In which they get a surprise visitor, and an attack. Also, the lightning thief plotline may actually be shorter than some of the others I have realised, maybe.
Replies:
Rage2091: I feel like the gods might disagree, they don't like chaos.
Guest: Magicians are sustained by the power of Ma'at which is why they live so long, and Setne is just incredibly powerful, smart and tricky, a very bad combination.
MKDemiGodzilla-Warrior: It'll start with TLT around that time.
Guest: Setne is incredibly smart, and tricky, he's good at manipulating people and getting information, it's not that he recognises her from sight alone it's that he's managed to get bits of pieces of information and learn who she really is because that's just what he does. Never underestimate what Setne is capable of.
Percy hadn't liked saying goodbye to Sadie and Walt, but they had very little choice- and so Percy headed off with Carter, Zia and of course, Setne.
Carter didn't trust the ghost- which was understandable, and he didn't want him anywhere near Percy- so Percy had been sent to one of the bedrooms with the orders to shower and get changed while they returned to the mortal realm- which admittedly did make sense because Percy was still wearing the dress she'd put on for the dance.
Thankfully the magic of the boat seemed to provide clothes and Percy was very happy to pull on the familiar linen clothes that were the standard garb for magicians once she was finished showering.
She did take a few minutes to brush out her hair- pulling it back into a high ponytail- that was one thing she'd noticed about having white hair, it showed dirt easier- by the time she'd been getting ready to shower it had been tinted gray from the ash from the river of fire in the Duat.
Still, it cleaned up well enough and Percy hummed to herself happily as she made her way out of the room and up on deck, and she paused, tilting her head when she saw Zia heading towards the wheelhouse, dragging Setne along like a dog- and she snorted when the ghost shot her an unimpressed look.
Then she was moving in the direction Zia and Setne had come from- and she spotted Carter in time to see him spinning and pressing his khopesh against a figure leaning against the rail's throat.
Percy's eyes widened and she let out a loud gasp at the sight, drawing both of their attentions.
"Percy!" Carter's voice was startled, though he didn't lower the blade, and Set- because it was Set- though he looked somewhat different now- clad in a black three-piece suit and a matching porkpie hat. The outfit was striking against his blood red skin, and he had hair now, braided cornrows decorated with rubies. His black eyes glittered behind small round glasses.
Percy knew instantly who he was dressing like and she felt a rush of shock and realisation even as he raised his hand and wriggled his fingers in greeting.
"Ah, my favorite Kane, I was hoping to see you." he winked at her and Percy gave him a deadpan look as she moved to Carter's side.
"I should have known you'd show up." Percy grumbled the word, "Nephthys said she was gonna keep you under control-"
"Oh did she." Set laughed, "I'm not one who likes being controlled- and neither are you from what I heard." he looked impressed, "I must say, you handled yourself very well, forcing the snake out like that-" Carter tensed slightly, "You should be proud. You have half of the gods scared of you now."
"It wasn't that special." Percy felt her cheeks flushing, "I just wanted to protect my brother and sister. That's all."
"That's all!" Set tossed his head back with a laugh, completely unphased about Carter's blade being pressed against his throat. "That's all she says. By Ra you crack me up girl. You forced out the strongest being in our entire pantheon and you say that's all. I can't wait to see what you do when you're all grown up-" he paused, "Provided you get to grow up but, well," he winked, "I have faith, which might I add, is more than most of the others have-"
"Uh huh." Percy tilted her head "So are you all dressed up like uncle Amos to mock him or are you picking up stuff from him?"
"Perceptive of you." Set grinned, pushing Carter's blade down with one finger. "What can I say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
"I-" Carter frowned, "Percy what's going on? And Set why are you here?"
"Oh, pick a reason." Set shrugged, "The world could end tomorrow. Perhaps I want to say goodbye- to my favorite of course, not to you. Or perhaps I wanted to give you a warning."
"Uh huh." Percy was tapping her foot like her mom did when she was annoyed. And Set laughed loudly.
"Besides, I think your sisters figured out certain.. things. Do you want to tell him why I'd be picking up things for Amos or shall I?"
"You're the big secret." Percy said, "You're the thing they were hiding from me."
"Thing- you wound me Percy- your uncle didn't tell you children because he didn't want you worried- but you see I'm not the one who made contact-"
"What?" Carter tensed, "Wait are you saying-"
"Our uncles studying the Path of Set." Percy swallowed hard, her eyes wide as Carter gripped his khopesh tighter, clearly only just holding himself back from attacking the god.
"You possessed him. You almost shattered his mind and now you want to do it again?"
"The first two—true. The last one—no. Amos called me, kid. You gotta understand, I could never have invaded his mind in the first place if he didn't share some of my qualities. He understands me."
"I understand you, too. You're evil."
Set laughed. "You figure that out all by yourself? The god of evil is evil? Sure I am, but not pure evil. Not pure Chaos, either. After I spent some time in Amos's head, he understood. I'm like that improvisational jazz he loves—chaos within order. That's our connection. And I'm still a god, Carter. I'm…what do you call it? The loyal opposition. Percy there should be able to understand- if anyone knows pure evil it's her-"
"That isn't fair-" Carter snapped the words as Percy flinched as if she'd been struck. Because he wasn't entirely wrong. Set was evil yeah but it wasn't comparable.
"After what you did- the loyal opposition my ass." Carter looked furious.
Set gave a sly smile, he looked amused. "Okay, I want to rule the world. Destroy anyone who gets in my way? Of course. But that snake Apophis—he takes things too far. He wants to pull the whole of creation down into a big soupy primordial mess. Where's the fun in that? If it comes down to Ra or Apophis, I fight on Ra's side. That's why Amos and I have a deal. He's learning the path of Set. I'm going to help him."
"You expect us to believe that?" Carter scoffed, "Last time we saw you... and now you expect us to believe that you'll cooperate with Amos? Without trying to overpower hum?"
"Sure, I'll try. But you should have more faith in your uncle. He's stronger than you think. Who do you think sent me here to explain?"
"You've done your explaining." Carter's voice was sharp. "Now you can leave."
Set shrugged. "Okay, but it does seem like there was one more thing…" He tapped his chin. "Oh, right. The warning."
"The warning?"
"Because usually when Horus and I fight, it would be me who was responsible for what's about to kill you. But this time, it's not. I thought you should know. Apophis is so copying my moves, but like I said…" He took off his porkpie hat and bowed, the rubies glittering in his cornrows. "Imitation is flattery."
"What are you—?"
The riverboat lurched and groaned as if they'd hit a sandbar. Up in the wheelhouse, the alarm bell dinged. The glowing crew orbs zipped around the deck in a panic.
"What's happening?" Carter grabbed at the rail, and Percy braced herself.
"Oh, that'd be the giant hippo," Set said casually. "Good luck!"
He disappeared in a cloud of red smoke as a monstrous shape rose from the Nile.
The creature was easily as big as their riverboat. Its skin glistened purple and gray. As it rose near the bow, it fixed its eyes on them with unmistakable malice and opened a maw the size of an airplane hangar. Its bottom peg like teeth were taller than Percy.
Percy's mouth dropped open in shock and she blinked rapidly as the hippo bellowed- it sounded like someone revving a dirt bike then blowing a trumpet except it was twenty times louder- and the blast of breath smelled like rotten fish and pond scum, which made Percy pulled a face.
Gross.
"Hippo!" that was Zia's voice from behind the two Kanes.
Percy glanced back, the older girl was stumbling toward them over the rocking deck, the tip of her staff on fire. Setne floated behind her, grinning with delight.
"There it is!" Setne shook his diamond pinky rings. "Told ya Apophis would send a monster to kill you."
"You're so smart! Now, how do we stop it?" Carter yelled the words.
"BRRRAAHHHHH!" The hippo shoved its face against the Egyptian Queen. Carter tumbled backward and slammed against the deckhouse, Percy managed to catch the rail to steady herself, and she saw Zia blast a column of fire at the creature's face. The flames went straight up its left nostril, which just made the hippo mad. It snorted smoke and bashed the ship harder, catapulting Zia into the river.
Percy let out an annoyed little growl at that, turning her head, "Carter! You get Zia!" and she was reaching out, summoning her staff as she took a running jump, foot landing on the railings and then she was pushing off and up, twirling her staff as she did- and water rose up, flowing upwards, following the motions of her staff as she twirled it, smashing into the hippo's head and knocking it off balance, away from the ship.
Of course given the size of the hippo didn't do too much damage, but it did pull the monsters focus away from the ship and onto Percy, who landed on the surface of the water, and she was already moving- resisting the urge to giggle when she thought of what Christians might think if they saw her, a ten year old girl running on water.
The monster's beady eyes fixed on her- and out of the corner of her eye Percy could see that Carter had dove into the water and he was helping Zia, half dragging her towards the boat- which was managing to turn- though it looked like the monster had done a lot of damage.
But Percy didn't have time to take stock because the monster was rushing her, and Percy focused her powers and the water at her feet burst upwards like a geyser- she grinned as she used the momentum to flip forward, landing on the top of the hippos head, and okay, okay she had overestimated her ability to hold on there.
Apparently hippos were slippery, Percy skidded, though she took a moment to bring her staff down hard on the monsters head, using it like a blunt object before she called, "Ha-wi!" which was one of her favorite spells, and a burst of power shot out from her staff, the hippo's head was knocked downwards by the force of the blast, and it staggered, two front legs buckling beneath it, which was kinda good. Except for the fact that the sudden movement sent Percy skidding off of the monsters head and splashing into the water- which hey, was very good for her- she felt a flood of warmth and strength rushing through her as she surfaced, a fist of water shooting out of the surface at the same time and driving into the hippo's snout, which send the monster skidding backwards.
And Percy could see that Carter was climbing back onto the deck of the Egyptian Queen with Zia- and Setne was there, she wasn't sure what they were saying but she was pretty sure they were talking about something- and Percy's distraction cost her dearly.
The hippo was surprisingly fast- and it charged her, and Percy let out a yell as it hit her and sent her flying upwards, yelling and flailing wildly-and she heard Carter's voice, panicked yelling something, and for a moment Percy didn't thing anything was happening as she tumbled downwards towards the hippo's mouth- though she stopped her fall by focusing- and a second later she was a hawk, flapping her wings and rising upwards, and if she had the mouth for it she'd have gasped as the river started to almost boil.
And then a huge mass of brown seaweed erupted from the water, rising skyward, and Percy gaped- because it wasn't seaweed. It was a head- a giant man rising from the Nile, higher and higher.
And gods but Percy hoped the man was on their side.