The two hunts (present day)

The 18 cats are scattered across the world and mostly not yet found. Two parties are looking:

The seekers (Vivek's side). - Vivek — the guardian who scattered the cats; now their minder, racing to reunite them. Keeper of the world map of the 18 Bridges. - Siru Agar — Femi reborn; her scepter-cane trembles near a hidden cat. - Marcus Gray — Babu reborn; a prophetic tattoo that shifts near a Bridge. Siru and Marcus meet "by chance" in a modern city, go about ordinary lives, and are slowly pulled into the hunt. They do not know they are reincarnations, nor that Vivek knew them in past lives.

The takers (Salugi's side) — "malefic but lovable". - Salugi — the dog, emissary of Anubis, Bastet's old rival and Vivek's exact opposite. He broke the sacred oath once; now he hunts the cats to take the Bridges. Charming, funny, never quite evil enough to hate. - Elsa Jones — Cleopatra reborn. Poised, commanding, vain; runs the operation from the back seat. - Harry Brown — Julius Caesar reborn. Strategist; keeps the wall of maps and red string. - Willy Jones — Ptolemy reborn, Elsa's brother in this life too. Simple, literal-minded, good-natured muscle; comic relief who occasionally stumbles onto the truth. None of the three know who they were. Salugi has not told them.