Despacito (Slowly)

Wong watched the god before him with the same patient gaze that he had once used with his now friend Stephen Strange when the other man had just arrived at Kamar-Taj.  While he wanted to like the Egyptian god who had been so dear and near to the Ancient One, Wong knew he still had to test him. After both Kaecilius and Mordo had betrayed the Masters of the Mystic arts, and Dr. Strange had done so many wrong things in the name of the Greater Good, Wong had grown cautious.

To others, it seemed as he had done the opposite. He now used his portals to get donuts, and travel from place to place without stepping on the Sanctum houses. And of course, his friendship with Madisynn made even the oldest students wonder if Dr. Strange had become a bad influence on him, or if the five years he had been Sorcerer Supreme had somehow made him go insane with stress. Wong didn’t mind, on one hand, it allowed him more privacy on the library to do important research on the multiverse, and on the other, it made his enemies underestimate him.

Khonshu was not an enemy, the Ancient One had insisted on telling him often when she was alive. But Wong didn’t know the god as well as she had, and his experience with gods had been negative in general. They all saw mankind as lesser, as their slaves, with the possible exception of Thor and Loki -and Loki had had to be taught a lesson in humility and empathy before he died. And while the Ancient One had trusted Khonshu, she still had kept secrets from him.

Like the fact that the human boy with three souls that Khonshu called his fledgling was not really human, but instead a very rare sight. One that Wong hoped Stephen wouldn’t see with his third eye since that thing was only causing problems lately, and that the gods called the Ennead would try to destroy without question. Three souls in one body, half-human, half-Ennead.

Khonshu was most probably the father, the Ancient One had told Wong when Wong inherited the mantle of Kamar-Taj’s Head librarian. He had been too young to participate in the rescue of Khonshu from his followers, but the Ancient One had ranted about that for a long time. It was one of the few moments when Wong saw her show human emotions, and he knew how important it was for her. She also was sure that even if he knew of their heretical origins, Khonshu wouldn’t hurt the souls within that human body. But she had also been sure that Kaecilius would never turn to the dark path and that Mordo would understand her usage of the dark arts.

All this meant that Wong had to be careful.

Once he was to be the only one who allowed others to read in the library, the Ancient One had given him a very important task regarding Khonshu’s fledglings. And what Wong had found? Well, he had kept it a secret even from her. She was, after all, the god’s friend. And she might have thought Khonshu would need to know, before making sure that the god wouldn’t do something… extreme.

So far, he liked what he saw. The god had been respectful of both Dr. Strange and Wong, just as he had been to the Ancient One the rare occasions, he visited her. He was also cautious about speaking out loud about what he knew about his Avatars’ origins, and spoke about them in the singular most of the time, probably respecting the souls’ privacy. Perhaps the Ancient One had been right about the god’s feelings. But Wong still needed to be sure, because what he had found out about the prophecies of Ma’at and Mut’s High priestess as well as those of Ammit’s priests and the High Priest of Khonshu, Tobi, told him that the Half-human, half-Ennead souls would be important to save the world.

Again.

If Wong had to be honest, the world was getting in too many close calls in the last few years. He missed the time when all they had to worry was the possibility of Dormammu opening a portal.

“So, tell me the truth, Moon God,” he said, after sipping his freshly made tea. “Why are you so interested in your Avatar’s past?”

I have watched over them since they were children, the god replied, surprising Wong. He hadn’t expected the god to immediately switch to the plural when talking about his Avatars now that they were in private. Was he showing trust in Wong? That was a new one for a god, to trust a human immediately. The Ancient One once tried to help me to save them from an abusive home… and recently, we have come to find out that said abusive home was not of their biological parents. They want to know the truth of their origin, and I want to help them.

“A noble pursuit, but one that could be done through normal means. I believe there are sites now who can help you find adoptions and dna ancestry?” Wong replied, biting his donut and pretending ignorance. “I can assure you, that is not one of the services we have in Kamar-Taj. Our library is a bit lacking in genealogy from the States… but I can recommend you a good lawyer if you need one?”

The god before him tilted his huge skull head, looking a lot like a crow who was considering stealing a fry or something shiny. Weighting his options, Wong figured. This was the moment of truth, to see if he could trust the god or not, if the Ennead before him would let his pride win over his need for information.

Recent discoveries have told us that there would be no information that we could find in their DNA, Khonshu finally said, very carefully and measuring his words. As if he was trying to figure out if Wong knew the truth… as if the god knew part of the truth. The important part. And, as I am starting to suspect you know, it would be better if we made sure that at least part of their parentage wasn’t known by more people than the ones who know now.

“The Ancient One made sure that wouldn’t happen,” Wong smiled. He was starting to believe that his teachers’ trust hadn’t been misplaced this time. “When she made the spell to protect them from mystical treats… she also made sure that no one looking at their souls would see more than a human soul. I am curious to know how you managed to go around that.”

And the god remained calm, at least outwardly. He didn’t start ranting about his trust being abused, nor about how the Ancient One didn’t have the right to keep secrets from him.  Instead, he seemed to be accepting of the situation.

She was smart to do that, the god finally said. I would have loved to know the truth earlier, of course, but it was more important to keep them safe… and given the unusual situation, she erred on the side of caution. If I could, I’d thank her for that.

Wong nodded. He couldn’t detect any lies or deception from Khonshu. Which meant that yes, it was time to tell him the truth.

“Well, she hoped you would see it this way,” Wong smiled. “After all, we have a lot of past Father’s days cards she got for you every year.”

*          *          *

“I can’t do this, guys,” Steven said to Jake and Marc as he got ready to leave the museum.  “One of you have to do it.”

“Yo no puedo, Corazón… Reese no habla español, ¿O sí? Además, como le explicaríamos que de pronto tú sólo hablas español si eres el mago de las traducciónes?” Jake pointed out from the bathroom mirror as Steven washed his face.

“My impression of you is terrible,” Marc shrugged from the smaller mirror next to the faucet that was there for anyone who wanted to fix their makeup. “I’m pretty sure I’m half the reason why Donna thinks you were hiding something.”

“Pa’ ser justos, sí estábamos escondiendo algo… sólo que nuestro Adorado Estebancito no lo sabía en ese momento.” Jake laughed, as Marc shook his head.

“Well, we still have to hide that,” Steven said, so seriously that both Jake and Marc turned to see him, worried. “I mean, I’m fine with Layla knowing we have Did. And I guess we could tell Crawley… and Geena, that friend Jake mentioned, if you trust her, Jake?”

“Con mi vida. La única razón por la cual no le he dicho que ustedes viven en el mismo cuerpo que yo es porque no sabía si ustedes estarían de acuerdo,” Jake shrugged.

“If you don’t mind, I’d also like to tell Duchamp… Frenchie. He saved our asses too many times to count, so he deserves to know,” Marc said, slowly. “But I get it, love. We shouldn’t just scream it from the rooftops. Some people wouldn’t understand.”

“And some people, like my new boss, could get us institutionalized again,” Steven finished. “I know. You know. But I…”

“So you know, and you’re the only one who Reese knows, and so that means that you are the one who has to figure out how to get introduced to this Badr guy,” Marc finished. “You’re the one she trusts.”

“But you all know I’m terrible lying!” Steven insisted. “And… I kind of think she’d be a good friend, which won’t happen if she thinks I used her just to get information.”

“No tienes porque mentirle, chiquito,” Jake reassured him, and Steven felt the mental hug his alter was giving him. “La verdad es que si queremos saber más de esa conspiración en la que ella cree, y conocer a más seguidores de Papá es algo que íbamos a hacer tarde o temprano… Incluso antes de saber que era nuestro padre. Todo eso es verdad. Sólo no tienes que mencionarle que es porque somos el Avatar de Khonshu.”

“And if she sees you’re interested in the same things she is, she will be your friend. You know that, Steven,” Marc softly told him from the other side. In their head, Steven could feel both of them hugging him, giving him the love and care he craved from them. “You can do it.”

“I’m terrible making friends,” Steven mumbled, blushing a bit. To his surprise, both Marc and Jake laughed in his head.

“Esa es la peor mentira que has dicho, Corazoncito,” Jake said.

“Agreed, you made friends with Crawley without him even saying a word to you!” Marc added, also smiling. “The man likes you, we all know that.”

“But people at the gift shop…” Steven began, only to be interrupted by Marc’s mental voice.

“Donna is a bitch, and she doesn’t count. And while D.J. is an idiot, I bet he considers you his friend.”

“Oh, si, y no solo porque quiere que yo le dé clases de baile…” Jake interrupted. “Y no olvides a Roonie. Va, el tipo era un espía del culto de Harrow… pero se hizo tu amigo antes de saber que Marquitos era en nuevo Avatar de Papá.”

Steven chuckled a little. Not at the idea that Ronnie counted as his friend, but at the fact that Jake had started calling Khonshu “Dad” so easily.

“But… I dunno how I do it? I just…” he began, only to be interrupted by Soldier banging on the door.

“Hey! Grant! You died in there, or are you having another fight with an innocent toilet?”

Of course, everyone knew about “Steven” “breakdown” where he had destroyed the public bathroom. Only that it seemed that the group of Professor Alraune’s assistants took it as a good thing, and not as a terrible one.

“I… I’m coming out in a second, Sorry!” Steven replied and dried his hands. Time to face the music, since neither Marc nor Jake would agree to take his place for this mission.

*          *          *

Layla knew the boys were hiding something from her. You couldn’t be married to Marc Spector and not learn some of his tells, and while she had known Steven and Jake for much less time, she was also starting to learn how to read them.

Steven, in particular, was a terrible liar.  Jake was a harder chip to crack, but she had noticed he used jokes every time he wanted to deflect a particular topic. It was easy to be caught on those jokes, especially as they were usually flirty in nature. Marc tended to run away or shut down completely, which was also a tell. Now that she knew about all of them, if she got anywhere near the subject of what they were suspecting about Harrow’s birth, Marc would stop fronting almost immediately.

So yeah, the boys were hiding something. But Layla was not angry at them. While they had promised to not keep secrets from each other anymore, she knew that there were now extenuating circumstances.

The fact they now trusted Khonshu completely, for example.

When she was with them, Layla was supportive of that. She had seen how devastated Jake was when they had thought Khonshu was going to be sealed for good again, how much lighter and happier they all saw when they came back from the Other Void with Khonshu on tow. Khonshu himself had seemed very different too. There was none of the previous pompous echoing voice that demanded obedience, but instead, a quiet elegance and respect similar to what she got from Tawaret once her goddess found her inside voice.

Completely different from what Marc had originally described.

But still, she wouldn’t be Layla El-Faouly, one of the best relics recover agent in the world, if she didn’t see everything from every angle possible.

So when she was alone, in between following leads of the Ammit cult, she thought about what could have happened to make her boys change their mind about Khonshu so easily, if what Khonshu said about meeting them in their youth was true, and why Jake trusted the god so much.

There was no way to find out if that was true or not. On one hand, Layla knew that the boys wouldn’t like her snooping in their past uninvited and she was not going to break their trust by doing it behind their backs. On the other hand, proving that an invisible, intangible god had been in contact with a human was next to impossible.

As she had found out while trying to get a better picture of Harrow’s life. She had found proof that yes, Arthur was not his real name as there was a file, deep hidden in the Interpol’s computers, about an official change of name. Unfortunately, the copy that she had been able to find had the original name of the individual in question redacted. But Layla wasn’t one to get a small issue like that to stop her. That file listed his place of birth as Champagne, and his exact age, so that gave her more to investigate. Except of course, if any god had had any hand on his birth and upbringing. Just because the Ennead wasn’t as obvious in their interactions with humans as the Norse gods.

Then again, if Loki was Harrow’s father, Harrow could’ve had eight legs and be a lot easier to track.

“You are very disturbed, Layla,” Tawaret said in her head, “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“I’m not sure,” Layla said, getting up from her desk to stretch before turning around. She couldn’t see Tawaret like she could Khonshu because her goddess was still in the Other Void, away from earth, but she felt better talking to her when walking. “I know I upset you last time we talked.”

“When you said that an Ennad could’ve sired a child with a human despite our rules?” Tawaret asked, softly. “I can’t say I like the idea. But… I’ve been thinking about it since you mentioned it… and… I’m worried.”

“Why? Harrow is dead… We just need to find the father or mother, then they will get punished instead of Khonshu,” Layla replied, but Tawaret didn’t answer immediately. Instead, the goddess hemmed and hummed in Layla’s head.  “Tawaret?”

“It’s just… I saw Harrow’s soul, remember? There was nothing strange about his soul when he came for judgment.” The Goddess explained, softly. “I’ve seen demi-god souls before, from the Greeks mostly since Zeus cannot keep it in his tunic, and there is always… something. Even if they have no powers, demi-god souls… shine.”

“So, then he was lying to his followers and this was just a bad lead,” Layla shook her head, but Tawaret interrupted her.

“Thing is… I’ve recently seen a soul… a couple of souls actually… involved with us that also shine. At least sometimes.”

Layla frowned, confused at the words. “What do you mean ‘sometimes’?”

Part of her was scared to know the answer, especially because she could only think of “a couple of souls” that were involved with the Ennead at the moment that Tawaret had seen recently. And it made her worry even more for her boys.

“Well, at first I thought it was because they were two instead of one, you know? That was completely unexpected and I still can’t find any notes by Anubis that covered that. But when they got to the Other Void, to defend Khonshu… sometimes, If I saw them from the corner of my eye, they would shine brightly… brighter than any human soul could shine. Except that when I tried to pay attention to them, they were again dull and normal… Not that a human soul is dull, dull, I assure you, yours is beautiful! It’s just that it doesn’t has as much power and…”

“You didn’t offend me, Tawaret,” Layla smiled a bit at her goddess, then frowned as her words sat in her mind. “You think Marc, Steven and Jake are… the sons of an Ennead?”

“Maybe?” Tawaret answered unsure. “I mean, the shine is just there sometimes. I honestly thought it was because Khonshu had shared more power with them than with a normal Avatar because he cares for them so much but now…”

“But now?”

“Well… he did call them his children when Horus tried to burn their souls to a crisp…”

Layla blinked at the new information. No one had told her that they had been in danger of dying when they went to rescue Khonshu. Once they finished this trial thing, she was going to have a long talk with her husband, her boyfriend and their boyfriend about communication.

*          *          *

Reese smiled widely when Steven invited her for a cup of tea during lunch time. From the moment prof. Alraune had introduced them, she had wanted to take the shy guy under her wing because he looked like he needed more friends. She had heard the rumors about the gift shop employee who had gone insane, destroyed a bathroom, gotten fired and then sued his way back into his job, but the mental image she had made of said guy was completely different from the hispanic man with the weird sort of british accent that Prof. Alraune had introduced to the team as the newest addition to the translation team. And boy, was he a great translator! She had seen him in action, reading ancient Egyptian tablets as if they were modern English kindle as long as no one interrupted him mid translation, which usually broke his focus and made him seem as if he had never seen a hieroglyph in his life.

But the best part was that he actually listened to Reese and her theories. At first she had thought it was because he had been raised in the same church as Badr, because well, Badr was the only other person she knew who had had ancient Egyptian as part of his elementary school education; but Badr had never heard of a Steven Grant and he insisted that he knew the names of every member of the Church of the Protector Moon -she had never mentioned this to Terry, because well, Terry already thought Badr was part of a cult and that was not going to help that impression. And Steven, in turn, had never heard of the Church, nor about any of the many stories Reese had heard about other cults of the ancient gods -the stories that Prof. Alraune dismissed as hearsay and stupidity- but he was interested. Reese could tell.

So getting to talk to him outside the museum where Prof. Alraune couldn’t interrupt them? Dream come true for Reese. Even if Soldier mocked her and warned her not to bring out the corkboard with her theories about how the ancient gods were still controlling the world in secret, letting people think that they had disappeared. Not that that was Reese’s theory, no. But then, Soldier was just like Prof. Alraune in some ways. Insisting that there was nothing that could be a conspiracy or a secret kept by the government that couldn’t be also explained by simple coincidences. But then, Soldier had been, well, a soldier. He was trained to think like that and thus, Reese didn’t blame him.

Steven was different, she could tell. He would listen to her about the cult of Ammit that hid in Europe, signaled just by people with tattoos in their forearms, and how they had infiltrated many high places in Europe, Britain and probably the US too. About the strange lights in Cairo the month before, and how people had died with no signs of any real cause of death. And of course, about the robberies in many museums that were all around two deities: Khonshu and his mother Mut.

If he listened to her… if he believed her? Then Reese would be very glad to introduce Dr. Badr to her new friend.

*          *          *

 Marc knew that going to Steven with the image of the woman he had remembered was a bad idea, at least for now. Steven was already too nervous about talking to Reese, and Marc didn’t want to add anything to his plate right now.  However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t talk to someone about his memory, which was why he was knocking on Jake’s room’s door in their mind world.

“¡Está abierto!” Jake yelled from inside, and Marc entered, not surprised to see that the room looked like a garage… nor that there was no longer a bed inside. There wasn’t a bed on his own room either, nor in Steven’s, Marc knew. It was as if they all had decided that the massive bed that mirrored the one in the real world’s apartment was perfect for them, that they didn’t need to sleep alone ever again, at the same time without needing to actually talk about it.

“Hey, Jake… Any advance on your memories?” Marc asked, sitting on the first chair he found. Jake, who was at the time punching a punching bag, smiled at him.

“Tengo un par de pistas para seguir, ¿Tú?” There was something in Jake’s smile that eased Marc’s nervousness about talking to him without Steven. Jake probably was thinking on the same lines Marc was, about not adding to Steven’s worries.

“I remembered someone strange,” Marc said. He hadn’t brought his memory’s VHS with him, but he guessed he could invite Jake back to his room to watch it if Jake asked for more details. “A woman at one of Roro’s parties, wearing a Khonshu’s necklace.”

“Eso suena a una pista bastante defintiva,” Jake frowned, stopping his workout and looking at Marc, his eyes dark and serious. “¿Recuerdas su nombre?”

“Sorry, no,” Marc shook his head. “It was a hazy memory, at least two years before… you know, the cave…”

“No es tu culpa que no te acuerdes,” Jake sighed, then slowly explained his idea about asking a friend of his to look into the Spectors’ past, before going guns blazing to talk to the Rabbi. “¿Qué piensas, Marquitos? ¿Estás de acuerdo? ¿O prefieres ir a hablar con el hijo de puta que nos separó porque tener un hijo con una condición mental era terrible para su imagen, pero una esposa abusiva podía perdonarse porque nadie lo veía más que él?”

“You trust this friend?” Marc asked, and Jake nodded. Funny how not a week ago, with anyone else, Marc would be asking more details about the friend, but now, he only needed to know that Jake trusted them. “Then next time you front, call them. Let’s get those answers sooner, rather than later. And when we know the truth? Then we can go and punch Rabbi Spector’s face.”

*          *          *

Steven felt nervous and alone, as he waited for Reese to sign out so they could go get lunch at the vegan café that he always passed by when coming to work, but with the gift shop’s schedule had never had a chance to try.

He knew he wasn’t alone, he could feel both Marc and Jake inside their inner world, but both their presences were muted, as if they were either not paying attention or asleep at the time. Steven hoped that they were asleep, given the crazy hours both kept. While he thought that it would be better if they also let the body sleep, because now he wasn’t very sure how many actual sleep hours it had since Steven and Marc remembered Jake, he also thought it was far more important for their souls to rest.

Part of him wondered what his past self, the one who had just discovered that he had “a little American” living inside his head and still considered the body “his”, would think of how Steven thought about everything now. Probably a bit horrified, given how he had reacted at knowing that he had come to be after Marc, and not before.

Steven shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. While he had been a real prat back then, he had an excuse. He hadn’t actually remembered pretty much all their childhood and teenage years, so he should give himself some credit. Once he had realized the truth, accepted how much he loved Marc, and seen how much Marc had suffered when he thought he was all alone? He had changed his tune.

“What’s so funny?” Reese asked, as she came down the steps of the museum, two at a time. “You told yourself a joke you hadn’t heard before?”

“No, I was just thinking on how much my life has changed since… uhm... my breakdown,” Steven had no other way to explain his feelings or the timeframe, so he settled with that. Again, it was not as if everyone at the museum hadn’t heard about it. “How much I’ve changed.”

“Well, I didn’t know you back then, so can’t say if you’ve changed or not,” Reese replied easily, as she led him towards the café. “But I can say I really like the guy you’re now. Pretty friendly and easy going.”

“It helps that you also like talking about ancient Egypt and their culture,” Steven told her, smiling shyly. “Donna… I mean, my previous boss at the gift shop? She hated it when I said anything to her that was not selling the wrong stuff to people. I mean, I still don’t get the sugar mummies…”

“They didn’t have sugar in Ancient Egypt!” Reese interrupted, and he opened his eyes wide, amazed. That was exactly what he said every time, and now someone actually understood. “And even if they had, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t eat it in the form of their ancestors! It’d make more sense if we sold, say, honey scarabs!”

“Exactly!” Steven laughed and they spend the rest of the way to the café arguing about the general mistakes on the merchandize Steven had been forced to sell to visitors for months, although they both agreed that the Ennead plushies, while a bit disrespectful, were incredibly cute. “It’s a pity we don’t have one of Khonshu…”

“Well, people would confuse him with Horus, too many falcon-headed deities in the Ennead,” Reese replied as she ordered their lunch, given that she knew their menu better than Steven. It was also great to have a coworker that was vegan and wouldn’t mock his choices of food.

“Khonshu is not exactly a falcon… he’s more like a corvid…” Steven said, before he could stop himself. It seemed that not just Marc and Jake were extra defensive of their father now.  And comparing Khonshu to the jerk Horus was something that he couldn’t accept.

“Oh? And how do you know that?” Reese smiled as she sat with him on the table they had chosen, near the door so they could also people watch. “Do any of the tablets you’ve been reading have a description of him?”

“Uh… no but… “ Steven stammered, wondering where Jake and Marc were. He had just walked into an answer he couldn’t explain easily, after all he couldn’t tell Reese that he knew that Khonshu was a corvid because his skull was not in the same shape as a falcon skull. “I mean, falcons are not usually nocturnal, are they? So, it wouldn’t make sense for a Moon god to be a falcon?”

“Relax, Steven, I was just teasing,” Reese laughed. “I know that Khonshu is not a falcon… That particular theory is pretty recent and I’m pretty sure it was created by someone who had an interest in making sure he was registered as a minor deity.”

“That… is the conspiracy Prof. Alraune says you shouldn’t share with me?” Steven blinked as the barista brought their order. “The one he keeps yelling that it doesn’t exist?”

“Yep, wanna hear about it?” Reese offered, grabbing a strawberry from her salad.  “We can go through the highlights and then you can tell me if I’m insane or if what you’ve seen in the last few days confirms my thoughts!”

Steven nodded, not wanting to go on in a tangent that could take time away from Reese’s explanation, thanking Khonshu because thanks to his lessons in hieroglyphs as a kid, he had gotten the chance to meet her.

*          *          *

What do you mean I wasn’t trapped in an Ushabti? Khonshu frowned as he listened to Wong tell him the story about the day when Igraine and her students rescued him from his High Priest. I had to have been! I don’t remember anything from the moment I was summoned to the Temple to when the Ancient One was handing me my staff, a moon cycle later.

“Oh, yes. Your staff,” Wong chuckled, as if he was remembering a joke. “The Ancient One had a lot to say about your staff later. Because you were not in an Ushabti, unable to interact with our world. Instead, your High Priest had managed to manifest you in a human body, under his control. You attacked her and her students to protect him… until she took your staff and beat you silly with it. Her words, not mine.”

But… that is impossible. The Ennead can only possess their own avatar, and at the time I had no avatar. I hadn’t had an Avatar for decades!

“The Ancient One didn’t mention you were hard of hearing,” Wong admonished. Khonshu was getting a bit tired of mystics who talked to him as if he was a child. Just because the ancient Egyptians had believed him to be a teenager, it didn’t make him one. At least not now. “I said you were manifested in a human body, not that you were put in one. Of course, I wasn’t around, but the way the Ancient One described it, it was more like a golem? An artificial body made to keep you on a leash.”

To use my powers to… what? And then… why not tell me? She knew I thought I had been trapped… I would’ve apologized if I knew I had been forced to attack her.

“The High Priest’s reasons, she didn’t know. But I know why she didn’t tell you. Given how… lonely she thought you were in the Astral plane, she probably didn’t want to give you bad ideas. And then, when she saw your children…”

She first jumped to the wrong idea, that I had knowingly sired them… Khonshu said, slowly. But… given their ages, and the city… They were probably conceived that month. The month when I wasn’t in control of myself.

“And because of that, she was also wary about telling you,” Wong explained. “I believe she was afraid of souring your feelings about them if you knew their true origin… and realized you were forced into breaking one of your important rules.”

Nothing can make me stop loving my fledglings. I claimed them as my nestlings when I thought they were normal humans, and that hasn’t changed now I know they’re mine.  Khonshu said, slowly and clearly. He figured later, when he could process things better, he’d feel used and furious at what his High Priest had done. But right now, all he cared about was to find out all he could to help and protect his Scholar, his Explorer and his Brave One.  What I don’t understand is how I spend so long without realizing they weren’t all human… Other gods have seen them, and haven’t suspected a thing.

“That was the Ancient One’s doing,” Wong clarified, and his voice once again wavered, showing how much the librarian still missed his old master. Khonshu understood, as he felt Igraine’s loss keenly now. “When she put the protection spell on their souls, the day you showed them to her? She also put a glamour spell to make anyone who saw them see them as nothing more than an average human. Of course, now that she’s gone… it may not hold up to scrutiny.”

If Khonshu wasn’t a skull already, he’d have gone paler. Because he realized exactly what Wong was warning him about, given how in less than a month, his fledglings would be studied intently by the whole Ennead, who would not be merciful towards whom they would see as an insult against Ma’at.