Hey guys, new chapter, I hope you enjoy!
Replies:
Undeath9087: I mean, they have very good intentions but It does not always work out for the best unfortunately. And I've counted your vote.
Ryan Fowler: Let's face it, once they're at full strength there's not gonna be many people willing to fight them.
jarjar557: I have counted your vote
Primordialgoddess: I have counted your vote
tim04: I have counted your vote.
StephanieSmith: I've counted your vote.
Secundum Fortunam: Your vote is counted.
The Official Clarisse: It will be explained later, so you shall have to wait and see, sorry not sorry. And yeah, they're getting there.
Guest: Your vote is counted.
Guest: Julius and Amos both put too much pressure on Percy, but you can understand why since she knows what's going on. It's just not really fair on her. And I have counted your votes.
Drizzle: I do love getting reviews and questions don't get me wrong- but I've answered this question more than once.
Guest: I am not telling who she'll host as that's a spoiler.
Guest: I have counted your vote, and we shall have to see what happens.
Ease: Your vote is counted.
Amos: Honestly at this stage yes, and Percy's just there like, whoop, guess I'm responsible now. I gotta be a grown up.
Avid fan: I have counted your vote!
Bast: I have counted your vote, and they really will.
Guest: I have counted your vote.
WaterHCL: Thank you!
Guest: I've counted your vote
Guest: I mean a lot of the gods are sealed away, and Julius wants to shelter his kids as much as he can. And I have counted your vote.
Azuazu: I have counted your vote.
Guest: I have counted your vote.
No: I have counted your votes
DepthWalker: Thank you! I just try my best, and I love Fem Percy. I've counted your votes.
Poll
Pipercabeth: 34
Percy/Apollo: 31
Perlia: 10
Percabeth: 10
Percy/Bianca: 7
Perlianca: 7
Pipercy: 7
Pereynabeth: 5
Pereyna: 3
Perachelbeth: 2
Pereylia: 2
Perlissse: 1
Pereyna: 1
Percy/Ares: 1
Percy/Lou Ellen: 1
Perachel: 0
Other: (Say who)
Percy watched as Sadie screamed and she and Carter sprinted to the railing- "He'll have used magic." she declared, "He'll be fine-"
"He-" Sadie turned her head to look back at Percy, "Can you stop being so- annoyingly calm about all this-"
"It's not weird to me." Percy stood up, tucking a stray curl behind her ear as she watched Muffin hop onto the railing and but her head against Carter's hand.
"What do we do now?" Carter asked after a moment.
Sadie crossed her arms, rolling her eyes, "Well that's obvious isn't it. We explore the library." she paused- giving Percy an almost worried look, "You're not going to stop us right?"
"No magic for me unless I gots to." Percy declared, "Not for a day or so aynways. I coulda died yesterday." she paused "Besides, uncle Amos isn't dad."
"That's Percy talk for 'I don't have to do what he says." Carter rolled his eyes, "The only people she listens to are mom and dad-"
"Hm, maybe you aren't a total hopeless case." Sadie declared, "Come on then Percy." she gave Percy a slight grin and Percy gave one in return- it was nice, not having Sadie glaring at her as usual.
They headed inside almost instantly and Carter let out a panicked noise. "Hold on you two! You can't just-"
"Brother dear." Sadie's voice was almost singsong. "did your soul leave your body again while Amos was talking, or did you actually hear him? Egyptian gods real. Red Lord bad. Red Lord's birthday: very soon, very bad. House of Life: fussy old magicians who hate our family because Dad was a bit of a rebel, whom by the way you could take a lesson from. Which leaves us—just us—with Dad missing, an evil god about to destroy the world, and an uncle who just jumped off the building—and I can't actually blame him." she took a breath, "Am I missing anything? Oh, yes, I also have a brother who is supposedly quite powerful from an ancient bloodline, blah, blah, et cetera, but is too afraid to visit a library, and Percy is also quite powerful and is half god. Now, coming or not?"
"I just..." He faltered. "I just think we should be careful."
"Carter." Percy gave him a determined look, "Dad taught me a lotta stuff. Uncle Amos might not want us in there but I mean- I won't let you guys touch anything too dangerous."
"See." Sadie grinned, tossing an arm over Percy's shoulder, "We have our magical genius with us-"
"Not a genius-" Percy flushed but Sadie ploughed on.
"Listen Carter. We need to help dad, yes? There's got to be some powerful stuff in the library otherwise Amos wouldn't keep it locked up. You want to help dad right?"
Carter shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah...of course."
"Then come on." Percy ducked out from under Sadie's arm and darted over to her brother, grabbing his hands and towing him towards Sadie, and together the trio
headed for the library.
Of course things could never be that simple and as soon as Khufu spotted them he scrambled off the sofa with his basketball and jumped in front of the library doors. Who knew baboons were so speedy? He barked at them, showing his enormous fangs.
Carter tried to reason with him. "Khufu, we're not going to steal anything. We just want—"
"Agh!" Khufu dribbled his basketball angrily.
"Carter," Sadie spoke quickly, "you're not helping. Look here, Khufu. I have...ta-da!" she held up a little yellow box of cereal she must have taken from the buffet table. "Cheerios! Ends with an -o. Yumsies!"
"Aghhh!" Khufu grunted, more excited now than angry. "Want it?" Sadie coaxed. "Just take it to the couch and pretend you didn't see us, yes?"
She threw the cereal towards the couch, and the baboon lunged after it. He grabbed the box in midair and was so excited, he ran straight up the wall and sat on the fireplace mantel, where he began gingerly picking out Cheerios and eating them one at a time.
Carter looked at Sadie with grudging admiration. "How did you—"
"Some of us think ahead. Now, let's open these doors." she turned her gaze to Percy, who held up her hands and shook her head.
"Don't ask me- I'm not gonna use any magic today. Not unless it's super important."
"Ugh, fine." of course, the problem was that the doors were made of thick wood laced with giant steel chains. And they were padlocked- when it became clear that none of them would be able to open it through conventional means. Carter stepped forward and tried to raise the doors by lifting his hands- as he'd done the night before, but it did nothing.
"It's no good." Carter huffed the words.
Then Sadie's eyes narrowed, "What was the word Amos used at breakfast with the saucer?"
"For 'join'?" Carter asked. "Hi-nehm or something."
"No, the other one, for 'destroy'."
"That's ha-di." Percy piped up, "But magic isn't that simple, you can't just-" but Sadie has already raised her hand toward the door, and she pointed at it with two fingers and her thumb and she spoke loudly.
"Ha-di!"
Bright gold hieroglyphs burned against the largest padlock. Percy's eyes widened and she launched herself at Carter, smashing into him and knocking him to the ground as the chains shattered and splinters flew all over the Great Room.
There was a moment of stunned silence before Percy scrambled to her feet, brushing off wood shavings, Muffin was circling Sadie's feet and mewing contentedly, as if nothing at all strange had happened. "You- that-" Percy gaped at the older girl "Holy- you just- but you've never- oh wow."
"How?" Carter demanded, pulling himself to his feet too. "How did you do that Sadie?"
"I don't know." Sadie blinked, "But hey, the library's open."
Percy couldn't help but giggle at that as Carter gave Sadie a disbelieving look, "Think you overdid it a little? We're going to be in so much trouble—"
"We'll just figure out a way to zap the door back, won't we?"
"No more zapping, please," Carter said. "That explosion could've killed us. I was lucky Percy knocked me over when she did."
"Oh, do you think if you tried that spell on a person—"
"No!" He stepped back nervously.
"Please don't." Percy yelped, "I don't wanna know how messy that'd be."
"On second thoughts- Percy's right that'd probably be gross." Sadie admitted with a small shrug. "Let's just explore the library shall we." Sadie stepped forward- but
Percy knew enough about magic- Carter didn't even have time to move before Percy was reaching out and grabbing the older girls arm when she stumbled.
"Woah!" Carter's voice was panicked, "What- are you okay?"
"Fine-" Sadie had gone very pale, "I'm just tired. And famished."
"That was your first time really using magic." Percy spoke up, "And it was like, a super strong spell. The way you did it- of course you're tired you don't have any training. You gotta be careful Sadie."
"I- this is what you felt last night?" Sadie's voice was surprised, "You went all tired- but you did loads more than I did-"
"But I have training- and it wasn't just my magic." Percy pointed out. "Besides- it's the way you used the spell as well- dad and uncle Amos are right you two could be super powerful. You just used a Divine Word with no training "
"Uh, thanks." Sadie glanced at Carter, looking almost nervous, and Carter was looking at Sadie curiously.
"Those hieroglyphs you created were golden. Dad and Amos both used blue. Why?" he looked over at Percy, who bit her lip.
"It can depend-"
"Maybe everyone has his own color," Sadie suggested with a grin "Maybe you'll get hot pink."
"Very funny."
"Come on, pink wizard," I said. "Inside we go."
Percy had to admit once they were inside- the library was pretty amazing. It was huge, round chamber sunk deep into solid rock, like a giant well. This didn't make sense, as the mansion was sitting on top of a warehouse, but then again nothing else about the place was exactly normal and Percy was used to magic.
From the platform where they stood, a staircase descended three stories to the bottom floor. The walls, floor, and domed ceiling were all decorated with multicolored pictures of people, gods, and monsters.
"It's beautiful." Sadie's voice was barely even a whisper.
A blue starry sky glittered on the ceiling, but it wasn't a solid field of blue. Rather, the sky was painted in a strange swirling pattern. It was shaped like a woman. She lay curled on her side—her body, arms, and legs dark blue and dotted with stars. Below, the library floor was done in a similar way, the green-and-brown earth shaped into a man's body, dotted with forests and hills and cities. A river snaked across his chest.
The library had no books. Not even bookshelves. Instead, the walls were honeycombed with round cubbyholes, each one holding a sort of plastic cylinder.
At each of the four compass points, a ceramic statue stood on a pedestal. The statues were half-size humans wearing kilts and sandals, with glossy black wedge-shaped haircuts and black khol around their eyes.
One statue held a stylus and scroll. Another held a box. Another held a short, hooked staff. The last was empty-handed.
"Sadie, Percy." Carter pointed to the center of the room. Sitting on a long stone table was their dads workbag.
Carter started down the stairs, but Sadie grabbed his arm. "Hang on. What about traps?"
He frowned. "Traps?"
"Didn't Egyptian tombs have traps?"
"Well...sometimes. But this isn't a tomb. Besides, more often they had curses, like the burning curse, the donkey curse—"
"Oh, lovely. That sounds so much better. Percy are the curses-"
"Oh yeah." Percy nodded, "My favorite is the donkey curse-"
"Oh I so don't want to know." Sadie declared, and together she and Percy followed Carter as he trotted down the stairs, Percy looking around for any tell tale signs of curses- though there didn't seem to be any.
Fortunately there was nothing, and they made it to the middle of the room with no rashes or donkey's in sight.
As soon as they reached the bag Carter was opening it and he slowly pulled out the box that their dad had used the night before. Percy snorted- she'd seen it more than once, she knew just who it held. She wondered how Carter and Sadie would react to Doughboy. It'd be pretty funny.
Percy was drawn out of her thoughts by Sadie again, "How did the Egyptians move like that? All sideways with their arms and legs out- it seems silly." and Percy realised she was talking about how they people on the box were painted, which earned a look that almost screamed 'God you're stupid'. "They didn't walk like that in real life Sadie."
"It would be cool if they did though." Percy piped up, grinning almost playfully as she did her best impression of the paintings, which made Carter laugh.
"Why did they paint them like that then?" Sadie's voice was more curious than offended.
"They thought paintings were like magic. If you painted yourself, you had to show all your arms and legs. Otherwise, in the afterlife you might be reborn without all your pieces."
"Then why the sideways faces? They never look straight at you. Doesn't that mean they'll lose the other side of their face?"
Carter hesitated. "I think they were afraid the picture would be too human if it was looking right at you. It might try to become you."
"Yep." Percy declared, "They were scared they'd come to life-"
"Is there anything they weren't afraid of."
"Little sisters." Carter didn't skip a beat. "Is they talked too much, the Egyptians threw them to the crocodiles."
"It's true." Percy declared seriously, "Carter tried tossing me to them on my birthday last year-" and for just a moment Sadie looked like she was buying it before she flushed red and punched Carters arm hard.
"You two are such assholes just open the bloody box."
"Okay okay!" Carter laughed, holding up his hands defensively as Percy giggled, "No need to beat me up." and then, without any hesitation, he opened the box.