Mallos glanced at Danny and Cypress with a quirked eyebrow and an expression which said he knew exactly what was going on here. Thoth, still oblivious, slumped forward in the chair. He stuck his elbows on the desk and his chin in his hands, sighing pointedly.
“Yeah.” Mallos rolled his eyes at Danny, as if to say that figures. He looked at Cypress before adding, “exactly like his mother when she was that age.”
Thoth grunted, unimpressed at the comparison.
“Aren’t you supposed to be the god of adventure and mischief and taking risks?” He asked, raising his eyebrows at the god in question. “You’re going to get a new reputation as the god of lame at this rate. Can we go now?”
Mallos jerked his head to Danny and Cypress, indicating to Thoth to get out from behind the desk and go and stand with them. Thoth obliged, shoving his hands into his pockets and sloping over to his friends.
“Watch each other’s backs,” the sun god warned, lifting up one hand. Golden light started to spiral down his arm towards his palm. “Dying on Earth would be more lame than not sending a bunch of teenagers there.”
He closed his hand into a fist. The world shifted, falling into black, and Cypress, Danny and Thoth reappeared somewhere entirely different. Wherever they were, it was raining lightly and a sharp wind bit their cheeks. Thoth pushed his now-damp hair out of his face as the weather toyed with it, squinting at the rolling green hills stretched out as far as the eye could see – which wasn’t very far, since grey mist hung heavily over the horizon. There was nothing here. Trees, grass, bad weather – but no sign of fairy or human life. Thoth turned on the spot, intending to do a 360, and his jaws slackened slightly.
Oh. There it was.
His eyebrows disappeared under his hairline at the sight of his inheritance: a sprawling, grey-stone, three-story manor house. Topiaries lined a pathway straight to the front door, which was grand enough to have its own tiny roof held up by four Greek-style pillars. A pond with a fountain adorned the gravel drive, shooting water at least thirty feet into the air. It took a second for Thoth to find his voice.
“Uhh,” he glanced sideways at Cypress, “I don’t think finding the money to start your business is going to be a problem.”
With a half-shrug, he started walking towards the house. It was further away than it had seemed; with each step, it loomed larger and larger. Even from the outside, it had the air of a place which had been empty for a long time. The windows were dark, the curtains drawn. Thoth’s feet felt heavy as he climbed the stone staircase to the front door, fishing in his pocket for his skeleton keys. As Danny and Cypress followed him up the steps, he picked at the lock with his keys until he found one which worked. The door creaked and complained as he pushed it open, stepping into a gloomy hallway. A wide staircase directly in front of them led up to the next floor, while two doors either side of them went off to what were presumably guest or function rooms.
Thoth walked a little further in to give Danny and Cypress room to follow. He inhaled, ignoring the barrage of emotions threatening to take hold and focusing on his magic instead. He spread his hands apart, drawing all the rainwater off the three of them, leaving them bone dry. With a twitch of his hands, the rainwater joined together into a single ball and shot out of the still-open door, splashing to the ground on the gravel near the fountain.
Now that he’d led them here… what were they supposed to do next? Thoth hesitated, clearly at a loss for what to do.
MASTER OF THE ORBIS . MASTER OF THE WATER ELEMENT . SON OF AURA