As I said in the other fic- Updates may be less reliable due to Christmas and I'm pressed for time so no replies to reviews today. Though to one person- Fuck you. I'll post it here if I want, there's no need to call it crap. I posted it here because as far as I was concerned KC are a part of the PJO universe, I never think of them as separate so I didn't think of doing it as a crossover- it's like the MCU, I wouldn't put a fic with Ironman and Captain America as a crossover between the films. It's the same universe.

After the fact Percy was sure that she'd deny rooting for one sibling over another- but if she was honest she'd definitely been rooting for Carter. After all he was her big brother, he was the one she was closest too.

If she was truthful she'd been looking forward to it. But, well, she should have known that nothing could ever go right, still, she hadn't expected it to go quite as badly as it did- and it had, and it had all went downhill so fast- it had started when Sadie had asked why trying to summon up some fire had tired her out so much- and Zia's explanation about how magic could be stored in objects had been pretty good as far as Percy was concerned- and then it had turned to how magic could be summoned from the gods- and Sadie and Carter had realised that their ancestors had hosted gods- which was why the House didn't trust them, because they were worried that Sadie and Carter were hosting gods.

Admittedly Percy had had that very same thought and was pretty sure that they probably were, but Sadie had taken offence when she'd realised that Zia was testing them to see if they were dangerous. So Sadie had lost her temper, and she'd thrown her new staff at Zia, who had her back turned- that hadn't went well- oh it had been an impressive display of magic, when Sadie's staff had transformed into a lioness.

And Zia probably could have handled it easily, Percy had already been leaping into action, brandishing her new kohpesh ready to defend the older girl when the lioness had turned on Carter and lunged for him- and Percy had screamed, a loud high pitched noise that made Zia wince.

But at the lioness lunged Carter's form flickered. He rose off the ground, surrounded by a golden holographic shell like the one Bast had used, except that his giant image was a warrior with the head of a falcon. Carter swung his sword, and the falcon warrior did likewise, slicing the lion with a shimmering blade of energy. The cat dissolved in midair, and Sadie's staff clattered to the ground, cut neatly in half.

Carter's avatar shimmered, then disappeared. He dropped to the ground and grinned. "Fun."

Percy gaped at them- neither of them looked tired- and her gaze snapped to Zia, who looked as if she'd been punched- because they both knew what the falcon meant.

Carter was hosting Horus. It was basically confirmed.

And Percy was very, very tempted to strangle Sadie when she turned to Zia, looking smug and defiant. "Well? Better right?"

"The falcon. He—he summoned—"

Before she could finish, footsteps pounded on the stones. A young initiate raced into the courtyard, looking panicked. Tears streaked his dusty face. He said something to Zia in hurried Arabic. When Zia got his message, she sat down hard in the sand. She covered her face and began to tremble.

Percy's eyes widened and she darted to Zia's side.

"Zia! Zia what's wrong-" and she could hear Carter and Sadie coming sprinting towards them too.

"ZIA!" Carter's voice was almost frantic, "What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her composure. When she looked up, her eyes were red. She said something to the adept, who nodded and ran back the way he'd come.

"News from the First Nome," she said shakily. "Iskandar..." Her voice broke. And Percy let out a choked noise, her eyes widening in shock.

Because she was perceptive enough to realise why Zia was so upset- clearly she'd had a strong bond with Iskander, and that look on her face- but before she could open her mouth to speak Sadie was already speaking. "He's dead, isn't he? That's what he meant."

Zia stared at her. "What do you mean: 'That's what he meant'?"

"I..." Sadie hesitated, clearly thinking before she spoke again- she was certainly hiding something, but Percy decided that now wasn't the time to question it. "Nothing. How did it happen?"

"In his sleep," Zia said. "He—he had been ailing for years, of course. But still..."

"It's okay," Carter said. "I know he was important to you."

She wiped at her tears, then rose unsteadily. "You don't understand. Desjardins is next in line. As soon as he is named Chief Lector, he will order you executed."

"But we haven't done anything!" Sadie yelped.

"He won't care." Percy felt numb suddenly, "Desjardins won't care-"

"And they don't realise how dangerous they are do they?" Zoe demanded, "You do- you know, I'm sure of that." her glare was directed at Percy- she couldn't blame Zia for needing someone to hate, still it wasn't really fair of her to look at Percy like that. "You know that they're hosting gods! How long-"

"I-" Percy started to protest but Sadie spoke over her.

"That's ridiculous!"

"He will order me to bring you in." Zia warned, "And I will have to obey!"

"You can't!" Carter cried. "You saw what happened in the museum. We're not the problem. Set is. And if Desjardins isn't taking that seriously...well, maybe he's part of the problem too."

Zia gripped her staff. Percy braced herself, fully ready to defend Carter and Sadie if Zia decided to attack them, but she hesitated.

"Zia-" Sadie's voice was almost desperate, "Iskandar talked with me last night. He caught me sneaking around the Hall of Ages."

Zia's expression turned shocked at that, her eyes going wide as Sadie plunged onwards, ""He said you were his best pupil. He said you were wise. He also said Carter and I have a difficult path ahead of us, and you would know how to help us when the time came."

Her staff smoldered. Her eyes reminded Percy of glass about to shatter.

"Desjardins will kill us," Sadie persisted. "Do you think that's what Iskandar had in mind?"

"He told me that there's many fates resting on our shoulders." Percy blurted out, "C'mon Zia, he liked me you saw that, Sadie is right please."

"Please Zia." Carter's voice was pleading, and there was something about the way that he looked at her that Percy just couldn't seem to place.

In any case one of their arguments and please must have worked because Zia lowered her staff. "Use the Obelisk."

"What-" Sadie started to speak but Percy was already grabbing the older girls arm, catching in on quickly.

"Thank you." she caught Carter's arm too, "Thank you so much Zia."

"You will need to run. Do not be foolish. You have five minutes, perhaps less, before Desjardins sends orders for your execution. Flee, and destroy Set. The Demon Days begin at sundown. All portals will stop working. You need to get as close as possible to Set before that happens."

"Hold on," Sadie sounded stunned "I meant you should come with us and help us! We can't even use an obelisk, much less destroy Set!"

"I cannot betray the House," she said. "You have four minutes now. If you can't operate the obelisk, you'll die."

"We've got this!" Percy called back quickly, despite the fact that she was pretty sure they very much did not got this. She had made a portal maybe once- it wasn't something she had a natural gift with.

It didn't take Sadie long to start moving faster, so that Percy no longer had to drag her, though all three of the Kane children stopped when Zia called, "Percy, Sadie, Carter." and they all looked back at Zia, who's expression was almost bitter.

"Desjardins will order me to hunt you down," she warned. "Do you understand?"

Percy gave a small nod.

And they ran- honestly Percy's legs were burning by the time they were out of the temple and rushing towards the obelisk, and for a moment she thought that luck might actually be on their side for once- which honestly was a pretty silly thought because as they skidded to a halt by the Obelisk there was the familiar noise of a portal opening and about a hundred yards down the path a balding magician in white robes stepped out of a whirling sand vortex.

"Okay." Percy glanced at Sadie. If Carter was hosting Horus then Sadie was probably hosting Isis- even if Sadie didn't know what to do, the goddess should be able to help her- and she would if she wanted to get out of this alive. "I'll deal with this. Guard Sadie."

"Percy-" Carter's eyes went wide, "You've got to be kidding me?"

But Percy was already moving forward, gripping her khopesh tightly, and she was too fast for Carter to stop her, and she could hear her brother and Sadie talking, their voices panicked as the man raised his staff and started to chant.

Percy didn't even stop to speak- she might not be an expert with Divine words but she did know a few- and she knew enough. "HA-WI!" She screamed the words, pointing her khopesh towards the magician- and he was tossed backwards by an invisible force which hit him hard enough to send his staff flying from his hand, but Percy didn't stop, "TAS!" and ropes appeared out of nowhere, snaking around the magicians form, and the man let out a furious bellow at that- clearly she'd managed to interrupt his spell in time.

And Percy was willing to admit that she felt slightly smug at Carter's loud.

"Holy crap!" And she turned her head to look at him. "Told you I could deal with it." she crowed proudly.

Of course, she realised a moment too late that turning her back probably hadn't been the smartest idea.

She only had warning because of the sudden panicked look on Carter's face- and by the time Percy had whirled around to look it was too late, the magician had managed to grab his staff and he was sat up, and even as she turned she heard him call, "Serve the House of Life!"

Percy cursed rather colorfully in Greek as the air between them started to shimmer. Waves of heat flowed from the double lines of sphinxes- and Percy swallowed hard, her throat suddenly very dry as she clutched her khopesh tighter as the statues all started to crack down the middle and ghostly apparitions appeared from the stone like locusts breaking out of their shells. Not all of them were in good shape, that was a good sign, but something that she'd cheer about but it was something, the statues that had missing heads or feet would be less of a threat- but at least a dozen of them were in perfect condition, and they came rushing towards the three Kanes, each one of them were the size of a Doberman, made of milky white smoke and hot vapor.

"Oh god-" Carter's voice was terrified, "Sadie hurry up! Percy you can't-"

"Yes I can!" and Percy was rushing forward towards the sphinxes, meeting them partway, slicing one monster in half- and she let out a choked cry at the blast of heat it let out when it dissolved into smoke- and really it was not fair- why did Percy keep getting burned? It sucked.

Still, she ignored the pain, dropping when another sphinx ghost leaped at her, rolling beneath it, slashing upwards with her khopesh, slicing through it- there was another blast of heat and she gritted her teeth- her face stung even more- she was willing to bet that her face and arms were a bright shade of red, but she was rocketing to her feet- slashing at a third, completely focused on the fight, blast of heat after blast of feet didn't stop her- there was a fourth, and a fifth- and then she heard Carter's voice.

"PERCY! PERCY IT'S OPEN!" and Percy turned to look at her big brother, and sure enough the sky had darkened and the obelisk was glowing with a purple light, humming with power.

Sadie was gone- and Carter looked frantic, he was rushing towards her, "Percy we have to go!" And Percy nodded, glancing over her shoulder when Carter's expression started to shift, swinging her khopesh, turning smoothly as she did, to lop the head off one that had been about to pounce on her- though she didn't manage to catch it before it's claws raked down her back, she gritted her teeth, ignoring the sharp pain of the fresh cuts and the pain from the sheer rush of heat that hit her once again.

As she stumbled backwards she felt a hand on her arm and she turned her head- Carter was there, swinging his khopesh at another ghostly sphinx as he hauled her back with him- and together they managed to turn, racing towards the Obelisk, Carter's arm was outstretched towards it, and Percy could hear the magician screaming for the sphinxes to get them- and then Carter's hand hit the obelisk and the world went black.