In which Percy is a good sister- and also, they find out something very troubling.
Replies:
Rage2091: Do you truly think I'd separate the Kanes? Really now?
Undeath9087: Percy is fed up with her siblings love lives, but at the same time she's like, "Maybe if I play along they'll stop being dumbies.

And so they split ways- Sadie summoned Walt- who didn't even hesitate to come- honestly it was very obvious that he was soft on Sadie.

The goodbyes were fraught and tearful, and Percy clung to Sadie's hand as they watched Carter, Zia and Bes drive away.

And then the newly formed trio had set off themselves- Percy did sort of feel bad for going with Sadie instead of Carter, Zia and Bes- after all she was sure that her sister would like the chance to be alone with Walt- but, well, her going with Sadie and Walt had seemed like the most balanced way to handle it.

So Percy was sticking with her sister and her sisters crush.

She was willing to admit that there were some good points to the journey- though Sadie and Walt would probably disagree.

She hadn't enjoyed their first method of transportation- a bus with no air conditioning packed with men who smelled of sweat- and honestly Percy was grateful for deodorant she really was. It had been hot, sticky and just unpleasant, and Sadie had kept one arm wrapped around Percy tightly the entire time.

After that they'd hired a driver to take them to Bahariya- which Percy enjoyed much more- despite the fact that he ate raw onions- she enjoyed singing badly along to the music that he played- even if she didn't know all the words- and, well, she was rather pleased when he stopped in the middle of nowhere and a bunch of bandits jumped out on them, clearly planning on taking advantage of the small group of American kids.

Yeah, that hadn't gone well for them at all- when they'd ripped the car door open Walt had tried to grab Percy and yank her behind him, but Sadie had stopped him and she'd let Percy barrel forward into the man who tried to grab her, driving him to the ground cackling with laughter- and while there were six men- well, they hadn't expected much of a fight at all, and Percy had thoroughly enjoyed herself, summoning her staff so that she could bonk the clearly terrible people over the head with it as they so clearly deserved.

Sadie had joined in after letting Percy have her fun for maybe ten minutes- and when she'd turned her staff into a hungry lion the bandits and the driver couldn't get away fast enough.

Of course the car decided it didn't want to start again- which was annoying but not the end of the world, and after some discussion- and despite Percy's whines that she didn't mind going through the villages and being targeted by thieves and things and that she would, in fact, quite enjoy it, they'd ended up summoning a couple of magic camels, charmed a handful of sand to point the way to
Bahariya, and set out across the desert.

Despite her disappointment about not being allowed to cause more fights- and she found Walt's wide eyed frightened look whenever he looked at her rather amusing, Percy decided that riding the camels wasn't too bad- Sadie insisted that Percy ride on the camel in front of her- because, as Sadie had put it- the gods only knew what Percy would do if she had her own camel.

Personally Percy believed that was very rude, but hey, it was also probably right so she didn't fight it too much.

They'd been travelling for some time, in a sort of uncomfortable silence which Percy didn't dare break- mostly because if she said the wrong thing Sadie was certain to beat her up or do something horrible like set a glitter trap in her room, when Sadie finally spoke up.

"Lovely weather." and Percy resisted the urge to snort- Sadie and Walt had barely spoke since he'd shown up- apparently the amulet he'd given her could literally summon him, which Percy would admit was pretty cool. Also- so so ridiculously sappy that it made her want to groan.

And Walt shifted- he'd been in a daze since they'd started with the camels and he shook himself slightly, "Sorry. I was thinking."

"You know, sometimes talking helps. For instance, oh, I don't know. If I had a major problem, something life-threatening, and I'd only confided to Jaz…and if Bes knew what was going on, but wasn't telling…and if I'd agreed to come on an adventure with a good friend, and had hours to chat as we crossed the desert, I might be tempted to tell her what was wrong."

And really, really how was Percy supposed to resist the urge to torment her sister when she was so easy.

"Subtle." she waggled her eyebrows, which earned her a pinched ear, and Walt tried to hide the way his lips twitched.

"You're speaking hypothetically?"

"Yes. And if this girl were the last person on earth to know what was wrong with me, and really cared…well, I can imagine she'd get quite frustrated at being kept in the dark. And she might hypothetically strangle you—I mean me. Hypothetically."

And Percy really couldn't help her giggles. It wasn't her fault, they were so ridiculous. It was hilariously awkward, and Walt was managing a faint smile.

"It's hard for me to talk about," he said. "I didn't mean to hide anything from you."

"Fortunately, it's not too late- just ignore Percy pretend she's not here."

"I can pretend to nap-"

"See, see she'll nap."

"You two are ridiculous." Walt was smiling though, a genuine smile, though it faltered when he spoke again after a long moment- "It has to do with the blood of the pharaohs. You guys—I mean the Kanes—you combine two powerful royal lines, Narmer and Ramesses the Great, right?"

"Carter and I do." Sadie spoke up, "Percy's descended from Hatshepsut."

"Who is totally just as cool."

"I thought you were napping." Walt joked, a smile playing across his lips-and Percy grinned as she slumped back against Sadie's chest, letting out a fake snore that made Sadie burst out laughing.

Once her laughter faded Walt spoke again.

"My royal line…" He hesitated. "How much do you know about Akhenaton?"

"Off the top of my head, I'd say he was a pharaoh. Probably of Egypt."

Walt laughed again, "Top of the class Sadie was the pharaoh who decided to do away with the gold gods and just worship Aten. The son.

"Oh... right. He's the chap who moved the capital right?"

"He built an entirely new city at Amarna. He was kind of a weird dude, but he was the first one who had the idea that the old gods were bad. He tried to ban their worship, shut down their temples. He wanted to worship only one god, but he made a strange choice for the one god. He thought it was the sun. Not the sun god Ra—the actual sun disk, Aten. Anyway, the old priests and magicians, especially the priests of Amun-Ra—"

"Another name for Ra?" Sadie guessed.

"More or less," Walt said. "So the priests of Amun-Ra's temple weren't too happy with Akhenaton. After he died, they defaced his statues, tried to wipe out his name from all the monuments and stuff. Amarna was completely abandoned. Egypt went back to the
old ways."

Percy shifted slightly, as Sadie took that in for a moment before speaking again. "And this was your great-great-whatever grandfather?"
"I'm one of Akhenaton's descendants. Yeah. We've got the same aptitude for magic as most royal lines, but…we've got problems, too. The gods weren't happy with Akhenaton, as you can imagine. His son Tutankhamen—"

"King Tut?" Sadie straightened slightly and Percy cracked one eye open, "You're related to King Tut?"

"Unfortunately," Walt said. "Tutankhamen was the first to suffer the curse. He died at nineteen. And he was one of the luckier ones."

"Hang on. What curse?"

And of course, because the world always had terrible timing for the Kanes, the camels came to a screeching halt- quite literally.

Percy opened her eyes fully- they'd reached the top of a huge sand dune, and Percy peered down over the other side of it.

Below them in the middle of the desert, a hazy valley of green fields and palm trees sprawled out, roughly the size of central London.

Birds flew overhead. Small lakes sparkled in the afternoon sun. Smoke rose from cooking fires at a few dwellings dotted here and there.

It made Percy's breath catch and she swallowed hard, her eyes wide. It was beautiful after so ling surrounded by a sandy desert. The camels hadn't stopped to admire the beautiful scenery, though. A trail of tiny footprints wound through the sand, all the way from the edge of the oasis to the dune. And coming up the hill was a very disgruntled looking cat.

"It's about time."

And Percy let out an excited whoop as she scrambled down from the camels back, Sadie just a moment behind her.

"Bast!" the youngest member of the group beamed as she dropped to her knees in front of the cat, "You're here!"

"Bast!" Sadie sounded just as pleased- though her tone was slightly more startled. "What are you doing inside that- what is that, exactly?"

And the cat stood on its hind legs and spread its front paws like: Voilà! "An Egyptian mau, of course. Beautiful leopard spots, bluish fur—"

"It looks like it's been through a blender!"

And okay, okay that was a teensy bit true, the cat did look kinda beaten up. Large chunks of it's fur were missing. It might once have been beautiful but it's remaining fur was dirty and matted, and it's eyes were swollen and scarred almost as badly as Menshikov's had been.

Bast dropped back onto all fours- and honestly it was amazing how expressive a cats face could bee as she shot Sadie an indignant look and sniffed loudly. "Sadie, dear, I believe we've talked about battle scars on cats. This old tom is a warrior."

"Uh oh." Percy whispered the words in a singsong voice, "Someone's in trouble."

As she did Walt slid off his camels back, "Bast, how—where are you?"

"Still deep in the Duat." She sighed. "It'll be another day at least before I can find my way out. Things down here are a bit…chaotic."

"Are you all right?" and Percy could hear the concern in her big sisters voice.

The cat nodded. "I just have to be careful. The abyss is teeming with enemies. All the regular paths and river ways are guarded. I'll have to take a long detour to get back safely, and since the equinox starts tomorrow at sunset, the timing is going to be tight. I thought I'd better send you a message."

"So…" Walt knit his eyebrows. "That cat isn't real?"

"Of course it's real," Bast said. "Just controlled by a sliver of my ba. I can speak through cats easily, you know, at least for a few minutes at a time, but this is the first time you've been close to one. Did you realize that? Unbelievable! You really need to hang around more cats. By the way, this mau will need a reward when I'm gone. Some nice fish, perhaps, or some milk—"

"Bast," Percy giggled, "You had a message right? You didn't come to tell us that did you?"

"Right. Apophis is waking."

"We knew that!"

"But it's worse than we thought," she said. "He's got a legion of demons working on his cage, and he's timing his release to coincide with your waking Ra. In fact, he's counting on your freeing Ra. It's part of his plan, and there-"

"Apophis wants us to free his archenemy? That makes no sense."

"I can't explain it," Bast said, "but as I got closer to his cage, I could glean his thoughts. I suppose because we fought so many centuries we have some sort of connection. At any rate, the equinox begins tomorrow at sunset, as I said. The following dawn, the morning of March twenty-first, Apophis intends to rise from the Duat. He plans to swallow the sun and destroy the world. And he believes your plan to awaken Ra will help him do that and-"

"If Apophis wants us to succeed why is he trying so hard to stop us?"

"Is he?" Sadie asked suddenly. ""Apophis wants chaos, he wants to divide his enemies. If Ra comes back, it could throw us into a civil war. The magicians are already divided. The gods would be fighting each other. There would be no clear ruler. And if Ra isn't reborn in a strong new form—if he's as old and feeble as I saw in my vision—"

"So we shouldn't awaken Ra?" Walt asked.

"That's not the answer either-"

"Will you two let me finish!" Bast hissed the words, "There's something else." her gaze swung to Percy, who felt the urge to run and hide suddenly. "I don't know why, but he wants Percy. For some reason he wants her very badly."