I ran to the sound of Aria's voice, and followed the shimmer of her golden hair. She was sitting on the floor, looking at the friends we had made on our journey. Sophia nearly slipped on the ice as she sat next to Alyssa.

She checked Alyssa's pulse, then Don's. "They're not dead yet, but they're as cold as ice. Carter, summon some fire. We can try and warm them up while we take them to Aria's parents. They're experienced; they'll be able to handle them."

A fire appeared in the palm of my right hand, as I dragged Alyssa with the left. Sophia grabbed Alyssa's bottom half as she ran to Aria's flat. Aria balanced Don in her arms, which was not an easy task, considering Don's weight. Sophia rang the doorbell, and we heard some shuffling before Aria's dad opened the door. He wore a green and yellow plaid robe, and his glasses hung loosely around his ears, as if he had been in a hurry to get them on.

"Yes?" He jumped when he saw the fire in my hand. "Are- are you a magician?"

"Hi, I'm Carter Todson, this is Sophia Russel. We're friends of Aria, and right now, two of our friends are going to die soon. Aria should be coming in shortly. Would you mind letting us in? We're sorry to bother you this early, but this-"

"Oh, no, come right in. I'll make some hot coco to warm you lads up. But how did you get to London? Aria is supposed to be in Brooklyn-"

"Dad!" Aria called as she hurried over. "Mum! Please! Hurry! Don's pulse is dropping!"

We rushed inside, not bothering to take off our muddy shoes, and put Alyssa on the couch.

Sorry, that's Aria. She's saying that talking about mud isn't an important detail, but it is! It's pretty inconsiderate!

Anyway, Aria set Don on another couch, and she turned on the fireplace, scooting Don closer to it. I did the same with Alyssa, Sophia muttering prayers of healing. I have to admit: Aria's place was nice. The walls were parented a modern grey, with 2 white couches on either side, their armrest turned to a fire place. A wooden coffee table separated these two couches, and a grey carpet tickled my feet in front of the fire place. The beige carpet led to the kitchen, and ended, before starting some granite tiles. It had a small stove with spruce cabinets on top and to the side. There was a narrow yet long pantry, stacked with goodies like crackers and cookies. They had a grey fridge, with a drawer at the bottom for a freezer. Most empty spaces in the counter were occupied by family photos and half finished coffee mugs. Wooden stools sat near the island table, with a long dinging table right behind it. It reminded me of those magazines about furniture, usually you see them when meeting with an interior designer. Aria's mom came running down the stairs as soon Arthur told her we were here, and she hastily put on a robe as she flicked her wand, and the chocolate and the milk combined itself on the saucepan. Aria kept rubbing Don's hand, telling his unconscious body it would be okay, but it seemed like she was saying that more for herself rather than Don. I kept the fire going, warming up Alyssa.

Her eyes flew open. "What-where are we? How did I get here?"

"Rest," Sophia said. "You nearly died of hypothermia out there. I don't even think it was that cold, but your body must have overreacted, since you're a fire elementalist."

"I need to get the coffin." I said. "Sophia, could you help?"

"What?" Mr. Faust said.

"Sure, Carter," She said. "Keep tending to Don. He's not even conscious yet."

        We both ran outside, grabbing Wyatt and dragging him across the ice, stopping every few seconds to take a break. By the time we had gotten Wyatt next to the fireplace, Mrs. Faust placed five mugs on the coffee table, and the smell of chocolate wafted up my nose. Before I knew it, I finished half of my mug.

Arthur handed Alyssa her cup before saying, "So, I want the full story. How did you get here?"

      So we told them everything that happened since the field trip, except for our kisses. We had to keep some secrets to ourselves, didn't we?

After a while, Ruby moistened her lips. "Now, that you know your heritage, your life will be dangerous. You will have to start your own Nome in Brooklyn, to train other magicians. Train yourselves, too."

"That can wait for now. We'll set up a comfy place on the couch, and put up a hammock, and open up the guest bedroom," Mr. Faust said, "Aria, are you okay with sharing your room for now? We don't have enough space-"

"Dad," Aria said. "It's fine." She dabbed a damp hot towel on Don's forehead. "And I know why you left me." She didn't even look up at them. "Thanks, by the way. I'm sorry for how I acted. I thought it was because you didn't want me."

"Sweetheart, it was for the best. We were trying to save you. Set threatened us. He knew your destiny." Ruby said. "More hot chocolate?"

I nodded. "Thanks for letting us stay here. I need to call my Dad, though. He's probably worried sick."

      I told Dad everything. The entire story, and asked him if I could stay in London for a few days before moving back to Brooklyn. He said yes. Don went next. His grandma wasn't on speaker, but the entire living room could heard her. Sophia was next on the phone, before sitting down on the couch with an uncomfortable silence.

"So," Aria's dad said awkwardly. "How do you guys like magic?"

"It's fine." I replied flatly.

"How about London?"

"It's fine. I've heard that the British Museum is quite remarkable. I've seen a few of them in Munich, Athens, Italy, but London is fine."

The professor nearly spit out his coffee, but he covered his mouth before something could happen. He swallowed. "You've been to all those places?"

"Of course. My father is Dr. Julius Todson. I'm sure you've heard of his work."

"Yes. Ruby here is familiar with his-"

Aria groaned. "Don is bloody freezing to death, you choose to have conversation about archeology?"

      As if on cue, Don awoke, rubbing at his arms. "Where am I? How did we get here? Are we still in Arizona?"

I gave the boy a raised eyebrow. "You nearly got hypothermia, and you're asking if we're near the border of Mexico?"

"Mexico can get snow." Don said, before his head lulled back. Aria caught him and gave him a cup of Hot Chocolate.

"He just woke up, Carter," Aria glared at me. "Give him a chance." She turned to Don. "We're in London, Don. This is my house."

He turned, and saw Aria's parents. "Are you her parents?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Mum, Dad," Aria said, "let's set up a place for us to sleep."

                     They went up the stairs, and left us in complete silence.

"Guys," I said. "Let's create a new Nome, where magicians can train. We can't study at any another, because I'm assuming that Nafeer or Ayan already told the other magicians about how we were hosts, and we just broke several other rules-"

"Then why did they help fight Set?" Don said. "They could have just stayed in their Nomes, kicked back and relaxed and watch us get killed."

"They knew we would die fighting Set, good for them, but Set would rule the world, bad for them. So I'm thinking that they just wanted to help us fight Set, then either try and kill us, or try and cleanse our bodies from the gods."

Aria came down the stairs. "Okay, guys. If you want to shower, girls in my bathroom; boys in the guest bathroom. Um, Carter you can take the hammock in the guest bedroom. Don, you take the guest bed. Sophia, you can take the couch. Alyssa, couch. I'll take my bed, but I'm fine if you want to switch-"

         Just then, a loud knock on the door made me jump. Aria went to open the door, and found a freezing Ayan standing in front of her. Even though she looked like a living Popsicle, she pushed Aria out of the way and drank a cup of Hot Chocolate.

"Oi!" Aria said. "What the bloody hell do you think you're in my house?"

"Save it, Miss Aria 'I'm-so-magical' Faust." Ayan growled, as she wrapped herself in a blanket.

"Get the bloody hell out of my house! I'll call the coppers!" Aria threatened. She grabbed her khopesh. Ayan kicked her foot at her, but Aria grabbed her shoe, yanking on her leg. Ayan landed on the floor, and Aria stood Ayan up, before pushing her to Aria's chest and putting her sword inches from Ayan's neck.

"You wouldn't dare." Ayan said with a sneer, though she looked worried.

Sophia stood up, and I followed their example, aiming my wand at Ayan. Sophia held her wooden rod, which could transform into a staff when needed. Aria's parents came running down the stairs, and saw Ayan.

"Go upstairs, guys," Aria warned them. "She's dangerous. She tried to kill us!"

Ruby looked worried. "Ayan, what do you want?"

"What have you done?" Ayan shouted. "You bargained with Set? You let him go?"

"Ayan, Apep is rising. We need all of the gods to help us. We need to bring back the old ways: tapping into the god's powers, and hosting them."

"The old ways killed us!" Ayan kicked Aria into the wall as she sprinted for the door, so she could make an easy escape. She thrust out her wand at us, but she couldn't decide who was more worthy to die.

            A week ago, the look in her face would've terrified me. But right now, we were more powerful. Much more powerful. The gods had left us, but parts of their souls had stayed in the amulet, and I was sure that Isis wouldn't mind if I exploded Ayan.

"Pride destroyed you." I said. "You thought that you could take us down in the Duat. You planned on killing us. You were greedy and selfish. And you still are. It's hard to follow the path of the gods. But it's part of the path of magic. You can't just shut it down."

"You are drunk with power." Ayan growled.

"I bet you're bloody drunk." Aria muttered under her breath.

"The gods have possessed you, as they always do. Soon, you will forget you are human. We will fight you and destroy you, along with the gods." Ayan turned to scowl at Aria. "I know what Horus demands. He wants you to sit on a throne and order the gods. You will never make a king. You are not fit to rule. With my last breath, I will make sure that your royal blood will spill on the steps of Egypt, and Ma'at will be restored."

"You were a host of Set! That's even worse than any of us!" Sophia snapped.

"I did not choose to be a host!"

"And we did?"

"Want to know the difference between us?" Ayan said.

"We have mental stability?"

Ayan stalked towards her, but I tried my best to hold her back with a small force field. "I was trapped in my own mind. Set had taken over me. I tried to send signals, but it was useless. You chose your path. You embraced your chaos. You chose to disobey. I did not."

"I will cut you." Aria said simply.

          Ayan swung open the door and stomped outside, creating a shield of warmth around her. Her magic was always blue before, but now it was red, the colour of Set.

~*~*~*~*

        The next morning, we sat around the dinner table, while Sophia made eggs and toast. Mrs. Faust had offered to help, but Sophia said it was the least we could do after spending the night, and it was a good call. The Fausts now had  four more kids to look after, all of them with the appetite of a crocodile and the hygiene of a pig. Don had eaten two bowls of cereal, and had begged Sophia for three pieces of toast and an egg. The sink was piled high with dishes, and our magic bags littered the coffee table.

          The girls stole Aria's London clothes, the clothes she kept in her room when staying with her parents, and us guys had taken Mr. Faust's clothes. Don's pajama shirt and pants fit him perfectly, the muscles on his skin bulging around the fabric. I looked more scrawny in the clothes. Mr. Faust's second robe hung around my waist, and my loose pants threatened to drag down to my ankles, with my underwear in tow.

          Mr. Faust switched on the news as he brewed some coffee, and the nightly news showed a reporter, with a green screen displaying images of Cleopatra's Needle.

"Weird lights were seen near Canary Wharf, with a strange idea revolving around the River Thames. Residents claimed that they saw the river part straight down the middle, revealing a golden coffin." A reporter said. "Police have checked out where the coffin was last seen, but with no eveidence. Could this be a terrorist attack? Could it be a weird incident with the tide? Or could this be the start a frightening new occult? Back to you, Rachel."

"Eggs are done!" Sophia trilled as she slid them into our plates. Arthur shut off the T.V and grabbed a glass of orange juice.

"We need to make a new Nome." Don said, as if it were as simple as buying milk from the grocery store. "The other Nomes are probably against us, thanks to Ayan. Knowing her, she might've brainwashed them."

"How about one in Vancouver?" Sophia suggested. "The people there are really friendly."

"Taken." Mrs. Faust said as she sipped some coffee.

"Manhattan?"

"Nope."

"Russia?"

"They'll shred you to dust."

"Brooklyn?"

"Now there's one that's open." She said. "Only two magicians have ever occupied that city: Julius Todson and Avery Todson."

Make that one magician, I added in my mind.

"That's great!" Aria said. "Where is the Nome?"

"After what Julius did, unleashing the gods, they burned down his Nome. He's retired." Mr. Faust said.

"We can't just build a Nome from the ground up! That'll take years!" Don said.

    "Maybe it won't have to." Sophia suggested. "Remember the work bag King Tut gave me? That can be a great Nome! Of course, we'll have to expand it and actually put it somewhere in Brooklyn."

"Brilliant!" Aria agreed. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get started!"

~*~*~*~*

            After we had changed, we took a portal to Brooklyn. Unfortunately, we hadn't specified where in Brooklyn to go, so we woke up next an abandoned warehouse. I placed the on the roof, next to the Empire State Building, after we took a portal to Brooklyn. Our new Nome was right beside the Williamsburg Bridge. From what I remembered, we were on the Brooklyn side of the river. Of course, once I placed down the work bag, and let it become an actual house, I was pretty amazed.

          The only places I went to were my bedroom and the kitchen, but the outside was beautiful. It was a five story mansion, which I had perched on the roof of the warehouse. The house was least 50 feet tall, built of a enormous limestone blocks and steel framed windows. There were hieroglyphs engraved around the windows, and the walls were lit up so the place looks like a cross between a modern museum and an ancient temple. But the weirdest thing was that if I glanced away, the whole building seemed to disappear. I tried it several times just to be sure. If I looked for the mansion from the corner of my eye, it wasn't there. I had to force my eyes to refocus on it, and even that took a lot of willpower.

        Since I had teleported into it, I didn't know how to open the door: a dark heavy square of timber with no lock or handle. "Mr and Mrs. Faust, how do we open the door?"

"How do you think?" Mrs. Faust said with a slight annoyance in her tone.

        I swear I was just messing around; I was ten feet away from the door as I lifted my hand up with a dramatic, "Ooh!", and found that the door mimicked my movements, sliding upwards until it disappeared into the ceiling.

"After you," Aria said. I stepped inside, and nearly swallowed my gum.

"I think this is the Great Room." Mr. Faust guessed.

I know why it was called that. The Cedar beamed ceiling was four stories high, held up by carved stone pillars engraved with hieroglyphs. A weird assortment of musical instruments and ancient Egyptian weapons decorated the walls. Three levels of balconies ringed the room, with rows of doors all looking out on the main area. The fireplace was big enough to park a car in, with the plasma screen TV above the mantle and massive leather sofas on either side. On the floor with a snake skin rug, except it was 40 feet long and 15 feet wide -bigger than any snake I've ever seen. Outside, through glass walls, I could see the terrace that wrapped around the house. It had a swimming pool and dining area and a blazing fire pit. And at the far end of the Great Room, was a set of double doors marked with the eye of Horace, and changed with half a dozen padlocks. I wondered what could possibly be behind them. Next to the mini Alcatraz room was the game room. The door was wide open, and full of arcade games and board games and a pool table and pretty much every game ever. There were small cups of tokens on a glass table, displaying large stuffed animals. I saw one token soil to the floor, and another token appeared in the cup it had fallen from. I realized it had an infinite amount of tokens.

But the real showstopper was the statue in the centre of the Great Room. It was 30 feet tall, made of black marble. I could tell it was an Egyptian God because the figure had a human body and an animal's head -like a stork or a crane, with a long neck and a really long beak. Thoth, the God of Knowledge. Thoth was dressed ancient style in a kilt, sash, and neck collar. He held a scribe's stylus in one hand, and an open scroll in the other, as if he had just written the hieroglyphs inscribed there: an ankh -The Egyptian looped cross-with a rectangle traced around its top.

"A Per Ankh!" I said. "The rectangle with an open side: that's a symbol for a house with a door. And an Ankh is the symbol of life. Therefore, the House of Life."

"Very good, Carter." Mr. Faust said, and he noogied me to show his happiness.

"Isn't Thoth the only God allowed in the House of Life?" Alyssa said. "We have a similar layout in the Fifth Nome."

"Yes," Mrs. Faust said. "This is quite a nice gift from your relative, Sophia. Not as nice as the one in London, but very nice."

"Then what does the one in London look like?" I asked.

"Let's just say that the American White House would want our blueprints." Mr. Faust said.

             As soon as he finished, a dozen shabti came running from the kitchen. The kitchen had marble counters and two ovens, with twelve stove tops. The pantry was about as long and wide as a twin bed, maybe about fifteen feet tall, with shelves packed with every snack in America. The fridge looked about the same size the pantry, with two metal handles to open the left and right door. The cabinets ran along the walls, maybe about twenty in all.

"Mistress Sophia is back!" They exclaimed.

"Oh, you're alive," Pillsbury said. He seemed so happy.

"You bet your clay tush we are," Aria said. "And right now, we want a spectacular lunch."

"An ancient Egyptian delicacy." I suggested. "To celebrate."