Hello again guys I'm sooo sorry it took so long Iv'e been busy with school. But I might have more time now so... Enjoy!

Chapter I

Aria

I coughed and sat up. I was in the middle of a room that I knew all too well. My home the House of Life.

It was exactly as I remembered it. Barren and cold.

A light groan filled the air and I glanced around carefully. I sighed content with the fact that I was alone.

I glanced around. There! A slight beam of sunlight had made its way to the wall. I pulled my water bottle out of my bag and placed it in the sunlight creating a small rainbow.

I sighed and pulled out my last golden drachma.

"O- Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." I said tossing my coin into the light. It shimmered and vanished. "Show me Annabeth Chase!"

A shimmering image appeared. Revealing Annabeth's shocked face behind her was Percy and next to Percy was-

"Tyson!" I exclaimed. "Thank the gods!"

"A- Aria!" Annabeth managed to say

"Hey guys!" I shrugged. "How'd it go?"

"Circe turned me into a guinea pig!" Percy complained.

I snorted. "She tends to do that..."

"We got the fleece though." Annabeth interrupted.

"How's your friend?"

"Grover?"

"Duh!"

"He's great! I might die if he does but he's great!"Percy said.

There was a knock on the door. I slashed though the mist without saying anything.

"Aria?" Zia asked.

"Hey!" I said giving her my two finger salute again.

She rolled her eyes.

She's acting strange... A voice inside my head told me.

I shook my head clearing my mind. "What's up?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Desjardins wants to speak with you."

I jumped at that. Desjardins! What does he want? Probably wants to know where the heck you've been.

I nodded and followed her out of the room.

We stepped into the Market and crossed it. At the other side we entered the Hall of Ages.

Zia turned to me. "Wait here."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Perfect! Why?" She asked.

"You're acting strange." I told her.

She shook her head. "You're hopeless, just stay here while I get the other Kane's."

I jumped. "Julius's children?"

She nodded and left.

I groaned and sat down on the ground.

A few minutes later Zia entered followed by two still half asleep people. The boy had caramel skin, brown eyes, and unruly black hair. Like Percy's. The girl looked like anything but his sister. She had extremely pale skin, brilliant blue eyes and her blond hair had red streaks down the left side.

They stared in shock at the room until the girl's gaze fell on me. I felt a sudden tug of shock and recognition. The boy followed his sister's gaze and stared at me.

I grinned standing. "Let's hope we don't get turned into guinea pigs." I said. "Seeing as C.C already covered that this week."

Zia snorted at that. The siblings looked about as confused as Percy was when I asked him about Annabeth.

We started down the hall.

I saw the Kane's eyes being drawn to the images.

I was about to warn them against it when Zia beat me to it. "Come on. And down spend to much time looking."

I risked a glance at my favorite image. And I froze. Standing in Osiris's place was Julius Kane. My nemesis.

Suddenly it it me. Julius had sacrificed himself to become the god in the Hall of Judgment. I shook my head and tore myself away from the image.

The girl wasn't so lucky. She stepped off the rug in a trance and reached towards the image.

Zia grabbed her wrist. "Stay on the carpet!" She exclaimed. "You are seeing the age of the gods! It is best not to dwell on these images."

Zia glared at me. I blushed looking down at my feet.

"They're just pictures, aren't they?"

"They're memories." I told her. " Memories strong enough to destroy you."

"Oh." The girl said in a small voice.

That reminded me I was getting tired of calling her that. "What's your name?"

"Aria." Zia said. "This is Sadie and Carter Kane. They were-"

"You were at the museum!" Carter exclaimed like he had just realized it.

"Oh yeah..." Sadie said thoughtfully. "You called that evil guy Dog Breath."

Zia raised her eyebrows at me. "You called Set ,What?"

"Yes I insulted an evil god of fire." I told her rolling my eyes.

"Forget I asked." Zia said face-palming herself.

I grinned.

The conversation drifted back to the images. They were talking about the ages when I realized something.

"Zia did the Greeks ever inflict their gods upon the Egyptians?"

Zia thought for a moment. "I don't think so. Why? It's not like it's real."

I nodded. "I guess so. Just wondering."

Zia eyed me carefully. "Right."

We stopped abruptly.

Iskandar was sitting on the bottom step as always. He looked up glancing at each of us in turn until he reached Carter. Carter jumped as Iskandar's gaze passed through him. When the man looked up I saw genuine surprise in his eyes. I started to wonder what he saw in Carter.

Iskandar glanced over his shoulder and said something in Greek. I instantly understood it. They have arrived, come forth. Welcome them to the House of Life. Or in Aria's case welcome back.

Desjardins emerged from the shadows. Carter and Sadie jumped. Desjardins glared at them.

"I am Desjardins." He told them. "My master the Chief Lector ,Iskandar, welcomes you to the House of Life."

"You missed a part." I told him smirking.

"Shut up!" He yelled outraged. "I spent days aboard that vessel searching for you!"

"Wow!, wow!, wow!" Sadie interrupted. "Chill!"

I frowned at her.

Carter frowned at Iskandar. "He's very old." He noted. "Why isn't he sitting on the thrown?"

This caused Desjardin's nostrils to flare, Whilst Iskandar just chuckled.

He said something else in Greek.

"My master says, thank you for noticing that, he is in fact very old." Desjardins translated stiffly. "But the thrown is for the pharaoh of Egypt. It has been vacant since the downfall of Egypt to Rome. It is... comment dit-on? Symbolic. The Chief Lector's role is to serve and protect the pharaoh, so naturally Isakandar sit's at the foot of the thrown."

Carter looked uneasily at Iskandar. "If you...if he can understand English...what language is he speaking?"

Desjardins sniffed. "The Chief Lector understands many things. But he prefers to speak Alexandrian Greek, his birth tongue."

Sadie cleared her throat. "Sorry, his birth tongue? Wasn't Alexander the Great way back in the blue section, thousands of years ago? You make it sound like Lord Salamander is—"

"Lord Iskandar," Desjardins hissed. "Show respect!"

There was an awkward moment of silence. Iskandar turned to Desjardins and said something.

"The master says not to worry. You will not be held responsible for the past crimes of your family. At least, not until we have investigated you further."

"Gee...thanks," Carter said.

"Do not mock our generosity, boy," Desjardins warned. "Your father broke our most important law twice: once at Cleopatra's Needle, when he tried to summon the gods and your mother died assisting him. Then again at the British Museum, when your father was foolish enough to use the Rosetta Stone itself. Now your uncle too is missing—"

"You know what's happened to Amos?" Sadie blurted out.

Desjardins scowled. "Not yet," he admitted.

"You have to find him!" Sadie cried. "Don't you have some sort of GPS magic or—"

"We are searching," Desjardins said. "But you cannot worry about Amos. You must stay here. You must be...trained."

I got the impression he was going to say a different word, something not as nice as trained.

Iskandar spoke directly to Carter. His tone sounded kindly.

"The master warns that the Demon Days begin tomorrow at sunset," Desjardins translated. "You must be kept safe."

"But we have to find our dad!" Carter interrupted. "Dangerous gods are on the loose out there. We saw Serqet. And Set!"

At these names, Iskandar's expression tightened. He turned and gave Desjardins what sounded like an order. Desjardins protested. Iskandar repeated his statement. Desjardins clearly didn't like it, but he bowed to his master. Then he turned toward me. "The Chief Lector wishes to hear your story." He looked at me. "And the entirety of your's"

So they told him. When they were done, he glanced at Zia. She said nothing, but she was studying him with a troubled expression.

Iskandar traced a circle on the step with the butt of his staff. More hieroglyphs popped into the air and floated away.

After several seconds, Desjardins seemed to grow impatient. He stepped forward and glared at us. "You are lying. That could not have been Set. He would need a powerful host to remain in this world. Very powerful."

"Look, you," Sadie said. "I don't know what all this rubbish is about hosts, but I saw Set with my own eyes. You were there at the British Museum—you must have done, too. And if Carter saw him in Phoenix, Arizona, then..." She looked at Carter doubtfully. "Then he's probably not crazy."

I stepped forward. "I saw Set myself. They speak the truth of Rosetta Stone."

Desjardins narrowed his eyes.

"And as for Serqet, she's real too! Our friend, my cat, Bast, died protecting us!"

"So," Desjardins said coldly, "you admit to consorting with gods. That makes our investigation much easier. Bast is not your friend. The gods caused the downfall of Egypt. It is forbidden to call on their powers. Magicians are sworn to keep the gods from interfering in the mortal world. We must use all our power to fight them."

"Bast said you were paranoid," Sadie added.

The magician clenched his fists, and the air tingled with the weird smell of ozone, like during a thunderstorm. The hairs on my neck stood straight up.

Before anything bad could happen, Zia stepped in front of us. "Lord Desjardins," she pleaded, "there was something strange. When I ensnared the scorpion goddess, she re-formed almost instantly. I could not return her to the Duat, even with the Seven Ribbons. I could only break her hold on the host for a moment. Perhaps the rumors of other escapes—"

"What other escapes?" Carter asked. She glanced at me reluctantly.

"Other gods, many of them, released since last night from artifacts all over the world. Like a chain reaction—"

"Zia!" Desjardins snapped. "That information is not for sharing."

"Look," Carter said, "lord, sir, whatever—Bast warned us this would happen. She said Set would release more gods."

"Master," Zia pleaded, "if Ma'at is weakening, if Set is increasing chaos, perhaps that is why I could not banish Serqet."

"Ridiculous," Desjardins said. "You are skilled, Zia, but perhaps you were not skilled enough for this encounter. And as for these two, the contamination must be contained."

That's when I snapped. "You need to wake up and realize that the god's are rising!" I yelled. "Denying it will do nothing! You're as bad as the gods!"

That's it for me Later!