the
Unexpected Visitor Fanfiction based on The Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson Series
Yvonne Huang
Copyright Š 2019 by Yvonne Huang Based on The Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. First Printing December 2019
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Knock, Knock. Who’s There? . . . . . 1 Chapter 2: Talia’s Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chapter 3: I Eavesdrop on an Evil Ghost . . . . 12 Chapter 4: Talia’s Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Chapter 5: We Go Swimming in Egypt . . . . . . 22 Chapter 6: Cheerleaders Are Evil . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter 7: Don’t Bring Your Cellphone on a Quest Involving Demons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chapter 8: We Meet Setne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Chapter 9: Back to Brooklyn House . . . . . . . . . 57 Chapter 10: The Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Chapter 11: Talia Not Talia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Main Characters* Carter Kane: brother to Sadie Kane, Combat Magician, Host of Horus, the God of War Sadie Kane: sister to Carter Kane, Diviner, Host of Isis, the Goddess of Magic Amos Kane: uncle of Carter and Sadie, Host of Set, the God of Chaos, current Chief Lector of the House of Life, etc. Setne: a.k.a. Prince Khaemweset, Ghost Magician Talia: my own character in this book
*The characters are inspired by the Kane Chronicles and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.
chapter 1
Knock, Knock. Who’s There?
Sadie
I
t was quite a normal morning at the Brooklyn house. Carter and I were having breakfast with Walt, Cleo, Alyssa, and some of the other trainees. The ankle-biters were running around with Khufu, while the college students were sitting around the sofa, gaming and working on homework. Philip of Macedonia was splashing around happily in his pool. I was eating my scrambled eggs when I heard someone knocking at the door. We all stopped eating and looked at each other. It was not often that people came here, since the
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mansion was invisible to mortal eyes. I stood up and raised an eyebrow at Carter, who was still enjoying his waffles. He sighed and followed me to the door. Outside stood a girl about the same age as me, about fourteen or so. Her brown hair was braided, and she had pale skin and blue-grey eyes. She wore a grey jacket with a light blue shirt underneath and grey pants. A blue waveshaped necklace hung around her neck on a thin leather cord. On her wrist, she wore a pretty silver chain bracelet with multicolored crystals that glistened in the morning light. “Um, hi,” she said, “May I come in?” “Of course,” I said. “You found the djed?” 1 She smiled and nodded. Something about her smile seemed familiar, though I was sure I’d never seen her before. Anyways, I was sure I’d place it later. She started to walk in, but a hieroglyph, a part of the defenses Amos set to keep unwelcome gods away, flickered. It created an inviolable wall blocking her from entering. The hieroglyph was blinking on and off, as if the house was confused. But after a few seconds of hesitation, it let her in. That was a bit unusual. Our defenses were much 1 The djed is the magical amulet Carter and Sadie used to lead kids with the Blood of the Pharaohs to Brooklyn House. [ 2 ]
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stronger than they were before. Still, I had a nagging feeling that something was wrong. All our trainees were staring at this newcomer. OK, maybe except for Khufu and the ankle-biters, who were still busy running around playing tag. “Well, welcome to the 21st Nome,” Carter told the new girl. Then he turned to our trainees. “Guys, say hi to um . . .” “Talia,” said the new girl named Talia. Cleo, Felix, Alyssa and most of our other trainees had already surrounded her, even Khufu and the ankle-biters. Felix was jumping around turning random things into penguins and asking for a welcome party and to skip classes. I told him no, even though I probably wanted a party more than he did. But we had to get classes done, and now without Uncle Amos, Carter and I had to act like the adults. The first period class today was Magic Problem Solving 101. Our trainees had gotten a lot better, so Carter and I set a challenge for that day’s class. I guessed Talia would
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have to watch the others; Blood of the Pharaohs 2 or not, this was her first day after all. The training room was about the same size as a basketball court. It took up most of the second floor and was quite a nice space for us to blow stuff up. “Okay, guys. Today we’ll practice some combat simulations. You guys are all pretty good now, so Sadie and I have a challenge for you today,” said Carter. “And Talia,” I added, “you can just watch today.” “I’ll be fine,” she said with that smile I’d definitely seen before. “I have some skills of my own.” I glanced at Carter. He shrugged. “We’ll be going one at a time today,” I explained to our trainees, “You’ll each be fighting six shabtis one at a time—” “Shabti are servants made out of clay or wax. They have multiple functions, one being that its master can use it to perform his or her duties in the afterlife. Other shabti can serve as decoys, companions, librarians, informants, and lots of other stuff,” Carter explained to Talia. “Anyways,” I continued, “Carter and I will be ready to 2 The Blood of the Pharaohs are descendants of the ancient Egyptain Kings and Queens. The have stronger magic abilities than those of most magicians. Only kids who are the Blood of Pharaohs can find the djed. [ 4 ]
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assist you all if anything goes wrong. Who would like to go first?” After a few minutes of deciding the order, I pulled the six shabti figurines from my bag and spoke the command word. Four of them grew into full-sized Egyptian warriors. The other two turned into sphinxes. “Begin!” yelled Carter, and the shabtis attacked. Julian summoned a combat avatar and managed to smash five of the shabti to dust. Before his avatar flickered off, Carter had to intervene. Alyssa concentrated, and the shabti cracked apart one by one. She destroyed all of them, but not before getting a cut on her arm. Felix turned the ground to ice, and three of the shabti slipped and fell so hard that they cracked themselves apart. The other three were turned into penguins. Walt just tapped on the power of Anubis and turned them to grey dust, but almost collapsed from exhaustion. Most of our trainees were successful in defeating all six shabti, but almost all of them also got a few cuts or nearly collapsed of exhaustion. Soon, everyone had gone except for Talia and Cleo. Cleo walked to the middle of the training room as Carter yelled, “Begin!” and the shabti advanced. Cleo was about to say a spell but tripped on some broken clay pieces and fell. [ 5 ]
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Before I realized what was going on, Talia was already there. I was about to run to aid her. Some of our best trainees had a hard time fighting these shabti. As far as I knew, she didn’t know any magic. Meanwhile, Talia just tapped her bracelet and said a word in—wait, was that ancient Greek?—and her bracelet turned into a gold and silver bow and a quiver full of silver-tipped arrows. Everyone gasped. She notched an arrow and fired with lighting speed at the nearest sphinx shabti. Her aim was perfect. The arrow made a hole in the shabti’s forehead, but it kept advancing. I was about to charge in and help, but Talia just tapped her bracelet again, and the bow and arrows changed into a glowing bronze sword. She leaped into the air, somersaulted, and landed on the sphinx shabti’s neck with her sword plunged deep into the clay as if it were made of paper. The sphinx cracked into pieces. One down, five to go. Talia turned to the next shabti. Immediately, the ground below it cracked, and a pipe exploded with such force that the shabti cracked and fell apart. She made a pushing gesture, and the water from the broken pipe imitated her action and pushed the third shabti to the wall. It shattered from the impact. I realized Talia was keeping them away from Cleo. If it weren’t for her, Cleo would’ve been badly injured if not [ 6 ]
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killed. She shot a fireball at another shabti, and it burned to ashes. From a pocket, she pulled out some seeds and threw them at the next shabti. In a few seconds, the shabti was tangled in grapevines. Talia turned to the last shabti. If a clay statue could look scared, this one certainly did. The air crackled with the smell of ozone. She shot a bolt of lightning from her hand, and the last shabti exploded. The room was quiet. Everyone was staring at her in awe. I was the first to come to my senses (well, obviously). “You saved her,” I told Talia. “That was so cool!” cried Felix. That I agreed. I’d never seen anything like it before, and from the look on Carter’s face, I knew he hadn’t either. “Class dismissed,” I told our trainees, “Felix, would you like to show Talia around?” Felix hopped around happily, dragging a tired Talia with him. He’s such a troublemaker that sometimes I forget he’s only nine years old. Carter and I were the only ones left in the room. He turned to me, “We’ve got to tell Amos,” he said. “Can you summon a portal?” I was going to tell him that we needed an obelisk, and we’d need to go to the roof when a voice spoke behind me: “There’s no need for that.” [ 7 ]
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I turned around. Standing in the doorway was none other than Amos Kane. He wore a dark blue pinstripe suit, a matching blue porkpie hat and round glasses that were tinted blue. His long dark hair was braided with glittering blue gemstones that I assumed were sapphires. The leopard-skin cape that marked him as Chief Lector was draped around his shoulders. Carter and I ran to him. “Uncle Amos!” I cried. He smiled and crushed us in a hug. It had been almost three months since we last saw him. Running such a large district as the first Nome must have kept him busy. “Amos,” I said, “Talia . . .” He pursed his lips. “I saw,” said Amos, shaking his head slightly, “I’ve never seen anything like it before. But right now, we have bigger problems to deal with.” I had a bad feeling about what he meant. “What?” asked Carter. Gods, he sure was thick sometimes. “It’s Setne, isn’t it?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Amos nodded grimly. I sighed. Why couldn’t we just have a few days to relax? We just stopped Chaos’ snake Apophis from swallowing the sun, and now Setne was doing who knows what with the spell Book of Thoth. It was just all so bloody unfair! [ 8 ]
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We were all silent for a few minutes. Finally, Amos looked around the training room. The floor was littered with broken ceramic pieces from the shabtis, the broken pipe was still gushing out water, and one of the walls had a long crack from when the shabti was pushed against it. “Hi-nehm,” he said. The hieroglyph for join burned red in the air, and the room repaired itself. Looking as good as new, even all the shabti figurines had repaired themselves and shrunk back to their statue size. “We will talk during dinner,” Amos told us, “and for now, you must rest.”
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chapter 2
Talia’s Diary
I
don’t know what I was thinking. All I know iss I shouldn’t have done it. Carter and Sadie could’ve managed it without me. But now they’ve seen my powers. I can’t let them know that we exist. At least not now, not so soon. I knew I would have to tell them eventually, but now was not the time. Dark times are ahead of us, and if my dreams are true, then we must work together. The dreams are what brought me here in the first place. They showed me a place where there were people like my mom. I’ve always wanted to see the Kane family mansion; Mom told me so many stories about this place, though she’d only been here once or twice.
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Someone was knocking at my door, and I just told them to come in. It was Sadie Kane. She said she came to ask me if everything was all right, but I knew she was also curious. I tried my best to avoid the questions like “how did you get your powers,” and she knew better than to push. After a while, she gave up and left, and the door creaked shut behind her. I summoned a few drops of water from my cup and played with it. I find it strangely relaxing to look at drops of water floating around and spinning in the air. The sunlight streaming in from the windows made the little droplets look like crystals.
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chapter 3
I Eavesdrop on an Evil Ghost
Carter
I
sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the pictures on my laptop’s screensaver. There was Dad, at a dig site in Egypt, smiling as he showed off a broken stone head of some kind of statue he just found. The blazing sunlight almost reflecting off his bald head. Another picture showed Mom bouncing me on her knee when I was still a baby. She kind of looked like an older version of Sadie, with the same blue eyes and caramel-colored hair. She was laughing and looking at me like I was the most wonderful thing in the world. Now the
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screensaver showed Sadie and me here at Brooklyn House, along with Khufu and our trainees. All of us laughing and relaxed. Felix was still busy summoning penguins and freezing random parts of the ground to ice. The screensaver changed again. Now, it showed a picture of Uncle Amos on stage playing his saxophone at what looked like a jazz club. He wore a blue silk suit with a matching fedora and dark round glasses. His cornrows were braided with gemstones as usual. He looked so happy and energetic in this photo, unlike now, with the responsibilities of Chief Lector on his shoulders. My eyelids were getting heavy so I decided maybe I could use some rest like Amos said. But just as I drifted to sleep, my ba 3 decided to go on a trip. I found myself in a dark room, floating in giant chicken form. A few feet in front of me was Setne, carelessly tossing the Book of Thoth in one hand. I tried to float over there and grab the book, but alas, I could only observe. Setne was talking to what looked like a demon, but it was different from any demon I’d ever seen before. Its upper body might have been able to pass as a human, but from the waist down, it had twin serpent trunks instead of legs. But the strangest thing was its eyes. They were golden and glowing 3
Soul [ 13 ]
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in the dark room. For some reason I knew the color was wrong, but I had no idea how. Then, the creature spoke. “Are you ssssure this will work? Why sssshould we follow you?” Its voice sent a chill down my spine. It sounded like two voices speaking at once. One hissing and one deeper and colder. “How can we trussst that a ghossst can ssssucceeded in ssssomething when even Gaea has failed?” Setne just looked amused. “You see, pal, I’ve tricked and stolen from the gods,” Setne said as he held up the Book of Thoth. “You see this little book right here; it’s got some powerful spells along with instructions for becoming immortal. Join us, and we shall share this immortality. Why wait tens and hundreds of years to slowly reform when you can have full immortality?” I could sense the magic laced with his words, half-visible hieroglyphs floating from Setne to the snake thing. But it didn’t seem to notice. After another long pause, the creature spoke again. “What makessss you think the Kanessss won’t try to sssstop you?” it asked. “Oh, the Kanes. I’m sure they’ll try. But the only one who might stand a chance is probably still in the first Nome trying to find the missing magicians. He won’t come here [ 14 ]
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again,” Setne said, chuckling, “but the desert is fine with me. And, Phoenix is quite a nice city.” With that, my ba swirled into the currents of the duat,4 racing back to my sleeping form. “Carter?” a voice said. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Amos was sitting at the foot of my bed. He looked worried. “A bad dream?” he asked. I nodded, took a deep breath and explained what I saw. Amos frowned. “Let’s wait to discuss matters until we’d assembled the entire twenty-first Nome,” he told me. When I went downstairs for dinner, Amos and our trainees were already waiting. I grabbed some food from the buffet table and sat down across from Sadie. I was about to dig in when I realized no one was eating. Amos sat at the head of the table, looking grim. The room was silent except for the sound of Khufu eating his Jell-O. Finally, Amos broke the silence. “Carter, tell everyone what you told me,” he said gently. I described my dream. Everyone was silent for a long time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Talia’s jaw tense when I described the monster, and she clenched her fists. Then Amos said, “I will have to make a trip to Phoenix 4
The duat is the spirit world of gods and magic. [ 15 ]
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tomorrow, specifically to where the Red Pyramid is.” He pursed his lips and continued, “I believe it might also give me some clues about the disappearing magicians.” “Wait, what disappearing magicians?” I asked. Across from me, Sadie rolled her eyes. “Many powerful magicians have been disappearing throughout many Nomes,” Amos explained. “None of our magic can find them. They’ve just . . . disappeared.” Across from me, Sadie sat up straighter. “Carter and I will go to Phoenix with you,” she said. “We will?” I asked. She gave me a dirty look, and I said, “I mean of course we will.” To be honest, I was in no mood to go on another dangerous quest. But we were Kanes after all. I guess it’s just a normal day for us. Also, I can’t let uncle Amos go alone. That place had some bad memories for him. Then, to my surprise, Talia said, “I’ll go as well.” Uncle Amos considered. “You are a powerful magician. But are you sure? It’s going to be dangerous,” he told her. Talia just nodded and said, “I’ll handle it. I just have a feeling that you guys might need some help.” “I’ll upgrade the defenses of Brooklyn House while we’re gone, just in case,” Amos told us. “Carter, Sadie, Talia, make sure to get some sleep [ 16 ]
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tonight. We’ll be leaving tomorrow right after breakfast.” And with that, we ate the rest of our dinner in silence. Later that evening, Uncle Amos came to visit me in my room. We sat together for a moment looking at the pictures on screensaver still running on my laptop. He saw the picture of him playing his saxophone and smiled. “Carter, have you been able to communicate to Horus lately?” he asked me. “I dunno,” I admitted, “Haven’t tried since well . . . you know.” Then I concentrated. “Horus?” I asked in my head. Here, he answered. Took you long enough to ask. I looked at Amos. “How did you know that I could talk to Horus in my mind again after all this time?” I must have looked stunned, because Amos offered me a dry smile. “Like Ra said, Ma’at and Chaos are linked, Carter. The gods had to distance themselves when Chaos was pushed away. Now, Setne is spreading more Chaos, which means Ma’at is returning. Well, at least for a little while.” “Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” I asked. Amos pursed his lips. “We will be going to the desert. That’s where Set will be the strongest . . .” He didn’t need to finish the sentence for me to [ 17 ]
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understand. Even though Set allowed our uncle to channel his power, Amos needed to use a lot of energy in keeping Set under control. Once Set tried to have “fun” by killing people. Amos was successful in controlling Set when he was battling the rebel magicians in the Hall of Ages; however, it seemed to have exhausted him. This time, we would be going deep into the desert, where Set is most powerful. “I just came to tell you to keep your guard up, especially when we get to Phoenix,” Amos told me. I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded. For a while, we just sat in silence. Hey, said Horus in my head, Why can’t we just do it my favourite way? Hit the enemy with a sword. If they rise again, hit them again. Repeat as necessary. Yeah, I thought. Best plan I’ve ever heard. Exactly, said Horus. Apparently, sarcasm wasn’t a thing in Ancient Egypt, because Horus never seemed to get it. You know, said Horus, there was a time where I was in a fight with Set . . . Oh boy, not this again. Horus can talk for hours about battles. We did not have hours to spare. “Will you please go away?” I asked, “I’ve forgotten how annoying you can be.” [ 18 ]
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Unfortunately, that came out aloud. Uncle Amos raised an eyebrow. “Sorry. Not you,” I told him, tapping my head. Hey, I just gave you perfectly good advice, said Horus. I ignored him.
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chapter 4
Talia’s Diary
W
e are running out of time. Our enemies are growing stronger faster than I realized. This Setne is already making alliances with . . . Well, I don’t want to mention them. But if they are joining him, I can only wonder what others monsters Setne already made alliances with. I guess you could say I always saw this day coming; it was rather just a matter of time. I haven’t really met Setne, but from the way Sadie described him, we’re in bigger trouble than I’d realized before. They are already a full step in front of us, and as far as I know, the magicians here don’t even know what we’re up against. But it may be better this way. They are not
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ready, which brings me back to my point: we are running out of time. Something else bothers me, though. Something about this trip makes me hesitate. Something is telling me this is wrong, perhaps even a trap. But what other choice do we have? We don’t have much time left. I guess the only thing I can do now is to be on alert and watch our backs.
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chapter 5
We Go Swimming in Egypt
Sadie
W
hen I went downstairs for breakfast, Carter was already digging in, his plate stacked high with pancakes drowning in maple syrup. I grabbed a cup of strong tea with a plate of waffles and sat down. Amos and Talia came down a few minutes later. Amos was dressed in a black wool Italian suit with a black trench coat. His dark round glasses are newly polished, and his cornrows are braided with black gemstones—obsidian perhaps, or maybe black jasper—I’m not quite sure. I’m not an expert on gemstones.
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Talia on the other hand, wore a dark blue hoodie with black pants. She had her hair braided down the left side. She had a small backpack slung over a shoulder, the same one she came here with. She looked so much like a normal 14-year-old girl, that it made what happened in the training room yesterday feel like a dream. We set off to the roof after we finished our breakfast. Carter looked unusually tense for some reason and kept glancing at Amos. I felt like I was missing something. “What?” I finally asked. “What’s wrong?” But Carter just shook his head. I guess I’d have to pry it out of him later. I tapped on the power of Isis and summoned a portal from the small stone sphinx we got from the ruins of Heliopolis. “Camelback Mountain in Phoenix!” I told it. Strangely, nothing seemed to happen. I frowned. “W’peh!” I said. Finally, it began to glow, a swirling vortex appeared, hovering a few centimeters above the ground. I jumped through. Carter, Amos and Talia followed. I expected to feel the hot desert air and harsh sunlight burning on my skin, but instead, a wave of cold water knocked into me. I found myself about ten meters underwater. I panicked and choked on the water. The water was salty, so salty [ 23 ]
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and cold it tasted bitter. My eyesight was getting blurry. I could barely make out the shapes of appearing beside me. I knew how to swim, sure, but this was different. Imagine stepping out of your house to go for a walk and when you open the door, you find yourself standing in the deep end of a pool. You get so panicked that you simply forget how to swim. I tried to speak a divine word, but I just ended up choking on more water. Calm yourself, said Isis in my head. Easy for her to say. Wait, how come she was back? Maybe I was starting to imagine things. I thrashed around, trying to get to the surface. My eyesight started to dim, and my whole body screamed for oxygen. Suddenly, someone grabbed my shoulder, and I shot upwards like a canon. I broke the surface, coughing. Then the same force pushed me onto the beach. I lay on the hot sand, gasping for air. “Are you ok?” asked Talia, who was standing next to me. I tried to speak, but Talia interrupted me. “Don’t talk,” she told me. “Wait here, I’ll go get Carter,” and with that, she disappeared into the waves. Finally, I found the strength to sit up. Amos was standing a few meters to my right, looking out to the [ 24 ]
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sea, but Carter and Talia were still nowhere to be found. I started to panic again; Talia had been underwater for at least three minutes. I wondered if Amos was thinking the same thing. Suddenly, Talia surfaced. Dragging an unconscious Carter with her. I rushed towards him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw our uncle doing the same. Talia placed Carter on the sand. I knelt next to him and checked his pulse. His heart was still beating, but he wasn’t breathing. I searched my brain for possible spells but found none. I looked at Amos, but he shook his head. “We need a healer,” he said looking worried, “and fast.” “There’s no need for that,” said Talia. She reached out and touched Carter’s forehead. Immediately, water shot out from his mouth and he started coughing. Then, his eyelids fluttered open, and he sat up. We looked at Talia in amazement. Then, I noticed something else. While the rest of us (Carter, Amos and I) were dripping wet, Talia was perfectly dry. Talia shifted uncomfortably under our gaze. “Um,” she said, “I’ve never been to Camelback Mountain in Phoenix before, but I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to be underwater or even near the ocean.” I looked around the landscape. “Anyone have any idea [ 25 ]
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where we are?” I asked. I figured that I wasn’t going to walk around on the streets asking locals which country this was. “Alexandria in Egypt,” said Amos. “It’s tricky to travel here, because this is where the Egyptian empire fell apart, so magic tends to get twisted. The only working portals are under thirty feet of seawater.” I signed. “Great. Now how are we supposed to get to Phoenix?” Talia thought for a moment and said, “I have a way for us to get there, but we will have to wait till nighttime. Also, with this distance, we will have to stop somewhere in Brazil.” She shook her head. “Maybe we could try that portal again.” “No, we can’t,” said Carter. “An artifact overheats whenever it creates a gate. It requires a twelve-hour cooldown before it can be used again.” “How about we drive to the first Nome? It’s only about three and a half hours. We could use the obelisk at the Cairo Airport,” Amos told us. “Yeah, good idea,” I said. We trudged across the sand. My soaking wet clothes sticking uncomfortably on my skin. Talia seemed to notice our discomfort. [ 26 ]
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“Here,” she said and touched my shoulder. Instantly, my clothes dried. Then she did the same for Carter and Amos. “How . . . ?” I started to ask. “I mean I thought magic doesn’t work here.” “This is, well . . . different,” Talia answered after a pause, though I noticed the sudden tension in her jaw. Since she had just saved our lives, I didn’t push her. I figured I didn’t want her to regret her choice. We continued walking silently, though I noticed Amos frowning as if he was sensing something weird. We were halfway across the empty beach when Carter spoke. “So . . .” but he didn’t get the chance to finish. Talia stopped abruptly, leaving us no choice but to stop as well. I opened my mouth to speak, but Talia yelled, “Look out!” and pulled me to the right. An arrow sprouted on the sand where I’d been standing a second ago. Amos tensed. From the duat, he summoned his wand and staff. Carter summoned his khopesh. Talia stepped forward, “Show yourselves!” she yelled at the empty space in front of us. Only problem was, it wasn’t empty space. Eight snake [ 27 ]
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people appeared out of thin air, completely surrounding us. Their top halves looked rather humanoid except for their eyes, which were yellow and reptilian. Instead of legs, they had twin serpent trunks, and they had fangs like a snake and black, forked tongues. They all held a shield and a sword. Except for the one that must have been their leader, who wore armor and held a bow as well as a sword. On my left, Talia gritted her teeth and muttered something under her breath. “When did your people start serving that ghost?” Talia asked. “Oh, we don’t sssserve him,” spat one of the monsters. “We made an alliance.” “We chossse our own path now, and thissss one bringsss usss the most godling flesssh,” said another. “We sssshall sssstart with you, daughter of the sssseasss. I can smell the fresssh ssssalt in your blood, after that we sssshall have the magicianssss as desssertss,” hissed the one that looked like their leader. Talia’s face was red with rage. She tapped her bracelet, and it turned into a bow and arrows. “I don’t think so,” she said in a calm but dangerous tone, “You’re going to Tartarus.” With that, she notched an arrow and fired. It hit its target [ 28 ]
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straight through the neck. The humanoid snake-creature dissolved into sand. But that only seemed to anger the rest of the group. They charged. Two of them went for Amos, one for me and one for Carter. The rest circled Talia. Amos shot lighting from his staff, though it seemed much weaker than usual, and that he already looked tired from the effort bothered me. Carter was fencing with the snake thing using his khopesh. They slashed and parried and blocked. I didn’t know who had the upper hand. Carter might’ve been a better swordsman, but the snake thing had a shield. He tried to summon his avatar, but it only flashed for half a second before dropping an extremely tired looking Carter to the ground. I wasn’t having much luck either. The snake thing advanced on me, and I yelled the first spell that came to mind. “Tas! ” I cried. Magical ropes immediately tied up the snake thing, but I was left so exhausted I couldn’t even stand. I sat on the ground gasping for breath. Almost all my energy seemed to have drained from me the moment I spoke that spell. The only one of us who was having some luck was Talia. She spun and parried and slashed with her glowing sword. The snake people were no match for her. She rolled under [ 29 ]
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the legs, wait, I mean trunks of one of the snake monsters, only to come up behind it with her sword plunged deep into its back. She dodged their strikes with inhuman speed and agility. it reminded me of Bast. Soon, all the snake people were reduced to sand. I couldn’t help but marvel at her skills. Carter, Amos and I were all breathing hard, but Talia still seemed ok. I guess this was what Amos meant by magic tends to get twisted. One simple tas spell left me drained of energy. How uncle Amos managed to summon lightning in this place just proves that we have a powerful Chief Lector. None of us spoke on the way to the first Nome. My thoughts kept on wandering to what had just happened on the beach. I didn’t know why, but something about Talia’s power seemed so foreign. So non-Egyptian. It’s like these things she controls (water, fire, lighting, etc.) are a part of her. Something bothers me, something the snake people said, daughter of the seas? I was pretty sure I heard that, but the hissing was making my head hurt. But there was something else, too, one of the snake things said ‘godling’ like it was referring to Talia. But she couldn’t be. Something told me that if she were, I would know. And she said something about turtles, no, Tartar something. Great, none of this makes sense. I probably hit my head somewhere. [ 30 ]
chapter 6
Cheerleaders Are Evil
Carter
N
o one spoke for the first hour in the car. Finally, I broke the silence. “Thank you,” I told Talia, “You saved us twice today.” “Sure,” said Talia “We’re supposed to watch each other’s backs.” After a long pause, I said, “Those snake things, they’re the ones that I saw in my dream.” I paused again and thought for a moment, “But the one in my dream had golden eyes and spoke with two voices. These just have the hissing part.”
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Talia was quiet. She stared out the window as she fiddled with her necklace. Then I realized it was glowing silver. I blinked. I was pretty sure necklaces weren’t supposed to do that. I was going to ask her, but I decided against it. She didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk. So instead, I turned to uncle Amos (who was driving). “What were those things?” I asked. “I’m not sure,” he admitted, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” “It’s . . .” Talia started to say, then caught herself. “I mean, never mind.” And she returned to staring out of the window. None of us spoke for the rest of the car ride. I could tell that Talia was holding back on something. But something was making me hesitant to ask. We finally arrived at the Cairo airport. “So, um, what are we looking for?” asked Talia. “A large Egyptian ship,” I told her, “we’re using it for a portal to Phoenix.” Sadie took a deep breath. Amos seemed to notice her discomfort and placed his hand on her shoulder. “You can do it, Sadie,” he encouraged. “Look, last time
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wasn’t your fault. Setne must have cursed the artifact from Brooklyn House.” Sadie nodded. “Arizona, America,” Sadie said. I half-expected nothing to happen, but the all too familiar swirling vortex of sand appeared. We jumped through. I landed on top of Amos, but Sadie fell on top of me. I heard Amos groan beneath me our weight. “I hate this part about traveling through portals,” Amos muttered to himself. We appeared to be in the Egyptian exhibition of some sort of museum, but it seemed to be closed since we were the only ones here. “Where are we?” I asked. “Arizona State Museum in Tucson, Arizona,” Amos and Sadie said together. “How do you know?” I asked them. Sadie smirked and pointed to the wall. A giant banner with capital letters wrote: Welcome to the Arizona State Museum! Tucson, Arizona.” Sadie kept on smirking at me, so I turned to face Talia. Talia seemed uneasy, and she kept looking around warily. [ 33 ]
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Her necklace was glowing silver again. “Be on alert,” she told us but didn’t explain why. She summoned her sword, which couldn’t be a good sign. We saw them the moment we stepped out of the Egyptian room. Three cheerleader girls with wide smiles stood waiting for us in the next room. “What took you so long?” asked the middle one. Talia gritted her teeth. “Back off, Kelly,” she warned. “You’re betraying Lady Hecate by being here.” I didn’t know how three cheerleaders could be so scary, but Talia seemed nervous. “This is our crossroads, godling, Lady Hecate expects us to make our own choices. This path brings us the most godling blood. Besides, Setne offers immortality. Noone wasting years painfully reforming little by little just because some little girl stabbed you in the back,” said the one that appeared to be Kelly. Then she turned to me and licked her lips. Alarmed, Talia said, “Don’t you dare . . .” “Don’t we dare what?” cooed one of Kelly’s friends. “We feast on whoever we choose.” “No,” said Talia firmly. “What a shame,” said the one named Kelly, “and we
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usually don’t feast on girls.” She shrugged, “Well, if you insist.” Talia tightened her grip on her sword. The cheerleaders started to charge. Their hair turned into flames while their nails elongated into claws and their teeth into fangs. The weirdest part was their legs. Their left leg turned into something like the leg of a goat. Their right turned to bronze. Maybe that would make them slow. Oh boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Two of them lunged at me while one of them kept Talia occupied. They moved with lighting speed; Kelly would’ve bitten off my head if it wasn’t for Horus’s quick reflexes. I summoned my avatar. Immediately, I was encased in the glowing falcon-headed warrior. They clawed at my avatar, slashing and biting. They were too fast for my sword. I started to sweat. These cheerleader/bronze/goat things were weakening my avatar. Their forms kept on flickering from cheerleader to monster, monster to cheerleader. It was unnervingly distracting. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Talia finally managed to dissolve the monster into dust. That seemed to get the attention of Kelly and her non-dust friend. “You killed my trainee,” growled Kelly. “You shall pay for what you did, perhaps we should make you watch us [ 35 ]
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burn your precious little camp to the ground, and your precious little brother with it.” Despite the threat, Talia just rolled her eyes. “He’s my older brother,” she said, smirking. “Besides, you could never beat him, especially with Annabeth watching his back.” That was when my avatar flickered off. Kelly was about to lunge when a strong gust of wind knocked her and her friend into the far wall. Unfortunately, that only seemed to anger them. Kelly advanced on me again as her friend dodged the lighting Amos was shooting from his staff. Sadie stood beside him, waiting for the right moment. Finally, Amos managed to hit the cheerleader girl in the face with lighting. She stumbled, and, at that moment, Sadie yelled: “Ha-di!” The tiles under the cheerleader girl exploded, making the monster standing on top dissolve into dust as well. “Look out!” cried Talia. I was so focused on Sadie and Amos, I forgot about Kelly. Kelly’s claws and fangs were seconds before tearing me to shreds when Talia came out of nowhere and pushed me out of the way. Kelly sank her fangs deep into Talia’s shoulder. Amos [ 36 ]
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came up behind them and, with a strong gust of wind, separated them before blasting Kelly to dust. Talia fell to the floor clutching her shoulder. “My backpack, please?” she said, groaning. Sadie and I knelt beside her as Amos came back with her backpack. He unzipped it and handed it to Talia who muttered a thanks. She took out a Ziplock bag with little squares of something. She took one out and chewed on it. Her expression immediately relaxed. Then, from her bag she took out a canteen of something I didn’t recognize. She poured a little bit on her wound, and it healed in front of our eyes. That was when the police arrived. Amos looked out the window and cursed under his breath. “They blocked all the exits to the building.” “We’ll have to go to the roof,” said Talia. “Then what?” asked Sadie. Talia gave her a confused look. “We fly,” she said, as we stepped onto the roof. “I thought you could turn into birds.” “What about you?” I asked as Amos disabled the elevator, “We’re not leaving you alone.” “Who said I’m not coming?” Talia said, with a slight smile. [ 37 ]
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“Camelback Mountain shouldn’t be too far away if we fly,” Talia said. “But how . . . ?” My question was cut short by the pounding of boots on the stairs. “Quickly!” said Amos. With that, Talia leapt over the edge. Sadie screamed. We all ran to the railing, but Talia was nowhere to be found. Instead, a bird with a short-forked tail and very long sweptback wings like a boomerang landed before us. It chirped and flapped its wings frantically as if telling us to hurry up. I called on Horus and changed into his falcon form. When I opened my eyes, Sadie had already turned into a black kite (the bird kind, not the kind with a string) and Amos changed into a fruit bat. I was pretty confused on how Talia did it, but right now we needed to get away from the mortal police. We didn’t have time for their questioning, so we needed to get out of there as fast as possible. I flapped my wings and followed uncle Amos (who was still in fruit bat form). I had to constantly stop myself from trying to eat him. It was a wonderful feeling to fly. My vision was a thousand times clearer, and I could see so far. Look, a mouse—yum. [ 38 ]
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Wait, no. Carter, no hunting mice, I thought. The hardest part, though, was remembering what I was doing. Every time I saw a desert rat, a rabbit, or uncle Amos as a fruit bat, I intuitively veered towards it. A few times I caught myself mid-dive. It takes willpower to stay human. The more time you spend as a bird, the more you think like one, Horus reminded. I know that, I thought. It’s getting boring in here, he said. Come on, talk to me. I rolled my eyes, which must have looked weird considering I was in bird form. Alright, bird-head. I thought. You’re impossible, he said. We flew for a few more minutes in the searing heat of the desert. Falcons are fast, sure, but they aren’t creatures for the desert. I felt like I was being baked into a Carter-sized cake. The heat was making my wings feel like lead, and each flap was taking more effort than the last. The blazing sunlight was shining into my eyes, making my vision blurry. On top of everything, I was so thirsty and hungry. I hadn’t had a single sip of water or bite of food since we left Brooklyn House, which my sharp falcon senses told me was exactly six hours and thirty-four minutes ago. Well, that is, if you didn’t count the saltwater I had in Alexandria. [ 39 ]
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I could help, Horus urged. We could do it again. We can crush that stupid ghost in seconds. Not yet, bird-head, I told him. Soon, but not yet. Come on, he said, be my eye again. We can have so much fun. Think of all the power you’ll have. I sighed. I’d forgotten how annoying he can be. No. I told him. But soon, I promise. The landscape below us was starting to change. We were flying away from the city. Below us, buildings were becoming shorter and much fewer. Then it was just more sand, rock hills, and mountains. My senses also told me that I was flying northeast, which according to Horus, was where the Red Pyramid was. It’s also where Amos was leading us, so I guess he was right. Hey, said Horus in my mind, why do you trust him more than me? He’s the host of Set. You should stay away from him. He’s my Uncle! I screamed at him in my head. He’s keeping Set under control, and I trust him. Kanes. He muttered to himself, always so stubborn. Then to me, he said, He could barely control him in the first Nome. But this is the desert, Carter. This is different. Amos admitted it himself! I ignored him. All the arguing was giving me a headache. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. The heat, my [ 40 ]
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hunger and thirst, along with the headache a certain birdheaded god was causing me, it was just too much. I flew down and landed on the ground beside a broken sign of some sports equipment ad. Sadie, Amos and Talia followed. Sadie looked as hot as I felt, but Talia and Amos, on the other hand, looked fine. We changed back to human form and sat on the ground. Amos summoned food and drinks for us with a wave of his hand. “How are you not hot?” Sadie asked Talia, while she wiped her face with her sleeve. Talia shrugged. “Alpine swifts fly across the Sahara desert when they migrate,” she said, “So I figured they’d be fine in the desert.” “Wait, you mean you can change into more than one animal?” I asked. “So you’ve practiced magic before?” Talia shifted uneasily. “Yes, I can change into whatever animal I want to.” She hesitated and then said, “My mom taught me some magic.” I could tell she was hiding something, but I didn’t feel like pushing. But apparently, Sadie had other ideas. “You recognized the vampire things back in that museum. I bet you knew about the snake things as well,” Sadie said, matter-of-factly. [ 41 ]
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Talia sighed. “Yes,” she admitted, “the vampire things are called Empousai. The snake things, as you called them, are Dracanae.” Amos’s eyes narrowed. “They’re not Egyptian,” he said, more of a comment than a question. Talia didn’t answer. “So,” I said, between sips of ginger ale, “How much longer? And, where are we?” Amos was about to say something but was interrupted when a familiar voice spoke a few feet away from us. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” the God of Strength, Chaos, Deserts and Evil was leaning casually against the broken sign, with that wicked grin on his face. What does he want now? Horus muttered in my head. Can we destroy him? Sadie groaned. “Not you again,” she said. “Now, now,” said the God of Chaos, “This is how you say hello to an old friend?” “What do you want, Set?” Amos asked, clearly annoyed. “Oh, pick your reason,” said Set, “Perhaps I want to answer your question, Carter, or perhaps I want to give directions, or maybe I wanted to give you a warning.” “My question?” I asked, momentarily confused. “You’re in Saguaro National Park,” said Set. “Still a [ 42 ]
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long way to go. As for the directions, go north, and when you arrive at fountain hills, go east.” “Um . . . okay?” said Sadie. “Hmm . . . There seems to be one more thing . . .” He said, “Ah, right. The warning.” “What warning?” I asked. “Well, it’s why you have to take this route. That ghost Setne has got some demon friends guarding the main road. And you won’t be able to fly across that way either,” he said tapping his chin. Well, that was fine with me, since I didn’t think I’d be able to fly in this desert for long. “So, this way is safe?” asked Sadie. “Maybe, wait, actually, no. It’s not,” said Set. “But It’s the road with the fewest monsters.” I wanted to trust him, since he did fight on our side to defeat Apophis after all, but something was still making me hesitate. This was Set that was talking, and I knew there was a reason Khaemwaset got his nickname Setne. He does kind of remind me of that ghost. “Why are you helping us?” I finally asked him, “I thought you said you liked that ghost.” “Oh, Carter, Carter,” he chided, “How many times do you need me to tell you this? I like Setne, sure. He’s lots of [ 43 ]
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fun—the French revolution? Why not. But this is a bit too much. Killing a few people that get in your way and having some fun is one thing, but destroying the Gods and the House of Life? Consuming the essence of Gods to make yourself immortal? That’s different.” “Wait, he’s doing what?!” Sadie and I said at the same time. Set chuckled, “You two are quite amusing.” I could tell he was enjoying our surprise. “Set . . .” Amos warned. “By the way,” said Set, ignoring Amos, “He will need something to fuel this process, so good luck on not getting consumed.” He grinned and waved, “Bye!” He then disappeared in a puff of red smoke. “That was Set?” Talia asked, with one of her eyebrows raised. “Yes,” Amos replied, sighing. “God of Chaos, Power, Evil and Deserts. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he were also the God of Headaches, because he’s pretty good at giving me those.”
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chapter 7
Don’t Bring Your Cellphone on a Quest Involving Demons
Sadie
S
oon after our little encounter with Set, we started moving. We decided to take his advice on not flying (which I was grateful about) and for going to Fountain Hills first. Uncle Amos had borrowed a car, and, by that, I mean actually borrowed it, like rented it. Unlike a certain friend of ours, *cough cough, Bast, cough.* I sat in shotgun, listening to music as Uncle Amos drove through the desert. I was so glad I brought my headphones with me along with my magic supply bag.
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Earlier today, when we were fighting the snake monsters, I lowered my vision into the duat. What I saw bothered me. While Carter looked like his falcon-headed warrior, and Amos the Set avatar, Talia was surrounded by a blue-green aura. It was so thick and bright, and I couldn’t see through it. It also seemed like the light was flowing, like water. By the time we finally arrived at Fountain Hills, it was already late. We checked into a hotel and settled in our rooms. I was sharing a room with Talia while Carter shared one with Amos. I flopped on my bed; it was soft and comfortable, but I just couldn’t sleep. After half an hour of tossing and turning, I gave up. I crept out of bed, making sure not to wake up Talia, and knocked on Carter and Amos’s door. “Can’t sleep?” asked Carter as I stepped into the room. I nodded and looked around. Uncle Amos was sitting in one of the chairs, his nose buried deep in a book. Carter was sitting at the edge of his bed, clearly unable to sleep as well. For a moment the three of us just sat there in silence. Then uncle Amos asked me what was wrong. “It’s just . . . It’s about Talia,” I told him. “She’s hiding something from us, isn’t she?” “You remember those snake things we saw in [ 46 ]
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Alexandria?” asked Carter. “What did they call her? Daughter of the Seas? What was that supposed to mean? And they said “godling” as if she was one, and “magician” as if she wasn’t.” He paused. “Hey, are you sure they actually said that, and it wasn’t just my brain messing with me? Because right now, none of this makes any sense.” For once I had to agree with him. Uncle Amos, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. Then I remembered something he told us when we first arrived in Brooklyn, “Manhattan has other problems, other gods.” I gasped and looked at Amos. “What you told us when we first arrived in Brooklyn, about Manhattan and the other gods. Do you think Talia is from Manhattan? And what other gods?” “We don’t know,” Amos admitted, shaking his head. “We only know that they are definitely not Egyptian. Some of our magicians have reported seeing weird things there, especially the summer two years ago. We sensed a great amount of magic coming from Manhattan. Magic that we didn’t recognize.” “What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly curious. “What kind of magic?” Uncle Amos frowned, and said, “We don’t know. It felt [ 47 ]
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different from our magic, and it was so great, every magician on the West Coast of the US felt it. Not only did we feel it, some of us went to investigate, but we couldn’t even get in the city. It was like Manhattan was on lock-down. No one could enter the city, and it was unusually quiet, like the whole city was sleeping. There were also flashes of light so bright I saw them in Brooklyn.” “So, you think Talia is from Manhattan?” asked Carter. “Perhaps.” And there was something else. “Carter, do you remember when we first met Talia?” I asked. “Yeah, but how does . . . Oh.” Then I told Amos the story. He frowned. “Interesting . . .” Then he changed the subject. “The two of you should get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow,” he told us. Yeah, a long day of trying to survive an encounter with an evil ghost is what I don’t say. “Okay,” I said. At breakfast the next morning, I was feeling absolutely horrid. I’d barely gotten any sleep last night after I visited Amos and Carter. After I forced down a couple pieces of toast and a cup of tea, we got going. When we had just left the hotel, I realized I had left my iPod in the hotel room. Normally, I would just reach into [ 48 ]
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the duat to get it, but I needed to ‘reserve my strength’ for the surprise attack on Setne we had planned. So instead, I took out my phone—modern technology is so nice sometimes. Then Talia saw what I was doing. Her eyes widened and she cried, “No! Monsters can track phone calls!” But it was too late. I had already made the call. As Talia promised, soon after I made the call, these air demon things—which Talia called “venti” attacked us. We managed to put up magic shields just in time; however, that didn’t hold them long. Anyways, long story short, things didn’t exactly go as planned. The next thing we knew, we were being dragged through the air by those bloody demons. Confession time: my language probably would’ve made Gramps wash my mouth with soap for a year. But trust me, it was not a fun ride.
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chapter 8
We Meet Setne
Carter
T
he sand was getting closer and closer, and the air demon wasn’t slowing down. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact—when my feet went straight through—an illusion. Then it released me, and I hit the floor, hard. I was too nauseous to do much of anything except lie there gasping for breath. Uncle Amos was nowhere to be found. It didn’t help that my least favorite ghost was standing in the middle of the underground room with a smirk on his face. “Setne,” I growled.
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“Good to see you again, pal,” he said with a wide grin. “It’s nothing personal, but I’ll have to kill you. I can’t have you messing up my big day, you see.” I know, I know. Right now, you’re probably thinking: Carter, why not just summon your avatar and kill him? Easy right? Well, first of all, he’s already dead. So, I can’t kill him. Second of all, I was so nauseous from the trip that I could barely stand straight without collapsing. Yeah, I know, not a great state to be in while facing a ghost murderer. “Not now, “ he said, turning around. Sadie, who was sneaking up behind him froze. “I’d love to have some fun, but you see, I’m really in a hurry right now.” Then I saw what she was going for. The Book of Thoth was lying on the other side of the room behind Setne. He caught me staring at it, “I’m afraid I need that book.” With that, he held out his hand and spoke: “I-ei.” The Book of Thoth flew right into his hands. That was also the moment Talia fell through the ceiling. Setne’s expression remained calm, but I noticed he drifted a bit farther away from her. “Um . . . Interesting,” he said. “You’ve got the ocean in you.” Then he raised his eyebrows, and I caught a hint of surprise in his eyes. “Blood of the Pharaohs, as well?” [ 51 ]
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He was cut short when Talia fired an arrow that hit him square in the stomach. But he just snorted and absorbed it. “I’m already dead, so you can’t kill me again,” he said, “Besides, celestial bronze makes a nice energy snack.” What did he say? Celestial bronze? Behind Setne, Sadie was waving to get my attention. A question in her eyes. I nodded. “Now,” I said. Finally, said Horus, I was wondering if I would get to have fun at all. I summoned my avatar as Sadie yelled her favorite spell: “Ha-di!” Blazing gold hieroglyphs lit the room. But somehow, nothing exploded. The hieroglyphs glowed brighter and brighter as they burst into golden dust, which was then absorbed by Setne like the arrow. What . . . ? asked Hours in my mind. As if I had an answer! I was just about to ask him. Sadie looked stunned as well. Setne laughed, “I have more than Egyptian magic now. You have no idea how powerful the combined magic is.” He turned and opened the Book of Thoth. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.” Obviously, I would not. I exchanged a glance with Sadie, and a silent plan formed between us. I distracted [ 52 ]
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him while she tried another spell. As Setne started reading, I charged with my avatar. Talia closed her eyes in concentration. As I slashed with my sword, the ground around Setne’s feet exploded into a geyser of water. But the water all swirled around him, and with a flick of his wrist, it evaporated into vapor. Setne sneered, “This is the desert, water girl. Besides, your little magic can’t harm me now either.” Talia gritted her teeth. “Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “You haven’t told your friends about your little secret yet?” Setne asked a sly grin on his face. I hate to admit it, but he hooked me on that. I looked at her. “What?” I asked. “What secret?” Apparently, that was Setne’s plan. lightning shot from his hands as I was distracted. I would’ve been blasted to a crisp if it weren’t for Horus’s quick reflexes. I dove to the right just in time to see the tendrils hit the spot I’d been standing on half a second ago. Thanks, I thought. No problem. Setne was still continuing his spell. Sand swirled around him like a miniature tornado. “Get his attention,” Talia told me, “I think a have a plan.” Then she whispered something in Sadie’s ear. [ 53 ]
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I guess I didn’t really have a choice, so I charged with my avatar again. Setne just rolled his eyes. “Pal, I thought you’d figured out by now that you can’t harm me with your combat magic.” Talia was nowhere to be seen. But right then, I had more pressing matters to deal with: like trying not to be electrocuted by a ghost, for example. Thankfully, that was when Uncle Amos fell through the ceiling as well. He recovered quickly and summoned his Set avatar. Bolts of lightning shot from his staff, melting the sand at Setne’s feet. But Setne just waved them away and smirked. “I’m a Chaos Magician as well, Chief Lector.” He said the title like a taunt and returned shots of lighting. But they were absorbed into Amos’s glowing red shield. Suddenly, Talia appeared out of nowhere and shouted “Maw!” I frowned slightly at this choice of divine word. The hieroglyph for water glowed in the air. I’d seen hieroglyphs in many different colors: blue, gold, red, etc. Talia’s hieroglyphs, however, were different. They shimmered as if they were under water. Also, unlike normal hieroglyphs, they were multi-colored. Gradients from deep indigo to a shade of light aquamarine. But to my surprise, they didn’t fade away. Suddenly, I [ 54 ]
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could smell the ocean. A strong gust of wind carrying the smell of sea salt erupted from the hieroglyphs, followed by water. Saltwater. Setne frowned—probably confused on why her hieroglyphs hadn’t disappeared. But before he could try to wave them away, Talia made a tying gesture with her hands. The water stretched into ropes and mimicked her movements. Soon, Setne was entangled in them, struggling in vain to break free. For a moment, I just stood there completely stunned. Come on, reminded Horus. Focus! The job isn’t done yet. “Let’s bring him to the Hall of Judgment before he causes even more trouble,” I muttered. Setne managed an evil smirk despite being tied up. “Really, you think I would be here alone? Without guards?” He smirked, “W’peh!” The walls creaked and parted. Out came some of the strangest looking monsters I’d ever seen. There were more of those snake people and the vampire cheerleaders, but there were also human-shaped monsters with no heads, birds with wickedly sharp beaks and arrows as feathers, and some kind of half-seal, half-dog creature. Great. More strange monsters. “Sadie, now!” said Talia. [ 55 ]
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“Brooklyn House, New York!” said Sadie. My heart was racing, perhaps we still had a chance— “I-ei!” shouted Setne. My hopes crashed, but the next thing I saw was the swirling vortex of sand from Sadie’s portal engulfing us.
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chapter 9
Back to Brooklyn House
Sadie
I
have good news and bad news, so which would you like to hear first? The good news was my portal brought us to Brooklyn house. The bad news, however, was that by ‘us’ I mean Carter, Talia, Amos, and Setne along with ten snake people, three demon cheerleaders, seven guys without heads, a flock of demon birds, and half a dozen—well, if you take a seal and a dog and combine them, you would get something like the creature I’m looking at. Carter charged with his sword, taking on two of the
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seal-dog things. Despite their appearance, their flippers didn’t slow them down. They muttered something in a language I didn’t understand. Molten lava erupted from thin air. All of us would have been fried to crisps if it weren’t for Uncle Amos’s glowing red shield. Really, there are advantages to having the God of Evil, Deserts, and Storms on your side. Still I had to admit, it was quite strange to see a shield in the color of Set. But who was I to complain? Most shields that relied on the power of Ma’at would have burned away in such heat. All our trainees leapt into combat. Julius summoned glowing swords and slashed at the headless people, or the Blemmyae, as Talia called them. But the swords bounced off their skin without causing much harm. Sean and Cleo rushed in to help him. Felix summoned ice which caused one of the vampires with flaming hair to slip and fall over the edge into the East River. Alyssa was busy using her Earth Magic to block attacks from the demon birds. Walt was fighting the snake people with Jaz and Sean by his side. With just a touch, Walt turned one of the Dracanae snakes into dust. Even Khufu helped, throwing Doritos at the demon birds. [ 58 ]
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Amos kept Setne occupied, and occasionally summoned bolts of lightning from his staff to fend off the birds. I turned on two of the seal monsters. “Hey!” I cried, “Over here, Seal-dogs!” The monsters turned around and bared their teeth. “We are not seal-dogs!” one of them snarled. “We are the Telekhine!” said the other. Seal-dog number one muttered something in that strange language, and an axe with ghostly purple flames dancing above it appeared in its hands. Though the Telekhine didn’t seem to be burned, I could already sense the waves of heat rolling off the axe from where I stood. Seal-dog number two, who summoned a double-edged blade that gleamed wickedly in the sunlight, sneered at me. Hey, Isis, I asked, Do you by any chance know what they are saying? After a long pause, she answered: No, I’ve never heard anything like it before. But I’m sure it’s not Egyptian magic. This, I had to admit, bothered me the most. Isis never admitted that she didn’t know something. Especially things about magic. If the Goddess of Magic admitted that it was a spell she had never heard of . . . Well, I wasn’t so keen on seeing what other magic the Telekhines had. I began a spell but was cut short when the Telekhine [ 59 ]
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with the flaming axe sent a column of flame onto the walls of the Brooklyn house. I hastily spoke a divine word with the help of Isis. “Maw!” My golden hieroglyphs faded as water gushed out to extinguish the flames. I continued to cast spells against the Telekhines, and I was trying very hard not to have my hair set on fire. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Talia fighting the other four Telekhines. She had somehow summoned a miniature tornado around her. I couldn’t help but marvel at her sword skills. In only a few seconds, she exchanged multiple blows with all four Telekhines. Then, with lighting speed, she slashed her sword though one of the monsters, and it dissolved into a pile of dust. This momentarily distracted the two Telekhines I was fighting, giving me the chance to muster the energy for a divine word: “Ha-di!” The Telekhine holding the axe exploded, leaving no more than a pile of yellow dust on the floor. “Um, a little help here?” shouted Julius. The Blemmyae didn’t move fast, but Julius’s sword only left scratches on their skin which just seemed to annoy them. The Blemmyae started to advance. They ripped off [ 60 ]
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chunks of the floorboards and threw them with such force that Cleo’s magical shield shattered on impact. “Sadie! Go help them!” yelled Talia over the noise. “Your divine words would really come in handy.” Then, to the Telekhine I was fighting she said, “Hey! You want to get sent to Tartarus next?” It turned and charged at her. “Go!” she shouted at me. Surprisingly, I did as I was told. Soon, six of the Dracanae had joined the Telekhines, teaming up against Talia. But I couldn’t do much to help her. All I could focus on was shouting spells and divine words at the Blemmyae and conjuring up magical shields. After a while, all but one Blemmyae was reduced to dust. I stumbled slightly from the amount of magic I had used. My heart sank when I looked up. Somehow, Talia had faced six Dracanae and four Telekhines all by herself. And now, there were only four monsters left. But Talia looked exhausted, her forehead beaded with sweat. The miniature tornado was spinning much slower now . . . No, would that mean—I turned towards Setne. The bonds of water holding him flickered in and out of existence, though thankfully he didn’t notice. [ 61 ]
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“Carter!” I called, pointing at Setne. He immediately understood and ran towards Setne and Amos. I turned and started running to assist Talia, but she held up her hand. “Stay . . . there,” she panted. Her tornado was completely faded by then. She pointed at Setne. “Go!” “But . . .” I started to argue. She looked at me. “I’ll be fine,” she said, and plunged her sword into the ground. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. “Step back,” she warned, “And try not to freak out. I’ll be fine.” A massive wave rose up behind them and crashed down on the terrace, wiping all the monsters left into the East River and Talia along with them. I know she told me that she would be fine, but that was quite hard to believe right then. I ran to the edge of the terrace and looked down. My heart sank into my stomach. It was thirty meters—sorry, a hundred feet above the East River. There was no way anyone could have survived a drop that high. Even though she was a shape-shifter, I doubted she would have the energy left after controlling that much water. A shout of warning from Carter snapped me back to [ 62 ]
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reality. The fight wasn’t over yet. Setne’s bonds were completely gone. “Tas!” shouted Carter. But divine words were not his specialty. Setne snapped his fingers, and the hieroglyph disappeared. “Adiós,” said Setne, smiling. And with that, he disappeared. Leaving nothing but a puff of red smoke. No. We had not come this far just to have him escape again. But there was nothing we could do. Then I heard knocking at the door. Could it be—no. I refused to give myself false hope. But when I opened the door, there stood Talia, perfectly dry. “You’re alive!” I exclaimed. She frowned slightly. “What, the fall? That’s nothing. My half-brother once fell seven times that high from the St. Louis Arch.” “Your brother what?” I gawked. “Never mind,” she said, “Not important.” “Come inside. We still have a lot to do,” I said, holding open the door.
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chapter 10
The Prophecy
Carter
A
fter all that, there really was only one thing we could do—lunch. We all got our food and sat down to eat, though none of us really had that much of an appetite. We kept glancing at Talia who poked at her food. I didn’t know about everyone else, but I’d really have liked some explaining from her. Then suddenly, she sat up, eyes widened. “What’s wrong?” asked uncle Amos. “Not now, not now,” Talia muttered to herself, as we all stared at her in confusion.
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Then I realized her body started to glow. When she opened her eyes, they were misty. Then she said in a voice that was definitely not her own: Three must follow the half-bloods lead, West must they go, to the forbidden land. Wisdom’s daughter, Shadow’s master. Ocean’s daughter finds her brother. Under must the seven travel, Only then will the strings unravel. But if the dove comes to aid, A choice must be made. The death of all gods or the death of a friend. The Greeks and Egyptians combined prevail, Over the ghost who leaves no trail. For if they fail, The camp will fall. And fall will the house as well.
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chapter 11
Talia Not Talia?
Sadie
W
e were all staring at Talia. “What . . . ?” I asked. Talia bit her lip. “Tell us!” I demanded, “We deserve to know. You have been hiding something, and what just happened?” Talia sighed. “That was a prophecy,” she said. “A prophecy?” asked Carter, “What did it even mean? Greeks? What Greeks?” Talia was silent. All eyes were on her. “Well?” I demanded. “Sadie, please do not go around demanding answers
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from people,” said uncle Amos. Then he turned to Talia and said, “Talia, it’s your choice if you want to tell or not, but we will always be here for you.” Talia shifted uncomfortably from all the eyes that were on her. Finally, she spoke. “My real name is not Talia Smith,” she said, with her eyes on the table. “Um . . . Okay?” I said, confused now. “And I don’t actually look like this,” she said, gesturing at herself. “What do you mean?” Julian asked confused. Then I realized our trainees never knew about Talia’s shapeshifting ability. The girl whose name was not Talia cleared her throat. “I can shapeshift,” she said. “Wow! That’s so cool!” cried Felix. “So what do you really look like? What’s your real name?” She sighed. Before our eyes, she began to change. Her form was shrinking, her hair and eyes and skin darkening. Even her clothing changed. In a few seconds, a completely different girl was standing before us. She looked younger, around twelve years old. Her jetblack hair was tied back with a sea green bandana, and it was tumbling down her back like a layer of dark waves. [ 67 ]
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She wore a black jacket and a bright orange T-shirt that said “Camp Half-Blood” underneath. Just like me, she wore black combat boots. Her skin was suntanned, like she spent a lot of time on the beach, a hint of freckles sprinkled across her cheeks. And her eyes, gods of Egypt, her eyes. They were a familiar warm shade of brown, the same eyes as Amos, the same eyes as Dad. The difference was Amos’s eyes were always kind and sad. Dad’s were confident and calm. However, her eyes were soft and kind but somehow intense as well, on alert. Then, she spoke. Her voice was different. Soft and calm like gentle waves but confident as well. “My name is Kira,” she said. “Kira Kane.” Amos looked like he’d seen a ghost. “Rosa . . . ?” he asked. Talia, wait no, Kira, offered him an apologetic smile. Now I realized why her smile looked so familiar. It reminded me of Amos, and of Dad as well. It was also the one I saw when I smiled into the mirror. “Rosa is my mother,” she said. “Wait, hold on,” said Carter. “Who is Rosa?” “She is . . .” Amos hesitated and said, “My half-sister.” “So, we’re related?” I ask her. “Yeah.” [ 68 ]
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“Um, this is great and everything, but how does this have anything to do with the prophecy and your powers?” Carter asked. “I’m getting there,” she said, then rubbed her forehead. “As you already figured out—” she looked at Amos, “there are other gods, non-Egyptians ones.” “Like?” asked Alyssa. “The Greek and Roman gods.” The room was silent. “You mean like Zeus and Poseidon and Athena?” asked Carter. “Yep,” said Kira, “They aren’t just myths.” “So . . . you guys, what, worship them?” Carter asked. “Well, not really. It’s complicated,” she said. “But we certainly don’t go around imprisoning them.” “Okay,” I said, “So you just practice Greek magic?” “Well, no. That’s not exactly what we do. It’s not exactly ‘magic’ anyways,” she said, a bit frustrated now. But the frustration wasn’t directed at us, but herself. “I don’t know how to say this next part without making it sound like I’m insane,” Kira admitted. I laughed. “I believe it won’t be as insane as what you just told us.”
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She smiled. “Let’s see about that,” she said, taking a deep breath and came out with, “I’m a half-blood.” Carter looked confused. “Don’t say that,” he said. Kira looked confused for a moment, too. Then she groaned and face-palmed. “No, I don’t mean like that,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean I’m half human and half . . .” “Half what? Monkey?” Julian asked jokingly. Kira glared at him. “God,” she said, “I’m half human and half god.” We all stared at her. “Okay I take that back.” I said, “This is much weirder.” “We are called half-bloods, or demigods,” said Kira. Suddenly it all fit together. That’s why she confused our defences against unwelcomed gods when she first entered Brooklyn House. “Who?” asked Cleo out of curiosity, “Which god?” “Poseidon,” she answered. “God of the Sea.” Well, that kind of made sense now that I knew about it—the way she controlled water, her sea-green aura and the underwater-looking hieroglyphs. “So, all of you demigods can like control the elements and shapeshift?” I ask. “No,” she answered. “I’m a special case, you could say. [ 70 ]
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I don’t only shapeshift; I can imitate abilities as well. The controlling water and summoning miniature hurricanes are my actual powers, which I got from my father Poseidon. The other powers I learned to borrow from all the other demigods. Such as, a child of Zeus can control winds and lighting, a child of Hades can shadow travel and summon the dead, a child of Demeter has control over plants, and so on.” “So, you’re the only one that can do all that? Do you have any idea why?” asked Cleo. “Yes, it might be because I’m half Egyptian. I don’t know,” she said. “We can go to a place called Camp Half-Blood,” said Kira, gesturing to her T-shirt. “We will be safe there, or as safe as a demigod can be.” “Safe from what?” asked Alyssa. “Monsters.” “Oh.” “So, you guys are just stuck there fighting monsters for your entire life? You fight them until you’re a hundred or something?” I asked. Kira’s eyes darkened. “Most Greek demigods don’t live past twenty,” she said softly.
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Nope, I thought, I wasn’t jealous anymore. I was fine just being a magician. “But we train at Camp Half-Blood. We learn how to fight. It’s also our home.” Before Kira could say anything more, a gleaming white envelope appeared out of nowhere and landed before her. On the front side of the envelope, written in big golden letters, were the words “To the Magicians of the TwentyFirst Nome.” And on the back, written in the same handwriting—“From the Fates.”
To be continued . . .
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