Chapter III

Katya

I appeared back where Carter, Sadie and Bast were, I was surprised I wasn't in Olympus, but I wasn't going to ask for a meeting with all-powerful beings that hated me. I came back to something… odd.

Carter was kind of freaking out. "Oh, no. No, no, no. Somebody get a can opener. I've got a god stuck in my head."

Bast's eyes lit up. "You've communicated with Horus directly? That's excellent progress!"

"Progress?" He banged his palms against his head. "Get him out!" There was a short pause in his yelling. "Don't tell me to calm down!"

"We didn't," I said.

"Talking to him!" He said pointing at his forehead.

"This is awful," Sadie wailed. "How do I get rid of her?"

Bast sniffed. "First off, Sadie, you don't have all of her. Gods are very powerful. We can exist in many places at once. But yes, part of Isis' spirit now resides inside you. Just as Carter now carries the spirit of Horus. And frankly, you both should feel honored."

"Right, very honored," I said. "Always wanted to be possessed!"

"You aren't possessed." I said, "If you were possessed you would not have control of your mind or body."

"Isis got in through the amulet, didn't she? Well, I'll just—"

"I really wouldn't do that," Bast warned.

But Sadie pulled out her wand and smashed the amulet. Blue sparks shot up from the ivory boomerang. Sadie yelped and dropped her wand, which was now smoking. Her hand was covered in black scorch marks. The amulet was fine. "Ow!" She yelped.

Bast sighed and healed Sadie. "I did tell you. Isis channeled her power through the amulet, yes, but she's not there now. She's in you. And even so, magical amulets are practically indestructible."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Sadie asked.

"Well, for starters," Bast began, "Carter must use the power of Horus to defeat Set."

"Oh, is that all?" He said. "All by myself?"

"No, no. Sadie can help."

"Oh, super."

"What about Katya? Why is she here?" Sadie asked.

"Same reason as you," I said. "To save my uncle, and the world."

"Uncle?" Carter squeaked. Right, Carter doesn't know yet.

"Katya's our cousin," Sadie said. "I must've forgotten to mention that."

"Amos, is your dad?"

"No, Amos and Julius have another brother, he… died long ago."

"I'll guide you as much as possible," Bast promised, "but in the end, the two of you must fight. Only Horus and Isis can defeat Set and avenge the death of Osiris. That's the way it was before. That's the way it must be now."

"Then we get our dad back?" I asked.

Bast's smile wavered. "If all goes well."

She wasn't telling us everything. But I knew that if I pushed it she would be extra cautious not to let anything slip, I just had to be alert, wait until she unknowingly revealed the truth.

Carter looked down at his hands. "If I've got the powers of a god, then why am I so…?"

"Lame?" Sadie offered.

"Shut up," I said. "Why can't I use my powers better?"

"Takes practice," I said.

"Unless you wish to give over control to Horus. Then he would use your form, and you would not have to worry," said Bast.

There was a long pause and Carter was looking up at his eyebrows oddly. "No." He looked at us as if he had been caught making muscles at himself in the mirror. "I mean I'm not giving up control. This is our fight. Our dad's locked in a coffin. Our uncle's been captured."

"Captured?" Sadie asked. Then Carter explained to us his ba trip.

"Gods, no," I said to myself. Amos was the only family I had left up until a day ago. We had to get him back.

"Yeah," Carter agreed. "And Set spoke French— 'Bon soir.' Sadie, what you said about Set getting away—maybe he didn't. If he was just looking for a powerful host—"

"Desjardins," I finished.

Bast growled deep in her throat. "Desjardins was in London the night your father broke the Rosetta Stone, wasn't he? Desjardins has always been full of anger, full of ambition. In many ways, he would be the perfect host for Set. If Set managed to possess Desjardins' body, that would mean the Red Lord now controls the man who is Chief Lector of the House…. By Ra's throne, Carter, I hope you're wrong. The two of you will have to learn to use the power of the gods quickly. Whatever Set is planning, he'll do it on his birthday, when he's strongest. That's the third Demon Day—three days from now."

"But I've already used Isis' powers, haven't I?" Sadie asked. "I've summoned hieroglyphs. I activated the obelisk at Luxor. Was that her or me?"

"Both, dear," Bast said. "You and Carter have great abilities on your own, but the power of the gods has hastened your own development, and given you an extra reservoir to draw on. What would've taken you years to learn, you've accomplished in days. The more you channel the power of the gods, the more powerful you become."

"And the more dangerous it gets," I guessed. "The magicians told us hosting gods can burn you out, kill you, drive you crazy."

Bast fixed her eyes on Carter. Just for a second they were the eyes of a predator—ancient, powerful, dangerous. "Not everyone can host a god Carter. That's true. But you two are both blood of the pharaohs. You combine two ancient bloodlines. That's very rare, very powerful. And besides, if you think you can survive without the power of the gods, think again. Don't repeat your mother's—"

"What?" Sadie demanded. "What about our mother?"

"I shouldn't have said that."

"Tell us, cat!" Sadie exclaimed.

Bast leaned against the wall and stared out at the rain. "When your parents released me from Cleopatra's Needle… there was much more energy than they expected. Your father spoke the actual summoning spell, and the blast would've killed him instantly, but your mother threw up a shield. In that split second, I offered her my help. I offered h to merge our spirits and help protect them. But she would not accept my help. She chose to tap her own reservoir…."

"Her own magic," Sadie murmured.

Bast nodded sadly. "When a magician commits herself to a spell, there is no turning back. If she overreaches her power… well, your mother used her last bit of energy protecting your father. To save him, she sacrificed herself. She literally—"

"Burned up," I said.

"That's what Zia warned us about," Carter said.

The rain poured down, and I realized that Carter and Sadie were shivering. Well I couldn't do anything about that; I was the daughter of Khione. But with that thought I slipped into unwanted memories.

Percy, Annabeth, and I ran into the Olympian's Throne Room, they were in a deep argument over Zeus' stolen lightning bolt.

"Stop!" Annabeth yelled.

"We, um, here's your lightning bolt, sir," Percy stuttered.

"You were wise to betray your father, Perseus Jackson," Zeus said.

"He didn't steal it." I said.

"Quiet, girl!" Zeus ordered from his throne.

"It was Luke Castellan!" I said.

"Hermes' boy?" Hera asked. I nodded.

"He was upset with all of you. He wanted you to destroy yourselves," I plead Percy's case. They paused for a moment pondering over my claim, then everyone looked at me with alarm. I looked towards Percy and Annabeth confused. I was hoping for answers but they didn't give me any. They were all looking at me the same, shocked and fearful.

"A Titan spawn." Aphrodite said.

"A what?" I asked.

"Daughter of Khione, you are not welcome on Olympus." Said Zeus. I looked to Percy and Annabeth wondering what was happening, but they weren't even looking at me, they were looking at the floating, glowing, giant snowflake that floated above my head.

"Snowflake," Percy said using his nickname he gave me, "There's a golden snowflake above your head."

"Let's kill her!" Ares raged.

"She's a reliable asset to us!" Athena yelled back.

"I say kill her," said Hera.

"We vote," said Zeus, "to kill the Titan spawn, or keep her around, since she is a powerful one."

My twelve year old self was very confused. Did this have to do with her ice powers that she was trying to keep secret? Self-consciously she tugged on the black gloves she wore. Suddenly the gods were voting whether to kill her or not, she knew that Khione wasn't very well liked by the twelve main Olympians, or was it because of her being in touch with her Egyptian side.

"She lives," Zeus said. Annabeth let out a big sigh and Percy hugged her. Katya's eyes widened at the embrace, but didn't get the chance to hug him back as he pulled back and they were transported back to Olympus.

"I don't understand it," Annabeth said. "Why don't you have ice powers if you are Khione's daughter?"

"I do…" I said, "I just don't like to use them. They're dangerous."

"How can they be dangerous if you control them?" Percy asked.

"I don't control them. They are powered by my emotions, I don't have control over my emotions."

"I was reading something, years ago, an Old Norwegian scroll, it talked of a ruler with the same powers as you, I suspect another one of Khione's daughters. She was said to overcome her uncontrollable powers by welcoming love into her heart," Annabeth said as we walked back into Camp.

"Love?" I asked. "Love." I said again more surely. I took of my gloves, I was nervous, but I needed to see if this was true. Frost and snow glittered around my fingertips.

I couldn't help it I laughed. "Who wants to go sledding?" I asked. They both grinned excitedly. I made a path of thick snow going down Half-Blood Hill. Then made a sled of ice big enough for the three of us. We raced down the hill towards the cabins screaming our heads off, it was one of the most fun we had had in days.

"Katya! Katya! What were you thinking about?" Sadie asked.

"Just old… memories." I said then we headed to Desjardin's house.

It was a huge mansion on the other side of the Tuileries, on the rue des Pyramides.

"Pyramids Road?" Sadie said. "Obvious, much?"

"Maybe he couldn't find a place on Stupid Evil Magician Street," Carter suggested.

The house was spectacular. Even in the winter wind there were blossoming flowers. There was five stories of white marble walls and black shuttered windows topped by a roof garden. The roof garden would put the Demeter cabin to shame.

Carter pointed at the red front door. "Isn't red a bad color in Egypt? The color of Set?"

Bast scratched her chin. "Now that you mention it, yes. It's the color of chaos and destruction."

"I thought black was the color of evil," Sadie said.

"No, dear. As usual, modern folk have it backwards. Black is the color of good soil, like the soil of the Nile. You can grow food in black soil. Food is good. Therefore black is good. Red is the color of desert sand. Nothing grows in the desert. Therefore red is evil." She frowned. "It is strange that Desjardins had a red door."

"In some cultures black is the color of evil," Katya said. "The night is black, the unknown. Many people fear the unknown more than anything."

"There will be guards. And traps. And alarms. You can bet the house is heavily charmed to keep out gods."

"Magicians can do that?" Carter asked. I imagined Zeus trying to climb over the walls then getting stuck from fly paper.

"Alas, yes," Bast said. "I will not be able to cross the threshold uninvited. You, however—"

"I thought we were gods too," Sadie said.

"That's the beauty of it," Bast said. "As hosts, you are still quite human. I have taken full possession of Muffin, so I am pretty much me—a goddess. But you are still—well, yourselves. Clear?"

"No," Carter said.

"I suggest you turn into birds," Bast said. "You can fly to the roof garden and make your way in. Plus, I like birds."

"First problem, we don't know how to turn into birds," Carter said.

"Easily fixed! And a good test at channeling godly power. Both Isis and Horus have bird forms. Simply imagine yourselves as birds, and birds you shall become."

"What about Katya?" Sadie asked.

"I won't be changing form, but I am coming with you," both of them nodded and attempted to change forms, Sadie got it almost right away, but it took Carter ten minutes.

"Better late than never," Bast's face loomed over him. "Took you almost ten minutes. Oh, you two look delicious. No, no—er, I mean wonderful. Now, off you go!"

They spread their wings and flew towards the house, Carter flew straight into the fence. Sadie laughed at him as much as a kite can. Soon enough, he tried again and was soaring through the rain.

I kicked off of the ground as hard as I could, my feet found spots between the metal spikes on the fence. All the enchantments weren't prepared for a demigod-magician so I just hopped off the fence and followed the birds, er, cousins.

I jumped from the windowsills up to the roof of the mansion, Carter sailed through the double glass doors. I hopped down right down next to them. Thank the gods for acrobatics class at camp.

Carter squeezed his eyes shut and was soon back to regular Carter. Sadie was still a kite.

"You can turn back now," he said. She tilted her head and let out a frustrated croak. "You can't, can you? You're stuck?" She pecked his hand with her beak. "Ow! It's not my fault. Keep trying."

She tried until it looked like she was about to explode. "Don't worry. Bast will help once we get out of here," I said. "Keep watch we'll look around." It was then that I got a good look at the room around us. The walls were overflowing with books, the furniture was mahogany. I forgot what I was even looking for.

"What would a Book of Thoth even look alike?" Carter wondered. He thought for a moment more until he slung his father's bag off his shoulder and pulled out a shabti. "Doughboy, help me find The Book of Thoth in this library."

"And why should I help you?" It asked. A shabti with an attitude, nice.

"Because if you don't you'll be missing your head as well as your legs," I said calmly.

"Hold me up! I can't see the shelves." Carter took him on a tour of the library, it was quite fun to watch. "Hold it! This one is ancient—right here."

He pulled down a thin volume bound in linen. It was so tiny, I would've missed it, but sure enough, the front cover was inscribed with hieroglyphs.

"Doughboy," I said. "What is this scroll?"

"A spell lost in time!" He pronounced. "Ancient words of tremendous power!"

"Well?" Carter demanded. "Does it tell us how to defeat Set?"

"Better! The title reads: The Book of Summoning Fruit Bats!"

We stared at him. "Are you serious?" Carter asked.

"Would I joke about such a thing?"

"Who would want to summon fruit bats?"

"Ha—ha—ha," Sadie croaked.

Carter pushed the scroll away and we went back to searching. After about ten minutes, Doughboy squealed with delight.

"Oh, look! I remember this painting." It was a small oil painting in a gilded frame, hanging on the end of a bookshelf. It was bordered with little silk curtains, so it was probably important. A light shined up at the guys face reminding me of the ghost stories Grover, Percy, Annabeth and me used to tell.

"Isn't that the guy who plays Wolverine?" Carter asked.

"You disgust me!" Doughboy said. "That is Jean-François Champollion."

"The guy who deciphered the Rosetta Stone," Carter said.

"Of course. Desjardins' great uncle."

I looked at the painting again, I could see the resemblance, black eyes. His eyes reminded me of Bianca's. I still felt guilty over her death, just another one of the people who died. I had a job to do, you can't cry, not while everyone is watching, wait until you're alone. I told myself, that's what I always told myself.

"Great uncle? But wouldn't that make Desjardins—"

"About two hundred years old," Doughboy confirmed. That isn't fair, someone's life being so long while others only got fourteen short years. Don't think about it. Get a hold of yourself. "Still a youngster. You know that when Champollion first deciphered hieroglyphs, he fell into a coma for five days? He became the first man outside the House of Life to ever unleash their magic, and it almost killed him. Naturally, that got the attention of the First Nome. Champollion died before he could join the House of Life, but the Chief Lector accepted his descendants for training. Desjardins is very proud of his family… but a little sensitive too, because he's such a newcomer."

"That's why he didn't get along with our family," Carter guessed. "We're like… ancient."

"He called me Snow Spawn when I was training at the First Nome. They didn't know what to do with me, they thought about sending me to the Three Hundred and Sixtieth Nome."

"Where's the Three Hundred and Sixtieth Nome?" Carter asked.

"Antarctica."

Doughboy cackled. "And your father breaking the Rosetta Stone? Desjardins would've viewed that as an insult to his family honor! Oh, you should've see the arguments Master Julius and Desjardins had in this room?"

"You've been here before?"

"Many times! I've been everywhere. I'm all-knowing."

Suddenly there was a banging sound below us, like someone closing a door downstairs.

"Show me where The Book of Thoth is," I ordered Doughboy. "Now, before I chop you into a hundred pieces and throw them into the Duat."

"Ah, Mastery of the Five Elements!"

"Is that the one we want?" Carter asked.

"No, but a good one. How to tame the five essential elements of the universe—earth, air, water, fire, and cheese!"

"Cheese?"

He scratched his wax head. "I'm pretty sure that's the fifth, yes. But moving right along!"

We turned to the next shelf. "No," he announced "No. Boring. Boring. Oh, Clive Cussler! No. No."

I was about to give up home when he said, "There."

Carter froze. "Where—here?"

"The blue book with the gold trim," he said. "The one that's—"

Carter pulled it out and the entire room began to shake.

"—trapped," Doughboy continued.

Sadie squawked urgently and took flight. Something clashed with it in midair, the black thing disappeared down her throat.

I grabbed Doughboy as alarms blared. "You idiot!"

More black forms dropped from the ceiling and seemed to multiply in the air. "There's your answer," Doughboy told us. "Desjardins would want to summon fruit bats. You mess with the wrong books, you trigger a plague of fruit bats. That's the trap!"

The things were diving at my face, clawing my arms. I could hardly see.
"Sadie, get out of here!" Carter yelled.

"SAW!" she cried.

Carter turned into a falcon. People were yelling in French, the doors rattled. He looked at me expectantly.

"Go!" I yelled. He flew out of the window. "Ha-tep!" I yelled. The hieroglyph blazed white in the air. The bats flew up to the ceiling and nested there, and there was no more yelling or banging at the other end of the library door. I quickly blasted the door with ice, no one was getting in her anytime soon, and I froze the bats in their place.

I ran from the opposite side of the room and ran out the window, I did a couple of flips and landed on the pavement easily.

"The Louvre." I said. "It has the closest portal." They seemed to recover from me jumping out of a window and landing on my feet.

We ran as the doors blasted open. I could feel the heat from the blast on my blast. We kept running.

I grinned like a madwoman. "Whoo!" I screamed. This was the most fun I've had in a long time. Even though I was running for my life down the rue des Pyramides, I was used to it.

Please review! It helps me write more.

Even if it is just something like this: WRITE MORE!

I plan to have this story go through the rest of the PJO, Kane Chronicles, and HoO.