I chose not to listen to the magician. I stood up and the whole world began spinning. Soon my mind cleared and I was able to take some steps towards them. I had nothing to lean on. I fell down, but immediately got up and walk a couple more meters. Uncle Amos caught me as I reached them.

Ariana and Seb were lying on the ground. I thought they were unconscious, if not dead. Instead, they were only a bit shattered and dirty. They were slowly rising from the dust. I let go of Amos and sit down between them. He left, leaving Bast watching over us.

Ariana lifted her chin and our eyes met. Hers widened. She quickly reached out her hand to me, but then pulled it back as if she suddenly remembered she shouldn't be doing this.

'Are you fine?' I asked them.

'Yeah,' Seb said, while Ariana nodded.

'Sadie?' she asked.

I looked back at my sister who was being helped by the same healer. Ariana simply nodded again.

'What happened?' we asked simultaneously, which made her grin contrived.

'Thanks to your red herring, Sadie and I sneaked out of the pyramid. I summoned the Gods of War using Ra's sacred symbols —
the crook and the flail. They bought us enough time for us two to cast the execration spell on Apophis.'

'Whom exactly?'

I got a lump in my throat.

'Serquet, Set, Neith... Khonsu... and Shu.'

'Where are they now?' Seb said.

'They left,' I said, because, looking around, I realized that was exactly what they had done.

'You're shiting on me,' he said. 'They're Gods, they can't just leave as if they were never there in the first place. Without saying hi. Without anything.'

'It's not their fault,' Bast explained. 'They were banished to Duat as soon as Apophis was defeated. The first law of Ma'at is that good and bad need to be perfectly balanced. You can't have one without another. I will have to leave as well, immediately after I finish cleaning up this mess.'

'So you're saying we lost our chance of meeting our fathers forever?' Ariana asked.

We kept a moment of silence. Suddenly, Bast turned her back on us and began searching for something through the debris.

'What's wrong?' I asked her.

She bent down and picked up a small object. A golden chain was hanging through her clenched fingers. Ariana unexpectedly jumped on her feet and ran to Bast, snatching the necklace from her hand. She sighed and crouched on the ground, crying.

The question arose in my mind: "What happened to Caleb?"

'Tell me the truth,' I demanded, drawing closer.

Bast got it. She took Seb and left us alone.

'This is Zia,' she mumbled, showing me the pendant.

'What do you mean?'

'This the very last remaining of Zia's secret name,' she continued, wiping off her tears. 'I believe I can use it to return Ra to his former greatness. It has to work. Ra trusted me to bring him Zia.'

I had mixed feelings. I kept saying to myself I should be more emotional. I should be hurt. Mourning. I took the necklace in my hand and studied it. Somehow, I didn't really feel anything. That's when I knew I got over Zia. I was so relieved I almost teared up.

'Okay, we'll solve this. What's important now is what happened to you. How do you feel?'

'Scared,' she replied.

My heart skipped a bit. Horus was no longer in my head, whispering to me what was going on or how I needed to approach the situation. So I said the most stupid thing possible:

'I-I thought you are sad.'

She took a deep breath.

'Not really. I don't think my brother died. He escaped; I'm almost sure of it. I would've felt if he had died. And I'm glad he's alive, but I'm scared at the same time. Before he escaped... he-he cursed me.'

She repeated what her brother had told her and Seb before the pyramid collapsed.

'This must be a curse,' she said. I agreed.

'I'm sure that, with the proper training, you'll grow stronger than him. You hosted a Goddess. You fight on the side of Ma'at.'

'That is the problem,' she said. 'I don't want to be powerful. Not anymore.'

I was completely lost. Perhaps Sadie was right when she had said I don't understand females.

'What are you talking about? You just learned to use your powers and I'm sure there's much more to discover about yourself. With two demigods on our side, we'll be able to protect Earth from all evil out there.'

She lowered her head.

'Carter, I simply forgot the first law of nature — every action has a reaction; in other words, nothing is free. Do you think these powers of mine won't have any repercussions? The greater the power, the greater the danger and responsibility. I will pay dearly for them.'

'That's what your brother told you. Don't listen to him!'

'Carter, you are smart enough to realize this is the truth you requested. Plus, I don't even want to think about what measures the House of Life and the Gods will take against us, now that the things settled down.'

I didn't say anything. Of course, it was true. Ariana would attract a lot of problems and dangers. Probably her story wouldn't end well, but...

'Let me help you. Let all of us help you.'

She finally looked at me with tearing eyes.

'How?'

'You helped us to defeat Apophis. And you will put Ra back on his throne. The Gods and magicians will have to recognize you and Seb as heroes. Join the 21st Nome at the House of Brooklyn. We'll train together and overcome whatever obstacles will come in our path.'

She pulled herself back. I held out my hand, waiting for her to take it.

'Come with us,' I said.

By agreeing, she would have to leave her old life behind forever. Her adoptive family. Her friends. And enter a completely new universe that wanted her dead. Despite all of these, she squeezed my hand.

'This is the beginning of a new era.'

She glared at a blanket that was covering a body only meters away from us. I saw Sarah Jacobi's hair flowing from beneath, soaked with blood.

'I did it,' Ari said.

'I don't care,' I told her.

I rose up, dragging her with me. Unexpectedly, she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. It was closure. A finality. Something that marked the end of the war.

Of course, I couldn't have been more wrong. The story was far from over. The first sign was the necklace that began shining in my hand with light as powerful as the Sun. We looked away. When the light dispersed, the golden boat of Ra accosted on the sand where Apophis had stood only hours ago.

All the jaws dropped.

Ariana and I walked to the middle of the distance between the former King of the Gods and the magicians. Sadie and Seb joined us.

'My Lord!' Bast exclaimed. 'What are you doing here? How did you get here?'

Behind us, magicians of all genders, ages, and nationalities were whispering and gasping. Ra descended from the Sun boat. His face was still wrinkled and senile, his body still barren. As he approached us, I saw a glimpse in his eyes. He seemed to really be looking at us, not through us, and understand what he was seeing.

I gave Ariana the pendant. She started walking towards him. She put the necklace around the God's neck. We waited. No one was breathing. After almost a minute, nothing happened. Then Ari did the most unexpected thing — she grabbed the necklace and threw it on the ground. She stomped on the pendant, breaking the golden cage where the light had been trapped. The golden sphere ascended into the air.

'Go to your rightful beholder,' she commanded.

Like a shy child who needed to be pushed from the back, the light flew to Ra. It levitated before his face, making him smile with his toothless mouth. It was almost as if they were getting to know each other. When the light decided Ari was right and Ra was a good guy, it expanded into a supernova.

As we looked back, we didn't see an old man anymore.

He looked now like a sixty-year-old man, rather than a relic. The filthy piece of material wrapped around his waist was now sewn with golden thread. He was wearing golden and blue bracelets on his arms and legs, as well as a collar encrusted with gems. The ankh symbol was hanging on his chest.

Most importantly, he radiated light and power. Everywhere around us, the magicians knelt. Bast and Amos did the same. When I was about to follow their example, Sadie caught my arm and stopped me.

'Ariana Blue,' Ra spoke, 'there was no doubt in my mind you'd rise to my expectations.

Ari was doing her best not to faint. That was the man who had prohibited the existence of demigods in the first place. As if this never happened, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and turned to us.

'My dear friends... Carter and Sadie Kane, thank you for all your nurturance. And for defeating Apophis, of course. Bast, my loyal lieutenant, I knew you were the worthiest of my servants. Amos Kane, you dared to defy the most sacred law of the House of Life and worked side by side with Gods. Well, to be honest, all the magicians present here did the same. You have my gratitude, soldiers. You are all invited to the coronation of the new king and pharaoh!'

I summoned the crook and the flail from Duat and stepped forward.

'These are yours, your majesty.'

He refused.

'No. These belong to you.'

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SEB: I've always been sure we'll win.

ARIANA: No, you've always thought we were going to die.

SEB: Nyet!

ARIANA: Don't you even dare! I think I have PTSD when it comes to Russia.

SEB: Let's end this recording once and for all. My butt is painful and our spectators are waiting for the grand finale. DJ, play Sia's "Cheap Thrills"!

ARIANA: So, all the magicians that took part in the Battle of Cairo were invited to the coronation, just as Ra had promised. We all gathered into the Hall of Ages, where Carter claimed the pharaoh's throne and Horus was named the next King of Gods. The surprise was that the most important Gods and the ones that had helped us throughout our mission were invited too, as the last show-off before they would drawback in Duat.

SEB: The Gods were aligned on the right and left of the throne. It had been empty for centuries (what a waste, in my opinion), and now Carter was finally claiming his birthright, with a bonus heartbreaking monologue. I swear a tear rolled down my cheek.

ARIANA: It was a true family gathering. All the magicians from the House of Brooklyn were here. I even recognized some from the Sankt Petersburg Nome. The four siblings — Horus, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys (Osiris couldn't leave the Underworld) —, Neith, Tawaret and Sobek were standing proudly at Ra's side. Tawaret was wiping off her tears with a tissue; Bes' death broke her.

SEB: Let's not forget about our dads.

ARIANA: I did not forget. I was increasing the tension.

[Laughing.]

SEB: Well, our fathers, Shu and Khonsu were there as well. My heart stopped when I entered the room and they were standing with their arms crossed at their backs to Ra's right and left. The Sun God smiled at us. I have to admit, Khonsu looks better than Shu. He was young and charming, dressed in dark blue smoking. His black hair was pulled down in a braid. My father, on the other hand, was wearing a pilot outfit from the second World War. He seemed to be in his sixties. Ari and I both couldn't help but stop in the middle of the empty corridor between the rows of magicians and stare at them.

Then Ra did the shocking announcement:

'In the light of the new events, I realized our sacred law regarding the relationships between humans and Gods is outdated. We have to keep up with this new era. Because the two demigods here, Ariana Blue and Seb McCallfy showed devotion to Ma'at and contributed to the defeat of Apophis, I reconsider my choice. From this very moment on, humans and Gods are allowed to be together.'

ARIANA: We heard this collective gasp. People were completely puzzled, so Amos stepped forward and clarified the situation:

'Also in the light of recent events, we were shown by brave people as Carter and Sadie Kane, Leonid Vyacheslav, and a lot more others, that the path of the Gods shall become the way of the House of Life again. From now on, our trainees will be allowed to choose the path of the Gods.'

Some magicians clapped, showing us exactly who had been following the path of the Gods in secret. Nephthys winked.

SEB: Ra continued:

'The mortals and Gods who have broken these former rules will receive amnesty. Unfortunately, though, I'm afraid we'll have to retreat for an undetermined amount of time. Now that Isfet is weaker, Ma'at also has to back down a few steps.'

ARIANA: My father's eyes found mine. My heart skipped a beat. My eyes filled with tears, knowing I would probably never see him again. Dad smirked. I smiled back.

SEB: Yeah, I got pretty emotional, too. When dad saw me, his stiffy gaze suddenly melted like chocolate. They had never seen us before, but they somehow knew exactly who we were.

ARIANA: What a poet you are.

SEB: Shhh, I'm narrating. [Quiet.] Okay, I'm done.

ARIANA: I don't want to recount all that occurred after the coronation.

SEB: DJ, play Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"!

ARIANA: Khonsu and Shu dragged us to the back of the sala to talk. We hugged and kissed and cried and I had my sixth or seventh mental breakdown in a month and a half.

SEB: Perhaps it sounds unbelievable, but your alpha-male here Seb also cried his butt off.

ARIANA: Dad told me he was so proud of me and he was sorry he had caused so much pain to me and mom. He told me to go see her straightaway in Moscow. I will never in my life forget how he rested his hands on my cheeks, looking into my eyes and telling me how much he loved me.

SEB: My dad hugged me tighter than I imagined he could. I almost died because of the lack of air.

ARIANA: The reunion barely lasted an hour, while we told them the story of our lives — how our adoptive families had treated us, what we were doing in school, and our intentions regarding our future as magicians and demigods.

SEB: They warned us we were in such great danger, they didn't have the power to protect us, as if Ariana and Caleb's words hadn't scared the shit out of me already. Still, they gave us their blessings.

ARIANA: Sadie says that you're probably cursing us for not detailing the final meeting, but this is kind of private. One of the happiest and painful moments of my life. The most overwhelming minutes I'd ever got to live. In the end, my dad gifted me a silver crescent moon pendant. He carefully put it in my palm, closing my fingers against it. He held my hands between his and said:

'This is the least I can do in order to make up for being such bad a father. This necklace is made out of moonlight. I gave one to your mother too, the day your brother was born. It will guide you.'

SEB: If my friends from my former school ever find out how I acted that day, they'll die of laughter. My feelings overpowered me so hard that, after Ra announced that they had to leave Earth, I hugged Ariana tightly, both crying on each other's shoulders.

ARIANA: Bast also said her goodbyes, so all four of us — Ariana, Carter, Sadie, and I — had the opportunity to be emotional wrecks together. But, just as they started leaving, Set came to me.

'Good job, little demigod,' he said smirking.

He was wearing his usual red suit. In the right hand, he was holding a glass of champagne.

'But I hope you'll consider quitting the after-party and helping your good ol' friend here.'

'What do you want?' I asked.

'Look, Ariana. I know you don't hate me. You and that blondie Sadie Kane are basically the only ones that understand why Amos chose me.'

He was right. Maybe it was because he reminded me of my father; maybe because we were the same — the chaos inside the good.

'So I'm demanding your help.'

'Here, on Earth, we don't "demand" help,' I said. We ask politely for it.'

'You're mocking me,' he said.

I smiled.

'I am my father's daughter, after all.'

He got it and grinned.

'Well, well, but I think I was wrong about you, Ariana. You are a lot more intriguing than I thought. I'll pay some attention to you from Duat. Now, I politely ask you to offer me your help.'

'Better,' I agreed. 'What happened?'

'Ask your brother where he found Zia. Ask him to show you her place of slumber and find the secret chamber, hidden behind the enchanted wall, right beside Zia's sarcophagus. There you'll find her.'

'Don't play the pronoun game with me,' I glared. 'Who is she?'

'I can't tell you here, but I can assure you, you'll instantly know who she is. Her name is Cara Mars, by the way.'

A strange feeling of anticipation crawled into my stomach. I believed I knew who she was, yet I was too afraid to think about it.

'Do you promise me you'll find her?' he asked.

'Yes,' I said, holding out my hand.

We took it and we shook hands. Then he offered me the champagne glass and opened a portal.

'Goodbye, demigod! We'll meet sooner than Ra is willing to admit. And it will be far more interesting than this lame war with that snake. It ended so quickly!'

He left, leaving Seb and me as the godliest things in the Hall of Ages.

SEB: Ari was reluctant, while the only thing I could think about was that, according to Set, we would get to see our fathers again. After she hugged and congratulated Carter, she told the Kanes about Set's quest. The siblings looked at each other grimly. We immediately left for the village called Al-Hamrah Makan (I think I choked), where Ra had once buried Zia in a water coffin. You know, like all teachers/adoptive grandpas do.

ARIANA: We reached an affluent of the Nile. Carter asked me to split off the water. I didn't know any spell for that, so I concentrated on Nephthys' power. She was no longer with me, but she hadn't left my body without leaving a mark. I was feeling her power flowing through my veins. I swept my hands over the river and the water divided into two courses, revealing a row of stairs and a secret door.

SEB: I felt like Moises as we were walking between the two water walls. We opened the door and entered a cave. It looked like an Egyptian tomb, sending a shiver down my spine. It had only one room. There was a pedestal in the middle, on which Carter told as had once been Zia's prison.

ARIANA: Each of us began searching the secret entrance on one of the four stone walls. They were all carved with hieroglyphs and Egyptian symbols, which made it even harder to spot possible clues.

After fifteen minutes or so, Sadie spoke: 'Guys, I think I found something odd.'

We came closer and Sadie showed us a symbol of a crescent moon, in the center of the wall. It stood out because it was framed by a square, and it wasn't surrounded by any drawings. Sadie tried pushing it like a button, but it didn't work. Then I remembered about the necklace. I took it out of the pocket of my trousers, pulled out the chain, and pressed the pendant against the carving. As expected, it fit perfectly.

Silence. We breathed heavily, as the seconds passed. Suddenly, the pendant fell on the ground with a metallic sound. The symbol cracked, the crevice spreading rapidly upwards and downwards until the whole wall divided into two blocks of stone. The parts began sliding to right and left, opening up to the secret that sheltered Cara Mars.

I grabbed my pendant. Sadie entered first, followed by Seb. She stopped abruptly, causing Seb to bump into her back. Carter stayed motionlessly on the doorstep, so I had to get on my toes and look over his shoulder.

SEB: The room was identical to the first one, except for one detail — the pedestal was not empty. A parallelepiped of glowing blue water was flowing above it. A girl was lying dormant inside. As I slowly walked in her direction, I felt as if a warm wind surrounded me, making me feel dizzy and giddy. I got a lump in my throat, my heartbeat accelerated and my pulse was about to break out of my veins. It took me some good seconds to realize that I was feeling her power. Her aura was stronger even than Caleb's. Than anyone else's.

I grabbed Ari's arm.

'Are we sure we want to wake her up?'

ARIANA: I replied with the most stupid line ever:

'It's for Set.'

Maybe if we would've just left her there and go home, as if nothing happened, certain people would still be alive now. But I chose to catch Cara's hands and pull her out of the coffin. The moment her head emerged at the surface, the water collapsed and spilled all over the floor. Cara took a deep breath and fell into my arms. The others helped me fast. We tried to lay her down, but she jumped on her feet.

She was a gorgeous teen girl, around 17-18 years old. Her wet long red hair was flowing on her shoulders and back. Her brown eyes were sparkling. Carter gasped because of her resemblance to her father, reminding me of the first time we met.

'Cara,' Sadie spoke. 'I'm Sadie Kane. This is my brother, Carter; we're magicians. These are Ariana Blue, daughter of Khonsu, and Seb McCallfy, son of Shu.'

'Your father sent us to save you,' Carter explained.

Cara was piercing us with her eyes, just as a cornered wild animal, breathing unsteadily.

'We're here to help you,' I added. We promise not to harm you.'

'Oh, I know exactly who you are, Ariana Blue. You and your brother, Caleb.'

SEB: We chocked. How did she know about Caleb?

'Hathor told me everything about you all in my dreams while I was sleeping.'

I broke down and punched the wall from my left.

'That whore again!' Ariana said.

'She was my only company during my five-year slumber.'

'Five years?!' Sadie asked.

'Yes, indeed, five damned years!' Cara replied. 'Five years of being hidden from the Gods and magicians' eyes. Five years of plotting our revenge together.'

ARIANA: 'Cara,' I approached her, 'I understand how you feel and I am truly sorry for you. But you can't be talking seriously. We've just defeated the serpent Apophis and saved the planet. Ra rose again. Amos Kane is the new Chief-Lector. The relationships between gods and mortals are allowed! We can exist together, in harmony! Did Hathor also tell you this?'

'Yes,' Cara said, squeezing the water from her hair. 'This changes nothing. What you did changed nothing and saved no one!'

Cara's eyes glowed bloody red.

'Run, demigods and magicians,' a female voice reverberated into the chamber.

'Hathor?!' Sadie demanded.

'No, sweetie,' said the voice. 'Sekhmet. This girl is mine.'

Chapter Text

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SADIE: We did the most logical thing — we ran the hell out of there.

CARTER: Sadie...

SADIE: What? That's the truth. I sensed Cara's high power level. Sekhmet was helping her summoning her demigod abilities while mastering her evil laugh. The energy caused an earthquake. The tomb began violently shaking. Ari grabbed my and Carter's arms and told us it was time to leave.

CARTER: I protested; we couldn't just let her there, at the mercy of Sekhmet.

'We don't stand any chance,' Ari said. 'We're tired and she's too strong. She's a demigod, the daughter of Set.'

We'd all thought about that, but this was the first time it was officially announced. There was no doubt. We ran into the next room and then to the door. The river crashed onto us. The water engulfed us, throwing us into the stone walls.

SADIE: I felt how the water beneath me became harder and took the form of a string. I grabbed it and it guided me to the shore.

'Thanks, Ari,' I said.

She was lying on the sand, coughing. 'Yeah, no problem.'

Our only option was to return home, to the House of Brooklyn, and tell Amos and our loyal trainees that we were in another huge mess. The moment I stepped inside, Walt's absence struck me like a train.

'I'm sorry,' Ari said. 'For Anubis, who was punished because of me, and for Bes, whom I failed to save, after boosting around about it. And—'

'It's not your fault,' I said, comforting her. 'You did everything you could, even though no one believed in you in the beginning.'

CARTER: After we spoke to Amos, we went into our rooms to change our clothes. I would've traded anything for a couple of hours of sleep, but Ari and Seb had something important to do. I put on a chestnut shirt and a pair of jeans. Sadie knocked on my door. I opened and saw she was wearing a crop-top with "London" written on it, a blue checkered unbuttoned shirt, ripped jeans, and her usual cowboy boots.

'What a first impression you'll make,' I said.

'Let's go!' she said, grabbing my hand and running down the stairs.

Ari had just opened a portal. She was wearing a pink shoulder down T-shirt, flared blue jeans, and sandals.

[Seb tells me I was too busy staring at how perfectly the blouse fit her to notice how sexy he looked in his grey hoodie and black trousers.]

SADIE: We jumped into the portal. First stop — Moscow. We landed in the middle of the Nome, Russians gazing and glaring at us. I opened another portal for Carter and Seb, using a statue of Isis. Ari and I introduced ourselves and asked about this woman Daleea Blue. He sighed.

'Yes, yes, I know. The edict,' he said in a strong Russian accent.

Apparently, she was a healer. She was currently teaching the children how to prepare healing potions. A Russian man guided us through multiple rooms and corridors. I so felt like a badass woman, walking down the halls, people clearing our path, the Russian man behind us.

'I remember the first time I met my parents after they died; her — a ghost, him — a blue God. Still in love. Oh, how emotional!'

Ari smiled nervously, tormenting her poor fingers.

'Do you want me to leave you alone?'

'No,' she replied.

The man got ahead of us and opened largely the double door before us. The chamber was filled with young magicians. They were staying on rugs, their legs crossed beneath them. Each of them had a bowl before them. The young woman who was walking among them suddenly turned to face us.

I gasped. She looked so much like my mother. Pale skin, long blonde hair, a soft smile, and a gentle look in her eyes. The most blatant difference was that she had green eyes, like Caleb's, while my mom had bright blue eyes, like me.

'Ms. Blue,' the man announced. 'I present to you your daughter Ariana Blue and her lieutenant Sadie Kane. You are free to go home.'

***

CARTER: We crash-landed in a Nome in a Russian city called Kazan.

'Kazakhstan?!' Seb asked.

'Close enough. Same vibes.'

We spoke with a woman, explaining who we were and why we were there. She hadn't heard about the abolishment of the law regarding the relationships between humans and Gods, or about the amnesty given to the condemned, so she turned her back on us. She left, leaving Seb and I wondering, what next?

'I CAN'T STAND YOU! I WISH AMMIT DEVOURED ALL YOURS SOULS, MOTHERFUCKERS!'

A woman with pale skin and black middle-length hair furiously opened the double doors at the end of the corridor and started walking towards us.

'Hey, Hyra, what do you think you're doing?'

The lightbulb switched on inside my head. Hyra was Seb's mother's name. I stared at her, wondering if it was really her, though she looked more like Ari than Seb. I looked to my left and saw the change in Seb's attitude; he wasn't sassy anymore. After this burst, I was waiting for him to make fun of the situation, as he had done in life or death conflicts, yet wonder and shock had clutched every single inch of him.

Hyra's grey eyes stopped on the woman. If looks could kill, she would've been now bathing in her own blood.

'I'm done with you all!' Hyra shouted. 'I'd better die than breathe the same air as you any other second!'

'Watch your mouth or that's exactly what will happen to you!' the annoying woman yelled back.

'Stop, stop!'

A man ran out of the chamber Hyra had left and stopped at a few dozen meters from us.

'She's right! I've just received the news! Ra and the Chief-Lector spoke — she is free! And the demigods are under the Sun God's protection!'

The two women's eyes widened. They looked at the man, then at each other.

'That's what we were trying to explain!' I said, catching their attention.

I pushed Seb before me.

'Hyra, this is Seb McCallfy. Your son.'

***

CARTER: I week has passed since the Battle of Cairo. Daleea decided she didn't want to return to Greece, her motherland, since her parents had disinherited her. She had nothing left there, so Amos bought a flat for her in Brooklyn, only streets away from the 21st Nome. Hyra returned to her home in Boston.

SADIE: We haven't spoken with Ari or Seb for six days. They finally announced to us they would come today. The kids are at school, but I was more than glad to skip it in order to hear what the demigods had decided.

Freak's squawks let us know they are here. We go outside. Seb pets Freak on his head.

'Mom taught me one or two tricks,' he explains.

CARTER: We stop a few meters away. The wind blows, creating a barrier between us. They are changed — Ari seems happier and fulfilled, while Seb is more serious and gentle. They look at each other, then step in our direction. The wind blows behind them as if pushing them towards us.

'I decided I will go home,' Seb says. 'My home. In Romania. I will return to my adoptive family and to my friends. And, obviously, mom will come with me. From now on, we won't let anything come in between us again.'

'So you're letting go of your magical side,' I say.

He nods reluctantly.

'This world is not for me. I'm glad I could help, but now it's time to return to my life.'

I turn my look to Ari.

'Ariana?' Sadie asks.

'I told my mom I don't want to leave yet with her in a new home.'

She pauses, and I'm afraid of what she'll say next.

'If you agree and don't consider me a burden, I would enjoy staying at the House of Brooklyn. As a trainee, of course. I need your help to train the magician inside me, considering I've neglected her gravely. My mom told me it would be her pleasure to get to teach the children, too.'

'So...?' I begin, my chest filled with pressure.

'I'm staying,' she says. 'This is the place for me.'

'Yey!' Sadie says. 'I hadn't yet found a girl to go to parties or have a sleepover with. It will be so much fun now!'

I hug Ari tightly.

'Before you leave,' Sadie tells Seb, 'would you mind helping us record this adventure? Like in the good ol' days.'

I grab Ariana's hand and we head for the House.

SADIE: So here we are, at the end of this recording. I can't believe the good influence Ari already has on my brother — he lets me have the last word!

Truth to be told, although we narrated the events in a positive and sarcastic tone, things are going mad. We have a serpent waiting to wake up again from his slumber, two evil run-away demigods, and a curse to deal with. If you are listening to this recording, it means you are a magician as well. Or — Gods know! — maybe even a demigod.

Fulfill your birthright and come train at the 21st Nome. We'll be waiting for you. The House of Brooklyn has its doors opened for you.

Sadie, Carter, Ariana, and Seb — out.

[Sound of a dropped microphone.]

[Sadie!]

[Laughs.]

Chapter Text

Considering that I started the first draft of this book in 2017, wish me good luck.

DJ, drums! Prrrrrrrrr, bloopers:

—in the first draft, Caleb, Sarah, and Kwaii kidnapped Ariana and Seb from their school, during what the mortals considered to be a terrorist attack;

—during that attack, Ariana and Seb's math teacher died because of a flowerpot that fell on her head;

—in the first draft, there were countless characters I didn't put in the story after I edited it; characters like Mira and Albert, who were supposed to be fellow magicians at the Russian Nome Ariana and Seb befriend and run away with;

—Ariana and Seb were supposed to start their adventure alongside their classmate Peter, who was also a demigod, and would have died before meeting the Kanes;

—Ariana was supposed to have a crush on this Albert;

—Ariana was supposed to have her own moment at the coronation, including a magical dress, but then I realized it was too cringe and senseless and barbie-ish (i was only 14, okay?);

—in the first draft, Maria had chapters narrated from her POV, in which she told the story of how she went from Romania to the USA in her search for Ariana;

—Mrs. Casidy didn't exist in the first draft;

—Lora was a good monster in the first draft;

—in the first draft, Sarah cut Ariana's throat with a sword, leaving a scar;

—I wanted Seb and Cleo to be together, but now I have other plans muhahahaha;

—Ariana was supposed to fall in love with Carter, who was in love with Zia, and suffer because of it, but then I decided to have their love for each other grow gradually.

Chapter Text

Today is the 10th of September 2019. I can't believe I've just published the very last chapter of this fanfiction I started back in 2017 and rewrote multiple times.

The "Kane Chronicles" trilogy still is my favorite book series and I'm glad my passion for this fanfic didn't fade away and I was able to finish it.

Although my Wattpad books are like my babies, I can fairly say this one is my favorite. Maybe because it was inspired by my life. Ariana Blue is inspired by me (Anna); Seb McCallfy (Andrew) is based on my former classmate Andrei, whom I had a crush on. The mastermind behind Maria Casidy (we'll see more of her in the sequel) is my best friend in real life Maria aka 4unspoken4 ; and so on.

I want to thank all my readers — THANK YOU, SWEETHEARTS! — for sticking with me and my book, even though it went through a lot of changes. A big thank you to 4unspoken4 for encouraging me, designing my covers, and listening to me for hours and hours on end ranting about my characters. Thank you, Wattpad, for letting me develop my writing skills on this lovely platform.

Thank you, everyone! Gods may let us meet again, safe and sound, at the release of the second part of the "Into The Moon Shadow" series — CHILDREN OF MAGIC!

For more Ariana Blue, don't forget to check out "Meet Ariana Blue and the Kanes!" and "Ann's Universe — Meine OC's".

Bye. Love you forever.

~Ann aka @demigod_anne_kane