Hehehehe. Hey guys I hope you enjoy this chapter- and don't brutally murder me. As for why I chose the Hawk- there's several gods and goddesses connected to Hawks, so it doesn't narrow it down that much but you shall have to wait and see. Also, Carter's still adjusting to the idea of the gods being real, it'd take a few days for it to sink in so let's be fair. And don't worry, she will figure out what that voice in her head is. Y'know, eventually. Also- Poor Carter makes a mistake which he's gonna feel guilty about for the next fifty years.
Soon enough they were in Desjardin's library- which was ideal given the fact that they wanted a book- and Percy and Carter transformed back into their normal forms- but Sadie didn't- Percy honestly felt for the other girl- the first time she'd transformed she'd been terrified, she'd gotten stuck but thankfully their dad had calmed her down and she'd managed to turn back into herself.
Still, there wasn't much they could do- they were on a time limit they couldn't waste time on getting Sadie back to herself.
So Sadie was tasked with keeping watch while Carter and Percy looked around- though Carter took a few seconds to grab a chair and wedge it up under the handle of the only exit other than the glass doors on the rooftop.
Of course, it didn't take them long to see that there would be a problem- and it would have been a problem even if all three Kanes were looking- the library was huge, and the books seemed to be displayed randomly.
It was Percy who came up with the solution, after spending maybe five minutes peering at books written in French, trying to figure out where The Book of Thoth would be.
She was halfway up the wall of shelves- it probably wasn't safe but she'd decided to try and look at the higher shelves by climbing up, and found herself wishing that Desjardin's had some shabati that could help them, and then she paused, whirling around to look at Carter, nearly knocking Sadie out of the air as she flailed wildly and jumped down, landing in a crouch, "Carter!" She ducked her head when Sadie let out a chirping noise and tried to peck her ear- undoubtedly as revenge for Percy nearly knocking her straight out of the air.
"Percy! Jeeze be careful you were like, six foot up up there you could have hurt yourse-" he paused at the look Percy would give him before letting out a breath. "Demigod perk?"
"Yep." Percy gave a wry grin, "I've got better reflexes and stuff, it's cool. But that's not important right now. Carter, I have an idea. Squishy."
"Squi-" Carter's eyes widened. "Doughboy of course-"
"I think Squishy is a much cooler name-"
"Percy you're a genius!" Carter grabbed her shoulders, letting out a laugh as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "A genius!" he let out a laugh as he darted over to the table- which he'd landed on when they arrived, and he set their dads bag onto the table and opened it up, pulling out the magic box and opening it, a moment later he had the shabati out and he held him up so that he was on eye level with him. "Doughboy. Help me find The Book of Thoth in this library." as Carter gave the shabati his order Sadie fluttered down, landing on Percy's shoulder.
"And why should I help you?" Doughboy's first words made Percy roll her eyes.
"'Cause you gotta Squishy. You don't got a choice."
"I hate that argument! Fine—hold me up. I can't see the shelves."
So Carter walked him around the room, showing him the books.
"Hold it!" Doughboy announced. "This one is ancient—right here." The shabati pointed his little arms upward and Percy was already moving, grabbing onto a shelf just above her head, lifting her foot and planting it onto one of the higher shelves- and she hauled herself up as if it was a ladder, Sadie fluttering away from her shoulder quickly to give her more room to move.
It didn't take Percy long to pluck the book from the shelf and leap down, Carter scrambling backwards out of the way as she did, and she held out the book.
It was a thin volume bound in linen- it was tiny, and it didn't look like anything special at first glance.
Carter took it, turning it so that they could both see the front cover, which was inscribed with hieroglyphics.
They made their way over to the table quickly and Carter opened it carefully- Percy always thought that he was a bit too careful- he was always terrified of breaking things- sure Percy knew that you needed to be careful, but Carter was always so much more scared of it than she was- then again he wasn't used to the idea of being able to fix things with a spell.
In any case, the book was more like a map than a normal book, it unfolded into four parts until they were looking at a wide, long papyrus scroll with writing so old that Percy could barely even see it.
"Can you read it?" Carter's voice was hopeful as he looked at Percy, but she shook her head. "No. No Sadie's the natural with hieroglyphics. If it was Greek I'd find it easy but..."
"But it's not." Carter focused on Sadie, who moved to settle on Percy's shoulder again. "I really wish you weren't a bird right now."
Sadie let out an indignant chirping noise at that, and Percy was pretty sure that she was glaring at Carter.
"Doughboy." Carter focused on the scroll again, "What is this scroll?"
"A spell lost in time!" he pronounced. "Ancient words of tremendous power!"
"Well?" Carter demanded. "Does it tell how to defeat Set?"
"Better! The title reads: The Book of Summoning Fruit Bats!"
Percy blinked once, twice and then she let out a loud laugh- she really, really couldn't help it, her hand flew to press over her mouth and she tried to force it down but she couldn't.
"Are you serious?" Carter looked about ready to squash Doughboy himself.
"Would I joke about such a thing?"
"Who would want to summon fruit bats?"
"Ha—ha—ha," Sadie croaked.
Carter pushed the scroll away, turning around to go back to searching- and Percy hesitated, before grinning as soon as Carter's back was turned and folding the book back up- grinning when Sadie fluttered down from her shoulder and landed on the table, almost nodding her head at Percy as she slipped the book into her pocket- because hey, how was she supposed to resist a chance like that.
Then she focused on looking again.
Then Doughboy let out a squeal of delight. "Oh! Look, I remember this painting."
It was a small oil portrait in a gilded frame, hanging on the end of a bookshelf. It must've been important, because it was bordered by little silk curtains. A light shone upon the portrait dude's face so he seemed about to tell a ghost story.
"Isn't that the guy who plays Wolverine?" Carter's question made Percy snort.
"It does kinda look like him."
"You disgust me!" Doughboy declared, little eyes narrowing. "That is Jean-François Champollion."
"The guy who deciphered hieroglyphics from the Rosetta Stone."
"Of course. Desjardins' great uncle."
That made Percy look at the picture properly and she could see the resemblance. They had the same fierce black eyes. "Great uncle? But wouldn't that make Desjardins—"
"About two hundred years old," Doughboy confirmed. "Still a youngster. You know that when Champollion first deciphered hieroglyphics, he fell into a coma for five days? He became the first man outside the House of Life to ever unleash their magic, and it almost killed him. Naturally, that got the attention of the First Nome. Champollion died before he could join the House of Life, but the Chief Lector accepted his descendants for training. Desjardins is very proud of his family...but a little sensitive too, because he's such a newcomer."
"Which is why he hated dad." Percy piped up, "Our whole family really. Cause we're like, really not newcomers. We're super old."
Doughboy cackled. "And your father breaking the Rosetta Stone? Desjardins would've viewed that as an insult to his family honor! Oh, you should've seen the arguments Master Julius and Desjardins had in this room."
"You've been here before?"
"Many times! I've been everywhere. I'm all-knowing."
"More like all annoying." Percy grumbled the words.
Then there was a banging sound from below them- like someone closing a door and Percy let out a slightly panicked noise. "Carter-" she hissed his name, afraid of speaking too loudly- of drawing unwanted attention.
"Tell me where The Book of Thoth is." Carter hissed, "Quick!"
And they moved along the shelves as quickly as was possible, Doughboy keeping upa running commentary on the books.
"Ah, Mastery of the Five Elements!"
"Is that the one we want?" Carter asked.
"No, but a good one. How to tame the five essential elements of the universe—earth, air, water, fire, and cheese!"
"Cheese?"
He scratched his wax head. "I'm pretty sure that's the fifth, yes. But moving right along!"
They turned to the next shelf. "No," he announced. "No. Boring. Boring. Oh, Clive Cussler! No. No."
And Carter looked like he was about to give up hope when he said, "There."
"Where—here?"
"The blue book with the gold trim," he said. "The one that's—"
Carter pulled it out, and the entire room began to shake.
"—trapped," Doughboy continued.
Sadie squawked urgently, leaping away from Percy's shoulder and taking sight. Something small and black swooped down from the ceiling. Sadie clashed with it in midair, and the black thing disappeared down her throat.
Before Percy or Carter could really react to that alarms blared downstairs. More black forms dropped from the ceiling and seemed to multiply in the air, swirling into a funnel cloud of fur and wings.
"There's your answer," Doughboy told them. "Desjardins would want to summon fruit bats. You mess with the wrong books, you trigger a plague of fruit bats. That's the trap!"
The things were on Percy and Carter like they were ripe mangos—diving at their faces, clawing at their arms. Carter clutched the book and ran to the table, though none of them could see very well. "Sadie, get out of here!" Carter yelled yelled, "Percy you too!"
"SAW!" Sadie cried.
Carter found Dad's workbag and shoved the book and Doughboy inside. The library door rattled. Voices yelled in French.
Percy flailed, knocking away fruit bats as she tried to move towards the glass doors- and Percy felt a rush of panic as she watched him transform into a falcon once again- then she was free of the fruit bats- but it was too late, the door burst open and Percy span around, her face pale as her gaze focused on Desjardin's, who was bristling with fury- he snarled when he saw her-and Percy glanced back to where Carter had just gone- the fruit bats were following him- but he hadn't glanced back- of course he hadn't. Percy might be the youngest but every chance she got she was proving that she was the one who knew what she was doing, that she was capable- he wasn't looking back because he thought she'd be just behind him like she had been before.
Except she wasn't- and she let out a panicked yell when Desjardin raised his staff.
"TAS!" and it was like a cruel twist of fate. The first time she'd seen the man she'd used that spell on him, and now he was using it on her- and if she wasn't mistaken there was a hint of satisfaction in his eyes as the ropes appeared almost from nowhere, snapping around her, binding her arms to her side, her ankles snapping together as they were bound too- she screamed, toppling forward as she overbalanced, and she hit the ground hard, head cracking against the ground painfully hard, terror ripping through her as Desjardins moved and crouched in front of her, gripping her chin and tilting her head upwards.
"You, Persephone Kane, will tell me where those godlings are going."
"Never." Percy spat the word, "I won't betray them."
"We will see." Desjardin's gripped her forearm and hauled Percy to her feet, dragging her over to one of the chairs and pushing her into it, "They will likely be caught by our people." he added, "They can keep running, but they won't escape. Not for long. You know this-"
"Dad basically ran from your lot for eight years-"
"And look where that got him." Desjardin's slammed his hand down onto the table next to Percy, which made her flinch, tears filling her eyes as she stared at him, shaking her head desperately.
"Please don't hurt me." suddenly Percy felt so very small, so weak. All alone. Sure she'd been brave before- when she'd been looking after Carter and Sadie- but she'd never been alone. Not really- the last time she'd not had someone she trusted totally around had been the day that Gabe had hurt her- before she'd met Carter and their dad.
She hadn't felt this alone in a long time.
...
Everything had been a blur after the fruit bats had attacked- Carter had taken off after Sadie with the book- he'd been so sure Percy would follow- she was the only one of them who knew what she was doing, Percy would be fine, she'd be right behind him- which was why he hadn't looked back.
And in the years to come he'd think back on that and he'd hate himself, just a little- because even after he'd landed, even after he, Sadie and Bast had started running he hadn't looked back- he'd seen a bird following out of the corner of his eye- or he'd thought he had- and he hadn't taken the time to focus on it- he hadn't realised that Percy wasn't there until after their escape, their trip through the portal when he'd found himself in the Washington monument, alone. And then maybe a minute or two later Sadie had arrived, followed closely by Bast.
And then the portal had closed, and Carter looked around and he felt his stomach dropping- Sadie was unconscious but he found himself meeting Bast's gaze.
"Where's Percy." and suddenly he felt like he'd been dipped in ice water when Bast had given him that tiny shake of her head.
And he knew.
He'd abandoned Percy. He'd left her there.
He'd failed his baby sister.