Chloe dropped her son off as usual, looking more stressed than she had in years. Andrew was her only child, and would remain her only child, for she was barren after his birth. Yakumi had prevented Chloe from having more children after bearing Andrew, though her last interrupted spell seemed not to have affected Sasaki and Takmet's children as of yet.

Andrew went to class as usual, and on that particular day he happened to have history…and they were in the middle of the Ancient Empires unit. And they just happened to be learning about Egypt.

He was incredibly bored in history. He thought it was so unnecessary. The high school boy was hardly listening to the teacher lecture on a particular era when a certain phrase triggered an automatic answer.

"The name of the pharaoh during this period was Seti. He had no blood relatives to take over the throne when he died, as he outlived all of his children. He was known for--"

Andrew's eyes narrowed. "He had a sister," he interrupted the teacher.

She homed in on the voice, surprised to see it was Andrew answering. "It's true that he had a sister, but she disappeared before he took the throne."

"Her name was Kheris," Andrew continued, as if he had not heard what his teacher had just said. "And she did return to Egypt."

The teacher looked at him strangely. "They only recently discovered an unmarked tomb a month ago that contained that name…"

"The pharaoh's best friend was her lover..," he continued, a malice ordinary people rarely heard building in his voice. "They protected Egypt."

"That's enough, Andrew!" the teacher commanded forcefully.

Andrew snapped out of it, looking startled. The whole class was staring at him. Meanwhile the teacher had begun lecturing again, a little shaken, ignoring Andrew's little outburst of knowledge.

Andrew was surprised himself…How did he know all of those things? He was sure of what he had said, now that he thought about it, and it scared him. Yet it had felt like he was not the one who said it, but more of a spectator.

Suddenly a terrible headache pierced his awareness and blurred his vision. A low rumbling sound echoed in his head.

His friend Brian glanced over. "Hey, are you okay, Andrew?" Andrew couldn't hear him. "Andrew? Andrew!" Brian yelled as Andrew fell out of his desk…and then there was darkness.

There was a whirling sound, wind buffeting Andrew's hair. He opened his eyes, staring at the landscape around him. Sand. A dark, aggressive sand that choked him and blinded him as the wind aided its assault. Andrew huddled against the ground, eyes and mouth shut to avoid the suffocating grains.

Abruptly the sound of the wind stopped and he no longer felt the sand irritating his skin. He cautiously looked up. A dark-haired woman stood looking down on him with what could have been mistaken for a fond smile.

"Stand up, Andrew," she commanded.

Andrew did so hesitantly. "Who are you? And where the hell am I?" He looked around at the vast expanse of desert that surrounded them, bewildered. He eyed the woman again. "And how do you know my name?"

"Tsk, tsk. You don't recognize your own mother…That's a shame," the woman pouted.

"Mother?" Andrew repeated, turning to face her again. "My mother is at home. You're no mother of mine."

"Oh, but I am," she smiled foxily. "I gave the material needed to create your life. Half of you is me."

"That's impossible. My parents have my birth on tape," he started…and then mumbled to himself, "Though I really don't know what possessed them to do such a disgusting thing…"

"Chloe may have given birth to you, but she is not your biological mother." She paced around him, eyeing him up and down. "Your mother took a trip into the past, sixteen years ago. She and her friends caused me a great deal of trouble while I was trying to gain access to a power only available through possessing the lands of Egypt."

"No way. Time travel is impossible," Andrew started.

"Is it now?" The woman chuckled. "Anything is possible, with magic."

"Magic is impossible as well."

The woman raised a hand and the winds started again, raising the sand from its resting place and provoking it into a maddening cloud that hovered around Andrew, scraping his skin. "And how would you say this is happening? Why am I here? Talking to you about your mother's adventure sixteen years ago? And controlling the environment of your mind?"

Andrew could not speak. He was focused on fending the small storm away from his eyes and face. Quietly the sand fell away. The woman grabbed the boy's forehead and held it, flooding images into his mind.

The intimacy between this woman and a man who looked very much like Nezra's father. The fight between this woman and Takmet, and his young mother's intervention. The pivotal attack that caused his conception…

Andrew pulled away, nauseated. "No..," he said, trying to balance himself.

"Why don't you look more like your parents? Because they aren't your parents, it's that simple." She let that sink in for a moment. "Come. Ally with me and we'll pay them all back for lying to you. For playing you for a fool."

"No!" Andrew yelled. "They are my parents! I would never turn against them after they've cared for me my whole life."

"And what about Sasaki? Takmet? They, too, have lied to you. They are from another time. My time. Ancient Egypt."

"I don't care," Andrew replied, starting to walk away. At least now he knew.

"If all those lies don't hurt you, then surely the truth that Sorus kept from you adds no pain? That he is, in effect, a prince. Or what Nezra kept from you?"

Andrew stopped walking, pain contorting his features. He liked Nezra. Very much. He hated thinking that she had lied to him. He turned around to face the woman.

"Let's punish them together," she said, holding out her hand.

The disturbing thing was, Andrew thought about taking it.

Suddenly there was another woman between them, back facing Andrew. She emitted such a forceful burst of power that it blew the other woman to the ground.

"Isis!" she hissed, whirling. "You have no business being in this boy's mind!"

"Neither do you, Yakumi. I have a responsibility to keep this boy sane against your taunting. Be gone, and let him be."

Andrew looked at the newly appeared woman in front of him, clad in Egyptian clothing. She vaguely reminded him of Sasaki, with her gentle yet forceful presence.

Yakumi sneered. "You can't rid him of me," she said as she faded out of sight. "I'm in his blood…"

The one called Isis turned around with a strained smile, and Andrew's world grew dark again.

"Andrew!" Chloe called desperately. "Andrew! Are you alright?"

He opened his eyes and blinked away his muddled thoughts. Andrew saw the speckled ceiling and smelled the atmosphere of what could only be the school's clinic. His stiff back reinforced that conclusion, as the clinic had no furniture a human could possibly call comfortable. He saw his mother, Sasaki, Takmet, Sorus and Nezra…Pain bubbled up again. It was just a dream, he told himself. It can't be as she said…

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked again.

"I'm fine, Mom. I guess I just passed out."

Sasaki looked worriedly at Chloe. "She spoke to him…"

Chloe's eyes widened and then narrowed in anger. "That--that witch! Did you tell her to leave my son alone?!"

"Hold on a sec," Andrew interrupted, sitting up a bit. "Tell who to leave me alone?" They couldn't have seen my dream, he thought.

Sasaki leaned forward. "You spoke to her. The black-haired woman."

"How do you know what I dreamt?"

Sasaki looked at Takmet and they exchanged glances. She looked back to Andrew. "We'll explain everything."

"Let's go home," Chloe said, helping Andrew up and out of the school's clinic.

When they got back to Chloe's house she called Vince to let him know what had happened. Andrew could hear the alarm in his father's voice, even though he couldn't understand what he was saying. After she hung up the phone she sat Andrew down with the others at the dinner table. They explained everything to him. The visit to Egypt sixteen years ago, the trip into the past, the danger, the fighting, the conclusion… The visions he had been shown were true. He was a mix between past and present.

After hearing all of this Andrew remained silent, soaking it in. His identity, his background…an illusion. How could they do this to him? Suddenly he stood up with such a force that his chair was propelled into a wall. He slammed his hands down on the table crying, "Don't talk to me! I don't want to hear any of it again!" He ran to his room and they heard the door slam.

Sasaki sighed. "This isn't good. I can't be by his side to counter Yakumi's attacks without direct contact." She paused a moment. Andrew was going through the same pain now that she had felt years ago, when first learning about her true identity. She felt sorry she couldn't do anything more for him. "I did say it might be better to tell him as soon as he was able to understand, didn't I? When I first learned of what had happened, so he wouldn't have to go through what I did." She looked Chloe in the eye. "Now he's going to have to choose… Between a family who lied to him and a new mother figure who might not."

"And what if he decides wrong?" Chloe asked, bristled by Sasaki's subtle, yet forceful accusation.

"Then we start praying."

Alone in his room, Andrew's tears soaked his pillow. Lies, and more lies. But at least now he knew. What could he do now? Just accept it? He wondered about that. Even after crying against his will, he still felt frustrated, alone, and betrayed. He hadn't cried since….he couldn't remember. But could he just forgive them all so easily?

Pain tingled just behind his forehead and the headache came out of nowhere. Again he was pulled into the desert scene. It was darker this time.

He heard her voice before he could see her. "Punish them instead," Yakumi tempted Andrew, already standing in front of him. "Family and friends don't keep things from each other. I showed you the truth." She held out her hand to him.

He thought about it only a moment. "No one will get seriously hurt?" Andrew asked, determination setting in. "I only want to shake them up a little."

"Of course not," Yakumi answered smoothly.

Andrew reached out, and Yakumi's hand clasped tightly to his…

He immediately felt himself jolted back to reality, and lost his balance as the world stabilized. Before he registered where he was, he heard a large humming hustle and bustle of what could be people some distance away. This was a reality he did not recognize, or was it even reality? And yet it seemed familiar to a part of him he had just awakened. He looked around, and found himself to be in front of an inn in an alley of some sorts. Andrew scrambled to his feet, not very comfortable with the feeling of being so exposed, and yet so constrained. The boy quickly found an area with more people.

These were not normal people. It was then he realized- after seeing the scant and poor clothing, the hastily built stands of merchants selling goods- that he must have been taken to the era his mother had visited, sixteen years ago. Panic flared. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the tips of the Great pyramids in the scenery. That confirmed it. He was stunned at the amount and the stench of vendors and customers alike. There were endless shops selling almost anything you could think of, with the exception of modern commodities.

Andrew walked among them, not being noticed for his odd clothing as merchants waved things at him in a language he could barely understand. What little he did hear and respond to was made possible by the integrating magic of Yakumi's consciousness. Gradually his connection with Yakumi became stronger, and their speech quickly reached a level that was easily comprehended. He continued walking, and soon caught the attention of a lone man who was taking his monthly trip into the heart of the city.

He scrutinized the boy as he walked by. A sensation the man hadn't felt in years flowed over him. A certain presence… The black-haired loner fastened his light blue eyes onto the boy and followed him casually, pondering the circumstances that brought this oddity into his city. Noticing his clothing some time ago, he assumed that he was not a native. The memories resurfaced, and though he had never seen clothing from that foreign time, he did recognize a certain attitude about the young man that reminded him of four particular young ladies he had met some time ago. The rushed, eager personality of travelers from the future. Soon the man came to the conclusion that this young man was lost, and he seemed to be no immediate threat.

"Excuse me," a voice asked from behind Andrew. "Are you lost?"

Andrew turned around. Something inside him told him to run. He heard her voice, and he ignored it. "Something like that," he replied shakily.

The man was surprised at the resemblance to Takmet. For a moment he thought Takmet might have…but no. He cared for Kheris too much to hurt her like that. Then it hit him. This was Chloe's son… This explained why he felt she was near, but not exactly present.

"Where is it you need to go?" he asked.

"I'm not sure…" Yakumi's voice grew louder. Andrew shook his head and yelled seemingly to no one, "Why run? He's nice enough!" He looked up and rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "Sorry, I don't usually talk to myself…but I seem to be going crazy." He collapsed with the effort of keeping his feet where they were. "Stop trying to control me! I'm not running without reason!"

"My house isn't far. We can talk there."

"Sounds good," Andrew replied, "but you may have to--" He passed out.

"Carry you," the man finished. He sighed and picked up the boy, carrying him to his home, his shopping left unfinished.