9
Nico's eyes snapped open as, once again, he realized he had no idea where he was. A plain white ceiling with cracked paint slowly came into focus. His eyes shifted to the ugly yellow wallpaper.
A motel room, he thought as he rubbed his eyes. A few memories stirred in his mind; leaving the pancake house, walking to the closest motel, and bribing the man at the desk to give them a room despite the ridiculous hour. Nico's wallet had taken quite a hit from that. He would have to loot some of the hastily disposed of corpses around New York again soon.
He rolled over and discovered Percy asleep on the other side of the bed, without any covers. The older boy had folded all the blankets double and piled them over Nico, probably because the heat in the room was broken, which made things pretty chilly.
Sadie and Carter shared the other bed. Both of them were at opposite ends of the bed, so close to the edges that it was a miracle neither of them had fallen off in their sleep. Bast was curled up on the sofa.
What time is it? wondered Nico. There didn't appear to be a clock anywhere in the room.
A little bit after noon, answered the familiar voice in his head.
Anubis, Nico telepathed wearily. Did I miss anything important?
Only a rather long winded debate about sleeping arrangements. The alley cat wanted a bed to herself. Sadie and Carter had objections about sharing the same bed. It nearly became bloody.
They're siblings, why would they care? Nico wondered. Bianca and I used to share a bed all the time.
They're a bit older than you and Bianca were. And they don't seem to be as close. From what I know of their past, it is . . . complicated.
More complicated than spending sixty years in a mind-numbing, time-warp casino, after having all their memories washed clean by the River Lethe?
Anubis hesitated. Sadie and Carter were raised separately after their mother died when Sadie was six. For the next six years they only saw each other two days a year, until their father tried to summon Osiris to resurrect their mother. Julius Kane ended up blowing up the Rosetta Stone and releasing Set, Isis, Horus, Nephthys, and Osiris, and allowed himself to be possessed by Osiris. Sadie and Carter were possessed by Isis and Horus, respectively.
Alright, they win, Nico surrendered. That is complicated. But at least they're able to be together now. Unlike . . . Nico shook his head and tried to force thoughts of his own sister from his mind. Bianca being dead couldn't be equated to the Kane siblings' situation, or their previous situation, when they lived apart. They hadn't chosen that, after all. They were just kids, powerless preteens who had to obey what grownups said. Carter didn't decide to leave Sadie because he didn't want to be saddled with the responsibility of her. Sadie didn't suddenly decide she didn't want a brother anymore.
Sadie actually had the chance to return to a normal life, after they banished Set, Anubis told him. She chose to stay with Carter and help him find others with the blood of the pharaohs, to fight in the war that is on the horizon.
Nico's respect for Sadie rose several levels right then and there.
She has hidden depths, Anubis told him.
I guess so, Nico agreed. He knew that Anubis could tell what he was thinking, and was grateful that the death god didn't make any comments about it. To cover the awkward silence that began to fill his own head, he sat up slowly and carefully, trying not to wake Percy. I'm hungry. Is there any food in this room?
I don't think so.
"Nico?"
Nico cringed. His attempts at stealth had been for naught, thanks to the crappy springs in the mattress which had amplified every move he made. "Sorry, Percy," he whispered. "I was trying not to wake you."
"It's fine," said Percy, keeping his voice soft as well. "You feeling okay?"
"Yes. Much better. Just hungry." His stomach tightened painfully as he tried to sit up, so he abandoned the attempt and laid back down.
Percy sat up, looking worried.
"Just really hungry," amended Nico.
"How about Percy and I go grab some food?" asked Carter. Like the two cousins, he kept his voice down so that he wouldn't wake anyone else up. "You don't look like you're fit to be walking very far, and it will attract a lot more attention if Percy gives you a piggy-back ride in broad daylight than it did last night."
"Or maybe," suggested Bast, "since we're all up anyway, we should talk about how to stop Hades from starting a war before we get breakfast."
All eyes turned to Sadie who groaned and sat up and scowled at Bast. "Way to rat me out Bast. Thanks a lot."
"I don't know how to stop my father," said Nico.
"Well, you haven't really been awake enough to give it much thought," said Bast.
"Even if he had been, I doubt he could have come up with anything," Percy defended him. "I've been trying to come up with another plan and I'm still not coming up with anything. Hades isn't someone you can really reason with."
"Another plan?" asked Carter. "What was your first plan?"
"Exorcise Anubis," Nico told him. "But according to Thoth that's not an option. And now I don't know what to do."
"You can't just send your dad a message saying that you're fine and killing the House of Life isn't necessary?" asked Sadie.
"Unless he sees me, he's not going to believe it's really from me," Nico told her. "And if he sees me he's going to know that I've got a foreign god's soul melded to my own. He's the god of death, remember? His vision isn't just limited to peoples' bodies, he sees their souls too. I can only think of one way that might let us get around that, but it's too dumb to try."
"How did he figure you were kidnapped by the House of Life in the first place?" asked Sadie. "Your cousin seemed to know where you really were and that we were holding you, and he's just a demigod."
"I saw part of your fight in one of my dreams," said Percy. "Not the end of the fight, so I wasn't positive he was with you, but there were no bodies when I got to Central park, besides the one Nico animated, so it seemed most likely he was with you. I figured that the House of Life freaks would have killed him if they'd won. As for figuring out where you were, it was Nico who told me that."
"I used that crystal ashtray and some water as a makeshift prism, and sent Percy an Iris message," said Nico.
"You sent your cousin flowers?" asked Sadie.
"No! Iris is a messenger goddess. Her messages are kind of like video conferences. Or web cam conferences," explained Nico. "I contacted Percy with one and he was able to find me from the vague description of my surroundings that I gave him. I don't know how my father came to the conclusion that the House of Life kidnapped me . . . oh, wait . . ." Nico grimaced. "It was that damn jackal."
Are you talking about me? asked Anubis sharply.
"No, I'm talking about the jackal familiar, not you. The jackal that I sent to the underworld and dropped in front of Cerberus. If my dad saw it he'd have known that I was the one who sent it there. My power would have been stuck to it residually. If he got curious, I don't think it would have been too hard for him to tell that it was from a House of Life magician. How he got the idea that I'd been kidnapped by them . . ." Nico shrugged. "Maybe he tried to contact me but couldn't get ahold of me since I've spent the majority of the past five days being unconscious. Or is it six days now? How much time do we have left?"
"About two days," Bast told him.
"Wonderful . . ." Nico closed his eyes.
"Are you sure that you can't try talking to him?" asked Carter. "He's your dad. He should listen to you."
"He thinks I'm a naïve idiot," Nico told him.
"I thought you two were getting along better since the Battle for Olympus," said Percy.
"We are. That doesn't mean he's stopped thinking I'm a naïve idiot," sighed Nico. "But it doesn't mean he doesn't care about me either. He does, in his own way."
"Yeah. He is ready to wipe out a secret society of magicians to get you back," Percy pointed out.
"Yeah." A small smile crossed Nico's face at the thought, but it was quickly erased by his next thought. "What he'll do when he finds out I'm possessed is a worse though. And there's no way I'll be able to convince him not to start a war with the Egyptian pantheon. He'll think that I've been tricked into being Anubis' puppet."
"You can't lie to him and tell him that you became Anubis' host for the power?" asked Sadie.
Nico shook his head. "He won't buy that."
"It sounds good, but it goes against Nico's personality too much," Percy told them.
"If I lie to him, I have to either come up with something really believable, or something too ridiculous for him to think I could be making it up," said Nico.
Sadie threw her hands into the air in frustration. "Well then what are we supposed to do now?"
Nico's stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.
"I vote breakfast," said Percy. He pulled his shoes onto his feet. "Well, I guess it's lunch now, but we need to eat. We're not going to come up with anything if we haven't eaten enough to concentrate."
"That much is true," agreed Carter, pulling on his own shoes.
Sadie yawned and laid back down. "Right," she said. "You two go get some food and bring it back for us. I'm going to try to get a little bit more sleep."
Nico would have liked to have gone along, but he knew he was in no condition to. And he didn't feel like anymore embarrassing piggy-back rides, especially not in broad daylight. At night, when he'd easily passed as a sleepy child had been embarrassing enough.
"I might as well go too," grumbled Bast. "Sleeping on that sofa put a crick in my back, and I need to stretch it out."
"You two will be okay by yourselves?" Carter asked Sadie and Nico.
"Fine," Nico told him.
"Just peachy," said Sadie.
"Try to get some more sleep, if you can," Percy said to Nico. "We'll be back soon."
Carter kind of regretted not letting Bast steal a car when it turned out they had to walk two whole blocks before they reached a restaurant that served food to go. But they couldn't afford the sort of attention that a stolen car could get them, so they had to rough it out.
Finally, they reached a diner, placed an order for takeout, then sat down to wait while their food was prepared. Bast drifted off to flirt with the bus boy, leaving Carter and Percy alone in awkward silence.
"I never thanked you," said Percy after a few minutes, "for saving my cousin from that psycho-mage with the ribbons. Not everyone would have helped him like you guys did."
Carter shrugged. "He helped us first, getting rid of that jackal, and we couldn't just leave him there after that."
"Him raising that corpse would have freaked most people out," pointed out Percy.
"Sadie and I can handle a little freakiness," said Carter with a laugh. "We've been through an awful lot in the past few months. Maybe not as much as you, from the snatches we've heard of your adventures, but we've gotten a little tougher. Besides, you didn't see . . ." he trailed off, realizing it probably wasn't a good idea to tell Percy how sorry of a state Nico had been in when Aziza was finished with him, or how anyone who walked away from a child who'd been screaming in as much agony as Nico had been, would have to have been completely heartless.
"Actually," said Percy very slowly, "I did see. Demigod dreams usually aren't just dreams. We have these kind of out of body experiences that deal with things that affect us, our allies, or our enemies. So . . . well, I had front row seats to the first half of that fight. I saw what she did to him."
"Oh. Sorry." It would have given Carter nightmares to see Sadie in that condition, and from the look on Percy's face, the older boy had probably gone through the same thing. "Godling dreams can be pretty trippy too," he said, fishing for another topic, and only managing to come up with that. "We have out of body experiences too, but we kind of get new bodies that look like birds with our own human heads on them. Sadie calls me the Carter-Headed-Chicken."
Percy's expression told Carter than he recognized the change of topic for what it was, but that he was grateful for it. "Weird," he said appreciatively.
"That's actually pretty tame compared to what we went through last Christmas," said Carter. "On Christmas Eve our Dad blew up the Rosetta Stone . . ."
The next thing he knew he was spilling the entire story to Percy, all about how he and Sadie had gotten possessed by Horus and Isis, how they'd ended up on the House of Life's bad side, and everything they had done on their quest to save their father, only to finally lose him in the end. He told Percy about what had motivated his parents years ago that set them on their current path, and what the fallout from that had been, and how he and Sadie had become practically strangers after that. It was like once he'd started talking he couldn't stop. There was a big difference between telling his story to a tape recorder and telling it to an actual, living human being. Or living person. He wasn't sure whether or not demigods counted as human or not, but Percy certainly seemed human enough. More than that, he seemed like the kind of person who understood that kind of thing, though Carter didn't really know how. Something in his face hinted at the kind of wisdom that could only be gained through trials, and he didn't interrupt Carter's story, not once. He let Carter say what he needed to.
"And so now we're looking for other people with the blood of pharaohs," Carter finally concluded. "Other people who can, or already are hosting gods, so that we'll have a fighting chance against Apophis. We're looking for Zia along the way, of course, but right now we have no idea where she is, so that's kind of hard. I really want to find her but . . . I can't be selfish. We need allies, and so far we're not doing too well, so we've been putting priority on that."
"Well," said Percy, when he realized Carter was finished, "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I don't think you're doing so bad finding allies. A demigod and the world's only demigodling aren't anything to sneeze at, especially if they're both sons of the Big Three."
Carter blinked then smiled. "You're our allies now then?"
"We're in this mess together, aren't we?" Percy asked. "You guys are the only ones who might be able to help Nico figure out how to control his new godling powers. If he can do magic, he'll need your help. In return he'll fight for you and so will I. Saving the world from a chaotic entity isn't exactly anything new for us. Remind me to tell you about our adventures sometime."
"From the references you've made to them they sound . . . extreme," Carter said.
"Oh yeah," Percy agreed. "But yours haven't exactly been easy either. You and Sadie, growing up separated . . . that must have been hard too."
"It was lonely sometimes," Carter said, then immediately wished he could take that back. It made him sound weak, and weak was the last thing he wanted to appear to be in front of Percy. The older boy was way past cool. There was no other way to describe him. He practically radiated confidence and control, the way his cousin radiated death. Carter was willing to bet that Percy was one of the popular kids at his school, or if not there then at least at the demigod camp that he and Nico had mentioned. But there was more to him than just being cool. Percy just seemed . . . good. Responsible and kind. The kind of guy who made you want to follow his example and be a better person.
"I was an only child," Percy told Carter. "I got lonely sometimes too. My mom had married a complete loser and I was always getting expelled from whatever school I went to, so I never had a chance to make and keep many friends."
"You? Expelled? More than once?" Carter couldn't believe it.
Percy shrugged. "Monsters are drawn to demigods. They showed up, complications occurred, and I got blamed."
"Oh." That made a lot more sense.
"Of course, I have about a million half-siblings," said Percy, "but most of them are cyclopses. That doesn't necessarily mean they're bad!" he added hastily. "They're just not the sharpest swords in the armory, though they can certainly forge them."
"Aren't some of them . . . well . . ." Carter didn't want to offend Percy, but he had heard some of the myths. " . . . not good?"
"Yeah," Percy said darkly. "There are plenty of bad ones. Plenty of good ones too though, but I'm only really close to one of them. Tyson. He's saved my life quite a few times. He spends most of his time under the sea now though, with Dad, so I guess the relative I'm closest to, other than my mom is Nico. He's kind of become like a little brother to me too, but don't tell him I said that. It might upset him. He's got more issues with his family than most demigods, and I don't know what will set him off and what he'll be okay with."
"I won't say anything," promised Carter. "Do you have any advice on being a big brother though? You've got more experience than me. I'm still learning the ropes."
"You're doing fine," Percy assured him. "I'm not sure it's the kind of thing anyone can teach you how to do anyway."
Carter considered this. "Probably not," he agreed after a moment. "But can you tell me, does it get easier after you spend more time with them?"
It was Percy's turn to consider. "Yes," he said finally. "I think so. After you get to know them better I guess you adjust to each other. But even if it never got any easier, I think it would still be worth it."
This time Carter didn't have to think about it before agreeing. "Yeah," he said. "I think they are worth it."
"Do you mind if I put on the telly?" Sadie asked several minutes after Percy, Carter, and Bast had left. Sleep was proving to be elusive and she was starting to get bored waiting for the food.
"Huh?" Nico asked sleepily. "The what?"
"I suppose you Yanks call them TVs or televisions," Sadie translated. "So do you mind if I turn it on or what?"
She saw Nico frown and thought he was going to object. Then of course she would have turned it on anyway just to spite him. But Nico hesitated briefly then closed his eyes and turned onto his side so that he faced away from the room's television.
"It's okay," he muttered.
Sadie hesitated. "You don't sound very enthusiastic about it."
"I don't feel good."
It was Sadie's turn to frown. "Don't feel good how?" she asked. "Like you're sick or like . . . you're being burned up from the inside out?" She hoped it was the former and not the latter. Not everyone could handle being a god's host, let alone a really powerful god's host, and as far as they knew, Nico's bloodline didn't stretch back to the pharaohs, which made him less likely to be compatible. Then again, his mother was Italian, a daughter of Rome as it were. If Sadie remembered right, Rome had been a melting pot of cultures, absorbing what they conquered if it seemed useful enough. And there had been precedence enough for Romans taking Egyptian wives, so maybe Nico did have some pharaoh blood after all. Or maybe he was strong enough to host Anubis even without it. Sadie didn't know and didn't really care about the details of it, just as long as he was strong enough to be a host. She didn't particularly like Nico. He was making her life very difficult after all, but she didn't like the idea of Anubis unintentionally burning him out like a cheap battery. Death Boy was kind of growing on her now that she'd had a chance to see a couple glimpses of the real him. She had a feeling that accidentally killing Nico would weigh pretty hard on Anubis' conscience too, so for her favorite god's sake, she hoped Nico wasn't deteriorating as they spoke.
"I'm not being burned up by god essence," murmered Nico as though he knew what Sadie was thinking. "If hosting Anubis was going to kill me, I think it would have done so by now. I just grossly overused my powers last night. That's why I'm drained."
"Oh." Sadie put down the remote control. "So when you do that shadow travel thing it usually takes that much out of you?"
Nico gave a tired chuckle. "It usually tires me out, yeah. Until last night I'd never taken passengers. Last week I probably would have killed myself trying the stuff I did last night. I'm a little surprised that I'm still alive right now."
"You . . . really put yourself in danger doing that shadow thing?"
"When you say it like that it makes me sound stupid," muttered Nico.
"Or brave," pointed out Sadie.
"Same difference."
Sadie smiled. "You're not so bad, Death Boy."
Nico turned his face toward Sadie and an odd expression crossed his face. It looked like he was trying to smile, but his muscles seemed to be rebelling and his eyes fluttered like a hummingbird's wings as he attempted to keep them open. "Thanks. Neither are you."
"Is this the part where we hug and decide to be friends?" asked Sadie sarcastically. She couldn't start being too nice all of a sudden, after all.
"This is the part where I go back to sleep," Nico told her, abandoning any attempts at keeping his eyes open.
Sadie laid back down on her own bed. "I'll leave the telly off. There's probably nothing good on at this hour. I hope Bast and our brothers get back soon. I'm starving." She cut her glance toward Nico, waiting for the correction, ready with a teasing remark that she hoped would get under his skin, but the correction never came. It appeared that Nico had drifted off.
Oh well. Plenty of time to annoy him later. Sadie closed her eyes, but a noise from the door had her opening them right back up. She waited for the door to swing open, and for Bast, Percy, and Carter to come back in, hopefully with some delicious takeout.
Instead the door flew off its hinges, all the way across the room and into the wall. Sadie rolled off the bed and down behind it, reaching into the Duat for her staff even as she hit the carpet.
"Hello, pet," said a familiar and despised voice.
"You . . ." Nico was still on his bed, struggling to sit up, but his strength seemed to keep failing him. Sadie could see the fear in his eyes as his own body betrayed him. He wasn't going to be any use in a fight. He could barely even move.
That meant it was up to Sadie to hold these House of Life punks off until the big kids and their resident cat goddess returned.
"Ha-di!" she shouted, aiming at Aziza's staff.
Hieroglyphics glowed in the air as Aziza countered Sadie's attack, then conjured a giant serpent. The snake shot forward toward Sadie with the speed of an arrow, and before she even knew that it had reached her, she was wrapped up in its coils like a mouse in the grasp of a rat snake.
"Bloody hell!" Sadie struggled, but that only caused the snake to wrap around her even tighter. So tight she could barely breathe. "Nico, run!"
"I don't think he can," Aziza said, striding forward to the bed just as Nico managed to roll off of it. For a second Sadie thought that meant he would be able to flee, but Aziza was right there in front of him, standing over him with a nasty smile on her cold face. "Poor little demigod. You overused your powers, didn't you? You see, I read up on you while I was waiting for reports on your whereabouts to come in. What you did last night should have been impossible. Your little escape trip through the shadows. And doing it more than once . . ." she gave a sadistic little laugh. "It wore you all out, didn't it, pet?"
"Stop calling me that." There was fear in Nico's voice but nothing even close to submission.
"Why?" Aziza asked, kneeling down over him. Something circular gleamed red and gold in her hand. "You're such a cute little thing, after all. You remind me of a puppy, and until we turn you back over to your dear, loving father, you're going to be collared like one." She snapped the gold circlet around Nico's neck and it flared with light.
"Ahhhh!" Nico's hands didn't fly to his neck so much as flounder there, shaking like an addict's as he tried to tug at the collar.
"There, there." Aziza patted him on the head. "Nothing to worry about. That collar won't damage you. It'll just keep you too weak to try to escape while you enjoy our hospitality." She stood and stretched. "Hakim. Carry my pet for me, would you? And Abraham, get that thing." She nodded toward Sadie.
"L-l-l-let her g-go," Nico gasped. "Sh-sh-she's n-not inv-v-volved –"
"Oh, but she is," Aziza told him. "Your father ordered that you be returned to him, and that the ones responsible for your kidnapping be given to him as well."
"But I didn't kidnap him!" Sadie managed to gasp out. "I saved him from you and your stupid ribbons!"
"A minor detail, one which Lord Hades won't be concerned about, I'm sure." Aziza gave Sadie another nasty smile.
"I'll t-t-t-tell him the t-t-truth," Nico whispered.
"Which is why we'll have to sacrifice her to your father before we turn you over. Sadie Kane, her brother, and their pet god have been a thorn in our side for far too long."
"N-n-n-no!" shouted Nico. At least he tried to shout anyway. It came out as more of a raspy stutter, and then Hakim hauled him off the ground and threw him over one of his shoulders, none too gently.
One of Aziza's other hench magicians came over to Sadie but hesitated. "Aziza, the snake?"
Aziza sighed and snapped her fingers and the snake dissolved.
Sadie immediately made a dive for her staff, but Abraham caught her, squeezing her just as tightly as the snake had, and Sadie was sure she could feel a couple of her ribs start to crack. She kicked wildly and felt her foot connect with something soft. Abraham yowled and released her, and she made another break for freedom –
- only to find her path blocked by a short, Middle Eastern woman in one of the motel's housekeeping uniforms. Hieroglyphics appeared in the air around Sadie, and she had just enough time to realize that they were the symbols for "sleep" before her eyes drooped and her knees buckled. She was unconscious before she hit the floor.
Thanks everyone who wished me a successful recovery in their reviews, and also thank you for the book recommendations. I got a gift card to the local bookstore as a get well present, so I'll be going there again soon.
Also, I must give a big thank you to Lostbeyondreason for that awesome picture you drew of Nico and Anubis playing Mythomagic in a graveyard. For anyone who wants to see it, I'll be putting a link to it in my profile. It's awesome! Thank you so much! Your fan art just made my entire summer!
