Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  Carter is eight when his mom dies.

  He’s also eight when his whole world is turned upside down.

  More like completely shattered, he thinks as he glances back to see his six year-old little sister, standing between their grandparents. Her curly hair is pulled back and under control in only a way their grandmother can accomplish, but her eyes are red and she looks pale.

  It will be an entire year before they see each other again. Which is far too long in Carter’s opinion and he doesn’t understand why Sadie can’t stay with him and Dad likes she’s supposed to. Carter doesn’t argue with it though.

  It hurts Carter to see his sister like this. Carter is her older brother, he should be able to help her, right? Putting on a brave face, Carter waves to her and tries to smile like he doesn’t want to burst into tears. He’s not quite sure it works but Sadie gives a very small, but genuine smile. It’s good enough.

  His dad tugs on Carter’s hand, reminding him that they have to get on the plane. Carter takes a deep breath and follows his dad away from Sadie.

    ---

  He’s on the plane for five minutes and he already misses Sadie.

  The last few months had been the worst in Carter’s life, but he had his little sister with him the entire time. Carter hadn’t been without his sister for longer then a few hours, and a year seems forever.

  Carter let’s himself miss her. It, at the very least, distracts him from think about everything else. From everything else he misses.

  Like Mom, who’s gone and dead and never coming back which hurts.

  Like his grandparents, who didn’t even look at him when he had hugged Sadie goodbye.

  Like his room with his books or his toys and their house in L.A where everything was normal.

  Even Dad, who’s different now. He’s always sad and distant.

  But Carter doesn’t complain about any of it. He can’t even get himself to cry. He stays quite and stares out the window of the plane like the well-behaved kid he is.

  The plane ride is five hours but Carter doesn’t sleep at all. Sleeping been hard for him lately, with lots of dreams, and being in a plane doesn’t help.

    --- 

  It takes… awhile to get used to things.

  Part of it’s the traveling. Carter and Sadie traveled a fair amount with their parents, but it was often one of their parents leaving while the other stayed home to watch Sadie and Carter. The only consistent travel they did was to London to visit their grandparents. Now Dad and him never stay in any place longer then five days at most.

  (For few seconds when he wakes up, he forgets he’s not in L.A. in his room. Then he actually wakes up and realizes he’s in some sketchy motel room with peeling paint in a country he can’t even remember the name off. Carter might be a little attached to those few seconds, with how nice it feel to be home. He doesn’t mention it though.)

  The other part of it is all the weird stuff. Not that Carter doesn’t get weird stuff. Sadie and him managed to blow up her birth cake last year and he remember the time that giant black dog tried to attack him on the playground. Lately though, the levels of weird he's been dealing with have been high. Namely the time Carter ran into a guy with one eye on the street, or the time two of the wait staff at a restaurant his dad had taken him to looked like vampires, or the weird half bird ladies that keep trying to steal his stuff or scratch him

  Dad stops them of course, usually by pulling Carter away, but Carter can’t help but be a little freaked out. He knows that Dad knows whats going on but…

  But Carter knows that asking questions is a bad idea, so he doesn’t bother.

    ---

  The routine that falls into place after about two months follows two patterns:

  The first one is when Dad wakes him up at a normal hour, makes him breakfast and gives Carter his anxiety meds. After that they occasionally stop by the library or a bookstore to get Carter a book that’ll keep him entertained during the day and head to where ever Dad will be working that day, usually a museum or a dig sight.

  There’s also school work Dad tells him to do, but never a lot, and more often it’s just Carter getting a lecture about one topic or another.

  Carter always liked reading, but now it’s more a pain-staking task to stave off boredom.

  The other pattern is Dad waking him up at a weird time and dragging him to the airport where they get airport food for breakfast. Then they get in a plane for an undetermined amount of time.

  They do have a few similarities between them of course. It’s always just Carter and his Dad, and Carter’s one suitcase, that he brought with him almost everywhere. (That was also something he needed to get used to. Carter was used to having an entire room to hold his stuff in, not a two by three foot little box)

    ---

  Everything changes again.

  (Carter has started to hate change, it never seemed to bring anything good.)

  Dad bring him to a restaurant that’s actually nice for once.

  Carter had been getting used to the very selective types of food he ate. Usually it was something like airplane snacks, airport food, microwave meals, or fast food. Carter doesn’t really like any of them but he doesn’t complain. Dad’s just doing his best.

  “Sit down Carter.” Dad says to him, and hands over a menu. “Get anything you want, Carter.”

  He smiling at Carter, but it isn’t a happy smile. It sad, which is normal, and nervous, which isn’t. Carter has always seen Dad as someone who’s always strong and confident, even during Mom’s funeral and the court cases.

  Carter doesn’t order the chocolate chip pancakes like he really wants to. He orders a breakfast sandwich like Dad, which he’s pretty sure Dad would prefer then Carter having a pound of sugar.

  “Carter I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay?” Carter down and fiddles with his amulet nervously.

  Dad sighs and starts explaining. “There’s a camp in New York that I believe will be a safe place for you to stay.”

    ---

  Carter is eight when he find out his mom isn’t actually his mom.

  Carter is eight when he first goes to Camp Half-Blood.

  He’s clutching his suitcase to prevent himself from grabbing his dad and never letting go. Dad says this is a safe place. He said that Carter would be okay here. Dad’s never wrong.

  It still make Carter scared. He’s never been a people person but it’s gotten harder after not having any proper conversation with anyone besides for Dad.

  (Carter never had a lot of friends at school, that was always Sadie’s thing. He glad about that now though, because it’s once less thing he has to worry about.)

  “Can’t I just stay with you?”

  “Carter,” Dad puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, Carter sort of wishes Dad would hug him. “It’ll be okay. I’ll pick you up at the end of summer.”

  Carter nods and head toward the looming hill he had been staring at for the best few minutes.

  He starts to climb it heading for the tall green pine tree standing at the top.

  He doesn’t look back, because he knows he won’t make it up the rest of the way up the hill if he does.

    ---

  The camp is nice. With 12 cabins in a U shape, a canoeing lake, and a big blue mansion. It also has other things like a lave climbing wall, and a sword training arena, but Carter is definitely freaking out too much as it is to focus on that whole thing.

  He heads toward the big blue house and knocks on the front door. It’s what his dad told him to do.

  A man in a wheelchair answers. He looks like he’s a nice person, with light brown hair, and a trimmed beard. The man smiles at Carter. “You must be Carter. Your father called ahead to tell us of your arrival. We’re glad to have you here at camp. I’m Chiron.”

  “Hi, Mr. Chiron.” Carter waves, and Chiron invites him side to take a seat. Carter listens, he’s always been good at following directions, especially compared to Sadie.

  Chiron leaves for a little bit and comes back with a girl a little older then Carter. She had blonde curly hair, grey stormy eyes, and a slightly grumpy look on her face. She’s wearing an orange T-shirt and has a knife belt.

  Her grey eyes remind Carter of his own weird eye. It freaked some people out (his grandparents) that a fourth of his left eye was sliver rather then his usually brown.

  Dad said it was called sectoral heterochromia, which is a really long word. 

  “Hi I’m Annabeth Chase. Chiron wants me to show you around camp, so come on.” Carter followed Annabeth out of the blue mansion.

    ---

  “Do you know who your godly parent is?” Annabeth asks.

  Carter shakes his head. “Dad didn’t say. The only thing he said was that my mom was actually a goddess, and not Mom.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I had a mom, but apparently we weren’t biologically related. She died a few months ago, which is why Dad sent me here.”

  “Oh,” Annabeth said. “I have a stepmom, but I don’t like her very much. I ran away when I was seven because of her.”

  Carter is quite sure what to say to that, but he doesn’t think Annabeth want him to say anything.

  “So, um, what’s with the lava climbing wall?”

 Annabeth starts telling him about the training program, and Carter listens to her.

    ---

  Carter is nine when he finds out who his mother is.

  Carter decided to refer to her as mother because Carter’s mom was Ruby Kane and it would be wrong to replace her just like that.

  Mother is apparently Athena, goddess of wisdom and warfare. According to the glowing gray owl hovering above his head, at least.

  Just when he started getting used to something it needed to change. Carter hadn’t exactly minded his new routine which was waking up in the crowed Hermes Cabin and following the others. It was nice actually. Though he didn’t have a lot of freedom and sometimes he would really rather be holed up in his sleeping bag with a book then hanging out around the much louder Hermes kids. Espically when some of them have decided to take to teasing him over his “goody two-shoe behavior” or “being a nerd”.

  It had started out normal but when he had sat down at the Hermes table one of the other unclaimed kids, Katherine had gasped loudly, making everyone’s head turn to her, and the finger pointing directly at said glowing grey owl floating above Carter’s head.

  This meant everyone needed up staring at him and he hated it. It made his skin crawl and his instinct scream to hide in a corner.

  Travis, a Hermes kid, made a huh face. “That actually checks out.”

  Conner, his brother, grinned. “Explains why your such a book worm to.”

    ---

  By the end of the night Carter gets a bunk right next to Annabeth after she declared that he was allowed to be her friend. She also managed to get him some books, which was nice because he’d been using Argus’s goodwill to get him stuff from the New York public library.

  The bunk is probably the nicest bed he’s slept in since before Christmas and Carter hasn’t been able to stop to small smile that spread across his face ever since Annabeth had marched over him and declared you get to be my friend now.

  Carter gets the first good sleeps he had in ages. Without any dreams or bad beds.

  It the first time he thinks everything is capable of being okay.

    ---

  At the end of the summer Carter gets his first clay bead. He also makes his own, which he likes a lot more.

  It a bit misshapen and messy. A light gray bead with a messily drain owl in it. The important part are the nine names on it. One for each of his cabin mates, though it had taken Carter a few days for him to actually ask them all.

  It’s the end of summer and Carter has missed his Dad a lot, but he knows he’ll miss Camp Half-Blood too. He can’t say he’s excited to go back to the constant travel and terrible food. Though, he does get to see Sadie soon and that fills him with excitement. Even if it’s only for a day.

  Carter runs down Half-Blood hill to meet his dad.

  He can’t wait to tell Dad everything.

Chapter Text

  Percy stood on the edge of pier with Annabeth, trying to organize everything he just learned in away that wouldn't make his brain explode, because monsters? Gods? Percy would’ve found it hard to belive if he hadn’t been attacked by a Minotaur a day ago.

  “Hey Annabeth!” A voice suddenly calls out from behind them.

  Coming up to them is a kid around the same age as Percy. The kid had dark skin, and curly dark brown hair. He was wearing casual jeans, red sneakers and the ever popular orange t-shirt. As he got closer Percy took note of the two necklaces around the kid’s neck. One was a camp necklace, with four beads on it, the other was a fancy golden amulet with an eye looking thing on it. It took Percy a second to notice the kid’s eyes. One was a completely normal brown, the other had a spot of sliver covering about a fourth of his left iris.

  “I hope your being nice, Annabeth.” The kid smiled at them.

  “I’m being perfectly polite, for your information Carter.” Annabeth sighed grumpily, though it seemed joking.

  The guy, Carter, shook his head at her, before turning to Percy and holding out a hand. ”Hi, I’m Carter Kane.”

  Percy took the offered hand. “Percy Jackson.”

  “What brings you over here?” Annabeth cut in, giving Carter a suspicious look.

  “Wanted to meet the new kid. Apparently he blew up the bathrooms.” Carter’s tone is teasing, but Percy doesn’t think he’s making fun of him.

  “Ah, right.” Annabeth rolled her eyes.

  Percy’s stomach suddenly rumbles at he smells barbecue, and Annabeth rolls her eyes again. “Carter, why don’t you take Percy back to Cabin Eleven. Wouldn’t want him to be late for dinner.”

  Carter gave Annabeth a look of concern, but nods. Percy follows Carter as they walk away, leaving Annabeth standing on the pier.

  A few minutes later, when their out of earshot Carter turns towards him. “So, um, how was your day so far?”

  Percy decides to answer honestly. “It’s overwhelming. After everything.”

  Carter nods sympathetically. “Yeah.”

  There’s a few moments of silence before Percy asks a question. “You’re friends with Annabeth?”

  Carter looks amused at by question. His furrowed brows smooth out and he smiled up at Percy. “Sort of. We’re half-siblings. I’m the son of Athena. She sort of forced me into it when I got claimed three years ago.”

  “You’ve been here for that long?” Percy asks, shocked. He hadn’t even thought about how long most of the kids had probably been here for.

  “Yeah, but plenty of people have been here longer, and I’m not even a year round camper. Annabeth is, and she’s been here for five years.”

  “Oh.”

  There’s another moment of awkward silence and Carter twists his amulet between his fingers.

  Percy blurts out a question. “What’s that amulet for anyway? Is it a symbol of a god or something?”

  Carter actually lights up. “Yeah, actually. This is the Eye of Horus the symbol of the Egyptian god Horus.”

  “Egyptian?”

  “Yep.” Carter smile turns into a wide grin, clearly finding Percy’s confusion funny. “My dad an Egyptologist. Him and my mom gave this to me for protection.”

  Percy narrows his eyes. “Athena gave that to you?” Percy felt almost jealous, were some gods just better parents or did his godly parent really want nothing to do with him?

  Carter paused for a moment. “What, No? Why would—oh.” Carter raises his hands to deny the claim. “I guess my step-mom would be a better way to put it. She married my dad just before I was born, so I always thought she was my biological mom until she died a few years ago and Dad brought me here.”

  Percy winces now feeling guilty for his assumption. “Shoot, sorry. That sucks.”

  “It’s okay.” Carter reassured him. “Though I won’t argue and say it didn’t suck. It wasn’t a fun conversation to have.”

 Percy snorted. “Probably not.” They both stop, having reached Cabin Eleven. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” Carter waves a goodbye. “See you at dinner.”

  “Yeah, see you at dinner.”

    ---

  Percy quickly settled into some kind of routine.

  Mornings were spent with Annabeth and Carter learning Ancient Greek, and getting the occasional history lesson. Carter and Annabeth worked well together, Annabeth had a lot more knowledge about anything Ancient Greek and Carter had the patience to teach someone all of it.

    ---

  “Why do you have trouble with Ancient Greek? I thought it was hardwired for demigods.” Percy asked, as he watched Carter struggle with a scroll Annabeth had handed him.

  Annabeth gave Percy a look of annoyance. “It’s harder for some demigods than others. Those with dyslexia have an affinity for it because it’s easier for the Greek letters to make connections with our… godly side.”

  “And I don’t have dyslexia or ADHD.” Carter offered. “I got anxiety instead.”

  “That sucks?” Percy had kind of just assumed all demigods had ADHD and dyslexia. Carter and Annabeth shared a look, and Carter laughed a little. Served Percy right for assuming, he supposed.

    ---

  The rest of the time was spent at meals or doing activities with the Hermes Cabin. It might crowded, but everyone was pretty friendly and the Ares Cabin left him alone. It was nice, though his mom’s disappearance was always looming over him.

  That night kept repeating over and over whenever he slept, and he had woken up in a cold sweat more then once. It didn’t seem to bother anyone else though. Percy didn’t think he was the only one to wake up from nightmares or weird dreams.

  Unfortunately, this lasted about a week and then Friday came.

  On Fridays they did Capture the Flag, and it was Athena and Hermes versus everyone else. Percy was definitely doubting the chance of their success, even with Annabeth’s confidence.

  “Percy, you’ll be posted at the creek.” She told him, after giving everyone else their positions.

  Percy shrugged. It sounded very boring, but he wasn’t going to argue.

  Carter, on the other hand seemed concerned. He stepped forward. “Annabeth, I don’t think—“

  “Athena always has a plan.” Annabeth interrupted Carter, sending a glare his way. Carter raised his hands in surrender and didn’t say anything more.

  Percy clapped Carter on the back and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah,” Carter grimaced. “Good luck.”

  And before Percy could ask why Carter was so concerned the son of Athena had disappeared into the woods.

    ---

  Percy moved into Cabin Three almost immediately after the Capture the Flag game. Sort of like in TV shows when one moment the main character is chilling happily in their house and the next moment they're standing on the front porch in the rain hold their suitcase and pillow.

  Yeah, Percy wasn’t very happy with this new development. Cabin Three was… lonely. A huge marble fountain took up most of the space, and the place was way too dusty and silent for his liking, especially after sleeping in the Hermes Cabin for a week.

  It was pretty obvious that nobody in camp wanted to interact with him. Annabeth didn’t show up for morning lessons, and almost all the other kids avoided his gaze and some straight walked away from him when he came over to ask questions.

  What hurt the most though was the fact that Percy didn’t see Carter once during the morning, and with Grover gone that meant Percy didn’t have anyone to talk to. He had really thought that Carter was his friend, considering how much time they had spent together, but it he was avoiding Percy to extent that Percy hadn’t even seen the eleven year old all day. Percy wasn’t sure what that meant.

  This lasted until lunch.

  Percy was staring down at his food, deciding if he really had the appetite to eat anything. If he though the Poseidon Cabin was lonely, the Poseidon table was worse. Though that was mostly because he was sitting all alone and everyone kept staring at him. Starring but not saying a word to him and he hated it.

  There was a clatter from across from him and Percy looked up. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, probably Clarisse coming to make fun of him or something. Maybe Luke, who might be the only person willing to talk to him, coming to say hi. Percy hadn’t really expected to see Carter fiddling with his necklaces nervously, sitting across from him.

  Percy stared at Carter in shock. Carter’s eye flickered around the the other shocked faces of their fellow campers who had started to notice the disturbance.

  Carter poked at his food, that had appeared on the plate in front of him. “Um, hi. Could you say something, because I am definitely regretting all my life decisions right now.”

  “Um what?”

  “I’m not a big fan of everyone staring at me.” Carter admits

  It took Percy a second to process what exactly Carter was doing. “Carter, you’re breaking the rules!”

  “I know.”

  “Why hasn’t Mr. D driven you insane yet?”

  Carter shrugged and they both looked up at the stage table. Chiron was pointedly not looking at them and Mr. D just rolled his eyes and shrugged at them. Which was honestly a surprise, considering Percy would’ve thought Mr. D would take any chance to kill a demigod.

  Percy turned back towards Carter, slightly less frantic now the he knew neither of them were about to be killed or worse. “What are you doing here.” He muttered in a harsh whisper.

  Carter looked almost hurt and he went back to staring at his plate. “You were sitting by yourself, and I didn’t think you’d want to be alone. I mean, I don’t particularly like being alone or anything, but if you do like it I could leave?”

  Percy blinks, more then a bit surprised. “You’re sitting with me because I looked lonely?”

  “Umm…”

  “Thanks.” Percy gave a huff of laughter. “You’re a good friend Carter.”

  Carter’s head jerked up, a look of surprise quickly faded into a bright smile. “No problem.”

    --- 

  Percy hadn’t realized how big of a difference being Carter’s friendly acquaintance was from being his friend. He also hadn’t realized that he wasn’t actually considered Carter friend he officially declared it, but he supposed that made sense.

  The biggest change was the stories. Most of the stuff Percy knew about Carter was stories from camp and the few mentions of his dad or mom. Now that Percy had reached a high enough friendship level he also got lectures about Ancient Egypt, basketball stats, or Jazz musicians. Yeah, Carter was a huge nerd.

    ---

  “What does an Anthropologist even do?” Percy asked Carter over breakfast one morning.

  Carter sort of froze up, a blank expression on his face. “Um… I think it has something to do with human evolution?” He shrugged sheepishly. “I don’t actually know.”

  “Really?” Percy blinked, surprised. “And here I though you were all knowing. Is the world ending or something?”

  “You joke about that now, but the chance of that actually happening are pretty high.” Carter rolled his eyes. “Seriously though, you are just as bad as Sadie.”

    ---

  Sadie was Carter’s little sister. From the few things Carter had mentioned about these was ten years old, live in London with their grandparents, and had no idea about her old brother’s secret double life. Carter didn’t talk about her very much and Percy got the impression he didn’t get along with Sadie or their grandparents.

  Percy didn’t push the subject though. No need to make one of his only friends mad at him.

    ---

  The other big change was how much time Percy spent with Carter.

  Before he mostly only saw Carter at their lessons in the morning or at the camp fire. Now whenever they had free time Carter could usually be found with Percy more often then not, helping the son of Poseidon with one thing or another, and Percy definitely needed the help.

  Carter wasn’t necessarily the best person to teach Percy some stuff, like archery for example. Long range weapons were not something either of them were good at, but Carter could at least hit the target. Most of the time, with Luke occasionally helping, they worked in sword fighting, which was something they both liked to do and weren’t terrible at.

    ---

  “Stop whining. You’re doing just fine.” Carter scolded, despite his smile.

  Percy glared up at the younger boy from his position on the ground. “Then why do I keep ending up with a sword pointing at my throat?” He gestured to said sword and Carter rolled his eyes but moved his sword into a less threatening position.

  Carter reached out a hand to help Percy up, which he took reluctantly. “Percy I’ve been doing this for three years, and I get a lot of practice in. “ Carter smile turned reassuring. “I’m not kidding when I say you’re really good at this, especially for a newbie.”

  “Really?” Percy scoffed.

  Carter scrunched his nose and crossed his arms. “Yes, really. Now stop complaining, you’re the one that wanted me to spare with you.”

  Percy winced at the reminder. “Why did I do that again?”

  Carter rolled his eyes, and reached out an arm to gently poke Percy with his sword. Percy flinched back.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll stop.”

    ---

  Percy searched for Carter after the detail of the quest are all sorted out.

  It’s not hard to. Carter’s sitting on the beach, reading a book about mummification, and doesn’t look up until Percy has settled into the sand next to him.

  “What’s up Percy?” He asks, placing a book mark to hold his place.

  Percy tells Carter the whole story, or most of it. He doesn’t tell Carter about the second half of the prophecy, like he didn’t for the others. He does explain being accused of stealing the mast bolt, and going to the Underworld to retrieve it. Going to the Underworld to get his mom, mostly.

  Carter runs his fingers along the beads around his neck. “So who are you bringing with?” He asks when Percy has finished.

  Percy freezes. He had kind of forgotten about Carter when choosing his questing partners. “Annabeth and Grover. If that’s okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?” Carter tilts his head head at Percy, before his eyes widen in realization. “Percy, trust me when I say I don’t want a quest. Please never invite me on one.”

  “Okay?” Percy shrugs in agreement. “Though hopefully there won’t be anymore quests.”

  Carter chuckles, though the sound is more bitter then joyful. “Can’t argue with that.”

    ---

  The next morning sees Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Chiron, and Carter at the top of Half-Blood Hill.

  The sky’s clear, and the heat of summer is warded off with a cool breeze. It a day thats way to nice to be the start of a suicidal quest.

  “Don’t worry.” Percy’s smile is a little strained, the hand in his pocket gripping Riptide tightly. “We’ll be back by the solstice.”

  Carter hasn’t let got of his amulet and Percy sort of worried he’s going to choke himself if he twist it any tighter. There’s a beat of silence and then Carter’s pulling all of them into a hug. It an awekward hug, because none of them seem to have a lot of experience doing that, but it reassures Percy.

  Annabeth pulls away first, straight into her shirt. “You really don’t need to be concerned. I have everything prepared.”

  “Pretty much.” Percy agrees, and Grover nods.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Carter shrugs, wrapping his arms around himself. “I just really don’t want my only friends dying.”

  Percy can’t resiste pulling Carter into another hug, which seems to shock the him. “Not dying is definitely on the to-do list.” Percy reassures softly.

  “Well yes, but you really should getting going.” Chiron interrupted. “And Carter you are missing Archery right now, aren’t you?”

  Cárter grumbled but backed away and with a wave of his shoulder jogged back down the hill, passing Luke who was heading up, a box in his arms.

    ---

  It’s almost like Carter’s waiting for them to get back, nervously fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt.

  Percy is surprised how relived he is to see Carter, and to be back at Camp.

  “Guys! You’re okay.” Carter looks up, and his worry fades away into a bright smile.

  It has probably been the most exhausting of his life, but that doesn’t stop Percy from returning the smile.

  “Carter! You are never going to believe—“

  “Of course we’re okay—“

  “I never want to—“

  Carter takes a step back a the sudden sound of the three of them talking to him. He raises his hands, and waits a second for them all to shut up. “Sounds fun. Could you possibly take turns? Because I want to know what happened, but I could only make out like two words.”

  It takes awhile, and the four of them end up hanging out in the empty amphitheater, but Carter ended up hearing the whole story. From blowing up buses to sending Medusa’s head to Olympus to fighting Ares on a beach.

  “How are you not dead!” Carter exclaimed after they had finished. He’s looking at all of them in genuine disbelief. “You should really be dead. You fought a god.”

  Grover nods. “I know—”

  Percy felt a little threatened seeing two of his best friends bonding. Not because he was jealous,but he was slightly concerned about them teaming up against him, though Percy should be more worried about Annabeth and Carter than Grover and Carter.

  “—and Percy didn’t even get into how he straight up accused Hades—“

  “Okay,” Percy quickly cut in. He didn’t want or need another lecture on insulting the gods. “I did dumb stuff. But I’m okay, no need to go into detail. What did you do while we were gone, Carter?”

  Carter gave Percy a look that said he knew exactly what he was doing, but like the good friend he was, played along.

  “Nothing much. It was pretty boring though, but the Ares Cabin did win the most recent game of Capture the Flag. Oh! And I got a new sword.” Carter brightened as if he had just remembered this had occurred. “Wanna see it?”

  “Yeah.” Percy agreed.

  Carter reached out a hand and in a second there was a sword where nothing had been before. It was made of celestial bronze, but it looked nothing like Riptide or any of the other swords at camp. The blade was curved and the hilt was covered in small symbols that Percy couldn’t make out.

  “Why’s it bent?” Grover asked, pointing at the blade. “And how did you pull it out of thin air?”

  Carter brightened in away that could only mean he was about to dump a bunch of information onto them. “Because it a Kopesh. It was pretty common Ancient Egyptians to use it. And I think it’s enchanted so I can grab it no matter where the sword is.”

  “That’s so cool.” Annabeth relooked, examining the blade as closely as she could from a safe distance.

  Percy nodded in agreement and then a horn sounded out. “Oh dinner!” He hadn’t realized how much time had passed since they had entered the underworld to retrieve the bolt at the beginning of the day.

  Carter grinned and in a second the sword in his hand disappeared. “Come on, I’m sure everyone will be excited to see you three.”

    ---

  The rest of summer goes a lot better then the beginning.

  Apparently, saving the world from a war between two of the gods definitely helped with ones popularity. People weren’t avoiding Percy anymore, and he had been swarmed by people asking him question more then once. Being friends with Annabeth also made life a lot easier. Percy’s favorite moments were when the four of them, Grover, Annabeth, Carter, and himself, could just hang out without a bunch of people staring at them (him).

  But summer had to end eventually and it hit Percy as he stared at his very first bead. If was black with a green trident on it.

  He hadn’t even decided if he’d be going home yet or not. Camp was safe, but he still missed his mom and the some of the only people that would be here would be Clarisse and Annabeth. But Percy didn’t want to leave Annabeth by herself with Clarisse as some of her only company.

  The campfire glowed in the warm summer night, Grover was sitting next to him, but Percy could see Annabeth and Carter talking on the other side. Everyone was happy and Percy let the thought drift out of his mind.

  It was the last night of summer, he'd better enjoy it.

    ---

  Percy did not enjoy the last day of summer.

  In fact it was up their with worst experiences of his life, between being betrayed by one of his first friends and being poisoned and almost killed by a scorpion.

  “I’ve always hated scorpions.” Carter winced from Percy’s bedside as Percy told them what Luke had done.

  The two of them were in the infirmary with Annabeth and Grover. Percy still felt weak, and even sitting up was an effort.

  It… how?… Percy couldn’t believe it. Luke had been his friends, he’d helped Percy. Why would Luke try to kill him? Grover was in a similar state of shock, eyes-wide as he stared at Percy unblinkingly, but Carter and Annabeth seemed, not unsurprised, but accepting.

  “Luke, after the quest he… changed.” Annabeth voice quite, hard to here even in the empty infirmity. Percy could still hear the hurt in though, the betrayal. “He became bitter. He hated the gods, I knew that. I just didn’t think…”

  “The gods aren’t exactly well liked, but no one could ever imagine fighting against them.” Carter finished softly.

  Silence filled the room as they all tried to comprehend what exactly Luke was trying to accomplish and how close he had come to succeeding.

  With a bang the infirmary door opened one of the older Apollo kids strolling with Chiron in his heels.

  “It's good you’re awake.” He said stopping at the foot of the bed, and smiled gently. “But you really should get some more rest.”

  Annabeth, Carter, and Grover clearly got the hint and stood up and headed out the door with a few words of reassurance.

  “See you later.”

  “Well visit soon, promise.”

  “Get better.”

  The Apollo kid left soon after leaving only Chiron.

  Chiron didn’t look at Percy, and was firm in his decision to not let Percy go after Luke, because it was to dangerous. He also wouldn’t tell Percy anything, only answering in vague reassurance.

  Percy collapsed back in the the pillow and sighed.

  He really should get some rest.

    ---

  Annabeth had actually decided to stay with her dad during the school year. It was a surprise to both Carter and Percy, but without Annabeth staying year-round Percy had no reason to either.

  “Next year, no matter what anyone say, we’ll go look for Luke.” Annabeth declared from one side of him.

  Carter nodded from his other side, looking into Long Island Sound. “Yeah.”

  Percy grinned. “Got it.”

  With a wave good bye, Annabeth was heading to Thalia’s pine tree, where Percy could barely make out the faint shape of her dad.

  Before Carter went to follow her he paused. “Everything is going to be okay.” He reassured.

  “Positive?”

  “Absolutely.” Carter had never seemed the commanding or confident type but right now Percy couldn’t help but believe him.

  With one final smile Carter was also gone, leaving Percy alone on the beach.

  Percy walked up to edge and let the water come up to the front of his tennis shoes. He didn’t know if his dad would approve of his choice, or if he even cared.

  “I’ll be back next summer,” Percy promised. “I’ll survive till them. After all, I am your son.”

  Percy turned his back on the ocean and went to ask Argus to help him pack his bags.

Chapter Text

  Carter is eleven when he meets his best friend.

  It all starts with a rumor. Well, it’s less of a rumor and more Clarisse stomping around soaking wet. Nobody asks her what happened, obviously. They already have monsters after them, they don’t need an angry Clarisse too. Fortunately for the campers, because Carter will admit they are all really nosy, Clarisse wasn’t the only the only person there, and some children of Ares don’t hesitate to tell the story to everyone.

  “The new kid blew up a bathroom?” Katherine asks Linda shocked. “How is that even possible?”

  Linda shrugs, despite seeing the whole thing because she was one of Clarisse’s lackeys, doesn’t have a proper explanation.

  Carter interrupts the conversation. “You said Annabeth was with him?”

  “Yep.” Linda answers, there’s a bit of silence as everyone looks at him before Linda is bombarded with questions again.

  Carter leaves quickly after that. It's gotten a lot better, but he isn’t very fond of attention from a large group of people. So many people looking at him, judging him. Gah.

  He’s not very surprised that Annabeth was put in charge of the new kid, considering he was apparently her age, but Carter wasn’t quite sure she was the best choice. Annabeth was a bit… intense and with each new camper that Annabeth pinned her hopes of getting out of here on the more desperate she became.

  Carter could sort of understand why Annabeth wanted a quest so badly. She’d been stuck here for years, and that had to get on somebodies nerves after a while of doing the same thing over and over. Carter also knew that Annabeth knew a lot stuff but she didn’t really understand the outside world, not that Carter could say he did, but he did have a lot more expiernice with it then Annabeth.

  Yeah, Europe was a terrible place to take a vacation to if someone was a demigod. Carter and his dad haven’t been to Venice since the incident with the harpies.

  Maybe he should go check on Annabeth and the new kid. If the kid really had blown up the bathroom…

  Carter deviated from his earlier path that was bringing him to Cabin Six, and instead turn towards the canoe lake. Chances were Annabeth would be there.

    ---

  Just as Carter had guessed Annabeth was standing at the edge of the pier, and the person Carter assumes to be the new kid next to her.

  “Hey Annabeth!” Carter called out.

  Annabeth and the new guy turned around. New Kid had messy black hair, and jade green eyes. He was wearing the standard Camp Half-Blood outfit, aka an orange t-shirt and jeans. It fit him a lot better the it fit Carter, who still had to get used to casual clothes after wearing button up shirts for around nine months. He looked confused, which after the day the guy must’ve had, Carter couldn’t blame him.

  “I hope you’re being nice, Annabeth.” Carter grinned at the other two.

  “I am being perfectly polite, for your information, Carter.” Annabeth pouted and crossed her arms, but Carter didn’t take it to seriously. He’d know if he had pushed the limit.

  Instead he turned towards the other kid. “Hi, I’m Carter Kane.” He held out a hand.

  “Percy Jackson.” The guy replied, shaking the offered hand.

  “What brings you over here?” Annabeth pulled his attention back to her. Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously.

  Carter waved her off reassuringly. “Wanted meet the new kid.” Carter looks over at Percy, watching a look of surprise cross his face. “Apparently, he blew up the bathrooms.”

  Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Ah, right.” So the rumors were true, not the Carter was telling anyone that. He wasn’t a fan of gossip and it would be funnier to see whoever would get the courage to ask Clarisse about it.

  Suddenly a loud rumple interrupted him and Annabeth and Carter both turned to look at a faintly red Percy. Annabeth sighed, looking annoyed. “Carter why don’t you take Percy back to Cabin Eleven. Wouldn’t want him to be late to dinner.”

  Carter gave Annabeth concerned look. She was unhappy about something, clearly. He nodded, Annabeth would talk about if she wanted to.

  He gestured for Percy to follow him and the headed up to the cabins.

    ---

  After Carter meets Percy, he tries to hang out around him. He helps Annabeth teach Percy Greek, though that’s probably a good thing, Annabeth’s not the most patient.

  Annabeth couldn't seem to decide if she found Percy the most annoying person ever or if he was going to be the one that get her out of camp.

  “He just can’t focus. For five seconds, like really?” They’re on their bunks, Carter looks up from his book about the mummification process to give Annabeth a look.

  Annabeth was laying face up, hands thrown into the air on her bunk beside him. There’s a stack of blueprints spread out on her side table, and a pile of books on the edge of her bed. Because there’s only seven children of Athena, they have a lot of space for their stuff, which is nice because that means Carter can keep most of his stuff here, instead of dragging it around in his bag when he’s with his dad. Annabeth was again ranting about how annoying Percy was.

  “Personally, I think he’s pretty cool.” Carter replies. “Also, doesn’t he have ADHD? I would think you’d be more understanding.”

  Annabeth shot him a glare, clearly mad he wasn’t on her side, but relented with a groan. “I just wish I could figure out who his godly parent is.”

  “You, and everyone else.” Jenny pointed out from her bed.

  Carter snorted at the look of annoyance that crossed Annabeth’s face.

  “Oh shut up.”

    ---

  Carter wasn’t really surprised that Percy was the son of Poseidon, it made logical sense, he was good at swimming and canoeing. The Naiads loved him for some reason, and the bathroom incident, well... that probably should've made it obvious.

  It was also a shock for logical reasons too. The Eldest Three had made an oath, and gods can’t feel the full effects of a broken oath, but it still held some power over them.

  Of course that was hardly the first time one of the Eldest Three had broken the oath, and with Poseidon’s past recorded, Carter should probably be more surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

  The day afterword Carter asks Annabeth if he could stay in his cabin. He doesn’t hate Percy, or feel threatened by him, it’s just something Carter wanted to be able to think over, with Percy being the most interesting thing the happen since Luke’s quest. And He just wanted to relax. After last night, he had to let his shoulder recover from getting sprained. Thank you so much Katie.

    ---

  He’s not the best with people, Carter is willing to admit that.

  Part of it is his anxiousness, part of it is a lack of regular, normal interactions with others outside of summer.

  Even with this, or maybe because of this, Carter sees Percy sitting by himself at the newly declared Posiedon table and it feels wrong. Percy can’t help who is dad is, surely everyone knows that. Does Percy really deserve to be isolated because of something he couldn’t control, something he couldn’t help? They’re all demigods, and no one here wants to be a demigod. Why is that any different for Percy?

  Carter took a deep breath, calming the panic rising and tugged his amulet, the symbol digging into the palm of his hand.

  Carter breaks the rules for the first time in his life. Makes his own choice. He walks away from the Athena table, taking care not to look back and see his half-sibling curious expressions, and sits down across from Percy.

  Even with the risk of being killed or driven insane. Even with everyone staring at him, Carter can’t find it in him to regret the choice.

  When Percy tells him he’s a good friend, Carter knows he made to right decision.

    ---

  Before then, Carter hadn’t really been sure if Percy and him were actually friends.

  Like he said, not a lot of normal interactions, and Carter had exactly one friend before Percy. Annabeth. Who’s been acting weird, like she wants to help Percy, but then she grumbles about Poseidon and Carter is officially confused. It’s probably an Annabeth thing, she always was a few steps in front of everyone like that. She had seemed more disappointed by Percy’s claiming then surprised.

  Carter is usually worried about Annabeth, it’s sort of a replacement for Sadie, but Carter does not want to think about Sadie ever so that’s about how much he’s willing to acknowledge about the issue.

  He’s happier now though. As much as he loves hanging out with Annabeth, it’s started become an infrequent event. Annabeth’s been busy with something and Carter had started feeling lonely.

  With Percy here he has someone to hang out with whenever, or at least when they have free time. And Percy never complains. Almost never.

  Sometimes is Carter pushes to much about certain subject, or talks to long about a topic Percy will say something, but most of the time he’s fine with Carter.

  Carter tells Percy a lot of things. About his dad, mostly. About traveling. About Mom. Not about Sadie or her grandparents.

  Percy returns the favor with his own stories. Though his are almost entirely about his mom or Grover.

    ---

  “Why do you love blue food so much?” Carter is watching Percy poke at some blue stir fry. Blue chicken, blue rice, blue everything. Carter was a little bit worried.

  Percy hunched a little. “It was a joke with my mom.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “No, it’s fine.” Percy smiled sadly, a lost expression on his face. “My step-dad, smelly Gabe, was really horrible. When he told me blue food wasn’t real,Mom and I took it as a chance to have a little rebellion. We bought a lot of blue food and blue dye so we could made blue food.”

  Carter winced at the malencholy look that had crossed over Percy’s face. It was obvious Percy had been close with his mother, and whenever he talks about her it’s clear it hurts to talk use the past tense.

  Carter knows Percy blames himself for it, and the other campers aren’t helping matters. It’s hard not to blame yourself when someone you care about get hurt because of what you are.

  “So I’m assuming he didn’t eat blueberries?” Carter tried to lighten the food.

  Percy sniggered, the smile crossing onto his face. “Nope.”

    ---

  Percy being the son of Poseidon would explain why he was good at swimming, canoeing, and kayaking. It did not explain why he was good at swordsmanship.

  Most demigods had their preferred weapons. Ones they were good at, because of natural talent or their godly parent. Apollo kids were mostly good at archery, Hephaestus kids were partial to hammers, and Luke was the definition of natural talent even without five plus years of practice. Carter himself was good with a sword, though that was mostly due to practice. He wasn’t really most athletic kid.

  Percy definitely had natural talent.

  The twelve year old was managing to hold off Luke, swinging his blade to meet the son of Hermes strikes.

  “Go Percy!” Carter shouted from the side of the arena. He was the only person in the audience, being the only one other then Luke that would willingly go within a five foot radius of Percy.

  Luke scowled. “Why are you on his side? Don’t I—“ Luke sword was flung from his grip as Percy used the moment of distraction to disarm the older boy.

  Carter was pretty sure Luke had let Percy win, or had given Percy the opportunity to see if he would take it.

  “For that you get to be the one the spar with the kid, Kane.” Luke pointed at him with a faintly amused look.

  Carter saluted Luke mockingly. “Yes, sir.” He headed over to the edge of the arena and pulled a practice sword off the wall.

    ---

  Carter is eleven when he meets his mother.

  Athena visits all of her children at least once. Carter isn’t sure if it’s because she actually cares or if it’s because she wants to keep up appearances, but he wasn’t surprised by it. Not exactly.

  Athena visits all her children at least once, but Carter has always wondered if he’d be the exception. After all he had been at camp for three years with out a word, and besides monsters, the more mythical parts of camp make habit of avoiding Carter. Including Chiron and Mr. D.

  Luckily, at least he’s pretty sure it’s lucky, he isn’t the exception.

  It happens a few days before Percy gets his quest.

  Carter “wakes up” in front of a museum. The Cairo museum if Carter’s memory is correct.

  It’s a fairly long building, made of some kind of red stone. It had multiple arched windows on either side of the door, it’s simple and black but a large elaborate arches comes up beside and far above it. Near the top of the arches are statues. In front is a a shallow rectangular pool, lots of palm trees, and various other plant life, along with different Egyptian statues, like a Sphinx, scattered around.

  It’s supposedly mid-day. The sun shinning brightly overhead with only a few fluffy white clouds in sight, but there’s only one person there standing a little away from Carter, with her back to him.

  She had dark hair, which seemed to float around her shoulders. Her golden-brown skin contrasted to the glowing white robe she was wearing. In her hand was a spear almost as tall as she was and definitely taller then Carter, considering the women was about a foot taller than him.

  When she turned to look at him, Carter immediately knew who she was.

  He saw those piercing gray eyes everyday, whenever he looked at Annabeth.

  “Mother.” It’s not a question. This was Athena, goddess of wisdom and war fair.

  Athena didn’t smile at him, but she’s not frowning and her eyes look… approving. “Carter.”

  “What are you doing here?” He asked as politely as possible.

  “I like to make a point of visiting all of my children.” Athena moved closer, and Carter will admit he’s intimidated, though he didn’t think she held any ill intentions. “But I do have a purpose. A gift and a warning.”

  With a slight wave of her hand the goddess was suddenly holding a sword. Carter recognized the style and also knows is was not a sword most demigods would ever use. It’s beautiful in only a way a deadly weapon could be, made of celestial bronze and covered in hieroglyphs and Greek letters.

  “A khopesh.” Carter reached out, and took the strangely curved sword. “It’s Ancient Egyptian.”

  Athena nods. “Yes. And you’ll find that you can grab this sword form the other side of the world.”

  Carter really wanted to ask about that. Did that mean it would teleport to him like Riptide did for Percy? Could Carter just reach for it and grab it?

  “And the warning?” Carter asks, trying to hide a grimace. He doubts his mother will hang around to long and he’d rather get the important information out of her.

  “The world is in a lot of danger. For you more then most. Carter, you will have to make a difficult choice someday.” Athena looked almost sad. Like she regretted having to tell Carter this. “You have a few years more, but it was best to tell you now, considering I am not allowed to talk to you very often.”

  “Why not?” Most gods choose not to talk to their children and there were a lot of limits on it, but not being allowed to... that didn't usually happen. Carter felt panic rising. “Why do you mean danger? Why does it affect me?”

  Athena took a few steps back and tilt her head slightly. “I can’t tell you anymore. The rules are there for a reason, and your very existence is already breaking far to many of them.”

  The last thing Carter see before he wakes up is piercing gray eyes.

    ---

  It's easy it figure out how to get the sword, considering it wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity when he walk up at three in the morning.

  Carter found it shockingly easy to visualize the sword, almost as if each symbol engraved in the handle was burned into his memory. Feeling slightly dumb, but deciding that no one else was wake so whatever he reached out a hand.

  He felt something cold against the palm of his hand, and wrapping his fingers around it he felt the hilt of a sword. The same one he had held in his dream.

  When Carter looks down at his hand, there’s a sword in it, shining softly.

  Athena was very vague, and Carter would’ve appreciated more details about the warning, but he could appreciate the gift. A connection to his godly parent.

  Running his hand over the symbols, he found an Eye of Horus, like his amulet, the Knot of Isis, and the Greek alphabet.

  Carter let go, the sword disappeared.

  Carter sighed, but laid back down in bed, exhausted though he had been wide awake a few minutes ago.

    ---

  Carter is twelve when he gets the fourth bead. Technically fifth, but he makes a point of not including the extra bead he made during his first summer at camp.

  It’s pitch black, with a green trident that almost glows in the firelight painted onto it. Carter hadn’t known what it was but he had suspected, after all both Jenny and Macy were working on the project with a few of the Hephaestus campers and Annabeth was head counselor so she got to vote on the design. Apparently, it was a unanimous vote.

  The perks of being a hero, Carter noted as he watches Percy smile brightly in the summer night.

  It’s muggy outside, being late August, and Cárter surprised no one has been eaten alive by mosquitos. It’s still one of his favorite nights, he has always loved that last night of camp. The energy, bright and burning. The prospect of seeing his Dad again, makes him happy.

  What could go wrong?

    ---

  Carter should’ve known something would go wrong.

    ---

  A few dryads appear carrying a body.

  It was Percy.

    ---

  Annabeth, Carter, and Grover try to leave the infirmary as little as possible. It’s only when Jacob, the head counselor of the Apollo Cabin presently and Will, a kid their age who was really good at healing, forcefully tells them to leave unless they want their own stay in the infirmary that they do leave.

  Carter doesn’t understand what happened quite yet, but the dryads said it was Luke. That Luke poisoned Percy. That Luke was the lightning thief.

  Annabeth is scarily quite, and Carter’s numb. He hadn’t been close with Luke, not like Annabeth, but he had hung out with him a lot because of Annabeth. He had trusted Luke, a lot.

  The sharp edge of relief when Percy wakes up felt like a wake up call, after who knows how long of nothing.

  “Oh thank gods.” Annabeth breathed out, and Grover immediately leaned in, to hug Percy. Carter relaxed, letting the iron grip he had on his newest bead drop.

  Percy looked confused. He smiled, and his eyes took in the scene. Annabeth gripping his hand, looking exhausted, Grover practically in tears, and Carter with bags under his eyes.

  “Guys, what happened?”

    ---

  Carter wasn’t surprised when Chiron doesn’t make any plans to go after Luke.

  He can tell it’s bothering Percy and Annabeth. But it makes sense. They’re kids after all. (Not that that has ever stopped anyone before).

  Carter was even less surprised when Annabeth and Percy make a plan to go after Luke next summer, with a quest or without one. Carter wanted to say he hesitated to agree, he’s never been one for breaking rules, but he doesn’t.

  Then it’s time to go. Carter has already held off leaving as long as his Dad was willing to let him, and with Annabeth (and Percy, he’s sure) leaving there’s really no reason to stay any longer.

  He stays back a second anyway.

  “Everything is going to be okay.” Carter felt oddly confident. For now, everything would be okay.

  It’s weird, when Percy looks to Carter for reassurance. It’s never really been Carter’s skill set.

  “Positive?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Carter leaves Percy on the beach, heading up to meet his Dad. He’s sure he’ll have questions about what happened, but Carter can’t make any promises he’ll explain.

  It’s still nice to see him, though.

Chapter Text

  Honestly, Percy thought he’d be happier to be back at camp.

  Not that he isn’t excited to see his friends, it’s just that… well, Percy mostly likes Camp because his friends are there. It was a place for him to belong and, okay, he might be a little bitter about last summer, but without his friends Camp sorta sucks (Clarisse, Mr. D, etc.) Unfortunately most of the people Percy gets a long with were either acting weird, or not around.

  Percy hadn’t talked Grover since last year, Annabeth hadn’t actually explained to Percy what was going on, Chiron was apparently getting fired, Tyson was a cyclops, and Percy had yet to see Carter—

  “Oh, hey guys!” A familiar voice caleds out to their group.

  Percy turned toward the sound and spotted Carter jogging across the green towards them. He let out a sigh of relief. Another friend alive and accounted for, thank gods.

  “Hi Carter! It’s good to see you.” Percy grinned at the shorter boy.

  “Hey Percy. Good to see you to.” Carter returned the smile with one of his own. The son of Athena hadn’t changed much, even though it had been almost a year since they had last seen each other.

  Annabeth cut into the conversation with a strained smile. “Carter, we’re heading to the big house to talk to Chiron—“

  “Yeah, apparently he’s getting fired and being blamed for Thalia’s tree dying?” Percy addressed the question to Carter, though he doubts he’ll have a different answer the the one Clarisse told Percy.

  The grin that slides off Carter’s face tells Percy he’s right. “Yeah, though I don’t know why you think to talking to him would help—“

  “We want to know what we should do with our monster infestation.” Clarisse bits out.

  Percy and Annabeth both flinch and Carter looks confused, glancing around, before he freezes as he spots Tyson properly for the first time. Tyson looked a little nervous, but his eye was mostly wide with wonder as he took the camp in.

  “Why is there a cyclopses in camp?” Carter blurted out, a look of panic on his face.

  Neither Annabeth or Clarisse look they going to step in, so with reluctance Percy explained the situation. “Carter, this is Tyson. He saved our lives earlier from fire-breathing bronze bulls. Tyson this is Carter, a friend of mine, and one of Annabeth’s half brothers.”

  Tyson’s face slipped into a wide grin as he waved excitedly. Carter glanced over to Annabeth for confirmation that this story is true, and at her pointed glance at the ground held out a hand.

  “Nice to meet you Tyson.” There’s a nervous edge to Carter’s voice still, but Percy appreciates that he’s trying.

  Tyson took Carter’s hand and shakes is violently. “It is nice to meet you Carter.”

  “Lovely, now can we please get going.” Annabeth grumbled, still avoiding looking anyone in the eyes, or eye.

  Carter nodded and in unspoken agreement, feel into step in between Percy and Annabeth.

    ---

  Carter is twelve and he’s starting to realize something was very, very wrong.

  He probably should figured it out sooner, it’s not hard to but it’s scary. Camp is the only safe place Carter has left, and he’s not the only one that feels that way. That’s being taken away and it puts everyone on edge.

  Their new Activity Director isn’t much help, considering he’s a cannibal from the Fields of Punishment. Tantalus is horrible and he probably cares about camp even less than Mr. D does, which is a feat. Carter didn’t even feel guilty about the sick sense of joy he got whenever Tantalus went chasing after hamburger, after it ran away again after he makes another snide comment about Tyson.

  Tyson is another issue. It’s not the Carter didn’t like him, the cyclops was just unnerving. Carter didn’t have any good experiences with cyclopses, most campers don’t and he could’t really blame them for being weary around Tyson. That was not entirely what unnerved Carter about Tyson though, it was that Tyson reminds Carter of Sadie sometimes.

  Carter didn’t think about his younger sister very often, he didn’t have any reason to. They stopped being siblings when Carter was forced on to a plane without her after their mom died, and Carter didn’t know her enough anymore to miss her. Sometimes though Tyson will do something, freak out over the Pegasi, try to draw on the walls of the arts and crafts area, ask a bajillion annoying question about something, and Carter can’t help but think about his six-year sister. Back when they were a family. It was sort of like a punch in the gut.

  Carter didn’t miss Sadie, but he did miss being an older brother.

    ---

  Percy took a deep breath when he left the kitchen. Tyson might be immune to fire, but Annabeth and Percy were both sweating from having to clean dishes with lava for hours.

  Carter was waiting outside for them, looking parts amused and parts concerned.

  Annabeth and Percy exchanged a look, Percy will never admit how nice it is to not be arguing with her, and agreed to tell Carter about their plan.

  Grabbing Carter by the arm and ignoring his confused look, they dragged him out of ear shot of potential nosy campers, and explained to Carter what they plan to do.

  Carter looked disbelieving, and raised a single eyebrow. “Are you sure this’ll work?”

  “No.” Annabeth and Percy chorus, deadpan.

  “Fair point.” Carter shrugged. “And confronting Tantalus at the campfire might be the only way to get a quest.”

  “We figured.” Annabeth rolled her eyes at her half-brother, half-heartedly.

    ---

  Carter can’t say he was surprised when Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson didn’t show up at breakfast the next morning.

  It’s not like he suspected it, it’s just not surprise when he learned it.

  Percy's loyal, he wouldn’t let someone else go rescue Grover unless he trusted that they would save him. Clarisse definitely didn’t have Grover’s well-being on her mind.

  The Athena cabin all ready knew Annabeth was missing, when she wasn’t in her bunk that morning, which meant Carter was suppose to be in charge, but it was someone from the Hermes Cabin (Katrinia, maybe Katherine.) that pointed out Percy and Tyson’s disappearance.

  “Hey where’s Percy?” At this everyone turned towards the Poseidon, which was empty.

  Conner Stoll shrugs. “Still asleep probably.”

  “Or patrolling.” Travis finished.

  At this point the discussion had reached Tanatlus’s ears, and he’s not happy. “Why would Mr. Jackson be patrolling.” He snaps. “Someone go get him, he should—“

  “He left camp.” Carter interrupts, already exhausted with everyone. His half-siblings don’t seem surprised, Annabeth’s own disappearance was a pretty big clue.

  “Excuse me.” Tantalus is practically fuming now, and everyone was staring at Carter.

  Carter tugged at his amulet. “Percy probably left camp with Annabeth and Tyson to go save Grover.”

  “I did not authorize—“

  Dad had always told Carter to be respectful around adult, even if they’re jerks. Carter makes the executive decision that that didn’t apply to Tantalus.

  “You really think Percy would care? One of his best friends is in danger, of course he went of on his own to try and save him.”

  Malcolm was shaking his head at Carter, but was clearly amused. No one particularly liked Tantalus after all. “Carter’s right. That’s why Tyson and Annabeth are missing too. They went with him.”

  Tantalus actually looked offended.

  Carter was going to be in so much trouble for this, but honestly it might be worth it for look on Tantalus’s face.

    ---

  There’s a difference between betraying gods and betraying camp.

  It’s easy to assume Luke poisoned camp, but no one was willing to believe until they saw Luke confess to it.

  It’s a different type of hurt, of betrayal. Luke going against the gods, sucks, it’s unexpected, but most people at camp can understand it. The gods aren’t good, and being their child makes life hard.

  Luke did more then that though. He hurt camp, he put everyone in danger.

  That’s not something anyone is able to forgive, not when their friends, and family, and the only safe place most of them know was almost taken away.

    ---

  Percy was incredibly thankful that the only person willing to acknowledge his and Annabeth’s unauthorized quest was Carter.

  He didn’t feel guilty about it, but he also didn’t feel the need to get expelled from camp. Percy has already been expelled a lot, including once this year already.

  Carter forced the four of them, Grover, Tyson, Annabeth, and Percy to tell him everything. Including when Percy got turned into a hamster. Yeah, no one was letting that go anytime soon.

  Chiron was back, thank gods. The chariot race was redone, and Percy and Annabeth actually work together this time for.

  They had invited Carter to join them, but he had declined. Which sucks for Carter cause they won.

  The summer was definitely looking up.

    ---

  Carter is twelve when Thalia comes back.

  He’s heard about her before, but Annabeth never talked about her much.

  Then they had all had been waken up by Malcolm, who had been on guard duty with Annabeth for the Golden Fleece.

  The rest of Cabin six followed Malcolm as he led the rest of them towards Half-Blood Hill.

  It’s early in morning, and sun just starting to rise. Thalia’s tree looked fine, still healthy. That was when Carter notices the girl at the base of the tree, below the Golden Fleece hanging on one of the highest branches. She had spiky black hair, black clothes, a leather jacket covered in pins.

  Annabeth kneeled next to her, wearing armor, so that Carter could’t make out anything beyond her curly blonde hair.

  Percy didn’t understand what’s happening, Carter can tell. He was looking at them frantically, confused.

  Carter supposed that Percy wouldn’t understand, or maybe just didn’t understand what was going on. He was probably one of their newest campers, and he wasn’t exactly around often enough to hear all the gossip.

  When the girl wakes up and introduces herself, Carter can’t find it in him to be surprised.

  “I am Thalia.” She announced. “Daughter of Zeus.”

Chapter Text

  Carter is thirteen when he visits California for the first time since Dad had sold their L.A. house.

  There’s multiple reason for that. California is dangerous for demigods, with the many monsters drawn towards Mt. Othrys/Mt. Tamalpais and there’s a lot of memories there, not bad, just bittersweet.

  But Dad got a job that had something to do with an artifact in some San Francisco museum, so to California they went.

  Like he said, California was dangerous for demigods, he definitely never expected to run into anyone.

    ---

  The trip was supposed to be three days, but Dad had surprised Carter with an extra day to hang out a bit.

  They stoped by the Golden Gate Bride, which Carter would like to put it on the record that it isn’t gold. It’s red. And yeah, Carter knows it’s because it crosses of the Golden Gate Strait but it’s the principle of the matter. Dad had let him get a souvenir though. A Golden Gate Bridge key chain. It’s plastic and cheap, but Carter doesn’t have a lot of reminders about the places he’s visited or even gifts for that matter.

  It was nice. It was normal.

  Now here’s a few facts Carter probably should’ve considered:

   1. Carter Kane is a Demigod

   2. Demigods have terrible luck

   3. Even thinking that everything was fine would gets oneself jinxed by the fates

  Carter really should’ve known something would go wrong. But his defense Manticores aren’t something one just casually comes across. Or Olympian’s outside of Camp Half-Blood.

  He and his dad had been near the dock when everyone started screaming. Screaming usually meant something bad, and around Carter, something mythical. He hadn’t even second guessed when he started running towards the potential danger.

  “Carter!” He heard his Dad yell.

  Carter ignored his Dad, which was a first and he’d probably freak out about that later. Dad had protected him more times then Carter could count, but the thirteen year old could take care of himself.

  He arrived at the tail end of the fight. Not that it was much of fight. There were four men dressed as soldiers, two were waltzing together, one was doing some sort of weird dance routine. Irish, Carter’s pretty sure. The last one was running around on all fours with something in his mouth. A gun? Why would—

  It took Carter a second to register the rest of scene, which was... normal, at least of Carter. That wasn’t saying much though, considering Carter’s life.

  There was pile of grapes, grape vines, and grape leaves. A group of four teenagers and a misty apparition.

  It took Carter a solid moment to recognize three of kids, long enough for the person in the mist to disappear.

  “Percy?” He called out. “Was the Mr. D?”

    ---

  Sometimes Carter wished Half-Bloods stayed in contact. Unfortunately, the only way to do that safely was too expensive for a bunch of broke pre-teens and teenagers to afford.

  After getting over the shock of seeing each other, Percy and Thalia introduced Zoë, who was one of the hunters of Artemis. Then they sent Grover on his way to get the Ophiotaurus, which Percy had of course become friends with and named Bessie, to Camp Half-Blood, and they explained what was going on to Carter, while, making their way farther into the city. No need to waste time on a time limited quest.

  It was complicated.

  Which was part of the demigod life style, Carter supposed, but wow that was a story.

  “So to summarize,” Carter stopped walking, making sure he actually got all the points. “Trip to Maine to pick up two demigod children. You get attacked by a Manticore and Annabeth ends up jumping off a cliff trying to kill it. Hunters are there and this all ends up getting you all on a quest trying to save Artemis because she was capture and is holding up the sky?”

  “And Annabeth.” Percy adds.

  Carter paused, and gave Percy a look. “Skeletons, wild boars, metal angel at the Hoover Dam, Nereus, Manticore attacking, Mr. D actually helping, and now we need to go to the Garden of the Hesperides?”

  The nods did not reassure Carter.

  Apparently one the questers had already died. It was one of the new demigods, Bianca, who they had been sent to help in Maine. Unclaimed, and an older sister. An older sister who had joined the hunt and left her younger brother at camp. Carter wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but he was hardly one to judge sibling relationships and any death was horrible. She certainly didn’t deserve it.

  Carter had a bad feeling though. Quest where taken in groups three for a reason. Three was a good number, a luckily one. Having five in quest with one dead, well, it couldn’t mean anything good for the fifth member, whoever it was.

  “Unfortunately, it will take far to long to get to my sister’s garden, with the little time left.” Zoë sighed. She was interesting, not many Titan’s would chose to become Hunters and she clearly had a history, not that Carter was going to ask about it.

  “We’re going to need a car.” Percy mused. “But nobody here is going to help, unless we ‘borrow’ one.”

  That would be a problem. The others fell into silence as they all thought over. That’s when Carter meet Thalia’s gaze, the two of them hadn’t talked much, but they both had one thing in common; Annabeth. Annabeth was Carter’s first friend friend, his only one. He couldn’t, wouldn’t consider her his sister but he was closer to her then he was to any other person, besides maybe Percy or Dad.

  Annabeth.

  “Oh.” Carter made a noise of realization and Thalia seemed to have to exact same idea.

  “Professor Chase.” She muttered.

    ---

  Carter stayed outside while the others accepted Mr. Chase’s invitation to come in. It would’ve made it more awkward, Carter felt. He had heard a few stories about Annabeth’s father and stepmother. Carter wasn’t sure they’d be keen to have a half-brother of Annabeth’s from her godly side around the house.

  He was mostly worried about Dad. Carter had lost him in the chaos of the Manticore attack, and the mortals's response to it. They’d find each other again, this was hardly the first time something like that had happened, but Carter wasn’t sure what his dad’s reaction would be. This was the first time they’d gotten separated because Carter hadn’t listened to Dad.

  Percy, Thalia, and Zoë came out, running, a pair of keys in their hand. Carter went to meet them by the yellow VW connvertiable.

    ---

  Demigods were known for having family issues, but Zoë might take the cake.

  Atlas looked like Zoë. Mediterranean complexion, regal and proud. Just a bit more malicious. Carter didn’t know Zoë very well, but he figured that despite their physical similarities they were very different.

  Luke, looking older, looking like he had never cared about them, stood by Atlas’s side, about a dozen caena behind him carrying golden sarcophagus. Carter assumed it held the remains of Kronos. Annabeth was there to. Cuffed and gagged, Luke holding a sword to her throat. Luke of all people.

  A twelve year girl was straining against the weight of the sky, clouds swirling across the back of shoulders. Artemis.

  “Hoo-hoo,” Atlas’s grin was disturbingly wide at Artemis’s refusal to take up Zoë’s offer. “You see, Daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos flies again, and this will be the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility.”

  The ruins of Mount Othrys lay around them. Broken blocks of black granite and marble, and fallen columns. Half melted bronze studs littered the cracked floor.

  Luke was talking to Thalia. Trying to convince her to join him. Carter wasn’t even sure he could say Thalia wouldn’t do it. She was bitter at gods, for good reason, and she had history with Luke.

  “We will raise Mount Othrys right here. Once more, it will be stronger and greater then Olympus. Look. Thalia. We are not weak.” Luke looked almost desperate.

  Behind him was his ship. Carter remembered Annabeth telling him about it, the Princess Andromeda. Marching off of it were waves of monsters, hell hounds, harpies, and cyclopses. There were Half-bloods to. A few Carter faintly recognized from camp. There must’ve been hundreds, Carter wasn’t sure how they had all fit on to the boat.

  Thalia was hesitating, they didn’t have time for hesitating not with an army marching up the mountain. Carter reached out for his sword, feeling the cold celestial bronze hilt before it appeared in his hand. He had put it away to avoid attracting the attention of Ladon.

  “You aren’t Luke.” Thalia seemed almost accepting of the fact, only a faint edge of hurt now. “I don’t know you anymore.”

  “Yes, you do, Thalia,” Luke was pleading now, a far cry from the confident head counselor Carter was used to. “Please. Don’t make me… don’t make him destroy you.”

  But Thalia’s had already made her mind up.

  There’s a moment of silence as Luke and Thalia stared at each other.

  “Now.” Percy commanded and Carter didn’t hesitate. He wasn’t exactly planning on dying, and he would hate to leave his dad, but he wasn’t going to let his friends fight alone.

    ---

  It’s a close call.

  They, the quest members, all survived, or at least so far, Zoë wasn’t in good shape though.

  Carter did’t know if Luke is dead, they all saw him fall, but Annabeth seemed uncertain. If anyone knows Luke it’s Annabeth.

  Between Mr. Chase’s miraculous save in a plane, Percy managing to hold up the sky for long enough so Artemis could get Atlas back underneath it, Zoë fighting her own father, and Thalia making to shove Luke of a cliff they had survived.

  Artemis took them in her chariot. It was shining silver, and pulled by four beautiful deer, all with golden antlers. Four out five of Carter remembered the myth correctly. Annabeth's father followed them in his plane.

  Carter hadn’t heard a lot of good things about Mr. Chase but he had to admit that flying in on a plane and shooting down monsters was a pretty good way to start repairing your relationship with you daughter.

  The stars had started appearing in the night sky by the time they land. It was a clear, beautiful night, the moon shining at its fullest.

  Carter want to feel relived but Zoë was pale and shivering. She was kneeling on the ground, Annabeth, Percy, Thalia and Artemis gathered around her. There wasn't much they could do. The glow that comes from being an immortal huntress is faded. A Hunter of Artemis may be immortal, but they can be killed like anyone else.

  "Can't you heal her with magic?" Percy asked Artemis. "I mean… you're a goddess."

  "Life is a fragile thing, Percy.” Artemis looked troubled, looked worried and Carter realized how much she does cared about her hunters. She cared more about them, then most gods care about their own kids. “If the Fates will the string to be cut, there is little I can do. But I can try."

  She tried to set her hand on Zoë’s side, but Zoë gripped her wrist. She looked into the goddess's eyes, and some kind of understanding passed between them.

  "Have I… served thee well?" Zoë whispered.

  "With great honor," Artemis voice was soft, and she smiled reassuringly. "The finest of my attendants."

  Zoë’s face relaxed. "Rest. At last."

  "I can try to heal the poison, my brave one."

  Zoë spotted Thalia and turned away from Artemis, beckoning the daughter of Zeus closer.

  "I am sorry we argued," Zoe apologized. "We could have been sisters."

  "It's my fault," Thalia said, blinking hard. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men—everything."

  "Perhaps not all men," Zoe murmured. She smiled weakly over at Percy. "Do you still have the sword, Percy?"

  Percy didn’t say anything, but he pulled off the cap of Riptide, bring out the familiar sight of the sword. She grasped it contentedly. "You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like… like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword."

  Carter didn’t fully understand what was going on, and felt uncomfortable watching. He's only known Zoë for a little over an hour, but he can tell then others really did care about her and would miss her. Carter can't understand that, not really, the most he can do is be grateful she helped them, but he can understand grief.

  Zöe shuddered.

  “Stars.” Her voice was quiet and peaceful. “I can see the stars again, my lady.”

  Tears fell down Artemis’s face, but she placed a reassuring hand against Zöe's cheek. “Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight.”

  “Stars.” Zoë’s voice can barely be heard. Her eyes shift away from the group around her to fixate in the sky. She doesn’t move again.

  Carter moved away from the group a little, giving them space, and feeling a bit out of place as Annabeth sobs, and her father loops an arm around her, trying to comfort.

  Artemis whispered a blessing, and a whisp of silver smoke escapes Zoë’s mouth and is caught in the goddess’s hand. Zoë’s body shimmered and faded away.

  Artemis stood and released the smoke and lets it drift into the sky, sparking before vanishing.

  Carter noticed the change quickly. The way new stars light up the sky, shining brightly. They create a figure of a girl holding a bow, running forever in sky.

  “Let the world honor you, my huntress,” Artemis whispered to the stars, “Forever in the stars.”

    ---

  Carter had heard about Olympus from some of the campers who had been their, but he’d never been there himself.

  It’s… impressive. One might think it was just one giant palace, but it's a collection of buildings and roads, making a winding path to the top of the mountain surrounded by glowing torches of various colors.

  The throne rooms was at the top, obviously. In the biggest, greatest palace of all. The glowing hall of the gods.

    ---

  Standing before the twelve thrones of the Olympians was intimidating. The gods were all fifteen feet tall , sitting on giant thrones. Who wouldn’t be intimidated?

  Carter can recognize most of them from stories or common sense.

  Zeus sits in the middle, Hera and Poseidon and either side, sitting on the far left is the only one Carter’s ever seen, not including the Dionysus and Artemis. Carter’s mother, Athena.

  She looked different from the last time Carter had seen her. She was covered in armor and was holding a spear steady with one hand, her fingers looking more like talon, wrapped around it. Her eyes glanced over the demigods present, looking less human and more bird like.

  There was a sense of wrongness from being here. Though Carter doesn’t know why.

  “You made it!” Apparently, Grover and Bessie made it. Thankfully.

  Grover started to come over, but stoped. He had to silently ask for permission from the King of the Gods.

  “Go on,” Zeus allowed, but he wasn’t paying attention to the satyr. His eyes stayed firmly on his daughter.

  There was silence, making it slightly awkward at everyone watched the satyr trot over to them, his hooves echoing on the marble floor.

  He gave both Annabeth and Thalia big hugs, grinned at Carter, and grabbed Percy by the arm. “Percy, Bessie and I made it! But you have to convince them! They can’t do it!”

  “Do what?” Percy asked.

  “Heroes.” Artemis stopped any explanation, but Carter didn’t doubt it will by long before they find out.

  The goddess slid off of her throne, becoming human sized. Her silver robes shimmered around her as she walked closer, like walking in a pillar of moonlight.

  The Council has been informed of your deeds," Artemis told them. "They know that Mount Othrys is rising in the West. They know of Atlas's attempt for freedom, and the gathering armies of Kronos. We have voted to act."

  There was some mumbling and shuffling among the gods, as if they weren't all happy with this plan, but nobody protested.

  "At my Lord Zeus's command," Artemis continued, "my brother Apollo and I shall hunt the most powerful monsters, seeking to strike them down before they can join the Titans' cause. Lady Athena shall personally check on the other Titans to make sure they do not escape their various prisons. Lord Poseidon has been given permission to unleash his full fury on the cruise ship Princess Andromeda and send it to the bottom of the sea. And as for you, my heroes…"

  She turned to face the other immortals. "These half-bloods have done Olympus a great service. Would any here deny that?"

  That’s when Carter figured it out. The gods wanted to do something harmful, to them specifically, and Artemis is trying to convince them otherwise.

  The gods, or at least some them, wanted them dead.

  I gotta say" -Apollo broke the silence- "these kids did okay. Heroes win laurels—" Carter noticed Percy and Thalia wince. They had told him Apollo’s poetry wasn’t great. Even though he was the god of poetry.

  "Um, yes, first class," Hermes interrupted, so he must’ve agreed with Percy’s assessment. "All in favor of not disintegrating them?"

  A few tentative hands went up—Demeter, Aphrodite.

  "Wait just a minute," Ares growled. He points at them. "They’re dangerous. It'd be much safer, while we've got them here—"

  "Ares," Poseidon interrupted, "they are worthy heroes. We will not blast my son to bits."

  "Nor my daughter," Zeus grumbled. "She has done well."

  Thalia blushed. She studied the floor. Carter got that, it always felt special when Dad gave him a compliment.

  His mother cleared her throat and sat forward. "As much as there is a risk with Thalia and Perseus. I believe neither of my children should be killed.”

  “A risk?” Annabeth protested. “Mother, you can’t mean—“

  Hermes interrupted. “I don’t know Athena. I’m not big on rules but…”

  There were a few glances sent between a few of the gods, but Athena silenced any arguments with a look and Hermes raised his hands in surrender.

  “My children are not a danger to us like the other are. It is unfortunate that the only one to actually keep his oath is Hades, and we must remember the Great Prophecy. Children of the three eldest gods have much potential to harm us. My brother might be thickheaded, but Ares has a point."

  "Right!" Ares said. "Hey, wait a minute. Who you callin'—"

  He started to get up, but a grape vine grew around his waist like a seat belt and pulled him back down.

  "Oh, please, Ares," Dionysus sighed. "Save the fighting for later."

  Ares cursed and ripped away the vine. "You're one to talk, you old drunk. You seriously want to protect these brats?"

  Dionysus gazed down at us wearily. "I have no love for them. Athena, do you truly think it safest to destroy them?"

  "I do not pass judgment," Athena said. "I only point out the risk. What we do, the Council must decide."

  "I will not have them punished," Artemis said. "I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it."

  "Calm down, sis," Apollo said. "Jeez, you need to lighten up."

  "Don't call me sis! They deserve to be rewarded."

  "Well," Zeus grumbled. "I suppose you have a point. But the monster at least must be destroyed. We have agreement on that?"

  A lot of nodding heads.

  Carter was confused, but Percy clearly understood what they where saying. "Bessie? You want to destroy Bessie?"

  "Mooooooo!" Bessie protested. Carter had nearly forgotten about the Ophiotaurus, who had stayed silent until now. Well, if the gods had been debating of whether or not to kill Percy and Thalia, he shouldn’t be surprised that they were debating over debating over killing Bessie.

  Poseidon frowned at his son. "You have named the Ophiotaurus Bessie?"

  "Dad," Percy ignored the question, "he's just a sea creature. A really nice sea creature. You can't destroy him."

  Poseidon winced, and looked very uncomfortable. "Percy, the monster's power is considerable. If the Titans were to steal it, or—"

  "You can't,"Percy pleaded. He turned to face Zeus, because of course Percy would argue with King of the Gods.. "Controlling the prophecies never works. Isn't that true? Besides, Bess—the Ophiotaurus is innocent. Killing something like that is wrong. It's just as wrong as… as Kronos eating his children, just because of something they might do. It's wrong!"

  Zeus seemed to consider this. His eyes drifted to his daughter Thalia. "And what of the risk? Kronos knows full well, if one of you were to sacrifice the beast's entrails, you would have the power to destroy us. Do you think we can let that possibility remain? You, my daughter, will turn sixteen on the morrow, just as the prophecy says."

  "You have to trust them," Annabeth spoke up. "Sir, you have to trust them."

  Zeus scowled. "Trust a hero?"

  "Annabeth is right," Artemis said. "Which is why I must first make a request. My faithful companion, Zoe Nightshade, has passed into the stars. I must have a new lieutenant. And I intend to choose one. But first, Father Zeus, I must speak to you privately."

  Zeus beckoned Artemis forward. He leaned down and listened as she spoke in his ear.

  Percy suddenly look panicked. He muttered something to Annabeth that Carter couldn’t here, but he could see the look of confusion and concern that passed over his face

  "I shall have a new lieutenant," Artemis announced. "If she will accept it."

  She was going to ask Thalia or Annabeth?

  "Thalia," Artemis said. "Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?"

  Stunned silence filled the room. Carter and Percy both turned turned to look at Thalia. Annabeth smiled. She squeezed Thalia's hand and let it go, as if she'd been expecting this all along.

  "I will," Thalia decided. There wasn’t any hesitance in her voice.

  Zeus want to stand, looking almost concerned. "My daughter, consider well—"

  "Father," she said. "I will not turn sixteen tomorrow. I will never turn sixteen. I won't let this prophecy be mine. I stand with my sister Artemis. Kronos will never tempt me again."

  She knelt before the goddess and started to pledge an oath to the goddess of the hunt. "I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men…"

    ---

  A lot of things happen when Carter’s thirteen.

  Percy becomes the official child of the phrophecy and Thalia joins the hunt.

  Carter goes to Olympus for the first time.

  Carter watches someone die for the first time.

  It weird to think about how much has happened in the last few hours as he watches everyone party. What a Wonderful World by Niel Armstrong was playing. At least it’s what Carter hears. Nature spirits, and minor deities have filled the room, all dancing to whatever song they can hear. A table of Ambrosia and Nectar appeared along one side of the room and Carter was pretty sure he spotted Mr. D by it earlier.

  Grover appeared next to him. “Hey Carter.”

  He’s the first person to actually interact with Carter. There’s almost a circle of emptiness around the son of Athena, as if everyone else is avoiding him. He can’t begin to guess why though.

  “Guess what?” The satyr asks, excitedly. Grover doesn’t wait for Carter to guess though. “Annabeth and Percy are slow dancing together.”

  Carter blinks in shock before looking around the dance floor and spotting the pair.

  “Have they finally gotten their act together?” Carter asked, watching the two sway together.

  Grover slumped. “Probably not. That would be asking to much.”

  Carter snorted. Grover wasn’t wrong, his two best friend were oblivious.

  “I will have to disagree.” A cold voice interrupted.

  Grover pales. “Lady Athena.”

  “Mother.” Carter tried not to grimace.

  Athena smiled at him, just a little. “ I would like to speak to my son. If you don’t mind, Grover.”

  Grover nodded and sent Carter a nervous look, before trotting away and disappearing into the crowd.

  They watched him leave, before his mother turned towards him. “You shouldn’t be here Carter.”

  “Are you going to tell me why?” Carter asked, but it was rhetorical question more then anything. Gods revealed things in their own time after all.

  She didn’t answer the question. “You’re father must be worried.”

  “Yes.”

  “I will send you back to him, if you’ll allow me. I’ll make sure your friends know too, so they don’t worry.”

  Carter wished he would actually get some answers about why no one wanted him here. Why everyone was avoiding him. He wasn’t going to get any that though, not soon, probably not ever.

  And his dad was worried. Considering Carter had just disappeared in him. He should get back and without help that would take a long time. Taking up his mother on her offer would be the best choice.

  “Okay.”

  Athena nods. “A wise choice.”

  She didn’t grant him a warning, just a bright flash of light and then the world is spinning.

    ---

  “Carter!” His head feels to dizzy, but he can make out his dad’s voice.

  He groaned a bit. “Life tip: don’t let a god teleport you.” Carter pressed a hand to his forehead and opened his eyes.

  He was laying in a room. The wall paper was peeling and it had a familiar musty scent, the one that came with all old sketchy hotel rooms. Dad was hovering over him worried.

  “Carter where did you go?” The worried tone had turned scolding. “You can’t just disobey me like that, you need to listen to me.”

  Carter sat up, gingerly testing for any bruises. He was fine, the ambrosia at the party had healed up any extra injuries from the fight at Mount Othrys.

  Looking at his dad he smiled. Dad didn’t need to know what had happened, he didn’t need to know about Luke or the on coming war. Carter hadn’t told him anything important that had happened since Percy came to camp. That wasn’t going to change now.

  “There was a manticore attack on a few half-bloods that lived there. I helped them out and Athena decided to send me back to you.”

  Dad didn’t look like he completely believed Carter but nodded and pulled him into a hug. Carter tried not to stiffen. Dad wasn’t big on hugs.

  It would be alright. Carter thought, relaxing into the safety of the hug. It would be all right. 

Chapter Text

  Carter hasn’t had a good birthday since he turned eight, but his fourteenth probably takes the cake.

  Carter has been barely fourteen for two hours when the war against Kronos officially begins, though if he was being totally honest he had forgotten his birthday entirely.

    ---

  Annabeth was furious. Everybody in the Athena Cabin could tell as she stormed up to the Archery Range. Her eyes were a stormy gray and her face was twisted up into a scowl.

  “So… she’s back.” Mara looked terrified.

  Relatable.

  “So, I’ll be in charge and Carter can go talk to her.” Malcolm suggested, very unsubtly.

  Carter groaned. “Ah yes, sacrifice me.”

  Jenny snorted. “It’s for a good cause, Carter.”

  Carter glared at her, but placed his bow down. He wasn’t any good at archery anyway, might as well doing something useful instead of trying not hit his cabin mates. He walked over to meet Annabeth before she reached the others.

  “Hey Annabeth.” She narrowed her eyes at his cheerful tone. He winced. “Was picking up Percy that bad?”

  “He told someone about us.” She growled. “About demigods and monster, all because she could see through the mist. How stupid is that, we have no idea what she's like, what if she’s working for Kronos or something—“

  Oh. That would do it.

  “You’re jealous?” Carter scoffed

  “Shut up.” She snapped at him, a flush rising in her cheeks. Probably a mix of anger and embarrassment.

  Carter liked to think he was nice, but he could resist in opportunity like this. Annabeth and Percy had been driving everyone crazy with their pining, and Carter was pretty sure Percy didn’t even know he had feelings for Annabeth.

  “I can’t believe Annabeth Chase is letting a little thing—“

  “Shut up!” Annabeth glared a hole into his skull. Her shoulders slumped. “I was coming over to get you because it was almost time for Grover’s trial with the Council of Elders, not for you to accuse me of being jealous, so come on.

  Carter laughed quietly, and nodded to the other, who where trying not to look like they were staring.

  Annabeth rolled her eyes, but relaxed a bit. “Come on.” She said again, and turned around, clearly expected Carter to follow.

  Carter followed.

    ---

  Carter doesn’t really know the Council of Elder, but they had a really terrible first impression.

  He’s not super close with Grover, but they were closer after what has happened the winter, and one can only suffer through the pain that is being Annabeth and Percy’s friend for so long without commiserating over it together.

  Carter doesn’t appreciate how Grover is being treated is the point.

  Juniper was crying as she clung on to Grover. Grover looked like he wants to cry too, which after the threat of having his searcher’s license taken away, Carter can understand why. It’s ever satyrs life goal to be able to search for Pan, using that against Grover was a low blow.

  Percy looks confused. He had to be, considering how little context he'd being given.

  Tapping his shoulder Carter decided to reassure the fourteen year old. “I’ll explain to you later.”

  Percy gives a relieved sigh. “Carter, thank you. It’s good to see you, though I can’t believe you just disappeared on us.”

  A few months ago, Carter had sort of accidentally joined them on the tail end of their quest to save Artemis and Annabeth from Kronos and Luke. Athena had granted Carter the favor of getting him back to his Dad, after ditching him back in San Francisco.

  “Yeah, sorry about that.” Carter apologized. “Athena decided it was the best and—“

  “—and you don’t argue with a goddess.” Percy finished with a small grin. “When did Grover get a girlfriend, by the way?”

  Carter laughed, but didn’t respond. “Ask him, I have to get going for cabin inspections.”

  “Oh no.” Percy ducked his head in dispair.

  At least there was a little hope.

    ---

  Carter doesn’t get to properly talk to Percy until the next day at breakfast, when Chiron drags Grover over and Annabeth slides into the seat in the other side of Percy.

  People might be more surprised by Annabeth breaking the rules, if Carter hadn’t been doing it for three years at this point, and she wasn’t at risk of being driven insane with both Chiron and Mr. D absent.

  Grover wasn’t happy about the situation though. Carter could empathize. He was highly claustrophobic and the labyrinth didn’t sound like a place with tall ceilings and windows. The little they knew about what happened with Chris doesn’t makes it sound very appealing either.

  “—No flowers, no sunshine, not coffee shops. It a horrible place.”

  “We don’t know that.” Carter pointed out as Grover finished his rant. Grover grumbled. “The labyrinth is sort of like hallways in a building right? It could bring you to a coffee shop.”

  Annabeth nodded in thanks. “Exactly. It was designed to trap or kill you, but if you make it work for you…”

  “You could find a wild god.” Percy was catching on, clearly.

  “I can’t do it.” Grover hunched over on himself, looking sick. “Just thinking about makes me want to throw up my silverware.”

  Carter placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to be comforting. “It might be your only chance though.”

  “The council isn’t joking, one more week and you’ll be learning to tap-dance.” Annabeth agreed, standing up. “Come on Carter, I know you usually sit with Percy but we’re both pushing it.”

  Carter nodded giving Grover one more pat on the shoulder and followed Annabeth.

    ---

  Everyone knew something was going to happen, and so it isn’t really a surprise when Percy and Annabeth emerge from the woods, Annabeth looked pale, and for those who know her well, scared.

  Carter can tell she’s found it, the entrance to the labyrinth, but Chiron insistes they all go to sleep like sleeping on almost certain death is good for anyone.

  Carter managed to fall asleep anyway. Which is when the dream arrives.

  It’s a recurring one, one that he’s been having a lot recently.

  There’s burning heat, and harsh laughter. He can make the vague outline of a lowering figure, humanoid, but definitely not human. Fear is clawing at him, and he knows he’s going to die. He can’t move, he can barely breathe and whoever, whatever this is it’s hunting him.

  With a jolt Carter opened his eyes to the ceiling of Cabin Six.

    ---

  Carter doesn’t talk or think about the dream. Demigod dreams are the usual, and plenty of his cabin mates probably woke up during the night and it didn’t help anyone’s mental health the think too much about vague, threatening dreams.

  He isn’t allowed into the councilor meeting because he isn’t a councilor, but when Annabeth comes back he knows something bad happened.

  “I’ve got a quest into the Labyrinth.” She blurted out when she collapses on to her bunk next to his.

  Carter put a bookmark into his book. “Annabeth…”

  “I wanted to bring you along.”

  Carter stares at her. It’s not that he doesn’t want to help, but he remembered the last time he did help.

  It’s hard not to think about it. The life leaving Zoë because of her Dad, or watching at Luke fall and land brokenly at the base of Mount Othrys. Seeing Luke threaten Annabeth. Carter is used to danger, that’s what being a demigod is like, but he’s not sure he’s willing to go that far again. Part of him is still reeling out exactly how far Luke is willing to go to help Kronos. Hurting Percy, hating the gods, putting camp in danger was a shock, but hurting Annabeth, Carter never though Luke would ever do that.

  Plus he would hate to labyrinth. Small enclosed halls like the ones in temples or tombs. He’ll pass.

  “I don’t know…” Carter trails off, he doesn’t want to be a coward.

  “It’s okay.” Annabeth reassures him. “I get it. Questing isn’t for everyone and I’m already bringing Tyson, Grover, and Percy.”

  Carter drew back a little bit. “Bringing more then three isn’t a good idea. You remember what happened to Bianca and Zoë.”

  Annabeth grabbed his shoulder. “I need them for this.”

  Carter blew out a breath. “Okay.”

    ---

  It wasn’t the first time he had seen his friends off on some dangerous journey, but it didn’t get easier knowing chances were that they weren’t going to come back.

  Percy is the best at beating the chances, you just need to trust them. Carter reminded himself.

  Chiron has pulled Percy aside to tell him something, so Carter stayed back to talk with Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover.

  “You guys sure you’ll be okay?” He asked worriedly.

  “No.” Grover replied, his eyes flicking towards the entrance of the Labyrinth nervously.

  Tyson clapped excitedly. “Yes, Tyson is very prepared.”

  “Of course.” Annabeth smiled thinly, and if Carter hadn’t been living with her for almost six years he might’ve believed her.

  “Prepared, yes.” Percy had come back. “So excited to go into the super dark deadly underground maze.”

  Carter stepped back a bit. “Seriously guys, be careful.”

  “Careful is my middle name.” Percy shifted.

  Carter watches at the only four friends he’s ever had disappear into the dark tunnels.

    ---

  They weren’t careful, Carter hadn’t really expected them to be. He hadn’t expected them to be so reckless either.

  He had expected them all to survive, after all.

  He looks as the blue shroud, with a trident stitched into it as it is brought forward.

  Carter has lost people before. His mom, his sister, his grandparents. Even in its own way, his dad. The grief is still there in some ways, but it’s lost it’s edge after so many years.

  Losing Percy had been a possibility of course, but not one Carter had ever truly considered. Percy had survived Furries and the Minotaur, and had faced down actual gods and survived.

  Percy was the second friend Carter had ever made, even after all of his years spent of Camp.

  Grover and Tyson haven’t returned from their detour in the labyrinth which is another reason to worry, but Carter has to trust them. Has to trust they’ll keep each other safe, he’s not sure he’s up to losing anyone else.

  He’s not sure if that’s an option he going to get either, not with war on the horizon.

    ---

  Carter thought he knew Percy, clearly he didn’t. If he did he would’ve know that Percy would interrupt his own funeral.

  Annabeth is half way between happiness and anger. Carter’s just worried.

  “What does lost mean?”

  A very alive Percy shifted awkwardly.

 Carter is reminded of the first day he meet Percy and has to wonder if he made a mistake. Was having friends really worth this amount of stress?

    ---

  Almost dying doesn’t stop Percy or Annabeth from rejoining the deadly quest, Carter knew it wouldn’t but he had hoped.

  “Please don’t die again.” Carter all but begs Percy.

  “I didn’t die.” Percy argued back, defensively.

  Carter crossed his arms. “Tell that to the funeral service and shroud.”

  Annabeth sighed, but smiled. “I’ll keep a closer watch on him this time. Try to keep him alive.”

  “Can we just go know.” Percy sighed grumpily.

  Annabeth rolled her eyes but opened to door of Argus’s car, practically shoving Percy inside. Carter steps back and watches them go. It’s basically habit at this point. He sighed in a breath and raised his eyes to the sky.

  Please keep them safe Mother. Carter doesn’t pray to Athena often but he figures if there’s anytime it's now. 

    ---

  After that it’s a waiting game.

  Waiting for Percy and Annabeth to come back.

  Waiting for the attack.

  Waiting for the monsters.

  Waiting for Luke.

  Of course everyone hopes that it won’t happen, but everybody also knows that it’s inevitable.

    ---

  Carter hadn’t been keeping track of the days, which was weird because he was usually one of the only people that could keep track of the days in the first place.

  He hasn’t even realized it was June thirtieth, his birthday, until two weeks after it had passed. Hadn’t even realized that his birthday would forever be a reminder of the day the war with Kronos officially started.

  That his birthday was the day Luke decided to attack Camp.

    ---

  They survive. Barely.

  Carter figures the best way to put it is that the Camp survived. Far too many people died in the process.

  It takes a while to address all the wounded. The make shrouds more all the dead.

  Even Dionysus looked upset at the funeral for his son Castor. More proof that everyone had lost someone.

  The Athena Cabin had to make two shrouds, one for Isabel and one for Kyle. The Hermes and Apollo Cabin had probably lost the most members, being the two largest cabins.

  Carter sometimes forgets they’re all kids in this war, but watching the Aphrodite Cabin burn a shroud for their nine year-old half sister, Marilyn, reminds him in the worst way possible.

  Even the Fourth of July celebrations can’t properly cheer anyone up and all it does is make Annabeth angry at Percy, while she grieves Luke.

  When the summer ends, Carter has never felt more relieved to leave Camp.

  He also doesn’t bring any of it up when his dad asks him what happened this summer.

Chapter Text

  Carter had heard how his parent met a thousand times. Dad always liked to tell him. They met at a dig in the Valley of the Kings and they fell in love.

  Carter has only heard the story of how he was born once, when he was eight, but he remembers it just as well.

    ---

  It had been a few months after Dad and Mom had gotten married. They’d been living in an apartment, saving up to get a house near the beach.

  They meet in the history section of the library when Dad went to look something up. She went by the name Amelia, Dad had said she had black curly hair, really curly hair, and pale skin. Said she had pretended to be a Greek historian.

  She had become friends with them. Mom and Dad. They’d meet up for lunch and talk about history. Apparently she had even stopped by the apartment multiple times. Then she had disappeared. One day there the next day gone, like she had never existed. According Dad she was gone around fourth months.

  Then she showed up on their step holding a baby, holding him, and explained everything to them.

    ---

  Carter never got the impression that Dad and Athena’s relationship was anything romantic. Yes, Athena was capable of having romantic relationships, but for this it was based of intelligence rather then love.

  Athena had liked Dad, though he was smart, intelligent. And Carter though Athena was also fond of Mom to.

  Dad said Carter was suppose to be a gift from her to them. He isn’t sure if Dad really thought that. They hadn’t been prepared for kid to be dropped onto their laps. He doesn’t think about it often, they took him in, they loved him, Carter knows that.

  Athena may be the reason he’s alive, but Mom and Dad are the people that raised him, protected him.

  There’s more to story, he knows now, it’s a lot more complicated

Chapter Text

  Carter is 14 when he find out his parentage isn’t the only secret his Dad hide from him.

  That whatever is going on is far more complicated then being the son of the Greek god.

    ---

  Standing in front of Sadie and him is a strange form of a man wreathed in fire. Dad is in front of the thing and he’s scared.

  He only half understands what their saying. Demon days, The house, Osiris… The man's laughing. It sounds harsh and cruel. It sounds familiar. Suddenly there’s a golden coffin trapping Dad, and Carter can’t breath anymore. He can’t lose Dad, he can’t.

  This is the dream, the ones he’s been having lately. Except he can make out the face of the humanoid creature and this is anything but a dream.

  Carter brain can’t really comprehend it. There are two faces, meddling together, flickering back in forth between the two. One is a man’s face, dark hair, cold red eyes. The other is an animal, dark fur and long fangs. This isn’t just any monster. It’s a god.

  It’s not god Carter’s ever heard of, and after listening to Annabeth’s lectures about the many Greek gods, that’s a surprise.

  Greek…

  And… and Carter finally understand. It makes sense in a twisted sort of way. The God mention Osiris, the Egyptian god of the Underworld.

  Egyptian gods are real to, apparently. And now that he’s figured out that, he knows which one it is. He grew up on Egyptian mythology, he knows it even better then he knows Greek mythology.

  He’s going to die.

  (That was in the dream to, the knowledge that he was going to die.)

  It’s not as surprising as it should be. Demigods are born to die, he has always known that.

  Suddenly, there’s crashing, and voices.

  The god looks down at me. “Soon, Mixed-Blood. Soon.”

  Then all Carter can feel is heat.

  Before he passes out he sees the two people the came in. A man with a forked beard, and a girl with knife, both wearing blue.

  And everything goes black.

    ---

  Carter was sitting in his grandparents living room. It's odd, he hasn’t been here since he was eight, before Mom died. It hadn’t changed much though, from the little he remembered.

  His grandparents have never liked him. At the time he’d been confused, why they had dotted on Sadie but couldn’t look him in the eye. He was older now though. Part of it was because he looks like Dad, part of it was because he thinks they know something about what he is. At the very least they suspect he wasn’t biologically Mom’s child.

  Carter still didn’t know what to think about what happened. Clearly the Egyptian Pantheon worked a bit differently then the Greek one and Carter didn’t know those rules despite how ingrained the myths are in his head.

  When the officers had questioned him, he had told them that he had no idea what had happened. It was true. The only thing he knew was that they had faced an Egyptian god.

  Sadie came back down with the inspector.

  In the end he gets deported. It not a bad thing, he had camp. A place to stay without Dad, at least until Carter could find him again, but it wasn't home.

  Dad was alive. He had to be. Percy’s mom was alive after all, there no reason why it isn’t the same for Dad.

  His head was feeling a bit faint, he couldn't focus, and it was hard to breath.

  He doesn’t remember much, just the one hour boat ride and the arrival in New York of all places.

    ---

  Carter was used to dreams.

  Magician dreams and demigod dream were remarkably similar. Real and present. With a few notable differences, like having a chicken head or spying on Egyptian gods and not getting greek monsters.

  When he woke up, he got dressed in casual clothes. Something he'd wear at camp rather than something he'd wear when he was with Dad.

  If he knows anything about gods, he knows nothing good is going to come of this and it was best for him to be prepared. Not sense in getting his nice clothing dirty.

  Carter didn’t want this. He didn’t need new gods, new monsters, new life threatening experiences. He already dealt that enough as it was, and it wasn’t fair that he had deal with more.

  Dad had once told him, “Fairness means everyone gets what they need. And the only way to get what you need is to make it happen yourself.”

  What Carter needs is to not deal with this. He's has no idea how to make that happen himself, not when he was apparently born with what feels like the whole world against him.

  (Anyway, Carter has read the dictionary. Officially fairness means impartial and just, without favoritism or discrimination. Personally he thinks that means fairness should be a right, not a something you have to earn and work for, but that's)

  Whether or not Dad was right doesn't stop tears from welling up in his eyes.

  Stop, you don’t have time for grief, A voice whispers in the back of his head, though it sounds older and rougher than Carter's usual internal thoughts. Almost like someone else was talking.

  Carter can’t tell if that means he’s going crazy or not.

  At breakfast he stayed silent, listening as Amos explained who this new pantheon worked. Which was good because Carter needed to understand.

  Sadie came up with the theory that Dad was trying to bring Mom back to life. It's not impossible, technically, but it's not a good idea. Brining back the dead is a dangerous move. The gods don't like it when mortals start stepping on their toes to do what are suppose to be impossible things.

  The Du'at was like the Mist, which helped Carter orient himself. This new world wasn't too different from what he wasused to. Perhaps the different pantheons are still connected? Maybe the gods have weekly get together to complain about pathetic mortals.

  But what it meant for him, for Carter, specifically, he didn't quite know. Nothing good, probably.

  A memory surfaced in the back of his mind. Three years ago, during a dream in the middle of summer, when he first meet his mother.

  The rules are there for a reason, and your very existence is already breaking too many of them, She had told him and suddenly a part of him understood. Carter didn't know the consequences of his mother's error, didn't what being a demigod and a magician was going to mean for him, for his life from now on. He did know something for certain now.

  Carter Kane, the son of Athena and apparently an Egyptian Egyptian. was definitely not supposed to exist.

Chapter Text

  Carter was fourteen when he found out he had an uncle and got stuck with his sister for the rest of forever.

  Whether or not it was a good thing was something Carter would 

    ---

  Sadie decided to go into the library. The place Amos had forbidden them from going.

  Of course.

  Not that he was going to argue. They needed some information about what was going on, and there really was no better place to go the a library, but it was the principle of the matter.

  It was helpful though, they learned a lot. Some of it Carter had guessed. Dad had been kidnapped by Set, but needing to save him before the demon days were over was new. The myth about the demon days wasn’t one Dad told Carter often, and it had taken Carter a moment to remember all the details.

  Before they could learn anything else, like maybe what the names in that book meant, they were attacked by Serporads. Carter did remember those myths, and Serporads were bad news. Which was great, fantastic, awesome, Carter loved being attacked by deadly creatures.

  Carter could defend them, of course, whether or not it would work was a whole other issue and Carter wasn’t sure if reveling to Sadie he had a sword in his metaphorical back pocket was a good idea, Dad had always told him not to let Sadie get involved and it had always been easy. He had only seen her once a year, but if they were going to be around each other 24/7 Carter wasn’t sure if he could keep it a secret.

  He compromised by taking a kopesh from the wall.

  Apparently it wasn’t necessary though.

    ---

  Muffin was not a cat, Carter noticed, feeling slightly faint. She was a women in a leopard-print jumpsuit with piercing yellow cat eyes.

  Carter hadn’t been given a lot of time to process what was going on. He knew the facts, but that didn’t mean he had accepted or understood them. Other pantheons existed, apparently Sadie and Carter were Egyptian Magicians, Carter definitely wasn’t suppose to exist. Stuff like that.

  Carter turning into women. Well, it was easier to swallow then anything else.

  “Carter, Sadie, we should leave. Worse will be coming.” She managed to sound calm after beheading two leopard-snake monsters.

  It always managed to get worse.

  Her serious look softened into a smile when she realized they were probably really confused. “I will explain later. It is  wonderful being in human form again. Sadie would mind opening a door through the Du'at?”

  Sadie blinked. “Um… no. I mean I don’t really know how?”

  The lady, the goddess, Carter was almost sure she was goddess, narrowed her eyes disappointedly. “Pity. We’ll need more power then. The obelisk in Central Park should work, even if I do usually avoid Manhattan. This is an emergency after all.”

  “A portal to where?” Sadie demanded, “Who are you, and what did you do to my cat?”

  Carter head raced through the names of Egyptian gods. Cat, she had been a cat. Carter’s eyes caught on the pedant dangling around the lady’s neck. It was a hieroglyph, one that was fairly easy to figure out.

  Bastet was the goddess of cats. Sadie’s cat, Muffin, was the goddess of cats. Muffin was Bastet, a goddess.

  Bastet smile again. “A portal out of danger for now. And my name is-“

  “Bastet. You’re Bastet, the goddess of cats.” Carter interrupted. “The pendant has your symbol.”

  It was a cat after all, made of gold. Hieroglyphs weren't easy to understand but occasionally Carter got lucky and they ended up looking exactly what they meant. The hieroglyph for a cat was exactly that, a cat.

  Bastet looked at him for the first time. Carter had gotten used to the more mythical creatures ignoring him, so it didn’t bother him. Now though his brain was going into over drive, like he had realized he had all the wrong pieces to a puzzle he didn’t know he was suppose to put together. Was this part of it, the reason why? Because he was Egyptian?

  She raised an eyebrow, like she could sense that he was on the verge of an existential crisis. “Correct, though I don’t mind being called Bast. Now we really do need to get going, unless you have a death wish.”

  It was weird. Most of the time gods were vague and unhelpful, a goddess actually saving their life and expecting nothing in return? That was certainly different. Carter could sort of understand what Amos had said earlier about Egyptians on worshipping the gods.

  He looked at what used to be two serpopards. They were just a pile of sand now, like golden dust.

  Carter followed then goddess. Dying wasn’t exactly on his to-do list. 

    ---

  Sadie, Bastet or Bast, and Carter looked up at the obelisk. The second half of Cleopatra’s needles. It looks pretty much identical to the one in London, made of granite and inscribed with hieroglyphs.

  Carter still had the golden kopesh grabbed in his hand and he kept looking back, waiting for the carriers to burst out of the trees. 

  “I wish I had grabbed warmer cloths.” Sadie complained, rubbing her arms. 

  Bast shook her head. “No, you're well dressed for magic.”

  “I have to freeze to be magical.”

  “No. Magicians should just make a habit of avoiding animals products. Fur, leather, wool, and thing like that. Any residual life aura can interfere with spells. You’re dressed in Linen, plant material. Stuff like that is always best.

  Sadie wrinkled her nose. “My boots are fine.”

  Bast hummed. “I suppose a little leather might not hurt you. Anyways, we should be clear for the moment. At eleven thirty, right now actually, an auspicious window of time will start. You need get going.”

  “Why me?” Sadie blinked rapidly,

  “I’m not good with portal.” Bast answered. ”Cats are protectors. Just stay calm, we really need to get out of here before Set summons any gods to help with his cause.”

  “Of course he can speed dial other evil gods.” Carter grumbled, he shifted on his feet and glanced back again. Monsters, gods, who else wanted to kill them?

  Everything, obviously. That had been a stuid question. 

  Bast furrowed her eyebrows in disproval. ”Carter, us Egyptians aren’t about good versus evil. It more chaos and order, most people like to call chaos evil, because it’s disruptive, but it is also necessary for balance.”

  “I reserve to right to call things trying to kill me evil.” Carter sighed. “But fine. Dad released four other gods. They’re the orderly ones, aren’t they? Where are they?”

  Bast looks at him like she knows something, and Carter doesn’t like it. The bad feeling he had got worse.

  “That’s an excellent question Carter.”

  Before Carter or Sadie can ask what exactly that’s suppose to mean, they’re interrupted by a Siamese cat running up. Bast listened carefully and stiffened at whatever the cat said. “We must hurry. The carriers are closeting in and there’s a greater threat farther east.”

  “Set?” Carter asked.

  “Maybe, I don’t want to find out. Sadie the portal. I’ll hold off any attackers. Combat magic is my specialty.”

  “Like in the mansion.” Carter stated.

 “That was just combat.” Bast grinned sharply. “You’re welcome to help me Carter.”

  That’s when the carriers came out of the trees, carrying a black coffin.

  Carter wasn’t actually a lot of help, he mostly just watched a glowing green Bast crush all of the guys. He did cut them into a bunch of really tiny pieces so they couldn’t reform though.

    ---

  Carter is afraid of a lot of things, he’ll admit it. He had claustrophobia and he was a demigod. There where a lot of things to be afraid of.

  Scorpions where at the top of that list though. They always had been, but it had gotten a lot worse after Percy had nearly died because of one a few years ago.

  Which meant it would be just his luck to have to face to goddess of scorpions.

    ---

  Bast stayed behind to protect them. Carter had to wonder if this was what Percy or Annabeth felt whenever their in a quest. Guilt over someone getting hurt because of you. Fear.

  Not that Bast was dead, Carter had to be sure of that, it wasn’t possible for a god to die.

  Going to the Egyptian section might not be the smartest place to hide from an Egyptian goddess, Carter noted as he glance around the room. They need to get to the temple, to make a portal. Carter had been the the Metropolitan Muesum of Art before, but he didn’t remember the layout. He’d been to so many museums at this point they got mixed up in his head.

  “Poor boy, forced to travel the world, skip school, and spend time with Dad while I get two days a year with him!”

  Carter stiffened and grit his teeth. Sadie had to be joking? He whirled towards her. “At least you have a normal life. You get to go school, and have friends. You don’t wake up wondering where the heck you are! You don’t-“

  The glass shattered next to them.

  It shut Carter up before he could say something else. Something he probably shouldn’t say.

  But he wanted to keep yelling. Explain to Sadie, make her understand why he wanted her life. That he wouldn’t have to deal with monsters. Wouldn’t have to fight in a war. Wouldn’t have watched people die in front of him. Wouldn’t have to be constantly on the look out to make sure he didn’t get killed.

  Carter loved Camp Half-Blood, loved his friend, loved Cabin Six. He hated being a demigod. Sometimes he wished he had never had to go Camp because that would mean Mom was still alive, that he had his family, that he was normal.

  (And, oh, Carter wanted to be normal so badly.)

  “We just blew up an exhibit!” Sadie blinked at the glass shards.

  “Like your birthday cake.” Carter realized as he dragged himself out of his head.

  Sadie glared at him “You need to control your temper.”

  Carter really wanted to argue. He’s going to blame Sadie for being a terrible influence, because he usually doesn’t argue. Alarms are blaring though, and they both remember oh wait, something is trying to kill us right now and they really don’t have time to argue over who’s fault was.

  They bolted and that’s when they ran into Zia.

Chapter Text

  Carter is fourteen when he meets Zia and gets introduced to the House of Life.

    ---

  Zia is a complicated subject. The first time they meet she had wanted to kill Carter and Sadie, the first time they actually interacted she wasn’t technically Zia.

  And he thought Greek mythology was weird.

  He’ll call this their first meeting, rather then getting into that whole mess.

  They literally run into her, and end up having to pick themselves of the floor.

  At first he doesn’t recognize her. Denial, the Du'at maybe? She’s taller them both of them, with chin length black hair that framed her face and warm light-brown skin. Her eyes were a really pretty amber, especially lined with black kohl.

  She’s pretty, which is when Carter remembered that she wanted to kill them.

  He put himself in front of Sadie (he can tell it annoyed her, but he has far more experience the she does with monsters) and gripped his sword. “Don’t come near.” He warned.

  She pulled out an ivory boomerang- an Egyptian wand and sends his sword flying out of his hand. The golden khopesh flew out of hand and clattered on the floor a few feet away. Carter and Sadie blinked at it in surprise before glancing at the very unimpressed face the girl.

  It wasalmost second nature to reach out and grab for his own khopesh.

  Now everyone here was in shock. Yay.

  “How did you did that?” Sadie whisper-yelled.

  Carter looked between the bronze sword in his hand and the golden one on the ground a few feet away. “Um…”

  The girl wrinkled her nose. “Reaching into the Du'at is not something an amateur should be able to do.”

  Carter blinked a bit. That was how his sword worked? He had been doing magic since he was eleven? “Didn’t know I could do that.” He shrugged. It was the truth.

  “Where did you-“

  Sadie was cut off by The girl. “Whatever. We have more important issues to deal with. Where is Amos?”

  Carter internally breathed out a sigh of realize when Sadie’s suspicious look turned to one of concern and she stopped staring at him. He didn’t think she was going to forget about, but at least he had time before he was interrogated.

  “Well?” The girl demanded, reminding Carter she had asked a question.

  He felt a compulsion to answer, but with a grimace of discomfort Sadie answered first. “He’s gone. Amos left this morning.”

  Carter reached over and grabbed the golden khopesh. Using two swords was possible though difficult, but Carter didn’t know the style, and he wasn't sure if it was even a thing with khopeshes. He narrowed his eyes at the girl, and let his sword disappear from his hand but grabbed the golden one.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” Carter asked, before the two of them could start arguing over Bast.

  The girl tilted her head. “My name is Zia Rashid.”

  The building suddenly shook and the sound of scorpions moving grew louder.

  Zia sighed, looking slightly disappointed in something. “And unfortunate, right now I need to save your miserable lives. Now hurry up.”

    ---

  Zia reminded him of Annabeth. Smart and very capable of killing him. She was pretty confident in her ability to protect them and get them to safety despite the literal goddess chasing after them.

  Sadie accused him of getting a crush on her immediately, and Carter can’t say she was completely wrong. Like, yeah, Zia tried to kill them, but she also seemed like she won’t make fun him for rambling on about the history Egypt and she managed to fight and defeat a goddess in seconds. Which is cool. Though Carter isn’t exactly new to having his friends fight immortals. It was just cooler when Zia did it.

  Is also shows Carter exactly what Amos meant by ‘really powerful humans’ when he had described the gods. Greek gods would smite anyone who called them that, but it fitted the Egyptian gods pretty well. Bast talked about the limits of her abilities, and Serqet, the goddess of scorpions, looked easy for Zia to take down. Greek gods aren’t all powerful, but they won’t admit it, not the same way the Egyptian ones do.

  Not only that but magicians are apparently raised to fight the gods, when demigods are raised to worship them. He wasn’t sure if that made magicans more powerful then demigods, if it was something most of them could do, or if Egyptian Gods where weaker then Greek gods. Or if that even mattered with the different styles of fighting.

  Carter might be overthinking this.

  The point was that Zia clearly knew what she was doing a lot better than either of them do, so he doesn’t say anything when she tells them what to do. Unlike Sadie. Carter was great at following direction even if he didn’t always do it.

    ---

  Carter did not like portals.

  Not the twisting sensation in his gut as he hurtled forward, or the hot winds burning his skin, or the weightlessness he felt. It sort of reminded him of the time Athena had teleported him back to his dad last year. Which had been at the top of his ‘worst way to travel’ list. It had been replaced by portals.

  He recognized the Cario airport pretty quickly. He had been here a lot over the past six years.

  Zia dragged them to an entrance of the Heliopolis ruins. Carter had almost forgotten they where beneath the airport till Sadie had bright it up.

  “Okay, but how does a lecture about some old ruins help us.” Sadie pointed out.

  Zia raised an eyebrow and opened a maintenance door. The broom closet on the other side faded away when she muttered a command word and it became a long set of stairs.

  “Not all of Heliopolis is in ruins.” Zia answered vaguely. “Follow closely and do no touch anything.”

  There were hundreds of stairs and Carter lost count more than once on the way down. He had started counting when the ceiling had become too low to stand straight up. It distracted him from the walls closing in on either side of the thousands of rocks above just waiting to burry and crush him.

  Carter wasn’t able to take in a full breath of air till they reached their destination and the tunnel opened up.

    ---

  Their destination was a chasm with a singular wooden beam.

  Apparently was the entrance to the First Nome, the oldest branch of the House of Life, headquarter for all the magicians.

  Why was it a wooden beam? Because they have to “unbar the oath themselves” and face the personalized challenged given to them. Mythology for you, can’t go anywhere without facing a deadly challenge.

  It was annoying that Zia expected Sadie to be the one to go first.

  Carter perfectly capable of doing stuff. He was a demigod for crying out loud, this was his entire life. Why did everyone expect Sadie to be the one to do important stuff?

  Feeling jealous of Sadie wasn’t a new feeling for Carter. It’s the consistent emotion he’s felt about Sadie for six years. Jealous when she talks about her friends, jealous when she mentions what she’s doing in school, jealous when she mentions going out to do something fun.

  Jealous that everyone seemed to like her more.

  Carter wasn’t great with people. Wasn’t very social. He had a few people, Dad, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, sort-of, and he barely got to see them. That was all though, and then he heard about Sadie with her best-friends Liz and Emma, and their whole friend group and how they hang out and go to movies. Except it was always that way, even before their mom died. Carter didn’t even think his parents even wanted him, when he was first dropped on to their laps, even if he knew that they love him.

  Sadie was the adventurous, energetic one. She was smart and friendly and Carter was just the well-behaved one.

  The only thing that had ever been special about him was his mother.

  Carter knew that it was stupid to let something like jealousy make him do something impulsive. He was a child of Athena, they were known for thinking things through. Carter didn’t even like attention or glory or whatever. He hated dangerous stuff.

  The common sense part on him argued this is a terrible idea. The voice argued back No, we are not afraid of this.

  Carter walked onto the wooden plank, ignoring Zia’s or Sadie’s words of protest. He’s gotten pretty good at that lately.

    ---

  At the end of the plank a red curtain seemed to fall between the two statues of Anubis. If he can make it there fast enough, maybe…

  He spotted it coming out of the corner of his eye. A dagger flying straight towards him.

  Carter was surprised when he manages to deflect it. Being a demigod does not give him super speed, well actually a few kids of Hermes have super speed, but not Carter. When he moved it wasn’t him, entirely. Like he was watching himself do it, but someone else was in control.

  He did manage to survive the walk across the narrow beam, slicing the red curtain at the end in half.

  That didn’t do much, because the red light reappeared, becoming a really weird bird human hybrid.

  Carter is faintly reminded of the curfew harpies and raised his sword as a precaution.

  His eyes were lined with kohl, he had a face wrinkled, with a beard that was definitely fake.

  Carter suddenly remembered something else the harpy guy reminded him of. In his dream he had looked half-human half-bird.

  Suddenly he smiled kindly at Carter. It was a bit of a shock. Carter was’t exactly used to strange creatures smiling kindly at him. Maliciously? Sure. Evilly? Definitely. Kindly? No.

  Then he said something. It not in any language that Carter knew, or at least not a phrase he has ever heard. ”Pari, niswa nafeer.”

  Zia and Sadie, who had made they’re way across the wooden plank, gasped and paled. They stared at the creature in shock.

  It took them both a moment to collect themselves, then Zia bowed and Sadie was quick to follow her example.

  The creature winked at Carter, before disappearing.

    ---

  Zia said the creature was a ba. If Carter remembered right, it was a human soul. A spirit of the dead.

  Sadie and Zia both still seemed fairly freaked out. When he asked Sadie about it she looked at him strangely.

  “Probably thought you were someone else. He just has really bad eyesight.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he said, ‘Go forth, good king.’”

    ---

  He didn’t remember much of the long journey after that. He was mostly trying not to think about anything that had just happened. Not the weird voice, not the supper fast reflexes, not the ba calling him a good king.

  The tunnels opened up, enough that it barely felt like they were under ground, and the vast chambers they came across were is perfect condition, the stone pillars painted bright colors without a crack site. Copper brazier were also around the room, all with fires lite inside. They smelled like a market place of spices, sort of like Zia.

  This must be were she lived, Carter figured, watching the dark haired girl lead them through the another tunnel.

  There were a few other there to, wearing linen robes and more more modern clothes alike.

  They passed through an open-air market, which is weird to say cause it was underground. Stalls lined the pathway, selling everything from amulets to new wands to carved wax statues.

  It took a while before they reach their final destination. Two large bronze doors that led into an endless hallway.

  It was called the Hall of Ages, and it was beautiful. Annabeth would have a field day in this place. Double rows of pillars reached up, tall enough to hold up a ceiling high enough up to park a blimp under it, easily. A shimmering, water like carpet ran down the long corridor, until it faded from view. Balls of fire floated around, changing color, and millions of tiny hieroglyphs drifted through the air.

  Carter grabbed a pair or glowing red legs and watched them walk across his palm before dissolving.

  Then there were the displays. Images set up between pillars, shifting and changing. Almost like a short movie.

  “Hurry up.” Zia commanded. “And don’t spend to much much time looking.”

  It was hard not to. The images cast golden light on the hall.

  Sadie, trance like, stepped off the carpet to reach out to one.

  Zia pulled her back. “Do not leave this carpet. Those images are far too dangerous for a mortal to look at.”

  Carter briefly wondered if he would survive looking at them. He wasn’t exactly a mortal after all.

  “Why?” Sadie questioned.

 “Those are memories. The memories of gods, which would very likely destroy you mind.”

  The hall changed, becoming silver, copper, bronze, blue, and finally red. Carter recognized a fair amount of the images, though the farther they went, the more familiar they came.

  “The Hall of Ages grows each year. It grows and shows our history, all the way up until now.”

  Carter hadn’t even noticed when they reached the end, entranced in the images, though he didn’t dare try to get a closer look.

  At the end of the hall was a dais with an empty throne. It was wooden, delicately carved and gilded with gold. On the back was a crook and flail, the symbol of the Pharaoh.

  On the steps was the oldest looking person Carter had ever seen.

  Like everyone else here, he wearing linen clothes. A leopard skin was draped across his shoulder, and his hands weakly held a long wooden staff. The strangest thing was that the hieroglyphs seemed to be coming from him. The symbols would pop into existent near him, then float away.

  When he opened his eyes to look at Carter, he felt the urge to hide. It was less like he was looking at Carter, and more like he was scanning him.

  Carter tensed, clenching his hand tighter around his khopesh.

  The man just raises an eyebrow, like Carter had done something to surprise him. He turned and spoke in another language.

  Another man stepped out from the shadows, and Carter had to resist the urge to raise his sword in a defensive stance.

  It was the same man from the museums. The man with the cream colored robes, and a forked beard.

  He looked at Carter and Sadie with distain, “I am Desjardins. My Master, the Chief Lector Iskander of the House of Life, welcomes you.”

  Carter looked at Sadie, who looked about the same amount of bewildered as he was. What exactly where they supposed to say to that?

  Carter gave it his best shot. “Thanks? He’s really old, why doesn’t he sit in the throne?” That was a terrible shot. Percy’s ability to be completely disrespect to incredibly powerful people must be rubbing off.

  Desjardins lip curled, but the old guy just laughed, before saying something else.

  Desjardins did not look happy to be translating. “The Master thanks you of noticing: he is very old. But the throne belongs to the Pharoh. It has been vacant since Egypt’s fall to Rome. Now it is just…. comment dit-on? Symbolic. The Chief Lector's role is to protect the Pharoah, and he prefers that task by sitting at the foot of the throne.

  Carter looked at Iskander curiously. “He can understand English… I mean, what language is he speaking?”

  Desjardins answered. “The Chief Iskander understands many things, he simply prefers to speak Alexandrain Greek, his birth tounge.”

  “I’m sorry, his birth tounge?” Sadie cuts in now, clear disbelief on her face. “Alexander the Great was all the way in the blue, aka thousands of years ago. Do you mean that Lord Salamander here is-“

  “Lord Iskander.” Desjardins snapped. “Show respect!”

  Something clicked in the back of his mind. Amos had mentioned something about the magicians law against summoning gods- a law made in Roman times by the Chief Lector Iskander.

  Carter examined Iskander again. Mortals are suppose to have short lives. But it wouldn’t be the first time Carter has heard of a mortal living a ridiculously long amount of time. In some case time is simply stuck for them, like the Lotus Hotel Percy, Annabeth, and Grover had been to. In others it is simply that the mortal has found away to live longer then they’re suppose to, like Circe. She was a mortal, but she managed to live for a pretty long time, and the same probably went for her helpers on her island, though Carter suppose it could have something to do with Circe’s Island or the Sea of Monsters in the first place.

 Besides, Carter has figured out that the Egyptian Pantheon works a lot differently then the Greek Pantheon. It might take a bit to get used to, but he needed to understand that. Perhaps magicians were capable of living much longer lives, it might be the same of demigods but they all end up getting killed before they turned twenty.

  Iskander quirked a knowing smile at him and said something else.

  Desjardins cleared his throat before translating what Iskander said. “The master says not to worry. You will not be held accountable for your family’s past actions… yet.”

  Sadie gives Desjardans a really? look, before rolling her eyes.

  Carter grumbled. “Gee… thanks.”

  “Do not mock our generosity, boy.” Desjardans warned. “Your father has broken our most important law twice. Both with disastrous results. Your mother’s death, and what has probably become his own. With you uncle now missing-“

  “You know what happened to him?” Sadie interrupted.

  “Not quite.” Desjardins admitted.

  “You have to find him!” Sadie pleaded. Carter noded his head frantically in agreement.”Don’t you have some GPS magic or whatever?”

  “We are looking.” Desjardins said sharply. “You shall stay here and be trained.”

  The way Desjardins said trained did not reassure Carter. It reminded him of Clarisse whenever she offered to “spare” with someone, which usually lead to something being broken.

  Iskander looked directly at him again.

  Desjardans translate what he says. “The demon days are tomorrow. You will be safest here.”

  Sadie and Carter both broke into protests. “But, we have to find Dad! Dangerous gods are on the lose. We saw Set and Serqet!”

  Iskander, Zia, and Desjardans all stiffen, looking at the two of them with disbelief. Then Iskander commanded Desjardans to do something.

  Desjardans went to argue, but a look for the Chief Lector cut him off. He sighed, clearly unhappy. “The master wishes for you to tell you story.”

  Sadie and Carter shared a look, before starting at the beginning. Christmas.

  They don’t tell them everything. Something, a voice- the voice tells him Not that part, stay silent, whenever he tries to mention the ba calling him good king, or Sadie’s new magic power.

 When they finish, they look at them in silence. Zia hds a worried look on her face, and a few seconds later Desjardins stepped forward and glared at them. “You are lying. That was not the Red Lord. He would need a powerful host to remain here, in this world. Very powerful.”

 Sadie scoffed. “I don’t know about a host, but he was at that museum. So were you, so you must’ve seen him too.  Also Carter had a dream about him in Phoenix, Arizona. I am pretty sure sure he’s not crazy.”

  “Thanks sis.” Carter shot a glare at her. Sadie just shrugged.

  “And Serqet is definitely real. Our friend, my cat, Bast, died protecting us from her.”

  “So you have consorted with gods.” Desjardans said coldly. “This will make matters much simpler. Gods are not our friends. The gods caused the downfall of Egypt. It is why magicians are forbidden from summoning their or allowing them to interfere with the mortal world. We must fight them, not work with them.”

  “Bast did mention that you were paranoid.”

  The magician clenched his fists. Carter could practically see the his magic waiting to lash out as a strange smell of ozone filled the corridor. Thankfully, Zia stepped in front of them before Desjardins shoot them with lightning or something.

  Zia then explained what she saw, about the Serqet reforming instantly. Which was nice of her, not calling them liars.

  Unfortunately, her story did not help. Desjardans still very much wanted them dead.

  Carter was fully prepared to fight, his sword tight in his grip and his body tensed up to move. He knew they could’t run and wasn’t totally sure he could fight magic, but he was willing to try, to keep Sadie safe.

  Then Iskander looked up at them. He smilds at Zia with affection and Carter had to wonder if she was his great-something-granddaughter. Iskander spoke softly and Zia bowed.

  Desjardans looked furious. He whipped his robes away from his feet and stormed back up the stairs,  behind the throne.

  “The Master has allowed you to be tested.” He snarled. “I will find out the truth or lies of your story. Any lies will be severely punished.”

  Carter and Sadie both look at Iskander a bit suprised. They both copy Zia’s bow, gratefully.

  “Thank you, master.” Carter said.

  The old man’s eyes burn into him again, though it feel like less threatening and more like he’s concerned. He muttered something else, something to do with Nectanebo and ba. Or at least those are the few word Carter can understand.

  Then the two men disappear in a flash of bright light. A pretty good dramatic exit if Carter had anything to say about it.

  Zia looked back at them, expression grim. “I will bring you to your quarters, so you can rest. Tomorrow we will begin testing. We will see what magic you know, and how you know it.“

  Neither Sadie nor Carter seemed to know what exactly that was suppose to mean. The two of them shared an uneasy look.

  “Sounds fun. What happens if we fail?” Sadie smiled nervously.

  Zia raised an eyebrow. “This is not a test you can fail. You will pass it or you will die.”

    ---

  When Sadie decided to look closer at the images in the Halls of Ages after not being able to sleep, she didn’t expect to be saved by Iskander. Or to get a lesson in hosts and gods and to find out he actually is a few Millenium years old. He also spoke perfect English, apparently.

  She had a lot of questions. “But is sounds like the gods were helping. Why the law against them?"

  Iskander sighed and looked at her sadly. “The gods have their own agendas. In many case they overwhelm their hosts, burn them to a crisp. Many host die young because of that. Tutankhamen was one, he died at nineteen. Or Cleopatra the VII. She didn’t even know she was hosting Isis, and that ended up breaking her mind. Back then magicians would follow a path of a god, channeling their power. They were a lot more initiates back then.”

  He looked around the hall, like he was imagining it full of magicians. “Some only call on their power once or twice, a few try to host gods. The goal: become an eye. The perfect union of a mortal and immortal soul. It is very hard to achieve and most died doing it. Even pharaohs, who are born for this task, were killed. The only ones who could…”

  “Who?” Sadie asks.

  Iskander just shakes his head. “Just an old man’s rambling.”

  “It’s the Blood of the Pharaoh isn’t it.”

  He looked at her sharply. “You are quite similar to your mother.”

  “You knew her?”

  “Of course. She trained here with your father. She was scientist, a brilliant one, and more rare, she was a skilled diviner. One of the first to master it in centuries.”

  “Divination?”

  “Yes, seeing the future. The things she saw made he seek advice from unconventional places. It would make even me question my century long beliefs…”

  He drifted off, remembering things from years ago.

  “Iskander?”

  “My apologies, Sadie. I shall get to the point: your path is dangerous, but one you must take, for all of us. Your brother is going to need you.”

 “My brother?”

  Iskander met her eyes, and there was a strange intensity in them. “Carter is unique, which is unfortunate for him. When I separated the House of Life from gods, it was not the only separation that took place. Your brother feels the effects of that separation more keenly then anyone else. He is going to need you and your guidance."

  Sadie narrowed her eyes. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

  “I’m sure you will find out in time, Sadie.”

  Sadie reluctantly excepts this and they sat in silence for a moment.

  “And what if I need someone?”

  Iskander raised an eyebrow at her. “Carter will be there for you as well, but you can always ask Zia. She is my best pupil.”

  “Great.”

  Iskander just chuckled. “You should some rest. I’m sorry we could not speak much longer.”

  Sadie went to protest but with a touch to her forehead she fell in to a dark, dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

  Carter had been hopeful that using a headrest would stop any potential dreaming. It didn’t, because of course.

  Unfortunately, dreams were useful. Which sucked, cause that meant he couldn’t just wish them away without thinking about the times they saved his life. Dreams gave demigods warnings and information they might need. This one wasn’t any different. Carter now knew that Amos was captured by Set, and they need to save him.

  He stared at the ceiling quietly. The dorm reminded him of Cabin Six, which was both comforting and disconcerting. Sighing softly to avoid waking up anyone else. Carter slid his feet over the side of the bed and padded softly towards the door.

  It was locked, unsurprisingly. Luckily, Carter doubted he was going to be eaten by Harpies if he was caught out of bed. If he managed to open the door.

  Carter remembered what he had done with the door at Amos’s house. He had raised it without touching it. Telekinesis. He concentrated, and pushed with his mind. With a click the door swung open.

  Huh. That would be useful, if he could do that with monsters…

  Carter walked through the hallways, back towards the marketplace the was now empty. He walked through it, trying not to let his thoughts overwhelm him.

  Egyptian gods and Greek gods were real. Breath.

  Carter was a demigod and a magican. Breath.

  Dad and Amos were both captured by Set. Breath.

  Carter should’ve done something. He’s prepared for it, he’s trained for stuff like this. There had to be something he could’ve done to help Dad. Something he could’ve done to stop Amos. Something- breath.

  Gods he wished Percy or Annabeth was here. They would know to do, they where good at this whole quest thing. Carter was sure they could come up with something to defeat Set and save Dad and Amos.

  Breath.

  Carter inhaled a long breath before letting it out. Annabeth might be brilliant and Percy might be awesome but they weren’t here. Carter was the son of Athena, he was perfectly capable of coming up-

  Zia had apparently also decided to take a midnight walk, because Carter’s though froze when he spotted her hurrying across the market place. It was weird in multiple aspects.

  Firstly, Carter was pretty sure the Nome had a curfew, and Zia didn’t seem the type to break the rules. That said, neither did Carter, but look at him now.

  Second, she looked like she was running from something. Carter would be more worried but she hadn’t alert the rest of the Nome, but it was still slightly concerning.

  Thirdly, she had what looked like a dark storm cloud around her. Or a blanket of black shimmering shadows. Carter had seen enough magic at this point to be able to pick it out, even if he had no idea what it was for or why.

  Fourth, Carter watched Zia come up to a blank section of wall, which quickly turned into a doorway. She hurried inside.

  Carter made the split-second decision to follow her, and jumped through the quickly disappearing doorway.

  It lead to a secret room. It wasn't particularly large, but it could let Carter examine the place without getting too close to an unsuspecting Zia. The walls were covered in photos, most of people. There was also an alter that sat against the far wall, a candle, with flame dancing on it's wick, sat on top of it.

  Zia was kneeling in front of an alter, chanting. Carter watched as she cupped her hands ball of bright blue light formed. Raising it above her head, Zia sent it up, through the ceiling.

  Carter back up. This wasn’t something he was supposed to see. He could feel it. Reaching out to where the door was, he realized that the door wasn’t actually there anymore.

  He must’ve made a noise or Zia had simply realized she had been followed, because she suddenly whipped around, her wand flickering with flames.

  Carter almost reached for his sword before clenching his fists. Zia wasn’t going to hurt him, and if she did he had kind of earned it.

  “Um, sorry?” Carter forced himself to relax.

  Zia eyes widened in surprised, before narrowing with a look of suspicion and anger. “Carter? What- how are you here.”

  “I saw you running across the courtyard and-“

  “Excuse me? You saw me? That’s impossible.”

  “Are you talking about the weird balk shimmery thing you had? That was magic right?”

  A look of surprise flashed across Zia’s face again. Then she put on an emotional mask. “I don’t like being followed Carter. What are you here?”

  Carter winced at her cool tone. “Right, sorry. You were running and I kind of though you might’ve been in trouble? I can-“

  Zia interrupted with a sigh and sat back down. “I suppose you aren’t wrong on that regard.”

  She examined the photos around her, and Carter took that as a sign he could take a closer look. All of them had a much younger version of Zia in them. Most of them featured a small village, like the ones his dad had brought Carter to. With mud houses, and no electricity and very little modern appliances. As if the place was stuck in time in its own way. In a few of the pictures Zia was standing beside two people. Carter assumed they where her parents, she looked like them, but they were all smiling in laughing in the photos.

  Carter had noticed Zia wasn’t big on smiling in the few hours he had known her.

  She tilted her head at him. She was watching him out of the corner of her eye, her expression edged with sadness and maloncholy. Carter glanced back at the pictures, then raised an eyebrow at her, a silent question. Something had happened, that much was obvious. How much she wanted to tell Carter about that though was her choice.

  She turned to face him fully and nodded slightly, like she had made a decision. “This was my village and my family. Neither exists anymore.”

  She hunched into herself, looking away from him. Carter slid down the wall, to put them at the same eye level.

  “My father was a farmer, but he helped out archaeologist. He would try to find spots they might want to dig.”

  Carter nodded. It was a common practice amongst Egyptians. A way to get a little extra money.

  “I was eight, and he found a statue. Small, but very rare. A beautiful red statue of a monster among a collection of other smashed ones. At the time he didn’t realize that was how magicians destroyed the essence of a monster. When he brought this unbroken statue, with a surviving monster trapped into our home, he accidentally unleashed…” her voice faded away.

  “I’m sorry.” Carter said softly, despite knowing how useless the words are were.

  Zia knitted her eyebrows. “Iskander and a few other magicians came and destroyed it, but it was far too late. I was the only survivor, protected by my mother in a bed of reeds.”

  It was far too easy to imagine the destruction, to see a small little girl who had lost everything. Carter had seen it in person, among the many demigods who had lost so much because they existed, but it was hard to see those scenes featuring Zia.

  “This is a shrine to your family, then. So you can remember them?”

  Zia scrunched her nose and shrugged. “But I can’t. I don’t have any memories about them, no matter how many stories Iskander might tell.”

  Carter wanted to argue. Tell her she was only eight, but that how old Carter was when he lost his mom and the memories might have faded a lot, but he still remember her. A little bit. He could still remember running around their house in Los Angeles, the way the stars and ocean looked from their back porch. Could still recite some of Dad’s stories, and could still hear Sadie’s giggles when they’d fight over who got to sit in Mom’s lap during story time.

  Their mother loved science, she told them everything about it. The rules of physics or chemistry formulas. Sometimes she shared stories of her collage students.

  Carter still read a much as he could about science. He helped some of the other Athena kids set up science experiment, even if he knew there was a lot more to the story now. Even after he realized that there was a world that science didn’t apply too.

  Worlds, apparently that everything she’d had taught them didn’t apply to.

  He remembered that last trip to London as a family, the growing feeling of dread he was feeling as he watched Mom and Dad converse in nervous whippers. How he had known the something bad had happened when Dad had come back to the flat without Mom and tears in his eyes.

  He could remember the big details. The faint outline of his mom’s appearance, but beyond that his memories had faded away. Losing even the smallest parts of his Mom was painful, he couldn’t imagine how Zia would survive not knowing anything.

  Zia looked at him, and shook her head sadly. “I’ve tried everything, but it doesn’t work. Iskander is the only family I have now.”

  “And friends?”

  Zia stared for a second. Like friends was a foreign term, and he realized that nobody in the Nome was the same age as them. Or near the same age.

  “I don’t have time for them. And anyway when initiates turn thirteen they have to be transferred somewhere else. I like being alone.”

  And Carter wondered if this is what he’d be like without Camp Half-Blood. With no one to turn to, and no friends. How the loneliness he always felt would press down at him without even Annabeth.

  If it was hard to imagine Zia as a small scared kid, it was even harder to imagine her in a normal life. Going to high school, having a locker, or laughing with friends in the cafeteria. Zia would probably feel as lost as he would.

  “You know what?” He decided. “After the Demon Days end and things have settled down-“

  “They won’t.” Argued Zia, clearly not knowing where he was going with this.

  “-I’m going to take you to the mall.”

  “The mall?”

  “Yep.” Carter nodded. “Grab some food, look as a bunch of stuff even though neither of us will have enough money to buy it. Do something vaguely normal.”

  Zia hesitated. “Is this something you’d call a ‘date’.”

  At the expression on his face, Zia actually smiled a bit. “You look like you’ve been hit over the head with shovel.”

  “I-no. That’s not what- I mean… what?”

  She laughed, and Carter wondered if maybe he could introduce her to some of his Camp Half-Blood friends. Annabeth and Zia would get along great.

  “I’m going to look forward to the mall, Carter.” She smiled brightly at him. “You are either very interesting or very dangerous.”

  Carte snorted. “It can’t be both?”

  Zia laughed softly again and then waved her hand. The door opened back up. “I suppose. Now be careful, if you sneak up on me again it might not turn out so well.”

  Carter nodded and go up, heading towards the door. Before he left he turned back. “What was the black shimmery stuff anyway?”

  Her smile faded. “An invisibility spell. Not something most magicians can see through, especially not beginners. Sort of like your ability to pull something from the Du'at, or put it back.”

  Zia sent him a look, a clear reminder that she hadn’t forgotten him grabbing his khopesh from thin air.

  “Yeah. Maybe it was an in the moment thing?” Carter gritted his teeth at the lie.

  “The khopesh was certainly unique.” Zia looked doubtful of his answer, but let it go.

  Carter nodded before asking one more thing. “And the blue orb, if I’m allowed to ask?”

  Zia blinked confused. “What?”

  “It glowed blue and went through the ceiling.”

  Zia just squinted infused and shook her head. “Maybe the candle light was playing tricks on your eyes.”

  Awkward silence fell. She was either lying, or he was going crazy- crazier, or- or something else was going on. Carter didn’t feel like pushing though. He had already stepped over a fair few boundaries.

  “Okay.” Carter smiled at her. “Good night.”

    ---

  The next morning, Carter got up with out anyone needing to tell him. He had already been wide awake when the other kids started waking up.

 Quickly pulling on a pair of linen clothes he grabbed his Dad’s work bag, his new golden sword, and walked out.

  He was waiting by a fountain with a statue of the god Thoth when Sadie and Zia arrived. Zia looked nice, Sadie looked like someone had dumped a bucket of water on her. It was pretty easy to guess who.

  Sadie was also looking at him weirdly, like he had done something, though he didn’t know what.

  “What is it? You staring.”

  Sadie made a face. “Nothing. Didn’t sleep good, I’m assuming.”

  “It’s didn’t sleep well.” Carter corrected. “And no, I’ll tell you about it later.”

  Carter glance at Zia, and saw her stiffen just a little bit. Carter knew Zia didn’t really trust him, but he was hardly going to be spilling her secrets for the world to hear, and definitely not his sister.

  Before they could do magic they needed to prepare. They drank water from the magic fountain and got a tattoo on his tongue. Zia gave them a quick lesson on the different types of magic: Healer, Amulet maker, Animal charmer, Elementalist, Combat magician, Necromancer.

  They got to visit the library to, which was amazing. It was sort of like a beehive, with circular rooms filled with honeycomb shelves. They didn’t see any people but shabti statues ran around the room collecting scrolls and disappearing. Carter kind of wanted to stay there forever.

  Sadie had to go and ruin it though, by burning Zia’s eyebrow off, which apparently meant they got to dual.

  Yay.

    ---

  She teleport them to a wide open courtyard surrounded by broken sphinx statues, cross a pair of circles and tells them to dual.

  Carter isn’t sure what to do. He was not exactly good with long distance fighting, and he doesn’t want to throw his sword at his sister even if the chance of it hitting her is low. He stuck with gripping his new golden sword tighter.

  Sadie made the first move and tried to summon fire. Sadie almost passed out and they both get a quick explanation on how magic works. Which is actually pretty interesting and gives Carter a million question. Is it possible to increase the amount of magic you can do before burning out? If you have a powerful enough artifact can you do unlimited magic?

  That’s when Zia accuses them of hosting gods, because the person Carter had hoped to become friends with also didn’t have qualms about getting them killed. Carter and Sadie get a power point on their secret family history well she’s at it too.

  Not all the secret family history, Carter will be keeping his personal family history a secret, thank you very much.

  “Our parents are from different royal lines.” Sadie realizes. “Dad was descended from Narmer the first pharaoh, that’s why they look so similar."

  Carter looks at her. He hated how much since that makes. “You said this courtyard was important to our family.” He tells Zia. “Ramesses the Great built this courtyard.”

  He can see Sadie figuring it out. “If Mom is descended from this Ramesses guy and Dad is descended from Narmer, then we’re the blood of two pharaohs, aren’t we? That why we’re so powerful, or at least why you think we are.”

  We’re. The word echos in Carter’s head. Sadie is the blood of two pharaohs, not Carter. Carter’s some weird Frankenstein of pantheons. A blood of the pharaohs and the son of an Olympian. No wonder he’s got bad luck.

  Then as he looks at Sadie they both realize why Zia thought this was important. She thought they were hosting gods.

  She thought they were breaking the most important rule Egyptian magicians have to follow. The one that breaking will get you killed. If the House of Life reacts this badly to the mere chance of a person being a host how would they react to demigods? Carter thinks, realization and fear dawning. He can’t tell anyone, it not a choice anymore. It not a ‘that’s a bad idea’ it’s a ‘doing that will get you killed’.

  Sadie was furious and protests even as Carter stayed still, slightly horrified. “You think we’re hosting gods! That’s what your worried about? That we’re following the path of some great-times a thousand grandfather? What is your problem? That’s completely daft.”

  Zia met Sadie’s eyes. “Then prove it. Show me how weak you magic is.”

  Zia turned away, like they were totally unimportant. That was when Sadie snapped.

  Carter can see it. The way her fist clenched and her eyes glare daggers at Zia.

  When Sadie sent a lion at Zia, Carter was prepared. The lion didn’t attack Zia though, it lunged at him and he felt the rush of power as he moved to defend himself.

  A golden holographic shell surrounded his body, lifting him off the ground. He cuts the lion in half. Much easier now that it was a third his size.

  He wasn’t very worried, but the look of relief the appears on Sadie’s face when he land softly back on the ground clearly proved she had been concerned.

  The two of them have definitely made leaps and bounds in their sibling relationship.

  The rush of power doesn’t fade, and Carter feels more energized then he has since before last summer.

  He grinned. “Sweet. And I don’t even feel tired.”

  The elation and energy he feels quickly faded when everything went to Tartarus.

    ---

  Iskander died leaving Desjardins in charge. The guy that definitely wanted to kill them

  Zia isn’t much of a rule breaker, but Sadie managed to convince her to give them time. It was a small chance, but at least they have one now.

  They run to the obelisk. Carter glanced back and could see Zia watching them bitterly.

  He supposed they won’t hanging out out the mall anytime soon. The thought gives Carter a pang of disappointment, but he started running.

  He was not letting Sadie die.

    ---

  Carter was facing of a bunch of magicians along with their pet vapor sphinxes on his own and probably going crazy, if the voice in the back of his head had any say about it.

  Please hurry Sadie. He prayed.

  Carter took a deep breath, clenching his hand around the hilt of his sword. Just like a pack of hellhounds.

  The first one pounced, and Carter cleanly sliced it in half. Carter flinched at the wave of heat it’s destruction released, but stayed ready. The others stalked towards him, and he moved towards the closest one, cutting it down when it lashed out. He had only taken down a few other when he heard Sadie shout.

  “Yes!”

  Twisting around Carter spotted Sadie reaching for the now bald Obelisk. The second her fingers grazed it she was whisked away.

  “Sadie!” He yelled out.

  Pro-tip: don’t get distracted when you’re fighting a bunch of monsters.

  His sword skittered to the ground, and Carter could hear at least one of his ribs break. One sphinx was crouching on top of him. He twisted and reached for the portal. Almost to late, as he spotted another sphinx coming up to him, he reached it.

    ---

  Unfortunately his escape attempt did not work very well, considering he brought two sphinxes with him.

  When his head stopped spinning, he noted the sphinx still on top of him, and the other sphinx had run over to Sadie.

  Reaching out his khopesh appeared in his hand. Swinging it up he stabbed the sphinx. With a howl the sphinx dissolved like the others, the only thing remaining a pile of sand and a sudden wave of heat.

  Pushing himself to his feet, he ignored the pang he felt in his chest. Adrenalin for the win.

  Carter stumbled over towards Sadie, but before he could help her another figure appeared. It cleanly sliced the Sphinx in half, saving Sadie from being eaten.

  Safe from the sphinx, Sadie looked over to him. “Carter! Are you okay?” She sounded worried.

  Carter nodded despite the pain and turned towards the figure, raising his sword to defend against a potential new threat.

  Sadie gasped as Carter froze, both recognizing the figure.

  She grinned at them, showing off sharp fangs and eyes that glowed in the rain.

  “Miss me?” Bast asked. 

Chapter Text

Just wanted to make a few announcements.

  1. I’m sorry for the lack of updates recently, I’ve been really busy with classes and Christmas stuff, and also I hate to admit it but procrastination as much as I love making this story.

  2. I’ve been planning on going through all my chapters and editing/changing them a bit s to make them better and flow smoother in my opinion, so I want to get that finished before I keep on adding more chapters

  3. Thanks you so much for the 1000+ hits, I can’t believe so many people found my work interesting enough to look at!

  Okay thanks! Sorry about this.

  (And Merry Christmas for those that celebrate it!)

Chapter Text

  It was cold and rainy.

  Carter was pretty neutral toward rain, usually. Right now he hated it, because was not making his slowly worsening week better. The only cover that was keeping Sadie and Carter from being completely soaked was an awning of some fancy government building and the coats Bast had given them.

  Carter did, fortunately, recognize the place they were in. Place de le Concorde, the tall obelisk in the center of the large plaza. On either side of it were large, elaborate fountains, statues of people carved out of the stone that they were made out of. On the far side the River Seine moved past sluggishly. A foggy haze covered the entire place.

  Carter kept watching the obelisk in case they were followed, though he knew they couldn’t. Zia had mentioned something about a twelve-hour cool down.

  “Hold still.” Bast scolded him softly.

  Carter winced, desperately wishing he hadn’t left his bag back in Brooklyn. He would’ve liked some ambrosia squares. Yes, it was probably weird that he wanted to taste plane trail mix, but it was the only thing good about plane rides and it would’ve been nice to have something familiar right now.

  Bast place her hand on his chest and muttered something in Egyptian. The pain faded away to something a bit more bearable.

  “Broken ribs.” Bast announced, confirming Carter’s own theory. “It’s a lot better, but like I said before: I’m skilled at combat magic. Other magic isn’t really my speciality, so I’d try to not do anything too straining.”

  “What about other magicians?” Sadie asked tentatively.

  “Not your biggest worry.” Bast answered. “They won’t be looking for you here, and it will take a bit of time them to reach you anyway.”

  “Why?” Carter glance around again. If magicians didn't think they would go to Paris then what was potential danger was here.

  “Paris is Desjardins’ home base. It’s would be immensely dangerous to hide in his own territory.”

  “Which is exactly what we’re doing.” Carter sighed, sitting up and ignoring the small pang of pain it sent through him.

  Sadie leaned it her head back, knocking it gently against the wall.

  “And your amulets will shield you. I can find Sadie anywhere because I’ve promised to protect her. But for anyone else… it will be a lot harder to find you.” Bast reassured, before giving Carter a look. “You should really stay still.”

  “Right. What even happened to you? You know, after the whole scorpion thing.”

  Sadie lurched forward at that. “Yeah. I thought you were dead, or something. We saw you get overwhelmed.”

  “She’s immortal Sadie, gods can’t just die.” Fade away, sure. Die, not really. Carter thought, remembering Percy and Annabeth’s story about Pan.

  Sadie stuck her tongue out at him and Bast made some weird purring laugh. “I’m glad you care. I’ve worked with plenty blood of the pharaohs, but you two-“ She actually looked touched. “Well I’m sorry to worry you. The scorpions did reduce most of my power, but I managed to slip in the Du'at in Muffin’s form at the last second.”

  “Aren’t you bad at portals.” Carter pointed out, confused.

  “Carter I don’t need a portal to enter the Du'at. There are plenty of ways both in and out of it. It has thousands of layers and regions— the Abyss, the River of night, the Land of the Dead, the Land of Demons—“

  “Sounds lovely.” Sadie cut her off.

  “Certainly. Anyway a portal is doorway, a connection between the layers of Du'at or parts of the mortal world. I am very bad those, but as a creature of the Du'at and by myself, slipping into the Du'at is very easy.”

  “What would happen if they killed your host?” Carter asked. Bast had implied that something bad would’ve happened if she hadn’t escapods. Maybe Egyptian gods worked more like monsters?

  “If that happened I’d be banished deep into the Du'at. Sort of like chaining me up and dropping my into an ocean. It might take me ages to free myself and return to the mortal world. Luckily, I was able to come back right away, though a bit too late to stop the magicians from capturing you.”

  “Capturing is a strong word for it.” Carter said.

  “Really? And how long did it take for them to try and kill you?”

  Sadie snorted. “Less then twenty-four hours.”

  Well Carter couldn’t disagree with that.

  Bast looked impressed. “That has to be a new record. They used to blast Godlings to dust in the first few minutes.”

  Sadie narrowed her eyes in realization. “Godlings. That’s what we are, that’s why Zia was scared and Desjardins wanted to kill us.”

  Bast nodded and patted her knee. “That’s quite right, Sadie dear.”

  “Hold up.” Carter eyes flickered between the two of them. “You mean like hosts for gods? That’s not possible. I would know…”

  Carter’s protests halted when he remembered the voice in the back of his head. The one that had told him to hide when he met Iskander or when he had walked across the wooden plank. And the magic shell that had covered him.

  Sadie and Bast looked at him. Sadie was raising her eyebrow, like she knew that they both knew how obvious the truth was. Bast had a smile which was an odd mix between amused and sad.

  “Come on, Carter. When Dad blew up the Rosetta Stone he released five gods. Dad joined with Osiris, you know, like Amos said. Set’s… somewhere. But the other gods needed somewhere to go and you and I, we were right there.”

  Bast nodded. “Yes. Perhaps if you had stayed out of the room you wouldn’t be in this position.”

  “But we didn’t. Which was taken as an invitation.” Carter finished blankly. He reached up to his amulet, the eye of Horus.

  “Right,” Sadie nodded, waving her hand in an explanatory gesture. “Ever since then I’ve had an odd feeling, and a voice in my head…”

  “That’s still… why would…” Carter met Bast eyes properly, hoping she’d understand what exactly he was getting to. Egyptian gods, hosts, House of Life he could believe. Fine, whatever. But why would an Egyptian God choose a Greek demigod to be their host? Why would they choose two teenagers, who were debatably powerful, one of which has never done anything close to supernatural in her life, and the other wasn’t even a proper Egyptian Magician?

  Bast didn’t give Carter any clues, and looked towards Sadie curiously.

  “Fine.” He admitted. “I’ve been hearing a voice to.”

  Sadie had a smug look on her face. This was probably because Carter had admitted she was right, rather then the idea she was being possessed by a goddess. “It’s the amulets isn’t it? They’re symbols of gods, right?”

  She tugged the amulet out from under her shirt. It had been awhile since he had seen it, and it was different from his. It sort of looked like an ankh or a really fancy tie.

  “That’s a tyet,” Bast answered. “A magic not. And yes, it is often called—“

  “The Knot of Isis.” Sadie interrupted. Carter was surprised, considering he was pretty sure she avoided all mentions of anything to do with Egyptians, but she looked certain. “In the Hall of Ages, I saw an image of Isis, and then I was Isis, trying to get away from Set—“ She froze, a look of horror crossing over her face. “Oh God, no! That’s it, isn’t? I am her!”

  She grabbed at her amulet like she wanted to rip it off and fling it away.

  Carter had forgotten about his own amulet, grabbed in his hands. He looked down at it, thinking. The demon days were about the five children of Nut. The five gods trapped in the Rosetta Stone would probably be those five gods, and if Sadie’s amulet meant she was being possessed by Isis…

  The avatar thing he had summoned earlier had had a falcon head. Carter still didn’t understand it or why, but he reached out anyway. Horus?

  Well, it’s about time. The voice said. Hello, Carter.

  “No. No, absolutely not. Nope.” Carter muttered, panic and annoyance rising up. “Somebody get a can opener. I’ve got a god stuck in my head.”

  Bast’s eyes lit up. “You’ve communicated with Horus directly? That’s excellent!”

  “Progress?” Carter turned towards Bast, looking at her like she was crazy. “Get him out. I want him gone!”

  Calm down, Horus said.

  “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down.” Carter snarled.

  Bast frowned. ”I didn’t.”

  “Talking to him!” He pointed at his forehead.

  “I hate this.” Sadie had stood up, and stomped her foot in frustration. “How do I get rid of it.”

  Bast sniffed. “You two are very dramatic, you don’t even have all of her. Gods exist in many places at once. But yes, you have part of Isis’s spirit, just like Carter carries the spirit of Horus. You should be feeling honored.”

  Carter sent her a look. Carter hadn’t interacted with gods directly very much, but he didn’t need to, to know how much they sucked, and he figured Egyptian gods at the very least acted similar to Greek gods. Vague, annoying, and usually unhelpful. He didn’t want one in his head.

  “So honored. Possession is my favorite thing.” His words were covered with sarcasm.

  Bast rolled her eyes. “It’s not possession Carter. Besides, you and Horus want the same thing— to defeat Set. It’ll be like a thousand years ago, when Horus defeated Set the first time. If you don’t, your father is doomed and Set will rule the Earth.”

  That managed to pull Carter out of his panic. He went to protest or argue or maybe just scream why me at the sky, but Sadie’s expression hadn’t changed at all.

  “She got in through the amulet, didn’t she? Well I’ll just—“ Sadie had taken off her amulet and thrown it to the ground.

  “That isn’t a good idea.” Bast warned.

  Sadie ignored her. Which wasn’t really a surprise, and smashed the amulet with her wand. There was a bang, some blue sparks and smoke. Sadie’s hand was burnt and the amulet was fine.

  Bast sighed, and muttered something and golden hieroglyphs appeared, healing Sadie’s hand in seconds. “I warned you. She came in through the amulet, yes. She’s in you now, though. And anyway, magical amulets are basically indestructible.”

  “And what are we supposed to do?”

  “Defeat Set, of course. With the power of Horus.”

  Carter had been half expecting a prophecy if he was honest. Having actual instructions instead of a vague rhyming scheme was nice. Percy would probably be jealous.

  Gods, I wish Percy or Annabeth were here.

  “By myself?” Carter asked concerned. Fighting gods wasn’t exactly on his resume.

  Also by the way, having a god in you head also came with the threat of having them actual posses and take control of your body, which will burn you up inside.

  Wow, Horus must wonder why Carter would turn down that offer.

  I could. Said the voice inside of him. You don’t need to be the one to do this. I will fight Set happily, just trust me.

  Zero out of ten for persuasion points, honestly.

  Why would I do that? Carter shot back. You could just kill me and find another host or something? You might even be influencing my thought right now.

  I would never do something like that. Horus argued back. On my honor, if you would just give me-

  “Absolutely not.” Carter suddenly he realized he had spoke out loud. He decided to give Sadie and Bast a bit of context. “I’m not giving up control. This is our fight. Our dad is the one locked in a coffin and our uncle is the one captured.”

  “What?”

    ---

  It took a second for Carter to explain his dream and the theory that Desjardins was Set quickly came into existence. It made sense, he’d been at the museum.

  More importantly the pressure to stop Set was quickly growing, especially with the third demon day, his birthday, only a few days away. It would give him the most power, though Set didn’t need it to be his birthday to do stuff. Sadie and Carter had already proven that by channeling Horus and Isis.

  “We already channeled their power though.” Sadie pointed out. “Carter did the weird summoning thing with his sword and I managed to activate to obelisk. That wasn’t us, right?”

  “Of course it was.” Bast tilted her head, sending a side-ways glance at Carter. “You are very powerful on your own, but the gods have advanced your abilities, given you more power to draw on. The more you channel Isis or Horus the more powerful you can be.”

  “The more likely you are to die too.” Carter narrowed his eyes. “Hosting gods can burn us up or drive us insane.”

  “Most people can’t host a god, that’s true. But you and your sister are blood of the pharaohs.” Bast fixed her eyes in Carter, and he realized that she probably knew. “You two combine ancient bloodlines, rare and powerful. Besides it wouldn’t be smart to do it without the help of a god. Your mother learned-“

  “What about mom?”

    ---

  Desjardins was rich, Carter noted, it wasn’t exactly hard to figure out though with a five story mansion in front of them.

  It was a stupid idea, but they needed a way to defeat Set and apparently Mr. probably-Set’s-host-who-definitely-wanted-to-kill-them held the key to doing that.

  Hopefully it would also hold some answers to save their Dad. Mom had burned up from using to much magic to protect him, if what Bast had told them was the truth. They couldn’t let that sacrifice be in vain.

  Horus? Carter thought tentatively.

  You want to talk to me now? He seemed to grumble, sounding almost offended from what Carter had said earlier.

  Carter rolled his eyes. Gods were so self-centered. Why did you pick me? For your host, I mean.

  Horus seemed to muse over this for awhile. You have potential despite your… mixed blood. Your powerful and at the moment we have to same goal, Carter. Neither one of us wants Set to win.

  Even though I’m have ‘mixed blood’. Carter commented sarcastically. Good to know everyone was going to hate that fact about him.

  I have no idea how your parentage will effect your abilities. Horus sounded curious. I don’t particularly care either, because I do know you are powerful. Though I’m sure some gods would certainly find you interesting.

  Carter appreciated it, he guessed. He remembered what Set had called him in the museum. “Half-blood”, the name wasn’t new in anyways, but he had said it like it was some disgusting abomination. Which Carter was also used to, actually, but the meaning behind it might’ve been different from what he had first assumed.

  In this case “half-blood” would probably be describing someone that was ‘mixed blood’ as Horus would say. Nice to know the god stuck in his head didn’t think he was some sort of abomination that need to be killed. Considering most people seemed like they would kill him or turn him into an experiment.

  Carter didn’t appreciate the connotation of what interesting might mean to a god.

  Does this mean you trust me? Horus interrupted and Carter realized that he might just be able to eavesdrop on all of Carter’s thoughts. Fun.

  Definitely not. Carter shut down that conversation. Unfortunately, now that he knew the god was there he could sense Horus. Like another presence in the back of his mind.

  This was going to get exhausting pretty quickly.

Chapter Text

  Carter wasn’t sure he wanted to turn into a bird with a cat next to him, but if Bast decided that was the best way to break into an evil magician's house, who was he to argue?

  It also meant talking to Horus, who was zero help, shockingly enough.

  I’d settle for a falcon. Carter thought annoyed, and instead imagined becoming a falcon.

  It was slow and painful. His skin burned and tingled. Breathing was difficult and it felt like his body was being squashed into an uncomfortable tight space. For what felt like a moment, a really long moment all Carter could feel was panic and fear.

  When he opened his eyes he was small, and Bast was towering over him and a few feet away was another bird. It was a beautiful grey bird of prey, made clear by its sharp beak and long claws. A kite, the bird, not thing on a long string little kids liked to throw into the air.

  “Finally. You took around fifteen minutes.” Bast grumbled.

    ---

  Carter could’t decide if he likes being a falcon or not. It was amazing being able to fly, looking at the people and building below, all so small. Was this what the gods saw whenever they looked down at an Olympus? It would explain why they considered mortals so insignificant.

  It was also uncomfortable. Whatever magic he used to turn into a falcon continued to press against him. It tingled uncomfortably and despite being in mid flight the urge to become human again was tempting.

  It was a relief to land safely in the illusion covered library.

  The change back to human was easy and quick. For the moment he felt the same burning sensation and then it was gone. Instead of a falcon, just normal Carter was left standing in the middle of the room.

  It was pretty cool, nothing compared to the library in the First Nome, ceiling high bookshelves and multiple pedestals with shabti.

  Sadie had yet to turn back into a human though.

  “You know you can turn back, right?” Carter asked his sister.

  Sadie fluffed her wings and glared at him.

  Carter raised an eyebrow at her, before realizing what she meant. “Oh, you can’t.”

  Sadie glared harder and poked him with her beak.

  Carter winced, rubbing at the spot. “Sorry, but it’s not my fault. Just stay here.”

  His younger sister made a small sound, probably one of annoyance and made a few hops around the table. Carter held back a laugh and started to examine the shelves. 

    ---

  Carter was resisting the urge to throw Doughboy on the ground and smash him under his foot as black forms descended on him.

  Spiders had started crawling out from sudden cracks in the walls, creeping across the ceiling and on to the floor.

  Out of the corner of his eye he noted Sadie flying and eating a spider. He resisted the urge to gag, not that he could considering he was frozen.

  When he had thought about his fears earlier he had been panicking about the scorpions and forgot about one major fear he had.

  Almost all children of Athena were afraid of spiders. Carter had heard more than one horror story from his half-sibling about their own experience, but the general agreement was that Annabeth had had the worst. Even now, spiders had a habit of following his siblings and appearing at inconvenient moments.

  When Carter was three or four, he didn’t remember anymore, he had found a spider egg sac in the corner of his room. At the time Carter hadn’t known what it was, and he thought it was some sort of ball he could play with.

  When he had touched it had burst open and spiders had poured out. They crawled over him, poking at his eyes and ears, terror freezing him in place.

  Dad and Mom had come in then, and somehow all the spiders disappeared. Mom had scooped him into her arms and Dad had run a hand through his hair, asking what had happened.

  After that Carter rarely saw a spider again. They seemed to avoid him almost, but whenever he did he remembered that moment.

  He realized now that Dad or Mom had probably done something to ward off spiders or something.

  The spiders skittering towards him made the memories flash through his head.

  “Sawk!” The sound of Sadie screeching at him interrupted his thoughts and Carter stumbles a moment.

  Sadie is already heading for the illusioned glass door and Carter realized that he should also be going. A few spiders that had gotten close crunched under his feet as he sprinted.

  Horus!

  Maybe Horus already knew about his arachnophobia or maybe he simply could hear the desperation but with no argument or words. Carter felt the tingling burning sensation that meant magic engulfed him and in moments he was flying through the glass illusion and into the sky.

    ---

  He caught up with Sadie and Bast easily, falcons were some of the fastest birds alive after all.

  They’re running when he spots them, and he dived down tumbling across the ground as he turned human.

  Sadie, a human Sadie, helped him to his feet and Bast was staring at Carter, concerned.

  “Of course it was spiders. It just had to be spiders.” Carter grumbled softly, dusting himself off. It was still drizzling, and the sky was still gray with clouds.

  “We need to get going.” Bast said and grabbed Sadie and Carter each by the arm.

  “Where are we going?” Carter asked.

  “The closest portal.” Bast answered. “The Louvre.”

    ---

  The Louvre was two blocks away at that point and Carter wasn’t sure they would make it in time even as the glass pyramid into view.

  The spiders had been making increasing often appearances as the ran, a bad sign.

  The eight legged monsters scammbled after them, somehow managing to duplicate every step they took. Every time Carter put his foot down he felt and heard a crunch as another ten spiders got killed, not that it was stopping them.

  Carter hated it so much. Who ever said facing your fears would get ride of them was stupid, Carter declared shenanigans, because all he could feel was panic as they came up the the smooth glass.

  “You want us to climb this thing?” He shouted at Bast.

  “It’s the only way to get to the portal, unless you feel like dying.” She called back, already somehow managing to get up.

  Sadie was quick to follow, despite the lack of hand-holds. Carter didn’t know if he’d be able to do it, he was exhausted from his previous uses of magic and even the adrenaline coursing through his didn’t stop his legs from wobbling and his hands from shaking.

  The spiders had started to crawl up his legs, which wasn’t helping his ability to move.

  Bast suddenly jumped down beside him and picked him up, shaking spiders off of him. “I’ll toss you.”

  Carter nodded, barely listening, anything to get away from the spiders.

  In seconds he was air-born and sliding through the vortex of sand.

    ---

  It took a second for Carter to readjust himself after another horrible trip through a portal. When he was finally able to get himself focused, he could see Bast standing next to a window and Sadie passed out on the ground.

  He pulls himself to his feet and walked up next to her. The view was amazing, staring over skyscrapers and what appear to be the White House. It took him a minute to recognize the cityscape, and where they are.

  “We’re in D.C?”

  Bast nodded. “Your sister managed to get us to the Washington Monument, the biggest source of Egyptian power in the U.S”

  Carter nodded. He had read about the Washington Monument. It was pretty impressive and considered the world’s tallest obelisk. It’s building was finished in 1888 but it was started in 1848 and was about 169.046 cm tall, and it was dedicated to George Washington, obviously.

  “If we want to get to Arizona in time we’re going to need another portal, aren’t we?” Carter asked.

  Bast answered, “It would be the best plan, but we will have to see how Sadie is doing when she wakes up.”

  “Why can’t you or I summon a portal?”

  “I’ve already told you, remember.” Bast raised an eyebrow at Carter. And yeah, Carter remembered her saying summoning portals wasn’t part of her skill set but-

  “Why can’t I do it?” He scrunched his nose.

  “You are the host of Horus, magic is not his specialty. Though I’m surprised you would want anything to do with magic, you looked like it made you uncomfortable.” Bast replied.

  “It burns.” Carter admitted. “Would that have anything to do with my mother?”

  He had lowered his voice on the last part, despite the chances of Sadie actually being awake being very low. Carter didn’t want her to know yet, even if it might be the best thing to do.

  Bast shrugged. “I assume so, but I don’t know much about the other pantheons.”

  Carter leaned closer to the window, watching the tiny cars and people walk around. Other Pantheons, huh. Maybe Carter should have realized it sooner or freaked out about it, but Carter felt numb and honestly, at the moment he didn’t care.

  “Okay.” Carter muttered to himself, though what he was agreeing to he didn’t quite know. “Yeah, okay.”

    --- (Sadie POV)

  Bast was long gone, leaving just Sadie and Carter to have existential crises.

  “She’s hiding something,” Carter said.

  “Oh really.” Sadie shot back and winced a bit as she saw her brother tense up. “Sorry it just that… what are we going to do?”

  Carter fiddled with his amulet, a habit Sadie had started to notice he did when he was nervous. “Save Dad. It’s not like we have a choice, the only problem is coming up with a plan.”

  Sadie pressed her lips together. She was better at winging it, proven by how many exams she had passed without studying. “Do you have any ideas?”

  Instead of answering Carter let the silence fall around them. The only nose the gentle hum of magic.

  “I don’t think it was about saving Mom.“ Carter spoke up in a whisper. “What Dad did in the museum, I mean. That’s not something he would do.”

  Sadie wanted to argue. She wanted it possible, more than anything else. Getting Mom back would fix everything, but Sadie knew Carter was right. That whatever was started the night Mo had died, Dad was just finishing it. “Iskandar told me something about Mum,” Sadie told Carter. “She was a diviner. She could see the future. He said she made him rethink some old ideas.”

  It was her first chance to tell Carter about her conversation with Iskander, so she gave him the details.

  Carter knit his eyebrows. “So she saw something in the future that convinced her to free Bast?”

  “I think.” Sadie tapped her fingers on the ground, digging through her memories. “When they took us to England the last time, did she and Dad seemed like they were in a hurry—like they were doing something really important?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Would you say freeing Bast was really important? I mean—I love her, of course—but worth dying for important?”

  Carter winced, but shook his head. “So Dad was completing whatever happened the night Mom died. It’s something a lot bigger then just freeing a trapped goddess.”

  “Maybe they wanted to free all the gods. Dad kept saying stuff about making things right.” Carter shrugged, which Sadie took to mean her theory wasn’t terrible. “I just wish the I knew why they didn’t tell us? Especially Dad.”

  “I think he wanted to protect us.” Carter muttered. “The House of Life already sees us as dangerous, and not just because we host gods.”

  “Bloody awful reason to keep us apart,” Sadie rolled her eyes.

  Sadie saw her Dad twice a year. She had a whole day just for the two of them where he would take her to sweet shops or just walk around London. She saw her brother once a year, she didn’t know the reason behind it, but she remembered the first time they had seen each other after he had left with Dad. She had been excited, hopeful.

  They had both changed a lot though, and the distance between them had grown over the years.

  Carter gave Sadie a strange look, and she realized that the statement could be mistaken as an admittance that she had missed him.

  “I just mean they should’ve been honest,” She rushed on. “Not that I wanted more time with my annoying brother, of course.”

  He nodded seriously, but a small smile was on his face. “Right.”

  “Is your, um...” Sadie started to ask, before realizing she had no idea how to describe the gods stuck in their heads. She tapped her head, assuming Carter would get the memo. “…being any help.”

  Carter knocked the back of his head against the wall. “Gods, I wish. Yours?”

  Sadie shook my head. “Carter, are you scared?”

  Her brother looked at her, and smiled again, softly. “Always.”

  “And if we can’t do it?” She asked hesitantly.

  “Like I said, we don’t really have a choice.” Carter said dryly and glanced towards the books he had taken from Desjarden’s library. “I kinda wished I’d grabbed a book about mastering the element of cheese.”

  “Or a spell for spiders.”

  “There will be no summoning of spiders, please and thank you.” Carter insisted, but even as he flinched a bit at the idea (Sadie hadn’t realized he was afraid of spiders) he grinned at her.

  As much as the two of them joked, they were both still tense from worry and fear. They were in a lot of trouble with no way out and no plan.

  “Go back to sleep.” Carter suggested. “Bast was right when she said you used up a lot of energy, I can keep watch.”

  “And you haven’t used a lot of energy?”

  “I haven’t summoned two portal within six hours.”

  She didn’t particularly doesn’t want to go to bed, but she was exhausted. Sadie’s eyelids kept fluttering close and staying closed longer and longer.

  “Point made, brother dear.”

  Sadie curled up back on the floor and stopped fighting sleep, letting it fall over her.

Chapter Text

  Carter wasn’t sure why some magic feels right and some feels wrong.

  The combat avatar or whatever he had summoned that made Zia freak out and accuse them of hosting gods was right and turning into a falcon was very wrong. Or at least that was the way it felt.

  That meant that Carter was in falcon form, not glowing hawk warrior form, because he wasn’t allowed to have nice things. It also meant he was trying to keep himself from becoming a bird forever, stop his sister from disappearing into the wilderness, and tell Horus that no, Carter was not going to let Horus posses him.

  Thankfully, it wasn’t a long flight. Sadie and Carter managed to make it to the air port pretty quickly and found a good spot to transform back.

  Transforming into a human was much easier then transforming into a falcon, considering Carter had been fighting to stay a falcon the entire time.

  Sadie seemed to be having the opposite problem, aka she was still stuck as a bird.

  “It’s okay, Sadie.” Carter tried to reassure her. His little sister’s feathers were puffed out and her chest was heaving. “You need to calm down first.”

  Easier said then done seemed to be the message Sade sent him, glaring. Carter rolled his eyes, if anyone understpud being nervous or freaked out, it was him. That was basically his default state of mind, he’s just gotten really good controlling it.

  Skawk!

  Cater flinched as Sadie pecked at his finger.

  “Look, try thinking about Dad or your grandparents.” Carter suggested. “Your human life.”

  Sadie almost ended up flying away, frustrated and scared.

  Speaking quietly, like she was a cornered animal, Carter started talking. He was trying to calm her down at first, it took a minute before he realized he’d been talking about Dad. Their travels. It was weird because Carter has only told this stuff to Annabeth and Percy, but he found it easy. His dad is also Sadie’s dad, didn’t she have a right to hear a few stories about him?

  Despite the fact that they were on a time limit, with a terrifying monster chasing them, they stayed there for awhile. Carter telling her stories, until she calmed down.

  “You good?” He asked her, after her wings have stopped flapping frantically.

  Sadie tilts her head in a so-so gesture, probably trying to gesture to her still bird body.

  “That’s okay. I’m sure you’ll figure it out, but we need to get going.” Carter stands and tied the straps of Dad’s bag in a makeshift armband. “Get on. Just keep trying, I’ll carry you until then.”

  Sadie hesitated and then hopeds on, trusting him.

  Trusting him.

  It was definitely an odd thought, but it made him realize he trusted Sadie too.

    ---

  The mist, or Carter supposed, the Du'at, worked in mysterious ways.

  The Set Animal looked fairly similar to a greyhound, besides for its reptilian tail, rabbit ears, and anteater like snout. In fact the only thing a moose and it have in common is it’s large size.

  “Rabid Moose!” Someone screams. 

  Of course, the mist had also insured Percy’s position as a domestic terrorist at the age of twelve. So it’s not like this is the weirdest thing it’s done.

  Bast was tugging on his arm, but Carter stayed put.

  “Carter, we need to go.”

  “It’s going to hurt them.”

  Carter had always hated that fact about his life more then anything. That everywhere he went danger followed. It more then just that he would never be safe, it’s also that no one around him will be safe.

  (Dad had a scar on his right arm from a hellhound attack and Carter has seen an Emposai inches away from sinking their teeth into some poor mortals neck. It was one thing to target demigods, another to target mortals that weren’t even capable of seeing what was going on.)

  “We can’t stop it.” Bast demanded.

  Carter looked at her and didn’t move.

  He wasn't brave like Percy or Annabeth, he’s never wanted glory or to on a quest, but Carter had never been one to stand aside while someone else did the fighting. It wasn’t Horus’s influence, it was just Carter wanting to take a stand. Wanting to help.

  “Get to the gate.” Carter ordered Bast. “Take Sadie, I’ll meet you there.”

  Sadie flapped her wings in distress. Bast pulled her hand away from Carter, shocked.

  “Carter-“

  “Go!” Carter turns away from them. “I’ll be fine.” This isn’t my first time facing monsters.

  His swords is in his hand in an instance. Apparently, using the Du'at is also the right kind of magic.

  If Percy can beat up the god of war, Annabeth can face a bunch animatronics, and Rachel can throw a hair brush at the Lord of the Titans, Carter can defeat the Egyptian version of the Frankenstein Monster. Or at least avoid letting it kill him.

  Sounds like a fabulous way to die. Horus said, and actually sounded sincere about.

  Shut it. Carter groaned.

    ---

  Carter didn’t know why nobody else had come up with a shorter way to say Set Animal after a few thousands year, maybe because the Set Animal was it’s preferred name.

  Ehh. Carter shrugged, dodging the snap of the creature’s jaws. Leroy fits him better.

  Will you let me help now? Horus asked hopefully.

  Carter backed up a bit as Leroy crowded closer, recovering from its failed attack. A little help from a god would probably work. Fine.

  A rush of energy filled him along with a slight uncomfortable sensation. He hadn’t noticed the first time, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as when he turned into a Falcon, but it was obvious a side-effect of the Greek side of him. The golden shell engulfed him, lifting him off the ground and turned his sword into a ten foot beam of energy.

  “Beat the moose, Chicken-man!” A little girl screamed from where a group of terrified travelers sat petrified.

  It was a bit unnerving how in tune Horus and Carter were in that moment. Chicken-man, they thought at the exact same time, sounding very offended.

  He took his negative feelings out on Leroy by kicking him back into the wall. Leroy thudded against it hard, creaking the stone and multiple people gasped or screamed.

  Carter ran forward bringing his blade down on the creature’s snot. It was slow and awkward. Everything had to have disadvantages and it seemed having giant glowing armor made Carter incredibly slow. Slow enough for Leroy to dodge and lunge at him.

  With the salivating mouth of a terrifying monsters inches from his face, Carter had to suddenly reevaluate his choices.

  Despite the boost of energy the he had gotten, exhaustion was creeping up and Carter’s hand had started to shake. He wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

  The form flickered.

  Carter’s mind whirled, trying to come up with something, anything that would help.

  -

  I wonder if that would work on monsters, Carter thought, staring at the door he had opened with telekinesis.

  -

  “When a demon, monster, or god is harmed they are sent deep into the Du'at to heal, but the Du'at is also an excellent place to store items.” Bast told Carter.

  -

  Carter mentally shoved with his mind, imagining a locker opening up above him. Leroy is thrown up into the The Locker and disappeared into thin air.

  He stared at the empty air for second, tired and aching.

  Horus was quite, but Carter can feel satisfaction coming from them, despite his limited amount of help.

    ---

  Carter barely makes it to the gate before the plane leaves and with the promise of explaining what had happened later, he passes out almost instantly.

    ---

  “You are utter rubbish at that game, you know that right?” Sadie, a human Sadie, told Carter. Her tone is a filled of glee and shock. “How do you know so much about basketball and the Lakers if you’re so bad at it?”

  Carter glared at his sister, half wishing she was still a kite (the bird). He had woken up from his very real nightmare and felt relief at seeing her without feathers, glad he had actually been helpful. He was also regretting that decision, now that Sadie had a whole bunch of blackmail on him and actually had a mouth that spoke English to tease him with. Lovely.

  He didn’t like all of the attention on him, even though it was just a few baboons. It felt judgmental.

  “It was Dad’s favorite game.” Carter muttered. “And, trust me, I know I’m terrible at it.”

  Khufu made an offended noise, and Carter sighed. This was what his life had become, playing basketball with baboons so they show them where to find a god. In Tennessee of all places.

  Why the God of knowledge would be in the University of Memphis, Carter would never understand.

  Sadie looked shocked for some reason, and Carter hunched in on himself a bit. “I know facts. Who one the championship in what year, or free-throw percentages. I can tell you anything you want to know about those.” He offered, softly.

  Sadie blinked before rolling her eyes. “I’m hardly going to tell Dad. Now will you please get your shirt back on?”

    ---

  Khufu was nice enough to show them to Thoth’s office, despite Carter being a total disgrace.

  If might be because Carter had a moment to think or it might be because he’s finally feeling the effects of withdrawal from his anxiety meds, but the quiet nervous hum in the back of his mind is loud and he keeps coming up with questions and worries that he really doesn’t need to worry about.

  Does Khufu even know where he’s going? What if he takes us to the wrong office? What if he run into someone and then want to know why two kids are walking around a university with a baboon?

  Carter takes a deep breath and tries to shut down the voices.

  There are way bigger things to focus on right now.

  Thoth’s office was messy to say the least, chemistry sets and half-baked experiments scattered around the room (Malcolm would have an aneurism, he hated messes), and Ibis’s poked at keyboard with their beaks.

  In a loft above them a black-haired Arabic man was strumming on a guitar.

  “Wow.” Carter muttered to his sister.

  Sadie nodded, actually speechless for once.

  “Khufu, I have discovered something.” The man said standing up. He was a mess, with a stained lab coat and ribbed jeans. His eyes were a bit wilded and his hair was in complete disarray. “Memphis is not in Egypt.”

  Oh really?

  That when man noticed them.

  “Isis, Horus, I see you’ve found new bodies.”

    ---

  Carter understood why Horus had warned him about gods wanting to experiment on him.

  He hadn’t meant to flinch when Thoth had mentioned Hermes, but it was very weird, the whole gods knowing about each other thing. So he had flinched and Thoth had noticed and he was staring at him know with a fascinated glint in his eye that made him feel like a frog about to be dissected.

  “I suppose you also claim not to be Horus?” Thoth asked and poked Carter. “Smart choice, others would certainly have questions about your form. Does it effect your magic? Maybe if I was allowed to do a bit of experimenting… I suppose a blood test might work…”

  Is this what you meant? Carter asked Horus, horrified.

  Thoth always was an interesting one. Horus responded, vaguely amused.

  Great…

  “No, I’m Carter Kane. I’d really prefer it if you didn’t experiment on me, please?” Carter answered, running his fingers over the beads around his neck.

  Sadie was next to him, looking a mix between horrified, confused, and suspicious. Carter winced. He wished people would stop mentioning weird thing about him, because he did not want Sadie finding out about Greek gods and getting dragged into the Greek Pantheon. Please and thank you.

  Thoth sighed. “Disappointing.”

  “Lovely, but to get back onto topic, could you help us defeat Set?” Sadie interrupted Thoth’s pity-party.

    ---

  Gods and tests did not mix.

  Not that Carter was super knowledgeable about tests, considering he was homeschooled, but he knew they weren’t good things. He also knew that when a gods decided to test someone, it was almost certainly going to involve dodging death.

  Gods are super great like that.

  Thoth told them to go grab an artifact from Elvis Presley’s house (Carter had thought Horus was weird) and they got attacked by magicians, because… life sucked?

  And really, Carter knew Sadie could take care of her self, but what use was he if he couldn’t use the six years of training he had gotten to good use. And, yes, he might be a little over protective, if only because Sadie was his little sister who didn’t have to face monsters on a daily bases.

  Karma for underestimating Sadie, Carter thought a second after one of the magicians shot him with a beam of emerald light.

  It hurt.

  If Carter had thought turning into a falcon sucked, this was something else.

  All he could feel was burning and pain. He felt like he was being pushed in two different directions as everything inside of him resisted the magic that pushed at him, tried to over-power him. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore besides for the feeling of being pressed down by something heavy and burning.

  No. No. No. Stop it. Stop it. Carter chanted in his head as he curled up.

  “Get away from my brother!” Somebody yelled distantly.

  Carter, calm down. Focus. It will do you no good to give into pain. This voice was commanding. I believe you can resist this.

  Suddenly the pain died down. The world of black and green faded away, letting Carter look around and remember where he was. Sadie stood in front of him, basically glowing and the guys had been thrown back against the wall.

  She turned around and grabbed his hand, dragging him to his feet.

  “Come on, we have to go.”

  Everything was aching, but it didn’t burn anymore. Carter steadied himself, ignoring the pain, and stumbled after Sadie.

  “We need to get out of here.” Carter pointed out, panting. He not the most athletic kid, but usually he has more stamina then this.

  “Oh really?” Sadie mutters, sarcastically.

  Carter wasn’t to worried about whether or not she actually meant it. As fast as the rush through the halls, he can still hear the two magicians somewhere behind them, clearing having recovered from earlier.

  Sadie’s eyes flickered back and forth frantically, looking for something. Carter wished he could be more helpful, but he’s barely stopping himself from fainting anyway. Her eyes widen, so clearly she had an idea. Sadie muttered something quietly under her breath, and the room washed plunged into darkness.

  “What’s going on?” One of the magicians grumbled. “What did you do?”

  “Not everything is always my fault.” The other snapped back.

  Sadie rolled her eyes and the glowing hieroglyphs appear in the air before her and the wall in front of them.

  In true Sadie fashion, she completely distorted the home of the most famous musicians of all time.

  Now was not a good time, but Carter suddenly has the realization that Sadie and Percy could never meet. They both find way too much fun in destroy important places for Carter to ever feel safe around them. Though, besides for the risk to the entire worlds security, Carter would like to avoid the amount of teasing that would lead to.

  Elvis’s brand new doorway lead directly into the backyard, where he was buried.

  “Oh.” Sadie realizes. “We are so dumb.”

  Carter groaned because of course the artifact would be over here, at Elvis’s tomb. “You said it, not me.”

  “Yes, you are.” The magicians burst out of the house, triumphantly.

  The one named Jerrod, the one that had hit Carter with some sort of transformation spell threw his wand on the ground. It turned into a large Komodo Dragon.

  The other one, Wayne, sent a blast of wind at them.

  Sharing a look with Sadie, they agreed to split up. Carter would take down Jerrod (revenge time), and Sadie would deal with Wayne.

  The Komodo dragon charged at them. It felt laughably easier when he had fought the Set Animal earlier that day, or it would if everything wasn’t still hurting.

  Carter dodged it and sliced down with his sword, cutting off the things head.

  Turning to face Jerrod, Carter threw his sword, and it thankfully hit him without stabbing a hole through this head, knocking him out.

  Carter turned towards Sadie, who had one Wayne tied up.

  “Easy peasy.” Carter sighed and relaxed a bit.

    ---

  So, things learned today: Don’t play basketball with baboons, the Set Animal does not like being called Leroy, Thoth is weird, it is possible make human shabti, and they can defeat Set by learning true name and using the feather of truth on him.

  Something had struck Carter as familiar when he realized Jerrod and Wayne were shabti, something about the blue orb they sent into the sky, but he couldn't place a finger in it.

  “So, we just get on the boat?” Sadie was looking at old fashioned steam-boat heading towards the shore with trepidation.

  Carter agreed with her. The under- Land of the Dead was dangerous, not including the journey there. Being dead would obviously make thing easier, but it Carter wasn’t in the mood to die right now.

  “Of course. You are the Blood of the Pharaohs, it should work for you.” Thoth confirmed cheerfully. “I wish you good luck on your journey."

  “But what if-“ Carter turned to ask something to Thoth, but the god was gone.

  Gods, man.

  Don’t be rude.

Chapter Text

  Carter is probably too young to being dealing with stuff, but then again Percy was only twelve when he went on this quest so maybe not.

  They needed to get rid of Set. He had tried to take down a plane full of innocent mortal simply because a few magicians were on it. Zia was on it.

  That meant that they need to get through the Land of the Dead, find Nepthys, and figure out Set’s secret name.

  Sadie and him had a lot to do, but Carter was awake staring at his ceiling and thinking about Luke.

  Carter didn’t like to think about Luke. He had seen how it had hurt… everyone at camp. Annabeth, who had lost someone she had depended on. Cabin Eleven, who had lost their head councilor. Percy, who had lost a friend. Carter didn’t know how he felt about, hadn’t taken the time to try and figure it out.

  His newest dilema about the subject, was the realization about how right Luke is.

  Realization might be a bad word for it. Luke had so many allies for reason. The gods weren’t good parents or good people, really. They neglected and hurt and punished for the smallest thing, but that had always been a fact of life for demigods. Carter figured that they were all so used to it, it never bothered them.

  Then Bast had explained the Carter and Sadie what had happened to her. That her king, Ra, had forced her to imprison herself in an eternal fight with the most dangerous thing possible. He had done it and she had acted like it was okay, all because he was the king.

  That was wrong. So, so wrong. That wasn’t how it should be. That someone who had spent their whole life protecting people, was punished for it.

  (Except the gods did this all the time. Hadn’t they debated whether they should kill Percy after he had saved them all, again. Hadn’t the gods been behind the deaths of far to many mortal for the smallest things, saying the wrong thing, being related to the wrong person. This wasn’t any different, was it?)

  Egyptian gods might be different from Greek gods, Carter figured, but in the end they were still gods.

  I’m hurt. A voice muttered in the back of his brain. I thought I had reminded you of our actual problem.

  Isn’t Set a god? Carter pointed out.

  He was met with silence and it stayed that way for a while.

  Does it bother you that much? Horus asked. It was their purpose, or fate, I suppose.

  Carter glared up at the ceiling. “People should be more then just their purpose. You just think that us pathetic mortals are pawns or something. Bast deserved  more then being sent on a suicide mission. Innocent mortals deserve better then being dragged into problems like this.” He gestured around him.

  If it bothers you so much, the why don’t you just help Set and Kronos?

  Carter could’t tell if the question is genuine or mocking. If Horus is goading him into saying something he might regret later or if he’s worried Carter might actually join the other side.

  He still thought over it, because wasn’t that the crux of the problem? Why was what Luke doing bad, if he’s right?

  Carter remembered the battle last year, the one that took place on his birthday. Luke had sent monsters into camp to kill campers even though those campers were his friends and half-siblings. Even though some of them weren’t even ten yet. Carter remember when Luke had thrown Annabeth under the weight of the sky, even though he was suppose to take care of her. He remembered when Luke had poisoned Percy because Percy had prevented his plans and cleared his and his father's name.

  “It like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.” Carter answered. “The only other options are a lot worse.”

  Then you will remember what we’re trying to achieve here, right? It almost sounds like a command.

  Carter understood that they have two different goals. Horus wanted his throne back and Carter wanted his dad back. But they needed each other, and they both get what they want the same way, so there really isn’t any reason to argue about it.

  Defeating Set. Carter replied.

  He tried to go back to sleep and not think about Dad, or monsters, or thrones.

    ---

  Bast and Sadie find him wide-awake the next morning, staring blankly at a wall. His breathing is harsh and his hands feel shaky.

  Carter’s never been good at not thinking about stuff.

    ---

  The Land of the Dead is disturbing.

  It’s dark and misty. Souls linger on the edges of the river and bones line the shores. All in all, it was exactly what Carter expected and it reminded him of the stories Percy told him about the Underworld.

  “The river below us wouldn’t, like, dissolve you or anything if you touched it, right?” Carter asks Bast leaning over a bit to look a the water below them.

  “The River of Night?” Bast asks. “I wouldn't go swimming in it, but its waters aren’t what I’d worry about. Why?”

  Carter shrugs. “It reminds me of the River fo Styx and the Underworld.”

  Sadie and Bast look at him, both surprised in different way. Carter figured it might not be his best move to talk about another pantheon, but he doesn’t really think it’s that suspicious to know stuff. Sadie already thinks he’s just a nerdy bookworm, which, okay, isn’t wrong.

  “What’s that?” Sadie asks confused.

  “Greek mythology.” Bast answers, looking a bit nervous.

  “The River of Styx is also known as the river of suffering. It surrounds the Underworld, which is like the Greek version of the Land of the Dead. It’s where to whole ferryman thing came from, because most souls would get dissolved by just touching the water.” Carter elaborates.

  Sadie wrinkled her nose at him. “And we care because? It’s not real is it?”

  Carter has to stop himself from laughing, because Sadie has no idea.

  Bast tensed a bit. “Stuff like that’s complicated Sadie. In its own way, everything is real.”

  “You’re saying the Greek Underworld is real?” Sadie raised an eyebrow at the cat goddess.

  Bast looked at Carter, and he shrugged slightly. If she doesn’t want Sadie to know, then they are getting into pretty dangerous territory, but Carter wasn’t going to help her. He’s kind of a coward like that, and he’d rather not get into the whole demigod/magician now. Or ever.

  “There are a thousand different myths about the Egyptian gods.” Bast tried to explain. “All of them are true in some regard, simply because someone believed it was true. That’s why there are so many layers of the Du'at, to make space for all of those realities. Isis can be both Horus’s mother and sister. Hathor, Sekhmet, and I are all capable of being aspects the same person while also being our own individuals.”

  Sadie was confused. Not a lot is known about Egyptian mythology in the present day and there are a thousand different versions of the same myth. It’s the same thing for Greek mythology, so Carter gets what Sadie’s feeling. It’s sort of one of those things You Just Don’t Think About.

    ---

  Carter should really stop underestimating his little sister.

  Of course she had managed to trick of demon into giving his true name. Of course she managed to figure it out with out any help from him, or the gods, or even The Book of the Dead.

  Sadie was kind of a mix between Percy and Annabeth. She’d definitely destroy a national monument, but she can also solve difficult riddles with no problem.

  (When Kronos and Apophis are defeated, Carter doesn’t know how to feel about it. He missed his friends a lot, but he can’t tell if Sadie makes it worse or better so he tries not to think about it. Sadie is his little sister and her own person, and that's the most important part.)

  When Sadie poked fun at him for looking like a “breaded chicken-man”, Carter complained but smiled.

  It was nice being siblings again.

    ---

  The Hall of Judgement was just as desolate as everything else.

  Carter felt uncomfortable being alone in it, but Anubis had disappeared with his sister and Carter wasn’t sure if Ammit and Khufu could be considered good company.

  Not that he’ll ever tell Khufu he thought that.

  You have me, remember? Horus pointed out.

  Was the god that was in his head trying to convince Carter everything would be better if he just gave up his body, considered good company? Carter was going to go with no, not really.

  Rude.

  I might like you more if you stopped trying to posses me. Carter told Horus.

  Horus sniffed. It is not possession, and it would help us achieve our goal much more easily. We would be the beginning of greatness, if you would let me-

  Still no.

  Horus grumbled, and Carter was pretty sure he was sulking, even if he could’t see the god.

  Carter went over to the throne side of the room, examine the faded carvings on the wall as he goes. The Hall of Judgement really was a mess, with crumbling pillars, cracks in the walls, and broken scales. Carter assumes to repare the place they will need Osiris, which means they need Dad.

  He hoped Sadie was okay and successfully convincing Anubis to give up the feather of truth.

  You worry to much. Horus noted.

  Do I? Carter asked, sarcastically.

  You have two gods on your side. Nothing to worry about. Horus responded.

  Carter wished he could believe Horus, but everything seemed to be going wrong lately and being optimistic was the best way to tempt the fates. They might have two gods on their side but they are also fighting a god, one that wasn’t nearly as limited a Horus and Isis, if Set actually had totally possessed his host.

  Then there was a flash of light, dragging Carter out of his thought and dropping him in the middle of a graveyard with an angry Sadie.

Chapter Text

  Lots of people like to talk about how fun traveling is, like seeing cool stuff or trying out new things or eating weird food.

  Carter is an expert on traveling and he is here to tell you all, that that traveling is not fun. Some of it is sure, but people who travel a lot always leave out the other stuff. Because at least one thing has to go wrong on every trip, like missing a flight or losing your luggage (both of which have happened to Carter) and it is boring. So, so very boring.

  Carter can not begin to describe how mind numbing it is to stand in a line for five hours or get to the airport two hours early with nothing to do and still have your flight delayed.

  Nothing about the last few day have changed Carter’s mind, especially not the many hours sitting in a “borrowed” RV trying to get to from New Orleans to Phoenix.

  He slumped down at the the RV’s kitchen table, letting out another bored sigh.

  Bast had turned the place into a live in cat scratching post, and has teared up almost all the furniture, including the kitchen counter which now had deep gouges in it. Sadie was next to him, entranced in the Feather of Truth ever since she had gotten it.

  Something had happened with Anubis. Something that had scared Sadie, but Carter couldn’t begin to guess what and she wasn’t saying anything about it that matter.

  That wasn't to say Carter wasn’t also tense. They only had twenty-four hours left. He could partially hear the clock on his dad’s life ticking away.

  And there was the House of Life, and Zia, and Desjardins.

  For awhile Carter had believed the Desjardins was the host of Set, because that made sense. The new Chief Lector hated them, had tried to kill them. Is was easy to see him as a power hungry, cruel, and angry. Carter hadn’t even been against the idea that Desjardins had killed Iskander for his own means.

  But in his dream, where Set had tried to crash the plane Zia and Desjardins were on, the older magician had made the innocent mortals his first priority.

  That wasn’t a very Set like thing to do.

  Out of the four of them, Khufu was the only one that’s relaxed at all, sitting in the drivers seat. (Yes, baboons, or at least Khufu, could drive. No, Carter does not even want to know how.)

  Bast clawed at the back of a chair, making a long horrible screeching sound.

  Carter wanted to clamp his hands to his ears but forced himself to endure the pain.

  “Bast?” Sadie looks at the goddess, her focus finally away from the feather in her hand. “Is everything all right?”

  “I abandoned you, again.” Bast snarled, but it sounded more like she was mad at herself then anything.

  Carter wrinkled his nose, and twisted the golden chain around his neck. “You were just startled by Anubis, right? That’s no big deal?”

  Bast sighed and turned to them. “When your father freed me he gave me a job. A job more important then anything, protecting Sadie.” She glanced at Carter, unnervingly. “And you if it became necessary.”

  It hurt a bit, that Carter was just a tag-along. A burden she shouldn’t have to deal with.

  “Really?” Sadie glanced nervously at Bast. “I mean, we can’t actually be more important then fighting… him. Right?”

  Bast looked at them and her eyes were sad and nostalgic. “You don’t get it. You are not just the blood of the pharaohs. The two of you are the most powerful children born of royalty in thousands of years. You are our only chance the reunite the House of Life with gods, to revitalize our world and save the path of the gods. You’re our key to defeating him. That’s why your parents did what they did, to set the stage that you would eventually have to use.”

  Carter stared at her. Sadie was silent besides him, but he knows they’re both thinking the same thing. The two of them could’t possibly mean that much. Their parents loved them, of course they did but to kill themselves for Carter and Sadie to get this… opportunity feels like too much.

  It means that they both died to save the world. To help Carter and Sadie save the world.

  He thinks that just makes their deaths hurt more.

  “They didn’t want to leave you.” It was something he already knew, but he hadn’t realized how much he need to here it out loud from someone. To know Carter and Sadie were more to his parents than a way to save the world. “But they understood the risks. What would probably happen. They understood that you two must survive, because you are both very special.”

  Bast gaze held his for a second, as if she wanted him to let the message sink in. Carter had never once in his life ever expected to be special. Not as a mortal, not as a demigod. He wasn't quite sure how being a magician fit into that yet, he doesn’t understand what the fates are trying to do.

  “I would protect you even if I hadn’t promised.” Bast admitted. “The two of you are like kittens, and I won’t fail you. Not again.”

  Carter could admit to getting a bit choked up. She had said the two of them, like Carter was just as important as Sadie. Like even though it wasn’t necessarily her job to take care of Carter, she wanted to do it.

    ---

  Carter could’t decide if he was annoyed or happy to see Zia. One one hand she wassort of hunting him down right now and he’d been talking to Horus who was warning him about a new challenge and he also looked terrible. On the other hand it was Zia.

  And you know, she also had some important stuff to him.

  She looked a bit like a hologram, flickering and glowing.

  “Look Carter, If you’ll meet up with us, I’m sure I can convince my partner to let you talk to Desjardins. We might be able to convince him to help.”

  Carter looks at her, feeling frustrated. This would all be so much easier if Desjardins wasn’t in charge in the first place. He was the one who was trying to stop them from stopping Set. Like not stopping the person who was trying to blow up the world and had his dad and uncle imprisoned was a good idea.

  All because of the stupid god in his head.

  “How do I know this isn’t a trap?” Carter asked her.

  She almost looks hurt by it, and it really shouldn’t make him feel as guilty as it does. He couldn’t just agree to this though, not when there is every chance it was a trap.

  “There’s also something I need to tell you.” Zia exaplains, starting to sound desperate. “In person.”

  “Why can’t you just tell me right now?”

  “You are very stubborn.”

  “Thanks.” 

  He held eye contact with her, unflinching. She was fading away, and Carter realized he really didn’t want her to go. He wanted to talk to her more.

  (So Carter wasn’t going to argue with Sadie’s theory that he had a crush on Zia. Better to admit now or risk becoming another Percy and Annabeth, which was to stay, willfully ignorant.)

  “I suppose I’ll have to trust you with this.” Zia told him, it sounded like words she didn’t say often. “Tonight I will be in Las Cruces, New Mexico. You can meet me there, and maybe we can convince Mel and Desjardins. This might be our only chance to get on the same side. Will you please come?”

  Carter wanted to agree. He wished he could promise to meet her, but it wasn’t entirely up to him. He couldn’t really see a Bast or Sadie agreeing to this plan. “I’m really don’t know, Zia.”

  “Just consider it.” She told him. “And Carter, if you see Amos be careful. You can’t trust him. I believe-“ Her eyes widen and she looked at something that wasn’t there. “Mel’s coming!”

  Before Carter could say anything, she slashed her staff through the projection and disappeared.

    ---

  Earlier in the day, Bast had mentioned a plan to find out Set’s secret name.

  Carter was looking at his sister and Bast, who were staring at a river completely hypnotized and had to wondering how the heck did they expected that to work.

  He supposed a river would be a good place to start. Nepthys was the goddess of rivers, but in his experience you needed something to get a gods attention. An offering or gift of some sort. Gods didn’t just give you important information for free. Surely that would work better then Sadie going anywhere near the water.

  But if Sadie said she could hear something, then Carter was not going to argue, and he was definitely not going near the water to try and prove her wrong.

  Carter stood guard.

  He didn’t know much about the Rio Grande, besides that it was the border between Mexico and the U.S., he didn’t think that there were any dangerous creatures.

  But it reminded Carter of a memory that wasn’t actually his. Of hiding in a hut in the marshes, something dangerous lurking down river.

  Horus wasn’t saying anything, but Carter has a feeling that the gods is simply waiting.

  Down river, Carter saw a group of three people, two adults and a little girl, crossing the river. Their clothes were dirty and ripped and he realized that considering they’re crossing an international border, like illegally, he might want to be more concerned about them. He can’t find it in himself to care, though. If they’re safe and not hurting anyone, then they’re fine. He had bigger things to deal with right now.

    ---

  A few seconds later, Carter looked back and saw that the family had disappeared.

  Khufu thought it was stupid, but with Bast and Sadie distracted trying to talk to Nepthys it wasn't like there was anyone to really talk Carter out of going to investigate.

    ---

  The family was in the reeds, terrified and shivering. The parents have put a protective barrier between whatever scared them and their daughter.

  For a second Carter believed they were sacred of him, but he’s quickly proven wrong.

  Shoot. Carter thought the second after he followed their gazes and watched as the water churned behind him.

  Jump! Horus shouted in his head and Carter listened.

  He assumed it was Horus’s work that got Carter twenty/thirty feet into air, because he knew that he shouldn’t be able to do that. He did a flip and landed in the shallows of the river.

  At first all he had seen was were hundreds of sharp teeth and a giant maw, large enough to eat Carter whole.

  When he got a good look, he realized that he was staring the largest crocodiles he had ever seen.

    ---

  Carter knew that Percy was more powerful than the average demigod. Knew that some of the stuff Percy had done, shouldn’t really be possible, but it was really obvious at the moment.

  Percy had trained for one month and faced off against the god of war. He had fought the god of war and won. When he was twelve.

  Carter has had six years of training, and had only survived his encounters with gods with the help of other people. Only if someone else sacrificed themselves for it.

  “Bast!” He called out as he stumbled towards the edge of the river, staring at the spot she and Sobek has disappeared. “Bast!”

  He knew that is useless. That she was gone, having sacrificed herself to save him and Sadie. That she had kept her promise to their dad, to protect them.

  With Sadie passed out, he and Bast had tag-teamed the crocodile god. Honestly, Carter spent more time dodging, trying not to let the god get near him, than actually attacking. Sobek had been fast and every time they managed to land a hit he just got angrier and more powerful.

  He had thrown Carter across the river and Bast had saved his life. His and Sadie’s life.

  The Rio Grande bubbled and frothed, before a geyser shoot up out of it.

  On the bank a small black and golden form laid limply. Carter went over to it and recognized it.

  Muffin.

  Not Bast, Muffin. The cat goddess had even managed to spare her host.

Carter picked her up and cradled the cat in his arms and pulled himself together. He turned to face Sadie and Khufu because they needed to get going. Sobek had summoned more minions, and Carter wassn’t sure he had enough energy to save them, and than he froze in shock.

  Behind his sister and Khufu was a giant, gleaming pure white, crocodile. It was glaring past Carter, at the water. At the two wake lines that almost certainly signified two crocodiles coming towards them.

  Carter summoned his sword, shifting Muffin so he could carry her with one hand.

  The crocodile lunged. Not at him, but past him, and attacked the crocodiles that had been getting way too close to Carter. It took him a second to process it, the three crocodiles tumbling around, the white a huge contrast to the dark green. It took him a second to put the pieces together.

  “Philip?” He muttered.

  “Indeed.”

  Carter whipped around and he was faced with his second impossible miracle of the day. The image of his uncle, the one that had been captured by Set, standing over Sadie.

  He looked up at Carter. “We really need to get going. Philip will only hold them off for so long.”

    ---

  Carter wanted to trust Amos, really he did. He couldn’t though.

  Set had let their uncle go, allowed him to escape. Carter wasn’t sure what that meant, be he knew that Amos had to be apart of the Red Lord’s plan somehow, it was the only reason why he would do that. To mess with Sadie and Carter.

  Not only that but Zia had mentioned they couldn’t trust him.

  Which wasn’t to say he trusted Zia over Amos, but he wasn’t stupid.

  Carter glanced over at his sister, who was still unconscious. Khufu was trying to cook something over a fire and Amos paced back and forth on the sand.

  White Sands, New Mexico was supposedly safe. Almost nobody was ever here, due to it being a missile testing sight, but Carter kept his sword by his side.

  Muffin was in his lap, still sleeping like Sadie, but alive.

  Unlike Bast.

  Carter wasn’t excited to tell Sadie that. The two of them had already lost way too much, just in the last few days alone. Losing Bast hurt almost as much as Dad getting captured. She had taken care of them, and accepted Carter. She had called them her kittens. Bast might not have been with them the whole time, but she came back. She had always came back to them.

  She wouldn’t be coming back this time though, and Carter knew it.

  She was brave, she died a warrior death. Horus told Carter softly, which he didn’t think was possible. And she will come back.

  Not anytime soon. Carter thought bitterly.

  But she will. And it was as reassuring as Horus could be. It didn’t help, but Carter could appreciate the effort.

    ---

  Carter wasn’t sure how, but he was standing in Las Cruces, talking to Zia with his uncle and Sadie.

  Sadie had mentioned something about Geb, and him telling her to go the the crosses, which was just English for Las Cruces. So clearly the Fates had done some planning or pulled some string, because Geb suggesting to Sadie to go to the same place Carter needed to go to meet up with Zia could not be a coincidence.

  He hadn’t even needed to bring up why he wanted to go. Sadie had just agreed.

  “What you need it our help. Desjardins is powerful, I highly doubt you will be able to challenge Set without him.” Zia told an annoyed Sadie.

  Amos also didn’t look very happy about this. Carter winced as he watched his sister cross her arms.

  “Have you considered, like at all, that Desjardins might be helping Set.” Sadie snapped. “I mean if he wanted to be helpful he could try not ordering our deaths or not hunt us down and instead focus on the big problem. You know, Set, the guy taking over the world?”

  Zia glared at her. “That is what he is trying to do. Your way of stopping is Set is too dangerous. The gods cannot be trusted and when they overpower you, you will become a threat to the House of Life. Desjardins is simply taking preventive measures.”

  “Preventive measures?” Sadie asked, clearly offended. “It’s hardly-“

  Zia cut her off. “You have to convince him you're not a threat if you want the House of Life on your side.”

  Carter blinked at her, the words turning over in his head. He wasn’t sure how they could possibly prove themselves as not a threat. He doubted forcing Horus and Isis out of their heads would work, even if they could do it. Unless…

  “You mean by surrendering?” Amos asked.

  Sadie puffed up in anger. “No way are-“

  “Will you guys calm down?” Carter told them, looking at the faint whips of smoke coming from Zia and the look on Sadie’s face. He meet Zia’s gaze. “Look, I know we need to work together, but I’m not going to surrender. I trusted you enough to come here, but I don’t trust Desjardins enough to hope that he won’t have us killed on the spot.”

  She deflated a bit. Carter didn’t feel guilty, he was not letting his sister get killed.

  “Fine. But there is something I need to-“

  “It’s a trap!” Amos shouted, his staff appearing in his hands.

  Carter whipped around to see Desjardins striding through the crowd, his staff glowing purple, right towards them.

    ---

  Desjardins was a hypocrite.

  All about “the gods are evil” and “Godlings are a threat to the House of Life”, at least until he wants to kill a few Godlings and summoned a god to do it. And not just any god, he summoned Shkemet. Seriously out all the gods, he had to choose the one that would cause the most damage.

  I personally think Set causes more damage. Horus pointed out. Also you’ve forgotten to do something.

  “Care to be more specific?” Carter muttered as he steered a flying boat away from the literal incarnation of the sun’s wrath. “I kind of have a lot on my plate right now.”

  It’s my birthday.

  And? Carter shot back, annoyed.

  Horus sulked. Aren’t you going to wish me a happy birthday?

  Yeah, Egyptian gods were way different then Greek gods. He could not see Zeus or Athena ever sulking over not getting a happy birthday. Actually he could see Zeus doing that, but he wasn’t going to say it. The king of the gods was a lot more likely to smite Carter then the whinny god complaining in his head.

  If you aren’t going to wish me a happy birthday, you could at least refrain from insulting me.

  Happy birthday. Carter thought at Horus, glancing back at the giant glowing women.

  She was definitely getting closer.

  Carter winced. He knew quite a few myths about Skhemet. Some were contradictory, but that was just what myths were. Overall though, they all seemed to agree she could be very violent.

  Ironic considering she was the goddess of healing.

  Do you have any idea on how to defeat her?

  Skhemet? Horus sounded incredulous. Which was probably a bad sign. No, she’s not as impressive as she used to be but she is a born killer. A slaying machine-

  “Thank you so much.” Carter rolled his eyes.

  Sadie looked up at him confused and he just pointed a hand at his head. She ought to understand having a usless god in ones head.

  An arrow of literal fire whizzed by them.

  Yay! Slaying machines! Carter thought sarcastically. Won’t that be a fun way to die.

    ---

  Zia was incredibly useful and had an idea.

  (Unlike some useless gods that have nothing better to do than complain.)

  There was still a high chance that they would die, but that was just an occupational hazard at this point.

  “Just think of it as a warm up,” Carter told Sadie. “For when we have to face Set.”

  “That is so helpful.” Sadie shot back.

  Carter shrugged, though he understood why she was reluctant about this plan. Carter had the easy part, he just had to slaughter a bunch of salsa storage containers. Sadie had to distract Skhemet, without being killed.

  They watched as the lion goddess chewed up another car.

  “Have fun.” Carter told his sister, and readied his magic for another uncomfortable bird transformation.

  Sadie frowned but ran into the open, shouting the word of her new favorite spell.

  “Ha-di!”

  Hieroglyphs burned into the air above Skhemet and everything around her exploded. Trucks splintered into pieces and the the ground below her caved in, sending the goddess tumbling into a fifty feet deep, creator.

  It was impressive, and a clear testament to exactly how powerful his little sister was.

  Carter took this as his sign to do his job, and transformed into a falcon with difficulty.

  It was a short flight, thankfully, to get to his perch on top of the first silo filled with red hot salsa. Carter easily turned human again and summoned another burst of energy to engulf himself in his glowing falcon headed warrior form.

  “Hey kitty!” Carter called out, turning her attention away from Sadie, who was trying not to get turned into ashes. “I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that.”

  She turned to him, and hissed. “Horus?”

  ”Do you know anyone else with a falcon head?”

  Carter was surprised when that actually made the goddess hesitate. Carter had gotten the impression that most of the other gods didn’t find Horus all that threatening, or maybe they just didn’t find Horus in Carter’s body threatening.

  “Do you truly believe you can stop me, little birdy.” Skhemet snarled after a moment. “I will simply destroy you.”

  “You are welcome to do that, but…” Carter raised his giant glowing sword and slashed through the salsa silo. A wave of red came pouring out. “I thought you might like to feast in the blood of your enemies first.”

  It didn’t take long for him to slash open the other five silos and watch as the lion goddess actually took the bait and ate as much of the salsa as she could. In minutes she had eaten her fill and was panting heavily.

  “It is… it is very hot.” She mumbled, looking tired.

  “Well, milk is very helpful with that kind of stuff, you know.” Carter told her.

  A looked of realization came over her face. “You- you dare… try to trick me!” Skhemet tried getting to her feet, but stumbled and collapsed on the ground. “You will…”

  Carter did not find out what he would do, because the goddess passed out and transformed into a sleeping cow.

  He waved a hand in front of her face. No response.

  “I cannot believe that actually worked.” Sadie muttered coming over to Carter. “I mean, all is took was a bit of salsa and she’s out like a light.”

  Zia scoffed. “Well, don’t get to excited over it. We are very luckily to still be alive, and we still have to deal with Set.”

    ---

  They had a few hours left until Set takes over the world and they have no ride, no Bast, no Amos, and no chance for back up besides for the two gods in their head.

  Just three semi-competent teenager trying to save to world.

  Carter breathed out a long sigh, but smiles slightly. It remineds him of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover’s first quest, around three years ago. He wondered if they were more or less terrified as he was now.

  We will defeat Set. You shouldn’t worry so much. Horus says.

  It’s not like they have a choice. It’s not like that stops it from being scary.

  Horus didn’t respond, and Carter takes that to mean that the god realized that Carter might have a point.

  “So,” Sadie said, hands on her hips. “Any idea on how we’re getting to Phoenix from here?”

Chapter Text

  Dad’s homicidal clay statue actually could be useful.

  Which was an odd thing to think even for Carter, who often has thought similar to, I should get a prize for still being alive or Percy fought the god of war when he was twelve, of course he decided this was a good idea.

  (“This” is specifically unspecified because Percy comes up with too many... interesting plans.)

  Doughboy, in the form of a very long coat was driving them to Phoenix. It was dark outside, with storm clouds swallowing up the sky. A clear sign of how little time they had left until Set tried to take over the world. Sadie had decided to take over the back of the truck cab, which left Carter and Zia in awkward silence in the front.

  “Do you want to play twenty questions?” He blurted out.

  Zia blinked at him. “What?”

  “It’s a game, though are different ways to play it.” Carter explained, his hand subconsciously going up to the gold chain around his neck. “One way is where you think of an object and the other person asks yes or no question so they can try to figure it out what the object is. The other way is basically just a get to know each other game? Like you ask each other twenty random question.”

  Carter slightly regretted asking if she wanted to play, but they have nothing else to do but wait. Carter needed something to distract him. Even if it meant acting incredibly awkward around Zia.

  Zia gave him a small smile, but it faded quickly. “Carter, I had a few things I needed to tell you, remember?”

  Carter nodded. That was true, and she had before Desjardins had interrupted them.

  “I’m sorry about that by the way.” Carter said, which might not make much sense. “Putting you in a position to choose between the House and us.”

  It was hard to understand why Zia had chosen to help them. It might be the right thing to do, but choosing between what is right and the people you care about could’t be easy. Carter wasn’t sure what he would do if faced with choosing between the world and his dad. All he can do is hope that it won’t come to that.

  Then again, Zia had said Iskander was her only family and Iskander was dead.

  “It was choice I brought upon myself. I needed to do it.” Zia looks uncertain, like she isn’t sure why that was the case. It reminds Carter of the look on her face when she told Carter she didn’t remember her parents. “Though it will certainty mean my exile if not death.”

  “You could stick with us.” Carter offered.

  Zia raised an eyebrow at him. “How do you expect to survive, even if you do defeat Set? The House will always be after you.”

  “I don’t know.” Carter shrugged, a thin smile crossing his face. “But it’s not like I can afford to let the House win. Plus between Sadie and I, we’ve got two gods on our side, I’m used to traveling and improvising, and Sadie’s pretty good at blowing our problems up for us.”

  “You’re kind.” Zia replied, which was not the same as an agreement. “Iskander suspected somthing like this would happen.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded. “After the Bristish Museum he told me I was in danger. That he needed to bring me somewhere safe.”

  Carter furrowed his eyebrows. “But he didn’t?”

  Zia looked conflicted. “I… think- but no. He didn’t have time to.”

  There was something wrong about it. Something about her story that didn’t add up. Was Set really possessing Desjardins and Iskander figured it out? Carter supposed that would make sense, but…

  “Look Carter,” Zia stated. “I wanted to talk to you because I have what need to defeat Set. I know his secret name.”

    ---

  The eye of the storm wasn’t exactly quiet, not with the storm ragging around them, but it was calm.

  Phoenix was a ghost town. The buildings were dark and the streets were empty of any movement. The sky above them was still dark, but gray was creeping into the blackness. Dawn was coming. The main source of light right now though, was Camelback Mountain itself. Inside of it something was glowing bright enough to turn the entire thing a soft red.

  “This is a bad idea.” Zia told Amos. “Storm magic is chaos magic.”

  Carter couldn’t help but agree with her. It wasn’t like they had a lot of options when it came to getting to the mountain, where Set was but surely there was a better idea then turning into storm clouds.

  Amos rolled his eyes. “No one will notice a few whisps of cloud here.” He waved a hand at the storm around them.

  “This goes against every-“ Zia wasn’t allowed to finish, instead she was interrupted when she dissolved.

  Sadie grimaced as Amos turned to her, but she didn’t have time to argue before she was also turning into a dark cloud. Which left just Carter and Amos left.

  “Amos,” Carter said, nervously. He remembered the last time some had tried to force a transformation on him. How painful it had been. “I really don’t think this is a good idea. It might just be best in a transformed into a falcon and followed you guys.”

  His uncle ignored him, unfortunately.

  Pain shot through Carter’s entire body, making his breathe catch and muscles tense up. Carter gritted his teeth as whatever Amos magic was using tried to pull him apart.

  Suddenly the pain faded.

  Carter glanced at Amos, who was looking at him curiously.

  “You might be right about that.” He agreed lightly.

    ---

  It really should have been obvious.

  Zia, Amos, Set, all of it was so obvious. There had been a million different hints and signs and Carter should’ve seen it. He was a son of Athena for crying out loud. Figuring stuff out was supposed to be his thing. It was like Carer had purposefully ignored what everything said was to be true.

  And maybe he had.

  It was just… Carter didn’t want to lose Amos or Zia. If had felt nice having someone else to depend on, it felt nice having another friend.

  (Sadie had ignored it too for the same reasons. It would’ve been nice if one of them had listened to Zia, but at least Carter wasn’t alone in being afraid to lose what they had left.)

  Being in denial changed anything, of course.

    ---

  Sadie would probably say it was pure luck that got them into the pyramid, and she had a point. But Carter personally thought that some strategy had been involved.

  (Neither one of them was right. They had been allowed to enter, though the demons surrounding the pyramid hadn’t known that.)

  They had cut down the two boats that had been carrying the pyramidion, to prevent the pyramid from being completed and they’d all managed to make it into the pyramid. All of them besides for Amos, who had told them to leave him behind, again. Carter was getting sick of the people he cared about sacrificing themselves.

  Carter watched the entrance of the pyramid as Sadie and Zia both flew in, one in her kite form and the other in the claws of a giant vulture. Amos might have distract most of the monsters, but a few had still noticed the three of them.

  They needed to close the doors. Carter reached out with his mind, like what he had done to Leroy, and with a small hand movement, shoved.

  The oversized doors slammed shut.

  That won’t stop them for long. Horus pointed out. You need to seal it.

  Carter concentrated, tried to seal the door. With Horus’s help, it should’ve been easy, even though Carter had never done it before. He could feel Horus’s power trying to do it. Then it hit some sort of block, like something was stopping the magic from working. It didn’t hurt, not liked transforming did, but it felt uncomfortable.

  “Can either of you seal the door?” Carter asked Zia and Sadie.

  Sadie nodded in agreement, concentrating like Carter had. In moments a symbol burned itself into the door. A Tyet, the symbol of Isis.

  Carter could hear the demons behind them pounding on the door, but the seal held.

  “That’ll hold them for now.” He said, trying not think about how is might’ve locked the demons out but it also locked Amos out. It felt like abandoning their uncle. Sadie looked like she felt the same way.

  “He knew what he was doing.” Carter told her.

  Zia nodded. “It will not help to worry about his fate. Not when our time is running out.”

  Sadie and him shared a look and gave the doors one last worried glance, before turning to follow Zia into the passage that would lead them farther into the pyramid.

    ---

  It’s a surprise, excepts it wasn't, not really, when Set is there standing in front of his throne. In front of their dad.

  Amos had collapsed on the ground in front of between them, like a warning sign saying this is what the gods are capable of. This is what they’re willing to do for power. His clothes were smoking slightly, showing how close Amos was to dying (like Mom or Castor or Kyle or Isabel or any of the kids that have died over the year at Camp Half-Blood. Carter has seen a lot of people die), burning up from the inside.

  Zia had been right. Of course, she had been.

  Not that Amos had wanted to. He had fought against it, had tried to warn them. And… and this is what he got for it. Being thrown aside like a broken toy.

  “He was exceptionally entertaining.” Set smiled, his face flickering between the monster he was and the human facade he put on. “There were something even I couldn’t make him do without destroying him, and I couldn’t get rid of such a useful tool so soon. Luckily, I don’t need him anymore.”

  The threat was there. What Set is going to do to their uncle. What he was going to do to them.

  Let me-

  No! Carter cut off Horus before he could even start. The proof of what might happen to him if he let Horus take control was laying in front of them.

  (Carter knows better then to trust gods.)

  Harsh laughter that sent Carter back to the night this all started, echoed in the room.

  When Carter had walked into the makeshift throne room he had been disturbed. The walls were covered in hieroglyphs invoking Isfet, or chaos. There was none that had the actual hieroglyph for Isfet, apparently not even Set was chaotic enough for that. A red liquid bubbled in a trench the encircled the room. It had all felt wrong.

  It was nothing compared to how it felt hearing Set’s laugh.

  “Aww Horus, do you really think you could do anything to me in that form? I doubt that mixed-blood experiment can even do proper magic.”

  For the first time Horus and Carter had the exact same feeling at the exact same moment: rage.

  Set wasn’t wrong. Carter remembered when he had tried to make a seal, that there was some sort of block. Remembered how transforming felt like burning. He was some sort of experiment, something that wasn’t supposes to exist.

  (One might argue that demigods, magicans, monsters, and gods shouldn’t exist either. Being different didn’t make Carter helpless.)

  “Χτυπώ”

  Strike

  Carter didn’t know how he got the idea or why he did it, but he watched as greek letter wrote itself in the air in front of him, glowing gold. It was like the hieroglyphs Sadie had used. It was magic and it works for Carter, there was no blockage or pain, just golden symbols floating in the air.

  Set was hit by some invisible force and thrown back into a pillar that crumbled on top of him.

  For a moment Carter could feel Horus’s satisfaction because it matched his own. Carter might not be able to use hieroglyphs or divine words. He could’t do “proper” magic, but he figured, this was good enough for the two of them.

    ---

  Carter had thought Zia might be Nepthys earlier, but the idea seemed wrong now.

  It made sense, technically. But something was missing. The same something that had been missing from Zia’s earlier story. It was bothering him, how he couldn’t figure out what it was.

  (Carter hated those sort of thing. The things that he couldn’t figure out till someone told him and then it was overwhelming obvious. Part was satisfying, the feeling of all the little hints and puzzle pieces fitting together and making sense, but Carter always liked it better when he figured it out himself.)

  Set had too, apparently. Now he was quickly getting disillusioned of the fact, as he held Zia in his hand.

  “What is this?” He growled at her. “You will tell me where you have hidden her!”

  Zia looked at him, afraid but determined. “You will never posses her.” She could barely speak, with his grip as tight as it was.

 Carter pushed against the magical barrier that was holding him against the wall, unable to help her. He could move a little bit, but it was like moving through syrup or molasses, slow and difficult.

  Zia, Carter realized, didn’t often make much sense. Why would she want him to stop resisting? She might not be “important” or whatever, but that didn’t mean Carter was just going to sit hear and watch her die.

  We can help her, if you yield to me! Horus insisted, pushing for control. Carter shoved back, giving himself a headache while he was at it.

  Set wasn’t willing to wait for Carter to free himself or finish is internal argument with Horus, he flung Zia to the side, angrily.

  Zia hit a wall with a harsh thud, and would’ve have fallen into the moat of questionably liquid if it hadn’t been for Sadie hadn’t yelled, “Wind!” Making a gust of air lift the fire elementalist up just enough to get her on safe ground.

  Safe, being a relative term.

  His sister raced over to Zia, dragging her away from the most and putting her body between the god of Evil and the limp body of their friend.

  Set turned in Sadie. “Is this some your little trickery, niece?”

  He managed to summon a sandstorm, sending it straight at Sadie, who barely had time to raise her wand. The wand must’ve created some magical barrier because the storm was deflected into the wall behind her.

  Sadie was standing alone against the wrath of a god.

  It was a small thing for Horus and Carter to agree on, but in the end it made all the difference. They were not going to let Set hurt their sister, ever.

  Everything became clearer, Carter could focus and think properly for the first time since he had entered this horrible throne room. He was afraid and angry, but those things weren’t going to help Sadie. They wouldn’t get him out of this mess. Zia had told him to “stop resisting”. She hadn’t meant to stop resisting Set, she was talking about Horus,

  They need to both be in control, not one or the other. They need to be able to trust each other, otherwise they would both end up dead.

    ---

  Carter didn’t quite know how to explain it.

  When the two of them stop fighting, it was like they became the same person. Carter saw everything, from the many hosts Horus had had before him to the millennia stuck in the Rosetta Stone. He understood Horus’s powers and his fears. Horus saw all of Carter’s memories too.

  For the first time, Carter could clearly see the difference between Greek and Egyptian gods, beyond how each pantheon worked. Horus was capable of admitting he has weaknesses and fears, even if it wass only by sharing memories. It made him seem human in a way Athena would never be.

  It made Carter willing to actual trust Horus, god or not.

    ---

  Carter had never really enjoyed fighting before.

  This time, it was different. He was almost positive he was being heavily influenced by Horus’s own feelings, but Carter couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction, and almost joy, despite the fact that he was fighting with Set to the death.

  Most of it could be attributed to Horus, Carter could admit that. Between the two of them, Horus was definitely the better fighter, probably from a few thousand years of experience and he was lending all of that experience to Carter as well as enough energy to keep Carter constantly going without getting tired.

  Of course, it was harder to fight on the steep incline that was the pyramid walls then it was in the throne room and it was a bit hard to focus with a collection of demons and magicians fighting each other behind them.

  Carter wasn’t sure if he expected to win, but they didn’t need to win. They need to hold out until sunrise and prevent Set from completing his pyramid.

  Or his demon minions from completing the pyramid, Carter revised, spotting a group of flying demons dragging the capstone of the steep slope.

  They turned away from Set and charged at the demons.

  Carter almost expected Horus to disagree, but the god must’ve of realized that the pyramid was the priority.

  “No!” Set snarled, stepping between them. “You will not ruin this for me, nephew.”

  They didn’t have much time left. Just prevent it for a few more minutes, that’s all they needed to do. Carter lunged at the other god. Set meet Carter’s sword with his own staff. He wasn’t sure what the heck the staff was made out of, but Carter was pretty sure most staffs would’ve broken at this point.

  His gaze flickered to the demons that were getting ever closer to the top.

  Carter wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get to them in time, even if he did manage to get Set off of his back for long enough. They were only a few feet away now and sunrise was less the two minutes away.

  And that was when a miracle occurred.

    ---

  Carter was never going to tell Sadie he thought she was a miracle. It would go straight to her head and she would never ever, let him forget about it.

  (When he first thought that it, it struck s him as a little bit weird, before he realized that it was probably just something to do with siblings. Sure Carter and Sadie have spent the last few days switching between annoying each other and saving each other, but it was only now that Carter realized how much like siblings they’ve been acting like.)

  (It was a weirdly nice thing to realize.)

  In the (almost) privacy of his own mind, Carter could admit Sadie definitely saved them. Like, yeah, Carter was doing pretty great fighting Set, but if Sadie hadn’t been there he would been destroyed when Set got his super duper power boost.

  His sister made a portal and teleported an entire pyramid to Washington D.C. Apparently, having a giant pyramid in the middle of a city was not nearly as effective as having one in the middle of a desert.

  It was getting increasingly easy to fight Set as Sadie (as Isis, Carter realized) spoke the spell.

  “I name you Set,” Carter could barely hear his sister as the pyramid started ripping itself apart, but he could see her, faintly glowing in the sky above them. “I name you Evil Day.”

  How Sadie had found out Set’s secret name, Carter didn’t know. He just felt a wave of relief of knowing this was going to be over.

  And then she hesitated.

  Carter didn’t know the spell, but he did know it was almost done. He could see it in the way Set’s power was leaving him and in the way he could practically feel the chaos being pulled away from them.

  “Sadie!” He called out. “What’s going on?”

  She was standing still, her face had a look of horror on it at she stared at the sky. Looking at something Carter couldn’t see.

  Below him, Set squirmed, trying to resist the energy that was pulling him into the rift that was forming above their heads. The rift that would trap him away from them so he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else.

  “Have you lost your nerve.” He called out, sounding desperate.The he looked at Carter. “Don’t you see? Your sister always was a coward.”

  Sadie meet his gaze and for a moment Carter almost believed Set. He almost let Horus’s anger and vengeance and fear make him doubt his sister. Carter wanted Set gone. Wanted the person who was trying to take away the people he cared about gone. But his sister looked determined.

  Sadie wasn’t a coward and from Horus’s memories, neither was Isis. They had a reason.

  If Carter was willing to trust Horus with his life, their life, then he could certainly trust Sadie with it as well.

Chapter Text

  Carter didn’t like snakes.

  It wasn’t anything like his fear of spiders, scorpions, or small spaces. It was simply common sense, because as a demigod and a kid who’d been raised on Egyptian myths, snakes were never a good thing. Either they’re one third of a particularly terrifying monster or they’re so powerful and giant they literally take over the Oracle and chase down an actual Titian or they’re the impersonation of chaos.

  In conclusion, snakes equal very bad, avoid at all costs.

  On a side note: Remember the “impersonation of chaos” example from earlier? Well, that seemed to be the snake Carter and Sadie were currently staring at, if its giant, and Carter can not stress that enough, size and red coloring had anything say about it.

    ---

  It was almost like a cloud of red writhing in the sky, too big for even a god to comprehend. There was no end or beginning, but it was obvious what it was.

  The Face of Horror was a pile of sand on the ground. Carter’s sword lay in the mess, bronze gleaming.

  So the entire thing had been a giant conspiracy to free Apophis. Set’s pyramid would’ve created the type of power, the type of chaos needed to give the red snake what it needed to gain its freedom. The fact that Sadie and Carter trying to get rid of Serthad almost helped the thing was enough the make Carter’s stomach churn.

  Sadie met his gaze, looking almost as terrified. Then in a moment a gust of wind appeared, disrupting the terrible image.

  “You saw that, right?” His sister addresses Set, still wrapped in chains. He looked scared. “That was Apophis. He was using you to get what he wanted. The minute this pyramid had been completed he would’ve broken free and started destroying everything, starting with you.”

  “Chaos would’ve won.” Carter said softly, looking at the anger on his sister face. Set had done more then just potentially harm the state of Arizona, their dad, or them. He had put everything at risk.

  “I am chaos!” The god snarled.

  Carter couldn’t help but laugh at bit at that. “Don’t be an idiot, Set. I know it been a long time since you were last free and even longer since Apophis was trapped, but you should should still remember you’re only the god of chaos. Nothing compared to actually thing.”

  It was like how Poseidon would never compare to Pontus or Zeus could never compete to Ouranos. Set might represent chaos but Apophis was chaos.

  Sadie nodded. “You’re a god and as horrible as you are you’ve helped us defeat the serpent before. If Apophis really is rising we will need you again.”

  Us. As in Horus and Isis. Before, when people would call him Horus it annoyed Carter. Oddly enough, it didn’t now. It was the truth, wasn’t it?

  Set smirked at them, a bit of his confidence coming back. “Awww, are you really willing to risk an alliance with me?”

  “Not like you have choice.” Carter waved his hand at the bonds tying Set up. “She has secret name.”

  Sadie made a movement with her hand and Set winced has the bonds dug into his skin, tighting around him. Sadie looked slightly strained, but Carter wasn’t going to point that out in front of Set.

  “The House of Life trapped the gods.” Sadie noted. “That was wrong, and it didn’t work. We need to work together for this.”

  “Of course, I couldn’t agree more niece.” Set nodded twisting a bit. “Now would you please loosen…”

  Sets voice faded away as Sadie stared at him completely unimpressed. Carter wasn’t sure why he was still trying. Neither one of them were planning on falling for any of his tricks anytime soon.

  “I’ll release you when you’ve sworn that you won’t try to harm or cause trouble for Carter and me and you’ll help us defeat Apophis when we call on you to.”

  “If you don't feel like agreeing I could always chop your head off?” Carter offered, almost hoping Set would take his offer. Horus was definitely influencing him. “I don’t about you, but think that might exile a god for like a few hundred years.”

  Set nodded slowly. “Okay then.”

  “Swear it.” Sadie demanded. “On your name and on Ra’s throne.”

  “Oh, I swear.” Set agreed immediately. “On my name, Ra’s throne, and on my lovely mother.”

  Carter and Sadie exchanged a glance. The god of evil had agreed to that much too quickly, but there really wasn’t anything the two of them could do about that. Hopefully the oath would be just as binding as an oath on the River of Styx.

  Sadie let the binds fall, giving him one last warning look.

  Set stretched. It seemed like he had decided to stick to a more human appearance at the moment. He had a vague resemblance to Amos in facial features and hair style, but otherwise had a unique appearance with red skin, armor, and pitch black eyes.

  He turned to look at Carter. “You know, you might be on to something little nephew. It will certainly be interesting to find out!”

  “And you can go now.” Sadie told him. “Begone Evil Day.”

  The god disappeared in a pillar of sand and heat, leaving the two siblings alone.

    ---

  It took only moments to get to Zia and Amos. They were laying in a heap on top of the national mall, where Set’s pyramid had been. All that was left now was a square of melted snow.

  The throne and the sarcophagus was gone, along with their dad.

  Carter pushed down on the grief and anger that rose up at that observation. After everything they've done… they didn’t have time for that. Amos and Zia both needed help.

  That was certainty true at least.

  Carter let his sister take care of Amos well he went over to Zia. She was oddly cold though her skin was red and brittle.

  “Set is gone?” She asked softly, as Carter kneeled down next to her, panic clawing at him.

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “Thanks to you of course. We couldn’t have done it with out the secret name you gave us. It worked.” Carter didn’t ask how she know the secret name when she wasn’t Nepthys. It was like the puzzle was starting to make sense, but Carter didn’t want it to.

  Zia smiled slightly and closed her eyes.

  “Woah, hey. Don’t close your eyes just yet. If you fall asleep now I’ll be left alone with just Sadie for company.”

  “Carter…” Her eyes didn’t open. “I was… never here. I am simply a place holder.”

  And… and Carter knows, he knows. Everything adds up, but that doesn’t mean Zia (or her placeholder) didn’t matter. It doesn’t mean she deserved to die.

  “So what?” Carter snapped.

  Sadie was next to them know, looking at him with pity. Zia grimaced, clearly in pain and as Carter watched, cracks starting to make their way across her skin. Small and insignificant but proof enough that Zia hadn’t really been Zia. That she had been a shabti since the museum.

  “Please find her. You would be a good friend for her to have.” The whisper was soft. Too quiet. Carter knew she wouldn't be speaking again. He watched as a blue light, just like the one from the night in the First Nome rose up into the ceiling and disappeared.

  Carter has seen death before, but this hit him differently. It wasn’t like the monsters exploding into dust, or the other demigods who died in battle (he only really remembered their shrouds, never having witness their actual death), or Dad being locked in a sarcophagus with hope that he could be saved.

  It reminded him mostly of Zöe. Who hadn’t died during the battle but rather afterwards due to her injuries. A quiet death, only this time Carter knew the person dying. This time he understood what the others had felt.

  “The real Zia’s still alive.” He told Sadie, more for his own sake then for hers.

  He wasn’t sure if she would remember him. Even if the blue light shared memories… not that it matters. If Zia was really alive, he had to find her. Carter could’t fail her like he failed Dad.

  Sadie looks like she wanted to argue, but he was thankful she didn’t.

  Carter touched Zia’s cheek and flinched as she crumbles to dust. He was sure the scene will play out again in his dreams later. He reached out and picked up her ivory wand, the only thing that truly did belong to her with her staff gone.

  The real Zia was alive, but Carter doubts that will make the grief go away any faster.

    ---

  Honestly, Carter had lost way to much today and the audacity that is Desjardins telling him that apparently Carter was trying to take the throne for himself was really the fates just messing with him at that point.

  There was a different kind of grief he feels when he meets Sadie’s eyes and nods.

  He can feel an echo of the pain that didn’t belong to him which didn’t really help.

  Are you sure about this?

  Yes, I have to do this on my own, Carter thought to the god in his head, I have a point to prove.

  Carter felt like spark of respect, for his decisions and the reason because of course Horus would respect pettiness, like it was his own. The feeling faded as Horus pulled himself away from Carter. Some of it flows into the necklace he had clenched in his fist, the rest disappearing into the Du'at, waiting for Carter to need him again.

  Desjardins was looking at them in shock.

  Carter met his gaze and let the sword gripped in his fist disappear. “I don’t want the throne and I have no plans for taking it. Sadie and I are going to learn and teach the path of the gods. You can keep trying to capture us and helping Apophis or you can help us, your choice.”

  And that was the end of that.

    ---

  The Conversation about… about dad was difficult.

  “It had been his plan.” Sadie whispered softly in the empty ruins of the Brooklyn house. “The underworld needed Osiris. It was the first step to balance.”

  Balance. She said it bitterly. Carter got it.

  Dad had planned to die. Planned to leave Carter, and that hurt because Dad was one the very few people he had thought he could depend on. More then that though, he had planned to leave them and he had never said anything. Carter had never compared his Dad to gods before but the way he had just thrown the two of them into a world of danger with no warning… it hurt.

  It hurt almost as much as the fact that he had never given Sadie or Carter the chance to say a proper goodbye.

    ---

  It took awhile to fix up the Brooklyn House, to even make it livable. Carter and Sadie could do magic, but they didn’t have Horus and Isis (they could if they took the amulets back. Carter had never thought the idea would be tempting. Never thought he would miss Horus). It made everything a take a bit longer, need a bit more energy and focus.

  Sadie did the details, Carter did the big heavy stuff.

  Neither of them used very many hieroglyphs. The one time Sadie had, she had passed out and Carter couldn’t use hieroglyphs, the magical block felt stronger then ever. He wasn’t willing to risk the question Sadie would ask if he start throwing around Greek words.

  It wasn’t bad. They had Khufu, Philip and Muffin (just a normal cat). They had Amos, sort of. Their uncle was quiet and couldn’t help very much. Carter understood to some degree, that he had been violated and hurt. It was those times Carter was the most thankful for Horus.

  Most noticeably though, they had each other and that would have to be enough.

    ---

  Visiting the hall of Judgement was odd.

  It looked much nicer now. Osiris returning had really been the fix it needed. The walls weren’t cracked, the pillars were standing tall instead of looking on the verge of collapse, the wall paintings looked like they had been repainted, and Carter was pretty sure someone has even dusted.

  Beyond the ornate chamber was a lay over, almost like two scenes squashed together: the Hall of the Dead and a living room with a pair of doors leading on to a terrace and wide windows.

  Carter knew Sadie recognized it too. That it looked like their house in Los Angles. It looked like the last place Carter called home.

  The biggest change though was the person sitting on the throne.

  “Sadie, Carter.” He sounded just like Dad, except almost brighter, happier. Without the edge of melancholy Carter had gotten so used hearing. It took Carter a second to realize that that was how Dad had sounded before Mom died.

  Dad sat on the throne, Ammit curled up at his feet, smiling at them. He looked like Dad too. Everything about him was impeccably neat, from his newly shaven head to his trimmed beard and even to the dusty coat. There was a look in his eye, the one he got whenever he was proud of something Carter had done.

  Carter almost ran to him. Almost goes over and pull3e his dad into a hug.

  There was something off about it though. It took a second to realize that he was flickering between two forms. It was easy to look into the Du'at and see not Dad, but Osiris. His skin an deep blue and dressed like a pharaoh.

  (Part if it might be because Carter has gotten so used to his Dad’s saddness. To his dad never really being fully there, that he’s forgotten who his dad had been.)

  “Dad.”

  Carter didn’t know what to feel. His dad had been in the back of his mind the entire time, every small thing being reminder of what Carter was trying to do. Of what Carter had failed to do. Seeing him here brought Carter a sense of relief and happiness. He was angry to, though. About a lot of things. And he knew that this wouldn’t last. His dad was dead. God or not, he was not coming back.

  Anubis, looking like an ordinary boy and not a dog person, was standing by his side.

  “You can come closer. I’m not going to bite.” Dad told them, amused.

  Sadie looked at him very unamused. She crossed her arms over her chest and leveled their dad with a look. “Took you long enough. It’s only been like a few weeks or so.”

  There was a flicker of something across Dad’s face and his smile became softer, sympathetic.

  Carter didn’t understand why it bothers him.

  “Trust me, I wanted to talk to you sooner, but everything has just been very difficult these past few weeks.” He told them. “I’m so proud of you both and the gods are in your debt-“

  “And how are we supposed trust you.” Sadie interrupted. “I mean, are you alive? Are you dead? Who exactly are you even? are you really our-“

  Dad.

  That was what she meant to say but for some reason Sadie didn’t say it. Afraid, maybe. Of what the answer was. Carter got that, he was terrified.

  Dad didn’t falter, sharing a look with Anubis. Anubis looked a mixed of amused and intimidated, which made some sort of odd sense in this situation.

  “I’m as close to death as god is capable of being.” He replied. “I believe the best way to put it is recycled. And I can assure you, I might be Osiris but I am also your father.”

  And… and Carter iwas hurt and angry and feeling a little bit alone, but with those few words he felt like he could relax, just a little bit.

  Just for now.

    ---

  Mom was there to.

  It created another mountain of feelings Carter wasn’t sure how to deal with. Some of its similar, anger and hurt both with overwhelming relief and joy. Some of it was different, a touch of nervousness, or fear.

  Carter wasn’t sure why he was nervous know about Mom’s, for lack of a better term, reaction to him being a demigod. He’s never cared before because he always knew that she loved him, whether or not they were biologically related.

  There was a moment just before they have to leave, after their parents have given them the djed, where she pulled him aside for a moment. Dad pulled Sadie aside too, because he had something to say to her or because he wanted to distract her, Carter didn’t know.

  “You’re going to cut off circulation in your neck, Carter.” She laughed softly, her hands making a small movement as if to pull Carter’s hand away from his taut and twisted necklace.

  (It was odd not to have the amulet around his neck. It was… wrong and Carter didn’t like it that much. Then again, Carter doesn’t like change very much at all.)

  “Sorry.” Carter mumbled a bit, staring at the floor.

  “Look at me.” Mom told him gently and he glanced up at her. Her gaze was warm and loving. “I love you, Carter. No matter what you will always be my child and I will always be proud of you.”

  “I know.” Carter said.

  “I just thought you might like a reminder.” Mom hovers a hand a few inches away from his face, ever mindful of the fact she couldn’t actually touch him.

  Not matter how upset Carter might be, he will always love and miss his family. That was not something he thought was ever going to change.

    ---

  Apparently Carter and Sadie also got a free visit to the Hall of the Gods.

  Which, side note, if Carter had thought the Hall of Ages was amazing then he wouldn’t even know what to call the Hall of the Gods. Between the intricate carvings and wall paintings, to tall arches and pillars, Annabeth would probably ascend to Elysium. Not that Carter was ever going to say this out loud, but it was probably more impressive then Olympus.

  Horus and Isis were both there, along with a bunch of other gods. The other gods keep their distance though.

  They both looked a few years older then Carter and Sadie. In their late teens, maybe? Both dressed in the what was probably considered the peak of fashion in ancient egypt, with jewels, gold, and fancy robes.

  “Hello Carter.” Horus grinned at him.

  Carter thought he was suppose to be more intimidated. He was hanging out with gods in their throne room after all. It’s just really hard to be nervous around Horus when he'd been hearing the god complain and sulk for the last few days.

  “You know, I imagined you looking different.” Sadie noted, looking between to two of them, hands on her hips.

  “What did you imagine they would look like?” Carter couldn't help but ask.

  Sadie shrugged. “I don’t know. Older, I guess? Isis sort of gave off middle aged mom vibes and Horus definitely seemed like he’d be in his late twenties or something.”

  A greek god would probably smite Sadie where she stood. Isis just laughed.

  “We are reflections of our hosts, Sadie.” She explained. “The two of you are both incredibly young. Neither Horus nor I wish to look as young as you do, but it does influence our appearance to some degree. You’re also siblings, so this time around I get to have a… lovely older brother.”

  Isis looked like it almost pained her to say it. Honestly, she looked like how Carter would feel if Sadie was older than him.

  Horus looked far to smug about it. “She’s just bitter that I’m the older one this time around. First time in centuries, not including the whole trapped in the Rosetta Stone thing, too.”

  Isis hits his arm. “Just because your older then me, does not mean you get to boss me around.”

  They seem oddly human. Just a pair of bickering sibling.

  It was surreal.

    ---

  Dad hadn’t been joking about the gods owing Sadie and Carter a debt.

  Carter had thought the bowing and the offer to be Horus co-pharaoh… host… thing, had been enough. But that hadn’t been the end of it.

  Sadie and him had woken up the next morning to find the house completely put together. While the two of them had gotten quite a bit done, enough for it to be livable at least, they still had had months of work to do. Apparently, a bit of godly magic worked a lot quicker then that though.

  It looked just like it had been. The floors and shelves dusted clean, the ceiling arching high above them, every crack and scratch fixed and smoothed over.

  Carter had been given the option of wearing normal teenage clothes other his usual bottom up shirt. He’d taken it to, though he’d only even worn stuff like that at camp.

  Even Amos looked a bit better. He’d barely spoken since the Demon Days, but today he had cleaned himself up and had even used magic.

  “Soooo you’re feeling better?” Sadie asked their uncle, stabbing a sausage with her fork.

  “A bit.” Amos nodded. He looked hesitant, like he had an idea but couldn’t say it. “I… umm… I am planning on leaving for the First Nome today.”

  “Really?” Carter didn’t think he has to explain why that’s a bad idea.

  Amos nodded though. “The First Nome has the best healers you can find anywhere. I know they can help me, and I strongly believe that they will help me. They are never ones to turn away someone in need of help or safety.”

  “Okay.” Sadie shrugs, only giving Carter a slight worried glance to convey her concern.

  Really the main concern with Amos being gone, is that they did’t have an adult chaperone, because Khufu probably didn’t count. It made anything that has to do with traveling a lot harder and without Isis, Sadie will have trouble creating portals, which is the only chaperone free and cheap way to travel without breaking multiple laws Carter could think of.

  Which was when the gods complete their gift.

    ---

  Honestly, Carter was pretty sure he owed Horus and Isis now, instead of the other way around.

  “Bast!” Sadie screeched, throwing herself out of her chair and into the arms of the cat goddess. Carter was quick to follow, feeling relief and a billion tons of worry and burdens fall off his shoulders.

  Things were looking up, just a little bit.

    ---

  Sadie decided to stay, instead of going back to London.

  Carter had been worried for an instant. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do everything without Sadie. Sadie had basically told him he was an idiot for worrying and that she wasn’t planning on going anywhere, not in those exact words.

  She had said the the Brooklyn House was home.

  Carter didn’t see it yet, it had been so long since he’s felt at home anywhere, including Camp Half-Blood, but he thought someday he could call it home.

    ---

  Camp Half-Blood had also been a conversation he had had with his sister.

  Sort of.

  “Carter?” It had been a few night after the battle with Set. They’d finally finished clearing their rooms and Carter was making himself comfortable in the space when his little sister had come in, looking almost nervous.

  “Yeah, Sadie?”

  Sadie sat herself down on the bed. “You’re not just a magician, are you?” It was not really a question, not with the certainty in her gaze and Carter knew he won’t be able to lie about it.

  He was just not ready though. To tell her. And it wasn't because he didn’t want to or that he was planning on keeping it a secret forever. The last few days been a lot though, and quiet honestly Carter wasn’t sure what he is. He didn’t know what it means to be a magician and a demigod. Carter had a thousand question and only a few answers.

  Sadie kept talking. “Other gods kept acting weird around you and you already knew how to summon the sword and how to use it. And I saw the spell you did in pyramid. Those weren’t hieroglyphs. Not only that but Iskander mentioned something about you being punished for the gods’s separations and your path being unique and dangerous?”

  Carter looked at her. “It’s a long story Sadie.”

  She didn’t even blink.

  “I’ll tell you.” And Carter knew that she knew he wasn't going to say anything about it tonight. “I just… I need to figure some stuff out first and I don’t really know how to explain it yet.”

  Sadie definitely wanted to argue, but she nodded in acceptance. “You better tell me. We’re siblings, you’re not allowed to keep too many secrets from me.”

  “As if I even could.” Carter laughed. “And I really will tell you everything, swear on the River of Styx.”

  Sadie didn’t understand the significance of it, but Carter thought she understood that the oath he made was important. Carter had never been one for oaths but he figured if anyone deserves it, it was Sadie.

    ---

  Sadie won’t be going back to London and Carter won’t be going back to Camp Half-Blood.

  He’ll stop by of course, tell every one he was alive and keep them from worrying. He was hardly going to stand aside and watch them fight a war without his help, evil chaos snake getting in his way or not. But he had Sadie now, and soon he’ll have an entire mansion filled with other kids trying to learn the path of the gods.

  (In fact, Carter has every plan that the first moment he has a chance, he was stopping by Percy’s apartment because gods did Carter miss his best friend.)

  There was a lot to get done.

  People with the blood of the pharaohs to find, Satyrs were seriously under appreciated, they had magic to learn and teach themselves before they tried to teach anyone else, and they had their own war to prepare for.

  It was a lot, Carter already felt overwhelmed, but he was not alone. He had Sadie and that was more than good enough for him right now.

    ---

  When Carter was fourteen, he learned he was not just a demigod, he was also magician.

  When he’s fourteen he loses his Dad but, even though it wasn't a trade or anything, he got his sister back.

  A lot happened when Carter was fourteen and he had no idea how he would explain all of this to anyone and he was in no way prepared for what was coming next, but for the first time in a long time, even with two wars on the horizon and second set of gods to deal with, it actually seems like there’s a chance of everything would turn out okay.

Chapter Text

  In all honesty, Sadie had never expected to feel homesick for her grandparents or their house. Homesickness wasn’t even an emotion she felt very often, except for the times when she thought too much about Mom or Dad or Carter.

  (Okay, so maybe she felt it a lot.) 

  Gran and Gramps’s House had been small but loud, with the sounds of the TV always on and Gramps screaming at it along with Gran usually doing something in the kitchen that involved the occasional noise of pots and pans banging together. Even at night the busy streets of London kept it for feeling too quiet.

  The Brooklyn House was nothing like that.

  It was large, large enough that she had gotten lost in it a few times and it was quiet with only herself, Carter, Bast, Khufu, Philip, and their six new initiates to fill up the space with noise (which sounded like a lot but a most of those people had a habit of not talking a lot.) The night being near silent near the edge of Brooklyn and far above the streets below.

  Sadie missed Gran and Gramps house. She missed her grandparents, even with how overprotective they were and the constant presence of mom hanging over all their heads. She missed her friends and their conversations about boys or how hard the homework was. Most of all though, she missed how easy life had been.

  Not that Sadie was planning on abandoning Carter anytime ever, but with Gran and Gramps she didn’t have to worry about lesson plans and gods and demons.

  All of that is probably why Sadie found herself unable to fall back asleep at some horrendously early hour in the morning.

    ---

  The Great Room was dimly lit by the lights on the walls of the room. The statue of Thoth was cast in shadows, which would be more ominous if 1) she hadn’t already gotten used to it after one month of the thing staring down at her, and 2) she hadn’t already met Thoth in his mad scientist glory.

  It was almost empty, but Sadie, unfortunately, wasn’t surprised by the singular figure in the room.

  Well, two figures.

  Khufu was curled up next to Carter, pretty much asleep. Carter was awake though, slumping on the couch with an open book in front of him.

  “Looks like you’re having fun.” Sadie told him, smirking when Carter jolted and Khufu woke up with a screech.

  The two of the both looked over and glare at her. Yes, baboons are perfectly capable of glaring and Khufu proved it every time someone tried to take away his snacks.

  “Soooo much fun.” Carter agreed sarcastically. “What are you doing up?”

  It was a good question, if only Sadie could ask it back so she could avoid answering it. Unfortunately, Carter’s sleep schedule has been effectively ruined from six years of waking up as odd hours and only sleeping in one to two hour chunks on planes or in airports. Sadie didn’t think he was capable of getting a full night of rest.

  Though, truth to be told, Sadie wasn’t sure she could get a full night of rest anymore.

  The nightmares were common enough and they have a lot of material the choose from. Usually, it was of that final battle with Set or the night this all started.

  (Most of them end with her brother dying in front of her. She couldn’t tell if that made seeing him the next morning harder or easier.)

  It wasn't just nightmares though, sometimes it was memories. Not her memories, but ones from thousands of years ago. Isis’s.

  Even after rejecting the goddess and shoving her amulet into a heavily protected box, Isis just couldn’t leave Sadie alone.

  “Just couldn’t sleep.” Sadie answered Carter. It not like he didn’t already know, after all, Sadie was positive he suffered from the same exact things whenever he actually managed to sleep.

  Carter didn’t push, just nodded and started explaining what he’s doing. “I’m looking up some healing techniques. Jaz has mentioned being interested in that so I figured I’d learn some stuff just in case she ever needed help.”

  Carter wasn’t a half bad teacher actually, considering his own obsession with learning everything and he liked helping people. He was awkward though.

  Sadie couldn’t say she knew any of the initiates very well. The ones who have been there the longest, have only been there for like two weeks. Jaz was sweet though, so Sadie couldn’t say she was surprised the older girl wanted to do healing. Walt was nice (and hot, but Sadie was very over that). Marco and Tessa were both collage students, but they were pretty cool even if they’re old. Felix was eight and obsessed with penguins and Shelby was the youngest at four. Sometimes Sadie thought Set also possessed her cause she was terrifying and certainly chaotic.

  “I’m sure that’ll go well.” Sadie told Carter, already imagining Carter fiddling with his beaded necklace enough to choke himself while he tried to ask Jaz if she needed help.

  “Shut up.” Carter slumped farther forward. “I’m not that bad.”

  “Remember that time when you where talking to Felix’s foster mom and—“

  “Shut uuuuuuuup!” Carter groaned, half-hearted.

  Sadie grinned. The memory of her nightmare was more distant now as she curled up on the couch and sat with her brother in silence.

  Carter always managed to makes her feel a bit better after stuff like this. He, in all his awkwardness, was somehow comforting. Sadie knew she had the same effect on him as she watched him start to drift off. She wasn't far behind, her eyelids growing heavy as the lack of sleep she’d gotten the past few days crept up on her.

  The next morning Sadie woke up to Marco, Shelby, and Felix (the other three stifling giggles as to not be rude) laughing at Carter, who had face planted in the open book and had a baboon sitting on his head playing with his hair.

Chapter Text

  As much as Lydia loved books, she had never honestly expected anything that happened to her favorite characters to happen to her. She had certainly imagined it, but any proper bookworm had imagined themselves getting their Hogwarts letter or thought about whether or not they could survive the Hunger Games. None of it was serious.

  It wasn’t her fault, it had only been a joke. Her imagination acting up.

  When Lydia’s mom came home from work with a new book in hand for her daughter, the words The Red Pyrimid printed on it, no one had been surprised that she had read the entire thing in only a few days. No one had been surprised that Lydia talked about it, a lot, especially with how well the story lined up with actual recent events.

  But no one had actually thought it was real.

  But like any overly imaginative twelve year old, that didn’t stop Lydia from imagining what it would be like to open an invisible locker and become a magician and it definitely didn’t stop her from trying.

  So, Lydia supposed it was a little bit her fault, but in her defense, no one had expected her to actually grab a necklace out of thin air and revealing the entire family’s apparent ability to do magic.

    ---

  “You are way to excited for this.” Ryan told her. “Considering that we’re literally becoming fugitives from a secret society.”

  Lydia ignored her older brother, looking at the wooden wall in front of her. It was simple, compared to the intricate craftsmanship of the limestone bricks and arched windows surrounding it.

  It’s sort of like going to Hogwarts. Lydia thought excitedly.

  “Do you think we knock, or are we expected to like move it? That’s what Carter did.” She wondered.

  “How did you convince mom into letting you do this?” Ryan muttered. “Just knock, they’re expecting us anyway. Mom called ahead, remember.”

  “Well, you didn’t have to come along.” Lydia shot back at him, annoyed.

  “I just feel like getting ourselves mix up with… stuff that is very likely to kill us, is a bad idea.”

  Lydia crossed her arms and glared at him. Ryan just raised an eyebrow.

  The two of them had fairly large age gape, Ryan was seventeen and Lydia was only twelve. That meant that the two of them got along pretty well, but Lydia wasn’t super close to her older brother. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop him from being over protective.

  Unlike Sadie and Carter from her book (Who were also REAL! Omg!) the two them did look pretty similar, with the same light brown skin tone and dark brown eyes. Ryan had black hair though, with loose curls that he hadn’t cut in ages making it long enough to be pulled into a ponytail. Lydia had light brown hair, also curly, that she kept down around her shoulder with a headband keeping it out of her face.

  “Oh my gooooood.” Ryan groaned and reached forward to knock the door-thing.

  “Shouldn’t it be ‘oh my gods’?” Lydia pointed out.

  Ryan gave her a deadpan look and knocked three times on the wooden panel.

  A few moments passed and then the door slide up, revealing two people. One of them was a boy around Ryan’s age, with dark skin, black hair closely shaved to his head, and a collection of charms around his neck. The other boy was a few years older than Lydia, brown hair curling around his ears and a friendly smile on his face. His eyes were a dark brown, though an odd spot of silver cover a small portion of his left eye. Both wore pajama like clothes.

  Lydia didn’t need The Red Pyrimid to have pictures to recognize the younger boy.

  Oh my god!! That’s Carter Kane!

  Carter narrowed his eyes a moment, looking between the two of them before a look of realization crossed his face.

  “Oh, you must be the Hernandezs!”

  “What?” The boy next to him looked a Carter.

  “Some new initiates. Their mom called to uh… question us? It kinda seemed like an interrogation, honestly.”

  Lydia would’ve flushed with embarrassment at her mom’s overprotectiveness but she was to busy trying not to squeal. She’d always imagined meeting her favorite characters in real life, but this was was better than anything she had ever thought of.

  Carter held out a hand. “I’m Carter Kane, it’s nice to meet you two.”

  For a moment no one did anything, and then Ryan, who had been staring at the other boy, took Carter’s hand and shook it. Ryan looked friendlier than before, a smile on his face.

  “I’m Ryan and you’ll have to excuse my little sister. Lydia’s a bit of a book fanatic.” Ryan kicked her foot, glaring at her the way he always did when she was being an embarrassment.

  “Ryan.” She hissed back, heat rising in her cheeks.

  Carter shifted awkwardly with a grimace but the guy next to him laughed. “Wouldn’t be the first time.” He smiled brightly at Ryan. “I’m Walt Stone by the way.”

  Ryan nodded, his smile getting a bit bigger and a faint blush covering his face. “Nice to meet you, Walt.”

  Carter fiddled a bit with a necklace of clay beads around his neck and gestured to them. “Well you might as well come in side and get a tour.” A grin flashed over his face.

  “Welcome to the Brooklyn House.”

Chapter Text

  The soft sounds of music filter through the sky light where Carter, Sadie, and three of their trainees were perched.

  The scene below them was beautiful. The Beaux-Arts Court had been meticulously set up and decorated and people wearing their best outfits, danced and mingled. The person who Carter assumed was the bride, dressed in an elegant white gown, spun with someone wearing a tux, who was probably the groom, in the center of the dance floor.

  Carter would’ve been happy for the lucky couple, if their wedding wasn’t such a major inconvenience.

  “So, I’m going to go out on a limb and say a wedding wasn’t part of the plan?” Ryan asked them dryly, already knowing the answer.

  Ryan was a seventeen year old with light brown skin and long, black, curly hair. As one of the newest trainees, he was still getting used to the Brooklyn House and Egyptian gods, but Carter and Sadie had decided his skill set was necessary for this mission.

  “Not really,” Carter responded, “Are you sure there’s nothing we can do about the curses?”

  Ryan was good at recognizing curses. While most magicians could do that after a bit of training, some curses were hidden to make it harder for people to find and break them. Ryan could easily identify any curse, hidden or not, even if he wasn’t skilled enough to break them yet.

  “Pretty sure,” Ryan responded. He tilted his head at the boy sitting next to him. “Unless you have an amulet that protects or breaks curses, Walt.”

  “Uh no, sorry,” Walt grinned back.

  Sadie made a face, and exchanged a look with Jaz. One reason Carter was slightly regretting bringing both Walt and Ryan was their… flirting? It didn’t look like flirting but it felt like it.

  Walt was sixteen and had been at the Brooklyn House the fourth longest out of all the initiates. He was tall, with dark brown skin and brown, almost black hair cut close to his head. Carter had been thankful when he had shown up, because Walt always gave the impression that he was calm and collected. Dependable. Carter had zero hesitation to give him some tasks around the nome that Carter didn't have time to do.

  Jaz had been at the Brooklyn House the longest and was fourteen. Her appearance, pale skin, blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, matched her friendly, bubbly demeanor. She was easy to get along with. Jaz had been focused on learning healing practices, both magical and mortal, which was half the reason they brought her along, since these sort of things never went to plan.

  “Maybe we could pretend to be a maintenance crew?” She suggested.

  If Sadie had suggested it, Carter would’ve been mean, but instead he tried to gently explain why that would definitely not work.

  “That probably won’t work. One, they wouldn’t have a wedding going on if maintenance needed to be done and two, I don’t know what they’re going to see but I assume a giant floating statue isn’t gonna look like basic maintenance supplies.”

  Jaz slumped forward, but Sadie grinned at him. “What about a distraction?”

  “What kind of distraction?” Carter asked, suspiciously. Times like this reminded him of Percy and Annabeth, their go-to always was to use a distraction. Unfortunately, distractions often involved sacrificing themselves or blowing something up.

  Sadie shrugged innocently. “Guess we’ll have to wing it.”

  “I hate you,” Carter muttered. He hated winging it. He turned to the other three. “Can you guys check out the window by the Egyptian section? Make sure we can get in without being cursed or killed?”

  The three initiates nodded and disappeared up and over one of the surrounding walls.

  Sadie was still smiling at him and he glared at her half-heartedly. “Just open the panels please.”

  Carter glanced down at the wedding again. A person on the edge of the room caught his eyes. They were too far away to make out anything about them except for their green dress, but something seemed off. A shiver ran down his spin.

  Something was definitely going to go wrong.

    ---

  Like most break ins that Carter had either read about in books or seen in movies, actually breaking in was the easy part. The magicians who had cursed the doors had apparently decided the windows weren’t worth the effort.

  A simple spell broke the lock on the window and in seconds they had all slid through and landed softly on the ground.

  Another downside of the wedding was that it meant they had to be quiet, to make sure no one heard them.

  Carter glanced around the exhibits. He’d never admit it aloud for fear of some god getting offended and smiting him, but he wasn’t a fan of the Egyptian section. Even when Dad was alive it had been a reminder of how alone Carter was away from Camp, and it felt wrong considering he was a demigod. Now though, it only reminded him of the last Christmas and what had followed.

  He couldn’t help but grimace at every monster depicted and tense at every reference to Horus.

  Luckily though, it was easy to find the statue on the far west side of the building.

  The statue was around eight feet tall, and depicted a man with a ram head, its horns partially broken off. It was dressed like most Egyptian statues, with a simple kilt and sandals. On his head was a Sun disk, braided with serpents. On the statue’s pedestal in front of it was a mini statue of a person.

  “It’s that one, right?” Jaz asked, and Carter nodded.

  Sadie examined the inscription. “It says KNM. That’s pronounced like Khnum, right?”

  “Yep, and according to Horus it has the secret to finding the Book of Ra.” Though Carter didn’t exactly know how. Gods had an annoying habit of being vague.

  “What does a moose guy have anything to do with the god of the sun?” Ryan asked.

  “And who’s the little guy?” Walt added on.

  Jaz perked up. “Khnum created humans on a pottery wheel, right Carter?”

  “Uh yeah.” Carter could recall that myth, but he’d forgotten. Some teacher he was. He sighed and focused on Ryan. “And no, he’s not a moose, he's a ram. Ra had three aspects. Khepri the Scarab in the morning, Ra during the day, and Khnum, though I think he has a lot of different names, in the evening.”

  “It still kinda looks like a moose.” Walt narrowed his eyes and tilted his head like he was trying to figure what Carter saw in it that made it look like a ram.

  Carter tried not to facepalm. “We need to get it back to the Brooklyn House. There, we can see if it holds some sort of-”

  “Why do we even need the Book of Ra?” Walt interrupted.

  Most of the time Carter liked Walt, but right now Jaz was definitely his favorite person in the room.

  But unfortunately, it was a fair question. Even if it wasn’t one Sadie nor him knew how to answer. Neither of them were sure how to explain to their initiates that Finding the Book of Ra might be the only way to save the world because otherwise we have five days till the entire world is destroyed.

  Had Carter mentioned that he hated deadlines, cause he hated deadlines.

  “What about his amulet?” Jaz wondered and then had to elaborate . “The little guy has a scarab amulet.”

  “That’s a common symbol.” Carter explained, but examined the amulet closer.

  Walt scrunched his nose. “Well the scarab symbolizes Ra’s rebirth and Khnum is literally making a new life, so that could be a clue? Maybe we don’t even need-”

  Sadie pulled out her wand. “That’s brilliant-”

  “Nope.” Carter’s heart pounded as he reached out to snatch the back of Sadie’s shirt. He was letting his sister touch something that was probably cursed. Thank gods for demigod reflexes. “We brought Ryan for a reason, dummy.”

  She slumped, but clearly realized her mistake and how much stress she had given her brother because she didn’t say anything else.

  Ryan pulled out his own wand, the smooth, ivory, and brand-new. He muttered something under his breath and blue hieroglyphs appeared on the statue in front of him.

  Carter looked at the blue symbols. He had only ever been able to use divine words once, and even then, he hadn’t used hieroglyphs. There were some things his godly side helped with, but magic, unless it was combat centered, wasn’t one of them.

  Ryan grimaced. “So, let’s all agree not to touch that until we have lots of backup.”

  “Is it really that bad?” Walt asked, peering at the statue. Carter could tell he was trying to look at it through the duat, which would make it easier to see any magic effects. When he glanced into the duat by himself he could see a faint bit of magic, but nothing that obviously looked malicious. Nothing that would put him on his guard, not when so many Egyptian artifacts had magic in them.

  “Yes,” Ryan answered emphatically.

  “Great.” Carter sighed. This meant they were back to the original plan of carrying it through the roof and trying to drag it all the way back to the Brooklyn House. “Let’s figure out how to carry this thing then.”

    ---

  It wasn’t as hard as it sounded. Sadie and Carter just agreed to trade off, to prevent either of them from getting too tired. Carter could use his telekinesis and Sadie would use one of her spells.

  It did take a bit of finagling to get it to fit through the door with bumping into anything and breaking something (there were some very close calls), but eventually they made it near enough to the Beaux-Art Court that they could hear the wedding, which meant that they needed a distraction.

  “Don’t blow anything up,” Carter hissed to his sister.

  Sadie pouted, and made a thinking face.

  “Okay, but what if-” She was cut off by a crash and then the sound of people screaming and running.

  The three trainees turned towards Sadie.

  “Wasn’t me!” She put up her hands defensively.

  Carter had already let the statue drop onto the floor and ran ahead. He should’ve been more surprised when he turned the corner into the room where the wedding was taking place and saw a girl standing in the center of the room.

  Her form flickered and Carter grimaced in shock.

  It looked like they had found they’re distraction.

    ---

  She was abnormally tall and had an inhuman-like beauty to her. She was wearing a short emerald green dress and instead of human legs, one was made of bronze and one was a donkey leg. She grinned, fangs flashing.

  Fire flickered across her hair, and the table the wedding cake had been on had been pushed over. More fire danced on the floor around her.

  An empousa.

  In the three months Carter had been living in Brooklyn, he hadn’t seen a single monster. A few in the Manhattan area, but none in Brooklyn.

  He frantically looked around the room. There was only one reason a Greek monster would be near an Egyptian nome. It wasn’t hard to figure it out, the empousa was staring directly at a young girl.

  She looked like she was nine or ten years old. Her light brown hair was tied back into a braid and she was wearing a light pink dress. It reminded Carter of a princess dress, but with less fluff.

  She was pressed up against a fallen table, with what Carter assumed to be her dad hovering over her protectively.

  “What are you doing- what the heck is that thing?” Sadie yelled.

  The others had followed him.

  Carter ignored them. He doubted he’d be able to get away from this without explaining to Sadie, but the trainees didn’t need to know and now was definitely not the time.

  His sword appeared in his hand, celestial bronze warm against his skin.

  The empousa had crept towards the girl now, smiling. “You know, I try to avoid Brooklyn, but I simply couldn’t deny myself such easy prey.”

  The empousa suddenly reached out with a hand, instead of nails there were claws. The father blocked the blow and four deep, long scratches appeared on his back.

  The girl screamed.

  The empousa didn’t seem bothered though. In fact, she was smiling. Playing with her prey, Carter realized.

  Carter couldn’t stand around any more. He ran and threw himself in front of the demigod and her dad, sword held out in front of him.

  The empousa reeled back with a hiss, eyes flashing.

  “Leave them alone.” Carter didn’t really recognize his voice, but that sometimes happened. Sometimes he thought it was Horus’s influence, sometimes he just figured it was because he’d changed so much in such a short period of time.

  The empousa stared at him, her anger quickly turning to confusion. That was a look Carter was getting used to seeing on others.

  “What are you?”

  “None of your business,” He shot back, and lunged forward.

  She dodged and lashed out with a clawed hand, creating deep scratches in his arm. Carter held back a flinch as pain shot up his arm, trying to keep a clear mind. He twisted quickly and brought his sword up and then down onto her head.

She stumbled backward to avoid the blow, and then Carter watched in surprise as she tripped and fell backwards.

  The young girl had crept just far enough from out of her dad’s protective shield to reach out a foot to trip the empousa. Carter flashed her a grin and stood over the empousa. Her eyes filled with fear, but in a short second he had plunged his sword into her chest and she disintegrated into dust.

  Carter quickly looked around the room for any more threats, but it was almost empty now. The guests had fled to somewhere else and would probably be back with security soon enough.

  “Are you two okay?” He asked softly.

  The dad pulled back slightly, giving Carter a clearer look at the girl’s face. She was pale, with brown eyes that looked almost amber, and pink braces.

  “I-” The man started to say, before Sadie came up next to him.

  “Carter what the heck was that?” She sounded almost angry at him, but he knew her well enough to know she was really just worried.

  Carter looked up at her and glanced back at the three trainees who looked confused and concerned. None of them had recognized the monster of course, but Carter wouldn’t be surprised if they had seen it. The mist had a difficult time working on people who knew about it, and the Duat was really just another form of the mist.

  Carter let out a long breath. They didn’t have time for this.

  “Sadie take the statue and get it and the others to the Brooklyn House. I can handle stuff here.” He told his sister, firmly.

  Her eyes flashed. ”Oh no you don’t. You are going to explain-”

  “We don’t have time for that,” Carter snapped. Sadie stared at him and he forced his shoulders to relax. “Look, Sadie, we can’t be here when the police arrive. I will explain, but later.”

  “How much later?” Sadie raised an unbelieving eyebrow at him and Carter grimaced.

  He had made an oath of the River Styx to explain everything to her a few months ago, but life was busy and Carter had never been quite sure how to start that conversation.

  It was about time he kept his oath.

  “Tomorrow.” He promised. “Please.”

  She pursed her lips, arms crossed. She debated for a few seconds, but nodded and Carter breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “Thank you.” He called after her as she went to handle everything with the others.

  He turned back to the pair beside him. “Why don’t we talk about this somewhere else, where we won’t have to deal with police questioning?”

    –--

  It had taken a while to convince them, but a few minutes later the three of them were sitting on a bench a few blocks away from the museum.

  “Sorry about that,” Carter offered. “I’m Carter Kane.”

  “Thomas Elsher,” The man offered, “and this is my daughter, Melanie.”

  The girl still looked scared, but now she was more confused.

  “What happened? What’s going on? Who was that person?” Melanie asked, eyes darting back and forth. Her pink dress was slightly ripped and stained with food.

  Carter gave her the softest smile he could. “I’ll answer your questions in a second, okay? I just have a few things to ask. And I should thank you for tripping the monster for me.”

  She blinked at him shyly. “Was that okay?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Of course.” Carter felt himself relax at her somewhat calm demeanor. “ It was very brave.”

  Melanie looked up at him in surprise and blushed, kicking her feet a bit.

  Carter glanced at Mr.Elsher. It was a risk but… “How much do you know about Greek Mythology and do you know who your daughter’s mother is?”

  Not all mortal parents knew about the godly nature of their children's other parents. And usually it was for good reason. Not all mortals could handle it. Carter didn’t want to be the reason the man went insane but considering all that had happened, he figured it was a risk worth taking.

  He was right.

  Mr. Elsher slumped. “She said we had more time. Until Melanie was thirteen, that was when it would really start being a problem.”

  That was certainly true for most cases. Even Percy, a son of one of the Elder Gods, hadn’t had to properly deal with monsters till he was twelve. A monster being so interested and able to find such a young demigod didn’t mean anything good.

  Carter let out a long sigh, trying to release all his worries about Kronos. He did not need to worry these two any more than they were.

  “Look, I have a place that’s safe from monsters that you can stay at. Tomorrow you can explain what’s going on and decide whether or not to send her to camp.”

  “Really-” Mr. Elsher perked up.

  “I have some conditions.” Carter cut him off. “Keep your interactions with anyone else to a minimum. They don’t know anything about the Greek god and, for now, I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “Dad?” Melanie tugged on her father’s sleeve.

  “It’ll be okay Mel.” He reassured her. “I’ll tell you everything in the morning.”

  “Everything?” Her eyes grew wide. “Like ‘mom’ everything?”

  Mr. Elsher chuckled. “Especially ‘mom’ everything.”

  He drew her into a hug.

  Carter looked away. He felt a pang. It made the loss of his dad all the more acute; god of the underworld or not, he was still dead. Even after three months moments like this would sneak up, grief welling up. Carter’s feelings about his dad were complicated now, but he would always love him.

  “We’ll go.” Mr.Elsher told him.

  Carter jolted a bit, but gave them a weak smile.

  He just hoped the offer wouldn’t backfire too much on him.

Chapter Text

  Sadie sat across from Carter, her eyes narrowed as if she would be able to see his secrets if she tried hard enough.

  The two lamps in the room, one on the desk and one in the corner, were the only sources of light, considering outside the large window, there was only darkness and the faded outlines of buildings overlooking the East River.

  The office was bland. Carter hadn’t had time to decorate and even if he did, Sadie doubted he’d know what to do with the place. He treated his room more like a hotel room than a room he owned and actually claiming a second room as his own might blow his mind. There was only a bookshelf in the corner with a few books on its shelves, a desk, and three chairs.

  “So what exactly happened back there?” Sadie questioned Carter, crossing her arms. “Who was the flaming lady and why was she after that girl?”

  “Her name is Melanie.” Cater pointed out.

  Sadie raised her eyebrows. He was stalling, and if the twisted leather necklace held in his hand was any indication, nervous.

  She supposed she could have waited till morning, but she figured she had waited long enough for this information and she wanted to know why exactly Carter had ordered everyone to not talk to their guests.

  “Really?” She gave Carter a look.

  He shrugged sheepishly.

  Sadie uncrossed her arms and relaxed her tense shoulders. “Carter, you promised you’d tell me what was going on.” She told him softly. “I think I’ve waited long enough.”

  Carter swallowed and nodded.

  “What do you know about Greek Gods?”

    ---

  “Greek Gods? Like Zeus and the Olympians.” Sadie scrunched her face in confusion. “ I learned about that a little bit in history class, I guess.”

  Carter sighed out a breath of relief. This was already hard to put into words without having to explain the idea of Greek Mythology to Sadie.

  It, of course, wouldn’t be the first time learning about a new pantheon. In fact, this was probably a better way to be introduced to the idea than her first experience and both of his combined, but that wouldn’t mean it would be easy to comprehend. He welcomed anything that made explaining this easier.

  “Well,” He fidgeted with the silver owl bead on his necklace, running his hands over the names engraved onto it. “Greek gods are real.”

  “What?” Sadie straightened up in surprise. “Like Egyptian gods?”

  Carter nodded.

  “So, what? That little girl is some sort of Greek magician?” Sadie questioned. “That doesn’t really explain the flaming lady or why she was after Melanie.”

  Carter hated starting with the easy stuff. He much preferred getting the hard stuff over with so he didn’t have to deal with it. That wasn’t how this conversation would work though, unfortunately.

  “Not exactly,” Carter told her softly, “ Greek gods don’t work like Egyptian ones do. They have mortal forms and they can have kids with mortals. They’re half-god, half-mortal. Demigods.”

  He could see Sadie fitting the puzzle pieces together, see the start of an idea, a realization. His sister was smart, it wouldn’t be hard for her to figure it out.

  She nodded slowly. “So Melanie is a demigod. Is that why you don’t want anyone to talk to her or her dad?”

  “Yeah.” Carter agreed. “Pantheons don’t really mix, so better safe than sorry. It’s also the reason why no Magicians should go to Manhattan, it’s where a lot of the Greek gods are.”

  Sadie made a face. “Of course the Greek gods decided to make their home base Manhattan.” She muttered. “And the flaming lady?”

  “A monster,” Carter answered. “Their main purpose is to basically hunt down and kill demigods. Though Melanie’s a bit young to be dealing with that so soon. Usually Monsters only start coming after demigods when they turn thirteen, unless it’s in a special circumstance.”

  Special Circumstance like a seven-year old Annabeth living on the streets with two much older demigods. Like Percy being the son of one of the eldest gods. Like Carter living a large portion of his life near the ancient lands where monsters lived in abundance and the roots of Greek mythology layed.

  But Sadie didn’t need to know about that. Carter promised he would tell her about the Greek gods and camp and his mother. She did not need to understand the extent of the monsters or the war against Kronos.

  She would insist on helping and Carter couldn’t let her put herself in that sort of danger, not when it had nothing to do with her.

  The idea of monsters was clearly bad enough anyway, if the look of horror on her face said anything. The thing was, Egyptian Magicians weren’t hunted down like demigods were. Carter and Sadie’s situation was unique and that was something they both understood.

  She could understand Set hunting and sending his minions after them. She could understand the House of Life’s desire to capture them. She didn’t like it, had thought it was stupid, but she could understand.

  It was much harder understanding the reasons behind the cruelty that was a demigod's life.

  “Not all monsters.” Carter added on, hurriedly. “Some of them help demigods or at least have better things to do, but a lot of them.”

  “Why?” Sadie asked, horrified.

  Carter shrugged. “Revenge on gods, mostly. The gods are the reason they are the way they are in most cases and well… they can hardly hurt a god. The flaming lady was called an Empousa. Kinda like vampires if I want to simplify it.”

  Sadie sighed. She might not get the monsters hunting demigods part but she could get being punished for crimes that weren’t yours. That was their entire life right now.

  His sister pulled on a piece of her hair, the curl stretching.

  “So how the heck do you know this?” Sadie asked. Her tone didn’t imply that she suspected anything, but her eyes, narrowed and suspicious, did.

  Carter had known that the question would be asked, that didn’t mean he wanted to answer it.

    ---

  Sadie tried to hide the thought swirling around in her head.

  It would make sense, but it couldn’t be the truth. Dad and Mom had been married when they had Carter. He was her brother. They wouldn’t lie about that, right?

  (But they had lied about so many things. Sadie wasn’t sure she could trust them anymore.)

  Carter wasn’t looking at her.

  “Carter.” She said, demanding him to look up at her.

  He let out a breath and glanced up at her, almost nervous.

  (That didn’t prove anything)

  “A few months after Mom died, Dad said he needed to talk to me about something important.” Carter’s voice was quiet.

  (Carter was almost sure Sadie would accept the whole ‘he was a demigod thing,’ but almost wasn’t completely and that left plenty of room for doubt and fear. He couldn’t help being nervous.)

  She watched him, knowing she could guess the answer but not really sure she wanted to try.

  “He said that Mom wasn’t actually my real mom, that my mother was Athena, Greek goddess of Wisdom,” Carter told his sister.

    ---

  Once the words are out Carter can’t help but spill the rest of the story. Not all of it, necessarily, but he tells her about Camp and his other half-siblings, about Percy and Grover and Annabeth. It’s nice being able to talk about it – after all, for a long time it had been the only place that even somewhat represented home.

    ---

  If there is one thing true about Sadie’s life, it’s that she loves her brother.

  That has never changed. It was harder to love him when they were separated and the feelings had faded a little bit over the years, enough that she was never quite sure how to express it, but she really did love her family.

  It wasn't Carter being a part of another pantheon. Sadie had already somewhat guessed at it a long time ago, during that last night conversation with Iskander. It’s not even Carter only being her half-brother. She’s not stupid enough to think blood is the only thing that makes people family, not when she has Bast and the rest of the Brooklyn House.

  It took a moment for her to place the emotion.

  Jealousy.

  Not of Carter of course. Being a demigod sounded horrible, but of those other people at camp, of Annabeth and Percy.

  She was glad Carter has friends that understood what was going on better than she did. He… deserved that, but she hated the fact that a bunch of strangers got to know and talk to and see her brother every summer when she had only gotten a single day.

  Sadie had gotten so used to the idea that she understood Carter better than anyone else and vice versa that she hadn’t even thought he might have anyone else.

  (Sadie’s never been the most self-aware, but she knows she was being a bit hypocritical about this. After all, she had friends that have nothing to do with the Brooklyn House too. The fact was though, that being aware of something being wrong didn’t necessarily stop that something, emotions or otherwise.)

    ---

  “... You’d get along great with Annabeth and Percy. Though I would hate it cause none of you would even hesitate to share all of your embarrassing stories about me.” Carter didn’t even realize he’d started rambling.

  He was just… frantic when Sadie’s expression turned conflicted. He didn’t know why, because she had seemed just fine with the whole “I’m actually only your half-brother” thing, but it didn’t matter because he did not want his sister mad about the situation.

  “You want me to meet them?” Sadie interrupted, sounding surprised.

  “Uh…” Carter blinked. “Yeeeeeeeah. You’re my sister and they’re like my best friends. It’ll be torture for me, but I obviously want you guys to meet each other.”

  Feelings flickered over Sadie’s face, too fast for him to figure out. It looked, though, like she was relieved, maybe?

  Sadie stood up suddenly and walked around the desk to hug him?

  It was a surprise. Neither of them had anything against hugs, exactly, but they didn’t really do that. Out of habit mostly. Dad had never been big on hugs after Mom had died and Sadie’s grandparents didn’t really do them even before Mom died, they never hugged Dad or Carter, just Mom whenever she visited and Sadie on the occasion she did something really impressive.

  And, well, none of Carter’s friends hugged a lot, Percy sometimes, but it really just wasn’t something anyone in the Cabin Six did.

  He returned it awkwardly, wrapping his arms around his little sister’s waist.

  “I want me to meet your friends too,” she declared. “I need to hear all the stupid stuff you did when you were first learning to use a sword.”

  Carter laughed a bit and Sadie pulled away, putting her hands on her hips. “More importantly, you’re still my brother, goddess mom or not. You are stuck with me from now on and even when we're both really old and I’m telling your grandchildren about all the embarrassing stuff you did.”

  “Oh come on,” Carter groaned half-hearted, trying to downplay the relief bubbling in his chest.

  Sadie let out a little laugh. “I still better be your favorite sister though. Cause if i’m not I will fight Annabeth for the role.”

  “You’d lose.” Carter shot back. “Go to bed you horrible child.”

  Sadie looked affronted. “Do you have so little faith in-”

  “Bed.” Carter ordered, failing to hide a smile. “It’s like one in the morning and we have some important things we need to do tomorrow. Something about a birthday maybe? I don’t remember.”

  Sadie stuck her tongue out at him. “Well played. Good night, brother dear.”

  She left the room, leaving Carter at his desk. He was finally able to let out a sigh of relief. It actually went well.

  Carter glanced out the window. The sky was dark outside but the light of New York was bright, coming from windows and street lamps.

  He should also get some sleep for tomorrow.

Chapter Text

  Carter couldn’t exactly say he was in the mood to deal with well… anything.

  His dreams had always been vivid and nightmarish, being a demigod, but magician dreams were on another level. A level he would like to not deal with when the end of the world was coming.

  And this one had been particularly bad.

  It had started off as a dream of a memory. Specifically, of Zia dissolving into pieces. Which was hardly new, it frequently showed up in his nightmares along with his Dad’s death, Zöe’s death, Set, and the Battle of the Labyrinth.

  (Yeah, his subconscious had a lot of material.)

  This time though, a whisper had brushed through his mind.

  This is the power of chaos, a voice had muttered softly, it’s inevitable. She sleeps in the Place of Red Sand. The only way to save her is to give up your quest.

  And then it had been abruptly interrupted by Horus, to whine at Carter about trying to wake up Ra. Yay.

  (And show him where Apophis was being held, but Carter did not want to deal with that)

  So having to tell his initiates that the world was going to end in four days or deal with the young half-blood (hopefully) sleeping soundly or tell Sadie that her birthday plans were getting interrupted?

  Not at the top of his to-do list. Not when he needed time to think about what that all meant.

    ---

  (And so what if it was just a little bit harder to breathe than it had been the night before. It was within his right to be a bit freaked out, with the impending sense of doom that usually loomed over his shoulder becoming infinitely more.)

    ---

  Item #1: Talk to Mr. Elsher and Melanie

  Carter had worked hard to deliberately separate Mr. Elsher and Melanie from everyone, a task he was actually pretty proud to accomplish considering how noisy the initiates were and considering that about an eighth of them were mischievous and sneaky little kids.

  Their room was at the far end of the house, in a practically uninhabited area. As he got farther away from the Great Room, the wall got more bare, without any of the colorful drawings from the younger initiates or sculptures and pottery Alyssa made.

  Carter walked down the long hall, keeping his footsteps light to avoid waking anyone up. Despite having gone to bed pretty late last night, the sun was only starting to rise.

  (One perk of having the world end was not having to deal with the sleep deprivation that would follow this. Silver linings, everyone.)

  The early hour was good though, since it would make getting Melanie out of here a lot easier.

  Carter did get some form of comfort from being in the Brooklyn House. After spending so much time in the building, it was starting to gain its own sense of character. Even Carter could feel the magic of the place now, making it feel almost alive.

  It was a nice feeling, though most kinds of magic hurt rather than helped Carter.

  The door of the room Melanie and her father were staying in came into view and Carter stepped forward to knock on it.

  Mr. Elsher answered, looking a bit rumbled from sleep but far more awake than Carter had been expecting.

  “Oh, good morning,” the man offered, giving Carter a smile.

  “Sorry for waking you up so early,” Carter apologized, looking past the man as Melanie came into view. She must've gotten a new outfit from the closest, cause unlike her dad, she wasn’t wearing pjs.

  Instead, she was wearing a pair of leggings with a simply light blue, long-sleeved shirt.

  “Hi Carter!” She smiled brightly.

  “You’re wide awake,” Carter noted.

  The ten year old nodded, enthusiastically. “I could barely sleep last night.”

  Carter didn’t think that was how sleep worked, but supposed that maybe that was just what kids were like.

  (The point that Carter was also technically a kid briefly crossed his mind when he dismissed it. Kid or not, Carter was always down for that rare opportunity to get a good night’s rest.)

  (Of course, he couldn’t actually remember the last time that had happened.)

  Melanie continued. “Apparently, I’m a goddess! Isn’t that so cool!”

  Mr. Elsher sighed but gave his daughter a fond smile. “Half-goddess, Mel.”

  Carter ignored him, staring at the little girl in surprise. He felt a wave of grief and sorrow wash over him for her. Melanie had no idea what she was walking into, with war on the horizon and a never ending sea of monsters.

  He’d never seen a demigod react this way, too young and naive to understand what it meant.

  (He’d been young too, younger than her actually, but his experience with it was very different.)

  “Very cool,” He agreed. “It’s time for you guys to be heading out, I’ve already sent a message to camp to be expecting you.”

  He had Iris messaged but it had taken a while. Beside the fact that no demigods ever had enough money to be able to pay for consistent communication, Carter had another reason for avoiding Iris Messages. They didn’t usually work for him, and when they did work they always took ages to connect.

  Carter was pretty sure Iris hated him.

  To be fair, most mythological creatures hated, or at least avoided, him. Gods included.

  “As for transport…” Carter grimaced. That had been more difficult to figure out. Chiron had offered to send a chariot but Carter didn’t feel comfortable with any demigod near the Brooklyn House and he could hardly ask Bast or any of the initiates to drive the two to Camp Half-Blood.

  He’d had to go with one of the more… strange options.

  “I’m going to call up a… taxi service to get you to camp.” He finished.

  Mr. Elsher raised an eyebrow. “A taxi service for demigods?”

  “Yep.” Carter made a face. “Warning: it’ll be a bumpy ride. But, if the Grey Sisters give you any trouble, just threaten to stab their eye.”

  The two of them blinked at Carter.

  So, that might’ve sounded a bit unhinged, he realized.

  A grin split across Melanie’s face. “I’m allowed to do that?” She muttered excitedly.

  Right, the naturally bloodthirsty nature of demigods. Carter thought, amused. It wasn’t necessarily true, of course, but most demigods did enjoy a good spar.

  Mr. Elsher sighed but ruffled his daughter’s hair fondly. “Oh, alright then.”

    ---

  One task down. Carter gave a relieved sigh as he watched the taxi drive away.

  He was pretty sure he might’ve heard a scream? He grimaced, hoping that the Elshers really would be okay.

  That, unfortunately, was one of the easier tasks.

    ---

  Item #2: Talk to Amos

  It hadn’t originally been on his agenda, but after a few minutes of debate he decided it would probably be best to contact Uncle Amos.

  Most of the time Carter only called his uncle to talk about mundane things like Did you find anything interesting to read in the library? Or Bast started a class on sleeping and she said I’m failing. I’m not even in the class!

  Amos had enough on his plate without Carter sharing his many, many doubts with him. He needed to focus on himself and healing, not worry about Carter and Sadie.

  (Carter had Sadie anyway. They had each other. That would have to be enough)

  But right now, Carter didn’t think he had much of a choice.

  He tapped on the edge of the scrying bowl on his balcony and thought of his uncle, picturing the older man in his head as he waved a hand over the bowl.

  It, being the superior form of communication, worked almost immediately. Carter was sure that it probably only worked that well due to the many enchantments Walt had put on it to make it easy to use.

  Not that it mattered as the image of a blank ceiling appeared in the bowl. Most of the time when scrying was used to see things and/or communicate with someone, the person you were trying to communicate with also needed to have a scrying bowl.

  If communication was the goal, you only ever saw what was in view from the scrying bowl the other person had and not the actual area the person was in.

  Carter wasn’t quite sure how the bowl could tell when he was trying to talk to Amos instead of just watching him (Wow, that sounded creepy) but he didn’t question it.

  “Amos?” Carter called out.

  Some noise was made from out of sight and soon a face appeared over the bowl.

  Amos looked much better than he had a few months ago, but bags were still present under his eyes and there was a waver in his smile.

  “Oh, Carter!” He said, surprised, “What can I help you with?”

  Carter sighed and let the story pour out. He told Amos everything about the plan to stop Apophis and the time limit and his most recent nightmare.

  When he was done, Amos had a concerned look on his face.

  “Give me fifteen minutes.” He told Carter.

  “What?” Carter questioned, baffled. He hadn’t expected that response.

  Amos smiled. “I believe it’s about time I come home. It sounds like you need as much help as you can get.”

  His uncle’s face disappeared, leaving only Carter’s reflection in the oil of the scrying bowl.

  He sighed. That hadn’t been exactly what he’d wanted when he called.

  “I might as well wake up Bast too,” he muttered.

    ---

  Items #3 and #4: Telling the initiates and Sadie about the new developments.

  Now most days breakfast was very chaotic, what with a goddess, a baboon, and at least eight kids under the age of ten with barely controlled magic. It put meals at Camp to shame, honestly.

  Today, though, beyond the pile of pancakes, bowl of fruit, and spill of various liquids (an impressive feat considering breakfast had started about a minute ago), was a large cake with white frosting covering the entire thing along with red swirls around the perimeter and three cursive purple words iced on top reading:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SADIE!

  Carter had told the others that maybe it would be best to wait on the cake till after dinner, but the initiates (aka the younger ones heavily encouraged by the older ones) had insisted it be on the table by breakfast.

  Something about cake for breakfast? Carter just didn’t get it.

  A pang of guilt hit Carter.

  Bringing this up during breakfast would probably be a bad idea? He wasn’t sure he had any choice in the matter though.

  (Four days, only four days . A timer seemed to tick down seconds in the back of his brain.)

  His hand reached up to roll a bead between his fingers, but Carter jerked his hand away just when it touched the necklace and instead stuck his hand into one of his pockets.

  Lately, Carter had been trying to work on his little habits. It was a clear sign of nervousness on his part and, well… he couldn’t, wouldn’t, let the initiates see how unsure, how doubtful, how terrified he was.

  As the recognized, if still unofficial, ‘leader’ of this entire thing, it was his job to stay calm. To reassure everyone. How could he do that if everyone else knew what he was feeling?

  (It wasn’t easy though. He’d become increasingly more jumpy in the past few months and usually had a feeling of panic beneath everything he did, no matter how he ignored it.)

  Carter pulled out a seat on Walt’s left and gave a strained smile to Bast across the table.

  Uncle Amos, Bast, and himself had done a quick run down of the situation when Amos had arrived, so Carter knew that Ryan and Bat had managed to free a scroll from the statue in the late hours of last night.

  He’d looked at the scroll but it had been close to gibberish to him. Hopefully, Sadie would be able to make more sense of it.

    ---

  It was Sadie herself who sacrificed the jovial mood of her birthday breakfast. Her bright smile dimmed as she finished the last bite of the cake.

  She glanced at their uncle, who nodded encouragingly. Carter braced himself for what was bound to be bad news.

  “So, uh,” Sadie spoke and the table went quiet. Clearly the others could pick up on the change of atmosphere. “I had a dream last night.”

  Dreams, as always, were normal things. As Sadie told her story, Carter couldn’t find it in himself to really be that surprised. Sure, whoever this Vladimir guy was sounded like bad news, but everyone already knew the House of Life was not happy with Carter and Sadie, or anyone that chose to side with them. Honestly, it was just a matter of time before Desjardin decided to attack the Brooklyn House.

  Carter had just hoped they’d be given more time to prepare.

  Silence filled the room after Sadie finished, most of the initiates fidgeting uncomfortably in their seats.

  They didn’t seem surprised either, they knew what they were getting into.

  “So the scroll is to wake up Ra?” Walt asked.

  Ryan, next to Walt, scrunched up his nose. “That would explain why it was cursed to the max.”

  “We’re going to wake up Ra!?” Lydia, Ryan’s little sister, exclaimed with wide eyes.

  “Why?” Jaz questioned, looking up from her food to give Carter and Sadie a confused look.

  And that was the question wasn’t it.

  Considering that mood was officially ruined, Carter supposed there was no point in continuing to put off telling everyone about the end of the world.

  (There was an odd feeling in his chest, like it was twisting up , like his heart was being constricted.)

  “Cause the world’s ending in four days.” Carter stated. “And, uh, waking up Ra might be the only way of stopping it.”

  Sadie gave Carter a look . Probably partially due to the certainty in his voice, since before now it had been a less concrete concern.

  Then it turned into a look, which might’ve been due to how he told everyone the information.

  Carter made an effort not to grit his teeth. She knew he wasn’t good at his sort of stuff. She knew that the only reason he was doing this – being in charge, being the leader – was because she wanted nothing to do with it, and, as her older brother, he was supposed to take care of her.

  Carter decided to soldier on.

  “The scrolls we’re trying to get are a possible way to bring Ra back. If we can get all three of them and reach Ra…” He sighed, “If you guys were paying attention in your history class you’ll know that Ra is the enemy of the Lord of Chaos and might be the only god able to defeat him.”

  “Wait,” Sadie held up her hand, “Lord of Chaos?”

  His sister raised an eyebrow incredulously.

  Carter winced. Back at Set’s red pyramid, they’d used Apophis' name liberally. Carter partially blamed Horus for that, nothing like being a god to destroy any sense of precaution you held, but he really should have been more weary about it.

  “Names have power, Sadie.” Carter explained, rubbing his thumb and pointer finger together beneath the table. “Unless you want to give one of the most powerful beings in existence more power, it’ll probably be best if we use a moniker.”

  Then, he grimaced cause the looks on the faces of everyone else at the table just became a bit more terrified.

  “So that’s really going to happen?” Cleo, a brazilian girl a year younger than Sadie, with short dark wavy hair, tan skin, and brown eyes, spoke up. “The uh… Serpent is going to try and eat the sun?”

  “That is the story,” Carter agreed.

  Cleo would probably know better than him honestly. He had always considered himself fairly bookish, but Cleo was on another level, as a follower of Thoth and their self-proclaimed librarian, especially considering Carter hadn’t had nearly as much time to read as he used to.

  Sadie narrowed her eyes further at him.

  He couldn’t do anything but shake his head. He might be telling everyone about the end of the world, but the exact state of Apophis’s prison was something that should stay between him, Bast, Amos, and Sadie.

  “Do we even know where to get these other scrolls, though?” Another initiate, Marco, spoke up.

  Marco was one of the older ones, in his sophomore year of college. He was nice enough and usually offered to help with math classes, considering his major was engineering.

  “The scrolls were created by some priest of Ra,” Amos answered. “They worked hard to make them hard to find. Only the gods might know where the first one is, but the second one will be in the hands of the House of Life. If Sadie’s dream is accurate, probably with Vladimir Menshikov.”

  “The guy with the melted face?” Sadie clarified.

  “Yes.”

  Amos grimaced at the description.

  Carter was with him. It didn’t sound like a pleasant sight to be honest and Vladmir didn’t sound like a pleasant person, not with the whole, Let’s destroy the Kanes, thing.

  “He’s the one who runs the Russian sector, right?”

  Amos nodded at Carter’s question.

  “Okay, so Sadie and I will go there to see if we can find the scroll.”

  “And Bast,” Sadie added.

  Bast winced. Carter understood why she’d offered up a different idea for her role but he didn’t like it. Sadie would like it even less, he was sure.

  “Sadie, I won’t be going with you.” Bast told his sister gently. “When I discussed this with Carter early, we decided it would be best if I were to check on the Serpent’s prison.

  Sadie stood up fast, hitting her palms against the table hard.

  “What! You can’t, not after everything my parents did to free you!” she yelled.

  Bast seemed to slump, giving Sadie a sad look. “It’s what must be done. Someone should check on the state of his prison and I am the best option. Stealth is my thing, afterall.”

  Bast gave Sadie a reassuring look and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll be approaching from the outside, and I’ve asked a friend of mine to help you and Carter out.”

  “A friend?”

  “Uh… sort of?”

  Reassuring, Carter thought dryly.

  He glanced across the quiet table. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sadie clench her fists.

  Letting out a sigh, he also stood up.

  “I’ll get packing, we’ll head out in an hour.” He announced.

  Apparently, Sadie disagreed with that statement, because she crossed her arms and glared.

  “No.” She told him. “I’m going to London to celebrate my birthday.”

    ---

  Carter collapsed onto his bed, furious.

  Okay, furious was the wrong way to put it. It was complicated.

  He got it, where Sadie was coming from, but anger pulsed through him anyway. It was the end of the world! Why couldn’t she understand that? Even second they waited to get going meant the chances of them succeeding grew that much smaller.

  (Carter was intimately familiar with the ticking time bombs that were apocalypse. He understood far better than Sadie how time was the make it or break it of any quest.)

  He reached for his bedside table and his hand landed on a book. Carter rolled over onto his back, ignoring the baboon fur now sticking to his clothes. He was lucky enough that Khufu wasn’t in his, or rather, their, room at the moment. He could deal with a bit of fur.

  Carter looked over the book now grasped in his hand. It was tattered and old, but clearly showed the care and love that had been put into it. A diamond pattern was on the front with faded foil lettering.

  It was supposed to be Sadie’s birthday present. He had asked the shabti in the library to find it for him.

  Carter had already read through the entire thing, costing him a night of sleep, running his hand of the familiar words and the scratches of notes in mom’s handwriting.

  He’d memorized the look of the name on the front cover, the words Ruby Kane written nicely.

  It had been their mom’s. It had also been their version of a bedtime story, Mom insisting that knowledge was the best thing to fall asleep to.

  (Sadie called it boredom, but everyone knew not to take her seriously.)

  Carter let out a long breath and steeled himself.

  Arguing with Sadie never really led to anything good In fact, it could usually become explosive. It wasn’t good for him to lose control of his emotions like that, not in front of the initiates, no matter how infuriating Sadie could be.

  Anyway, it was her birthday.

  Carter would wait to give her her present and he’d save any scolding for after Sadie came back.

  ---

  “And you don’t trust me,” Sadie shot back at him, “So we’re even.”

  Carter stiffened. He wouldn’t say he was exactly arguing with his sister at the moment, but well… they weren’t getting along. At all.

  He had hoped that telling Sadie about his dream about Zia would help matters, at least a little bit. Sadie, no matter how angry they were at each other, usually supported him with things like that. She knew how important finding Zia was to him.

  Sadie didn’t believe him though.

  (Carter was frankly sick of it. He had enough self-doubt himself, he didn’t need the majority of his support circle to doubt him too.)

  And then she got mad at him for not telling her about the dream he had last night, the part about Aphophis’s prison, mad enough to accuse him of not trusting her .

  That hurt more than he wanted to admit. Because he did trust her, with practically everything. He wouldn’t have told her about the Greek Gods if he didn’t. Just because he didn’t want to tell her something didn’t mean he wouldn’t trust her with that information.

  There were just some things that Carter wanted to wait on telling her about or that she never needed to know.

  Carter opened his mouth to retort back that of course I trust you, but that’s not what this is about, but he shut it again.

  He had said he didn’t want to argue with her, and he wanted to keep it that way.

  Instead he twisted around and walked away, heading toward the opposite side of the roof from the portal stone.

  He heard the portal open and knew that Sadie had stepped through it, but he didn’t turn around

  She’d be fine, he had to believe that.

Chapter Text

  Carter didn’t really feel like going down to see the others at the moment.

  He might have mentioned it a bit earlier but being a leader was hard. Carter wasn’t used to making decisions or being a role model, being the one people followed. For most of his life he had his dad or Annabeth or Percy or any of the older campers. And he’d been happy with that.

  Being a leader meant you couldn’t be uncertain or scared. It meant that if one of the initiates got hurt, the blame would ultimately fall on Carter’s shoulders. It meant always doing the right thing, the best thing .

  For someone like him, who second guessed every decision and choice, it wasn’t an easy responsibility to bear.

  (There was a quote. It stated “The people you want to lead are the ones that are most resistant to being leaders.” Carter had complicated feelings about that, to say the least.)

  It had gotten better over the past few months. Carter could say he felt better in that role, in that position, but well…

  He had to wonder if all leaders had times where they just had to completely fake it.

  Anway, the point was that he just… couldn't do that right now.

  Carter really wanted a break. Just five minutes away from all of that pressure. Just a bit to stare over New York City and let his feet dangle off the edge of the roof.

  “Carter.” Bast appeared next to him, as stealthy as, well, a cat. “Are you doing okay?”

  He sighed, because his supposed break had lasted approximately forty-five seconds and he couldn’t even get mad at Bast because she was the first person to actually ask how he was doing in… a long time.

  (There were reassurances, questions about injuries, and offers of help, but Carter didn’t really know who was the last person who had simply asked him if he was doing okay.)

  (He, honestly, didn’t know.)

  “I’ll live.” Carter answered and then really thought about it. “For now.”

  Bast snorted from beside him. Carter turned to look at her, giving her a quick glance over.

  She was wearing a black jacket over her leopard-patterned bodysuit. It went down to her knees and cinched around her waist. There were two large pockets on either side of the front of the jacket and golden hieroglyphs had been embroidered along every edge and seam of the jacket.

  Carter assumed they were for protective purposes, considering she kept fading in and out of view.

  “Are you certain about this?” Carter questioned her, again.

  He knew better than to ask the goddess to be careful. Bast was fully capable of taking care of herself. Egyptian gods didn’t hold the same invincible power the Greek gods seemed to, but they weren’t weak by any mortal's standards.

  Carter was more worried about Bast's mental state. It wouldn’t be easy for her to go back to prison where she had also been held in for thousands and thousands of years, separated from the world and stuck with anyone’s worst nightmare.

  “Yes.” Bast gave her answer, sounding slightly amused. “You and Sadie worry too much and while I do love that about you, you really don’t need to. I will be just fine. More importantly, it’s something I have to do. We need confirmation on if your dream was real or not.”

  Carter, unfortunately, couldn’t argue with that.

  “I should be back in a few days.” Bast continued. “I’ll probably be out of touch, but my friend will get here before you and Sadie leave for your quest.”

  Carter made a noise of disgust. “Could we not call it a quest? Please?”

  “What would you rather call it?” Bast responded with a laugh.

  “Literally anything else. Mission. Journey. Search. Adventure. Undertaking. Expedition.” Carter listed. “I want nothing to do with quests. ”

  “Okay then.” Bast agreed, clearly only to placate him. “Before you and Sadie leave on your undertaking .”

  Carter took it for the win it was and moved on to his next question. “And I'm assuming you're still not going to tell me his name?”

  Bast hesitated. “He is a bit… hard to describe. It'll be easy to understand when you meet him in person.”

  “Reassuring.”

  Bast gave another laugh before her gaze softened. She wrapped two arms around him and folded him into a hug. Carter’s eyes might have, just a little bit, welled up with tears. Gods, hugs were so great. He needed to do hugs way more often.

  Bast pressed a kiss to his forehead and pulled back. “Take care, my kit.”

  Carter was a bit speechless. He knew Bast cared about him, but it was really nice to get confirmation like that. He was pretty sure he was blushing.

  The cat goddess jumped off the roof.

  Carter was certain she’d land on her feet.

    –--

  Unfortunately, staying on the roof was not a feasible long-term solution.

  Neither was pretending everything was fine, but he digressed. At least that way his initiative wouldn’t potentially freak out over his disappearance and he could play the whole “I'm very sure everything’s going to be just fine" act so know one would worry too much about the apocalypse.

  Pretending that everything was fine meant teaching his morning class, Magical Problem-Solving 101.

  (AKA “Whatever Works”. Julian, one of the initiates, had started calling it that and it kind of just stuck with everyone else.)

  It was pretty basic. Carter gave a problem and the initiates had to find a way to solve it. After that, they could go.

  It wasn’t much like normal school, at least that had been what Sadie had told him, but it had been how Carter was taught. Though Carter’s education certainly wasn’t perfect by any means (in fact it was probably lacking considerably) it had worked for him.

  (Zia would approve, Carter liked to think. She had told them in that very first lesson that magic was much more easily taught by doing.)

  Today, there were only six initiates. The numbers fluctuated, so it wasn’t abnormal. Today must’ve been a day where they were focusing on other things, like figuring out which god’s path they would follow, doing other magical related classes, or focusing on actual school work under the supervision of some of the older initiates.

  Bast, while not forcing anyone to immediately transfer to a new school (she was waiting for the start of next year), had insisted everyone keep up with their schooling in some way or another.

  Carter hadn’t decided how he felt about that yet.

  The training room his class took place in was large, about the size of a basketball court, wooden floors and tall ceilings combined, along with a few statues of gods lining the wall to stare down and judge them all.

  They had stuck two identical statues of Ra on either side, with hollowed out sundisk crowns to be used for basketball hoops.

  Beyond that though were a collection of ceramic statues Carter had placed in here early this morning for today's challenge.

  In the room were the initiates, waiting for him.

  Ryan and Walt were passing the basketball between themselves and a third kid named Julian.

  Julian was thirteen, freakishly tall with pale skin and dark curly hair, and had immediately chosen to follow the path of Horus the instant he had arrived, only three weeks ago. Which fit him far better then it fit Carter. He was an athletic and rowdy kid, but Carter thought he was nice, even with the many questions about Horus the kid asked.

  Sitting on the floor was a girl named Alyssa, light brown hair falling over her face. She was of the quieter sort, even a bit shy at first. Despite that, she had made good friends with Julian, probably because they were similar ages. She was following the path of Geb, well suited to her if her talents with sculpting and ceramics had anything to say about it.

  Next to her was Jaz, the two of them talking in quiet conversation.

  Finally, petting a penguin, was a young boy named Felix, only eight. He had dirty-blonde, curly hair and a light tan. He was as bright and cheerful as an eight year old should be and really liked penguins.

  Which was why he somehow kept managing to summon them.

  “Really, Felix?” Carter asked, half amused, half exasperated. This would be the seventh penguin this month alone.

  “His name is Tobias.” Fleix responded cheerfully, not a hint of shame.

  (It was the type of thing Carter could've seen Sadie doing when she was eight. But Carter wouldn't really know.)

  The other laughed a bit and Carter sighed, not trying to hide his smile.

  “We’re going to be doing basic combat simulations.” He motioned at the wax statues. “Pick one out and walk a fair bit away from everyone else.”

  They followed his instructions though Carter had to have Felix convince the Penguin to stay by Carter. He was banned from using penguins as his combat strategy and Carter was not going to be convinced in letting him do it. Even if the penguin was already here.

  He’d have to have someone teleport it back to Antarctica when this was over. Maybe giving eight year olds power over space and time, wasn’t his best idea. He’d think the penguin would agree, but they all seemed to get oddly attached to Felix.

  When they were ready, Carter spoke the command word. It was in english, thankfully, allowing him to do this small act of magic with minimal difficulty.

  The status shot up, becoming what looked like full sized egyptian warriors. They weren’t hyper realistic and they moved slowly, but they worked great for beginners.

  Julian went straight into action. Usually, he used one or both of the two swords he had sheathed at his hip (because yes, dual khopeshes were a thing, or at least Julian was going to make it one). This time he stuck with magic. Not a full avatar yet, he wasn’t that skilled, but a green fist engulfed his hand and in one smooth move he hit the statue with it hard enough for it to shatter into pieces.

  Jaz figured it out next. She preferred healing, but as a follower of Sekhmet (Carter chose not to think about that too deeply. Bad memories and all.), she could cause a fair amount of destruction.

  Carter couldn’t read the hieroglyph that appeared in the air in front of her, but it glowed faulty and then the statue's legs shattered and he assumed it had something to do with leg breaking.

  Alyssa was right behind after also using a hieroglyph. It was pretty funny actually. The statue kept coming towards her and swinging, but it never seemed to land a hit. After a while of that it ran into a wall, breaking its head.

  Ryan had managed to trip the thing when Carter wasn’t looking, though he had probably used the long staff he had brought with him.

  Felix went for a non-magical solution. Carter suspected the boy was an animal charmer, but with his favorite animal banned from use he went for the next weirdest option. He grabbed a basketball and threw it at the training dummy's head. It hit it perfectly and the statue toppled over, its sword arm breaking off.

  Then, it was just Walt.

  Carter wasn’t surprised. Walt was an excellent magician but he liked to think things through. Something Carter probably should have related to, but Carter had a bit of a reckless side and Hprus had not been a good influence in stopping that.

  Walt sifted through the array of necklaces and amulets around his neck, looking for something he wanted to use.

  In all honesty, Carter had no idea what Walt would do with his magic. The older boy hadn’t chosen a god’s path to follow despite his skills, which were many, though he focused on amulets and charms.

  Carter prepared himself in case Walt didn’t make a decision in time. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened.

  “Come on, dude.” Julian called out sounding both annoyed and encouraging.

  “You’ve got this.” Ryan also called out, sounding far more reassuring.

  Walt fumbled at a ring he had on and then stumbled over a piece of a broken statue.

  Carter had tried to prevent that sort of thing from happening, but Walt had been retreating the entire time, walking pretty far from his starting place.

  “Walt!” Ryan called out, concern coloring his voice. He lurched forward, his staff at the ready.

  The statue, as inanimate as it was, saw the opening and lunged forward. Carter rushed forward, hoping he’d be in time, but he didn’t need to worry.

  Walt’s hand grabbed the statue's sword and instead of it cutting the sixteen year old, the statue started turning grey, spider web-like crack running along its surface until it shattered into small slivers.

  Walt looked stunned.

  “That was sick!” Julian exclaimed.

  Felix nodded his agreement. “What amulet was that?”

  Walt didn’t respond, but sent Carter a look. It wasn’t one Crater was entirely sure he was supposed to be able to read, but the panic in Walt’s gaze made it clear that he had no idea how he had done that.

  Ryan was already next to Walt, offering a hand and a worried look. Walt had just taken it when the building started to shake.

  It wasn’t abnormal for the entire building to shake, usually it was because some was experimenting with magic, but it was cause to be concerned because one; potentially bringing down the building is Not a good thing and two; usually the magic being experimented was not magic that Should be experimented with.

  Carter turned towards the door of the training room about to head over to see if there was anyone causing the tremors or if maybe it was Walt’s magic, but Alyssa spoke before he could.

  “Guys!” She sounded panic and she was pointing at the statue or Ra closest to them.

  For a moment, Carter didn’t understand why she was so freaked out. Everything looked ordinary.

  Then the statue started to crumble, not just dissolving to dust but falling in large chunks.

  It took a second for him to process it, but each chunk was made up of tons of scarab beetles. The statue was turning into scarab shells.

  It was a scene that brought back memories. Somehow instead of seeing the statue of Ra, Carter couldn’t help but have flashbacks to the dream last night and, well, Zia.

  He had somewhat triviled the dream, though he understood what it meant, having flashbacks of the sea of dead scarabs moving in waves as something, Apophis, moves below them. Trapped but far too close to getting out. 

  And by now anytime he saw a statue, a human like one, breaking apart, he couldn’t help but think of Zia. Now it was worse because he was imagining her dissolving except instead of dust she was turning into thousands of little beetle crawling away and-

  The pile of husks moved and shifted, just like his dream, and before them a creature rose up.

  It was a snake with three heads, its eyes yellow and its scales a brilliant shade of red.

  Carter panicked and stumbled back. It was like Apophis was here right then and the world was ending and Sadie was all the way in London and he had six initiates staring at him.

  Carter breathed out, trying to show no panic on his face. He could not afford to freak out with his initiates looking at him.

  It wasn’t Apophis, though it was certainly one of his minions.

  That fact that it wasn’t Apophis did not help Carter relax. By now the snakes had risen high enough to tower over them and a pair of wings had unfurled from its back. Worse than that, all three heads were looking at Carter.

  Let it be put on the record, officially, that Carter DID NOT like snakes.

  This is your last warning, it said. Give me the scroll.

  The scroll. Of course. Sadie had given it to him last night and it was tucked safely away in Carter’s Du’at locker.

  What are you? Carter asked the creature, hands gripping his sword.

  “Carter,” Julain asked, both of the swords unsheathed. “Do we attack?”

  The others were in an equally defensive position, besides for Felix who had been forced behind Jaz. None of them gave any sign they had heard Carter

  The snake heads leaned just a bit closed. Carter was practically paralyzed under its gaze.

  Its wings flapped menacingly. Give up your quest, or I will destroy the girl you seek like I destroyed her village.

  Zia. Zia’s village.

  The noise the snake made would have been a laugh if snakes could laugh. Despite this the hiss sounded awfully amused. It’s one or the other. The girl or the god. Abandon your quest or you’ll just end up another dry husk.

  Anger was what woke Carter from his paralysis. Anger at this thing who was threatening Zia. Who had destroyed and killed an entire village and had orphaned a seven year old.

  “Kill it.” Carter ordered, his voice oddly calm for the emotions raging inside of him.

  At the same time the serpent opened its mouth and breathed fire at them.

  Jaz created a glowing green barrier that prevented the fire from reaching the seven of them.

  The others lept into action. Julian threw one of his swords at it. Alyssa gestured and three of the stone statues around the room leaped off their pedestals, flying at it. Ryan chucked his staff. Felix took off his shoe and flung it and Walt fired a grey bolt at it.

  Carter would've pitied the serpent had it not broken into his house and attacked him and his initiates.

  Julians sword sliced off one of its head, Ryan’s and Felix’s staff and shoe both bounced another head, Walt’s bolt of magic made the third one shrivel up into dust, and then Alyssa statues slammed into it, burying whatever was left of the monster under a lot of rock.

  Quiet reigned over the room and he stepped forward, picking up one of the scarab shells.

  “That was part of the lesson, right?” Felix asked nervously.

  Felix wasn’t usually one to get scared, full of a false bravo most little kids had, despite his own past. He had come from a foster home and was happy to stay here instead of going back.

  He was a good kid. Just one that had been bright into a dangerous situation.

  A kid that Carter had brought into a dangerous situation. Along with all the other kids.

  “Carter?” Felix sounded like he was about to cry.

  “Yeah.” Crater replied, giving him a reassuring smile. He ignored the suspicious looks from Ryan, Walt, and Jaz. “Just a test.”

  “Class dismissed.”

    ---

  Carter stared at the charred remains of the scarab beetle.

  He didn’t like what Amos was implying. It wasn’t anything he didn’t know, of course, He heard it over and over from Bast and Sadie, and Horus. Even some of the initiates looked at him with doubt.

  Carter knew that waking Ra wouldn’t be easy. He also knew that even if Amos thought Ra didn’t want to be woken, the serpent that had shown up today had not been sent by him.

  It had taken him a bit to realize that he had heard the voice before, at the Red Pyramid. It had been used by the Face of Horror, though Carter understood it wasn’t actually the Face of Horror speaking.

  It had been Apophis’s minion and while it might’ve scared Carter, it wasn’t convincing him to give up his goal.

  (Of course Ra wanted to wake up. It’s not like it had been his choice to disappear in the first place.)

  Carter looked up from the table at his uncle.

  They were in the library, where Carter had immediately gone after everyone had left (and after giving Felix a hug), to talk to Amos about what had happened.

  His uncle had not been reassuring and instead chose to go with ‘maybe Ra actually sent it because he didn’t want to get woken up.’

  Okay, yeah, it was just a theory, but that wasn’t the point.

  “Do you really think we shouldn't do this?” Carter asked softly.

  Amos sighed. “I think it’s going to be difficult and dangerous. I also know that you, and your sister, are very smart and very capable. If this is what you think is best then I’m hardly in the position to argue with you. As of now, you and Sadie have done for more than any other living magician, no matter how powerful or how old. I am certain you are capable of doing this too.”

  Carter gulped, a lump formed in his throat. It had been a long time since he’d gotten a proper pep talk and he hadn’t realized how much he needed one.

  “Thanks, Amos.” Carter gave his uncle a weak smile.

  Amos smiled back, one of the first Carter had seen since Christmas, when this whole thing started.

  The library door burst open, a group of girls entering and in deep conversation with each other.

  Amos stood up, motioning for Carter to do the same.

  “My research class is here.” He explained. “Why don’t we talk more after lunch?”

  Carter nodded his assent and left the room, filled with the odd certainty that he would not be talking to his uncle later on.

    ---

  Carter was back at his scrying bowl, staring at his own reflection.

  As usual, it revealed nothing about Zia's well-being or her location, though Carter had made the habit of checking it around once  a day.

  Which wasn’t exactly a healthy thing to do, Carter could admit that, but he figured that after everything he’d been through he was allowed a few unhealthy coping mechanisms.

  He was equally surprised, so not at all, when his wish to see the Place of Red Sands, Zia’s village, was also denied. One of the few limits of his scrying bowl was that he couldn’t see someone or something, if he had never seen it before.

  Instead he asked it to show a much more familiar sight.

  Zia’s hidden room at the 1st nome was as untouched as ever, probably gathering dust from being left unattended. It was dark in the room without any candles lit, but Carter could still make out the pictures on the walls, especially since the scrying bowl came with a zoom in feature.

  The one Carter chose was of her and her father. She was young, but similar enough to her present self, with sleek black hair cut into bob and amber eyes, that Carter could easily recognize her.

  She was caught in mid laugh.

  The serpent had been the one that destroyed Zia’s village and it didn’t sound like it was an accident. Carter didn’t know why her village had been destroyed, but he knew there was very few reasons why someone like the god of Chaos would want a little mortal girl dead.

  It almost always meant they were afraid.

  And if the Apophis was scared of Zia, that meant she was important. That meant she would be helpful in defeating Apophis.

  (Carter could be reaching, grasping at straws, trying to find any good excuse to pick Zia over the world. He could be because he was terrified of losing someone else.)

  A knocking sound jolted him out of his trance.

  Carter twisted around to see Walt, leaning on the doorframe leading onto the balcony. He waved awkwardly.

  “Hey.” He offered. “I hope you don’t mind, Khufu let me in.”

  “ Agh!” The baboon confirmed, leaping onto the balcony railing.

  Carter sent a half-hearted glare at the barboon, though it was mostly due to the fact that the baboon clearly liked Walt more than him than the fact that he had let Walt in.

  “No problem.”

Walt nodded and they stood in awkward silence til Walt nodded at the scrying bowl.

  “How’s that working for you?” He asked.

  Carter glanced down and noticed that Zia’s room was still clearly reflecting on the surface. Waving his hand over it, Carter chose a different place. Gram and Gramps living room, cause he was already worrying about Sadie.

  “It’s great.” Carter answered. “How are you feeling?”

  Walt tensed, looking uncomfortable. “What do you mean?”

  “From the training accident?” Carter clarified, confused on the question. What else would Carter be talking about?

  “Ah, right.” Walt relaxed a bit. “A bit freaked out, but I’ll be okay.What did Amos say about it?”

  Carter wanted to know how easy he was to read if Walt immediately knew he had gone to Amos about it, but focused instead recounting his conversation, or atleast the important parts of it.

  After Carter had finished up, Walt went over and leaned against the railing.

  “So the Lord of Chaos sent that thing here. If we hadn’t defeated it-”

  Carter shook his head. “It was a messenger, nothing more. Well, if it had managed to kill one of us it would've been great but he wouldn’t have expected it to get that far. Not after being weakened by our defenses.”

  Walt snorted darkly. “Well I suppose it knows our abilities now? I mean I’m sure he will be running in terror at how great Felix is at throwing shoes.”

  Carter couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out, but sobering quickly.

  “I think a better thing to take note of was, well…”

  “The blast of grey death?” Walt finished.

  “Yeah.”

  Walt shrugged. “In all honesty? I don’t know how I did it. At first I figure I had activated some automatic self-destruct button that was built into it during creation. I’ve done things like that before to magical items, to activate or shut them down.”

  “That wouldn’t have worked on the snake though.” Carter added on, probably unnecessarily.

  “Exactly.” Walt agreed.

  Silence again fell over them, Carter debating if he should ask what he wanted to ask. It would be a bit pushy but He didn’t think it would hurt to try. Anyway, Walt didn’t have to answer.

  “This ability,” Carter started, hesitantly. “Turning stuff into dust. Would that have anything to do with what you're talking to Jaz about?”

  Walt immediately tense up like a caged-animal.

  “I know it’s none of my business and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Carter rushed to continue. “But if you ever need anyone-”

  “Sometimes I wonder why I came here.” Walt cut Carter off.

  “What?” Carter pulled back , shocked. “Walt, you’re great at magic. One of the best.”

  Walt pulled out something from his pocket. One of the scarabs shells from the training room. Apparently, Carter hadn’t been the only one with the need to grab proof of the incident.

  “Thanks, Carter. Really.” Walt spoke quietly, not looking at Carter. “ It’s just… complicated for me. And this situation, well, it’s like a bad joke.”

  Carter couldn’t help but feel like his heart was sinking. “Look Walt, if you don’t want to get involved in this Sadie and I won’t ask you to. Or if we’re doing something wrong all you have to do is-”

  That made Walt turn around and face him, a look of bewilderment on his face. “What? No. You and Sadie are great and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t understand the risks. It had nothing to do with any of that.

  “ Agh!” Khufu screeched.

  Carter jumped and twisted around to see the Baboon staring into the scrying bowl.

  He examined the scrying bowl, properly taken in the view.

  The view was something that made Carter’s heart sink and the taste of bile rise in his throat.

  There was something clearly wrong. The lights and the TV were off, which was weird from the few things Carter remembered of his grandparents to the front door and the couch had been completely flipped over.

  A wave of his hand and the view switched to one of the front door. The door that had been broken into and completely shattered.

  “What’s wrong?” Walt came up beside Carter.

  “Sadie…” Carter tried to change the picture to one of Sadie. She wasn’t an image he often had to look up, but it always came to him easily.

  This was the first time the image of Sadie didn’t appear instantly. Instead the oil turned black. Pain stabbed behind Carter’s eyes and suddenly the bowl burst into flames.

  “I’ve never seen a bowl do that before.” Walt exclaimed as Khufu pulled Carter back from the boil and saved him from a three degree burn.

    Probably because gods just decided to get involved, Carter thought.

  “We need a portal to London now.” He ordered.

  “Our portal needs to recharge.” Walt told him.

  Shoot!

  Carter’s brain went through his options. Any normal kind of transport would have been too slow. The Manhattan obelisk maybe? But it would take too long to get there especially with traffic. Especially since practically no one knew how to drive in the house and if they did Carter wasn’t sure he wanted to bring Magicians to Manhattan, not with the Greek gods there.

  He hit something. It was probably the dumbest idea he had ever come up with, especially if he brought Walt along but…

  “Go tell Amos we’re leaving and that Sadie’s in trouble.” Carter ordered Walt. “Put Marco and Tessa in charge of the kids and keep everyone calm.”

  “How are we going to get to Sadie?” Walt questioned.

  Carter sighed, he didn’t have a lot of drachmas but this would be worth a use of one. “I have it handled. Just meet me in the front, on the street.”

  Walt furrowed his eyebrows but nodded, running out of Carter’s room.

  Carter followed, stopping at his draws and scrambling though. A small bag of golden coins jingled, already lighter from his early use to pay the Grey Sisters.

  This was a terrible idea.

Chapter Text

  Carter had been correct. This was a terrible idea. The taxi swerved suddenly, probably breaking at least another ten laws. Walt, next to Carter, grimaced, eyes wide with horror. Carter could certainly relate to that.

  The Grey Sisters had been… irritated to get called back to the mansion after Carter had already asked something from them, especially to make an urgent trip to London of all places, but one shake of the bag of drachmas convinced all three of them to let him and Walt on.

  “I still think I should be the one driving.” The one in the middle muttered, an obvious lisp present from what Carter assumed was the lack of their tooth.

  “Oh stop complaining Enyo, if you were the one driving we would certainly crash.” The one on the right side muttered. She must’ve been the one holding onto the tooth because the lisp was less present with her.

  “Would that be so terrible, Deino?” Enyo wondered aloud.

  Walt gave Carter a nervous look. Carter, who was regretting his decision after having his face smashed into one of the windows, decided at least the one driving didn’t apparently have a death wish for the two of them.

  “You just want a turn with the eye.” The one driving pointed out, making another hard left turn.

  Walt muttered something unpleasant under his breath, the blood drained from his face.

  “Don’t be rude, boy. Just because we share a tooth and an eye between the three of us doesn’t mean we don’t all have ears.” Deino snapped.

  “Sorry.” Walt speaked, which wasn’t something Carter ever thought he would hear Walt do. He supposed that the Grey Sisters were another form of intimidating.

  They weren’t necessarily malicious, despite their rather ominous appearance and abilities and connections with gorgons, but they weren’t friendly either. No immortal truly was, Carter supposed. You insult them a bit too much and boom, cursed for life.

  Carter didn’t quite remember the Grey Sisters’ abilities very well, but he was pretty sure they could totally curse them with bad luck for eternity or something.

  They made another violent turn.

  Carter suppressed the urge to throw up.

  “So uh, how is this getting us to London?” Carter gasped.

  They all cackled.

  Carter was starting to believe their terrible driving was simply for the purpose of torturing any poor demigod that stumbled into their tax.

  “All in due time, mixed-blood.” The one driving answered. “We just need a bit more speed.”

  He couldn’t help but wince at the nick-name they had given him. The Grey Sisters were known for their talent of knowing things. He wasn't surprised. He was a bit shocked they had let him get into the taxi if they knew that fact about him. He was more surprised they had let Walt in.

  Before he could think more on it, Carter and Walt were thrown back into their seats, pressing deep into the worn down (and maybe moldy?) fabric as she slammed the gas, the taxi rocketing forward down the street.

  Carter was not ashamed to admit he screamed a little bit because Walt did too, and honestly, this kind of felt like this was the closest thing to death Carter had ever experienced. Which was slightly dramatic, but they were on a busy New York street surrounded by people and his stomach had been forced into his throat, aggressively.

  But before what Carter had been certain was an impending collision with some poor innocent mortal's care, the air around the taxi blurred. Color streaking past the window.

  Previously, portals had been Carter’s least favorite form of transport. This took the cake, by a lot.

  Carter shut his eyes tight as the unpleasant sensations, but quickly enough they dissipated somewhat and Carter opened his eyes to the somewhat familiar view of London along the Thames River, Big Ben standing tall over the other buildings.

  The taxi jolted to a stop and Walt gagged.

  “If you throw up in my taxi you will regret it.” The driver told Walt.

  Walt nodded in terrified understanding, stumbling out of the car quickly. Carter gave him privacy as the older boy keeled over.

  “How?” Deino questioned. “It’s not like you can curse him with a painful death or something, Pemphredo.”

  “Also it’s not your taxi.” Enyo snarked. “It’s our taxi.”

  “How much?” Carter asked, hoping to cut off an impending argument.

  Deino grinned as much as one can with only one tooth. “Usually it would only be a couple extra for such a long distance but…”

  “Transporting illegal goods gets a few more added.” Enyo finished. “To make it worth it.”

  Carter raised an eyebrow, though none of them could see him. He fished into his pocket for the bag of drachmas and pulled out a handful.

  “This enough?” Carter asked, dropping the handful into Pemphredo’s hand. She stared at it greedily.

  “Certainly.” She agreed.

  “Ooo, let me see it?” Enyo made some sort of grabby motion with her hands, either for the coins or for their shared eyeball, Carter didn’t know.

  Carter made to leave for a taxi, but Deino grabbed his arm. It was clawlike, and the paper texture of her skin felt uncomfortable against Carter’s wrist. She was facing him, the empty eye socket she had a strange void that Carter felt forced to stare into.

  “Be careful, mixed-blood. You’ll be forced to make a choice soon enough.” She warned.

  Deino let go of his wrist and Carter toppled out of the car, landing on the ground with an umph .

  He watched as the taxi fizzled out of sight, disappearing from view.

  “Where the heck did you find them?” Walt groaned beside him. Carter glanced over. The older boy had recovered somewhat, but he had a curious look on his face. Like he knew Carter was hiding something.

  He probably did, between the fiasco at the museum and this, it wasn’t hard to figure it out.

  Carter shook his head. It was one thing to tell Sadie, another to tell one of the initiates, regardless of age or how long they’d been at the Brooklyn House.

  “It’s a long story.” Carter brushed off the question. He stood up, brushing the dirt off himself. “Let’s go find my sister.”

    ---

  Carter was of course grateful that Bes, Bast’s friend, had saved Sadie from Nekhbet and Babi. That did not mean He was appreciative of his wonderful idea to get him and his sister killed, while he sat around doing nothing.

  “So, to get this straight,” Sadie narrowed her eyes at the short god. “We get to break into the heavily guarded Russian museum, break into the secret headquarters of a bunch of magicians that want to kill us, and find a scroll that might explode on us and you get to eat chocolate?”

  “Yep.” Bes confirmed. “It’s a pretty good plan, so good it might actually work.”

  Carter sighed, internally. Unfortunately, “it might actually work” was above the average likelihood of any plan working, so he couldn’t actually complain.

  Bes continued, “If something goes wrong and you can’t meet at the chocolate shop then head over to Egyptian Bridge, it’s south of the Fontanka River. Just turn-”

  “We’ll be fine.” Sadie cut in, firmly. “We are meeting you at that chocolate shop and you better have a bag saved for me, got it?”

  “Sure thing.” Bes snorted and turned away, ambling back to their car.

  Carter watched him go and then looked at his sister.

  “This is going to go horribly wrong, isn’t it?”

  “No, it'll be worse.” Sadie disagreed. “Let’s go break into some stuff.”

    ---

  Breaking into the museum was easy with magic especially when Carter pulled out the invisibility spell he’d been practicing and modifying, and shockingly, the magician’s secret layer wasn’t nearly as well hidden as Carter thought it would be

  Carter wouldn’t say he understood Sadie’s weird friendship with Anubis. It wasn’t like the two saw each other often and Carter wasn’t usually there to see them interact, but they seemed to get along pretty well if Anubis was getting her birthday present.

  Horus, you better get me a birthday present. He thought, knowing he wouldn’t get a response. Though he was sure it would be along the lines of Carter barely taking the time to wish him happy birthday on his birthday. 

  Stumbling out of the mirror portal led them directly, fortunately, to Vladimir Menshikov’s office. It was official, elegant, and very extravagant. Bronze and gold embellished every surface, columns of dark green stone, Malachite perhaps, lined the perimeter.

  Unfortunately, the room wasn’t empty. Menshikov was in the center, where a large open circle on the ground with an octangular pattern engraved into the marble floor and a large vase. Just outside the circle was a writhing demon bound with chains.

  Clearly he was doing some kind of spell.

  An extraction, apparently. Carter couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the demon. Extractions couldn’t destroy a magical being but it could certainly send it to the depths of the Du’at for the next few millennia.

  Yeah, uh, Menshikov was definitely evil.

  Like super evil, like more than just wanting Carter and Sadie to die. Whatever he was doing didn’t fall under whatever rules the House of Life had.

  They had managed to make it to his desk without getting caught when they both stiffened as a voice echoed around the room.

  Carter put a hand over Sadie’s mouth to keep her from screaming.

  “Hello, Vladimir. Long time no see.”

  At least now they knew who he’d been trying to summon.

  “Set.” Menshikov replied, voice icy and emotionless.

  If Sadie had nearly screamed, Carter was locked in the past. Like in his nightmares, he was frozen, Set towering over them and Amos laying motionless and smoking at his feet. Set couldn’t hurt them, not after he had made an oath to Sadie, but that simply didn’t stop the overwhelming wave of terror that crashed over Carter.

  Set might not be on the same level as Apophis but Carter’s issues with Set were far more personal.

  Sadie nudged him with a concerned look and Carter shook his head, ignoring the slight tremor overtaking him.

  “Desk, now.” He muttered to her.

  She nodded and pulled out a wax clay figure, carved by Alyssa.

  Carter looked around the desk, watching as the vase tipped back and forth, as if Set was trying to tip it over.

  “Malachite, really?” Set sniffed. “How rude, Vladimir.”

  “It does a great job entrapping evil spirits.” Menshivo replied. “And this room is full of it, a wonderful decision from Tsarina Alexandra.”

  Carter raised a sceptical eyebrow. Sure, Set was technically the god of evil and chaos and what not but a basic malachite vase didn’t seem like it would be something that would hold him.

  If it actually did work, Carter wished someone had told that to Sadie and him in December.

  “It smells like pennies.” Set complained. “And it’s cold. Really, a vase is very uncomfortable. I’m not a genie afterall.”

  Next to him, Sadie muttered something under her breath and the figure came to life, already inspecting and sniffing the desk for traps or enchantments.

  “You will answer my questions.” Menshikov ignored the complaints.

  “No problem.” Set replied nonchalantly. “Personally, I’m a fan of Brazil for the World Cup. Definitely, recommend investing in platinum and-”

  “Not those questions.” Menshikov snarled. “If you don’t give me the answers I need, that vase will become significantly more uncomfortable.”

  Set chortled. “Vladimir, you should be no better than anyone. Sometimes what you want and what you need are very different things. I mean, look what happened last time you tried to get answers.”

  Menshikov adjusted his glasses. “You are going to tell me the binding of Apophis and then you will tell me how to neutralize the enchantments of the Brooklyn house so I can get rid of my opposition and remove Amos Kane.”

    ---

  “I'm going to murder you.” Sadie threatened Set, who decided to tell Menshikov that they were there. Which should surely go against the deal they made last year, but Set didn't seem to be facing any cosmic justice.

  Properly some stupid loophole.

  Carter wasn’t sure how their situation could get worse, faced and trapped with the man who was trying to make deals with the ancient egyptian’s devil, and murder their uncle, with the only potential aid the god who had tried to kill Sadie and Carter only three months prior, but somehow he figured it would get worse.

  Thankfully Sadie had managed to get her hands on the scroll, which was why they did this in the first place.

  “I’m a god Sadie Kane, you can’t kill me.” Set pointed out dryly. “ Even if you could, I'm unfortunately stuck in this jar. ”

  Which wasn’t subtle, but Carter wasn’t feeling any sympathy for Set considering he'd blown their cover.

  “Why would you work for Apophis?” Sadie snapped at Menshikov. “He’s literally the entity of chaos, don’t you understand what that will do to the world.”

  Menshikov removed his glasses and Carter got a good look at the burn over his eyes. They were glassy white and around them the skin was twisted and contorted, exactly as Sadie had described him.

  “You have no nothing about the powers at play right now.” He explained slowly, like she was an incompetent child. “ Five thousand years ago it was predicted that Apophis would swallow Ra and the world would be dosed in darkness and chaos would rule forever. You can not change this, only choose whether to stand by chaos or let yourself be destroyed.”

  Carter wanted to laugh. He had learned that the Egyptians had plenty of identities associated with fate. Shai, Renetnut, and the Seven Hathors. Egyptians certainly believe their lives were predetermined, but from Carter’s experience it was never that clear cut.

  No prophecy had a clear ending, no god, no matter how helpful they wanted to be, would ever let any mortal know the future for certain.

  “Wish I could make that choice, pity I’m in a jar.” Set grumbled.

  “Shut up.” Menshikov snapped at him. “No one would be crazy enough to trust you. And as for you children, you present a much smaller threat than I originally thought.”

  “So we can go?” Carter asked hopefully, already knowing the answer was no.

  “And have you run to Desjardins?” Menshikov laughed. “He wouldn’t believe of course and it would lead to your execution but ultimately it would just be easier for us all if I killed you here and now.”

  “And it would be such a sight to witness.” Set answered enthusiastically. “I only wish I wasn't s tuck in a jar.”

  Carter looked around for a solution. Freeing Set was technically stupid, but with him also inside the defensive circle Menshikov was in, Menshikov would lose his defensive edge But there was a chance Carter could break it down himself. For once his odd immunity to Egyptian magic could come in useful.

  Before he could do anything though, Menshikov threw his staff on the ground.

  Magician 101: If a person throws their staff on the ground that doesn’t mean they’re surrendering.

  Sadie cursed next to him.

  The staff started to transformed, writhing and twisting which really only meant one thing. A snake.

  Or at least something in the serpent family, Carter corrected quickly. Replacing the tail was another serpent head, and the creature had four lizard-like legs. Faster than the blink of the eye, it was towering over Carter and Sadie, both heads hissing.

  Carter, frankly, had had enough of the serpent themed monsters.

  “I hate snakes.” He muttered.

  “And I love them.” Menshikov responded jovially, like the psychopath he was. “This one is one of my favorite specimens, a tjesu heru.”

  Carter exchanged a look with Sadie. Their options had just become a lot more limited and their chances of surviving this practically non-existent. The two of them could probably handle the tjesu-whatsit, but after they were worn out or while they were distracted Menshikov would definitely kill them in some other way.

  Menshikov was an expert at this, at magic. Carter could barely even do magic and Sadie, goddess by her side or not, had only three months worth of practice.

  The only way to win this would be doing something unexpected.

  Carter glanced at the jar, Sadie followed his gaze.

  “Should I?” She asked.

  “Do it.” Carter agreed. It wasn’t a good plan, but it was a plan that might work.

  The snake monster tilted both of its heads at them, and in true form with what shouldn’t be possible for a giant creature, charged at the siblings with unprecedented speed.

  Carter reached for his sword, gripping it tightly. Thankfully, Sadie was faster.

  She pointed her wand at the malachite jar and yelled her favorite command word: “Ha-di!”

  It was a risk, for more than just letting Set have free reign over the room. Sadie was good at magic, but divine words were difficult without Isis’s help and Sadie hadn’t tried to use a spell that powerful since before the first initiate had shown up.

  The words hovered in the air, golden, Isis’s godly power still staining them even if she wasn’t present.

  The malachite jar shattered just before the creature reached Carter and a sand storm swept through the room.

  Hot winds shoved Carter and Sadie over to the fireplace, pelting them with sand (which was very uncomfortable), both the tjesu heru and Menshikov were flung against the falls, getting covered in sand in only a moment.

  Slowly the storm died down, leaving a man, his skin a deep red and his suit a burgundy color, in the center of the room.

  He spread his hands as if they were supposed to be awestruck by his presence. “Now that is much better. Thank you Sadie.”

    ---

  Set was useless, because of course he was.

  Oh yes, he could help distract Menshikov but he just let Carter and Sadie get chased around by a two headed snake monster. Super helpful.

  Carter twisted around another corner, almost slipping on the marble floors. Around five seconds later, a thump sounded from behind him. Probably the tjesu heru crashing into another wall.

  Really, the slippery floors were the only reason Sadie and Carter hadn’t been eaten yet.

  “Oh thank god.” Sadie muttered.

  Carter then noticed the giant doors in front of them, and let out a relieved sigh. Or he tried, he was kind breathless from all the sprinting. The only problem: chains covered the door.

  Once glance at Sadie proved she didn’t have enough energy to use another spell.

  But they couldn’t turn around, not with the tjesu heru right behind them and this was their only way forward. Which meant they were trapped.

  Carter hated being trapped. A side effect of claustrophobia he assumed, but even in a space as big as the grand entrance to the winter palace, felt small in the face of never being able to leave it.

  Never ever getting the chance to try since they would be dead in approximately ten seconds.

  And for a moment, Horus was there. Carter could never really forget the odd feeling of having another voice in his mind, sharing it. Especially, when they had finally figured out how to work together.

  It wasn’t words exactly, but Horus liked being trapped about as much as Carter did and that feeling was enough. Enough to give Carter an idea.

  Mentally, Carter shoved. Telekinesis was powered by intention, and that intention mixed with whatever magic Carter was capable of was enough to make things move.

  The chains broke at the doors were flung open, sending a gust of cold wind into the building

  Carter had only managed to get maybe a few yards down the sidewalk when Sadie yelled from behind him.

  “Carter, Stop!”

  Carter stumbled, sliding on some ice and falling backward, his sword skittering out of his hand.

  In an instance the tjesu heru was towering above Carter, quite literally above him, the two heads twisted around to look at him.

  Sadie was saying something behind him, Carter was slightly too panicked to hear her, but she figured it had something to do with not moving. Carter didn’t have any plans to move at the moment.

  Out of his peripheral vision he could see his sword. It was out of arm's reach, but that wasn’t an issue. Carter could just summon it to his hand. All he had to do was figure out how to do it without startling the tjesu heru.

  Something hit the back of his head.

  Carter turned around at the same time the two snake heads did. Sadie gave Carter an apologetic look but focused on distracting the tjesu heru.

  It gave Carter the chance to slowly back up a bit, and in a moment his sword had reappeared in his hand.

  “Carter,” Sadie yelled, “when I yell go you run over here.”

  Carter raised a speculative eyebrow, around Sadie’s feet was a circle carved into the snow but he doubted it would be enough to hold off the tjesu heru. Anyway, Carter wouldn’t be fast enough.

  “Sadie, I don’t think that’s going to work.” Carter called back.

  “I’ll use a spell to blind it.” Sadie responded.

  Before anything could happen though, a young man ran out of the building, towards them. Carter assumed it was a guard, which was bad.

  The tjesu heru watched Sadie and the guard, getting more tense. As if it was waiting to pounce.

  Sadie was still talking with the guard and wasn’t paying attention or watching the tjesu heru, and so when it did pounce, well Carter wasn’t just going to let it attack her.

  He lunged after it, bringing his sword down onto one of its heads. The tjesu heru hissed, the stabbed neck thrashing. Carter, who was trying to cling to his sword which was now stuck in the creature’s neck, swung violently around.

  But the tjesu heru had more than one head. Carter remembered that the same instant a shock of pain bloomed throughout his shoulder. He was vaguely sure that there would be two puncture wounds in his back.

  He thought that maybe he hit the ground after that, his hands slipped off his swords, but he wasn't sure. The world was... dark. His visions blurred and splotchy, his limbs numb besides for a giant burning sensation running through his body, and sound muted. Something might've sounded like Sadie screaming, which was wrong, because she shouldn't be screaming at all.

  He wasn't given the chance to check on her though, his vision fading to black as he passed out.

Chapter Text

  Sadie stared at her brother. His skin had an ashy undertone and he looked almost… frail. She had never seen her brother looking sickly before, so it was an odd and new sight. Even when they were younger the worst Carter had ever felt was a cough.

  His wound was still oozing. Apparently whatever poison was in that monster was enough to keep Bes from bandaging it.

  Her brother was inches away from dying and Bes was admiring a snack cart, still. Seriously, the hotel room they got (apparently five stars) was lovely and she was sure the many amenities that came with it, including being treated like near royalty, were nice, but she really needed to save her brother’s life.

  “Oh my god!” She snapped at the god. “Hurry up!”

  Bes raised his hand defensively but grabbed Sadie’s bag from where it was sitting on the table and passed it to her.

  Sadie dug through grabbing her wand and a wax figurine that looked remarkably like her brother, if a bit banged up.

  Jaz had given it to her the figurine. It was precisely sculpted to look like Carter, clearly made for him with his name written out in hieroglyphs on his chest.

  Sadie didn’t know how Jaz knew this would happen but it might be powerful enough to save her brother’s life.

    ---

  “I’m not dead.” Jaz raised her eyebrows at Sadie. “This is my Ren.”

  The other girl looked sort of like a Ba, green and very spirit-y, but without the chicken head. And it flickered, pictures, memories, of Jaz’s life appearing within the spector.

  “Isn’t that another part of your soul?” Sadie asked.

  Jaz nodded. “Egyptian believe there are five parts to the soul. Ba is personality, Ren is-”

  “Your name.” Sadie finished. “But how is-”

  Jaz smiled. “My name, my Ren, is my identity. It’s every memory and experience that has made me who I am in only a few words. As long as I am remembered and it exists, then I exist even when I’m dead. Do you understand?’

    --–

  Sadie did understand, now, even if she hadn’t in her dream. Isis might’ve banished Ra using his secret name but she had also healed him. Who’s to say Sadie couldn’t do the same?

  “Carter, I’m going to heal you,” She whispered to him, resting a hand on his feverish forehead. “but I need your help.”

  A secret name held power because it was who a person was, every mistake, every belief, everything that happened to a person. It’s why a secret name had to be given, why usually only people close to a person knew their secret name because to know their secret name you had to understand them, you had to know them.

  Sadie knew her brother.

  Carter, what’s your secret name?

  Carter might've been poisoned, but he still subconsciously resisted her. Nobody would simply hand it over, especially since most people didn’t know their secret name. It wasn’t easy to sum up one's entire existence in only five words or less even if somebody wanted to try.

  “Come on, Carter.” Sadie told him softly. “You’re my brother. If finding out you’re a demigod couldn’t scare me off I promise I’ll your other embarrassing secrets can’t. I’ll be here, always. Now please tell me your name so I can save your life, idiot.”

  She felt a tingle beneath her fingertips and the memories of Carter’s life passed through them.

    ---

  “What do you two think you’re doing?” A stern voice interrupted.

  Carter and Sadie both froze, looking up at their dad sheepishly. Carter had two arms reaching past Sadie, desperately trying to grab the book she had in her hands.

  “Sadie took my book.” Carter grumbled.

  Dad raised an eyebrow at Sadie. “Oh, did she?”

  Sadie looked at the ground.

  “I suppose that means you will have to be punished.” Their dad shook his head slowly, looking disappointed.

  Sadie jolted and her eyes widened. “What?”

  “There is only one appropriate way to deal with thievery in the house.” Their dad walked towards Sadie and scooped her up, his upset facade falling away. “I will have to toss you to the ocean.”

  Sadie wiggled and squirmed as Dad swung her around. “No, I don’t wanna go swimming. Let me down!”

  Carter was laughing too, happy she was getting what she deserved. “That’s what you get for stealing my book!”

    ---

  It was night time, Carter was curled up under his blankets, staring at his open bedroom door.

  Mom came into view, dressed in pajamas and her hair pulled up behind her. She smiled gently as Carter walked up to him and sat down at the edge of his bed.

  “Sorry, your sister did not want to go to bed.” She whispered to him, stroking his hair. Carter smiled a bit at her. “Goodnight Carter.”

  She went to press a kiss to his forehead, but Carter stopped her.

  “Can I have a story?” He asked, hopefully, eyes wide.

  Mom looked down at them and gave a slight chuckle. “Okay, but you have to scootch over.” She told him, moving so she could lay down next to him and letting him snuggle up next to her. “What kind of story do you want?”

  Carter made a face, scrunching his nose. “One about the Stars, please.”

  “Of course.” Mom agreed easily. “You’ve heard about Orion, right? Well in Egyptian mythology Orion was actually the embodiment of Osiris-”

    --–

  “I don’t think this is a good idea.” Carter mumbled.

  Annabeth rolled her eyes at him. “You’ll be just fine. I mean, you’ve gotten very good at the climbing wall, I doubt this will pose much of a challenge.”

  “You mean, lava.” Carter corrected.

  The climbing wall towered above the two of them, Annabeth helping Carter into a harness. Carter had in fact made it to the top of the wall, multiple times, but that had been with the lava setting turned off.

  He was going to die.

  Above him, a crack appeared in the rock and Carter winced.

  Annabeth shoved him forward and walked back, looping the rope through the small pulley linked to her own harness and planting her feet on the ground. “Hurry up.”

  Carter glared at her, but reached up for a hand hold.

    --–

  Golden dust floated through the air around him. The café was pretty much destroyed, tables overturned and more than one chair thrown across the room. There was a whole through the wall and the door, what was the door, was now in two pieces from where it had been cut in half.

  A ten year-old knelt in the middle of the mess, alone.

  Carter had told his dad that coming to Greece was a bad idea, of course it was. His dad hadn’t listened.

  His dad.

  Carter jolted up and raced outside, looking back and forth frantically, his knife hidden away in his pants pocket. The streets were filled with panicking people, most of which had come in close contact with the rampaging monster.

  Carter hadn't meant to draw the monster directly into a crowded cafe, but it had happened and he had lost his dad in the mess.

  “Carter!” A voice yelled above the mess.

  He twisted around, finding the top of Dad’s head in the mess of people. He sprinted towards him. Dad caught Carter in his arms, wrapping him in a hug. Carter practically collapsed, sniffling, sweaty, and dusted with gold.

  The two of them stayed like that for a while, the two of them surrounded by the chaos of people.

    ---

  Smoke rose into the air, too many bodies for each to get an individual ceremony.

  Carter pressed his lips together, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes as a purple shroud with a grey owl embroidered on the top of it went up in flames.

  Isabel was twelve, only just found out she was a demigod a few months ago. Carter didn’t know her that well, but her arms were covered in bracelets and she liked taking photos with an old polaroid camera. Her favorite color had been purple.

  Next to her shroud was a similar red and orange shroud, the same owl embroidered in the middle. Kyle was the other child of Athna. He was actually the oldest, at seventeen, but he had only been around for three years. He was pretty cool, planning on getting an engineering degree after he finished high school. Carter had been close to him, he hadn't minded whenever Carter rambled and brought him a couple of new books.

  And the two of them were dead. Isabel would never live to get her first camp bead, Kyle would never be able to graduate high school.

  Sometimes Carter forgot how impossible having a future was as a demigod.

  Malcolm had an arm wrapped around Jenny’s shoulder, his other two half-siblings grieving. Neither of them were crying but Malcolm looked physically pained, his skin pale and his lips bitten raw. Jenny’s eyes had dark bags under them and she looked weaker.

  Annabeth was probably with Percy or something, Carter didn't know.

  Carter blinked, his eyes stinging.

  Clarification: Monsters sucked, but they right now, they weren’t the reason Kype and Isabel were dead. Weren’t the reason Carter had to attend this mass funeral. That was Luke’s fault.

  Luke had wanted to start a war around three years ago. Had stolen from the gods and tried to kill Percy to do it.

  It looked like Luke was going to get what he wanted finally, at the expense of the people he used to care about.

    --–

  Sadie pulled away, breathing heavily. In her hand, the wax statue melted away as it took the venom out of Carter.

  On the couch Crater shuddered and opened his eyes, gasping.

  She waited for him to gather himself, confusion flashing across his face before his eyes widened in shock and he looked up at her. Sadie was almost hurt by the look of fear on his face, like she was going to make fun of him or something.

  Sadie wasn’t a perfect sister, and she did enjoy teasing her brother, but this. This was way too personal. It wouldn’t be funny, it would be cruel.

  Though, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t upset about anything she learned or about that pretty vital information her brother had decided he just wouldn’t tell her.

  (Carter was fighting in war- had been fighting in one for years. He had lost a lot more than Sadie would’ve ever guessed. More than she could ever imagine herself going through)

  “Oh my god.” Carter muttered, pulling Sadie out of her thoughts. “Did you-?”

  She nodded.

  “With my secret name?”

  “Yep.”

  Carter leaned his head back and groaned.

  Sadie ignored his protests, pulling him into a hug. Relief coursed through her body. He was alive, he was fine. “Please don’t jump on to the back of a venomous snake again." She muttered to him, under his breath.

  “Sorry.” Carter responded.

  “And you apparently have some more to tell me about this demigod stuff.” Sadie continued glaring at her brother, he winced sheepishly.

Chapter Text

  “You told her?” Bes asked, surprised.

  “Not everything, apparently.” Sadie said, pointedly. “He didn’t say anything about being involved in an actual war.”

  “I didn’t see the purpose in doing so.” Carter argued, though he well aware that it wouldn’t help

  Sadie’s jaw dropped, gobsmacked. “You didn’t see the purpose? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! I am your sister-”

  “And it’s not your fight.” Carter cut her off, standing up, off the couch to face her. “You aren’t a demigod. You have no reason to be in this war at all. I don’t want you to get involved in something dangerous that you don’t need to be in.”

  “No reason!” Sadie exclaimed. “You're involved.”

  “I’m a demigod.”

  “You’re my brother.” Sadie screamed. “And apparently, you’ve been fighting for your life, constantly. You’ve watched people die, you’ve almost died.”

  She was blinking her eyes rapidly. It almost looked like she was crying.

  “You already knew that.” Carter pointed out. “I mean, I literally almost just died.”

  Sadie made a frustrated noise. “But I stopped it. I was there, I knew about it. What if it had happened before and I wasn’t there. What if you died and- and-”

  Sadie stopped and turned away from him, but Carter could guess what she was going to say.

  What if I was left alone?

  What if Carter had died back at the Battle of the Labyrinth or at Mt. Orthys or even any of the countless times monsters had attacked him.

  Sadie would be alone right now, and Carter, he would have lost the chance to have a sister again. They, the two of them, would never have been a family. He would’ve died, a complete stranger to his sister.

  Carter used to mourn his little sister and the family he once had. He hates to think of a world where he never got it back. It’s not the same obviously, but it's something. It’s more than what he had.

  Carter reached forward and hugged Sadie, and she sniffled. She wasn’t hugging him back, but she didn’t pull away either

  “I’m sorry.” He muttered, because he understood now. If Sadie had been facing almost certain death, he’d probably react similarly.

  Sadie nodded against his chest. “Just… when it… all comes to a head, you better let me come with you.”

  Carter hesitated, but…

  “Got it.”

  It was a terrible idea. A risk that Carter shouldn't take, but he couldn’t deny his sister when she looked so upset. Anyway, Carter would want to be by Sadie’s side if she had to deal with something.

  “Well, that was really sweet, however we are a bit pressed for time.” Bes cut in. “End of the world and all.”

  Sadie glared at him.

  Carter smiled a little. “Yeah, I know. Did anything happen while I was out?”

  Sadie exchanged a look with Bes. “Yeah, actually. We ran into Set on the way here and he gave us some info.”

  “Really?” Carter asked, doubtfully. That was out of character for him.

  “It wasn’t for free.” Sadie explained, which made a lot more sense. “We made a deal. He’d give me the location of the last piece of the scroll and I gave him back his secret name. Don’t worry he won’t be messing up anything, I made sure of that.”

  “That’s great.” Carter grinned. “And definitely makes our life easier.”

  “Yeah.” Sadie agreed, but she shifted uncomfortably.

  Carter raised an eyebrow, “What is it?”

  Sadie crossed her arms. “He also gave up some extra information for free.”

  “Which was…” Carter didn’t know why Sadie was so nervous and that worried him.

  “He told us the name of Zia’s village.” Sadie blurted out. “Carter, I don’t want you to get your hopes up especially since we have to save the world.”

  Carter had stopped listening after she had said “Zia’s Village". His dream flashed through his mind, along with the words of the three-headed snake demon that had broken into the Brooklyn House.

  Carter had been looking for Zia for months, but he had never had the information he needed to get very far. And now, with the knowledge that Zia’s life was in danger and the potential knowledge of where he could find her…

  He had to go find her.

  “Carter.” Sadie snapped. “We don’t have time for you to go off.”

  “You don’t understand.” Carter argued. “Zia’s in danger. Apophis has it out for her, for some reason. If I don’t go now it could be too late by the time we finish this.”

  And it was so frustrating to see Sadie roll her eyes at him.

  “I’m not exaggerating. The demon that destroyed her village literally broke into the Brooklyn House and told me it would destroy her.”

  “What, when did that happen?” Sadie exclaimed. “You never told me that.”

  “After you had left to go on your birthday retreat.” Carter grumbled. “And I did tell you about my dream. Apophis basically said the same thing and you didn’t believe me.”

  Bes was looking between the two of them like they were playing a tennis match.

  Carter almost felt bad, when Sadie twisted away from him, a look of guilt on her face. Almost, because he was also really annoyed with her. She could go celebrate her birthday but he couldn’t go find Zia.

  But, the world came first, as per usual.

  “It’s fine.” Carter mumbled.

  “No.” Sadie sighed. “You and Bes can go look for Zia.”

  “I’m not going to let you go off on your own to find the third scroll.” Carter pointed out.

  “I can get Walt to help me.” Sadie explained. She pulled out a necklace from under her collar. “He got me a pair of necklaces that allowed the people wearing them to teleport to each other for my birthday and I let him keep one of them.”

  (In all honesty, Sadie would’ve given the other one to Carter, but then they had argued and well, Sadie didn't want to give it to him at the time. Luckily her petty decision was becoming useful.)

  “I…are you sure?” Carter questioned.

  Sadie nodded. “You said Apophis was after her, so clearly she plays some sort of important role. And regardless, I don’t think I would be able to stand by knowing she could likely die.”

  “Thank you.” Carter gave a sigh of relief.

  Sadie nodded. “Twenty four hours to get what we need done and then we’ll meet in Alexandria okay?”

  “So this is great and all, but uh Walt can’t go with you.” Bes cut in.

  Carter had honestly, kind of forgotten the guy was even there. He had to pity him, it was no doubt an awkward experience to watch two siblings fight.

  “Why not?” Sadie asked Bes, hands on her hips. “He’s like the only one available to us right now, and he's one of the most competent initiatives we have.”

  Bes hesitated and grimaced, but could argue against Sadie’s raised eyebrow of challenge.

  Early, after saving Sadie, Bes had insisted that Walt go home. Walt had listened, so clearly there was an issue. A serious one if it had an actual god concerned about it. And that concerned Carter, especially since Walt had shown no signs of any illness or injury that would warrant concern.

  Either the issue was of magical origin or Walt was much better at pretending then Carter thought.

  Regardless, Sadie was right. Walt was their only option. If Bes wasn’t able to give a good reason they shouldn’t call on him for help, then they would have to move forward with the plan.

  “So that's the plan.” Carter agreed, ignoring Bes’s nervous fidgeting.

  “I’ll pack up. And we’ll see each other in twenty-four hours.”

  Carter moved towards the bathroom. He should probably get a change of clothes and shower before he did anything else.

    ---

  It’s important to note that twenty-four hours was a very ambitious goal considering Kane's track record.

    ---

  Long story short, it was boring.

  Funnily enough, the desert wasn’t exactly the most interesting place to hang around. Carter had been well aware of this for years, the countless hours or wandering sandy ruins while his dad worked was a prominent part of his childhood.

  However, it could never prepare him for how mindnumbingly boring (and hot) it was.

  They had been traveling along the edge of a Nile in trucks, asking anyone they found if they had heard of Zia’s village.

  It was easy enough to find the information, a man on the side of the road was able to tell them that Makan al-Ramal al-Hamrah was only ten kilometers down the river, just where the sand started to look red.

  “There used to be a village there, you know. One day the entire town vanished off the map, destroyed by a demon I presume. I wouldn’t recommend stopping by, it’s cursed.”

  Carter probably should’ve been more worried about the cursed part, but internally he was practically vibrating with excitement. After months of getting nowhere he was only ten kilometers away from finding Zia.

  Back in the truck, about a minute along the bumpy road, Bes spoke up.

  “You sure you're up for this?” Bes asked carefully.

  “What do you mean?” Carter responded.

  “I’m saying that, magically, you look terrible. Clearly the tjesu heru put some major strain on your magic and your body.” Bes pointed out.

  He wasn’t wrong, whatever Sadie had done had saved his life, but it hadn’t returned him back to his usual self. The place where he was bitten still stung and he had been feeling lethargic all day.

  “Since apparently Apophis has been going after her, I doubt Iskander made it easy to access. This is going to be difficult.” Bes continued.

  “Do you think I should’ve stayed with Sadie?” Carter questioned dryly.

  Sure the primary reason for doing this was finding Zia, but Carter also didn’t think he wanted to be close to his sister at the moment. There was something uncomfortable about knowing she’d seen everything about him. All his memories, his fears and insecurities. It, well necessary, was an invasion of privacy.

  He wouldn’t have left Sadie if that had been the only reason, but he could appreciate the separation as it allowed him to sort out his thoughts about it.

  “I think this is probably a trap.” Bes told Carter bluntly. “And we are literally in the First Nome’s territory. Menshikov is definitely going to be hunting you down and you are making it a lot easier for him.”

  “Maybe he’ll still be recovering from his injuries?” Carter replied hopefully.

  Bes snorted. “Then you don’t know a thing about him. Their family is an arrogant bunch, and you certainly insulted his pride. He won’t let that go unpunished.”

  “Do you have some sort of history with him?”

  Bes grimaced. “His grandfather was a leader of the Eighteenth Nome. He captured me sometime during the 1700s. He thought I should be used for entertainment and played up this whole dwarf wedding. It was humiliating.”

  His tone was bitter, Carter doubted a wedding was all that had happened if he was still that angry about centuries later.

  Furthermore, while Carter was more than used to Horus complaining about his own capture by the House of Life when they were forced to share a brain, it had always been with annoyance not anger, and he had been captured millennia earlier.

  “Weren’t all the gods captured after the fall of Egypt?” Carter pointed.

  Bes shrugged. “The high profile ones maybe, especially if they were likely to cause a fuss. And they either slept for all those years or tried to break out. However, someone like me was low profile enough and well liked enough they didn’t really care about putting the effort needed into getting me chained up.”

  “Did Bast free you then? Is that why you're helping us?” Carter narrowed his eyes. That would make sense.

  Some Egyptian gods certainly acted more compassionate than the average one would, but most of them didn’t do anything for free.

  “No, that was someone else.” Bes smirked. “Bastet and I have similar roles, so before she was sent to fight Apophis for eternity we ran into each other quite a bit. We’re friends, so I didn’t mind doing her a favor.”

  Carter raised a speculative eyebrow.

  Bes snorted. “You certainly aren’t the trusting sort.”

  “Well most gods aren’t the type to give favors for free.” Carter pointed out.

  Bes made a so-so motion with his hand. “I think it depends on the type of god you're talking to, but I suppose your experience probably isn’t much of a positive one? Greek Gods can certainly be a bit hoity toity.”

  Carter had never heard anyone call a god hoity toity, no one he knew would dare, but Carter wasn’t going to argue.

  “Also, I hope you were serious when you said you were ready for this.” Bes spoke up after a moment. “Cause we’re here.”

    ---

  Stepping onto the sand felt unreal, Carter hadn’t known that it was even possible for sand to be this vivid of a color.

  It was like a little mini paradise, the palm trees rising from the river banks, and the sun sinking behind them. It was a beautiful place. It had been a bad decision to build a village there though.

  Red was the color of chaos.

  The village’s destruction was almost as good as certain the moment they chose this place to build it.

    ---

  Carter did not want to wade out into the river. The last time he’d done that he’d almost been gobbled up by a crocodile.

  And that hadn’t even been the Nile.

  He took a step into the water and grimaced as his shoe squelched in the silt of the river.

  He glanced back when Bes made no move to follow him.

  “You coming?”

  Bes grumbled something under his breath but also took a step into the water.

  For the next half an hour or so they meandered around the river, looking for any sign of a place that might be where Zia would be hidden. Carter had walked about half a mile when the stick he had grabbed earlier hit against something hard.

  He moved the stick further along whatever it was and felt it drop off.

  Almost like steps.

  “Bes, I found something.” Carter called out.

  A short moment later and Bes was beside him.

  “It seems like there are steps or something over here.” He explained.

  Bes dunked his head underwater, starling Carter. A few seconds later he came up, his hair a mess with mud and weeds.

  “There’s definitely stairs. I would guess that it was a tomb.”

  “A tomb? Why would there be a-”

  Carter’s question was interrupted by a splash.

  Both of them turned to the sound.

  “That sounds problematic.” Bes noted\

  “Wait, why?” Carter twisted to look over at the god. “What’s problematic about it?”

  Bes froze and shrugged.

  He was as bad a liar as Carter’s dad had been.

  “We should hurry though. Part the river.” 

  Carter starred at Bes. “What do you mean by ‘part the river’.”

  “Come on, it's a basic skill. All magicians know how to do it. That’s one of the first things you learn.” Bes waved in front of them.

  “Because my magical education was so very traditional.” Carter grumbled.

  In all fairness he might be able to do it with his telekinesis. He was pretty good at it, but there was a difference between moving solid heavy stuff and moving water, or water at all. Percy complained about the difficulties a few times.

  “Did your dad not teach you anything? Most kids get educated when they're younger by the House of course, but if they come from a long line of magicians their parents usually show them a trick or two.”

  Carter gave a bitter laugh. “I didn’t even know I was a magician until last christmas when my dad got himself killed to release Osiris.”

  That shut Bes up real quick.

  Carter sighed and concentrated on the water in front of the tomb. It didn’t matter what he had been taught to not. It was likely that Zia was in that tomb and if parting the river was the only way to save her then he might as well try.

  Before he could actually do anything he was shoved.

  “Get out of the water now!”

  “What?” Carter shouted back.

  “Water demons!” 

  Carter stumbled towards the shore, but was cut off when he was hit by a jet of water. Water engulfed him and he sputtered, trying the breath.

  Bes was down the river when Carter could next see clearly.

  Apparently the water demons had realized the god was far more of a threat to them and two had attacked Bes.

  “Can you ward them off?” The god yelled, trying to avoid being plunged into the water.

  “What about ‘not taught anything’ do you not understand!” Carter yelled back.

  Bes probably rolled his eyes, but Carter couldn’t tell. He did hear him shout “BOO” and saw one of the Water demons vaporize instantly.

  Before the second one could meet the same fate it attacked Bes, blasting water directly at his face.

  Carter was distracted from helping Bes, when he was also attacked again. Apparently there had been more than two.

  Internally he cursed himself for not being more paranoid. He should not be letting himself get caught off guard like this.

  It was times like this that Carter cursed his heritage. If he’d been normal, maybe, maybe, he could’ve produced a shield or something. Unfortunately for Carter, the most he could do with his abilities in a combat avatar and occasionally sign his own twerked version of a divine word.

  Right now neither were very helpful.

  There was an indescribably unpleasant sensation when water went up your nose. It was worse when said water was sentient and actively trying to kill you.

  Cater thrashed and kicked about. The river wasn't deep, he knew that, but it didn’t seem to matter.

  It felt more like he had been shoved to the bottom of the twelve foot deep pool rather than being only a few inches from the surface.

  His vision was starting to darken as he clawed up, trying to free himself. Water tightened around his chest, compressing his lungs as water also poured into them when he accidentally opened his mouth to gasp for air.

  It was reminiscent of his fight with Sobek, but it also reminded of a memory that didn’t belong to him. Thousands of years ago, when Set tried to drown him- Horus.

  Carter clung to that memory and called on his power as the eye of Horus. Empathy, shockingly, was the best way to channel the powers of a god. To understand their experiences and to utilize their abilities in a similar situation.

  If you had the same goals and feelings it was much easier to work together.

  Fury filled him. He was Carter Kane and he refused to be drowned in three feet of water.

  The world turned silver and gold, and the world exploded around him.

  After some amount of time came to pass, Carter blinked and looked around. He felt drained, but as he looked around it seemed that the water demons had disappeared. And as he blinked he realized that instead of kneeling in the shallow water he was kneeling in the mud of the river bank. The water of the river floated about him in an arc.

  Bes was standing in front of him, looking annoyed.

  “You could’ve parted the river without punching me.” Bes crossed his arms.

  “Oh.” Carter pushed himself to his feet. “Uh, sorry about that.”

  He shrugged. “It’s fine. You did manage to handle it in the end, so neither of us drowned.” Bes turned to look just behind Carter. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get worse.”

  Carter followed Bes’s gaze, looking at the fully revealed tomb.

  It was pristine marble, glimmering in the setting sun. At the bottom was a single door sized block, and each piece of stone was etched with intricate hieroglyphs. The largest, in the center of the door, was the symbol for the house of life.

  Carter slowly walked down the steps, halting as he reached to the bottom and noticed a collection of phonetic hieroglyphs.

  It took him a moment to recognize what they said.

  Z-I-A

  Zia.

  “And that looks exactly like a trap.” Bes muttered from next to Carter.

  Carter ignored him and placed a hand on the door. Zia was back there. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, give up now.

  He pressed lightly on the stone block and let it swing open.