In which Walt is starting to have some real questions about Percy but no one is likely to answer them.
Replies:
Rage2091: I can neither confirm nor deny anything.
Undeath9087: Percy is pretty powerful, especially in this AU, and Apophis is aware of that, and he has plans to use that. I feel like bad guys would generally want someone like Percy on their side lol.
Ryan Fowler: Percy whenever someone annoys her 'I have these fists and I am ready to hit something. Preferably you'.
Guest: They know Menshikov wants Percy, but they didn't know that Apophis specifically has an interest in her. And Walt's definitely got some questions- he's just there like 'Okay I know I'm missing something but I get the feeling that if I ask I'll get zero answers right now'.
PJ Fan285: I hope you enjoy the path it takes, and thank you for your question- I won't lie it is a lot of work but I love writing and I love the stories so at this stage I'm still very much enjoying writing it all. If it ever changes I'll take a break don't worry.

Percy felt as if the world was dropping out beneath her at Bast's words, her eyes going wide with shock and horror- and Sadie instantly had and arm around her, as though she was afraid that something would happen to Percy if she wasn't holding onto her tightly. "What the fuck does that mean?" Sadie demanded, "What does that mean? I don't-"

"It's why Menshikov wants me." Percy breathed out, shaking violently as she pressed as close as she could into Sadie's side, grabbing at the other girls tee tightly, desperately. "He wants me because for some reason Apophis wants me-" then she felt even more sick as realisation hit her like a baseball bat. "My dreams."

"What dreams?" Bast asked, hissing slightly, her tail puffing up- a sure sign that she was incredibly worried.

"She's been hearing a voice in her dreams." Sadie looked utterly horrified as she clutched Percy closer, "Oh gods you think-"

"It's him." Percy could feel her eyes filling with tears, "It's him. What does he want with me what does he want?" her voice was shaking, terrified. "Please- please what does he want-"

"I don't know." Bast shook her head, "I'm sorry Kitten I don't know what he wants-" and Percy was twisting, pressing her face into Sadie's chest as she let out a frightened sob.

"What do we do now?" Walt's voice was strained, "Do we send her home? Why would Apophis want Percy?"

"We can't." Sadie shook her head, "We don't have enough time. And- it's complicated."

"I have to stay with you guys." Percy's voice was very small, and she swallowed hard, "I- I'll be okay. I- whatever he wants with me I won't give it to him."

"You're brave Kitten." Bast's voice was proud, "Don't let him scare you."

"I won't. I won't I promise." Percy let out a shaky breath, "L-let's pretend Apophis doesn't want me right now. So- so he wants Ra. But we still need him. What do we do?"

Sadie took a deep breath, fingers brushing absently through Percy's curls, "We stick to the plan. We need Ra. Ma'at and Chaos have to balance, right? If Apophis rises, Ra has to as well."

Walt twisted his rings as he spoke up. "But if Apophis wants Ra awakened, if he thinks it will help him destroy the world—"

"We have to believe that Apophis is wrong." Sadie stated firmly, "About everything. Apophis can't imagine that anyone could unite the gods and magicians," I said. "He thinks the return of Ra will weaken us even further. We have to prove him wrong. We have to make order from chaos. That's what Egypt has always done. It's a risk—a huge risk—but if we do nothing because we fear we'll fail, we play right into Apophis's hands." Sadie's hand stopped moving, "And you Percy- whatever that bastard wants from you, you're gonna prove that he has no clue what he's dealing with. You're a thousand time stronger than anyone thinks you are."

That made Percy perk up slightly, her back straightening. "You think so?" she loosened her grip on Sadie, who laughed softly and ruffled Percy's hair.

"Damn straight I do-"

"Girls." Bast's voice was faintly amused, "Focus- and don't underestimate Apophis- I have no doubt of Percy's skills, of course, but I have fought him and is dangerous."

"Which is why we need you back quickly." Sadie told Bast about their run in with Set and Manshikov- about their conversation and the plans to destroy Brooklyn House. "Bast, our friends are in terrible danger. Menshikov is possibly even more insane than Amos realizes. As soon as you're able, go to Brooklyn. I have a feeling our last stand is going to be there. We'll get the third scroll and find Ra."

"I don't like last stands," the cat said. "But you're right. It sounds bad. By the way, where are Bes, Carter and Zia?" she looked suspiciously at the camels, "If there was another camel I'd ask if you turned them into those-"

"The idea's appealing." Sadie let out a weak laugh, "But no, they've gone off on their own little quest- apparently Iskander hid something in Zia's old village which we might need, so we set them off to get it."

Bast hissed with distaste. "A foolish detour! I'll have words with that dwarf about letting you girls go off on your own."

"What am I, invisible?" Walt protested.

"Sorry, dear, I didn't mean—" The cat's eyes twitched. It coughed like it had a hairball. "My connection is failing. Good luck, girls. The best entrance to the tombs is on a small date farm just to the southeast. Look for a black water tower. And do watch out for the Romans. They're quite—"

The cat puffed up its tail. Then it blinked and looked around in confusion.

"What Romans?" Sadie asked quickly, "They're quite what?"

"Big assholes?" Percy piped up innocently as the cat meowed, clearly no longer being controlled by Bast.

"Yeah yeah." Sadie laughed, "We all know that you disapprove of the Romans. Now let's go and find some mummies you guys."

And so, once they'd fed the cat with bitch of beefy jerky and water- not quite fish and milk, but the cat seemed happy enough. As it was in sight of the oasis and obviously knew its way around better than they did, they left it to finish its meal. Walt turned the camels back into amulets and they trudged into Bahariya on foot.

Thankfully the date farm wasn't difficult to find. The black water tower sat at the edge of the property, and it was the tallest structure in sight.

They made their way toward it, weaving through acres of palm trees, which provided some shade from the sun. An adobe farmhouse stood in the distance, but Percy didn't see any people.

When they reached the water tower Percy's eyes narrowed as she tried to spot the entrance. The tower looked quite old—four rusty steel posts holding a round tank the size of a garage about fifteen meters in the air. The tank had a slow leak. Every few seconds water dropped from the sky and smacked against the hard-packed sand underneath. There wasn't much else in sight except for more palm trees, a few tarnished farm tools, and a weathered plywood sign lying on the ground. The sign was spray-painted in Arabic and English, probably from some attempt by the farmer to sell his wares in the market. Of course, Percy pulled a face as she stared at it.

"Can't they write it neater at least?"

"Clearly not." Sadie squeezed Percy's shoulder, "It says 'Dates, best price. Cold Bebsi-" she paused, "Bebsi?"

"Pepsi." Walt spoke up, "I read about that on the Internet. There's no 'p' in Arabic. Everyone here calls soda Bebsi." he hesitated, "Uh- I don't mean to be rude but-"

"I'm dyslexic." Percy spoke up easily, "Which sucks. All the letters are all jumbled up."

"Also-" Sadie piped up, lips twitching, "Does that mean you have to have Bebsi with your bizza?"

"Brobably."

Sadie snorted, "So, if this is some famous dig site, shouldn't there be more activity? Archaeologists? Ticket booths? Souvenir merchants?"

"Maybe Bast sent us to a secret entrance," Walt said. "Better than sneaking past a bunch of guards and caretakers."

As they spoke Percy moved, pulling away from Sadie as she looked around, her gaze automatically drawn to the drip from the tower.
Percy wandered towards, crouching to look at the wet spot on the ground- the sand turning to mud from the water.

She leaned closer, tilting her head. The water was pooling in a little canal, as if the sand were seeping into a subterranean crack. The crevice was about a meter long and no wider than a pencil, but much too straight to be natural. Percy dug in the sand. Six centimetres down, her fingernails scraped stone.

"Guys!" Percy called quickly, "Come here!" and by the time Sadie and Walt had reached her Percy had partially uncovered a flat paving stone-and with Sadie and Walt's help they cleared it- it was about a meter square, and Percy leaned back on her heels, watching as Sadie tried to lift it, trying to work her fingers under the wet edges- though she didn't seem to have any luck.

Walt shifted slightly, trying and failing as well, "Maybe if we get something to lever-"

"Oh out of the way-" Percy shouldered them both to the side, wriggling her fingers under the stone and gritting her teeth. "Honestly, never send teenagers to do a kids job." she managed to get her fingers under and she heaved- and okay, okay heavier than she expected- but there was movement- and she could feel Walt's stunned gaze on her.

"How-"

"I'm stronger than you guys." Percy managed to lift it a bit more- though the strain was making her arms ache- and a second later Walt was by her side, able to slide his fingers under it now that she'd gotten the slab up slightly, and Sadie was on her other side, and together- though Percy was the one doing most of the heavy lifting, they managed to haul the stone up and drag it away from the hole, and once it was moved Percy darted towards the large hole, gripping the edges and looking down into it- it was dark, of course, but Percy muttered a spell, letting go of the edge with one hand and lowering her hand down slightly into the darkness- a little glowing ball of light hovering maybe an inch above her palm- and she could feel Sadie and Walt leaning over next to her to peer into the darkness.

Maybe five meters below them were rows of mummies, all wrapped in old cloth and laid out on stone slabs- they were kind of beautiful, in a creepy way, painted with red, blue and gold.

"Golden mummies." Walt breathed the words, "This- this is part of the tomb system that hasn't been excavated.

"Cool." And Percy didn't even hesitate to ignore Walt's panicked yelp and Sadie's exasperated call of her name as she dropped herself into the tomb, landing in a practised crouch- five meters wasn't too far, all things considered- she'd fallen father, and she rose to her feet and looked up and Walt helped Sadie lower herself down into the tomb before following himself.

As they did Percy looked around curious- pulling a face as the smell hit her- mummies and water was never a good combination and they smelled horrendous.

Percy glanced over at Sadie, who looked as disgusted as Percy felt, and together they started to explore- it didn't take long for Sadie to find a corridor which lead deeper underground and they headed that way.

Percy couldn't tell if it was natural or not but it snaked a good forty meters through solid rock before opening into another burial chamber. This room had not been damaged by water. Everything was remarkably well preserved. Walt had brought flashlights- so Percy no longer had to use her magical glowing nightlight, and in the dim light, on stone slabs and in niches carved along the walls, gold-painted mummies glittered. There were at least a hundred in this room alone, and more corridors led off in each direction. Walt shined his light on three mummies lying together on a central dais. Their bodies were completely wrapped in linen, so they looked rather like bowling pins. Their likenesses were painted on the linen in meticulous detail—hands crossed over their chests, jewellery adorning their necks, Egyptian kilt and sandals, and a host of protective hieroglyphs and images of the gods in a border on each side.

All this was typical Egyptian art, but their faces were done in a completely different style —realistic portraits that looked cut-and-pasted onto the mummies' heads. On the left was a man with a thin, bearded face and sad dark eyes. On the right was a beautiful woman with curly auburn hair.

The one in the middle made Percy's breath catch. It was around the same age as her- she was pretty small after all- her mom kept insisting she'd have a growth spurt but Percy knew she was short- its body was tiny, and it's portrait showed a boy of about seven years old. He had the man's eyes and the woman's hair.

"A family," Walt guessed. "Buried together."

There was something tucked under the child's right elbow —a small wooden horse, possibly his favorite toy.

Percy felt her heart aching and Sadie's arm was around her shoulders again, her chin resting on the top of Percy's head. And they allowed themselves a moment of silence for the lost family.