No responses to reviews for the moment because it's a pretty busy time for me- I love Christmasbut it's crazy. And it takes enough time sorting and posting the chapters. But suffice to say I still read and love the reviews.
Anyway, gotta love magic!
It took Sadie and Carter some time to calm down about the fact that they were hosting gods- but they'd been distracted from that when Carter had told them that Amos had been captured- explaining that he'd had another trip in his dreams and he'd seen it happening- and it was incredibly worrying when Carter had told them that Set had spoken French in his dreams.
That had led Sadie and Carter to decide that Set was probably possessing the man- which would make sense, even Bast agreed with that- though she seemed very disturbed by the thought of it- Desjardins had been in London when the Rosetta stone broke, and given his new position Set would almost certainly think it was a great opportunity.
But something about it didn't feel right to Percy- it was like there was a little voice whispering in her mind that it wasn't him- but Percy decided to ignore it for now- it was better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best- hopefully Desjardins was just kinda a butthead, but if he was Set they needed to be ready for that because it would make things a whole lot harder- and as Bast had helpfully pointed out, they needed to move quickly- Set would make his move on his birthday which was just three days away- Percy sure did love time limits.
And of course because of the time limit Bast was very firm about the fact that they needed to learn how to work with Horus and Isis very quickly- and the conversation had turned to more personal topics when Bast had been cautioning them against thinking that they could handle Set without their gods and had slipped up by warning them not to repeat their mothers mistakes- and Percy already knew the story, but it had been hard, watching Sadie and Carter learn that their mother had burned herself out to protect their father, that she'd sacrificed herself.
The silence after that had been long and uncomfortable- Percy felt out of place- she wanted to speak up, to say something but- what could she say?
It was Carter who had eventually spoken, a new determination gleaming in his eyes, "All right. So how do we stop set then?"
Bast looked thoughtful before she smiled slowly- and Percy got the feeling that whatever she was about to suggest would be very dangerous- though also possibly very fun- then again Percy did not have a normal definition of fun. "There might be a way without completely giving yourself over to the gods. There's a book by Thoth—one of the rare spell books written by the god of wisdom himself. The one I'm thinking of details a way to overcome Set. It is the prized possession of a certain magician. All we need to do is sneak into his fortress, steal it, and leave before sunset, while we can still create a portal to the United States."
"Perfect," Sadie said.
"Hold up," Carter was smart enough to realise that there was clearly something more. "Which magician? And where's the fortress?"
"Why I think we've already discussed him." Bast almost purred, "Desjardins. His house is right here in Paris."
Percy blinked once- twice and then a slow grin spread across her face as she glanced at Carter and Sadie, "This is gonna be so much fun-"
"Oh god no." Carter groaned, "Percy-"
"Fun-" Sadie started to snort before pausing, "Actually- it could be fun. Maybe. If we play our cards right."
"Let's blow his house up- I totally know some spells that could help-"
"No- no we do not want to blow up his house Percy what the-" Carter started to protest, but Sadie was laughing and she gave Percy a brilliant grin.
"Oh I do love your style Percy. You might be annoying but- you're more fun than Carter."
"We're doomed." Carter breathed out, "I am doomed. Why did I ever wish you'd be friends-"
"We're not friends." Sadie said quickly, "Just- allies in destruction-"
"I can work with that." Percy giggled as Carter let out a breath and closed his eyes.
"Gods save us. We're so doomed. So so very doomed."
"Now now, I wouldn't say that," Bast was smirking, she looked very proud, "I think you three make an excellent team. Now, let us go and blow up Desjardin's house,
after we've retrieved the books of course."
And thankfully they didn't have to travel too far to reach Desjardin's house, and Percy had to admit it was kind of impressive. It was a huge mansion on the other side of the Tuileries, on the rue des Pyramides. And Percy found herself nodding when Sadie spoke as they stared at it,
"Pyramids road? Obvious much?" the older girl let out a little scoff.
"Maybe he couldn't find a place on Stupid Evil Magician Street." Carter suggested- which earned him a surprised look from Sadie- who clearly wasn't used to their
brother having a sense of humor, and laughter from Percy.
And Perch was willing to admit that the house was spectacular. The spikes atop its wrought iron fence were gilded. Even in the winter rain, the front garden was bursting with flowers. Five stories of white marble walls and black-shuttered windows loomed before us, the whole thing topped off by a roof garden. Percy had seen royal palaces smaller than this place.
This was definitely a man who wanted to show off to the whole world.
"Isn't red a bad color in Egypt?" Carter was pointing to the front door- which was indeed painted red, "It's the color of Set isn't it?" and oh but that was a very bad sign.
Bast scratched her chin, "Now that you mention it, yes. It's the color of chaos and destruction."
"I thought black was the evil color," Sadie said.
"No, dear. As usual, modern folk have it backward. Black is the color of good soil, like the soil of the Nile. You can grow food in black soil. Food is good. Therefore black is good. Red is the color of desert sand. Nothing grows in the desert. Therefore red is evil." She frowned. "It is strange that Desjardins has a red door."
"Well I'm excited." Sadie grumbled the words, "Let's go knock."
"There will be guards." Bast pointed out, "And traps. And alarms. You can bet the house is heavily charmed to keep out gods."
"Magicians can do that?" Carter asked, his expression disbelieving.
"Alas, yes," Bast said. "I will not be able to cross the threshold uninvited. You, however—"
"I thought we're gods too," Sadie said.
"That's the beauty of it," Bast said. "As hosts, you are still quite human. I have taken full possession of Muffin, so I am pretty much me—a goddess. But you are still—
well, yourselves. Clear?"
"No." Carter shook his head, "But we'll figure it out I guess."
"I suggest you turn into birds," Bast said. "You can fly to the roof garden and make your way in. Plus, I like birds."
"First problem," Carter said, "we don't know how to turn into birds."
"I do." Percy pulled a face, "I hate transformation magic. It's always so hard-"
"If Percy finds it hard then how are we supposed to do it?" Sadie asked, her eyes narrowed, "Little miss Perfect's had training- she's done it before we-"
"It will be fine." Bast's voice was dismissive as she leaned back against the wall, "And it's a good test of channelling godly power. Both Isis and Horus have bird forms, it should be easy enough for you. Simply imagine yourselves as birds and birds you will become."
"Just like that?" Sadie looked hesitant, "You make it sound easy. You won't pounce on us?"
Bast looked offended. "Perish the thought! Percy why don't you go first?"
"Okay." Percy nodded, expression turning thoughtful. What bird should she turn into, that was the question.
Hawk.
The little voice was barely more than a whisper- Percy wasn't even sure it was there but she gave a small shrug. She could work with a hawk.
She closed her eyes, and as it always did her skin almost felt like it was burning, her chest felt tight- but surprisingly she didn't feel the familiar rush of tiredness- she didn't transform often because it wasn't a magic that came naturally to her-oh she could do it but it usually tired her out a lot more than it had.
Percy decided against questioning it, she might as well make the most of it.
When she blinked her eyes open she was tiny, maybe up to Bast's shin, and her vision had improved- it was a natural thing that came with the transformation- she now had the birds senses- everything was high definition now.
She let out a loud shrieking noise as she looked towards Carter and Sadie, who were both gaping down at her.
"A hawk." Bast sounded surprised, "Not too bad little one. Now it's your turn you two." she turned her gaze to Carter and Sadie- and Percy watched as both of them clearly started to focus- and Sadie managed to transform first, shrinking down into a gray bird, smaller than herself- a kite- that made sense, after all wasn't the Kite one of Isis' birds?
Sadie let out a chirping sound, and Percy could see how proud she was from the way she was almost hopping around- and they both turned to look at Carter- who was stood there, face scrunched up with concentration.
Percy couldn't help but giggle at that sight, which came out as a strange sort of screeching noise.
It took Carter a good few minutes more before he managed to transform, turning into an impressive looking falcon- though Percy felt faintly smug that her hawk form was bigger than either of the other Kanes bird forms.
Bast grinned down at the three of them when Carter was finally done. "Better late than never. Took you almost ten minutes."
Which made Percy laugh again, the shrieking sound earning her a dirty look from Carter- if a bird could give a dirty look. And she could hear Sadie letting out a chirping laughter.
"Oh, you two look delicious," Bast said, licking her lips. "No, no—er, I mean wonderful. Now, off you go!"
Carter nodded his head at that and he spread his wings wide and launched himself off the pavement, clearly planning to dramatically and gracefully take to the skies- and he flew straight into the fence, which made Percy shriek cackle even louder, and Sadie was laughing too, honestly the chirping laughter was nicer than Percy's Hawk forms shriek but hey, she was the biggest so she didn't care.
Bast crouched down and began making weird chittering noises. And Percy had seen cats do that before- she caught Carters gaze- and she saw the flash of panic in his eyes.
And Percy didn't hesitate, spreading her wings, focusing as she flapped them, taking off into the air- and- well she had to admit that flying in bird form was fun, the feeling on the wind ruffling through her feathers- it was exhilarating.
When she was really little she'd had a fear of heights- a natural fear based on what she'd been taught by her mom and dad, but she'd gotten past it- she knew her amulets shielded her from the eyes of the Greek gods- of Zeus who would strike her from the sky without hesitation.
She let out a shrieking laugh as she twisted in the air, revelling in the feeling of freedom as she flew.
Okay so maybe transformation magic wasn't so bad- she hadn't done it in years but it wasn't so bad.
Then there was a shrill bird call and Percy turned her head to look, focusing on Carter and Sadie, the latter of whom was flying onwards towards Desjardin's house.
Percy let out a sheepish little shriek and flapped her wings, rushing to catch up with her big brother and Sadie- clearly Carter had noticed that she was being left behind- and she would have rolled her eyes if she could, at the way that he flicked his wing at her head, a chiding motion.
She resisted the urge to smack Carter with her own wing- they had a mission to finish.