[Really, Tina, you shouldn't have to convince us you are a warrior we know you are already. What? Don't look at me like that, I'm allowed to compliment you! Jeez, it was literally a compliment, but I digress.]
That night, I had a lot of good dreams of the Native American reserve and my time there. And then somehow, I just dreamed of Christina for the rest of the night. God forbid I get a calm, dreamless sleep, right? So I was a little disoriented when I woke up and wasn't on the Rez sleeping next to Christina. But when I turned my head, there was a girl with red hair and green eyes there.
"Amy..." I whispered and backed away from her. She turned toward me and gave me one of her heartwarming smiles as she beckoned me to her. I went over to the bed and leaned my head towards her. And yet, when our lips almost met, Amy was gone and I fell flat on the bed. I did as Dean said and pressed a thumb into my palm. I felt more awake and less in my dream world then I was seconds before. Reluctantly, I pushed myself up and peeled my old shirt off to put another one on. And then, hey hey hey, the door opened and Sadie poked her head in.
"Dammit Sadie!" I shouted, grabbing for my shirt and covering up partially, "knock first!"
Sadie smirked, "Christina is downstairs, she looks bloody beautiful, maybe you just shouldn't wear a shirt at all and make her happy."
"No."
"C'mon," she smirked even more.
"Not happening."
"Show me the wings."
Narrowing my eyes, I slowly turned around so she could see the white angel wing tattoos on my back. Sadie whistled but she left with a 'Tina's waiting.' I rolled my eyes and got dressed before I headed down to the others. Sadie, Walt, and Christina stood at the table on the terrace, having a quick breakfast. I was confused at first, but then I looked back inside and saw Zia and Carter sitting together drinking their coffee in peace. Carter was talking about something and I saw Zia trying to hide a smile on her face that clearly read 'I did good choosing this boy.' That was pretty nice to see.
"Yo, Jake," Walt said, "Your girlfriend keeps bugging us over here."
Christina blushed and I walked over, saying, "She's not my girlfriend."
Sadie rolled her eyes then threw a piece of bacon to Philip the crocodile. The three of them seemed to have made a small pile of magic supplies which they were all picking at and stocking up. I grabbed a few things as well as we went over the plan. We needed to talk to Thoth and figure out what in the duat was making the world go Apis-shit. Carter and Zia joined us on the terrace as well and BAM! Just like that we were thrown full force into the shitstorm.
Memphis, Tennessee is beautiful in the fall because its still warm and sunny not cold and cloudy like in Brooklyn. Beautiful weather to watch babboons play basketball in. The portal Sadie created spit us out right in the middle of a large glass pyramid with a basketball court inside of it. The court was being used by, wait for it, babboons. Nope, I'm not kidding the babboons were dressed in basketball jerseys playing a basketball game. One saw us and called loudly.
"Khufu!" Sadie cried out and the babboon jumped into her arms yelling 'Agh! Agh! Agh!'
"Khufu where've you been?" Carter said as he scratched the babboon on its head. Apparently, knowing a babboon was perfectly normal, because why the Horus not, right?
"Oh no," A voice sighed from the living quarters and we all whirled our heads around to see a tall thin man in a white lab coat with crazy Einstein hair and swirly eyes.
"Thoth," I said and bowed. This seemed to puzzle the wisdom god and I stood up, "I'm a huge fan!"
He studied me carefully then said, "You're here about the strange happenings to powerful magical objects across the globe and untraceable killings in random patterns in Nomes all over North America, no?"
"Bullseye," I smiled mainly because the others were just sort of looking like they were watching two scientists compare theories, "And the evil gods being called back to the mortal world."
"Uh, Jake," Carter said, "Do you want us to take it from here?"
Thoth studied me again and then, I shit you not, smiled a little bit, "Lloyds are always wise and respectable. And they usually like music," He gestured to an area beside the living space where instruments lined the walls with amplifiers as well, "Your mother once visited me and she seemed interested in the instruments as well."
Thoth continued talking with Carter and the others while I sort of drifted off to the music area. I felt Christina's eyes watching me and I turned and beckoned to her to follow. I didn't look back until I got to the little corner of instruments in the bleachers. Christina stepped inside carefully and put her hands in her pockets. She looked kind of cute in her white t-shirt and jeans as she looked around nervously.
"Ah, come on," I grinned as I picked up an electric guitar, "I'm not going to bite."
"I wouldn't expect you to," She said, "It's just...doesn't it feel kind of weird that we're literally looking through the god of wisdom's musical instruments?"
"Nah," I said casually, strumming a guitar once before pluging it into an amplifier, "It's kind of cool."
I played a line of "Carry on Wayward Son" and Christina looked impressed. The smile on her face made me fumble with the guitar strings a bit. But, I played it cool. It's a joke, 'I played it cool,' because I was literally playing a guitar and...nevermind.
"Hey, guys?" Zia called out to us and we turned to him, "Uh, there's a guy here."
"Who is it?" I said placing down the guitar.
"It's Jonathan," Zia said grimly, "Kehera's brother."
