"You ready to leave?"

Jesse turned from where he'd been shoving textbooks into his backpack. "What are you doing here?" he asked in answer.

She shrugged. "I was running errands when I noticed the time. Figured I would walk you home."

He grinned. "Cool. And I'm almost ready. I just don't want to bend this design." He struggled with it for another minute before giving up. Mumbling something under his breath, he impatiently shoved the stack of papers into the Duat.

"Ok," he told her, swinging his bag onto his shoulder, "now I'm ready."

With a smile, she joined him on the sidewalk as they walked towards Brooklyn House. Chatter about their days filled the time for a few minutes, but eventually silence reigned. Brooklyn House would be especially noisy when they arrived, since one of the younger trainees had a birthday this weekend, and the siblings enjoyed the silence while they had it.

About halfway home, Jesse noticed a small noise. He didn't know how long it had been going, but it gradually got louder and louder. After a couple minutes, he realized the noise was humming, and it was coming from Machaela. Unwilling to make her stop, he didn't say anything. Not realizing she was humming aloud, Machaela gradually got louder. Eventually, he could make out a few lyrics.

"Hey sister! Know the water's sweet but blood is thicker. Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you there's nothing in this world I wouldn't do."

"What song is that?" he asked.

She startled, breaking out of her thoughts. "What?"

He half-sang a few lyrics back at her. "What song was that?"

She thought a moment, apparently trying to remember. "Oh! The song's called Hey Brother. It's been stuck in my head for days, but I didn't realize I was singing it."

"Hey Brother?" Jesse repeated. "I don't think I've heard that one before."

She shrugged. "It's a good one, but it doesn't come on the radio often."

He didn't answer, and they continued walking in silence. BAG's campus was only a couple miles from Brooklyn House, so, while they could take a portal, sometimes they preferred to walk. It gave them some alone time they didn't have much of and the first part of the walk passed through neighborhoods and subdivisions, providing plenty of people-watching opportunities.

A mile from home, they came to a small shopping center. Crowds bustled in and out of brand-name stores. Kids screamed and played on a playset. People fought for spaces in the parking lot. For being midafternoon on a weekday, the outlet mall was uncommonly busy. A sea of people twisted and turned around itself as the crowds bustled in and out of stores.

Caught off guard by the crowd, the siblings just watch for a few seconds. Eventually, though, they shook themselves and started walking again.

They could have gone around, but decided to push through instead. Staying close to each other, they wound their way through the crowd, pushing and jostling people to make room. It only took a few steps in for Jesse to regret this route, but by then, it was too late. People pushed in on all sides, hindering movement and making him jumpy, but to turn around would be just as bad. They may as well go through than try to get out the way they came.

Halfway through, Jesse recognized a face, perked up, and waved, but whoever it was didn't stop to chat. The man's hand went up in a brief wave before he hurried away, nudging a young boy in front of him. They quickly disappeared into the crowd.

"Who was that?" Machaela asked.

"Benin," Jesse answered, confused at his former teacher's dismissal. "He must be in a hurry. Normally he would stop to catch up."

"Wasn't there someone next to him?"

"Yeah," Jesse nodded. "A preteen boy. Benin hurried him that way." He pointed where they themselves were headed, on the other side of the crowd. Jesse stared after his teacher for a moment, then shrugged. "Oh, well. Let's get home."

They pushed their way out of the crowd for the rest of the walk home, only to stop after a few steps. Now away from the noise of the stores, they could hear something else. Metal clashed. Someone blew into a set of pipes. Something roared.

The siblings exchanged a glance, then took off running. Somebody was fighting something, and that somebody might need help.

They rounded a building to find a field. Later in the year, crops would be growing, but for now, the field was barren. Well, barren but for a life or death battle.

As they came around the corner, Benin was in the process of swinging his club. The sturdy wood connected with a female vampire with flaming hair. (Empousa, Jesse called it.) The strong hit upside the head wasn't completely lethal, but it did stun the monster long enough for the boy's arrow to kill it.

As the empousa dissolved to dust, Benin and the young boy turned their attention to a giant dog. The size of a dump truck, the dog growled at Benin and slowly came closer, ready to pounce. Benin held his club firmly in his hand, but that small club wouldn't phase the giant dog. The boy fingered his bow, but his expression clearly conveyed his inexperience. He had no idea if he could make another shot count. Besides, Machaela mused, by the time the boy fired the mutt would be on him.

"Hellhound," Jesse breathed. "Machaela?" he whispered. "Use your sword."

Looking a bit nervous, Machaela activated her charm bracelet, her sword appearing in her hands. This would be their first battle against a Greek monster. Yes, Jesse had taught her how to use the sword, but training and battle were two different things. She didn't have time to think about it, though, for right then the hound lunged.

Unconsciously letting out a battle cry, Jesse dove between the beast and the child, nicking the hound's leg with his sword.

Faced with a new threat, the hellhound backed up, only to be stuck in the rump with Machaela's sword. It took a few minutes, due to the hound's size, but the siblings harried the hound until Machaela eventually managed to kill it.

With the monster dissolving into shadow, Jesse turned to Benin and the young boy, only to find Benin staring at them in shock.

"Well?" Jesse asked when Benin didn't say anything. "Do you not recognize me or something? I thought you would have said hi at the outlet mall."

Eyeing Benin, who still hadn't found his words, the young boy answered them. "W-We were being followed."

Benin opened his mouth, apparently trying to say something, but all that came out was a bleat. A goat's bleat.

Machaela's eyes widened. "You're a satyr," she realized.

Benin nodded. "When—?"

"When did we figure out our heritage?" Jesse asked when Benin couldn't finish. "Last August. A bunch of monsters kept walking by the house, then there was that large explosion at sunrise. Combined with the sighting of the freaky Dirt Lady in the park, we figured out that the Greeks were still around. Our adopted mom confirmed it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Machaela raised an eyebrow at him. "How were we supposed to know you're a satyr? Besides, there's not much we could do about it. We have obligations at home."

Benin looked about to respond when he jerked his head up, sniffing the breeze. "We have too many people in one spot," he mumbled, checking the sky. "Where is he?"

"Where is who?" Jesse asked, responding to Benin tensing by looking over his own shoulder.

"Butch," came the answer. "He was supposed to meet us here."

Machaela glanced at her watch. "We should be going."

"No!" They turned to look at Benin, who looked horrified at the idea that they would leave. "You don't understand. We had more than a hellhound and empousa on our tail. If you leave this field without coming with us, they'll track you after we leave. You'll either be surrounded on the way, or you'll lead them to your home."

The siblings shared a loaded glance, deciding their course of action. They definitely couldn't lead the monsters to Brooklyn House, but they didn't want to go wherever Benin was taking the boy. Should they take a chance and fight the monsters off? Before they could decide, a chariot landed.

Jesse's jaw dropped. Pegasi! He barely noticed that it was a flying chariot nor the large man in the chariot, so focused was he on the pegasi.

They were beautiful. Their chestnut coats gleamed in the sunlight, and one of them had a star pattern on its wings.

"Come on!" Benin's call broke him out of his thoughts. Jesse saw Benin worriedly glancing at the edges of the field, and Jesse faintly heard a monster's roar. He hesitated, exchanging another glance with Machaela. What if going exposed the two pantheons prematurely? Such an event could spell disaster, war.

Growing impatient at their lack of movement, Benin finally grabbed Jesse's arm and pulled him into the chariot. Unwilling to be separated, Machaela followed, and Butch took off right as a large monster closed in.

Machaela didn't have a name for the creature, but her eyes widened yet again as whatever it was nosed around where they'd been standing and roared again. No longer quite as nonchalant, she crossed her arms.

"Ok, that's it," she told Benin. "Details. Now."

"How much do you know?"

Jesse answered, "The Greek gods are still around, you're a satyr, and we're demigods."

"That's it?" he asked. They nodded. "Alright. Short version: we're going to Camp Half-Blood, which is a safe haven for demigods to train. Monsters can't get in, but monsters can track demigods by smell, and every demigod has a scent. Satyrs can also smell demigods, and we try to find them before the monsters do so we can guide them to camp."

"Is that why you were in Egypt?" Jesse asked.

"Yes. I was undercover at—" he glanced at the boy, who had been introduced as Troy, and the large boy, Butch, "your school because another satyr thought he'd smelled a pair of demigods, a brother and sister. I'm decent with a sword, so I was able to pass myself as a sword instructor for your years of teaching. I suspected you and your sister were demigods, but since you were already where you were, I could have been wrong, and I couldn't take you out without solid proof. That's why I never said anything after you turned twelve. The longer you stayed at your school, the less my superiors wanted me to take you to camp."

He couldn't say any more in front of the others, but Machaela and Jesse got the idea. Because they were learning Egyptian magic, and the two pantheons didn't generally know about each other, Benin wasn't allowed to remove them from the First Nome to take them to camp. He needed definite proof, but the constant flow of magic around them interfered with his ability to identify their scents, so he was forced to leave them be.

As Benin finished, Butch slowed the pegasi down and the flying chariot came in for a landing in a central green. Twenty-something diversely decorated cabins fanned out around a fireplace in the center. A pavilion with picnic tables sat on a hill, and several other buildings and activities, including a climbing wall complete with lava, were scattered around the valley. A large pine tree stood on a hill behind them, and at the hill's base stood a two-story farmhouse.

Benin led the three of them to the house while Butch took the chariot towards a shed. At Benin's knock, the door opened, revealing a centaur.

Reflexively, Jesse took a step back. Aside from the centaur being huge, almost every myth he'd read portrayed centaurs as evil. Why was one here?

"Hello, Chiron," Benin said, making Jesse relax again. He knew that myth too.

Chiron smiled, barely showing his confusion at two extra people. "I'm glad you made it. Come on in." They followed him into the back room, where an older, blonde haired boy was strumming a guitar on the love seat. Machaela and Jesse took seats on the couch as Chiron focused on the other boy. "You must be Troy. Will, here, will show you around."

The other boy put down the guitar and walked over. Will looked like an older version of Troy, with their blonde hair and light features. As they walked off, Machaela heard Will introduce himself and start trying to get the quiet, younger boy talking.

Chiron turned his attention to them and Benin spoke up. "And this is Machaela and Jesse. You remember when I taught Jesse a few years ago?"

"Yes, I remember." His voice stayed steady, but his expression betrayed…was that fear?

"They jumped in to help fight a hellhound," Benin answered Chiron's unspoken question, "and told me they already know about being demigods."

Still on the couch, Machaela leaned toward her brother. "How should we play this?" she whispered, ignoring Benin's conversation for the moment.

"I don't know," he replied. "Benin knows about Egypt, of course, and hinted that Chiron does, but how do we know what to tell?"

Benin left and Chiron turned to them before she could reply.

He stared at them a moment, perhaps waiting for them to speak up. When they didn't, he said, "I know about Egypt, but not many others here do. The pantheons are kept separate."

Machaela shrugged, but didn't know what to say. Chiron tried to get them talking, but after several short answers to his questions, he finally gave up, and the siblings began whispering to each other again, trying to work out a plan and figure out how to contact Sofia. They had a few days before she got too worried, but they still needed to tell her. The problem was how. They didn't have phones, and they didn't know if anyone here had phone, as something Jesse found online about demigods mentioned technology attracts monsters.

A door slammed behind them, but they didn't pay attention until a moment later when Chiron addressed them. "Hey, you two. This is Grace. She'll be your guide for the day."

They stood up to greet their guide, only to freeze. Standing in the doorway was a very familiar blonde-haired girl wearing a pink Times Square t-shirt. She paled and gripped the doorway to stay upright.

They faintly heard Chiron keep talking. Something about being claimed? Neither sibling heard him, too focused were they on the girl in the doorway whose blue eyes were staring at them in shock.

Machaela opened her mouth, trying to say something, anything, but her voice wouldn't work. Jesse just stared.

"You're dead," the girl finally said, forcing the words out. "Mom said you were dead."

Machaela walked forward slowly, wondering if she was dreaming. Were they finally reuniting with their sister, after all these years? "Paiten?" she asked quietly, expecting to wake any moment. She took another step forward, waiting for the dream to end. This couldn't be happening. It was too good to be true.

But it didn't end. In an instant, all three of them were squished into the tightest group hug they could make. That hug lasted a long, long time.

"And you know the rest," Machaela finished. "She showed us around camp, we got claimed, and came to surprise you the next day."

Machaela could see the tears in her mom's eyes. "All this time," she said, "you were in the First Nome. It's enough to make me wish I was still active."

They were gathered around the kitchen table, where Machaela and Jesse had spent the last several hours telling their entire story. Their mom had been rather insistent on hearing it, especially after witnessing Mel attack them.

"I just can't believe I ran from you in Times Square," Grace told them, "Or that you met Uncle Roger at the range. He's going to flip when he sees you at Christmas."

"Wait," Jesse cut in, "you ran from us?"

She looked a bit sheepish. "Yeah, I knew we were being followed, but at that time I didn't remember you. My comment is why we took off running back to the hotel."

"Well, whatever happened then," Machaela said, "the timing worked out alright. We helped set up the rotation between Brooklyn House and Camp, and we helped the First Nome prevent Doomsday."

"Don't forget the quest," Jesse said.

"Yeah, that too."

"I just wish you could have met Iskandar," Jesse added.

"Yeah, I do too," Marie replied. "I want to meet Sofia, too, so I can thank her for raising you."

"We can arrange that soon enough," Machaela replied. "Her living in Brooklyn makes that easier."

"She'd be ecstatic to meet you," Jesse told her. "She's been helping us look since the wreck."

"So, Greek, Roman, Egyptian," Marie started, "any other pantheons I should know about?"

The siblings all chuckled, but Jesse's thoughtful expression gave him away.

"Uh oh," Machaela said. "Spill."

"Well," came his hesitant reply, "last week Sofia was going on about 'blamed, flying Valkyries', and, yes, that's a quote. Considering Valkyries are Norse…" he let the thought trail off.

Machaela groaned and put her head down. "Wonderful," she said, one hundred percent sarcastic. "We'll have to deal with Ragnarok next, just you wait. What else? Chinese? Indian? Native American? Can't we get some peace for a change?"

Jesse chuckled. "Of course not, sis. We combine too many bloodlines. Whatever comes, though," he looked around the table, grinning at having his mom and other sister there, "we'll face it together, always."

Machaela and Grace grinned. "Always," they said in unison.

Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you, there's nothing in this world I wouldn't do.

Hello, everyone. RL reared up and slapped me a new one this week, but here's the final chapter of Life of Magicians! I hope everyone has enjoyed this story. Keep an eye out in the next few weeks for a short story. I'll post the first bit of a two-shot when I finish editing.

Thank you Youngid and Panemat for your reviews of last chapter! Panemat: of course they put hearing protection in their Duat locker! they were going to a shooting range :D

Don't forget to review! I want to know what you think