Khafu was going ballistic. He swung from column to column, bouncing along the balconies, overturning pots and statues. Then he ran back to the terrace windows, stared outside for a moment, and proceeded to go berserk again.

Muffin was also at the window. She crouched on all fours with her tail twitching as if she were stalking a bird.

"Perhaps it's just a passing flamingo," Sadie suggested hopefully.

"No, it's not." Gohan stated

They ran to the glass doors. At first none of them saw any problem. Then water exploded from the pool, and Sadie's heart nearly jumped out of her chest. Two enormous creatures, most definitely not flamingos, were thrashing about with Philip of Macedonia.

Gohan couldn't make out what they were, only that they were fighting Philip two against one. They disappeared under the boiling water, and Khufu ran screaming through the Great Room again, bonking himself on the head with his empty Cheerios box, which Gohan must say was not particularly helpful.

"Longnecks," Carter said incredulously. "Did you guys see those things?"

Then one of the creatures was thrown out of the pool. It slammed into the doors right in front of the trio, and Carter and Sadie jumped back in alarm. On the other side of the glass was a very terrifying anima. Its body was like a leopard's—lean and sinewy, with golden spotted fur—but its neck was completely wrong. It was green and scaly and at least as long as the rest of its body. It had a cat's head, but no normal cat's. When it turned its glowing red eyes towards them, it howled, showing a forked tongue and fangs dripping with green venom. Gohan tensed up as he clenched his fists, ready for a fight. However, he realized Sadie's legs were shaking, and she was making a very undignified whimpering sound.

The cat-serpent jumped back into the pool to join its companion in beating up Philip, who spun and snapped but seemed unable to hurt his attackers.

"We have to help Philip!" Sadie cried. "He'll be killed!" She reached for the door handle, but Muffin growled at her. Gohan grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, causing her to yelp in surprise.

Carter said, "Sadie, no! You heard Amos. We can't open the doors for any reason. The house is protected by magic. Philip will have to beat them on his own."

"But what if he can't? Philip!"

The old crocodile turned. For a second his pink reptilian eye focused on Sadie as if he could sense her concern. Then the cat-snakes bit at his underbelly and Philip rose up so that only the tip of his tail still touched the water. His body began to glow. A low hum filled the air, like an airplane engine starting up. When Philip came down, he slammed into the terrace with all his might.

The entire house shook. Cracks appeared in the concrete terrace outside, and the swimming pool split right down the middle as the far end crumbled into empty space. Then, the edge of the terrace ripped free, plunging Philip and the monsters straight into the East River. Gohan let out a low whistle.

"Stay on guard. They might come back." Gohan ordered

Sadie's whole body began to tremble. "He sacrificed himself. He killed the monsters."

"Sadie..." Carter's voice was faint. "What if Gohan's right? What if they come back?"

"Don't say that!"

"I—I recognized them, Sadie. Those creatures. Come on."

"Wait!" Gohan insisted, but Carter ran straight back to the library. Carter marched up to the shabti who'd helped them before. "Bring me the...gah, what's it called?"

"What?" Gohan asked.

"Something Dad showed me. It's a big stone plate or something. Had a picture of the first pharaoh, the guy who united Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom. His name..." His eyes lit up. "Narmer! Bring me the Narmer Plate!"

Nothing happened.

"No," Carter decided. "Not a plate. It was...one of those things that holds paint. A palette. Bring me the Narmer Palette!"

The empty-handed shabti didn't move, but across the room, the statue with the little hook came to life. He jumped off his pedestal and disappeared in a cloud of dust. A heartbeat later, he reappeared on the table. At his feet was a wedge of flat gray stone, shaped like a shield and about as long as Gohan's tail.

"No!" Carter protested. "I meant a picture of it! Oh great, I think this is the real artifact. The shabti must've stolen it from the Cairo Museum. We've got to return—"

"Hang on," Sadie said. "We might as well have a look." Gohan sighed

"Well, we already blew up one museum. Stealing from another one doesn't seem that bad in comparison." Sadie snorted

The surface of the stone was carved with the picture of a man smashing another man in the face with what looked like a spoon.

"That's Narmer with the spoon," Sadie guessed. "Angry because the other bloke stole his breakfast cereal?"

Carter shook his head. "He's conquering his enemies and uniting Egypt. See his hat? That's the crown of Lower Egypt, before the two countries united."

"The bit that looks like a bowling pin?" "You're impossible," Carter grumbled.

"He looks like Dad, doesn't he?"

"Sadie, be serious!" Gohan interrupted

"I am serious. Look at his profile."

Carter examined the stone like he was afraid to touch it. "I need to see the back but I don't want to turn it over. We might damage—"

Sadie grabbed the stone and flipped it over. "Sadie! You could've broken it!"

"That's what mend spells are for, yes?"

They examined the back of the stone, and Gohan had to admit, he was impressed by Carter's memory. Two cat- snake monsters stood in the center of the palette, their necks entwined. On either side, Egyptian men with ropes were trying to capture the creatures.

"They're called serpopards," Carter said. "Serpent leopards." "Fascinating," Sadie said. "But what are serpopards?"

"No one knows exactly. Dad thought they were creatures of chaos—very bad news, and they've been around forever. This stone is one of the oldest artifacts from Egypt. Those pictures were carved five thousand years ago."

"So why are five-thousand-year-old monsters attacking our house?"

"Probably because someone sent them to kill us." Gohan stated bluntly.

"Right. Last night, in Phoenix, the fiery man ordered his servants to capture us. He said to send the longnecks first."

"Well...good thing they're at the bottom of the East River." Gohan sighed in frustration as he covered his face.

"Why… did you just say that?"

Just then Khufu rushed into the library, screaming and slapping his head. "Suppose I shouldn't have said that," Sadie muttered.

Carter told the shabti to return the Narmer Palette, and both statue and stone disappeared. Then they followed the baboon upstairs.

The serpopards were back, their fur wet and slimy from the river, and they weren't happy. They prowled the broken ledge of the terrace, their snake necks whipping round as they sniffed the doors, looking for a way in. They spit poison that steamed and bubbled on the glass. Their forked tongues darted in and out.

"I can take them." Gohan insisted. Carter shook his head.

"Don't! If you leave the house, they'll attack us!" Carter yelled. Gohan glared.

"Well, we just can't sit here and do nothing!" Carter and Gohan quickly dissolved into arguing. Sadie rolled her eyes.

"Guys… they're all idiots." She muttered.

"Agh, agh!" Khufu picked up Muffin, who was sitting on the sofa, and offered Sadie the cat.

"I really don't think that will help," Sadie told him.

"AGH!" Khufu insisted.

Neither Muffin nor cat ended in -o, so she guessed Khufu was not trying to offer her a snack, but Sadie didn't know what he was on about. She took the cat just to shut him up.

"Mrow?" Muffin looked up at her.

"It'll be all right," Sadie promised, trying not to sound scared out of my mind. "The house is protected by magic."

"For the last time… I have been doing this kind of thing for a long time. There's a time to hide and a time to fight!"

"Gohan," Carter said. "They've found something." The serpopards had converged at the left-hand door and were intently sniffing the handle. "Isn't it locked?" Sadie asked.

Both monsters smashed their ugly faces against the glass. The door shuddered. Blue hieroglyphs glowed along the doorframe, but their light was faint.

"I don't like this," Carter murmured.

Sadie prayed that the monsters would give up. Or that perhaps Philip of Macedonia would climb back to the terrace (do crocodiles climb?) and renew the fight.

Instead, the monsters smashed their heads against the glass again. This time a web of cracks appeared. The blue hieroglyphs flickered and died.

"AGH!" Khufu screamed. He waved his hand vaguely at the cat. "Maybe if I try the ha-di spell," Sadie said.

"I wouldn't." Gohan stated

Carter shook his head in agreement. "You almost fainted after you blew up those doors. I don't want you passing out, or worse."

Then, he tugged a strange sword from one of Amos's wall displays. The blade had an odd crescent-moon curve and looked horribly impractical.

"You can't be serious," Sadie said.

"Unless—unless you've got a better idea," he stammered, his face beading with perspiration. "It's me, Gohan, you, and the baboon against those things." Gohan smirked as he raised his hands.

"I'm more than ready for a fight." Then, his hands glowed blue and sparked.

Then the serpopards struck a third time, and the door shattered. The trio backed backed up to the foot of Thoth's statue as the creatures stalked into the great room.

"Suck on this!" Then, Gohan hurled a bright blue blast at the creatures, which exploded on contact. A large gust of wind blew through the room, scattering papers and furniture everywhere.

"Nice shot." Sadie said with wide eyes. Then, the smoke faded, revealing the seropopards, completely fine.

"Huh. Looks like they're more resilient than I thought." Gohan commented.

"I might have to go super saiyan on this one." Gohan thought as he pressed his lips together."

"Is that the best you can do?" Sadie snapped in annoyance.

"Of course not! I'm just testing them out!" Gohan snapped as he brought his hands together.

Khufu threw his basketball, which bounced harmlessly off the first monster's head. Then he launched himself at the serpopard.

"Khufu, don't!" Carter yelled.

But the baboon sank his fangs into the monster's neck. The serpopard lashed around, trying to bite him. Khufu leaped off, but the monster was quick. It used its head like a bat and smacked poor Khufu in midair, sending him straight through the shattered door, over the broken terrace, and into the void. Gohan wanted to go after the baboon, but he couldn't leave Carter and Sadie. Instead, he raised his hands, which sparked ominously, ready to fight.

Carter raised his sword. Sadie pointed my hand at the first monster and tried to speak the ha-di spell, but her voice stuck in her throat.

"Mrow!" Muffin said, more insistently. Gohan smirked.

"So… who's first?" Gohan grinned. Then, Sadie interrupted.

"M-muffin, I order you to protect us."

Sadie tossed her on the floor. Just for a moment, the silver pendant on her collar seemed to gleam. Then the cat arched her back leisurely, sat down, and began licking a front paw. Gohan looked baffled.

The two red-eyed monsters bared their fangs. They raised their heads and prepared to strike. The same time, Gohan let out a roar as his hands glowed even brighter—and an explosion of dry air blasted through the room. It was so powerful, it knocked Carter and Sadie to the floor. The serpopards stumbled and backed away.

Gohan waved smoke out of his face in surprise and blinked. The cat had vanished. In her place was a woman—small and lithe like a gymnast. Her jet-black hair was tied in a ponytail. She wore a skintight leopard-skin jumpsuit and Muffin's pendant around her neck.

She turned and grinned at Sadie, and her eyes were still Muffin's—yellow with black feline pupils. "About time," she chided.

"Seriously?" Gohan sputtered with a look of pure bafflement on his face.

The serpopards got over their shock and charged the cat woman. Gohan quickly got over his shock and moved first, slamming his fist across one of the serpopards, sending it flying into the wall.

The cat lady leaped straight up, flipping three times, and landed above them, perched on the mantel.

She flexed her wrists, and two enormous knives shot from her sleeves into her hands. "A-a-ah, fun!"

She launched herself towards the second monster, dancing and dodging with incredible grace, letting it lash at her futilely.

"Poor thing," the cat woman purred. "Let me help."

Her knives flashed, and the monster's head thudded to the floor at her feet. Its body collapsed and dissolved into enormous piles of sand.

"So much for my plaything," the woman said sadly. "From sand they come, and to sand they return." Meanwhile, Gohan stared down the other monster, which roared and charged at him again. Gohan sprung forward, leaping over the creature as he brought his other hand up, a yellow disk already forming in his hands.

"DESTRUCTO DISK!" Gohan roared as he hurled the disk at the monster, cutting the creature clean right down the middle. The monster immediately dissolved into two piles of sand.

The catwoman turned towards them, and the knives shot back into her sleeves. "Carter, Sadie, we should leave. Worse will be coming."

Carter made a choking sound. "Worse? Who—how—what—" Gohan struck first.

"Wait. You have five seconds to tell us who in Olympus you are." Gohan stated coldly as he held a glowing ki ball at the woman's head. She smiled, and then flicked her wrist, so fast that Carter and Sadie barely saw it. Then, Sadie let out a shocked yelp. Gohan's right hand was clutching a knife, two fingers pressed on the blade, which an inch away from his face. Gohan narrowed his eyes and hurled the blade right back. The woman caught it with ease, and chuckled as she slid the blade into her sleeve.

"Very impressive, Otherworlder. Very impressive. Now I'm starting to see how you've done what you've done." She smiled. Gohan's eyes widened.

"Wait… are you a?" Gohan began to ask, but she made a loud purring noise.

"All in good time." The woman stretched her arms above her head with great satisfaction. "So good to be in human form again! Now, Sadie, can you open us a door through the Duat, please?"

Sadie blinked. "Um...no. I mean—I don't know how."

The woman narrowed her eyes, clearly disappointed. "Shame. We'll need more power, then. An obelisk."

"But that's in London," Carter protested. "We can't—"

"There's a nearer one in Central Park. I try to avoid Manhattan, but this is an emergency. We'll just pop over and open a portal."

"Open a portal?" Gohan stated with a baffled expression.

"A portal to where?" Sadie demanded. "Who are you, and why are you my cat?"

The woman smiled. "For now, we just want a portal out of danger. As for my name, it's not Muffin, thank you very much. It's—"

"Bast," Carter interrupted. "Your pendant—it's the symbol of Bast, goddess of cats. I thought it was just decoration but...that's you, isn't it?"

"Very good, Carter," Bast said. "Now come, while we can still make it out of here alive."