CARTER

A Bird-Lady Blows Up Our Car

It all started when a bird put a bomb in our car.

It wasn't ours, of course. Bast had- what did she call it again? 'Borrowed' it from some rich businessman. Anyway.

We had heard that there was some monster that demanded to see me and Sadie. I'm sure he's a friendly guy, though I have a feeling it's not going to be a pleasant conversation.

The monster was on the Long Island Sound, and was apparently too lazy to come down to Brooklyn to meet us. So Bast had agreed to take us there, because for some reason portals were not working. We'd tried until we'd passed out, and when Bast tried and it didn't work- that was when we got seriously worried.

It didn't really shock us when Amos interrupted our breakfast, giving the news- partially because he always does that, partially because monsters hate us.

I had woken up not long ago. Bad night- yep, you've guessed it. My ba decided to go on a little trip to some random place, which for a strange reason I couldn't identify. I was guessing it was some kind of camp, with cabins and a fireplace. So my ba obviously went to investigate.

It was late, so practically everyone was asleep. I was in the middle of thinking, What's the point? when I heard something. There was someone there.

They were completely dressed in black with a balaclava, but I could see stringy brown hair and that they were big and buff. Their arms were so ripped I felt unsafe.

The person turned and I was sure they'd seen me. But they took off the balaclava and sighed. I could see that they were a girl now, because otherwise there would have been no way of knowing. She looked around and cursed loudly in... was that... Greek? I stepped back and cracked a twig. She jumped.

She narrowed her mean brown eyes. "Percy?" she whispered angrily. She looked around, a hungry glow in her eyes. Like she was hoping to beat someone up. "Damn you," she growled. "You stupid coward. I swear, I'll get you next time. Gods of Olympus, you are so not Big 3 material." Big 3 material? What was that? The girl picked up a rock and aimed at the window of one of the cabins, but stopped herself before she could throw it. " I bet he's scared," she told herself. "Oh, Clarisse, I'm so much better than you because I'm the son of-"

Her eyes widened as she looked in my direction, just as I realised I'd blown it. She could somehow see me. She sneered, in a horrid, cruel way that didn't enhance her face and raised a huge spear. I squeaked, just as the spear pierced my chest.

I woke up with a start. What had just happened? Who was she? Where was that? Why was she talking about Gods? Could she be a magician? But Olympus... that wasn't Egyptian!

Questions buzzed about in my brain. Ignoring them, I had a shower, got dressed, and rushed downstairs to get some breakfast.

Sadie and most of the trainees were already there. I grabbed a pain au chocolat then sat down next to my sister Sadie, who was listening to music on her iPod. She was dancing along to it, (have I mentioned how abnormally strange she is?) and I don't even think she'd noticed me. I pulled the earphones out.

"Hey!" she protested. Sadie switched off the music, which had been blaring from the iPod so loud that the other side of the world could hear it.

"What do you want?" she grumbled. I opened my mouth.

"My ba-" I started, but stopped myself. I gestured to the trainees to look away, and they obeyed me. Then, I mouthed to Sadie: Later.

Thankfully she nodded. She understood that we couldn't say anything that could distract or worry the trainees. I'm pretty sure that my dream would worry them.

I was about to comment on Sadie's hair- gold streaks today, when Amos delivered the bad news.

I looked at Sadie. She nodded. Let's do this. And Bast entered.

She was wearing her usual leopard skin jumpsuit with her dark hair tied back. She unsheathed her knives and grinned. "Need a ride?"

So Bast walked out, us following behind. She looked at every car, until she decided: "Mm, that one!"

She chose a silver Porsche and climbed in. Me and Sadie exchanged glances and had a silent war. Unfortunately, Sadie won, meaning she got to sit in the front. I sat in the back.

Bast drove us all the way to the monster, which turned out to be a talking Set animal.

Bast squealed when she saw it. "Well, I'll be going," she told us, and bounded off before we could protest, leaving Sadie groaned.

"How are we supposed to drive home?" she complained. Was it me or had she still not noticed the Set animal?

I poked her and she spun round. "Oh, no," she said. It was definitely Oh, no. The last thing I wanted was another Leroy.

Leroy II looked at us and made a weird squealing noise. "Kanes," it said. Its voice was coarse and raspy. "I have a message from Horus."

"Why Horus if you're a Set animal?" Sadie asked. Leroy II ignored her.

"The message says: "Hello there, Kanes. Set about to lead you into a devilish trap. And, no, I think there is no escaping. By the time you hear this message, the trap has already been set- oh, that's funny. Set. Anyway, I need you two to meet some people who will aid you in defeating- I'm sorry. I said too much. Well. Remember when Amos said that Manhattan had other problems? You are about to meet these problems. Befriend them, but do not kill them. That would be bad, and you'll lose the- sorry, sorry. Well, take care, Carter. Do consider my offer, though. And Sadie, I hope you sort things out with Anubis.""

Sadie glowered so hard that Leroy II paused. Then it continued: ""I must go now. Ask whoever brought you here to bring you to... a sort of Summer Camp. They will know what this means. Remember, be careful.""

And with that Leroy II walked away, just before I cut his head off with my khopesh.

Bast came back, just as a weird chicken-lady- a ba maybe? Threw something a car. Then disappeared without a trace.

I decided not to say anything, being the stupid idiot I am.

We climbed into the Porsche, and this time I sat up front. I told Bast what Horus had said, and she nodded. "This way," she said.

We had just driven a few yards when Sadie frowned. "What's that noise?"

Sure enough, a strange beeping sound was coming from the back of the car. Bast got her light-socket hair again. "Get," she said calmly, "out of the car. NOW!"

Just in time, we jumped out of the Porsche before it exploded, sending a cloud of green gas sky-high. Bast was nowhere to be seen.

Sadie, obviously, found a way to blame me. "Carter!" she yelled. "Why did you blow up our cat?"