I like to picture the first part of this chapter when I feel sad- because it is beautiful- this tiny little nine year old squaring off against a bunch of teens around eighteen or so who are twice her size. She's like a little gremlin.
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Guest: Oh I get what you mean, and Percy is going to have a field day when she does get involved with Greek stuff- screw asking Chiron for quests every two minutes- just imagine her and Clarisse, both of whom are natural fighters staring each other down and then just having a huge throw down and both of them walking away bruised as newly found besties.
Guest: Not that often, but I mean, most nine year olds don't face off with gods and monsters repeatedly.
Rage2091: That is an interesting theory. So that's what you think the voice is?

Percy knew the others would be angry with her, but she didn't care as she rounded on the nearest teenager- who leaned back, a shocked look on his face as he said something very loudly in Russian- and Percy kicked out, foot hitting his shin- and he yelped, hopping backwards. "GO AWAY!" She screamed the words before whirling and charging at one of the teens who was coming up behind them, ducking and scooping up a handful of snow, which she launched at the guys face.

As the four other teens came sprinting around towards them, the one with the bottle waving it at her Percy's eyes narrowed and she ducked under his wild swing for her, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back until he was shrieking, kicking to the side and catching the girl who tried to grab her from the side hard in the knee.

And they were still yelling in Russian- and Percy almost cackled when four of them took off, leaving the girl she'd kicked in the knee and the guy who's arm she had behind his back behind. Then Percy shoved the guy hard, kicking his shin from behind, and he yelped in pain before he scrambled up and grabbed at the girl, dragging her to her feet, both of them limping away very quickly.

Then Percy turned, nodding to herself as she brushed her hands together and opened the limo door, sliding back inside- and okay, now that she'd actually let
herself think of it she was suddenly very very cold- her jacket wasn't made for the snow. And Carter, Sadie, Zia and Bes were all staring at her as she wrapped her jacket around herself tighter. "What?"

"You-" Bes grinned, "Oh you are a fierce little thing I like you."

"You-" Carter blinked, "You just beat up and scared off a bunch of teenagers?" his voice was incredulous, "I- I mean I shouldn't be surprised I've seen you fight off worse things but-"

"It's just super weird." Sadie nodded, her eyes glued to Percy, "Amazingly badass but super weird. You didn't even have a weapon or anything."

"I am impressed." Zia shot Percy a small almost sly grin, "Perhaps when this is all over we shall have to spar again- this time with no magic, just hand to hand-"

"She will win." Carter said swiftly, "No matter how good you are Zia, if it's hand to hand Percy will win and you will have to deal with the shame of being beaten by a nine year old girl who looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. And believe me you do not want that-"

"You speak from experience." Zia laughed, "I believe I must have missed that spar-"

"You were out with mom." Carter told her, "Sadly Sadie wasn't."

"Percy literally took you down in less than five minutes, it was glorious-" Sadie's expression was distant- definitely the look of someone who was dealing with a very fond memory.

"Oh shut up." Carter's face was turning a bright shade of red- and Percy giggled, though she did lean into Sadie's side when the older girl wrapped her arm around Percy's shoulder- Percy took that for what it was, a silent offer of warmth, and Percy was more than willing to take it.

"So." Sadie spoke up, "What do we do now that Percy's scared off the idiots?"

Bes pointed across the river at a glowing palace of white-and-gold stone. "That's the Hermitage."

"Hermits live there?" Sadie asked.

"No," Carter shook his head. "I've heard of that place. It was the tsar's palace. Now it's a museum. Best Egyptian collection in Russia."

"Dad took you there, I suppose?" Sadie asked, with just a hint of jealousy in her voice- she was mostly over that but sometimes she couldn't seem to help but be slightly jealous. Percy could hardly blame her for it.

"No." Percy shook her head, "We never came to Russia."

"He got an invitation to speak there once." Carter added, "But he declined." Bes chuckled. "Your dad was smart. Russian magicians don't exactly welcome outsiders. They protect their territory fiercely."

Sadie stared across the river. "You mean the headquarters of the Eighteenth Nome is inside the museum?"

"Somewhere," Bes agreed, "but it's hidden with magic, because I've never found the entrance. That part you're looking at is the Winter Palace, the old home of the tsar. There's a whole complex of other mansions behind it. I've heard it would take eleven days just to see everything in all the Hermitage collections."

"But unless we wake Ra, the world ends in four days," Carter spoke slowly.

"Three days now." Sadie corrected, "If it's after midnight."

Carter winced, "Thanks for the reminder."

"We have faced overwhelming odds before." Zia pointed out reassuringly, "With you three I would believe almost anything is possible. You're too stubborn for anything else. Still we should move as quickly as we can-"

"Oooh, we could race-"

"But no actual running." Zia's lips twitched, "That would draw rather a lot of attention to you I think." and that made Percy pout, poking her tongue out at the older girl.

"You always have to ruin my fun don't you Zia?"

"Right." Carter let out a breath, "We have to be quick but not run- and we don't even really know where to start."

"So take the abbreviated tour," Bes said. "Start with the Egyptian section. Ground floor, main museum."

"Aren't you coming with us?" Carter asked with a small frown."He can't, can he?" Sadie guessed. "Like Bast couldn't enter Desjardins' house in Paris. The magicians charm their headquarters against the gods. Isn't that right?" Sadie paused for just a second, a thoughtful look on her face, "Not that that stopped his house from getting trashed but still."

Bes made an even uglier face. "I'll walk you down to the bridge, but I can't go any farther. If I cross the River Neva too close to the Hermitage, I'll set off all kinds of alarms. You'll have to sneak inside somehow—"

"Breaking into a museum at night," Sadie muttered. "We've had such good luck with that."

"—and find the entrance to the Eighteenth Nome. And don't get captured alive."

"What do you mean?" Carter asked. "It's better to be captured dead?"

The look in Bes' eyes was grim. "Just trust me. You don't want to be Menshikov's prisoner."

"Hm, I dunno." Percy's voice was mock thoughtful, "It would be fun to blow stuff up again and it would be a good excuse-"

"You also don't want him finding out what you are." Bes pointed out, "You're not really supposed to exist kid. Which I'm sure you already know. The House probably wouldn't like the fact that you're a Demigod as well as a magician- and Blood of the Pharaohs to boot- he'd have a field day-"

"And suddenly I feel the urge to keep Percy in the ca-"

"You try and force me to stay in this car and I will knot your arms behind your back so tight that you can never use them again."

Carter blinked, staring at Percy for a long moment before- "And the scariest thing is, you'd find a way to do it I have zero doubts about that. I don't know how
you'd do it but you would."

"We're all going." Zia shook her head, "Which means that we should get moving."

"Of course." Bes snapped his fingers, and suddenly they were wearing fleece parkas, ski pants, and winter boots, Percy let out a little happy noise- that was much better, she was warming up more now- though it probably wouldn't be quite so nice when she had to leave the warmth of the limo. And she really should have worn warmer clothes to begin with, but hey she hadn't known they were going to freaking Russia of all places.

"Come on malishi." Bes spoke again, "I'll walk you to the Dvortsovyy Bridge."

And with that they all piled out of the car, Percy hugging her parka around herself as tightly as she could.

The bridge was only a few hundred yards away, but it seemed farther. March obviously wasn't springtime in St. Petersburg. The dark, the wind, and the snow made it feel more like January in Alaska.

And of course it didn't help that Percy truthfully wasn't that used to cold like this. She'd grown up travelling the world, she'd spent so much time in warmer climates that weather like this was just not normal to her. Even with the extra clothes Bes had summoned for them Percy felt like she was gonna freeze to death- okay maybe she was being a bit dramatic there but still! It was cold. And Carter and Zia didn't look any happier than she did- neither did Sadie really, though she was holding up a bit better.

It didn't help that Bes wasn't in a hurry. He kept slowing down to give them the guided tour and all Percy could do was huddle as tightly into her parka and wish she had a hat to keep her head warm as he told them that they were on Vasilevsky Island, across the Neva River from the center of St. Petersburg. He pointed out the different church spires and monuments, and when he got excited, he started slipping into Russian.

"You've spent a lot of time here," Carter's teeth were chattering- Percy could actually hear them.

Bes walked in silence for a few paces after Carter's comment. "Most of that was long ago. It wasn't—"

He stopped so abruptly, that Carter stumbled into him. He stared across the street at a big palace with canary yellow walls and a green gabled roof. Lit up in the night through a swirl of snow, it looked unreal, like one of the ghostly images in the First Nome's Hall of Ages.

"Prince Menshikov's palace," Bes muttered, his voice filled with such loathing that it surprised Percy- he seemed- not nice exactly but he certainly didn't seem the type to hate like that." Percy glanced at Carter, Sadie, and Zia who looked about as lost as Percy felt.

"You mean Menshikov as in Vlad the Inhaler?" Carter's voice was careful, almost afraid of offending the god who was helping them.

"He's a descendant." Bes curled his lip with distaste. He said a Russian word Percy was willing to bet was a pretty bad insult from the way he said it "Back in the seventeen hundreds, Prince Menshikov threw a party for Peter the Great—the tsar who built this city. Peter loved dwarves. He was a lot like the Egyptians that way. He thought we were good luck, so he always kept some of us in his court. Anyway, Menshikov wanted to entertain the tsar, so he thought it would be funny to stage a dwarf wedding. He forced them…he forced us to dress up, pretend to get married, and dance around. All the big folk were laughing, jeering…"

His voice trailed off and Percy stared at him for a moment before she darted towards him, hugging him tightly. "The Russians are stupid stinky assholes then and if they ever tried that again I'd kick their butts for you Bes I promise-" and that earned her soft smiles from Carter, Sadie and Zia- and Bes gave her a slightly stunned look.

"You're a good kid." he shook himself, "We're wasting time though, dwelling on the past doesn't help you kids." he hugged Percy back before she pulled away, and soon they were forging ahead again- with Bes determinedly not looking back- Percy couldn't blame him for that.

Another hundred yards or so through the bitter wind and they finally reached the bridge. On the other side, the Winter Palace shimmered and Percy jammed her hands into her pockets as she stared at it- trying to warm them.

They stared for a few long moments before Bes spoke again. "I'll take the Mercedes the long way around. Down to the next bridge and circle south of the Hermitage. Less likely to alert the magicians that I'm here."

"How do we find you if we succeed?" Sadie asked.

"When you succeed," Bes said. "Think positive, girl, or the world ends."

"Right." Sadie shivered in her new parka. "Positive."

"I'll meet you on the Nevsky Prospekt, the main street with all the shops, just south of the Hermitage. I'll be at the Chocolate Museum."

Percy blinked slowly and then, "Wait- wait there's a chocolate museum?" She demanded, "Why couldn't dad have taken us there?!"

"Well, it's not really a museum. More of a shop—closed this time of night, but the owner always opens up for me. They've got chocolate everything—chess sets, lions, Vladimir Lenin heads—"

"The communist guy?" Carter asked.

"Yes, Professor Brilliant," Bes said. "The communist guy, in chocolate."

"So let me get this straight," Sadie said. "We break into a heavily guarded Russian national museum, find the magicians' secret headquarters, find a dangerous scroll, and escape. Meanwhile, you will be eating chocolate."

Bes nodded solemnly. "It's a good plan. It might work. If something happens and I can't meet you at the Chocolate Museum, our exit point is the Egyptian Bridge, to the south at the Fontanka River. Just turn on the—"

"Enough," Sadie said. "You will meet us at the chocolate shop. And you will provide me and Percy with a takeaway bag. That is final. Now, go!"

Bes gave her a lopsided smile. "You're okay, girl."

With that Bes turned away and headed back towards the Mercedes, leaving the four young magicians alone.