What can I say, Percy is adorably annoying.
Replies:
thickneck: It is, and we love that fact.
rage2091: You'll have to wait and see what happens- I will say that Percy gets some epic badass moments and she can and will do whatever it takes to protect her loved ones. Also, I have written the battle with Apophis- I'm approaching the end my guys- this one is shorter than the last two but I think it's got some pretty good moments:)
Undeath9087: Horus is always gonna be a bit of an ass. And yeah, that's very much part of the whole idea that Percy would be insanely determined to stop someone else from being possessed like that, because she also knows he's Greek so he doesn't have any clue of what it is to host a god or anything of that nature.
Guest: Oh I get what you were saying- unfortunately Jacobi and Kwai know how to play people, and they're not going to listen, and they're making sure their followers are so scared they won't listen.
PJ Fan 285: It's known that Percy stopped Apophis and forced him into the Duat, it isn't well known that Percy was possessed by him.
Zephyr0f8: I mean, I haven't written anything like that yet but I suppose theoretically it's possible.
thecgw: I know- I did consider including but because I've messed with the timelines it wouldn't work- but don't worry, she will appear later at the school lol.
It was the afternoon before Percy heard anything from Carter. And it was almost comical, she'd been in the Great Room watching TV with Bast when she heard the strangled cry from up above, and she giggled when Bast held up her hand with a wink and counted down-and as she folded down the last finger Carter came almost flying down the stairs, stopping at the halfway point, his eyes wide. "Why didn't you two wake me up?" he almost shrieked the words, and gods but he looked a mess, dishevelled and panicked. "I have things to do today!"
Bast spread her hands, an innocent look on her face "Sadie insisted. You had a rough night last night, she said you needed your rest. Besides, I'm a cat. I respect the sanctity of sleep"
"And your excuse?" Carter turned his head to look at Percy, who gave her best innocent smile.
"I was 'sposed to wake you?"
"I am going to pummel you one of these days." Carter glowered, "You're a nightmare child. A literal nightmare child you know that?"
"Excuse me for being nice and not waking you." Percy let out a little huff, her lips twitching.
And she had to duck the slipper that Carter yanked off his foot and aimed at her head. "I hate you!" then he was turning and rushing back the stairs as Percy cackled with laughter.
"You throw like a baby!" And then he was gone.
It was over an hour before he came back downstairs-and he looked a lot better when he did, freshly showered and dressed for the day- and it was just in time for the others to return home, and when Sadie joined them they headed up to Carter's room with Bast, where they discussed paying Thoth a visit to learn more about the potential spell-and Percy was very pleased to note that her big brother didn't even hint at leaving her behind- she'd have had to smack him over the head with his pillow if he had.
And they'd all agreed that it was their best option, and they also all agreed to talk to the others after dinner.
They all gathered for main terrace. It's a nice place to eat, with invisible barriers that keep out the wind, and a great view of the East River and Manhattan. The food magically appeared, and it was always tasty. Though in Percy's opinion none of it was ever as good as the food when her mom decided to cook.
They filled up their plates as Philip of Macedonia plashed happily in his swimming pool. Eating next to a twenty-foot-long crocodile took some getting used to, but Philip was well trained. He only ate bacon, stray waterfowl, and the occasional invading monster.
Bast sat at the head of the table with a can of Purina Fancy Feast.
Percy and Sadie sat on either side of Carter at the opposite end. Khufu was off babysitting the little kids, and some of the newer recruits were inside doing their homework or catching up on spell crafting, but most of their main people were present—a dozen senior initiates.
Considering how badly last night had turned out, everyone seemed in strangely good spirits. Percy found herself curious about it. Julian kept bouncing in his chair and grinning for no particular reason. Cleo and Jaz were whispering together and giggling. Even Felix seemed to have recovered from his shock in Dallas. He was sculpting tiny shabti penguins out of his mashed potatoes and bringing them to life.
Only Walt looked glum. Judging from the tightness around Walt's eyes and the stiffness of his movements he was probably in a lot of pain. Percy felt a rush of pity for him.
Carter seemed curious as well. He turned to Sadie, raising an eyebrow, "What's going on? Everybody seems…distracted."
She stared at him. "I keep forgetting you don't go to school. Carter, it's the first dance tonight! Three other schools will be there. We can hurry up the meeting, can't we?"
"A dance?" Percy's eyes widened. "That's so cool! I wish I could go-"
"Maybe you could-" Sadie was cut off by Carter.
"You're kidding right? I'm thinking about plans for Doomsday, and you're worried about being late to a dance?"
"I've mentioned it to you a dozen times," Sadie insisted. "Besides, we need something to boost our spirits. Now, tell everyone your plan. Some of us still have to decide what to wear."
"And I want to go!" Percy was bouncing in her seat, "Can I Carter? Can I-"
"Percy-" Carter groaned, "I- we will talk about that in a minute. Okay- Okay guys I know there's a dance but-"
"At seven." Jaz spoke up, "You're coming right?"
"Uh... so- anyway-" and Percy had to stifle a snicker at her big brothers reaction- his face was going red. If Zia was there Percy was sure his head would be exploding- especially if she asked him to come. "We uh... We need to talk about what happened in Dallas, and what happens next."
That killed the mood. The smiles faded. The others listened as Carter reviewed their mission to the Fifty-first Nome, the destruction of the Book of Overcoming Apophis, and the retrieval of the shadow box. He told them about Sarah Jacobi's demand for his surrender, and the turmoil among the gods that Horus had mentioned.
Then Sadie stepped in, explaining her weird encounter with the face in the wall, two gods, and their ghost mother. She shared her gut feeling that their best chance to defeat Apophis had something to do with shadows.
Cleo raised her hand. "So…the rebel magicians have a death warrant out for you. The gods can't help us. Apophis could arise at any time, and the last scroll that might've helped us to defeat him has been destroyed. But we shouldn't worry, because we have an empty box and a vague hunch about shadows."
"Why, Cleo," Bast said with admiration. "You have a catty side!"
"And it's not just a hunch." Percy's voice was almost offended, "Setne came up with a way to do execrations with shadows-"
Philip grunted. He slapped the pool with his tail and made it rain on our dinner. Magical creatures tended to be a little sensitive about the word execration. Truthfully she didn't blame them- sure Desjardins hadn't finished the execration he'd tried to perform but it had hurt even so.
Julian dabbed the water off his grilled cheese sandwich. "Dude, you can't execrate Apophis. He's massive. Didn't trying almost kill Desjardins?"
"It didn't kill Percy." that came from Felix. And Percy winced as everyone turned to look at her.
"What did you do Percy?" that came from Alyssa, her voice was curious, and Percy shifted nervously, rubbing the bandage on her neck.
"I-" Percy swallowed hard. "It's complicated." she muttered the words, "But- but I can't do it again if that's what you're thinking." and she gave her big brother a grateful smile as he grabbed her hand and squeezed gently.
She understood why the others would hope that she could-she had brought them time when she'd forced Apophis back into the Duat. And none of them knew how she'd done it- and she didn't want them too- they didn't need to know that she'd been his host or that she'd used his own power against him. It could scare the others too much.
"It nearly killed her. She was in a coma for months" Carter spoke up, "It's not an option."
"Sorry." Alyssa looked guilty. "I- it's just-"
"We get it." Sadie spoke up, "But it can't happen again."
"We get it," Julian nodded, "But I mean- that doesn't change things then right?"
"It wouldn't be a normal execration." Percy piped up, "If we're right about it it wouldn't just be destroying a statue. It would be destroying something more powerful- a part of his soul."
Walt sat forward, suddenly very interested, "His shadow?"
Felix was so startled he dropped his spoon, crushing one of his mashed-potato penguins. "Wait, what?"
"Percy and Sadie's idea was backed up by Horus." Carter declared, "He told me statues were called shadows in ancient times."
"But that was just, like, symbolic," Alyssa said. "Wasn't it?"
Bast set down her empty Fancy Feast can. She still looked nervous about the whole topic of shadows but something Carter had said had changed her mind.
"Maybe not," the cat goddess said. "I'm no expert on execration, mind you. Nasty business. But it's possible that a statue used for execration was originally meant to represent the target's shadow, which is an important part of the soul."
"So," Sadie said, "we could cast an execration spell on Apophis, but instead of destroying a statue, we could destroy his actual shadow. Brilliant, eh?"
"That's nuts," Julian said. "How do you destroy a shadow?"
Walt shooed a mashed-potato penguin away from his Jell-O. "It's not nuts. Sympathetic magic is all about using a small copy to manipulate the actual target. It's possible the whole tradition of making little statues to represent people and gods—maybe at one time those statues actually contained the target's sheut. There are lots of stories about the souls of the gods inhabiting statues. If a shadow was trapped in a statue, you might be able to destroy it."
"Could you make a statue like that?" Alyssa asked. "Something that could bind the shadow of…of Apophis himself?"
"Maybe." Walt glanced at Carter. "Even if I could, we'd need to find the shadow. Then we'd need some pretty advanced magic to capture it and destroy it."
"Find a shadow?" Felix smiled nervously, like he hoped they were joking. "Wouldn't it be right under him? And how do you capture it? Step on it? Shine a light on it?"
"It'll be more complicated than that. This ancient magician Setne, the guy who wrote his own version of the Book of Overcoming Apophis, Percy thinks he must have created a spell to catch and destroy shadows. That's why Apophis was so anxious to burn the evidence. That's his secret weakness."
"But the scroll is gone," Cleo said.
"There's still someone we can ask," Walt said. "Thoth. If anyone knows the answers, he will."
The tension around the table seemed to ease. At least they'd given our initiates something to hope for, even if it was a
long shot.
"We need to visit Thoth right away," Carter said. "Tonight."
"Yes," Sadie agreed. "Right after the dance."
Carter stared at her. "You aren't serious."
"Please." Percy bounced in her seat again, "Please Carter- please I need something fun and normal I've been stuck at the First Nome and the only people I've been hanging around with were boring adults. A month! A month with mom, Amos and Desjardins- who are all totally cool and everything but a month you guys!"
"You heard the girl!" Sadie leapt to her feet, rushing around to Percy's side, resting her head on the top of Percy's head, "Poor things been stuck with boring adults for a month Carter. It's practically our gods given duty to smuggle her into the dance and let her be a normal kid for once in her life." Then Sadie hissed "Pull a sad face Percy, we've nearly got him." and several of the others were trying to hide their laughter at that.
And Percy pulled a very sad face, bottom lip jutting out. "Please Carter." she did her best baby voice, "Please. I need this."
And Carter let out a groan, "You two-"
"Please." Percy's bottom lip wobbled, "Pwease Carter-"
"Oh you can cut that out right now." Carter laughed despite himself, losing his stern expression. "Gods what did I do to get stuck with you two-"
"We're delights." Sadie declared, "So, the dance-"
"Fine, fine you can go but-"
"You're coming with." Sadie added, an evil grin on her face.
"Wait-"
"Yes!" Percy cheered the word, pulling free from Sadie and launching herself at Carter, hugging him tightly. "Please! Pretty please with rainbows and ponies and ice cream on top-"
"Oh that is so false." Carter groaned. "You can't actually be expecting me to-" he paused, seeing the look on Percy's face before he crumpled. "You are the worst sisters ever."
"Is that a yes?" Sadie's voice was amused and Carter sighed.
"I guess so, if only to keep you guys from trouble."
"Hah." Percy grinned, "Good luck-"
"It's a thankless errand but someone has to do it."