[Thanks, Aria. For making us sound dramatic and stuff. But here's was really happened.]

While Aria and Set shot out of the mountain, Carter and I were left in a crumbling pyramid. It was hot, and sweaty, and we were tired. After every few seconds, I kept fainting, and Carter would have to shake me awake. I was so tired, not just physically, but mentally. I was so over having to fight monsters. I thought I would be ready for our battle, after all we've been through, but Nepthys left me in shambles. She was not helpful. She was pacing in a circle (spiritually) and screaming, "Oh, God! It's Set! He was the worst husband ever!"

Not to mention that the entire mountain made me want to crawl into a ditch and cry myself to sleep. It was full of so much chaos, so much scary things, my mind went blank. Okay, I know what you're thinking: "But, Sophia! Didn't you, like, create a massive whirlpool that killed a load of demons?" That is correct, but in my mind I was horrified. My mind shattered, so Nepthys decided to take over. I was okay with that, until she saw Set. She didn't even warn me she would go psycho! I thought she would handle him, but no! She left me out in the open, completely defenceless, against a major God! I was weak without her power, so that answers your question about me crying in the Pyramid and me fainting. So when Aria left us, I started to cry.

It felt silly, but I was just so scared after what had just happened. Carter kept trying to comfort me, but I was just way too shocked to register what he was saying. By the time I had stopped, the first thing that I said was: "How about Wyatt?"

Carter gave me a funny look. "I'm sorry, what?"

"We only came here to save Wyatt. I don't care about Egypt, I don't care about Set, and I don't care about this stupid pyramid. I came here to save Wyatt. So let's open up his coffin."

"I don't think that it's that simple, Sophia. It's gotta be booby trapped, or-"

"Carter, I'm opening that case whether you like it or not, so just help me open the darn thing!" I snapped.

       I stomped over to the throne with Carter in tow. I looked at the golden sarcophagus, and I finally came to realize how sad the gods were. Wyatt, our friend, was shut up inside of coffin. Even though I knew he was still in that case, it felt like he was already dead.

     Have you ever read A series of unfortunate events?

        If you haven't, you haven't lived. Anyways, its about these three kids, and how they go to Brimy beach one day, and then Mr.Poe, their bank....... manager? I think that's what he is. He tells them that their parents have died from a fire that burned down their house. When the author, Lemony Snicket, describes how it was for the children when they heard about this, he only uses two sentences to describe it, and it's true. Here are the two sentences:

"If you have lost a loved one, you know how this feels like. If you haven't, you cannot possibly imagine."

Sad, but true. Carter was hit the hardest. His eyes turned bloodshot. It was guaranteed he was about to cry, but then noticed I was there and wiped at his eyes.

Carter let out a deep breath. "How do we get this open?"

"Carter, if you want to cry, you-"

"Sophia, I don't need to cry. I'm a man."

"Carter, it won't matter to me if you cry. I know how good of a friend Wyatt was to you. He was your best friend. You can cry. You've earned it."

The boy is stubborn. I literally encouraged him to cry, and all he let out was a few small tears. But, I guess that was way too much for Carter. "Sophia, crying won't help us open this stupid sarcophagus! I need to get him out!"

He was right. I touched the lid, and instantly fell to the floor as my eyes closed.

~*~*~*~*

        This time, I saw a river. It snaked around the city like a........well, snake. There was a housing development by the river, and saw something weird. It looked like an obelisk, like the one in Washington, D.C. It was seventy feet tall, which would have made a really cool thing to see in Ancient Egypt, but looked unimpressive and sad next to all of the city buildings. After looking at it for a moment, I realized that I was at Aria's parents' flat in London, England.

My first thought: Oh my god, I'm in London!

                 I had seen Aria's pictures every time she went to London on Summer break, Winter break, and Spring break, not to mention the occasional birthday trip. And Aria said she hated having to go to London. At first, I was like, It's London! Why are you so mad? Until she told me about her parents. The only reason she ever liked coming back was to have fun with her London friends. Her parents left her up for foster care as a baby in America, and her parents were perfectly capable of raising her. They lived in a nice neighbourhood, Aria was healthy, her parents were healthy, so why would they just leave her like that? It seemed really irresponsible of them to do that, so I forced my dream to zoom in on Aria's flat in London.

         I saw a small room full of Baby's toys, a crib, a changing table, and bright pink walls. Wooden shelves were littered with baby toys that taught you the ABC's and stuffed animals. In the centre of the room was a wooden crib that was painted white and a small pink blanket in the middle. Pink feathers dangled from the ceiling. Everything seemed to be pink, and I read the sign on the door, which said that this was Aria's room. To be honest, I found it kind of funny. Aria's the toughest girl in school. You wouldn't expect her to be gumming a pink pacifier, but there she was, in her mother's arms, being cradled to sleep.

          Aria's mom has roasted coffee skin and chocolate eyes, with dark circles. It looked like she hasn't slept in ages, with smile crinkles near her eyes. Her small pink lips went into a mischievous smile, the same one Aria always had when she looked at me. Her hair was tied in a messy bun. She was wearing wrinkled blue pyjamas, and she was singing a soft lullaby. Ruby Faust is an archeologist, and is known as a total VIP at the British Museum. Mr. Faust is white. He's a Professor at the local University, and teaches History, and he looks like a cliche. He has sandy blonde hair, with a stubble growing in. Seriously, I've never seen him with a clean shave. He has blue eyes and classic Professor glasses: rectangle shaped lenses with the wire rims. He wore a green sweater, with a plaid collar sticking out. His sleeves were rolled up, and he also has smile crinkles. He wore khaki pants, which reminded me of Carter. Aria's parents have British accents, living in England so long.

            I soon realized so many little details that I hadn't noticed before. An ankh, the symbol of life, was hung on the doorway. Mrs. Faust was singing an Ancient Egyptian lullaby. Underneath Aria's name on the doorway, there was the Ancient Egyptian translation. Hieroglyphs of protection were written on the crib.

       Aria's mom stopped the lullaby as she put her daughter in her crib. She peeked inside, as if she thought a crocodile would jump out at her.

     Mr. Faust put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Ruby, Aria's asleep. She'll be okay. You know how many protection charms I've casted on the house?"

     Ruby frowned. "Arthur, something's wrong."

      She whipped out a wand from thin air, and Mr. Faust summoned a khopesh........ Aria's khopesh. The doorbell rung, and they ran downstairs. Arthur's face looked scared. He took a deep breath and opened the door, hiding his weapon behind his back. There stood a potbellied man, with a bald head. His teeth looked black and crooked, with a wrinkled suit. A name tag said his name was Mark.

"Hello," the man smiled. His voice was suave and smooth, which was nothing like his looks. He also had an American accent. "I'm your accountant. Your regular got ill and couldn't make it. You called earlier, in the afternoon?"

     Mr. Faust's hand twisted, and his khopesh vanished. "Of course. Yes, of course. Come in."

Aria's mom hid her wand in her sleeve. "I have some cookies in the kitchen. Would you like some, sir?"

Mark waved his hand modestly. "Oh, thank you. A glass of milk would be nice as well."

Arthur opened the door and gestured for him to come in. Mark yelped in pain.

"Is something wrong, Mark?" Arthur asked.

    
        Mark gave him an angry look, before he regained his composure. "No," he said in a strained tone. "Just fine."

He sat down on their couch and nibbled from a cookie. "Now, let's cut to the chase, Arthur. I know why you called."

He raised his eyebrows. "To see how much I have in my savings account?"

Mark shook his head. "No, that's not the business I mean. I'm talking about your daughter."

"Yes," Arthur said. "We've brought her to the bank with us from time to time, but I didn't think it would be a prob-"

       Mark rolled his eyes. "Arthur, don't be naive. You know what I mean."

      "I'm sorry, but I don't understand-"

"Don't you see? I know what you're up to."

        A fire started from the ground and burned at Mark's form. He screamed in pain, but this time in a different voice. "Help me!" The voice screamed. It sounded like someone had a bad cold and their nose was stuffy, but I suppose that anyone would get a cold after being engulfed in flames.

             Out from the burned body of Mark, came the wispy ghost of Set. He wore the same devilish smile as before, except he wore a red bathrobe. His eyes glittered. Arthur and Ruby thrust out their weapons.

     "Oh, don't be silly, Arthur," Set said in the same suave voice as before. And it explained why he dropped to the ground in pain. The obelisk was a sign of Ma'at, order, and the God of Evil clearly doesn't like order. He waved his hand as Arthur's khopesh flew and hit the wall. Ruby slid her wand into her sleeve.

          Set floated over to her. Even if he didn't have his full form, he still scared Ruby. His face was inches away from hers. "Do you take me for a fool, Ruby?"

     Ruby didn't answer.

"Well? Do you?!" Set screamed. "Place your wand on the floor! Now! Or it will be the baby I kill instead!"

     Mrs. Faust threw her wand on to the ground. Set waved his hand as a flame burned it into splinters. He stopped the fire and stomped upstairs to Aria's room.

"Set, please stop!" Mr. Faust begged, and they trailed him upstairs. "She's only an infant!"

"Exactly!" Set shouted with glee. "More terror!"

        Set walked in and picked Aria up, despite only being a ghost. "Hmm," he contemplated, "Should she die by poison or fire? So many options!"

    Arthur and Ruby were at the doorway, fear washed over their faces. "Set, please! Don't!" Ruby cried.

            Aria woke up and started to cry. "Ugh," Set said in disgust,"I hate killing babies! They cry too much." He placed both of his hands around Aria and started to chant.

      "Set!" Ruby snapped. "Please! We'll do anything! Just don't kill her!"

        The God of Evil put her back in her crib as he scowled. "Mm, you're no fun. But, did you say anything?"

       Arthur's face was beaded with sweat. "Set, I'm sure if you leave Aria alone, we can negotiate something."

         Ruby ran over to her child as she cradled her.

        Set crossed his arms over his chest. "As you know, since the last time we have fought, I am far too weak to return to the mortal world. A sliver of my soul was just enough to deliver my message."

            He floated over to Arthur Faust and pulled him in. "Listen, and you listen well, Faust, I want that kid on the next plane to America, where you'll be placing her for foster care. Oh, and I have friends watching your every move, so don't think you can outsmart me. You can only visit her every couple of months, but you can't tell her her prophecy, nor can you talk about your magic. That little ankle biter is leaving for......hmm," Set tapped his chin in thought. "How about Brooklyn? Yes, Brooklyn it is. She's leaving for Brooklyn in..........how about two days? I'll give you time to fill out the papers, but I want her on the plane to Brooklyn by Thursday morning, am I clear?"

     Arthur swallowed. "Crystal."

     Set laughed in glee, and clapped his hands. "Perfect! Ta-ta, Fausts!"

      He walked straight through the window as if it were water, and disappeared. Once he did, Ruby sank to the floor and started to sob.

"Arthur," She said in between gasps. "He knows about her destiny. How come he agreed to not kill her?"

Arthur crouched down and sat next to his wife. He gestured for his wife to give him the baby, and he began rocking Aria back to sleep in her arms. "It's okay," he kept saying as tears ran down from his face.

He looked back at his wife. "I don't know why, Ruby. But he clearly knows how powerful of a magician she can be. He's trying to separate her from us so she won't be able to fulfill the prophecy and restore Ma'at to the world. If she doesn't know who she is, what she can do, she won't be able to stop him, and Set will rule the world. But we have to obey him. If we don't, Aria will be killed. " Arthur tried for a smile. "But we still have her times in London! We can still talk to her! We can still be a happy family!"

Ruby looked at her husband. "Arthur, she'll hate our guts. How will that sound? We tell her that we put her up for foster care in America for no bloody reason, and you just expect her to laugh it off and play Monopoly with us? She'll think....." Ruby swallowed. "She'll think we didn't care about her, Arthur. Aria will think that we never loved her."

"Then I'll set the record straight." He looked at his daughter. "Aria, you may never hear this, and you may never know that we said this, but we love you. We didn't want to leave you in America, but we had no other options. We had to protect you. We are doing this to keep you safe, and I don't care if you hate us, but we will always love you, Aria. You're our daughter, and you will always make us proud." He wiped at his eyes before saying, "Go. We need to get her her luggage bag."

Ruby walked out of the room.

Then the image changed.

Bast and Bes stood next to Osiris's throne from the Duat. "Hello, my young kit," Bast purred. "Don't be sad. Cats don't do regret."

Seeing them was just too much for my emotions. "Are you a-alive?"

"No, just our souls. We have no hosts, therefore we cannot return to the mortal world, if that what you mean. But, yes. We are gods, therefore we shall never die, unless all of Egypt dies." Bes added.

"How do we fight Set?" I said. "He's a major god, and we're just a few kids. Aria's probably dead-"

"She is a strong warrior. The prophecy was right to choose her." Bast said.

"Do you know her prophecy?" I asked.

"Yes. The English translation does not rhyme, but I will tell you." Bast said

"I'll tell it." Bes cut in.

"A blood of pharaohs girl, combining the powerful lineage of Ramesses the Great and Narmer, shall defeat the God of Chaos. She will lead the finest warriors in centuries: a girl of Nepthys, a boy of Isis, a girl of fire, and a boy of the Earth itself. She will have hair as light as the sun, eyes as green as the grass, and skin as dark as night. She will host the king of the gods, and save Osiris. Her and her band if warriors alone will save or destroy the world."

"Good luck. Keep your claws sharp." Bast said.

"But don't keep them too sharp!" Bes warned.

~*~*~*~*

I woke up covered in sweat as I sat up.

"Sophia, it's been ten minutes. I thought you were dead." Carter said. "I checked your pulse, and your heart wasn't beating."

          Going to the Duat must have really made my ba lose my body. Now that I'm an experienced magician, this is how your ba works: Imagine your ba has a tether attached to your body, so it doesn't just float away when you're going to grab some ice cream. Even when it leaves your body to dream, it's still tied to your body to visit the past and the present. Since I've had a lot of dreams with my ba leaving my body, I can tell you that it can be pretty annoying when your ba can't go somewhere because it's still attached to your body, but if it wasn't,  you'd die. Without your personality, your ba, you die. So I guess that going to the Duat must have made Carter scared.

"I'm fine. I'll tell you later what I dreamed about, but we need to find away to open up this crate." I said. I was reluctant to open the coffin again, but I grabbed the lid and pushed up. Carter helped, but it still wouldn't open.

"Carter, Sophia," a voice said. I looked up and saw a hologram of Wyatt. He looked like a hologram, like Set's form in London: Mist like, and like a ghost.

"Wyatt," Carter gave a nervous laugh. "Are you a ghost or something, dude? We can't play Call of Duty anymore if I have to help you with the controls."

Wyatt laughed. "Nah, man. I'm still alive, but I managed to let some of my ba escape from this cofiin and say a message. The prophecy is true, Sophia. You know that Osiris does not help defeat Set. But Nepthys and Isis can."

"This is a new story." Carter insisted. "We can free you, and you can help us."

"Carter," I said, and I realized what Wyatt meant. "Wyatt means that the story said that the pyramid must be destroyed, and Wyatt must die."

"No!" Carter screamed. "Wyatt, you can get out! I'll get Isis to open that sarcophagus with her magic, and we can get out of here-"

"Carter." Wyatt said. "You know how the story goes. It repeated itself a million times, and we need to keep the pattern, or we destroy order. This pyramid is designed to feed chaos. It consumes the power of other gods and makes Set stronger. "

"I know." Carter said. "But if we open up that case-"

"You might save me." Wyatt said. "But the power of Osiris would be consumed by the pyramid. It would only hasten the destruction and make Set stronger. The pyramid must be destroyed. Everything in it. I don't care if the President of the United States was Osiris's host, but he, too, must be killed, just like the millions of other hosts before him-"

    "Don't talk like that-"

   
     "Just like what must happen to me." Wyatt said. "I knew the risks when I freed Osiris. If I hadn't, Set would rule anyway. I have to sacrifice my life the way my sister sacrificed hers. It's the only way. Through death, life. May Ma'at guide you."

His image disappeared, and I grabbed Carter's hand. "Carter, you have to leave Wyatt. I don't want to but........" I swallowed. "Nepthys destroys the pyramid with a river nearby. The water drowns Osiris, and he becomes king of the Underworld. I have to."

"Okay, so we found our way for Osiris to rule the underworld," Carter said. "But there's no natural water here for you to control."

"I know a place." I said. "It's in London, England. You have The Book Of Overcoming Set, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go."

         Carter told me how to connect with Nepthys, and I understood how she felt. She was invited to her brother/brother in law, and Set had made her an outcast. She was trusted to come to the king's birthday, and her husband made no one trust her. They thought that she was in league with Set, and she was left alone; not trusted by her husband, and not trusted by her friends.

     I glowed with a blue aura, and I floated up the air vent, as Carter followed me.

~*~*~*~*

        Now that I was connected with Nepthys , I could see everything how it regularly was, and a thin layer of the Duat over top of it. It was like being back in the library, except I felt a lot more powerful than I did before. Everything had that same purple tinge. We floated inches above the pyramid and watched Set battle Aria. Carter had the same white kilt as in the library, and the symbol of Isis, rainbow wings, under his arms. I wore my same dress, and I saw everything else. The magicians had the symbol of life stamped on each of their chests, and the demons all had fiery souls, so it looked like we were being attacked by candles. Aria looked as she did in the mortal world: the same body as before with golden armour and a falcon head. Set looked like a red tornado, except a lot more chaotic. It was like someone had dumped a gallon of red food colouring into a tornado, threw swords and rocks inside of the tornado, then topped it all off with 5 flame throwers.mHe created so much chaos, the stones at his feet blistered and bubbled. He kept screaming "30 seconds to sunrise!" He said something about how Horus couldn't defeat him alone, so we decided to burst his bubble.

"Except Horus is not alone!" Carter called.

Set turned around, and the look on his face would've made me laugh if I wasn't so worried about our plan working. His staff had a bloody tip, and I realized what he had done to Aria. Aria was lying down on the capstone, blood dripping from the wound in her lower ribs. She had been crying, and her tears were making Set even more powerful. Every drop of her tears and blood made the capstone glow a little bit, making Set larger, and healing his wounds.

"And we aren't going to fight you in the desert!" I added.

We slammed our staffs on the stones and shouted: "London, England!"

For a moment, nothing happened. Set gave a nervous laugh. "Magic 101, Sophia Russel and Carter Todson! You can't open a portal during the Demon Days."

"A mortal can't!" Carter shouted. "But a goddess can."

Above us, the air crackled with lightning. The top of the cavern dissolved into a churning vortex of sand as large as the pyramid. Demons fighting stopped and looked up and horror. Magicians stammered midspell, their faces slack with awe. The vortex was so powerful that it ripped blocks off the pyramid and sucked them into the sand portal. And then, like a giant lid, the portal began to descend.

"Get up, Aria!" I called. She sat up and managed a weak smile. I gave her a mischievous smile, the one she always gave me when she was about a break one of the rules. "Things are about to get interesting!"

"No!" Set begged. He blasted the portal with flames, then turned on Carter and I as he started to hurl stones at us. I changed a hasty protection spell, and the stones bounded off my shield like a kid on a trampoline. I looked up, and wondered how bad Alyssa, Ayan, and Don would be hurt. I pushed the thought out of my mind to keep from interfering with the portal, and it swallowed us whole.

The world seemed to flip upside down. For a second, I wondered if Carter and I had done a terrible miscalculation- if Set's pyramid would explode in the portal, which was a good thing, and I would end up floating through the Duat as a million particles of Sophia sand. Then, with a sonic boom, we appeared in the cold morning air with a brilliant blue sky above us.

                   Spread out below us was the River Thames, and many housing developments. I hoped that the mortals wouldn't be able to comprehend this, and we wouldn't be looked at as total freaks. The red pyramid was still intact, but cracks started to form on the pyramid's surface. The golden capstone flickered, trying to maintain its power, but we were no longer in the desert. We were in Canary Wharf, and there was not a grain of sand in sight. We had been teleported to the most powerful source of Ma'at on the continent, easily older than than London itself: Cleopatra's Needle.

     
        Set looked at Carter and I and yelled something at us in Ancient Egyptian. I knew it wasn't something nice.

"What have you done?" He wailed. Carter and I were still floating a few metres away, so he couldn't lunge at us. "I will rend your limbs from your sockets! I will-"

            "Die, perhaps?" Aria suggested. She swung at his head, but he dodged. She used the butt of her sword and swiped it at his ankles. He cried in pain as he fell down. Set tumbled down the pyramid, and white lines of energy were bursting from Cleopatra's Needle. It shot towards Carter, Aria, and I, charging us with power.

    "Carter, Sophia, now!" Aria called.

"No!" The God of Evil shouted. He ran towards us, but Aria tackled him half way towards us.

           Carter scrambled for the scroll. I took a quick glance, and it looked about as clear as a Kindergartener's first sentences. The pyramid began to crack under their weight, as Aria and Set wrestled. Magicians and Demons who had been pulled through the portal were on the snowy ground, watching the battle. Carter began to chant the words of the scroll, and I felt pretty lucky that I had Nepthys to translate it all. He said the Divine Words as his body hovered above mine. He spoke about the first mountains rising above of the waters of chaos, the birth of Ra, Geb, and Nut, the rise of Ma'at, the first great empire of men, Egypt.

Hieroglyphs danced around Cleopatra's needle, and the capstone turned silver. Carter nodded at me, and I knew it was turn, it was what thousands of other hosts had done before me. I channeled my anger into power, as I willed the River Thames to rise. A wave roared in my ears, and I tried to hush the wave so Carter wouldn't lose his train of thought. It started to sound like a calming river, and made the entire river rise from the ground. Soon, if you looked into the river bed, you would see nothing but mud. I made it form into a bubble, as I started to let my anger take over.

"Aria, Carter, get out of the way!" I cried. Aria pinned Set down, before running to the edge of the pyramid. Set started to follow her.

"Get back here!" He roared, but it was too late. Aria panicked and jumped over the edge. Carter couldn't stop the spell, so he could only watch in horror as Aria came closer to the ground.

"No!" The river caught her fall, and I told it to let her float to the top. A small amount escaped from the bubble, and Aria stood on it. The rest of the water crashed down on Set, and his screams were muffled by the river. It broke the pyramid into halves, quarters, eighths, twelfths, until it was millions of crumbles of dust. Unfortunately, Set was stronger than the pyramid. He kept thrashing around, looking for a source of oxygen where he could breathe. But I poured gallons full of water on top of him. At some points, he would swim to the top for air, but I sucked every last drop of water near the river bed. Mud turned to dirt when I got desperate, and I made sure that Set would have no way of getting out unless I willed him to.

Aria threw the Feather of Truth at Carter as he held it in his hand. It shined like a headlight on The God of Evil, and a white sheen formed around Carter, as it spread around us. It looked like a bed sheet, but I knew it was much more powerful than something from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It represented Ma'at, and it expelled the chaos around the world. Carter was getting closer to the end of the spell, and it was tearing Set away. His tornado form in the Duat had now been ripped away, to reveal a scared 10 year old boy. No, seriously, I'm not kidding. The boy was a little shorter than than I was, but you could easily tell this was Set. The boy had a shaved head, except a glossy black ponytail at the back of his head, like Ancient Egyptian teenagers used to wear. His goatee was no longer there, but he still had the same Herbert head and the same red armour. They had the same red skin, the same evil look, but the boy's face said that he was scared. The boy had been exiled from his family, made to rule the desert, while his brother Osiris was praised and handed a crown. Set had been teased and ostracized from his own family. And his own brother's wife had killed his boss, and Ra was the only one who had trusted Set. Now he felt exactly how he looked in the Duat: scared and alone. In ways, Set had acted like a little kid. He was jealous, and sad, and alone, and vengeful. I felt a little sorry for him, but he had killed his brother. I don't care if he actually was a little boy, but he had come to the conclusion that murder was the best option. And that wasn't right.

"I name you Set," Carter recited, but I could tell he was getting worried. I still hadn't told him Set's secret name yet, and without it, the spell was useless. "I name you-"

"Evil day." I finished. I lowered my hands, and the river flowed back to where it belonged. I made sure what was left of the pyramid would be burned in the Duat along with Set.

"You have been my enemy," Carter said, "and a curse on the land."

A long, white rope of light shot from Cleopatra's Needle, and I allowed Set to escape from my prison. The rope wrapped around his body. He tried squirming  out of it, but he couldn't. Carter looked at Set, and the rope struck fire. It was a white fire, a fire of order, and it burned into Set's skin, just as Set had done to Carter in Arizona. A white door way to the Duat, Set's prison, had opened up, right beside Cleopatra's Needle.

Nepthys told me that the last line was: "Deserving no mercy, an enemy of Ma'at, you are exiled beyond the earth." It had to be said truthfully. The spell would shatter if Carter didn't believe that Set deserved his punishment. But he hesitated. Instead of looking at the scroll, his face was pale as he looked into the clouds.

"Carter, finish the spell!" I snapped, but then I looked up at the sky. Demons were being sucked up into the clouds. The magic Set had made, the chaos he created to destroy the world, was trying to form. It was a long, crimson, river at least a mile long and a hundred metres wide. It wiggled in the air, trying to become solid, and I felt its bitterness. It was angry because it wanted something else. There was not enough chaos to generate the river a full body. It needed billions of deaths for what it wanted, the destruction of the entire world.

It wasn't a river. It was a snake.

Only Carter and I could see it. "Carter, Sophia, what are you two looking at?" Aria asked, and she couldn't see the Duat like we could.

Set turned to Carter. "Lost your stomach, witch?" He bellowed. "Horus, you know Isis is weak! She's a coward!"

           Aria glared at Carter. Horus was happy for bloody vengeance, but this is what had gone wrong. This is what would turn Carter and Aria, Isis and Horus, against each other. I was determined to stop that from happening to us. Each other was all we had left.

"Carter, let go of the feather." I said. "Throw it up in the air, and the feather will show the truth, the truth of what's in the sky."

"What about the sky?" Aria snapped. "What are you two talking about?"

"Aria, look." Carter threw the feather in the air.

"No!" Aria screamed. "Carter, what the bloody hell were you thinking?"

      For a moment, I was afraid that I had caused the battle between Isis and Horus, but I regained my wits. "Aria, look at that patch of clouds near Cleopatra's Needle. Look at it."

        Aria glanced up at the sky, and what she saw made her turn white. The feather had dispersed into the air, and it clung to the beast, making the serpent glow bright blue. It hissed and writhed in the sky, the Ma'at on its skin burning it.

           A hissing voice from behind scared me senseless: "Wretched gods!"

                   I wheeled around, and I screamed. Face of Horror had climbed from the ground, with some sort of storm cloud ladder, and had a knife raised over his head, ready to stab me. Aria saw the demon, and threw her khopesh. It hit Face with dead accuracy, impaling him in his back. He dropped his weapon, and I thought it would stab me anyway. Carter lofted his hand, and the knife was sent rocketing up into the air, before plummeting back down. It also stabbed Face, this time in his neck. The snake in the sky hissed again, and I realized what had happened.

             Face of horror dropped to his knees, looking at the weapons in his skin, before he burned into ashes and rode on the England morning air. Set stared in fear at the snake in the clouds. It started to dissolve once the Feather of Truth had stuck to its body, but I managed to summon some water to wash it away completely. Cleopatra's Needle stopped glowing, the rift to the Duat closed, and Carter's scroll disappeared.

I willed the water carrying us to move towards Set, who was still cursing and wiggling around in his prison of energy. I had spoken his secret name. He wasn't going anywhere.

"You saw the snake, Set," I said. "Apep."

"He was trying to break into the mortal world. He was using the Red Pyramid as a window. Imagine what he could have done. The very God of Chaos. Face of Horror was possessed by Apep this entire time, right under your nose." Carter said.

"Ridiculous!" Set said. "Pure poppycock! Balderdash! Hogwash! Tomfoolery! Primitive mumbo jumbo! Prattle! Baloney! Pure bullsh-"

"What's your point, Set?" I sighed.

"My point, Nepthys?" He howled. "My point is that Isis is tricking us! That was an illusion."

"You know it wasn't," Carter said. "I could have sent you back to your prison in the Duat, but you saw the real monster. He was trying to break free from his cage. He was using you."

"No one uses me!" Set insisted.

"He did, you bloody yank." Aria said. "Get this through your thick, red skull: Apep wanted your explosion to feed his power. As soon as he broke through his cage and found us dead, I'm betting you would have been his first meal. Chaos itself would have swallowed you whole."

"I am chaos!" Set whined, like he was being denied a prize.

"Not necessarily." I corrected. "True, you're disgusting, whiny, sexist-"

"You make my blush, my love."

"But you're still a god, for better or for worse," I said, gagging inwardly at what Set had called me. "One of the strongest, in fact. You were Ra's right hand man. Ra couldn't have defeated Apep without you."

Set shrugged, trying to be modest. "I am pretty amazing. But Ra is gone, thanks to Isis."

"Maybe not forever," I said. "We'll have to find him. We'll need all the help we can get to battle Apep, even you."

Set wiggled around in his bonds. The flaming rope crackled with energy, and zapped him. He rolled his eyes before giving me a crooked smile. "You suggest peace? You'd trust me?"

"Peace is the very foundation of Ma'at-"

"Gross."

"And don't think that you're free. I still have your secret name. Carter has it, and so does Aria." I squeezed my hand, and bonds around Set tightened. He cried out in pain. But I could tell they were beginning to weaken, but there was no good in telling Set that.

"The House of Life tried to imprison the gods. It didn't work. If we do that, too, we're just as bad. Banishing people you don't like doesn't solve anything."

"I couldn't agree more." Set sighed, and it was clear that he bored. "Now, if you could just loosen these ropes, or at least get rid of the fire-"

"You're still an evil raspberry of a god-"

"Thanks! You know, it's this new foundation I've been testing on my skin-"

"Don't interrupt me." I made the fire burn more, as I tightened the bonds. "I'll agree to release you- as long as you be nice, no snarky comments, return to your prison in the Duat, and not cause trouble until we call you. And you'll only make trouble for us, fighting Apep and nobody but Apep, unless we say otherwise."

"Can I tweak a few of the rules?"

"You can accept our original rules," Aria said. "Or I could chop off your head. That could exile you for a decent amount of time."

"Making trouble, eh?" Set pondered. "That is my specialty."

"Swear on your secret name and the throne of Ra." Carter said. "Say everything exactly as we said it, word for word. No loop holes."

"Oh, I swear." Set said the second Carter stopped talking. "I swear on my secret name, the throne of Ra, and our mother's starry elbows." He repeated what I had said.

"Good. I have your name. If you misbehave, I won't show you mercy a second time." I warned him.

"You always were my favourite sister." Carter zapped Set with a bolt of lightning. "Fine. Isis and Nepthys are both my favourite siblings." Aria threw a small dagger at his shoulder. The God of Evil cried out in pain. "Horus, you aren't even my sister!"

"I am now." Aria said. "I am Horus, your brother. But I am also Aria Faust, your sister."

"So you're all my favourites except Osiris?"

"Say you love all of your family." I said, "And apologize to our mother for using her name."

Set narrowed his eyes. He was getting restless, and I was sure the rope would snap in a few seconds. "I love my family. And I'll write Mother a cheque in the mail."

                      He was going to get out anyways, so I shocked him one last time, to remind him of my power, and let the bindings dissolve. He removed the knife in his shoulder, before Set flexed his arms, admiring his muscles.

"Set, in the Duat, you're 10 years old. That's disgusting." I reminded him.

        He changed out of his warrior form and floated over to us. Aria went back to her human form, watching to see if Set would grab a knife and gut us.

           
                 He winked at Horus, wiggled his eyebrows at Isis, then pretended to shoot me with a finger gun. "Oh, this will be good. We're going to have lots of fun." He floated closer to me. "I hope you can forgive me, my sweet wife. Until next time."

            As if I couldn't be anymore grossed out, he leaned in to kiss me. His lips touched mine before I could protest, and they tasted like ashes, Vaseline, and bad curry, which reminded me of Bes. At the thought of Bes kissing me, I pushed his chest back. Aria snickered, and Carter watched with his mouth wide open.

"Begone, Evil Day," I said, wiping my lips violently, and spitting on the cement. I allowed the crumbs of the pyramid to attach to Set, as he dissolved.

               I felt Nepthys leave my body, but some of her soul stayed in my amulet. And, for the first time since King Tut brought it up, I thought about the night Wyatt left. He threw us the Amulets so the gods could enter our bodies and we could become their hosts. It also protected us. When Set tried to kill us the night of the museum, the Amulets created a shield around us. Each of us had the symbol of the god we were hosting. Carter had the symbol of Isis, the knot of Isis, on his amulet:

I had the symbol of Nepthys:

And Aria had the eye of Horus:

I forced the water carrying our weight to descend back tot the river, and I forgot that we would fall without something carrying us. We screamed, but I managed to think on my feet, pun intended, and summon a gust of wind. It floated us to the ground safely, and the first thing that Carter did was run the the river. He looked at it for a while before pointing at Wyatt's coffin.

"Sophia!" He said. "Part the river! We can open up Wyatt's case! The pyramid is gone, so he won't be sucked up by Set!"

"Carter, I summoned a whirlpool. I forced the water into his coffin, to make sure he's dead. I don't think he's alive!"

He turned to Aria. "Aria, slam a fist down on the water, and it will part. We'll find his body, I can revive him-"

"Carter, he's dead." Aria wiped at her eyes. "Sophia said so."

I sighed. "Carter, he drowned. I felt his ba leave when I tried to drown Set-"

Carter slapped me, and I got pushed back a little by the hit. I spat blood on the floor, and I felt my bruised face.

"Carter! What the bloody hell has gotten into you?" Aria knelt next to me as she patted my back.

"Wyatt is not dead!" He screamed at me. "Once I part the river, you'll see!"

               He spread his hands, and the river cut in half. It bubbled and burbled, at the amount of energy pressing it back. In the middle of the waves, was Wyatt's coffin. Carter leaped over the railing, and ran to Wyatt. Aria placed me on her back, and I put both of my hands loosely around her neck. She jumped from the railing, and fell to the dirt. As we walked to Carter, I saw everything in the river. It was like being in one of those tunnels in aquariums, where the walls were made of glass, and you could see the fishes swimming around. It was even better. At one point, I reached my hand to touch the water, and it squirted out at me. I recoiled my hand, and the wave went back to its solid shape. I don't know lots of fish names, but hundreds of them swam around the parting. I doubted there were this many in this area usually, but I guessed that they sensed my presence, the presence of Nepthys in my amulet. I saw a small guppy on one side of the river, staring longingly at its school of fish. I allowed a small tunnel of water to travel the guppy to its family, and I nearly passed out.

      Aria balanced me on her back, since I was slipping off. "Easy there, tiger. Since the gods have left us, we aren't as strong as we used to be. Magic takes effort."

         We caught up to Carter just as he opened the case with some of his magic, but he panted in exhaustion from the magic he used. He busted it open, and cried at what he saw.

                 Carter says I shouldn't tell you he cried, but it's fine. He saw his best friend's dead body. If you got a problem with Carter, you deal with me first. If you live past that, you can shove your prissy ash right out the door. Anyway, what was in the coffin scarred me for life.

~*~*~*~*

     Warning: For those who are eating, or for those who do not like graphic descriptions of dead bodies, we suggest you skip the next paragraph, or read until you see another asterisk (the asterisks under this caution do not count).

~*~*~*~*

                 Wyatt's body was pale, and half of it was submerged under water, which had leaked into the coffin. He was holding his djed amulet, which was the symbol of Osiris. His eyes were looking straight up into the sky, and his signature matching outfit with Carter was floating loosely around his body.

~*~*~*~*

            Carter clasped his had around Wyatt's. "Wyatt.............why'd you have to do it? Why?" He threw his best friend hand, and it splashed around the water. "I had no friends! I'd be alone! Why'd you do that! I-I............ I hate you!"

     Aria crouched behind Carter. "Carter, it was Wyatt's choice to become Osiris. He chose his fate to balance Ma'at, just like his sister."

"Don't give me that fortune cookie muck."

"Both of you! That is enough!" I remind them. "We need to find a way back home-"

"We don't have any money, and we can't use a portal during the Demon Days. The gods left us, so we're regular mortals now." Aria said. "We can find a homeless people shelter. We can wait until tomorrow morning to use-"

"Aria, we're in London. We are at Canary Wharf. Where do you think the nearest shelter would be?"

"Well, that would be my-" Aria's eyes widened. "No, no, no! We are not staying there! My parents' flat isn't the only place in London!"

         I summed up what I saw in my dream to Aria, since she was being so stubborn. "Aria, they didn't want to give you away." I finished. "Set threatened them."

       Aria looked like I had just pulled the pin out of a grenade. "They did it to protect me........"

"Okay, come on, Carter. Use your magic to carry Wyatt, and we can take your friend to Brooklyn in the morn-" I stopped. "Oh, my God! We forgot about Alyssa and Don!"

That shook them. Carter floated us out of the river, carrying Wyatt's coffin. Carter dropped it as soon as the gap in the river closed. We ran over to the thousands of magicians who had been sucked through the Portal. We split up through the crowd of scribes, laying on the floor, scanning their faces quickly before deciding where or not they were Alyssa or Don. I was ready to give up until Aria yelled, "They're over here! Come quick!"