In which Percy dislikes Setne a lot. But she can't actually do anything about it.
Replies:
Rage2091: Let's face it Percy is ridiculous and crazy but that's why we all love her lol.
Jubby1905: If he wasn't so evil Percy would probably not mind him.
Guest: Honestly the Egyptian gods reactions to her tend to vary based on their mood and such at the time and similar- they all know she's not supposed to exist- but also she's a powerful magician related to Horus and Isis' eyes. So that has an impact. And Hapi just didn't really care too much, After all Setne was there lol.
Together the three magicians plus one ghost walked through the hall. Every thirty feet or so, square alcoves opened up on either side of the main hall. Each niche held a massive freestanding stone sarcophagus.
After passing the fourth such coffin Carter stopped-and Percy did too, since he was gripping her hand still. "Those things are way too big for humans. What's in there?"
"Bull," Setne said.
"Excuse me?"
Setne's laugh echoed through the hall.
"These are the burial chambers for the Apis Bull." Setne gestured around him proudly. "I built all this, you know, back when I was Prince Khaemwaset."
Zia ran her hand along the white stone lid of the sarcophagus. "The Apis Bull. My ancestors thought it was an incarnation of Osiris in the mortal world."
"Thought?" Setne snorted. "It was his incarnation, doll. At least some of the time—like on festival days and whatnot. We took our Apis Bull seriously back then."
He patted the coffin like he was showing off a used car. "This bad boy here? He had the perfect life. All the food he could eat. Got a harem of cows, burnt offerings, a special gold cloth for his back—all the perks. Only had to show himself in public a few times a year for big festivals. When he turned twenty-five, he got slaughtered in a big ceremony, mummified like a king, and put down here. Then a new bull took his place. Nice gig, huh?"
"Killed at twenty five." Carter remarked dryly, "Ten more years than I'm likely to get if this doesn't work,"
"Fifteen more than I will." Percy piped up. "It's totally old."
"Percy you're ten, you don't know what old is." Carter was smiling faintly before he shifted, "So why is this place called a—what was it?"
"Serapeum," Zia answered. Her face was illuminated with golden light—probably just the electrical bulbs reflecting off the stone, but it seemed like she was glowing. "Iskandar, he told me about this place. The Apis Bull was a vessel for Osiris. In later times, the names were merged: Osiris-Apis. Then the Greeks shorted it to Serapis."
Setne laughed, "Gotta love those Greeks," he winked at Percy. "Didn't love them back then of course, Moving in on our territory.
Taking over our gods. I'm telling you, but hey, things change, I'm starting to see a whole lotta potential-"
"You can stop seeing potential." Percy declared, "Or I'm gonna stab you in the eyes so that you can't seen anything. Mr Sneaky butt."
"Such wit. But yeah, that's how it happened. This place became known as a serapeum—a house for dead bull gods. Me, I wanted to call it the Khaemwaset Memorial of Pure Awesomeness, but my dad wouldn't go for it."
"Your dad?" Carter questioned- though Setne waved it away.
"Anyway, I hid the Book of Thoth down here before I died because I knew no one would ever disturb it. You'd have to be frothing-at-the-mouth crazy to mess with the sacred tomb of the Apis Bull."
"Great." Zia frowned at the ghost. "Don't tell me—you hid the book in one of these sarcophagi with a mummified bull, and the bull will come to life if we disturb it?"
Setne winked at her. "Oh, I did better than that, doll. Archaeologists have discovered this part of the complex." He gestured at the electric lights and metal support beams. "But I'm gonna take you on a behind-the-scenes tour." The catacombs seemed to go on forever. Hallways split off in different directions, all of them lined with sarcophagi for holy cows. After descending a long slope, we ducked through a secret passage behind an illusionary wall.
On the other side, there were no electric lights. No steel beams braced the cracked ceiling. Zia summoned fire at the tip of her staff and burned away a canopy of cobwebs. Their footprints were the only marks on the dusty floor.
"Are we close?" Carter spoke up eventually, which Percy couldn't blame him for. They needed to get in and out as fast as they could, and Setne didn't seem to be in a hurry. He even chuckled at Carters question.
"Now now, it's just getting good." He led them farther into the maze. Every so often, he stopped to deactivate traps with a command or a touch, sometimes making Carter do it- though when he did Percy gave him the evil eye until Carter was safely done- she didn't trust the man as far as... well, as far as she could throw him wouldn't be fair. She didn't trust him as far as... Cleo, yeah, as far as Cleo could throw him.
Eventually Carter gave in to a question that had clearly been bothering him. "How come you can touch some things but not other things? You seem to have a real selective ability."
Setne shrugged. "I don't make the rules of the spirit world, pal. We can touch money and jewellery. Picking up trash and messing with poison spikes, no. We get to leave that dirty work to the living."
Whenever the traps were disabled, hidden hieroglyphs glowed and vanished. Sometimes they had to jump over pits that opened in the floor, or swerve when arrows shot from the ceiling. Paintings of gods and pharaohs peeled off the walls, formed into ghostly guardians, and faded. The whole time, Setne kept a running commentary.
"That curse would've made your feet rot off," he explained. "This one over here? That summons a plague of fleas. And this one—oh, man. This is one of my favorites. It turns you into a dwarf! I hate those short little guys."
That made Percy glare and kick his shin- she was very happy when he gave her an annoyed look- she happened to have a soft spot for dwarves, thanks to Bes. "I hate you, you don't see me setting curses to turn poor unsuspecting people into you-"
"Gods forbid." Zia muttered the words.
"Now that would be a dream." Setne gave her a false smile, "In any case, you're lucky to have me along. Right now you'd be a flea-bitten dwarf with no feet. And you haven't even seen the worst of it. Right this way-"
"Honestly that sounds much more fun." but still, Percy, Carter and Zia followed him.
They turned another corner. The floor sloped again, and the ceiling got so low that Carter had to stoop- he kept his grip on Percy's hand nice and tight though- and Percy was managing to stay calm pretty well as they walked in single file.
Percy glanced back when she felt another hand grab her free hand and she gave Zia a shaky smile- Zia's was steadier than Percy's but not by much.
Then, finally the corridor widened. They'd reached a dead end. A solid wall flanked by two statues of Osiris.
Setne turned. "Okay, here's the score, you guys. I'm gonna have to cast a disenchantment to open this wall. The spell takes a few minutes. I don't want you freaking out halfway through and wrapping me in pink ribbons, or things could get ugly. Half-finished magic right here, and this whole tunnel could collapse on top of us."
"Just get on with it." Percy growled the words and Zia cranked the fire on her staff to white-hot. "Careful, Setne. I know what a proper disenchantment sounds like. If I suspect you're casting anything else, I'll blast you into ectoplasmic dust."
"Relax, doll." Setne cracked his knuckles. His diamond pinky rings flashed in the firelight. "You gotta keep that scarab under control, or you're gonna turn yourself into ashes."
"Scarab?" Carter was frowning as he glanced at Zia- who looked distinctly uncomfortable.
Setne found that amusing- he glanced back and forth between them and laughed. "You mean she hasn't told you? And you haven't figured it out? You kids today! I love the ignorance! Tell me you at least know-" that was aimed at Percy.
"Oh shove it." Percy shot him a withering look, "Before I kick you somewhere other than your shin you butt headed stinkathon."
"Percy? Zia?" Carter looked confused, and Setne just laughed as he turned back to the wall and began to chant. Zia's fire ebbed to a cooler flame and she looked hesitant, unable to meet Carter's eye as she touched the base of her throat- and when she did an amulet blinked into existence. A glittering golden scarab on a gold chain. She must have hidden it with a glamor. Percy felt her breath catch and she tensed slightly despite herself, shifting backwards ever so slightly.
She remembered her voice, yelling for Sadie to give her the scarab- the last part of Khepri's power.
Carter looked stunned, his gaze flicking between the two of them.
"You two-"
"It's Zia's secret." Percy said quickly, still studiously avoiding looking at the scarab. Her brother and sister had nearly died for it- if Sadie hadn't- no, no, bad brain. No thinking about that. Sadie had broken through to her and Percy had fought off Apophis. The snake had no power over her now she didn't need to be terrified that somehow he'd seize control and take the scarab.
"Zia?" Carter turned his focus to Zia, who shook her head.
"Later Carter. Now isn't the time. I didn't- I've been figuring it all out myself I'm not just keeping secrets from you. It- it's much to think about. To process. I promise."
And Percy saw Carter's expression as it shifted from confusion and concern to a worried sort of realisation- at which point the tunnel rumbled. The dead-end wall dissolved into dust, revealing a chamber beyond.
Setne glanced back at them with a smile. "Showtime, kids."
They followed him into a circular room that reminded Percy of the library at Brooklyn House. The floor was a sparkling mosaic of pastures and rivers. On the walls, painted priests were adorning painted cows with flowers and feathery headdresses for some kind of festival, while Ancient Egyptians waved palm fronds and shook bronze noisemakers called sistrums. The domed ceiling depicted Osiris on his throne, passing judgment over a bull.
In the middle of the chamber, on a coffin-shaped pedestal, stood a life-sized statue of the Apis Bull. It was made of dark stone—basalt, maybe—but painted so skillfully, it looked alive. Its eyes seemed to follow me. Its hide glistened black except for a small white diamond on the front of its chest, and over its back was a gold blanket cut and embroidered to resemble a hawk's wings. Between its horns sat a Frisbee of gold—a sun disk crown. Beneath that, sticking out of the bull's forehead like a curly unicorn horn, was a rearing cobra.
Percy pulled a face- sure not all snakes were evil but, well, she'd developed a certain level of distaste for them after the possession- and who could blame her really. Besides, statues could be very dangerous. Not that Setne seemed worried.
He strolled right up to the stone bull and patted its leg. "The Shrine of Apis! I built this chamber just for my chosen priests and me. Now all we have to do is wait."
"Wait for what?" Zia asked.
Setne checked his non-existent watch. "It won't be long. Just a timer, sort of. Come on in! Make yourself comfortable."
Percy let out a little 'hmph' noise as she made her way into the room, though Carter didn't look happy about it as he and Zia lingered near the door- as if they were afraid it would disappear- Percy wasn't worried about that so much. Setne had promised to get them to the shadow after all, which meant that he wasn't actively going to kill them yet.
"You sure the book is still here?" Carter's voice was suspicious.
"Oh, yeah." Setne walked around the statue, checking the base. "I just need to remember which of these panels on the dais is going to pop open. I wanted to make this entire room out of gold, you know? That would've been much cooler. But Dad cut back on my funding."
"Your dad." Percy noticed that Zia was clutching Carter's hand, "You mean Ramses the Great?"
Setne's mouth twisted in a cruel sneer. "Yeah, that's how his PR department branded him. Me, I liked to call him Ramses II, or Ramses Number Two."
"Ramses?" Carter said. "Your dad is the Ramses?"
And that made Percy blink before she snorted.
She hadn't really thought about that, but Sadie and Carter were descended from Ramses on Ruby's side of the family. That made Setne their ancestor- and huh, for once she was glad for the lack of that blood tie.