“No and,” I said, “but yeah, those were his words.” I took a gulp of my Cherry Coke. Their house had one of those fancy pop machines that could make essentially any flavor of carbonated beverage. It was pretty awesome, and the sugar and caffeine were doing wonders to fend off the shock of the Netjer run-in. “What the hell—” I glanced at Reni, sitting in the high chair beside Lex at the table, snacking on string cheese. Her onyx ringlets appeared almost blue in the stormy afternoon light. “Sorry. I meant, what the heck is a fu—freaking Netjer doing here? Did Susie or Syris mention anything about a visitor?”

Lex shook her head, her fingers automatically going to the At falcon pendant hanging on a silver chain around her neck. It had been a gift from her godly children given to her just a few minutes before they left for the Netjer home universe three years ago, and it’s the sole link between this universe and wherever they are, at least so far as us lowly Nejerets are concerned. I crossed my arms over my chest and sniffed. Apparently some Netjers could come and go as they pleased.

“He had coppery eyes,” Nik told Lex, “if that helps the twins identify who he is. I think that part of his physical appearance was genuine, at least, though I don’t know about anything else.”

“He dissolved into one of those shining light blobs like the twins did,” I added, though I doubted that helped at all. I lifted my glass to take another sugary sip.

“I’ll talk to the twins,” Lex said. “See what they know.”

I bit my lip. “I don’t suppose there’s any way that they can come back here and, oh, say, deal with this whole mess, can they?”

Sighing, Lex shook her head. “I wish . . .” She picked a stray chunk of string cheese off her shoulder, seemed to think about what to do with it, then handed it back to her daughter, who grinned and popped it into her mouth. I wondered if Lex had been considering eating it herself. “They’re stuck where they are until the other Netjers decide they’re capable of tending to this universe.” Her shoulders bunched up. “All I keep thinking is that maybe the other Netjers sent this guy here to watch over things in the twins’ absence, but . . .” Her shoulders dropped. “I don’t know.”

I snorted a bitter laugh. “Well, if that’s the deal, he sure is doing a bang-up job.” Shaking my head, I tapped Nik’s arm with the back of my hand and said, “We should go.” We’d spent too much time discussing the “visitor” already, and Garth’s life was sand in an hourglass.

“Oooooh . . .” Reni pointed in Nik’s and my general direction. “Pretty colors!” She clapped her hands together, causing a few cheese bits to go flying.

I exchanged a quick, confused glance with Nik, then looked at Lex, eyebrows drawn together.