I wasn't sure what took Don and Aria so long to get here.

We were inside the monument. That's right: inside the Washington monument.

It looked a lot like a living room, with a window over looking the lake. A small coffee table and one small couch, but that was about it.

People were looking up at us, and for a scary moment it seemed like they could see us. I mean, imagine the head line: Crazy wackos hollow out the monument and live there.

"They can't." Alyssa said, reading me like a book, "You know how sometimes, animals can see or hear things that humans can't see, like on the ultraviolet spectrum? Magic is the same. Regular Mortals can't comprehend gods, or monsters, so the Taint keeps them from realizing the real world. The Greeks called it something else: Mist."

"The Greeks?"

"Nothing."

"I hate this place." I declared.

I was crammed inside of a tower, not to mention for fear of seeing strangers looking up at us.

"Why are we even here?" I asked.

"Traditional spot for combat. We trained you, so it means you get fight each other."

      A lump formed in my throat. It felt wrong to fight my only friends, since most people and monsters were ready to kill me.

Indeed, young hero, Nepthys said. You cannot afford to injure your only friends. If any of our essences are sent back to the Duat, we will not be able to defeat Set.

You couldn't think about my friends, too?

Er, yeah. That, too.

A rumbling sound alarmed me.

Apparently, so was Ayan. Her grew to match the size of a beach ball as she fit on some worn gloves. I was ready to ask her why she would put on gloves in the middle of the summer, but the the cuticles of her gloves, the part where her nails were underneath, grew to the size of a sword. Alyssa was on guard, too. A wooden rod she pulled out from her bag elongated into a staff about as tall as I was, and was in her hand so tightly, her knuckles were white.

Don and Aria stepped from the wall, as if it was just air. Alyssa wasn't aware of this, as her staff blew a column of fire at Don and Aria. A wall of dirt shielded them from the heat as I created a gusher of water to fight it. A puff of steam erupted from the fire as it was gone, returning back to Alyssa's staff. The wall of dirt sank back into the earth as Don scowled.

"Man, I feel welcome." Don growled.

Ayan looked shocked. "I've never seen you have so much power over the earth."

Don blinked. "I didn't do that."

I remembered Geb's blessing, how he would protect me and my friends. If it weren't for him, Don and Aria would be BBQ.

"Maybe a random blessing?" Alyssa decided.

Don dropped the subject as he sat down on the couch.

"Summoning that earth portal took a lot of energy." He whined.

Ayan glared at him. "If you would have just simply went in the sand portal with us, you wouldn't have felt this tired."

"I couldn't leave Aria by herself." He said through gritted teeth.

Aria looked uncomfortable, like if it weren't for her, they wouldn't have been fighting.

Carter gazed down at the window. His eyes widened. "Um, guys-"

"Zip it, Carter." Alyssa snapped. "Yeah, Don. You could have just took her with us."

It made sense to me that if Don was mad, something weird would happen. Most of the time, it can happen with magicians. Trust me, I've seen a magician have a tantrum and water would splash around the room.

The monument rumbled. "So, you wanted to me put her in a portal while she was unconscious? Sorry, Ayan, that not everyone can master magic as much as you."

"Maybe, If you spent more time taking classes rather than goofing off, you would know how to protect her in the portal!" Ayan said.

Carter's voice shook. "Um, guys-"

"What?" All three of them shouted.

"I think there's a bigger distraction down there."