I was thinking about how Amos tells Carter and Sadie that they can't go into Manhattan in the beginning of RedPyramid, and it got me thinking about what would happen if some of our demigods were in Brooklyn, where the Kanes live. Well, then it started getting crazy, You'll see what I mean when you read it.
This takes place sometime before either Throne of Fire or Son of Neptune, but after Red Pyramid and Lost Hero.
Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, and Kane Chronicles. If I did… well, let's just say Sadie and Anubis would be together already.
A scream ripped through the Brooklyn street, causing Sadie and Carter Kane, Anubis, and Bast to rip their heads around to look in the direction of the sound. The siblings looked at each other, then looked at their immortal companions, before tearing off down the street toward the sound. The two gods also ran down the street, trying their hardest to keep the two young sorcerers in sight. People around them turned to look, then shrugged off the oddity and kept on walking along the sidewalk, no doubt seeing something different through the choking magic that cloaked the four Egyptians. However, the sight that caused the young pharaoh-in-training and his sister to pull up short was the strange beast that was harassing a young woman in the middle of the street. People in their cars swerved around the fight without pausing or even glancing over to the large monster. The beast was tall, with a bull's head, horns and all. Carter felt a jolt of surprise run through him at the sight.
"Sadie!" he called over to his younger sister, who had pulled out her curved wand. "That's a minotaur! It's a creature out of Greek mythology!"
"What? How is that possible?" she asked in reply.
"Well," Bast stated simply, pulling out her thin blades from their hiding places on her body, "if all of us can exist, why wouldn't the Greek legends also be truthful?" She hissed slightly at the monstrous beast and moved to stand to Carter's left, while Anubis stepped up on the other side of the siblings, to Sadie's right.
"Fun," the female sorcerer said sarcastically. "So there're more people like us around?"
"Maybe we should discuss this later, Lady Kane?" the jackal god asked, though it was clear to everyone it was a statement rather than a question. The ending of his words was punctuated with the bull-like roar that the minotaur emitted.
The loud sound caused the former hosts of Isis and Horus to glance at each other and reach, in tandem, into their lockers. Sadie pulled out her wand, while Carter bypassed his wand in favor of the curved sword he normally used when fighting.
The god of the dead looked to the Kanes, then held his hand out as a long, bladed scepter appeared in his outstretched palm. Carter looked at the weapon, then turned and studied the weapons that his sister and guardian held.
"Sadie," he barked out, "stay with Anubis! Both of you will have an easier time fighting at a distance. And try to get that girl out from under the minotaur. Bast and I will handle the close-quarter fighting." The younger sorcerer and the jackal god nodded, while Bast's only response was to shift her body slightly in front of the other sorcerer's.
Suddenly, the black-haired female who was cowering from the monster in front of her screamed, and the Egyptians looked up to see the beast change his target and start towards them. Sadie and Anubis dodged the punch that was aimed at them and ran towards the girl who had finally collapsed at the edge of the sidewalk from the stress. The blonde haired girl sat down next to the still quivering young woman, and was not surprised to see that she was shaking her head back and forth while muttering slightly under her breath. Sadie recognized the motions as something she would have done, given the time and opportunity, when she found out about the mythical world that existed all around them all over the world.
"Are you alright?" she asked the girl quietly, knowing from personal experience that the young woman could become even more traumatized if she was not careful.
The black-haired girl sniffed quietly, and Sadie stretched her hand out where she knew the girl would not be able to see and pulled a pocket pack of tissues from her locker in the Duat. When she reached her hand out to give the young woman the packet, the female flinched away from Sadie's hand, but tentatively took the tissues, pulling one out almost immediately. When she looked over at Sadie, Sadie just smiled and stood up, placing her body between the monster and the other girl, her wand held out in front of her.
"What's you name?" she asked.
The girl sniffed again. "Helena. Helena Silversword."
Sadie felt rather than saw Helena's head snap up at the wild yowl that Bast gave as she leapt at the minotaur. She bit her lip, then traced the glowing hieroglyphs that meant strike in the air in front of her with her wand. The glow brightened then faded, leaving the glyphs imprinted on the inside of everyone's eyelids. The spell impacted with the raging beast only seconds after the letters reached their brightest, and it caused the monster to stumble back. Carter used the opening that his sister gave him to slice at the creature's head. His sword, however, while it bit deep into the beast's bull-like head, did not kill it but only served to enrage the monster farther.
The minotaur seemed to have forgotten the three people on the curb, but thanks to the spell and Carter's attack it finally seemed to notice them. As it ran forward in a charge, Anubis stepped forward to meet it. He spun his staff in a circle, its shimmering gold blade becoming a touch of light on the outer edge of a dark blur. When the beast was but a few feet away, Anubis's blade pierced the air, impaling itself in the minotaur's heart. To the surprise of everyone watching, the monstrous form of the beast began to crumble. They were all even more surprised to see that the crumbling stopped at the end of the left horn.
Anubis suddenly perked up, tilting his head sideways.
"Someone's coming."
Sadie's head whipped around to stare in the same direction as the death god's after seeing Bast nod in agreement. She was soon joined by her brother, who had sat down next to her on the curb after picking up the minotaur horn from where it had fallen on the ground. Helena, who had stopped quivering as soon as the horn had fallen to the sidewalk, once more started shaking. She curled into herself, moving slightly into the other young woman as Sadie wrapped her arm around the other girl's shoulder.
Running footsteps echoed down the street, causing the four Egyptians to grip their weapons of choice tightly. The were not surprised, this time, to see that people around them on the sidewalk did not appear to notice the two figures, one male, one female, who were rapidly drawing close to the group of five.
Sadie felt her eyes widen at the sight of the boy. She looked back and forth between him and Anubis, and then shook her head slightly at the similarities. They both had the same messy jet black hair and dark eyes, though the stranger's looked black rather than chocolate brown. The girl had bright blonde hair and stormy grey eyes that seemed to sparkle with deep wisdom. Both of the young adults were wearing fluorescent orange shirts emblemized with the words "Camp Half-Blood."
The girl's eyes wandered over all of their faces before focusing on Helena. She nodded slightly to the male with her, who pulled out a sword in response to the signal from his partner. Cater shifted when he saw the black blade, moving his khopesh into a position where he could block any attack that would come at him or his sister. The blonde girl, seeing this motion, also pulled out a blade. The knife that she held caused Sadie to reach behind her into her locker and pull out a functional knife, rather than the netjeri, that Anubis had given to her.
"Who are you?" Carter questioned. He stepped forward, Bast shadowing him closely, to meet the young woman, who had also moved forward when the Egyptian had spoken.
"I'm Annabeth Chase. This is Nico di Angelo. Who're you?"
"Carter Kane. And this is Bast. My sister Sadie and Anubis are over there. Why are you here?"
Anubis and Sadie snickered at his words, Sadie leaning over to whisper in Anubis's ear, "Well, he's finally learning." She laughed even more when Anubis nodded. They turned back to the confrontation in front of them in time to see Annabeth having a silent conversation with Nico.
When she finally spoke it was slow and purposeful, "Anubis and Bast? Like the ancient Egyptian gods?" She noticed Bast tuning her head to look behind her at the other blonde female and black-haired male, fear and nervousness covering her face. Both of the newcomers took this as confirmation.
"Children of Athena," Nico muttered. Both of the Egyptian gods heard him, despite the low volume of Nico's speech. Both of the visibly relaxed and Anubis nodded.
"The same," he affirmed. The sorcerers looked at him in confusion but he ignored the looks, only wrapping his arm around Sadie and extending his other hand to Helena, who was still huddled behind them. He motioned to Sadie to put the dagger back in the Duat, which she did. He also placed his own weapon back into the spirit world. Carter and Bast, as well as Annabeth and Nico, followed suit.
"Lady Silversword is one of yours, then?" Bast questioned, easily realizing what was going on. The two standing across from her nodded.
For the second time Sadie heard the other girl's quivering voice, "What do you mean?"
"Miss Silversword," Nico questioned, "did strange things ever happen around you? Things that others didn't notice?"
Helena balked at answering the question, afraid of something that Sadie did not know.
"It's alright, Helena. We've seen things that most people would only dream of in their nightmares." Sadie's voice was quiet, calming, and everyone could see the affect it had on the girl.
Helena's voice, by comparison, was shaking. "Sometimes. People said I was crazy. Only my dad seemed to believe me."
Nico and Annabeth both nodded, remembering some of what they had gone through, the young woman in particular.
"Your dad knew the truth," Annabeth said kindly. "He knew who your mother really was."
Sadie looked at Anubis in confusion. "Her mum?" she asked the normally jackal-headed god.
Carter, in the meantime, felt recognition flash across his face. He turned to look at his sister and tilted his head in the direction of their home. She nodded in affirmation, leaving Carter to pass on his idea to Bast, Anubis having realized the message at the same time as she.
"Why don't we go back to our house and have some sahlab. We could talk without being overheard there, and the wards would prevent any monsters from getting in." Sadie wrapped her own arm around the death god's waist as she spoke, allowing him to hold her up. She knew that she would soon collapse due to a mix of exhaustion and stress.
Anubis tightened his hold on the blonde's shoulders and replied to the unspoken confusion on the faces of the people across from them on the sidewalk. "Sahlab is essentially a vanilla version of hot chocolate."
Annabeth and Nico nodded. They followed, to their surprise, to a dark alleyway. When Bast grasped their arms they felt a rush run through them and the dank alley vanished to be replaced by the view of a warehouse. Bast released their arms and walked through the doors of the warehouse in front of them. They looked up to see a mansion protruding from the top of the dingy building. Hearing a slight rustle behind them they turned around to see Sadie, Carter, Anubis, and Helena appear.
"Come on," Carter said. He motioned for the others to follow. Anubis and Sadie let the others enter first, then followed. Both ducked through a doorway to the left where Carter and their guests walked straight into the sitting room that the two young sorcerers had designed. Within a few minutes they returned, each holding small trays baring steaming mugs. Within a few more minute everyone was settled in on plush couches cradling steaming mugs of the vanilla-flavored drink.
"You're both demigods?" Carter began.
Annabeth nodded. "I a daughter of Athena, Nico's the son of Hades."
At this Sadie started giggling madly, passing her mug of sahlab to Anubis so she did not spill it. As everyone looked to her in confusion she sputtered out an answer. "I had thought that the two of you looked similar." The teen started laughing again after the words left her mouth. Carter and Annabeth looked at each other and rolled their eyes slightly.
"What about you two?" Annabeth asked, ever the daughter of Athena and searching for knowledge.
"We're members of Per Ankh, the House of Life. We're sorcerers." Carter was in teacher-mode, enjoying the fact that he could teach someone other than his sister.
"Don't forget hosting my aunt and cousin, Lord Kane," Anubis interjected, smirking at the stunned looks on the faces of all three Greek demigods. He motioned towards a hallway, two smaller doors visible at the end, one painted with a tyet, or knot of Isis, in deep brown and the other with the eye of Horus in a brilliant sky blue. "Isis and Horus," he said, and Annabeth nodded.
"What about you, Helena? Did your dad give you any hints about your mum?" Sadie asked, her sputtering laughter having finally abated. Her British accent was obvious as she spoke.
Helena looked down into her steaming mug. "Dad never told me. He just said that she was magical."
Annabeth nodded. "Hecate, most likely."
"It makes sense," Nico said. "Hecate is our goddess of magic."
Helena twisted the gold bracelet on her wrist, dragging Carter's away from her face and to her hands.
"Your bracelet is beautiful."
The daughter of Hecate blushed scarlet and twisted the metal so that the pharaoh-in-training could see the face, though her hand still covered it. "My dad gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago. He told me to never lose it." When the girl moved her hand and revealed the design etched on the sheet of metal Carter and Sadie, along with Bast and Anubis, understood Helena's father's words: it was a plain ankh set with a red stone.
There you go. I think all of you can understand how it got crazy at the end. Yes, Helena is both a daughter of Hecate and blood of the pharaohs. I wasn't originally going to do that, but it kind of just happened.
Please review and tell me if I should continue Helena's story and make a sequel. It might happen after I finish Truth in the Dark and Spirit of the Dragon and A Fiery Path, but I will write it if you all want it.