Horus

The baboon, Khufu, is going crazy. He's running around the place, breaking things, jumping off the walls. For a second I think that giving him sugar wasn't a good idea. But then he calms down, looks out at the terrace, and goes nuts again. The cat is also staring through the windows. Something is happening outside.

Carter and Sadie run to the glass doors. The water in the pool explodes. Philip of Macedonia jumps up. Two monsters follow suit, teeth deep in his skin. When Set told that disgusting demon to start with the serpopards, I really hoped I've misheard. Or, perhaps, that he had meant something else. Usually, this would have been a routine fight. But when I haven't even presented myself formally? Oh, no.

One of the serpopards flips Filip and they disappear under the boiling water. Khufu runs towards the empty Cheerios box screaming and hides his head in it.

"Longnecks," Carter says, "Sadie, did you see those things?"

A part of him is in awe that things like this exist. Another, louder part, is terrified. I think I know which one to side with. The water splashes, covering the terrace in puddles. One of the serpopards hits the doors right in front of us. It's been thousands of years since the last time I saw those things and, man, was that not long enough. The sight of its perfect leopard body is ruined by the rest of it. The long, green, scaly neck reminds of a sick giraffe. The head, however, is that of a stray, mad cat. Carter seems unable to stop looking at the monster, even as it presses its ugly face to the glass door. Its red eyes spot us and it howls, its fangs dripping with green venom. Those monsters are the perfect example of why Set and Ptah should never get drunk together.

The serpopard jumps back into the pool to join in the fight again. The crocodile spins and snaps, his sharp teeth closing around the air. It's all in vein.

"We have to help Philip!" Sadie cries. "He'll be killed!"

She reaches for the door handle, but the cat growls at her. Carter takes a hold of her arm.

"Sadie, no! You heard Amos. We can't open the doors for any reason. The house is protected by magic. Philip will have to beat them on his own."

"But what if he can't? Philip!"

Philip turns around, looking at the kids. In this moment of weakness, the serpopards bite his underbelly. The crocodile rises up. Only the tip of his tail touches the water. His body begins to grow, the air vibrates with a low hum. Then he slams into the terrace. Th entire house shakes. Cracks dance across the terrace. The pools splits in the middle and the far end disappears into empty space. The crocodile and the serpopards fall into the East River.

"No!" Sadie cries.

Carter's heartbeat is deafening. It takes a few moments for the initial shock to past. Both siblings are trembling. Sadie speaks up, almost as if to herself.

"He sacrificed himself. He killed the monsters."

"Sadie..." Carter's voice is faint. "What if he didn't? What if they come back?"

"Don't say that!"

"I—I recognized them, Sadie. Those creatures. Come on."

"Where?" she yells, but Carter is already running towards the library.

He approaches the empty-handed shabti. "Bring me the...gah, what's it called?"

Narmer Palette.

"What?" Sadie asks.

"Something Dad showed me. It's a big stone plate or something." Palette. Close enough. "Had a picture of the first pharaoh, the guy who united Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom. His name..." His eyes light up. "Narmer! Bring me the Narmer Plate!"

Wonder if he'll figure it out?

"No. Not a plate. It was...one of those things that holds paint. A palette. Bring me the Narmer Palette!"

Ah, there we go! The empty-handed shabti stays as still as stone. Across the room, another one of the shabtis comes alive and disappears into a cloud of dust. After a moment, it returns with a shield-shaped stone.

Carter narrows his eyes. Then they widen.

"No!" He protests. "I meant a picture of it! Oh great, I think this is the real artifact. The shabti must've stolen it from the Cairo Museum. We've got to return—"

Yeah, magic tends to take things literally.

Sadie holds up her hand. "Hang on, we might as well have a look."

The scene carved on its surface is of Narmer uniting Egypt in all her glory.

"That's Narmer with the spoon," Sadie says. "Angry because the other bloke stole his breakfast cereal?"

Carter's annoyance starts to build up, but he just shakes his head.

"He's conquering his enemies and uniting Egypt. See his hat? That's the crown of Lower Egypt, before the two countries united."

"The bit that looks like a bowling pin?"

"You're impossible."

"He looks like Dad, doesn't he?"

Yeah, genes have always been strong on that side of the family.

"Sadie, be serious!"

"I am serious. Look at his profile."

Carter ignores her. Fair enough, someone will tell them soon anyway. He looks carefully at the stone, afraid to touch it.

"I need to see the back but I don't want to turn it over. We might damage—"

Sadie takes the palette and flips it over.

"Sadie! You could've broken it!"

"That's what mend spells are for, yes?"

That's one thing that's always annoyed me about my mother. She has this notion that, as long as magic is a factor, she can do anything without consequences.

They examine the stone. Carter's memory resurfaces clear as day when he sees the picture. The serpopards are twisting around each other, doing their best to confuse the two man who are trying to capture them.

"They're called serpopards," Carter explains. "Serpent leopards."

"Fascinating," says Sadie. "But what are serpopards?"

"No one knows exactly. Dad thought they were creatures of chaos—very bad news, and they've been around forever. This stone is one of the oldest artifacts from Egypt. Those pictures were carved five thousand years ago."

"So why are five-thousand-year-old monsters attacking our house?"

"Last night, in Phoenix, the fiery man ordered his servants to capture us. He said to send the longnecks first."

"Well...good thing they're at the bottom of the East River."

Khufu runs into the library, screaming and slapping his head.

"Suppose I shouldn't have said that." Mutters Sadie.

Carter takes the palette and hands it to the shabti. "Return this to the museum."

The statue vanishes with the palette. Against all survival instincts, Carter and Sadie follow the baboon upstairs.

The serpopards are back. Water and mud drip from their fur. They don't look happy. The monsters are sniffing around the terrace, looking for a way in. Green poison hits the glass. It bubbles and steams lice acid.

"Agh, agh!" Khufu picks up the cat and shoves her in Sadie's hands.

She looks at him. "I really don't think that will help,"

It usually would, but Bast has been a cat for a long time. I'm not sure if she's even conscious.

"AGH!" Khufu insists.

Sadie takes the cat and it look sup at her. "Mrow?"

"It'll be all right," Sadie tells the cat, as if it's a scared child. "The house is protected by magic."

The serpopards start sniffing the handle of the glass doors.

"Sadie," Carter says. "They've found something."

"Isn't it locked?" she asks.

The serpopards smash into the glass. Blue hieroglyphs light up around the door frame, but their light is faint.

"I don't like this," Carter murmurs.

The monsters hit the glass again. The blue hieroglyphs flicker one last time before dying out. Cracks appear in the glass.

Khufu screams again, pointing at the cat.

"Maybe if I try the ha-di spell," Sadie says.

Carter shakes his head. "You almost fainted after you blew up those doors. I don't want you passing out, or worse."

We have mere seconds before the serpopards charge in. I have no way of knowing how good Carter will be in a fight, but we don't have much of a choice.

"Look at the wall. See the swords? You think you can fight?"

All I do is throw the idea at him. It's Carter Kane who takes a khopesh from one of the displays. It's Carter Kane who is ready to fight, even though he's shaking. I knew I'd get along with that boy.

Sadie raises an eyebrow. "You can't be serious."

"Unless—unless you've got a better idea," his whole body is trembling, but he manages to keep his hands steady around the hilt of the sword. "It's me, you, and the baboon against those things."

The serpopards strike a third time. Glass flies in all directions as the door shatters. Carter and Sadie back up, moving slowly and carefully towards the statue of Thoth. Khufu throws his basketball at one of the monsters. It hits the serpopard's head, but it only annoys it. Determined to protect, Khufu lunches himself at the serpopard.

"Khufu, don't!" Carter yells.

Khufu sinks his fangs into the long neck. The serpopard turns round. It tries to bite him. Khufu jumps out of the way, but the monster is quick. It swings its head like a bat and hits Khufu midair. Khufu flies straight through the shattered door, over the broken terrace, and into the void.

The serpopards turn their attention back to Carter and Sadie. Carter raise the khopesh, holding it completely wrong. I'll have to lecture him if we survive this.

The cat mrows again. The lightbulb seems to finally light up in Sadie's head.

M-muffin, I order you to protect us." She says and tosses the cat on the floor. I'm afraid Bast won't be able to come forth, but then the silver pendant on the cat's collar flickers – a glimpse of a goddess. Then the cat arches her back leisurely, sits down, and begins licking her front pow. I hope this is just a part of her process with all of my divine heart.

The serpopards raise their heads, ready to strike. A drop of green venom reaches the floor just as an explosion knocks Carter to the floor. The monsters stumble and back away.

The kids get up. Where the cat was once, is now a woman. She is graceful and fit. Her jet-black hair is tied in a ponytail. The woman wears a skin-tight leopard-print jumpsuit. The cat's neckles rests on her neck. Her catlike, yellow eyes glimmer with excitement. She turns and grins at Sadie.

"About time," she chides.

The serpopards shake their heads and charge at the new enemy. Their heads strike with incredible speed, but that's not the first time she's had to fight an opponent like that. She leaps straight up, flips three times, and lands above them, perched on the mantel.

She flexes her hands. Two knives slip from under the jumpsuit. "A-a-ah, fun!"

The monsters charge. She runs in between them. Every time they strike she dances away with incredible grace, lacing their necks together. She steps away, leaving them caught in a self-knot. The more they struggle, the tighter the knots becomes. The serpopards stagger backwards, knocking over furniture.

"Poor things," the cat woman purrs. "Let me help."

Her knives flash. The serpopards' heads roll on the floor, leaving behind them a trail of blood and green venom. Headless, their bodies fall apart into a pile of sand.

"So much for my playthings," the woman says sadly. "From sand they come, and to sand they return."

She turns to face the kids, the knives shooting back under her sleeves.

"Carter, Sadie, we should leave. Worse will be coming."

She's always been so positive. Carter tries to speak, but it comes out as a gurgle. "Worse? Who—how—what—"

"All in good time." The woman stretches her arms above her head, enjoying having a body after so long. "So good to be in human form again! Now, Sadie, can you open us a door through the Duat, please?"

Sadie blinks. "Um...no. I mean—I don't know how."

Bast narrows her eyes in disappointment. "Shame. We'll need more power, then. An obelisk."

"But that's in London," Sadie says. "We can't—"

"There's a nearer one in Central Park. I try to avoid Manhattan," Who doesn't? "But this is an emergency. We'll just pop over and open a portal."

"A portal to where? Who are you, and why are you my cat?"

The goddess smiles. "For now, we just want a portal out of danger. As for my name, it's not Muffin, thank you very much. It's—"

"Bast," says Carter. "Your pendant—it's the symbol of Bast, goddess of cats. I thought it was just decoration but...that's you, isn't it?"

"Very good, Carter," Bast says. "Now come, while we can still make it out of here alive."