Flora’s POV:

We pulled slips of paper to see who would get to go on the mission. I was a little upset that I didn’t get a check mark, but it was probably for the best. Willem had been asking me all types of questions lately.

“So, what are we facing this time?” Ulrick asked.

“More importantly, where do we get to go?” Od asked. “Hawaii? California? New York?”

“Cairo.” Jeremy said. When Od gave him a blank look, he said “In Egypt.”

“Oh.”

“As for what you’ll be up against, take a look at this news broadcast from earlier this afternoon.” Jeremy said as he hit a few buttons on the computer.

“...Thank you, Sally. We’ll check back soon. We now go to Egypt where a man is claming to be a descendant of Ra, Egypt’s ancient sun god. Over to you, Linda.” The camera shifted to anther reporter standing outside of the Great Sphinx of Giza.

“Thank you Jim. It was right here, just a few hors ago, that Seth Powers declared to the press that he was Ra’s son. We were lucky enough to be on the scene for this young man’s speech & demonstration of his godly powers.” The footage of the speech began to play. Basically, the guy went on & on about his life story. It wasn’t until he sent lightning out of his hands that Jeremy paused it.

“That looks exactly like the lightning that people XANA’s gotten to looks like!” I said.

“Need more proof?” Jeremy asked as he zoomed in on the frame. XANA’s symbol was in Seth’s eyes.

“Woh…” Od said.

“The bad news is, we’re not the only people who have noticed this.” Alita said as she pulled a tabloid out of her bag.

“Alien Freak Clams to be Ra’s Little Boy.” Yumi red aloud. “I don’t get it. XANA works in secret. He would never be this obvious…”

“Unless it’s a trap.” Ulrick finished.

“Or a way to distract us.” Alita said. “In a way, it’s kinda a good thing that only a few of us are gong. Yumi, Ulrick, Od, when Jeremy & I have flight info for you, we’ll let you know.”

*^*^*^*^*^

“Flora!” Willem called to me as I entered the dorm building. Alita had stayed with Jeremy to finish the details of the trip.

“Hey, Willem, what’s up?” I said, trying to play it cool.

“Nothing much. Did you see this?” He handed me the exact same tabloid Alita had, with XANA on the cover.

I managed a small laugh. “Come on, Willem, everything written in these things is garbage. Why are you giving this to me?”

“Because I know you took my place, & I intend to get it back.”