Some action in this chapter, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter- it's a fun one, or I think it is. And the poll will close today- Pipercabeth has won!
Replies:
The Official Clarisse: Yeah, today's the final day, and it's at the top.
Ryan Fowler: You shall have to wait and see what'll happen I'm afraid.
Camphalfblood738857: I mean, honestly there's a lot of similar stories in most mythologies.
Seaweedbrain760: The only time I don't respond is if I don't notice a review or if I'm getting so many that I can't keep up, which has happened before- but I do my best.
Guest: Carter lives in terror either way honestly- when they're bickering and fighting they'd destroy shit and when they're friends they'd also destroy shit, he cannot win.
Guest: You'll have to wait and see.
Guest: You'll be happy.
Guest: Honestly thank you so much, I hope you enjoy it- though there will be some important changes.
Guest: Thank you- and you shall have to wait and see.
Guest: Yeah, see in this Annabeth won't be acting as a guide- I have their first meetings and such planned out and it's a lot different than canon- and that's all I'm gonna say.
Sly: I don't plan on it, though I don't know exactly how long it'll be yet.
Guest: Yeah, gods in general are kinda paranoid really.
Poll
Pipercabeth: 69
Percy/Apollo: 55
Perlia: 15
Percabeth: 10
Pipercy: 10
Percy/Bianca: 10
Perlianca: 10
Percy/Lou Ellen: 6
Pereynabeth: 6
Pereyna: 3
Perachelbeth: 2
Pereylia: 2
Percy/Ares: 2
Perlissse: 1
Pereyna: 1
Perzoe: 1
Perachel: 0
Other: (Say who)

The three Kanes didn't, unfortunately, have much time to process the new information, mostly because before any of them were even able to gather themselves enough to speak there was a great crashing noise from above- as if something had broken in the Great room, and they heard Khufu barking in alarm.

Percy was moving before Carter or Sadie could, reaching into the Duat without even thinking, fingers curling around the hilt of her khopesh, and she could hear Sadie and Carter gasping in shock but she was already bounding up the stairs.

When she reached the top Khufu was freaking out, to say the least, He swung from column to column, bouncing along the balconies, overturning pots and statues. Then he ran back to the terrace windows, stared outside for a moment, and proceeded to go berserk again.

Muffin was also at the window. She crouched on all fours with her tail twitching as if she were stalking a bird. Oh that really, really was not a good sign was it?

Percy could hear Sadie and Carter not far behind her but she was already moving, sprinting towards the glass doors, whatever was upsetting them was outside- Percy needed to know what it was.

"Maybe it's just a passing flamingo." Sadie's voice was hopeful- almost desperate, Percy couldn't blame her for that. But she was smart enough to know that it
definitely wasn't a flamingo- though it took her a few moments to actually make sense of what she was seeing.

As Sadie and Carter rushed to her side water exploded from the pool, and Percy gripped her khopesh tighter, heart pounding in her chest. Two enormous creatures, most definitely not flamingos, were thrashing about with Philip of Macedonia.

Percy felt her mouth dropping open in shock- she'd seen creatures before, monsters but- the Greek ones could never really smell her and she truthfully hadn't seen that many Egyptian monsters. Oh sure she'd seen a few but her dad was protective, he shielded her from them as much as he could.

So seeing a monster was slightly scary.

Its body was like a leopard's—lean and sinewy, with golden spotted fur—but its neck was completely wrong. It was green and scaly and at least as long as the rest of its body. It had a cat's head, but no normal cat's. When it turned its glowing red eyes towards them, it howled, showing a forked tongue and fangs dripping with green venom.

And there were two of them- two Serpopards. Oh this was very bad.

"Longnecks." Carter sounded like he'd been struck, "Oh my god- Sadie- Percy are you seeing-"

"Of course we're seeing them what do you think we are?" Percy almost shrieked the words, "Blind?"

Then one of the Serpopard's was thrown out of the pool. It slammed into the doors and Percy yelped, stumbling backwards, Sadie and Carter both grabbing her arms to stop her from falling back onto her ass.

She sucked in a sharp breath when the Serpopard jumped back into the pool to join it's companion in beating up Philip, and she pressed her hand over her mouth to forced back her reaction as the crocodile spun and snapped uselessly- his attackers were too much for him- he couldn't defend himself.

Sadie almost seemed to read her mind because she lunged forward, "We have to help Philip! He'll be killed!" but Muffin growled at her and Carter let go of Percy to grab Sadie and yank her backwards.

"Sadie no! You heard Amos! We can't open the doors for any reason. The house is protected by magic. Philip will have to beat them on their own-"

"But what if he can't! Philip!"

The old crocodile turned to look towards them, and Percy let out a horrified scream as the Serpopards bit at his underbelly and Philip rose up so that only the tip of his tail still touched the the water. His body began to glow. A low hum filled the air, like an airplane engine starting up. When Philip came down, he slammed into the terrace with all his might.

The entire house shook. Cracks appeared in the concrete terrace outside, and the swimming pool split right down the middle as the far end crumbled into empty space.

Percy screamed, surging forward and slamming her hands against the glass as Sadie let out a horrified cry. "NO!"

And the edge of the terrace ripped free, plunging Philip and the monsters straight into the East River.

Percy stared in shock, frozen up as she heard Sadie speak again, her voice shaking.

"He sacrificed himself. He killed the monsters-"

"W-what if he didn't." Carter's voice was faint, "What if they come back?"

"Don't say that-"

"I recognized them Sadie! Those creatures! Come on- both of you-" And Carter was gripping Percy's arm tightly, prying her away from the glass, dragging her with him as he rushed back towards the library- with Sadie rushing after them.

"Carter what are you doing-"

"Just trust me!" Carter let go of Percy's arm once they were in the library and she stumbled as he marched up to the shabati who had helped them before. "Bring us the- gah what's it called?"

"What?" Sadie's eyes widened as she skidded to a halt next to Percy. "Carter what are you looking for?"

"Something dad showed me. It's a big stone play or something. It had a picture of the first pharaoh. The guy who united Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom- his name.." his eyes lit up, "Narmer! Bring me the Narmer plate!"

Nothing happened but Percy straightened up, "It was palette Carter. You're talking about the Narmer Palette-"

"That's it you're a genius!" Carter gasped, "Bring me the Narmer Palette."

The empty-handed shabti didn't move, but across the room, the statue with the little hook came to life. He jumped off his pedestal and disappeared in a cloud of dust.

A heartbeat later, he reappeared on the table. At his feet was a wedge of flat gray stone, shaped like a shield.

"No!" Carter protested. "I meant a picture of it! Oh great, I think this is the real artifact. The shabti must've stolen it from the Cairo Museum. We've got to return—"

"We don't have time to mess around with returning it Carter! We have a god to stop and monsters attacking the house."

"She isn't wrong." Sadie pointed out, "Let's just look at it while we have it here. We can't waste time."

"I- fine." Carter agreed after a moment of hesitation, and the three of them peered at the stone- it was carved with the picture of a man smashing another man in the face with what looked like a spoon.

"That's Narmer with the spoon," Sadie guessed. "Angry because the other bloke stole his breakfast cereal."

Carter shook his head. "He's conquering his enemies and uniting Egypt. See his hat? That's the crown of Lower Egypt, before the two countries united."

"The bit that looks like a bowling pin?"

"You're impossible," Carter grumbled.

"He looks like Dad, doesn't he?"

"Sadie, be serious!"

"I am serious. Look at his profile."

"Of course he looks like dad." Percy huffed the words, "You're from Narmers line."

"Of come on Percy that's insane."

"Is it?" Sadie asked slowly, "I mean, she did say we have the Blood of Pharaohs or whatever-"

Carter stared at them both for a moment before snorting, "I almost wish you two were still arguing- stop with the crazy stuff- we need to focus. He examined the stone like he was afraid to touch it. "I need to see the back but I don't want to turn it over. We might damage—"

Percy and Sadie both reached out at the same time- though Sadie pulled her hand back slightly when she saw that Percy was reaching too, and the youngest of the trio grabbed the stone and flipped it over, which earned a completely horrified gasp from Carter.

"Percy! You could have broken it! Dad would be furious if he saw you handling it like that-"

"Isn't that what mending spells are for. I hate having to stick up for the shortie-"

"I'm nine, what's your excuse-"

"Yeah, I can tell, you're a total baby, like, seriously-"

"And there you go." Carter groaned, "Can we please focus you two- I honestly don't know what I prefer, you arguing or you getting along." that earned him a roll of
the eyes from Sadie and a raspberry from Percy.

But they did all listen because they all leaned closer and examined the back of the palette.

Sure enough two Serpopards were carved onto the palette, their necks entwined. On either side Egyptian men with ropes were trying to capture the creatures.

"I know what they are." Carter breathed the words, "Serpopards. Serpent leopards."

"Fascinating." Sadie shook her head, "But that doesn't explain what they actually are you know that right?"

"No one knows exactly." Carter shook his head, "Dad thought they were creatures of chaos. Very bad news, and they've been around forever. This stone is one of the oldest artifacts from Egypt. Those pictures were carved five thousand years ago."

"So why are five- thousand year old monsters attacking our house?" Sadie demanded

"Last night in Phoenix, Set ordered his servants to capture us. He said send the longnecks first-"

"Oh wonderful." Percy's voice was fakely upbeat. "Just what we need."

"This coming from the girl who is still holding a very sharp and pointy sword."

And Percy glanced down, blinking, "I forgot I had that-"

"How can you forget that you're holding a sword?" Carter's voice was exasperated, "Seriously Percy that's like, insanely dangerous."

"Hey I'm nine! I'm allowed to do dumb things! It's like a rule, nine year old's can't get yelled at-"

"You aren't allowed to forget that you have a freaking sword Percy! Do you know how crazy that sounds? Because it totally sounds crazy-"

"It's a khopesh and it's awesome."

"Uh huh please tell me you at least know how to not kill yourself with it-"

"Of course I do! Dad taught me-"

"Dad taught- oh that is so not fair." Sadie blurted out, "Carter tell me dad never taught you how to use a sword-"

"Of course he didn't-" the back and forth was cut short by Khufu rushing into the library, screaming and slapping his head. Percy blinked. "Uh oh. That's not good-" and she was lurching off again, before Carter and Sadie could stop her, though she did hear Carter crying out.

"Percy stop!"

"I'm the one with a weapon!" she called back, pausing only to grab one of the stands holding a statue and yanking it hard, pulling it over so that it would slow Carter and Sadie as she sprinted back upstairs.

The first thing Percy noticed was that the serpopards were back, their fur wet and slimy from the river- they did not look happy. They prowled the broken ledge of the terrace, their snake necks whipping around as they sniffed the doors, looking for a way in. They spit poison that steamed and bubbled on the glass, their forked tongues darting in and out.

Percy forced back her terror as she tightened her grip on her khopesh.

"Agh, agh!" Khufu picked up Muffin, who was sitting on the sofa and offered her the cat.

Percy stared at him for a moment before she took Muffin, her mind racing. "Bast- Bast protect Carter and Sadie-" who she could hear coming up the stairs behind her.

Then she tossed the cat aside as she moved towards the doors, turning her back on Bast- and the monsters were smashing their ugly faces up against the glass. The door shuddered. Blue hieroglyphs glowed along the doorframe, but their light was faint. The protection wasn't going to hold up.

Percy took a deep breath, unlocking the door in a swift motion and yanking it open just as the monsters went to bash it again, one of them skidded forward with the force of it's attempt to smash the door- clearly expecting the resistance, though the other stopped itself just in time- and Percy was moving, leaping onto one of the monsters necks even as she heard Carter and Sadie screaming in terror as it reared, trying to toss her off.

Percy was too stubborn for that, hooking one arm around the long neck, and she gritted her teeth as she swung her other arm around, ignoring the wrenching pain from her shoulders as she was tossed back and forth wildly- and she caught the monsters neck with the curved blade, hooking and yanking, the sharp metal slicing through the tough skin and bone- and with a last jerk backwards a head dropped to the floor-and Percy could hear screaming- Carter and Sadie- as the monster dissolved into sand and she fell, hitting the ground hard and coughing when monster dust puffed up from the impact of her landing in it.

She heard another thud and a smooth voice almost purred, "Well that was fun-" and Percy lifted her head as someone stepped in front of her and a hand reached down.

Percy took it as she focused on the figure in front of her.

It was a woman, small and lithe like a gymnast. Her jet-black hair was tied in a ponytail. She wore a skin tight leopard-skin jumpsuit and Muffin's pendant around her neck, and her eyes were still yellow with black feline pupils. She had a slight smirk on her face, a glint of amusement in her eyes.

"Very good kitten. You're a fierce little fighter aren't you. I think I want to keep you." And Percy let the woman pull her to her feet, looking around- there was another pile of dust not too far away, and Carter and Sadie were stood by the stairs gaping in shock at them, with Khufu a short distance from them.

"W-we did it." Percy breathed the words, "They're gone."