Characters belong to Rick Riordan.
17 - Carter
Carter held back a sigh as the attendant bowed and left. He had been Pharaoh of the House of Life for a number of years now, but some days it still felt like he was taking care of the ankle biters from the 21st Nome. Why he needed to be appraised that some of the Nomes in Australia were enchanting their surfboards to ride smoother was beyond him.
"Sir," one of the guards from the entryway called as he approached the throne. "There is a man claiming to be the Eye of Nekhbet asking for an audience with the pharaoh."
Carter frowned. While the path of the gods was much less taboo than it once was, there were few who would claim being an Eye. He wracked his memory for anyone following the path of Nekhbet and came up blank before remembering a particular paperweight on his desk. Could it be…?
"Send him in," Carter commanded out loud. The guard saluted and made his way back down the Hall of Ages. In the silence that followed, Carter thought through all he remembered of the Greeks and his interactions with them. Their gods, he had found out, had sworn an oath of isolation from the other pantheons of Earth millennia ago. After his and Sadie's quest to stop Setne from making himself a god and taking over with the help of Percy and Annabeth, two Greek demigods, he had asked Horus some questions. While the Pharaoh and Chief Lector were informed of the other pantheons, average magicians were not, simply due to the lack of need. If any stumbled into other gods or heroes, it was their choice to help and share about the encounter. Most chose to bury their memories of such encounters. Whatever Percy was here to discuss, it must be very important.
As Percy came into view, Carter stood. "Leave us," he ordered.
"But, my lord–" one of the guards protested.
"Do you seek to portray me as weak in front of one who follows the goddess who preys upon them?" Carter bit out. "Get out, and do not return until I call for you." The guards left warily, glancing at Percy in distrust. As the hidden door closed behind the last magician, Carter let the tension leave his body, rolling his shoulders as he sighed in exhaustion.
"Good to see you again, Carter," the demigod greeted. It had been years since Carter had seen him, but those sea green eyes stood out even still. Between that and the aura of power around him, there were no doubts as to his identity.
"Good to see you as well, Percy," Carter replied, "though I can't help but wonder why it's been so long."
"Oh, you know how it gets. One minute you're fighting monsters and defending camp, the next you're plotting a civil war against the gods." Percy rolled his eyes and sighed bitterly. "Our relations with our parents have never been good, but recently things have gone to Tartarus."
Carter was certainly focused now. "What happened?"
Percy snorted. "What hasn't happened?" He shook his head bitterly. "Long story short, since Annabeth's and my wedding, we've been led into traps by the gods five times, once using one of their kids as bait, met a Titan who told us of the last great prophecy which almost definitely involves us, and fought our parents on Olympus itself before getting out of Dodge."
Carter blinked, nonplussed. "The last great prophecy?" he asked.
"It's supposed to be the prophecy on the end of the world or something dramatic like that," Percy answered. "I'm not sure how they work for you guys, but our prophecies are usually given by an oracle in some sort of verse form. They tend to not make much sense until after the fact, and it's an extremely bad idea to try to avoid one."
"I can imagine," Carter replied solemnly. "Fate is not something to be trifled with. It tends to upset the balance." Percy nodded. "So what does this prophecy have to do with us?"
Percy shrugged. "I'm not sure. It sounds like a standard end of the world bit of lore. I suppose we could compare notes at some point, but it's not really the reason I'm here. Annabeth and I were wondering if we could get your and Sadie's help with a large project."
Carter raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What kind of project are we talking about?"
"Well, with the whole fighting our parents thing, we need to make sure we stay out of Olympus' sphere of influence. While we'd be content for a little while just living in a shack in Alaska, that doesn't help other demigods who are likely to need the same protection if things keep going the way they seem to be." Percy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. "The end goal would be a self-sustaining settlement of some kind."
"A large project," Carter noted, "but not something necessarily within my expertise. Unless you're wanting to set it up similar to our Nomes?"
"Potentially," Percy allowed, "but if we're going to make a modern mythological hideaway then we want to do it right. Everyone needs help sometimes, and this seems like a good starting point to build some bridges." Carter gave him a confused look. "We're hoping that you or Sadie will help us set up some wards in exchange for us leading and training a hidden Nome."
Carter sat heavily on the throne, his mind spinning. That is quite the ambitious project, he thought, and certainly not one his pantheon will approve of. I don't think ours would mind as much, so long as we're not attempting to change the whole House of Life. And if this prophecy does allude to another apocalypse in the near future, we may well need to get involved with others anyways.
The pharaoh rubbed his temples. "Why is it that nothing is simple with you people?" Carter groaned. "The logistics alone will take ages to sort out, much less sorting through which magicians would be willing and able to take up with such a project."
Percy frowned. "Is that a no, then?" Carter shook his head.
"It's not a no, but Ra's Throne, it's going to be a heck of a lot of work to put together." He thought for a moment. "What do your basic plan entail so far?"
Percy frowned in thought. "So far nothing super concrete. The final plans depend a lot on your and some others' answers, but we want a defensible, self-reliant outpost or town or something similar up in Alaska. The location is mostly for the sake of us Greeks and Romans, as it's outside the realm of our gods. The size and geography of the location we pick would depend on who will be joining and what they need and want for their own pantheon's habits. We want to protect camp with some mixed magics for better protection, given how well that worked in our last team up." He shrugged. That's all we've got right now. Annabeth probably has some more developed ideas than me; I'm more worried about the kind of training we'll need to provide."
Carter mulled it over for a moment before nodding decisively. "That's good enough for a start, especially since there's no precedent. I'll warn Sadie to look out for a message from you guys when you're ready; she's better at warding spells than I am. When you have more info, let me know and we can meet again to iron out more specific details."
Percy grinned in relief. "Works for me. Do you want us in charge of this hypothetical Nome or do you have someone of yours in mind?"
"Let's cross that bridge when we get there, alright?" Carter groaned. "I'll start looking through our old decrees and make sure we can actually get away with this on our end."
"Fair enough," Percy relented. "Anything else you need from me right now?"
Carter hummed in thought. "I am still interested in that prophecy. Our divinations aren't usually as concrete." Percy huffed and rolled his eyes.
"They're not all they're cracked up to be, believe me, but if you're going to insist, the one we heard basically said there's gonna be this Great Union who are part old and part new who are involved with the world ending." The demigod shrugged. "If you want the specifics you'll have to get in touch with Annabeth." Carter, however, was frozen in his seat, a cold shiver of fear racing up his spine. A fear that wasn't his own.
Horus? He thought.
Be wary, the god replied.
Carter frowned. The god didn't often contact him directly anymore, so for him to do so now meant this prophecy was important. Of what? It won't be the first apocalypse we've dealt with, Carter responded.
If this… prophecy… really involves the Great Union, it will be unavoidable, Horus replied gravely. This is not like our previous adventures. While the Great Union is to lead to great things, their world will be fired in the depths of Chaos and sealed with the blood of the universe.
Carter started back to the present as Percy snapped his fingers in Carter's face. "You okay man? You were spacing out and shivering."
Carter shook his head to clear it. "I think so. Horus had very strong feelings about your prophecy." Percy's expression hardened, and Carter shivered again from the chill emanating from the demigod.
"Is he going to cause problems?" Percy asked roughly.
"No," Carter responded immediately. "He is wary of the coming hardships, but basically said this Great Union isn't something preventable and in the end will be a good thing." Percy locked eyes with him, searching. After a moment, he nodded sharply and turned to leave.
"Before I leave," he paused and turned around as the base of the dais. Reaching into his pocket, he flipped Carter a silver coin. A pentadent framed by wings was embossed on one side, while the other showed a split headshot of a regal looking man and women. Upon a closer look, Carter realized the faces were based on those of Percy and Annabeth. He looked up to Percy in confusion.
"Why do I have a coin with your face on it?" he asked. Percy's neck reddened as he flushed in embarrassment.
"A friend of mine came through to help us as we fled Olympus; the design was hers. We've shown you how to send an IM before, right?" Carter nodded. "If you use that coin and ask Fleecy to do you a solid instead, you'll have a direct line to us. It's safer than using a phone at the moment."
"Fair enough," Carter replied. He pocketed the coin with a grin. "Sadie's gonna mock you endlessly for it though."
Percy groaned and rolled his eyes. "Don't I know it." He shook his head and gave Carter a small grin. "I'll leave you to it, then. Places to be, things to do, enemies to vanquish." With a wave, Percy left. As his form faded into the mists of the Hall of Ages, Carter mulled over the new information.
"Jakob!" he called. One of his attendants slipped into the room from a door behind the throne. "Tell the guards they may return, then send for a diviner."
"Sir," the man replied. He spun around and left the same way he entered, leaving Carter to worry about the future on his own, the purple light from the current Age casting his features with an eerie glow.
"I hope you know what you're starting, Percy."