But a second later, I blinked and I was back at the house standing by the front door with Drew right in front of me.
We both clasped our chests as soon as we came to our full senses and I leaned against his forehead as we both steadied our bodies and souls from the shock of dying and coming back to life in an instant.
"That was horrible," Drew panted.
"Yeah, let's not do that again," I said.
I looked up at him and I almost burst into laughter from the relief. Almost. I held back because this was no laughing matter.
My brother had gotten the better of us once again. It seemed whatever we did he was one step ahead at all times. I didn't know how he did it. How he knew what we were going to do and when. Time kept resetting so by all accounts he should have no clue we were coming. But it was as if…
"He was waiting for us," Drew said. "How?"
"I don't know, sweetheart. I don't know. But now we know so we can make different decisions."
Drew nodded.
"This time I'll clear Ani's mind so Horus's command doesn't work on him and we can get both of them out of there."
“At least the necklace worked. That’s something right?”
“Of course it is,” I said and cupped his cheek. “We’ve got this.”
Drew nodded and he grabbed the door handle bracing ourselves for another fight.
"Andrea, what is going on?" Yaya appeared at the landing of the hallway up the stairs, staring at her grandson.
Drew kept his gaze on the door, his knuckles turning white as he squeezed the door knob a little tighter.
"What do you mean, Yaya? Nothing is going on."
Yaya put her hands to her hips and her expression turned serious.
"Andrea, you better stop right now and explain what's happening or I'll ground you from here to eternity."
Drew rolled his eyes. "You can't ground me, Yaya," he started when the door and the door knob he was holding onto disappeared right before our very eyes.
"Want to try that again?" Yaya said.
Drew turned to face his grandmother and huffed. "Come on, Yaya. I don't have time for games."
"Really? It seems to me you have all the time in the world, considering how many times this day has reset."
Drew swallowed and I stood a little straighter, turning to the woman of the house.
I didn't know why I didn't think she'd know when the house looped us back but it made sense. She was a member of this family, she belonged in this house. She was even a part of this house in a way. Of course she would know. I could only imagine the questions she had.
"We're so sorry," I said and Drew turned to stare at me in shock. "What? I may be a god but even I know to respect a woman. Especially when she's right."
"I knew you were a good boy. You, on the other hand!" She turned to Drew and glowered. "Come on. I'm not going to wait forever. I could, but I'm not going to. I've got better things to do."
She spun around and walked into the kitchen. Drew glanced at me and with a heavy sigh climbed up the steps and followed his grandma into the next room.
When I walked in she was already over the stove splitting peppers and tomatoes stuffed with rice and ground beef and roast potatoes into three plates. She only sat down when she'd cut a generous amount of feta cheese and served it on a side plate.
"So," she started cutting through a chunky part of the feta with her spoon before dipping it in the rice. "What's been going on? Where is Evgenios? Why are you hiding things from me?"
Drew stared at his plate instead of his yaya.
