The Newest Initiate

4. No one

Bast reappeared, holding a couple of shoe-sized boxes, a paper, and a key. She sat it all down on the table we were sitting at.

"I've just gotten back from Cairo, Carter says 'Welcome', by the way, and bought you a staff and a wand," She nodded toward the boxes, "Your schedule," She indicated the paper, "And your room key," She lifted it up. "You'll be staying in Room 403. Have fun with the four flights of stairs." She winked at Blithe, and I got the feeling she did that on purpose to get even with us aking her up.

Blithe grinned up at Bast, nevertheless. "Thank you,"

"No problem," She replied to her, with soft eyes. Then she  turned too me and her expression read something quite close to 'Wake me up for this again and I'll eat you alive.' She smiled at me, momentarily baring her fangs as if she were warning me of the consequences of disturbing her slumber again, then left. She really did freak me out. 

"I-I'll show you to your room." I told Blithe.

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As we walked up the stairs, she asked me "Why couldn't you just go do that?"

"Because Bast is the only one who knows where the money is kept." I paused.  "She's the only one allowed to know. And we needed money for the wand and staff."

"Oh."

"I guess I had better teach you about how things go around here. You go by this schedule," I held it up, "until you choose a path to follow. When you do that, you get to choose which classes you take based on what kind of magic you use. Like, if you choose the path of Horus, you probably won't want this amulet-making class. Or this animal charming class. And you probably won't want Bast's nap-taking class no matter what you pick..."

She laughed, "That's real? I thought for sure Rick Riordan added that for humor.."

I halted, confused. "Added? And who's this Rick guy?"

"He's the author of the Kane Chronicles series. Don't you know about that?"

I faintly remembered hearing something about Sadie trying to get the word out to any magicians who weren't connected to the magic world. "No. I guess Sadie sent the tapes to him to get the word out."

"Yeah."

This left me thinking, if she had read the series, was she actually Blood of the Pharoahs? Or was she just here to see if it was real? If she wasn't really a magician, she could be exiled to Antarctica for fraud. After that, she would need her mind wiped completey of the magic world. But, I mean, who would put everything on hold just to see if a world in a novel was real? Of course she's blood of the Pharoahs, I told myself. No sensible person would leave their home to see if some fantasy world were real. She probably was like me, with a parent who wouldn't allow her to go, so she read up on it so she knew what to expect. No one in their right mind would pause their whole life to check out some fiction world. No one.