The Crown of Ptolemy, Page 4

  With Nekhbet in my mind, I knew the answer. Of course the Mist was related. The Mist was simply a Greek name for the uppermost layer between the worlds – the layer that Setne was now shredding.

  I should have been terrified. Seeing the world in all its infinite levels was enough to give anybody vertigo.

  But I’d been dropped into oceans before. I was used to floating in the depths with endless thermal layers around me.

  Also, Nekhbet wasn’t easily impressed. She’d seen just about everything over the millennia. Her mind was as cold and dry as the desert night wind. To her, the mortal world was a constantly changing wasteland, dotted with the carcasses of men and their civilizations. Nothing lasted. It was all roadkill waiting to happen. As for the Duat, it was always churning, sending up plumes of magic like sun flares into the mortal world.

  Still, we were both disturbed by the way Setne’s spell tore through the Mist. He wasn’t just manipulating it. Magicians did that all the time. Setne was strip-mining the Duat. Wherever he stepped, fractures radiated outward, cleaving through the layers of the magic realm. His body sucked in energy from every direction, destroying the boundaries between the Duat and the mortal world, between Greek magic and Egyptian magic – slowly transforming him into an immortal. In the process, he was ripping a hole in the cosmic order that might never close.

  His magic pulled at us – Nekhbet and me – urging us to give up and be absorbed into his new glorious form.

  I didn’t want to be absorbed. Neither did the vulture goddess. Our common purpose helped us work together.

  I marched across the field. Sadie and Annabeth fanned out on my right. I assumed Carter was somewhere on my left, but he’d gone invisible again, so I couldn’t be sure. The fact that I couldn’t detect him, even with Nekhbet’s super vulture senses, gave me hope that Setne wouldn’t see him, either.

  Maybe if I kept Setne busy, Carter would be able to cut off Setne’s other hand. Or his legs. Bonus points for his head.

  Setne stopped chanting when he saw me.

  ‘Awesome!’ He grinned. ‘You brought the vulture with you. Thanks!’

  Not the reaction I’d been hoping for. I keep waiting for the day when the bad guy sees me and screams, I give up! But it hasn’t happened yet.

  ‘Setne, drop the crown.’ I raised my kopis, which didn’t feel heavy with Nekhbet’s power flowing through me. ‘Surrender, and you might get out of this alive. Otherwise –’

  ‘Oh, very good! Very threatening! And your friends here … Let me guess. You keep me occupied while they set some amazing trap to contain the newly made god?’

  ‘You’re not a god yet.’

  He waved off the comment. ‘I suppose Carter is lurking around here too, all stealthy and invisible? Hi, Carter!’

  If Carter was nearby, he didn’t respond. Smart guy.

  Setne raised his stump of a wrist. ‘Wherever you are, Carter, I was impressed with the hand-cutting-off spell. Your father would be proud. That’s what matters to you, isn’t it? Making your father proud? But think what would be possible if you joined me. I intend to change the rules of the game. We could bring your father back to life – I mean real life, not that horrible half life he’s got in the Underworld. Anything is possible once I’m a god!’

  Around Setne’s wrist, the Mist curled, solidifying into a new hand. ‘What do you say, Carter?’

  Above the magician, the air shimmered. A giant blue fist the size of a refrigerator appeared over Setne’s head and pounded him into the ground like a nail into soft wood.

  ‘I say no.’ Carter appeared across the field, Annabeth’s Yankees cap in his hand.

  I stared at the crown of Ptolemy – the only part of Setne still visible above ground.

  ‘You were supposed to wait,’ I told Carter. ‘Set the trap. Let me deal with Setne.’

  Carter shrugged. ‘He shouldn’t have brought up my father.’

  ‘Never mind that!’ Annabeth said. ‘Get the crown!’

  I realized she was right. I would’ve sprung into action, except Nekhbet and I had a moment of paralysis. The goddess wanted her hat back. But I took one look at the crown’s eerie glow, remembered the way the cobra goddess had been devoured and decided I was not touching that crown without latex gloves and maybe a hazmat suit.

  Before Nekhbet and I could resolve our differences, the earth rumbled.

  Setne rose from the ground as if on an elevator platform and glared at Carter. ‘I make you a perfectly fair offer, and you hit me with a giant fist? Perhaps your father wouldn’t be proud, after all.’

  Carter’s face contorted. His whole body glowed with blue light. He levitated off the ground as the avatar of Horus took shape around him.

  Setne didn’t look worried. He curled his newly regrown fingers in a come here gesture, and Carter’s avatar shattered. The blue light swirled towards Setne and was engulfed in his growing aura. Carter collapsed, motionless, on the wet ground.

  ‘SETNE!’ Sadie shouted, raising her staff. ‘Over here, you little weasel!’

  She blasted the magician with a jet of white fire. Setne caught it on his chest and absorbed the energy.

  ‘Sadie, hon,’ he chided. ‘Don’t be mad. Carter has always been the boring one. I didn’t really want to grant him eternal life. But you – why don’t you work with me, eh? We can have tons of fun! Tearing up the universe, destroying things as we see fit!’

  ‘That’s – that’s not fair,’ Sadie said, her voice trembling. ‘Tempting me with destruction.’

  She tried for her usual sassy tone, but her eyes stayed fixed on Carter, who still wasn’t moving.

  I knew I should do something. We’d had a plan … But I couldn’t remember it. The vulture goddess in my head was flying circles on autopilot. Even Annabeth looked like she was struggling to concentrate. Being so close to Setne was like standing next to a waterfall. His white noise drowned out everything.

  ‘You know,’ Setne continued, as if we were planning a party together, ‘I think this island will be perfect. My palace will go right here, in the new centre of the universe!’

  ‘A muddy soccer field,’ Annabeth noted.

  ‘Oh, come now, child of Athena! You can see the possibilities. That old fool Serapis had the right idea: gather all the wisdom of Greece and Egypt together in one place and use that power to rule the world! Except Serapis didn’t have my vision. I’ll consume the old pantheons – Zeus, Osiris, all those dusty deities. Who needs them? I’ll just take the bits and pieces I can use from all of them. I’ll become the head of a new race of gods. Humans will come here from all over the world to make offerings and buy souvenirs.’

  ‘Souvenirs?’ I said. ‘You want immortality so you can sell T-shirts?’

  ‘And snow globes!’ Setne got a dreamy look in his eyes. ‘I love snow globes. Anyway, there’s room for more than one new god. Sadie Kane – you’d be perfect. I know you love breaking rules. Let’s break all of them! Your friends can come along too!’

  Behind the magician, Carter groaned and began to stir.

  Setne glanced back with distaste. ‘Not dead yet? Tough kid. Well … I suppose we can include him in our plans. Although, if you’d prefer, Sadie, I can certainly finish him off.’

  Sadie let loose a guttural cry. She advanced, but Annabeth caught her arm.

  ‘Fight smart,’ Annabeth said. ‘Not angry.’

  ‘Point taken,’ Sadie said, though her arms still trembled with rage. ‘But I’ll do both.’

  She unfurled the Book of Thoth.

  Setne just laughed. ‘Sadie dear, I know how to defeat every spell in that book.’

  ‘You won’t win,’ Sadie insisted. ‘You won’t take anything else from anyone!’

  She began to chant. Annabeth raised her borrowed khopesh, ready to defend her.

  ‘Ah, well.’ Setne sighed. ‘I suppose you’ll want this back, then.’

  Setne’s body began to glow. Thanks to Nekhbet, I realized what was going to happen a split second before
it did, which saved our lives.

  Carter was just struggling to his feet when I shouted, ‘GET DOWN!’

  He dropped like a sack of rocks.

  A ring of fire exploded outward from Setne.

  I discarded my sword and lunged in front of the girls, spreading my arms goalie-style. A shell of purple light surrounded me, and the flames rolled harmlessly over translucent wings that now extended on either side of me. With my new accessories I was able to shield Sadie and Annabeth from the worst of the blast.

  I lowered my arms. The giant wings retracted. My feet, floating just off the ground, were now encased in large ghostly legs with three long toes and the talons of a bird.

  When I realized I was hovering at the centre of a giant glowing purple vulture, my first thought was: Carter will never stop teasing me about this.

  My second thought was: Oh, gods. Carter.

  Sadie must have seen him at the same time I did. She screamed.

  The fire had blackened the entire field, instantly turning wet mud into cracked clay. The Mist and magic lights had burned away. My new sword was a steaming line of bronze slag on the ground. Carter lay right where he’d dropped, wreathed in smoke, his hair charred, his face red with blisters.

  I feared the worst. Then his fingers twitched. He croaked out a sound, like ‘Gug’, and I could breathe again.

  ‘Thank the gods,’ Annabeth said.

  Setne brushed some ash off his purple trench coat. ‘Well, you can thank the gods if you want, but they won’t be around much longer. Another few minutes and the magic I’ve started will be irreversible. Now, Percy, please drop that silly avatar before I take it away from you. And, Sadie, I suggest you give me the Book of Thoth before you hurt yourself. There’s no spell you could read that would harm me.’

  Sadie stepped forward. Her orange-highlighted hair whipped around her face. Her eyes turned steely, making her look even more like a young Annabeth.

  ‘No spell I could read,’ Sadie agreed. ‘But I have friends.’

  She handed the Book of Thoth to Annabeth, who blinked in surprise. ‘Um … Sadie?’

  Setne chuckled. ‘What’s she going to do? She may be smart, but she can’t read Old Egyptian.’

  Sadie gripped Annabeth’s forearm. ‘Miss Chase,’ she said formally, ‘I have one word for you.’ She leaned in and whispered something in Annabeth’s ear.

  Annabeth’s face transformed. Only once before had I seen her with such an expression of pure wonder: when she beheld the gods’ palaces on Mount Olympus.

  Sadie turned to me. ‘Percy … Annabeth has work to do. I need to tend to my brother. Why don’t you keep our friend Setne entertained?’

  Annabeth opened the scroll. She began to read aloud in Ancient Egyptian. Glowing hieroglyphs floated off the papyrus. They swirled in the air around her, mixing with Greek words as if Annabeth was adding her own commentary to the spell.

  Setne looked even more surprised than I was. He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. ‘That’s not … Hold on now. No!’

  He raised his arms to cast some counter spell. His crown began to glow.

  I needed to move, but Nekhbet wasn’t helping. She was a little too focused on Carter, who smelled chargrilled and yummy.

  That one is weak, she murmured in my mind. Dead soon. The weak must die.

  Anger gave me the upper hand. Carter Kane was my friend. I would not sit around while my friend died.

  Move, I told Nekhbet. And I took control of the vulture avatar.

  Before Setne could finish casting his spell, I grabbed him in my spectral claws and carried him into the sky.

  Now … I live and breathe weirdness. It goes with the territory when you’re a demigod. But there are still moments when I do a mental double take: like when I’m flying upward inside a giant glowing vulture, flapping my arms to control make-believe wings, holding an almost-immortal magician in my talons … all so I can steal his hat.

  That hat was not coming off, either.

  I spiralled into the storm, shaking Setne, trying to knock the crown off his head, but the dude must have fastened it to his pompadour with superglue.

  He blasted me with fire and flashes of light. My bird exoskeleton deflected the attacks, but, each time, the purple avatar dimmed, and my wings felt heavier.

  ‘Percy Jackson!’ Setne writhed in my claws. ‘This is a waste of time!’

  I didn’t bother responding. The strain of combat was quickly taking its toll.

  During our first encounter, Carter had warned me that magic could literally burn up a magician if he used too much at once. I guessed that applied to demigods, too. Every time Setne blasted me or tried to wriggle out of my grip with his near-godly strength, my head throbbed. My eyesight dimmed. Soon I was drenched in sweat.

  I hoped Sadie was helping Carter. I hoped Annabeth was finishing whatever super-weird spell she’d been chanting so we could trap Setne, because I couldn’t stay airborne much longer.

  We broke through the top of the cloud layer. Setne stopped fighting, which surprised me so much I almost dropped him. Then coldness began to seep through my vulture avatar, chilling my wet clothes, soaking into my bones. It was a subtler kind of attack – probing for weakness – and I knew I couldn’t allow it. I curled my vulture feet tighter around Setne’s chest, hoping to crush him.

  ‘Percy, Percy.’ His tone made it sound like we were a couple of bros on a night out. ‘Don’t you see what an incredible opportunity this is? A perfect do-over. You of all people should appreciate that. The Olympians once offered you their most valuable gift. They offered to make you a god, didn’t they? And you – you lovable idiot – you turned them down! This is your chance to correct that mistake.’

  My avatar flickered and blinked like a bad fluorescent tube. Nekhbet, my brain buddy, turned her attention inward.

  You turned down immortality? Her voice was incredulous, offended.

  She scanned my memories. I saw my own past from her dry, cynical point of view: I stood in the throne room of Mount Olympus after the war against the Titans. Zeus offered me a reward: godhood. I turned him down flat. I wanted justice for other demigods instead. I wanted the gods to stop being jerks and to pay attention to their kids.

  A stupid request. A naive thing to wish for. I gave up power. You never give up power.

  I struggled to keep my grip on Setne. ‘Nekhbet, those are your thoughts, not mine. I made the right choice.’

  Then you are a fool, the vulture goddess hissed.

  ‘Yeah, pal,’ Setne said, who apparently could hear her. ‘I gotta agree with Nekhbet on this one. You did the noble thing. How did that work out? Did the gods honour their promises?’

  I couldn’t separate Nekhbet’s bitterness from my own feelings. Sure, I grumbled about the gods all the time, but I’d never regretted my decision to stay mortal. I had a girlfriend. I had a family. I had my whole life ahead of me – assuming I could stay alive.

  Now … maybe it was just Nekhbet in my mind, or Setne toying with me, but I started to wonder if I’d made a huge blunder.

  ‘I get it, kid.’ Setne’s voice was full of pity. ‘The gods are your family. You want to think they’re good. You want to make them proud. I wanted that with my family. My dad was Ramses the Great, you know.’

  I was gliding in a lazy circle now, my left wing carving the tops of the storm clouds. Setne’s crown glowed more brightly. His aura grew colder, numbing my limbs and turning my thoughts sluggish. I knew I was in trouble, but I couldn’t think of what to do about it.

  ‘It’s hard having a powerful dad,’ Setne continued. ‘Ramses was the pharaoh, of course, so most of the time he was hosting the god Horus. That made him distant, to say the least. I kept thinking, If I just make the right choices and prove I’m a good kid, he’ll eventually notice me. He’ll treat me right. But, the thing is, the gods don’t care about mortals, even their children. Look into the vulture’s mind if you don’t believe me. Behave like a good little boy, act all n
oble – that just makes it easier for the gods to ignore you. The only way to get their respect is to act up, be bad and take what you want!’

  Nekhbet didn’t try to convince me otherwise. She was the protector goddess of the pharaohs, but she didn’t care about them as individual humans. She cared about maintaining the power of Egypt, which in turn kept the worship of the gods alive. She certainly didn’t care about noble acts or fairness. Only the weak demanded fairness. The weak were carcasses waiting to die – appetizers in the long dinner of Nekhbet’s eternal life.

  ‘You’re a good kid,’ Setne told me. ‘A lot nicer than the goddess you’re trying to host. But you’ve got to see the truth. You should’ve taken Zeus’s offer. You would be a god now. You’d be strong enough to make those changes you asked for!’

  Strength is good, Nekhbet agreed. Immortality is good.

  ‘I’m giving you a second chance,’ Setne said. ‘Help me out, Percy. Become a god.’

  We turned in the air as Nekhbet’s consciousness separated from mine. She’d forgotten which of us was the enemy. Nekhbet favoured the strong. Setne was strong. I was weak.

  I remembered the way Setne had been strip-mining the Duat – cutting fissures in reality, destroying the entire cosmic order to make himself immortal.

  I’ll just take the bits and pieces I can use, he’d told Sadie.

  My thoughts finally cleared. I understood how Setne operated, how he’d beaten us so badly up till now.

  ‘You’re looking for a way into my mind,’ I said. ‘Something you can relate to and use against me. But I’m not like you. I don’t want immortality, especially not if it rips the world apart.’

  Setne smiled. ‘Well, it was worth a try. Especially since I made you lose control of your vulture!’

  An explosion of cold shattered my avatar. Suddenly I was falling.

  My one advantage: I’d been holding Setne in my claws, which meant he was directly below me. I slammed right into him and locked my arms around his chest. We plummeted together through the clouds.

  I shivered so badly that I was surprised I could stay conscious. Frost caked my clothes. Wind and ice stung my eyes. I felt like I was downhill skiing without a mask.

  I’m not sure why Setne didn’t just magic himself away. I suppose even a powerful magician can succumb to panic. When you’re free-falling, you forget to think rationally: Gee, I have spells and stuff. Instead your animal brain takes over and you think: OH MY GOD THIS KID IS HOLDING ON TO ME AND I’M TRAPPED AND FALLING AND I’M GOING TO DIE!

  Even though I was seconds away from becoming vulture hors d’oeuvres, Setne’s squawking and flapping brought me some satisfaction.

  If we’d fallen straight down, I would’ve hit solid ground and died. No question.

  Fortunately, the winds were strong and Governors Island was a small target in a very big harbour.

  We hit the water with a wonderfully familiar KA-FLOOM!

  My pain disappeared. Warmth surged back into my limbs. Salt water swirled around me, filling me with new energy. Seawater always did good things for me, but normally not this fast. Maybe the presence of Nekhbet ramped up my healing. Maybe my dad Poseidon was trying to do me a favour.

  Whatever the case, I felt great. I grabbed Setne by the throat with one hand and began to squeeze. He fought like a demon. (Believe me, I know. I’ve fought a few.) The crown of Ptolemy glowed in the water, steaming like a volcanic vent. Setne clawed at my arm and exhaled streams of bubbles – maybe trying to cast spells, or maybe trying to sweet talk me out of strangling him. I couldn’t hear him, and I didn’t want to. Underwater, I was in charge.

  Bring him to shore, said Nekhbet’s voice.

  Are you crazy? I thought back. This is my home court.

  He cannot be defeated here. Your friends are waiting.

  I didn’t want to, but I understood. I might be able to keep Setne occupied underwater for a while, but he was too far down the path to immortality for me to destroy. I needed to undo his magic, which meant I needed help.

  I kept my grip on his throat and let the currents push me to Governors Island.

  Carter waited for me on the island’s ring road. His head was wrapped in bandages like a turban. The blisters on his face had been treated with some kind of purple goo. His linen ninja jammies looked like they’d been laundered in a burning wood chipper. But he was alive, and angry. In one hand he held a glowing white rope like a cowboy’s lasso.

  ‘Welcome back, Percy.’ He glared at Setne. ‘This guy give you any trouble?’

  Setne flailed and shot fire in Carter’s direction. Carter lashed the flames aside with his rope.

  ‘I’ve got him under control for now,’ I said.

  I felt confident that was true. The seawater had brought me back to full strength. Nekhbet was cooperating again, ready to shield me from anything Setne