CHAPTER NINETEEN
Breakfast was mildly awkward. Ryan and Dean ignored each other, but it was obvious Ryan wanted to run out of the house. Zane had insisted everyone stay, however, as Trish was bringing the rest of the deities she and Donnie had met over. Josie watched the others curiously as she stayed close to Jonathan. He and Alyxx were eating rapidly, and it was obvious they hadn't had home cooking in too long. Mark wouldn't take his eyes off of Alyxx. Panya nervously watched Dean and Ryan, pushing her food around on her plate with her fork but not eating it. Shannon and Zane tried to make pleasant small talk. Josie and Olivia did their best to help them. By the end of their meal, Janna, Adara, Julian, Keisha, Richie, Billy, and even Tommy and Angie had joined them.

The doorbell rang again. Zane answered it quickly. Shannon stood at his side, and Josie was impressed by how much they suddenly radiated as the Heads of the Pantheon. When they opened the door, Adara jumped up to greet Trish. The two had become incredibly close in the last month. Josie noticed they kept finding excuses to slip away from everyone, presumably doing whatever two Cat Goddesses did when left unsupervised.

"Everyone, meet everyone else!" Trish declared. "Zane, Shannon, meet the reinforcements!"

"Welcome to our home," Zane replied. "Please, introduce yourselves. I'm eager to meet you all."

"Hi... I'm Heidi," a hyper girl with a big smile and blonde hair greeted them. "Heidi Hopper. I'm Unet."

"The Rabbit Goddess," Josie remembered aloud.

    "Wait... A Rabbit Goddess with the surname Hopper?" Alyxx asked with a laugh. It warmed Josie's heart to hear the sound of Alyxx's carefree laughter filling Zane's house again.

    "Subtle," Mark added with a smirk.

Heidi shrugged. "It's called hiding in plain sight," she replied. "Anyway, I'm a freshmen in college, I'm pledging for a sorority right now, and I'm a cheerleader."

An African-American woman with short hair noticed Trish looking at her expectantly. "Victoria Johnson," she said. "I am Pakhet."

Adara grinned. "The holy trinity of kitties is complete!" She declared. Josie nodded, recalling that Pakhet was a lioness Goddess like Sekhmet and was the balance between Sekhmet and Bastet.

    "What do you do, Victoria?" Shannon asked politely.

     "I'm a vet. I specialize in cats."

     "Good choice!" Adara decided.

"I'm Ellis," a girl with short black hair, two lip piercings, a septum piercing, and matching gauges in her ears said. "You would know me as Iabet, Goddess of Fertility and Rebirth."

"Iabet was killed in the first battle against Chaos," Zane said in surprise.

"Not so much," Ellis replied dryly. She didn't look like what Josie expected a Goddess of Fertility to look like, but she chose not to judge a book by its cover.

     "Tell us about yourself," Shannon encouraged her.

     "I just did."

    "A girl of few words," Mark said with a laugh.  "What about you?" He asked the only unidentified male present.

The man shrugged and said, "Hi, I'm Leo, or Ptah. I sort of keep to myself... I grew up on a farm in North Carolina, so coming to New York City was a bit of a drastic change for me."

"What brought you here?" Zane asked.

"Chaos found me." He paused, his eyes looking incredibly sad. "My mama was bitten by a snake two months ago. It wasn't native to the area and there was no anti-venom for it... As she was dying, she told me I had to go to New York. She had some sort of vision... And when she died, my soul started unlocking. That snake was meant to attack me. My mama was all I had, so I packed up and did what she told me to and relocated to New York."

"I'm sorry about your mother," Zane replied gently. Leo shrugged again.

    "And finally, this is Kim," Trish said to break up the awkwardness.

    "You saved the best for last," a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes replied confidently. Josie was startled by the fact that she looked enough like Alison to have been her younger sister. "I'm Serqet."

      Panya stared at Kim with tears in her eyes. "You have returned to us," she said softly.

    "Yeah, I'm back, whatever. I heard what happened to my last incarnation who stood with you guys. Try not to get me killed this time, alright? At least not before Prom."

     Panya looked like Kim had slapped her. Josie wanted to slap Kim. She glared at her until a frog appeared out of thin air and landed on her head.

    Kim shrieked and swatted as she cried, "My hair! Get it out!"

    "Josie." Zane shot her a Look that outdid one of her mom's.

    "Oops," Josie replied innocently. She rescued the frog from the head of the screaming teenager and pet him affectionately.

     Ryan and Dean were both laughing. Mark smirked. Even Jonathan couldn't keep the amusement out of his eyes.

    As Kim fussed with her hair and tried to recover, Panya stared at the floor. "Hey... You okay?" Dean asked gently.

    "I am well," Panya replied automatically.

    "Panya-"

"I think it's important we do things differently this time," Zane said, saving Panya from having to reply. "We have lost a lot of good people. We were not prepared for this war. Some of our fallen friends had barely begun to unlock their souls. I will not let that happen again. We will stay together as much as possible. We'll meet daily, and we will train together. Shannon, Janna, and I will help each of you strengthen your connections to your souls and learn to use your unique gifts. This time, when Chaos comes for us, we will be ready."

    In that moment, Zane was every bit Ra. Josie watched him with wonder. Shannon stood by his side, regal and strong. Janna smiled at everyone encouragingly. Josie was still not sure how to feel about her. Yes, Janna had massively screwed up but she clearly regretted what she'd done and was trying to make it right. Josie knew the rift between all of them would only hurt them in battle. She decided she would try to put her anger aside for the sake of everyone else.