Chapter Fourteen — ANNABETH
"Mama, when is Daddy coming home?" Ally asked, peering up at me with shining sea-green eyes. I had just finished the story of Percy's and mine first kiss inside Mt. St. Helens, when I'd put on my invisibility cap and slipped away to let him deal with the telkhines, unsure if I would even ever see him again. Of course, I had to censor that last part a bit; no need to scare my kids, especially so young.
"I don't know, baby, but I'm sure it'll be soon," I answered, stroking her head; Percy had been gone at least two hours. Sally smiled down at her granddaughter, and handed me a glass of lemonade, which I accepted gratefully. Just then the door opened, and we all turned our heads to see Percy step through. Ally and Luke were up in a flash, tackling his legs, while Ethan slowly made his way with my help.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain, did you take care of it?" I asked as I greeted him with a kiss. He nodded, but seemed almost as distracted and confused as he had when he left. I cocked my head. "What's wrong? What was up with the pegasi?"
"You won't believe it," Percy said, shaking his head as he patted Luke an Ally on their own heads. "I got there, and the thing that had been threatening camp was a crocodile."
"A crocodile?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. "On Long Island?"
"I told you that you wouldn't believe it," he declared, "but yeah, it was a crocodile, the size of a truck, that ate one of the pegasi. But get this: the crocodile had been enchanted to grow, with this necklace that had both Greek and Egyptian writing. It's called a petsuchos."
My eyes widened. "Egyptian, too?" I said. "Wait, how were you able to read it?"
"Well, even stranger, I didn't – I wasn't the only one called out to deal with this," Percy explained. "A magician showed up, but not any one we know. He was just as shocked by me as I was by him; when we finished taking care of the petsuchos, I had to explain to him who and what I was, and I had to mention Carter's and Sadie's names a bunch of times to get him to believe me." My husband chuckled. "There were a couple misunderstandings at first. But anyway, his name is Julian, and he follows the Path of Horus, like Carter. He had this pretty cool hawk avatar when we were fighting the crocodile."
"But what was the crocodile?" I asked. The kids had gone back to playing on their own, with Ally thrusting an imaginary sword into the air and the boys cheering her on. "How could it have been both Greek and Egyptian? Could it have something to do with Setne and Melinoe?"
Percy's face darkened. "I'm afraid it does," he replied gravely. "From what Julian told me, it was a way of trying to combine Greek and Egyptian magic, sort of like a prototype experiment, and maybe it could also be their way of making themselves known."
"Either way it's not good," I concluded. Just then my cell rang, and, somewhat startled, I picked it up; if it wasn't important, the phone wouldn't even be ringing.
"Hello?" I said.
"Annabeth?" It was Carter. "Annabeth, have you heard from Sadie at all?"
"No," I said, confused. "No, I haven't talked to her since this morning. Why, what happened?"
"She was supposed to go to work right afterwards, but a while ago her boss left an angry message on our machine saying she if she missed one more day she'd be fired," the magician answered, sounding distressed. "We've tried her cell; Walt's out driving around looking for her; Zia even tried a scrying spell, and a location spell. I thought maybe you might have an idea."
"I'm sorry, but I don't," I told him, upset I couldn't offer any helpful information. "But I will start looking now. I'm sure everything's fine, Carter; I will let you know if I find her."
"Alright. Alright, I'll do the same. Thank-you, Annabeth, so much," Carter said, and then hung up. I looked up from my phone and saw Percy, Sally, and Paul emerging from the kitchen with a plate of cookies, all looking at me.
"Is there another crisis already?" Paul asked, sounding somewhat exasperated.
"Sadie's missing, apparently," I told him. Percy was automatically on high alert.
"Need me to help?" he asked me, hand straying to his pocket, where Riptide always rested. I shook my head.
"No, I think I'll be alright," I said. "Well, I guess you could go search, too, but if you do I think we should split up, and cover more ground that way." Percy nodded slowly.
"Okay," he said. He then turned to Sally. "Mom, would you - well, would you mind if I borrowed your car, while Annabeth takes ours? Is it too much to ask you to look after the kids for a bit longer?"
Sally waved her hand dismissively. "Of course," she replied. "We love having them, and if one of us is here we don't need two cars anyway. I hope you can find this girl."
"Thanks, Mom," Percy said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. I also thanked my mother-in-law, and then we told the kids that we needed a bit more adult time, and to be just as good now as they had been before. Then Percy got into his mother's car and I got into ours. As soon as I did, though, I realized I had no idea where I should be looking. New York was a big place, and who knew where Sadie might be? I sat in the car for a while, thinking. Well, if she hadn't shown up at her work and hadn't told her family where she was, then she probably wasn't acting of her own free will. Of course, there were still a lot of places in the city, or out of thr city, where a person could be held captive, so perhaps that wasn't the best clue.
Suddenly I was struck by a feeling, that I needed to go to the docks. Although it seemed terribly cliché that a kidnap victim would be at the docks, possibly ready to "sleep with the fishes," mafia style, I couldn't shake the idea that Sadie was there. So, off I went, hoping I was right and that I would find her in one piece.
...
I've always loved the smell of the ocean, a big reason for that being Percy, of course, but the smell of the docks was not the same. A mixture of salt, fish, seaweed, and decaying wood assaulted my nose, and I wrinkled it in disgust. I had put on my magic Yankees cap for privacy and protection, in case any dock workers saw me and got in the way, but it was strangely silent. I frowned, confused. It was barely 1:30; was everyone on a lunch-break? What could be keeping the men from their work?
That's when I realized it. Beneath the generally unpleasant smell in the air and the irritating humidity, there was a slight...pulsing in the air, and it sent shivers down my spine. The last time I'd felt something like this was when I shook Walt/Anubis' hand. Obviously something magic-y was going on, and either the dock workers had sensed it, too, and fled in fear, or...someone or something had gotten rid of them. I bit my lip, distressed by the thought, but then I shook my head to clear it. I needed to be focused right now, for Sadie's sake –
"OOOOOOOHAAAAAAARGH!" A giant roar snapped me out of my thoughts and into battle mode. Running in the direction of the sound, I gripped my dagger – sporting a blue hilt and a gray blade, it was given to me by Percy for our anniversary just passed. I loved the symbolism of it — I received my first dagger after years of life, and this second one after seven years of married life — and it had gotten me out of the few monster scrapes I'd encountered as an adult. It was an important tool, and I felt secure as I brought it with me.
The sound had come from one of the warehouses, where the fish are stored, and as I neared it, I noticed an odd golden glow, tinged with black, surrounded it. I made sure my cap was firmly on my head and quietly opened of the doors, and slipped through; a violent shudder passed through my body and I had to hold in a gasp as I crossed the threshold. Whatever was happening was clearly Egyptian magic, and it clearly didn't want a demigod interfering.
When I had a hold of myself, I looked around. The first thing I saw — really, the first thing anyone with eyes could see — was a fifteen-foot-tall figure, dressed in only Hawaiian shorts. Muscles rippled under bronze skin tattooed with Greek letters and Egyptian hieroglyphs, and a gray beard curled down to his collarbone; the hair on his head was styled into dreadlocks. He stretched his arms, brushing the ceiling as he did so.
"FINALLY!" he bellowed. "FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MILLENNIA, I AM FREE! WHO HAS SUMMONED ME, THAT I MAY REWARD THEM?"
"We are the ones, mighty one, who have freed you," a woman's voice answered, an accompanying body drifting into view. At first I couldn't see her clearly, as her form kept flickering, changing into deceased campers and other demigods I'd known over the years, ike Zoe and Silena, and for a split second I thought I even saw Luke. But then I gave myself a pinch, and the grisly, half dead and half alive form of Melinoe settled into view. At her side was a man who, from Sadie's description in the throne room this morning, could only be Setne.
"THEN I THANK YOU, GODDESS!" the giant roared; I was beginning to suspect that was his normal speaking voice. I didn't want to hear his outside voice.
There was something about him that was familiar, or, at least, that I felt I should know. Being near him made me feel light-headed, as if he were poison. I didn't like the way the Greek and Egyptian symbols swirled on his skin; his very nature seemed like an abomination. I just wished I could remember what he was supposed to be called.
Another glance around, and I saw what – who – I had been searching for in the first place: Sadie, tied to a chair and at the moment struggling against her bonds. I made my way towards her, careful not to step on anything that might squeak and give me away.
Melinoe was speaking again, "It is not thanks I desire, great one, but a share in the new world you will undoubtedly make. This world has changed drastically since you resided in this realm, and we think it high time it changed again."
The giant threw his head back and laughed; it sounded like claps of thunder in my ear. "BOLD DEMANDS, KHTHONION – YES, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, UNDERWORLD GODDESS. AND WHEN I RECLAIM THAT KINGDOM FROM YOUR FATHER, WHY SHOULD I GRANT YOU A PART OF IT?"
"Well, of course I shall let you think on it," the goddess said, voice calm and collected. "But in the meantime, we have prepared a treat for you. Behold, a Blood of Pharaohs, and a former host of Isis, yours for the taking." Here she turned and gestured to Sadie, who glared. I froze, just behind Sadie's chair; she of course didn't see me.
"ISIS? MY FORMER CONSORT?" the giant said, sounding almost amused. "YOU PLAN TO CONVINCE ME WITH A BRIDE?"
"Not a snowball's chance in Hell, you stupid arse!" Sadie yelled, a heavy British accent slipping into her speech. "I'm happily married already, thank-you!"
But suddenly things had finally started coming together in my brain. A giant that exuded conflicting auras; the idea of combining Greek and Egyptian magic; the fact he mentioned Isis has his former wife. I knew who this giant was. And I knew how dangerous it would be if he wasn't stopped soon – a god who was the embodiment of warring nature, meant to delude and oppress a people.
This, was Seraphis.