No replies today as it's real busy but I'll do that tomorrow

Tawaret had been willing to help them- the problem was she didn't know where the second aspect of Ra was- as she explained to them- there were thousands of gods in the home, wasting away, fading over the years.

It was sad, Sadie's heart ached for all of the lost gods, the ones who no longer seemed to even know who they were. She'd decided that she had a huge amount of respect for Tawaret- she had no clue how the goddess did it.

And Tawaret had trusted Bes- he was the reason that she had agreed to help them find Ra, and Sadie would never forget the walk through the halls, so many gods just forgotten, with no meaning or purpose any more.

And personally Sadie thought that Bes needed to stop being stupid because Tawaret clearly loved him and she could see that he loved her- though- she did understand that it was hard for him- that he was ashamed because she'd had to save him when he'd been at his most vulnerable, that he was ashamed that he'd treated her poorly over the years.

It had been when Tawaret had been helping a frog goddess- Heket, back to her rooms that Sadie had had her, quite frankly- in her opinion, brilliant brainwave.

And she'd explained it to Carter and Bes, who'd been unhappy, but she was sure it was the only way to find Ra. She had to start the spell without him or they'd never find him-a leap of faith as Heket had said.

And so that was what she did, opening the scroll to the second section, the rows of hieroglyphs, which had once seemed like disconnected phrases of rubbish, now made perfect sense. "'I invoke the name of Ra,'" she read aloud, "'the sleeping king, lord of the noonday sun, who sits upon the throne of fire…'"

And she kept reading, describing how Ra rose from the sea of Chaos, how his light shone upon the primordial land of Egypt, bringing life to the Nile Valley. And as she read she started to feel warmer.

"Sadie-" Carter's voice was panicked, "You're smoking."

And she was, Sadie refused to panic though, even as smoke curled off her body and formed a column of gray that drifted down the hallway.

"Is it my imagination," Carter asked, "or is the smoke showing us the way? Ow!"

His yelp was because Sadie stomped on his foot- after all they needed to focus and keep moving, not waste time. And Tawaret grabbed her arm- guiding her forward as she kept reading. She was grateful for that-and for Bes and Carter flanking her on either side like security guards as they followed the trail of smoke down two more corridors and up a flight of stairs, the Book of Ra becoming uncomfortably warm in her hands, the smoke from her body beginning to obscure the letters.

"You're doing well, Sadie," Tawaret said. "This hallway looks familiar." her voice was comforting, soothing but Sadie didn't let herself look up as she described Ra's sun boat sailing across the sky. Ash she spoke of his kingly wisdom and the battles he'd won against Apophis.

It didn't look any different from any other door, but Sadie pushed it open and stepped inside. She kept reading, though she was quickly approaching the end of the spell.

Inside, the room was dark. In the sputtering light of Tawaret's torch, Sadie saw the oldest man in the world sleeping in bed—his face shrivelled, his arms like sticks, his skin so translucent, she could see every vein. Some of the mummies in Bahariya had looked more alive than this old husk.

"The light of Ra returns-" she managed to nod at the heavily curtained windows, and fortunately Carter and Bes were paying attention, they scrambled over to them and yanked back the curtains, and red light from the Lake of Fire flooded the room. The old man didn't move. His mouth was pursed like his lips had been sewn together.

As she moved to his bedside Sadie kept moving, describing Ra awakening at dawn, sitting in his throne as his boat climbed the sky, the plants turning toward the warmth of the sun.

"It's not working." and really, Sadie could have done without that- she couldn't help but feel panic starting to rise at that, there were only two lines left and she could feel the power of the spell backing up, beginning to overheat her body. She was still smoking, which did not smell nice. She had to awaken Ra or she'd burn alive.

The god's mouth… Of course, Sadie felt another brainwave and she moved as quickly as she could, her heart pounding in her chest as she set the scroll on Ra's bed and did her best to hold it open with one hand, "'I sing the praises of the sun god.'"

She stretched out her free hand to Carter, snapping her fingers- and gods but if he didn't understand her she was in so much trouble- thankfully he did, it took him seconds that felt like hours to find it in her bag, but soon she was holding the obsidian netjeri blade that Anubis had given her.

She touched the knife to the old man's lips and spoke the last line of the spell: "'Awake, my king, with the new day.'"
The old man gasped. Smoke spiraled into his mouth like he'd become a vacuum cleaner, and the magic of the spell funneled into him.
Sadie almost collapsed with relief as the heat fled- and Carter caught her arm, steadying her, and they both watched as Ra's eyes fluttered open. And Sadie had to admit it was incredibly strange watching as blood began to flow through his veins again, slowly inflating him like a hot air balloon.

He turned toward them, his eyes unfocused and milky with cataracts. "Uh?"

"He still looks old," Carter said nervously. "Isn't he supposed to look young?"

Tawaret curtsied to the sun god (which you should not try at home if you are a pregnant hippo in heels) and felt Ra's forehead. "He isn't whole yet," she said. "You'll need to complete the night's journey."

"And the third part of the spell," Carter guessed. "He's got one more aspect, right? The scarab?"

Bes nodded, though he didn't look terribly optimistic. "Khepri, the beetle. Maybe if we find the last part of his soul, he'll be reborn properly."

Ra broke into a toothless grin. "I like zebras!"

Sadie blinked at that- maybe it was the exhaustion because surely she hadn't heard that right. "Did- did you just say zebras?"

And the god beamed at them like a child who'd just discovered something wonderful- it reminded Sadie of the look on Percy's face when she'd first seen her freshly dyed hair- that joy. And that made Sadie's heart ache, but she couldn't dwell on that as the god spoke again. "Weasels are sick."

"O-h-h-kay," Carter said. "Maybe he needs these…"

Carter took the crook and flail from his belt. He offered them to Ra. The old god pulled the crook to his mouth and began gumming it like a pacifier.

And oh but that was so not good. And it didn't help that they were running out of time- and there was the fact that Menshikov had been close behind them- she'd have expected him to have caught up to them by now.

"Let's just get him to the boat." she decided, "Bes, can you-"

"Yep. Excuse me, Lord Ra. I'll have to carry you." He scooped the sun god out of bed and they bolted from the room. Ra couldn't have weighed very much, and Bes didn't have any difficulty keeping up despite his short legs. They ran down the corridor, retracing our steps, as Ra warbled, "Wheeee! Wheeee! Wheeee!"

Perhaps he was having a good time, but Sadie felt sick to her stomach. They'd been through so much trouble, and this was the sort of god they'd woken? Was he even worth it- they'd lost Percy on this stupid mission.

And Carter looked as grim as Sadie felt, and they raced past other decrepit gods, who all got quite excited. Some pointed and made gurgling noises. One old jackal-headed god rattled his IV pole and yelled, "Here comes the sun! There goes the sun!"

They burst into the lobby and Ra said, "Uh-oh. Uh-oh on the floor."

His head lolled. For a second Sadie thought that he wanted to get down. Then she realized he was looking at something. On the floor next to her foot lay a glittering silver necklace: a familiar amulet shaped like a snake- Menshikov's and- Sadie's breath caught as she knelt down and scooped the second amulet up- it was familiar, a scarab- Sadie had seen it every day for the last three months, tangled with a Tyet amulet- much like Sadie's own, and an Ankh, all three of them imbued with magic meant to conceal and protect their owner.

To protect Percy.

"Sadie what is it?" Carter's voice was worried, and Sadie silently held up the amulet, meeting her brother's gaze- and his eyes widened in shock as he stared at it. "That bastard." and the word sounded strange coming from Carter- as did the fury in his voice,
"That bastard he- he's taunting us where is he?" as he spoke he drew his wand, but Sadie shook her head.

"He's gone Carter-"

"I hate him." Carter snarled the words, "I hate him so much."

"I know." Sadie felt panic rising, "But Carter we need to hurry-he's ahead of us-"

"Sadie." Bes pointed to the nurses' station. His expression was grim.

"Oh, no," Tawaret said. "No, no, no…"

On the sundial, the needle's shadow was pointing to eight. That meant even if they could still leave the Fourth House, even if they could get through the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Houses, it wouldn't matter. According to what Tawaret had told them, the gates of the Eighth House would already be closed.

That couldn't be it. It couldn't be- Menshikov had been gloating because he knew that they were too late. Except for the fact that he'd wanted them to raise Ra. So gods nothing made sense, but Sadie knew that they couldn't give up. It was all they had left, the only chance they had to get Percy back.

So Tawaret escorted them out to the sun boat, and a couple of her shabati carried Ra onboard as she and Bes said their emotional goodbyes.

"Bes, I'm so sorry," she said. "I wish there was more I could do."

"It's not your fault." Bes held out his hand like he wanted to shake, but when their fingers touched, he clasped hers. "Tawaret, it was never your fault."

She sniffled. "Oh, Bes…"

"Wheee!" Ra interrupted as the shabti set him in the boat. "See zebras! Wheee!"

Bes cleared his throat.

Tawaret let go of his hands. "You—you should go. Perhaps Aaru will provide an answer."

"Aaru?" Carter asked. "Who's that?"

Tawaret didn't exactly smile, but her eyes softened with kindness. "Not who, my dear. Where. It's the Seventh House. Tell your father hello."

Sadie's eyes widened at that- hope blossoming her chest. "Dad will be there?"

Then her spirits sunk, and she caught Carter's gaze- and he looked like he'd been struck at that.

Because their dad would want to know where Percy was, and Sadie knew, she knew that Percy was their dads favorite- the baby of the family. The idea of having to tell him that Menshikov had captured Percy- sure he'd never asked them to protect her but- they were the big siblings that was supposed to be their job.

Then Tawaret moved away from Bes and over to them, kissing them both on the cheek, which felt sort of like getting sideswiped by a
friendly, bristly, slightly moist blimp. "Good luck Carter and Sadie."

The goddess looked at Bes- a teary eyed look, and then she turned and hurried up the steps, her shabti close behind.

"Weasels are sick," Ra said thoughtfully.

On that bit of godly wisdom, they boarded the ship. The glowing crew lights manned the oars, and the sun boat pulled away from the docks.

"Eat." Ra began gumming a piece of rope.

"No, you can't eat that, you old git," Sadie chided.

"Uh, kid?" Bes said. "Maybe you shouldn't call the king of the gods an old git."

"Well, he is," Sadie said- and maybe she wasn't being fair but she was fed up and stressed and she wanted this to be over "Come on, Ra. Come into the tent. I want to see something."

"No tent," he muttered. "Zebras."

Sadie tried to grab his arm, but he crawled away from her and stuck out his tongue. Finally she took the pharaoh's crook from Carter's belt and waved it like a dog bone. "Want the crook, Ra? Nice tasty crook?"

Ra grabbed for it weakly. Sadie backed up and eventually managed to coax Ra into the pavilion. As soon as he reached the empty dais, a brilliant light exploded around him and Sadie had to blink rapidly to clear her vision.

"Carter, look!" Sadie cried.

"I wish I could." Carter blinked rapidly

On the dais stood a chair of molten gold, a fiery throne carved with glowing white hieroglyphs.