Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Replies:
Undeath9087: Yep, Apophis is the real threat but we all know that. And yeah her birthday's still in August, I made a mistake when I said she'd still be nine lol, my brain was muddled by my nephews.
Ryan Fowler: I mean, they're fair but firm.
JjlovesPJO: Yeah, it's a great bonding moment.
Guest: I know, but they did make me laugh thinking about them. And I get what you mean- but Rick was kind of dismissive of like, most girly girls he wrote- look at the way he treated daughters of Aphrodite in the first books-and even in HoO Piper was very much made out as 'Not like other girls'.
Deborah Swenson: Yeah, but that is like his job kinda, to annoy them lol.
Guest: That's how I feel about it! So in this Percy is very much a girly girl at times but she's also a badass and I take no criticism for that.
PJ Fan 285: Good question- but there's no reason that they couldn't leave out certain facts from the recordings is there?
Anonymous: Well at this stage Percy is nine, so there's still a couple of years before the PJO stuff would even start- but yes in time I will be including the PJO stuff. Just not yet.
There was a long moment- and Set looked between the three Kanes, all united in their determination. "Make trouble for you, eh?" he asked after a moment, "that is my speciality."
"Swear by your own name and the throne of Ra." Sadie ordered "You will leave no and not reappear until you are called."
"Oh I swear." and was it Percy or was Set far too eager to play along. "By my name and Ra's throne and our mothers starry elbows."
"If you betray us Percy and I have your name. We won't show you mercy a second time."
"You always were my favorite sister-"
"Oh that is just rude." Percy blurted out- she could feel Nephthys' annoyance at Set for his words- she really couldn't blame the goddess for feeling annoyed at him. And then Sadie clenched her fist tighter- just once before she released him, and the bindings dissolved.
Percy pressed into Sadie's side as Set stood up and flexed his arms. He appeared as a warrior with red armor and red skin, a black, forked beard, and twinkling, cruel eyes, Percy shivered when they passed over her, lingering for a long moment, almost curious. He winked at Horus, then pretended to shoot Sadie with a finger gun. "Oh, this will be good. We're going to have so much fun."
"Begone, Evil Day." Sadie rolled her eyes- and then Set turned into a pillar of salt and disappeared.
Percy stared at the spot where he'd been before she slowly looked around.
The snow in the National Mall had melted in a perfect square, the exact size of Set's pyramid. Around the edges, a dozen magicians still lay passed out. They had started to stir when the portal closed, but the explosion of the pyramid had knocked them all out again. Other mortals in the area had also been affected.
An early-morning jogger was slumped on the sidewalk. On nearby streets, cars idled while the drivers took naps over the steering wheels.
Not everyone was asleep, though. Police sirens wailed in the distance, and seeing as how they had teleported practically into the president's backyard, it probably wouldn't be long before they had a great deal of heavily armed company.
The three Kanes exchanged stunned looks, and then Percy spotted three figures in the centre of the melted square- one of them was sitting in the grass, trying to wake up the two others- and Percy started moving instantly, ignoring the grinding shooting pain of her ankle as Carter and Sadie followed her to the centre of the melted square.
Zia and Amos were crumpled in the grass- and Sally was currently leaning over Amos- there as no sign of Set's throne of the golden coffin- Percy was sad about that even though she'd been expecting it. Still, she needed to focus on those who were there.
Sally had Amos' head on her lap- and as they reached her she murmured something softly and lifted her head to look at them- she was a mess, hair dishevelled, face bruised and dirty, and the lump on her head was still there, raised and nasty looking, but she was alive, and she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, smearing the dirty across her face even more, "He's- there's damage. He's alive but he's- I don't know how much I can do-"
"Zia-" Carter dropped to Zia's side, pulling her into his lap, and Sally let out a breath.
"I have good news there at least. She's alive, some broken ribs and a nasty bump to the head but she'll at least be fine." Sally rose to her feet on shaky legs, "You three did so well. I'm proud of you- and Julius would be too."
"We know." Sadie wrapped an arm around Percy as Carter gave a nod of acknowledgement too.
"What now?" Percy's voice was hesitant- because... what were you supposed to do in the aftermath of saving the world?
Then a voice made her whirl around- and she grabbed at Sadie's arm as she did because if she didn't her ankle would probably give out beneath her.
"What have you done?" the voice was filled with an icy fury-and when Percy focused on the man stood behind them she felt the urge to burst into tears.
Desjardins was alive- stood there literally fuming. His tattered robes still smoked from battle and his staff was aglow- even the whiskers of his beard smouldered.
Behind him stood three equally battered magicians, who all looked as if they'd just regained consciousness.
Percy could see Carter and Sadie both opening their mouths to respond but she was moving before they could, almost flying at Desjardins and wrapping her arms around him, making him stumble back slightly.
"What are you doing?!"
"You're alive! I thought for sure you were dead but you're alive!"
"Let go of me!"
"You saved my life! Twice!"
"Stop it you foolish girl!" and when Percy looked up she could see that the mans face was was a shade of pink that had nothing to do with the sudden cold or the fact that he was literally smoking.
"Thank you-"
"Get off of me!" He pried her away and Percy stumbled back, Carter rising and catching her arm to stop her from falling.
"Oi!" Sadie's eyes narrowed, "She was being nice to you you jumped up dickwad-"
"You- you fools! You bargained with Set? You let him go?"
"We don't answer to you." Carter growled the words- and if it wasn't for his grip on Percy she was sure that he'd be stepping forward, willing and ready to fight the other magician.
"Desjardins." Sadie took a deep breath, "Apophis is rising, in case you missed that part. We need the gods. The House of Life has to relearn the old ways."
"The old ways destroyed us!"
"Pride destroyed you.." Sadie shot back, "Greed and selfishness and all of that. It's hard to follow the path of the gods but it is part of magic. You can't just shut it down."
"You are drunk with power," he snarled. "The gods have possessed you, as they always do. Soon you will forget you are even human. We will fight you and destroy you." Then he glared at Carter. "And you—I know what Horus would demand. You will never reclaim the throne. With my last breath—"
"Do we look like we're interested in overthrowing you?" Percy asked, her eyes narrowing, "Right now all I want is to go home and curl up in bed."
"I can't say I blame her either." Sadie spoke up before she turned her head to look at both Percy and Carter- and Percy glanced between her brother and sister- a current of understanding passed through them.
"Are you sure?" Carter raised an eyebrow. "We're leaving ourselves open." he glanced towards Desjardins, a distrustful look on his face, "Just one more good smack with the sword?"
"Hey." Percy smacked Carter's shoulder, "He's a stinky butt head but he did technically save my life back there."
"Fine." Carter's lips twitched.
Percy closed her eyes, focusing.
Nephthys?
I know little one. You did very well. I am proud of you- the power of the sea flows through you- the power of the water itself. You were brave.
Will I get to talk to you again?
Of course my child. And perhaps in the future we will truly become one. There's much yet to do.
I think I'm gonna kind of miss you even if we didn't talk so much.
I will miss you too.
And then Percy felt the goddess leaving her, Percy wasn't sure where she'd go- but she had a feeling that if she ever called Nephthys would be there when she was needed.
By the time Percy opened her eyes Carter and Sadie had also done it- Carter looked grief-stricken, clutching at his Eye of Horus amulet, and Sadie looked- she looked sad but almost content at the same time.
In any case it seemed that they'd shocked Desjardins, who was so stunned that he momentarily forgot to speak English. "Ce n'est pas possible. On ne pourrait pas—"
"My children can do anything they put their minds to." Sally spoke up from behind them, "You don't know much about them if you have any doubts about that."
Carter threw down his sword then. "Desjardins, I'm not after the throne. Not unless I earn it by myself, and that's going to take time. We're going to learn the path of the gods. We're going to teach others. You can waste time trying to destroy us, or you can help."
The sirens were much closer now. Percy could see the lights of emergency vehicles coming from several directions, slowly cordoning off the National Mall. They had only minutes before they were surrounded. Which would be the last thing they wanted- more people blaming them for everything bad that had happened.
Desjardins looked at the magicians behind him, probably gauging how much support he could rally. His brethren looked in awe. One even started to bow to Carter, then caught himself.
Alone, Desjardins might've been able to destroy them. They were just magicians now—very tired magicians, with hardly any formal training- the only two awake who did have training were Percy and Sally-and Sally was mostly a healer, and Percy- well she was pretty sure that as soon as they weren't in mortal danger she'd collapse.
Desjardins' nostrils flared. Then he surprised Percy by lowering his staff. "There has been too much destruction today. But the path of the gods shall remain closed. If you cross the House of Life again..."
He let the threat hang in the air. He slammed his staff down, and with a final burst of energy, the four magicians dissolved into wind and gusted away.
There was a moment of silence before Sally took charge, taking a deep breath, "Right you three. I know we're all exhausted and you probably want to rest but first we need to get out of here-" because police cars and sinister-looking black vans were blocking the curbs all around them. Sirens blared. A helicopter sliced through the air over the Potomac, closing fast. The Gods only knew what the mortals thought had happened at the Washington Monument, but it probably wasn't anything good.
"We have to get out of here." Sadie said quickly, "Can you summon enough magic to change Amos and Zia into something small? Mice maybe? I think I have enough to transform you Sally."
"And we can fly out." Sally said quickly, "Very smart Sadie."
"But-" Carter looked dazed, "But dad... we... we didn't-" he looked around helplessly- and Percy wrapped her arms around him tightly.
"We can deal with that later." she whispered, "But we gotta go Carter before we get arrested."
"I-" Carter nodded, "Where do we go though?"
"To Brooklyn House." Sally's voice was firm, "We go home."
Of course, it was never that simple- they managed to all transform, and Carter carried Amos in his claws while Sadie carried Zia- but Amos started to struggle to turn back when he woke up, so they didn't make it very far- but luckily they landed near the river- and Percy managed to summon a boat- though at this stage she knew she was running out of steam- and she piloted it until they pulled in at the familiar little dock next to Brooklyn house. Their home.
Percy wasn't ashamed to admit that she barely made it back onto solid ground before she collapsed, her legs giving out beneath her- the last thing she saw before she was swallowed by the blackness was Sadie lurching forward to catch her before she could fall face first and hit the ground hard,