I hear a feminine voice.

Sadie was passed out next to me, but she looked unharmed. I shook her shoulder, and she grunted. “Ugh.”

In front of us, where the Rosetta Stone had been, stood a smoking, sheared-off pedestal. The floor was blackened in a starburst pattern, except for the glowing blue circle around our father.

He was facing our direction, but he didn’t seem to be looking at us. A bloody cut ran across his scalp. He gripped the boomerang tightly.

I didn’t understand what he was looking at. Then the horrible laughter echoed around the room again, and I realized it was coming from right in front of me.

Something stood between our father and us. At first, I could barely make it out—just a flicker of heat. But as I concentrated, it took on a vague form—the fiery outline of a man.

He was taller than Dad, and his laugh cut through me like a chainsaw.

“Well done,” he said to my father. “Very well done, Julius.”

“You were not summoned!” My father’s voice trembled. He held up the boomerang, but the fiery man flicked one finger, and the stick flew from Dad’s hand, shattering against the wall.

“I am never summoned, Julius,” the man purred. “But when you open a door, you must be prepared for guests to walk through.”

“Back to the Duat!” my father roared. “I have the power of the Great King!”

“Oh, scary,” the fiery man said with amusement. “And even if you knew how to use that power, which you do not, he was never my match. I am the strongest. Now you will share his fate.”

"Set!" I yelled getting his attention "Back to the Duat, or you will have to face me!" I grabbed my wand and staff from my bag.

I shot Carter a silent look of warning: Get out. he realized I was intentionally keeping the fiery man’s back to us, hoping Sadie and Carter would escape unnoticed.

Sadie was still groggy. While Carter managed to drag her behind a column, into the shadows. When she started to protest, he clamped my hand over her mouth. That woke her up. She saw what was happening and stopped fighting.

Alarms blared. Fire circled around the doorways of the gallery. The guards had to be on their way, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing for us.

Dad crouched to the floor, keeping his eyes on his enemy, and opened his painted wooden box. He brought out a small rod like a ruler. He muttered something under his breath and the rod elongated into a wooden staff as tall as he was.

Dad threw his staff at the fiery man’s feet, and it changed into an enormous serpent—ten feet long and as big around as he was—with coppery scales and glowing red eyes. It lunged at the fiery man, who effortlessly grabbed the serpent by its neck. The man’s hand burst into white-hot flames, and the snake burned to ashes.

“An old trick, Julius,” the fiery man chided.

My dad glanced at us, silently urging us again to run. Next to Carter, Sadie picked up a chunk of stone.

“How many?” my dad asked quickly, trying to keep the fiery man’s attention. “How many did I release?”

“Why, all five,” the man said, as if explaining something to a child. “You should know we’re a package deal, Julius. Soon I’ll release even more, and they’ll be very grateful. I shall be named king again.”

“The Demon Days,” my father said. “They’ll stop you before it’s too late.”

The fiery man laughed. “You think the House can stop me? Those old fools can’t even stop arguing among themselves. Now let the story be told anew. And this time you shall never rise!”

The fiery man waved his hand. The blue circle at Dad’s feet went dark. Dad grabbed for his toolbox, but it skittered across the floor.

“Good-bye, Osiris,” the fiery man said. With another flick of his hand, he conjured a glowing coffin around our dad. At first it was transparent, but as our father struggled and pounded on its sides, the coffin became more and more solid—a golden Egyptian sarcophagus inlaid with jewels. My dad caught my eyes one last time, and mouthed the word Run! before the coffin sank into the floor, as if the ground had turned to water.

“Dad!” Carter screamed.

Sadie threw her stone, but it sailed harmlessly through Set's head.

He turned, and for one terrible moment, his face appeared in the flames. What I saw made no sense. It was as if someone had superimposed two different faces on top of each other—one almost human, with pale skin, cruel, angular features, and glowing red eyes, the other like an animal with dark fur and sharp fangs. Worse than a dog or a wolf or a lion—some animal I’d never seen before. Those red eyes stared at me, and I knew I was going to die.

Behind me, heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor of the Great Court. Voices were barking orders. The security guards, maybe the police—but they’d never get here in time.

Set lunged at us. A few inches from Carter's face, something shoved him backward. The air sparked with electricity. The amulet around his neck grew bright red.

The fiery man hissed, regarding me more carefully. “So...it’s you.”

The building shook again. At the opposite end of the room, part of the wall exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Two people stepped through the gap—the man and the girl we’d seen at the Needle, their robes swirling around them. Both of them held staffs.

The fiery man snarled. He looked at Carter one last time and said, “Soon, boy.”

Then the entire room erupted in flames. A blast of heat sucked all the air of out my lungs and I crumpled to the floor.

The last thing I remember, the man with the forked beard and the girl in blue were standing over me. I heard the security guards running and shouting, getting closer. The girl crouched over me and drew a long curved knife from her belt.

“We must act quickly,” she told the man.

“Not yet,” he said with some ****. His thick accent sounded French. “We must be sure before we destroy them.”

I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.

Long after Sadie's gum had gone stale, a policewoman finally retrieved me from the curator’s office. She asked me no questions. She just trundled me into a police car and took me and Sadie to our grandma's home. Even then, I wasn’t allowed to explain to Gran and Gramps. The policewoman just tossed Sadie and I into her room and we waited. And waited.

I don’t like waiting.

I paced the floor. Her room was nothing posh, just an attic space with a window and a bed and a desk. There wasn’t much to do. Muffin sniffed my legs and her tail puffed up like a bottlebrush. I suppose she doesn’t fancy the smell of museums. She hissed and disappeared under the bed.

“Thanks a lot,” I muttered.

I opened the door, but the policewoman was standing guard.

“The inspector will be with you in a moment,” she told me. “Please stay inside.”

I could see downstairs—just a glimpse of Gramps pacing the room, wringing his hands, while Carter and a police inspector talked on the sofa. I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Could I just use the loo?” I asked the nice officer.

“No.” She closed the door in my face. As if I might rig an explosion in the toilet. Honestly.

I dug out her iPod and scrolled through her playlist. Nothing struck me. I threw it on her bed in disgust. When I’m too distracted for music, that is a very sad thing. I wondered why Carter got to talk to the police first.

I fiddled with the necklace Dad had given me. When I heard a voice Hello, Tyler. It's so nice to meet you.

"Who are you?" I asked when I realized I spoke aloud

"Who are you talking to?" Sadie asked

"No one" I lied

I'm not a no one the voice told me

'Who are you, goddess?' I asked her

_I am Nephthys__ _she answered

'Sorry for calling you a no one, Nephthys.'

_Who are the people in the black outfits? _she asked

'Police' I answered

"Tyler?" I hear Sadie ask

"Yes, Sadie?"

"You called the man who was on fire Set."

"Yes I did"

"Why did he take dad?" she asked with tears forming in her eyes

"I don't know," I hugged her "but I do know is that you're safe."

She broke down as we hugged, "I...I barely know you. Why do you love me?" she asked sobbing

"We're siblings, every day I was in Scotland I thought of you, Carter and dad. Everyday, every night. I wanted to hear your voice for years, but today I had different plans than seeing you."

_Did you forget about me? _she asked 'Not now Nephthys'

"What plans?!??" god I pissed her off

"Investigator" the officer said as the door opened