Heheheheh. I like Desjardins and so does Carter right now. Also, he is very much a protective big brother.
Replies:
Unknownloser097: Sorry not sorry lol. Poor Percy indeed.
Undeath9087: You are not wrong, he's an evil asshole. But hey, what else is new?
Deborah Swenson: I mean, he doesn't trust him, as you'll see.

Carter watched as the Chief Lector focused on an Asian man in blue robes. "Kwai, isn't it?"

The man nodded.

"As I recall," Desjardins said, "you were exiled to the Three-Hundredth Nome in North Korea for murdering a fellow magician. And you, Sarah Jacobi"—he pointed to a woman with white robes and spiky black hair—"you were sent to Antarctica for causing the tsunami in the Indian Ocean."

Menshikov cleared his throat. "My lord, many of these magicians have had issues in the past, but—

"They are ruthless murderers and thieves," Desjardins said. "The worst of our House."

"But they are anxious to prove their loyalty," Menshikov assured him. "They are happy to do it!"

He grinned at his minions, as if encouraging them to look happy. None of them did.

"Besides, my lord," Menshikov continued quickly, "if you want Brooklyn House destroyed, we must be ruthless. It is for the good of Ma'at."

Desjardins frowned. "And you, Vladimir? Will you lead them?"

"No, my lord. I have full confidence that this, ah, fine group can deal with Brooklyn on their own. They will attack at sunset. As for me, I will follow the Kanes into the Duat and deal with them personally. You, my lord, should stay here and rest. I will send a scryer to your quarters so you may observe our progress."

"'Stay here,'" Desjardins quoted bitterly. "'And observe.'"

Menshikov bowed. "We will save the House of Life. I swear it. The Kanes will be destroyed, the gods put back into exile. Ma'at will be
restored."

Carter hoped Desjardins would come to his senses and call off the attack. Instead, his shoulders slumped. He turned his back on Menshikov and stared at the empty throne of the pharaoh.

"Go," he said wearily. "Get those creatures out of my sight."

Menshikov smiled. "My lord."

He turned to leave but Desjardin's spoke again, "And Menshikov."

"Yes my lord?"

"The girl?" that made Carter stiffen, his eyes going wide- Percy. He was talking about Percy he had to be. Gods was she okay? If they'd hurt her- he and Sadie would kill them all, he'd tear them down.

"She is... secure." Menshikov did not look happy at the question, "I've done what was needful- the girl will sleep for now." and that was worrying but- well, at least asleep meant she was safe.

"Bring her to my chambers." and Carter could have cried- no matter how much he disliked Desjardins he knew the man did have a sense of honor and decency in there. That sick feeling in the pit of his stomach eased slightly.

She'd be far safer with him than Menshikov- and it was a sign that Desjardins didn't fully trust him. That was a very good sign.

"But my lord- the girl is hardly-"

"To my chambers. If she is in a deep sleep she will hardly attack me."

"Sir I fear your emotions-"

"Menshikov-" his voice was sharp, "You will have her brought to my chambers."

"Very well." Menshikov looked like he'd swallowed a tennis ball but he whirled off and marched down the hall with his personal army in tow- clearly unhappy.

Carter wondered if Menshikov would send Percy to Desjardins as he'd said he would- he really, really hoped so but- would he be able to do what he wanted if Desjardins was protecting her? At least it might just buy them the time they needed to save her. He wished that he could speak to Desjardins.

Once Desjardins was alone he held up his hand. An orb of light fluttered from the ceiling and rested on his palm, "Bring me the Book of Overcoming Apophis." he told the light, "I must consult it." the magic orb dipped as if bowing then raced off.

Then Desjardins turned his gaze toward the purple curtain of light, the image of two figures fighting over a throne of fire. "I will observe Vladimir." he murmured to himself, "But I will not stay and rest and I will not allow you to use Percy Kane for your plans. She may be dangerous and wilful but she is just a child." his expression was grave.

And Carter could hug him-if he was really there he'd actually hug the other magician right now despite their past difference because at least Percy had someone on her side there.

Carter exhaled shakily, "Thank you." and as much as he knew he was speaking to the air he really, really didn't care. Even if Desjardins didn't hear him it felt good to say the words. And then the scene faded and Carter woke.

For the second time in a matter of days Carter woke up in a hotel room with no real clue how he got there.

He woke up on the couch, sitting up slowly as he looked around. The room wasn't nearly as nice as the Four Seasons Alexandria. The walls were cracked plaster. Exposed beams sagged along the ceiling. A portable fan hummed on the coffee table, but the air was as hot as a blast furnace. Afternoon light streamed through the open windows. From below came the sounds of cars honking and merchants hawking their wares in Arabic. The breeze smelled of exhaust, animal manure, and apple sisha—the fruity molasses scent of water-pipe smoke. In other words, Carter knew they must be in Cairo.

At the window Carter spotted Sadie, Bes, Walt and Zia sat around a table playing a board game of some kind-which felt really weird after everything that had happened.

Then Sadie spotted he was awake, and she gave him a slightly strained smile, "Well well. Next time you take an extended ba trip, Carter, do let us know in advance. It's not fun carrying you up three flights of stairs."

Carter rubbed his throbbing head, "How long was I out?" It's three in the afternoon." Sadie told him. We've been worrying about you."

"And you've been sat playing board games?"

"Nothing else we could do." Sadie pointed out, "And- Walt suggested we do something to distract me-"

"She would not stop pacing." Zia added, "And throwing things at the wall-"

"It was only six glasses."

"Seven but who was counting." Walt corrected.

"I have a right to be stressed an angry." Sadie muttered the words, "Menshikov just kidnapped Percy, you're lucky I didn't start blowing things up."

"She-" Carter took a deep breath, "She's safe- I think. I just- in my dream I saw Menshikov and Desjardins. And they talked about Percy- she's asleep but alive and safe- I think Desjardins is going to try and protect her."

"Good. That gives us some breathing space." Bes looked relieved, and Zia nodded.

"Desjardins is many things, but he is not a bad man- he might not always like you Kanes but I do not believe he will just allow Menshikov to do anything that would harm her."

"As long as he gets a choice." Carter pulled a face as he pushed away his blankets- and his face turned bright red as he looked down at his clothes- "Sadie-" he gritted his teeth as Sadie gave him an innocent look that was actually almost believable unless you actually knew her at all.

And Carter knew Sadie very well.

"What?" And Zia and Walt were both looking away, clearly trying to hide the fact that they were laughing.

"I am going to kill you-"

"I did it for Percy." Sadie declared lightly, "I took pictures too. Really it was all for her- so that when we get her back-"

"You're awful." Carter felt like his face was on fire.

They'd only went and changed him into Pokémon pajamas. Which- well he had to admit Percy would probably find that hilarious so it was hard to be too mad.

"Hey, don't blame me." Sadie grinned, "The street merchant gave us a very good deal on those. Walt said they would fit you."

Walt raised his hands. "Don't blame me, man. I tried to stick up for you."

"And I think you look very cute." Zia's teasing tone just made Carter go even more red, if that was possible. Gods but he wished he could strangle Sadie.

Bes snorted, then did a pretty good imitation of Walt's voice: "'At least get the extra-large ones with Pikachu.' Carter, your stuff's in the bathroom. Now, are we playing senet, or not?"

Carter stumbled into the bathroom and he was relieved to find a set of normal clothes waiting for him- fresh underwear, jeans, and a T-shirt that did not feature Pikachu. The shower made a sound like a dying elephant when he tried to turn it on, but he managed to run some rusty-smelling water in the sink and wash up as best he could.

When Carter came out again he didn't exactly feel good as new, but at least he didn't smell like dead fish and goat meat.

When he got back to the others they were still playing Senet. He'd heard of the game- supposedly one of the oldest in the world, but he'd never seen it played. The board was a rectangle with blue-and-white-checkered squares, three rows of ten spaces each. The game pieces were white and blue circles. Instead of dice, you threw four strips of ivory like Popsicle sticks, blank on one side and marked with hieroglyphs on the other.

"I thought the rules of this game were lost," he remarked as he grabbed the chair next to Zia.

Bes raised an eyebrow. "Maybe to you mortals. The gods never forgot."

"It's quite easy," Sadie said. "You make an S around the board. First team to get all their pieces to the end wins."

"Ha!" Bes said. "There's much more to it than that. It takes years to master."

"Is that so, dwarf god?" Zia tossed the four sticks, and all of them came up marked. "Master that!"

Sadie and Zia gave each other a high five. Apparently, they were a team. Sadie moved a blue piece and bumped a white piece back to start.

"Walt," Bes grumbled, "I told you not to move that piece!"

"It isn't my fault!"

Sadie smiled at him. "It's girls versus boys. We're playing for Vlad Menshikov's sunglasses."

She held up the broken white shades that Set had given her in St. Petersburg.

"The worlds about to end and you're gambling over sunglasses." Carter deadpanned.

"Hey, hey if I win them Zia and I are gonna give them to Percy so she can burn them." Sadie declared.

"Besides." Walt spoke up, "We're totally multitasking. We've been talking for like, six hours, but we had to wait for you to wake up to make any decisions, right?"

"Besides," Sadie said, "Bes assures us that you cannot play senet without gambling. It would shake the foundations of Ma'at."

"That's true," said the dwarf. "Walt, roll, already."

Walt threw the sticks and three came up blank.

Bes cursed. "We need a two to move out of the House of Re-Atoum, kid. Did I not explain that?"

"Sorry!"

And as they played Sadie told Carter what they'd done while he was unconscious.

Mostly she concentrated on how funny Carter looked when he slept, clearly set on embarrassing him to death. She described the excellent fresh-baked flat bread, falafel, and spiced beef they'd had for lunch ("Oh, sorry, we didn't save you any.") and the great deals they'd gotten shopping in the souk, the local open-air market.

"You went shopping?" Carter asked.

"Well, of course," she said. "We can't do anything until sunset, anyway. Bes said so."

"What do you mean?"

Bes tossed the sticks and moved one of his pieces to the home space. "The equinox, kid. We're close enough now—all the portals in the world will shut down except for two times: sunset and sunrise, when night and day are perfectly balanced."

"At any rate," Sadie said, "if we want to find Ra, we'll have to follow his journey, which means going into the Duat at sunset and coming back out at sunrise."

She pulled a scroll from her bag—a cylinder of papyrus much thicker than the ones we'd collected. The edges glowed like fire.

"The Book of Ra," she said. "I put it together. You may thank me now."

Carter inhaled sharply at that- his eyes wide as he stared at the cylinder- he remembered the story of how Menshikov had failed- how how he'd earned his scarring.

And Sadie had done it without him- she could have been hurt, could have been killed.

And Carter didn't care that she would surely tease him for it-he lurched across the table, hugging her tightly and pressing his face into her hair- ignoring Sadie's startled yelp.

He couldn't lose Sadie too.