In which they set Brooklyn on fire.
Replies:
JjlovesPJO: I am very pleased about that.
Undeath9087: I mean, this Zia actually did go through the Red Pyramid stuff with them so it makes sense that it's a lot smoother in terms of their relationship. They very clearly had feelings for each other quickly. And yes, there were issues but I believe I fixed it.
Ouijiswan: That's sweet, thank you!
boring username here: At this stage Percy is nine Carter fourteen, will be fifteen fairly soon and Sadie is soon to be turning thirteen. And no, that was an issue that I have fixed.
Deborah Swenson: I don't have any plans for that at this stage, sorry!
Guest: Oh the song is so much worse than that if you actually listen to the lyrics- but it was also a stupidly well known catchy but annoying song, which is what Percy is using it for- I remember being a kid and just not realising the not even hidden meanings. One of the lines is literally 'Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky' and there's also a line 'I can beg on my knees' like, so many little kids loved it but it's actually really inappropriate.
Bharath: There will be action, I promise!
Guest: None of the new recruits know that Percy is a demigod, they just know she's Blood of the Pharaohs and that Julius adopted her. And I would say that Percy wouldn't just cause random earthquakes because let's face it, collateral damage.
Guest: I know, I believe I have fixed it.
As soon as they were inside Percy split off from the others, ducking into the hallway to their right- following the sound of music and laughter as it echoed through the building.
It didn't take Percy long to reach the ballroom, and she slipped in easily enough- there were at least a dozen other kids from the ages of five to 13 or so running around, no one was interested in another one showing up- and since she was dressed up and acting like she belonged- well, why would they question her.
So Percy grinned to herself, moving through the crowds towards the buffet table- after all she might as well make the most of it while she could right? The food looked yummy. And- Percy resisted the urge to cackle, there was a section of food that was clearly aimed towards the younger wedding guests- she made a beeline towards it, plucking a fancy looking cookie off of a platter full of them and taking a bite- and wow that was yummy.
She nodded to herself, a satisfied look on her face as she wandered through the crowds, occasionally spinning- 'cause she loved making her dress flare out.
She was pretty sure Carter would lightly tease her for that if he could see her- Sadie definitely would- but hey! There was no reason why a hardened badass warrior couldn't also wear pretty dresses and twirl. She was allowed to do both.
She wasn't sure how long it had been- not that long, when she heard Carter's voice in her mind.
"Percy we might not need that distraction, I'll let-"
But before Carter could finish whatever he'd been about to say the ballroom began to shake- and Percy was pretty sure she knew where the shaking was coming from.
Then just a second later, "Get them out!" Carter sounded panicked, "Get the guests out this could get nasty!"
And Percy really, really wished she knew what was going on- but, well, she knew enough to know that her brother wouldn't be so panicked sounding without good reason.
She looked around quickly, eyes focusing on the fire alarm- it was tucked just out of the way in the hall where she'd come from- that would work.
She moved quickly, ducking and dancing through the crowd until she was past it and she darted into the hall, pulling it quickly- and a moment later the sound of the fire alarm was blaring all around them- and the wedding guests started looking around, even as they started moving towards the fire exit.
Percy scowled. They weren't moving fast enough. So she focused, focused on pipes filled with water above her head- and yep, yep the museum had a sprinkler system for in the case of fires- and she pulled- and water burst from several sprinklers in the ceiling- that sped people up, none of them wanted to get soaked through.
Percy simply didn't let the water get her wet- and she watched as people started to flee- and then.
"Please tell me you can come to us."
"What's going on Carter?"
"Sadie's on fire and if Zia wasn't here we'd have probably just unleashed the Arrows of Sekhmet-"
"YOU ALMOST DID WHAT?!"
Percy mentally screamed the words at her brother as she took off down the hall, luckily she knew where the statue they'd been
after was so she knew just where she needed to go.
By the time she skidded into the room it was pure chaos- to say the least.
For one thing there was a griffin there. A literal griffin. The animal had a lion's body and the head of a falcon, but its wings weren't like most griffin pictures you see. Instead of bird wings, the monster's wings ran across the top of its back—long, horizontal, and bristly like a pair of upside-down steel brushes. And it was twice the size of a regular lion, its reddish-gold fur coated with limestone dust. Its tail was studded with spiky feathers that looked as hard and sharp as daggers. It's wings were straight up on it's back and when the griffin moved the fluttered so fact that they blurred and buzzed like the wings of the worlds largest most vicious hummingbird.
The monster was stood between Percy and the others- Carter had his sword out stood next to Sadie- who was indeed on fire- her hand anyway, she was holding a scroll in the burning hand- and the were patches of fire throughout the room- though they didn't seem to actually be doing any damage- a fact that Percy was very grateful for. It was a small consolation but it was something at least. Walt and Jaz were stood by the window, with Zia stood slightly in front of them, her own staff out.
Percy thrust her hand into the duat, withdrawing her staff just in case, wincing at the Griffin's screeching-which was loud enough to rattle the windows.
"How did you do that?" Sadie was demanding- and Carter's mouth was open in surprise.
"I don't know- I just told it to stop and-"
"It's one of Horus' sacred animals." Percy called- causing the griffin to whirl around to face her, "You can probably control it."
"What? I can-" Carter hesitated, "I can control it? How does that even work how can I control it?"
"She's right." Zia spoke up quickly, "Why didn't I think of it-"
"Because you were too busy stopping is from unleashing the Arrows of Sekhmet?" Jaz sounded shaken- Walt's hand was on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.
The griffin let out an annoyed noise at that moment, turning it's head back to look at Carter, as if looking for permission.
Carter took a deep breath, slowly raising his hand and stepping forward, letting his khopesh drop to the ground as he stepped that bit closer- "I'm Carter
Kane." he held up his hand, and a symbol blazed above Carter's hand, the Eye of Horus.
The griffin almost instantly bowed it's head, letting out a screech, "FREEK." and Percy let out a breath as she watched Carter reach out and lay a hand on the top of the Griffins head.
"You're such a dumbass-" Percy focused on Sadie, who was stood looking very awkward with her flaming scroll. "Sadie-"
"Don't say a word." Sadie pulled a face, "It's not my fault-"
"You didn't wait." Zia spoke up, "Carter did try to warn you. But we don't have much time to waste- we need to get out of here sooner rather than later- before the police show up along with the fire engines." she gave the three Kanes a wry smile, "What is it with you three and museums?"
"In our defence, the first time totally wasn't our fault." she paused when she saw the look that Zia was giving her, "Besides, this isn't nearly so much of a disaster."
"Sadie is on fire." Walt pointed out slowly, "And we nearly freed a bunch of plague spirits-"
"But we didn't. That is a success- Carter Sadie back me u-" Percy paused, glancing at Carter, who was stood close to the griffin now, murmuring softly to it, soothing it's agitation- the loud alarm was not doing the creature any favors.
"Okay." Sadie spoke loudly, "We should probably do this later- focus on getting out of here first, Carter-"
"We can't leave him behind-"
"What?" Percy and Sadie asked the question in unison, and Carter shot them both a look.
"He's coming with us."
"You-" Sadie let out a frustrated little growl, her eyes narrowing, "Fine, fine, how exactly are we getting it out of here?"
"I-" Carter paused, "Percy, you're our boat person-"
"I am." Percy agreed, "You want me to summon a boat? I dunno how much good it'll be-"
"You were right, Griffins are sacred to Horus. They pull his chariot."
"They- oooooh." Percy suddenly grinned, "That sounds fun." she shoved her arm into the duat, pulling out her wand and bending down to start drawing the hieroglyphs only to have Zia sigh loudly.
"Percy. How do you plan on us getting a boat through the window-"
"Uh-
"The ballroom." Sadie said quickly, "We might not need the statue now but we can still exit from the dome right?"
"Yeah." Percy grinned quickly and nodded, "Khufu should still be up there waiting for us.
"Please tell us the ballroom is clear." Zia's voice was hopeful, and Percy nodded.
"Yep." and then she was taking off towards the ballroom and she could hear the others following her.
Once they reached the ballroom Percy made short work of summoning up a boat, and Carter carefully used some rope that Zia summoned up to attach the griffin to the boat- and as Carter was attaching the ropes to the boat Percy tilted her head, looking upwards towards where Khufu was waiting, already opening the dome to help their escape.
"We need to hurry. I can hear sirens in the distance."
"Done!" Carter's voice was triumphant as they all climbed into the boat, Sadie sitting on the back of it, gripping one side of it with her free hand as Carter moved so that he was in the front. Percy crouched in the back closer to Sadie and Zia- who was muttering spells under her breath, trying to figure out how to stop the scroll from burning- even if it seemed harmless for now it probably wouldn't be a good idea to let it keep burning the way it was.
Admittedly none of Zia's spells seemed to be doing much but still, she was trying.
And then Percy heard Carter speak. "Go. Up!" and the griffin revved its wings. They lurched into the air, the boat rocking crazily, and shot straight for the open dome. The griffin barely seemed to notice the extra weight. It ascended so fast, Khufu had to make a flying leap to get on board and Percy leaned over, catching his hand and yanking him onto the boat proper, toppling backwards and landing in a heap as the boat rocked and lurched from the sudden movements.
"AGH!" Khufu didn't sound very impressed, and Percy let out a grunt as she pushed themselves up so that they were both sat up.
"Well that could have gone worse."
"How could it have gone worse?" Carter asked incredulously, "Sadie is on fire-"
"I mean, you didn't actually set those Bau free so it definitely could have gone worse."
"The bar is so low." Sadie snorted. "So so low- holy crap-" Percy swung her head to look at Sadie at that exclamation and her eyes widened.
"Uh oh." because the fire was burning even brighter, so bright that Percy had to squint to look at it, and when she glanced down Percy could see that they were leaving a trail of ghostly white fires blazing across the rooftops everywhere they passed above.
"Well." Zia spoke after a moment, "Would you like to rethink your comment Percy?"
"We just set Brooklyn on fire." Jaz blinked, "We actually just set Brooklyn on fire-"
"But it's magical fire." Sadie said almost desperately. "So it's not actually damaging anything right?"
"Other than causing mass panic?" Walt pointed down to where people were flooding out onto the streets, gaping up at the burning rooftops.
"Whoops?" Sadie's voice was weak.
"Okay." Carter breathed out slowly, "Uh, I think we need to get home right away and figure out a way to put out those flames, are we all agreed?"
"Uh, yeah." Sadie nodded quickly, "I don't want to be on fire!"
"Zia can you keep trying-"
"Of course." Zia nodded, her brows furrowing as she moved closer to Sadie, holding her arm by the elbow, "It's stuck to your hand yes?"
"Yes, you think I'd still be holding it if it wasn't-"
"I could douse you-"
"Don't even think about it." Sadie shot Percy a warning look.
"Fine." Percy let out a little huff, "Then you best hope we get home soon-"
"It won't take long." Carter's voice was worried despite his words, "Everything's going to be fine. We'll be home soon."