“Backbone?” I asked.

“Literally.” Mom gave me an approving look, and again I had that surreal shifting feeling. I couldn’t believe I was standing here, having a chat with my somewhat dead parents.

Mom closed the amulet into my hands. Her touch was warm, like a living person’s. “Djed also stands for the power of Osiris—renewed life from the ashes of death. This is exactly what you will need if you are to stir the blood of the pharaohs in others and rebuild the House of Life.”

“The House won’t like that,” Sadie put in.

“No,” Mom said cheerfully. “They certainly won’t.”

The Hall of Judgment rumbled again.

“It is time,” Dad said. “We’ll meet again, children. But until then, take care.”

“Be mindful of your enemies,” Mom added.

“And tell Amos...” Dad’s voice trailed off thoughtfully. “Remind my brother that Egyptians believe in the power of the sunrise. They believe each morning begins not just a new day, but a new world.”

Before I could figure out what that meant, the Hall of Judgment faded, and we stood with Anubis in a field of darkness.

“I’ll show you the way,” Anubis said. “It is my job.”

He ushered us to a space in the darkness that looked no different from any other. But when he pushed with his hand, a door swung open. The entrance blazed with daylight.

Anubis bowed formally to me. Then he looked at Sadie with a glint of mischief in his eyes. “It’s been...stimulating.”

Sadie flushed and pointed at him accusingly. “We’re not done, mister. I expect you to look after my parents. And next time I’m in the Land of the Dead, you and I will have words.”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll look forward to that.”

We stepped through the doorway and into the palace of the gods.

It looked just like Sadie had described from her visions: soaring stone columns, fiery braziers, a polished marble floor, and in the middle of the room, a gold-and-red throne. All around us, gods had gathered. Many were just flashes of light and fire. Some were shadowy images that shifted from animal to human. I recognized a few: Thoth flickered into view as a wild-haired guy in a lab coat before turning into a cloud of green gas; Hathor, the cow-headed goddess, gave me a puzzled look, as if she vaguely recognized me from the Magic Salsa incident. I looked for Bast, but my heart fell. She didn’t seem to be in the crowd. In fact, most of the gods I didn’t recognize.

“What have we started?” Sadie murmured.

I understood what she meant. The throne room was full of hundreds of gods, major and minor, all darting through the palace, forming new shapes, glowing with power. An entire supernatural army...and they all seemed to be staring at us.

Thankfully, two old friends stood next to the throne. Horus wore full battle armor and a khopesh sword at his side. His kohl-lined eyes—one gold, one silver—were as piercing as ever. At his side stood Isis in a shimmering white gown, with wings of light.

“Welcome,” Horus said.

“Um, hi,” I said.

“He has a way with words,” Isis muttered, which made Sadie snort.

Horus gestured to the throne. “I know your thoughts, Carter, so I think I know what you will say. But I have to ask you one more time. Will you join me? We could rule the earth and the heavens. Ma’at demands a leader.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard.”

“I would be stronger with you as my host. You’ve only touched the surface of what combat magic can do. We could accomplish great things, and it is your destiny to lead the House of Life. You could be the king of two thrones.”

I glanced at Sadie, but she just shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I find the idea horrifying.”

Horus scowled at her, but the truth was, I agreed with Sadie. All those gods waiting for direction, all those magicians who hated us—the idea of trying to lead them made my knees turn to water.

“Maybe some day,” I said. “Much later.”

Horus sighed. “Five thousand years, and I still do not understand mortals. But—very well.”

He stepped up to the throne and looked around at the assembled gods.

“I, Horus, son of Osiris, claim the throne of the heavens as my birthright!” he shouted. “What was once mine shall be mine again. Is there any who would challenge me?”

The gods flickered and glowed. A few scowled. One muttered something that sounded like “Cheese,” although that could’ve been my imagination. I caught a glimpse of Sobek, or possibly another crocodile god, snarling in the shadows. But no one raised a challenge.

Horus took his seat on the throne. Isis brought him a crook and flail—the twin scepters of the pharaohs. He crossed them over his chest and all the gods bowed before him.

When they’d risen again, Isis stepped toward us. “Carter and Sadie Kane, you have done much to restore Ma’at. The gods must gather their strength, and you have bought us time, though we do not know how much. Apophis will not stay locked away forever.”

“I’d settle for a few hundred years,” Sadie said.

Isis smiled. “However that may be, today you are heroes. The gods owe you a debt, and we take our debts seriously.”

Horus rose from the throne. With a wink at me, he knelt before us. The other gods shifted uncomfortably, but then followed his example. Even the gods in fire form dimmed their flames.

I probably looked pretty stunned, because when Horus got up again he laughed. “You look like that time when Zia told you—”

“Yeah, could we skip that?” I said quickly. Letting a god into your head has serious disadvantages.

“Go in peace, Carter and Sadie,” Horus said. “You will find our gift in the morning.”

“Gift?” I asked nervously, because if I got one more magic amulet, I was going to break out in a cold sweat.

“You’ll see,” Isis promised. “We will be watching you, and waiting.”

“That’s what scares me,” Sadie said.

Isis waved her hand, and suddenly we were back on the mansion’s terrace as if nothing had happened.

Sadie turned toward me wistfully. “‘Stimulating.’”

I held out my hand. The djed amulet was glowing and warm in its linen wrapping. “Any idea what this thing does?”

She blinked. “Hmm? Oh, don’t care. What did Anubis look like to you?”

“What did...he looked like a guy. So?”

“A good-looking guy, or a slobbering dog-headed guy?”

“I guess...not the dog-headed guy.”

“I knew it!” Sadie pointed at me as if she’d won an argument. “Good-looking. I knew it!”

And with a ridiculous grin, she spun around and skipped into the house.

My sister, as I may have mentioned, is a little strange.

The next day, we got the gods’ gift.

We woke to find that the mansion had been completely repaired down to the smallest detail. Everything we hadn’t finished yet—probably another month’s worth of work—was done.

The first thing I found were new clothes in my closet, and after a moment’s hesitation, I put them on. I went downstairs and found Khufu and Sadie dancing around the restored Great Room. Khufu had a new Lakers jersey and a brand-new basketball. The magical brooms and mops were busy doing their cleaning routine. Sadie looked up at me and grinned—and then her expression changed to shock.

“Carter, what—what are you wearing?”

I came down the stairs, feeling even more self-conscious. The closet had offered me several choices this morning, not just my linen robes. My old clothes had been there, freshly cleaned—a button-down shirt, starched khaki slacks, loafers. But there had also been a third choice, and I’d taken it: some Reeboks, blue jeans, a T-shirt, and a hoodie.

“It’s, um, all cotton,” I said. “Okay for magic. Dad would probably think I look like a gangster....”

I thought for sure Sadie would tease me about that, and I was trying to beat her to the punch. She scrutinized every detail of my outfit.

Then she laughed with absolute delight. “It’s brilliant, Carter. You look almost like a regular teenager! And Dad would think...” She pulled my hoodie over my head. “Dad would think you look like an impeccable magician, because that’s what you are. Now, come on. Breakfast is waiting on the patio.”

We were just digging in when Amos came outside, and his change of clothes was even more surprising than mine. He wore a crisp new chocolate-colored suit with matching coat and fedora. His shoes were shined, his round glasses polished, his hair freshly braided with amber beads. Sadie and I both stared at him.

“What?” he demanded.

“Nothing,” we said in unison. Sadie looked at me and mouthed O-M-G, then went back to her bangers and eggs. I attacked my pancakes. Philip thrashed around happily in his swimming pool.

Amos joined us at the table. He flicked his fingers and coffee magically filled his cup. I raised my eyebrows. He hadn’t used magic since the Demon Days.

“I thought I’d go away for a while,” he announced. “To the First Nome.”

Sadie and I exchanged glances.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked.

Amos sipped his coffee. He stared across the East River as if he could see all the way to Washington, D.C. “They have the best magic healers there. They will not turn away a petitioner seeking aid—even me. I think...I think I should try.”

His voice was fragile, like it would crack apart any moment. But still, it was the most he’d said in weeks.

“I think that’s brilliant,” Sadie offered. “We’ll watch after the place, won’t we, Carter?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Absolutely.”

“I may be gone for a while,” Amos said. “Treat this as your home. It is your home.” He hesitated, as if choosing his next words carefully. “And I think, perhaps, you should start recruiting. There are many children around the world with the blood of the pharaohs. Most do not know what they are. What you two said in Washington—about rediscovering the path of the gods—it may be our only chance.”

Sadie got up and kissed Amos on the forehead. “Leave it to us, Uncle. I’ve got a plan.”

“That,” I said, “sounds like very bad news.”

Amos managed a smile. He squeezed Sadie’s hand, then got up and ruffled my hair as he headed inside.

I took another bite of my pancakes and wondered why—on such a great morning—I still felt sad, and a little incomplete. I suppose with so many things suddenly getting better, the things that were still missing hurt even worse.

Sadie picked at her scrambled eggs. “I suppose it would be selfish to ask for more.”

I stared at her, and I realized we were thinking the same thing. When the gods had said a gift...Well, you can hope for things, but as Sadie said, I guess you can’t get greedy.

“It’s going to be hard to travel if we need to go recruiting,” I said cautiously. “Two unaccompanied minors.”