In which Percy is both badass and a child and we mustn't forget that fact- she's literally nine years old, like, there's only so much a nine year old can do, even a powerful one.
Replies:
Weirdhead: Nephthys isn't a warrior, so while yes she can lend Percy her strength it isn't quite the same as it is for Carter when he and Horus work together. But yeah she can.
Guest: Yep, I was there every time you said about Earthquakes like 'heh, not long at all now.' And you'll see what Sadie and Isis were doing while all this was happening in this chapter, remember Sadie would have also had to deal with the whole wanting to save Julius situation.
Ryan Fowler: Why thank you, that means a lot.
Deborah Swenson: He really is, he's a good brother who loves his sister.
Guest: See Amos can't switch places with Julius I'm afraid. Sorry!
By the time Percy burst out of the hole above them Carter and Set's fight was already raging- and Percy had to take a moment, letting out a shocked shriek as she saw the army of demons below- which were fighting a new enemy- magicians. There were dozens of them, they'd formed a loose circle around the pyramid and they were fighting their way forward.
The House of Life must have gathered all its available forces, but they were pathetically few against Set's legions. Each magician stood inside a moving protective circle, like a spotlight beam, wading through the enemy with staff and wand glowing. Flames, lightning, and tornadoes ripped through the demon host. There were all kinds of summoned beasts—lions, serpents, sphinxes, and even some hippos charging through the enemy like tanks. Here and there, hieroglyphs glowed in the air, causing explosions and earthquakes that destroyed Set's forces. But more demons just kept coming, surrounding the magicians in deeper and deeper ranks. Percy watched in horror as one magician was completely overwhelmed, his circle broken in a flash of green light, and he went down under the enemy wave.
They were going to fall- they couldn't win-
Not unless the pyramid is destroyed little one- look.
Percy followed the goddesses mental prompt and her gaze shifted towards the golden capstone. Four snake-headed giants were carrying it slowly but steadily through the melee. One of the demon was shouting orders to them, lashing them with a whip to keep them moving and they pressed forward until they reached the pyramids base and began to climb.
Carter tried to charge at them, to stop them but Set was blocking his path in less than a second.
Percy's eyes narrowed and she transformed back into her normal form- and she honestly wasn't sure how she managed to stay standing and not skid down the side of the pyramid, though- well it might just speed things up- Percy took a deep breath before diving towards the capstone, forcing back a grunt of pain as she slid across the stone- it scraped her stomach, hitching her tee up and undoubtedly scratching her up something horrible- and Percy found herself thinking that it would probably be fun if she had something to sit on to slide down it- speeding towards the capstone.
As she got closer to it she thrust her arm to the side, summoning up her staff even as she collided with one of the demons, knocking it's feet out from under it- which admittedly wasn't smart as she started to slide beneath the capstone and the demons grip slipped and the capstone jerked slightly downward- though it gave her the chance to reach out, hooking her arm around it to stop her skidding and she lurched to her feet, swinging her staff- and her timing had been perfect, instead of hitting her and probably knocking her back down the pyramid the whip sliced against Percy's staff and she deflected it, staring at the creature in horror- it was tall, skinny like a scarecrow with rooster claws instead of feet- and it's face- his face was like a humans but with no skin- Percy felt nauseous just looking at it.
"Oh you are ugly!"
"Insolent gi-" Percy smacked it across the face with her staff and the demon staggered back.
"I am gonna kick your ass!"
"Get the capstone up there!" the demon roared the words, flicking his whip at Percy again- she dropped down, ducking under it and surging at the demon, smashing into it.
A part of her wanted to go chasing the capstone- but she had to deal with the demon first or she'd never be able to stop the snake headed giants- he'd just keep getting in her way and interfering.
It was annoyingly tricky, fighting on the slopes of the pyramid, though Percy felt rather smug when she managed to send the demon skidding back down the slope by smacking his stupid chicken legs out from under him.
She turned quickly, determined to catch up the with the snake demons- but she'd turned too fast, because even as he skidded down the pyramid the demon was flicking his whip towards her- and Percy yelped in pain as it wrapped around her ankle.
Percy let out a cry that was a mix of fury and pain as her foot was yanked backwards, her ankle cracking, sending a white hot pain rushing up her leg and she fell forward, chin hitting the stone, it was a jarring pain as her mouth snapped shut from the impact, and she cried out as she was dragged down the slope, desperately kicking out with her free ankle- but it was useless, and then she was surrounded by demons, grabbing at her, blows raining down on her even as
Percy threw her hands up to cover her head- she must have dropped her staff during the fall- she was useless. Stupid and useless she was going to die- she didn't finish that thought because she felt a hand gripping the back of her shirt and she let out a shocked yell as she was pulled upwards out of the midst of the demons- and Percy turned her head enough to see- her eyes widened in surprise when they focused on the man who had almost definitely saved her life.
It was Desjardins. His forked beard and robes and leopard-skin cape were singed with fire, and his eyes were full of rage- and he summoned up a gale of wind, snarling. "I may not like you girl, but for now we have a common goal." And Percy managed to nod as they almost flew towards the capstone- and the snake headed demons had all been blows away, forced to drop the capstone- and as they landed in front of it Desjardins thrust out his staff, striking the stone with it, stopping it from sliding down.
Percy met the mans gaze for a brief second before nodding, thrusting her own hand out, lending her magic to Desjardins as the capstone started to glow- they were doing it, Percy felt a surge of relief- because they were doing it, they were doing it- then Percy saw Desjardin's looking over his shoulder- and then he was moving, pushing her hard, sending her flying away as Set rose up behind them, swinging his iron rod- and Percy screamed as the magician tumbled, broken and unconscious, all the way down the pyramid, disappearing into the mob of demons below- then her gaze snapped back up to Set- who's smirk was beyond cruel- and Percy straightened up- she didn't have her khopesh or her staff anymore, she was weaponless- and Nephthys was the weakest of the five, she wasn't a warrior like Set or Horus.
And she'd been pretty badly bashed around over the past few days.
NEPHTHYS! Percy thought desperately, Help me!
I can lend you my magic! There is only one chance Percy, destroy the pyramidion.
Because Set was bearing down on her- but Percy couldn't give up, couldn't run away, she refused- and she focused, screwing her eyes shut and slamming her hands down onto the warm metal of the capstone, "HA-DI!" her voice was strangely loud even over the sound of all the fighting.
The capstone was enchanted- it was bound to have dozens of protective enchantments on it- and for a moment Set looked smug, surely certain that it hadn't worked- and then there was a deafening cracking sound and the capstone cracked straight through the middle- sure it didn't fall apart but all it would take would be a strong blow and Percy opened her mouth again to repeat the spell despite the fact that she was already feeling feverish and incredibly unsteady.
"YES PERCY!" The cheer came from Carter- but Set was lashing out with his staff, it hit Percy in the chest and she was sent flying- backwards- her vision going black for a moment- and she would have fallen into the mob of demons below, just like Desjardins had- but Carter was there, arm wrapping around her waist, stopping her mid fall- and holy shit but it was painful as she was set down on the slopes of the pyramid, Carter looking down at her, "Percy-"
"Stop him!" Percy choked the words- because Set was moving- the capstone was cracked but it wasn't completely destroyed- and Set was carrying it up the side of the pyramid.
But they were too late- Carter didn't even have time to really move before Set was placing the capstone and completing the structure.
Red light flowed down the sides of the pyramid with a sound like the worlds largest bass guitar, shaking the entire mountain- Percy clung to Carter like a lifeline as Set let out a triumphant noise.
"Thirty seconds to sunrise! And this land will be mine forever! You can't stop me, neither of you. You made good efforts, but you cannot stop me. Especially not in the desert, the source of my strength!"
"You're right!" and Percy was pretty sure she could cry at that voice as she turned her head and saw Sadie rising from the air vent- she looked radiant with multi-colored lights, her staff and wand glowing in her grip. "Except they are not alone! And we're not going to fight you in the desert."
She struck her staff against the pyramid and shouted, "Washington D.C.!"
…
Sadie had hated letting Percy soar off after Carter- but she'd let her sister do it because she knew that there was no way she could stop her- besides, Sadie would be going after them as soon as she'd made sure that the others were safe- or that had been her plan anyway.
She'd been somewhat delayed- she'd wanted to free their dad- of course she had. But when she'd touched the throne she'd been tossed into a vision- she'd been relieved to see Anubis, though she'd felt that underlying sense of dread- and seeing Bast had been wonderful too- in a sense. They had helped her find some clarity- helped her understand what she had to do- had to let happen, and Iskander had. But it had been the vision of her mum- the realisation of the fact that her mum had known Isis- and her talk with her dad that had truly made her realise that she couldn't save him.
It had helped- it had been painful but she understood- if she saved their dad she'd be sacrificing the world- Osiris' power would be sucked into the pyramid and Set would grow stronger.
And some of her father's parting words stuck in her mind.
'Tell Percy she mustn't forget why I did this'. And Sadie found it hard to think straight, hard to figure out what he'd meant by that- so much had happened, there was too much grief for her to make sense of it now- and that wasn't helped by the sight of Set, boasting and victorious and Percy and Carter- the later clutching at Percy- who looked like a light breeze would knock her over, battered and broken, bloody and bruised- the sight made Sadie want to kill. At least Carter- while injured, didn't look like he was barely able to even stand.
And she took a brief second to feel smug at the look on Set's face- the fury and anger mixed with sudden fear as the pyramid shook, and for a moment nothing else happened, and then Set seemed to realise what Sadie was doing. He let out a nervous laugh.
"Magic 101 Sadie Kane, you can't open a portal during the Demon Days."
"A mortal can't." Sadie almost smirked, "But a goddess of magic can."
Above them the air crackled with lightning. The top of the cavern dissolved into a churning vortex of sand as large as the pyramid itself.
Demons stopped fighting and looked up in horror. Magicians stammered midspell, their faces slack with awe.
The vortex was so powerful that it ripped blocks off the pyramid and sucked them into the sand. And then, like a giant lid, the portal began to descend.
"No!" Set roared. He blasted the portal with flames, then turned on Sadie and hurled stones and lightning, but it was too late. The portal swallowed them all.
The world seemed to flip upside down. For a heartbeat, Sadie wondered if she'd made a terrible miscalculation—if Set's pyramid would explode in the portal, and they'd all spend eternity floating through the Duat as a billion little particles of sand. Then, with a sonic boom, they appeared in the cold morning air with a brilliant blue sky above us. Spread out below them were the snow-covered fields of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.