SAVVY

Chapter 16

Okay, before I get to the unbelievably hot god, I probably should back up just a little.

After we killed the Set animal (or should I say after Bast killed the Set animal) I felt like I was in a dream. Considering that all my dreams had been horrible the past week, that wasn't quite the best way to put it, because I was having the best dream of my life.

Sure, I was in a little pain. Ok, a lot of pain. And so was Rachael. In fact, she was probably in a lot more pain than I was. I glanced at her chalky white face, which was screwed up in an attempt to keep quiet whenever she put weight onto her messed up ankle.

But I had found her. I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that miraculously, she had been found. Waves of relief and ecstasy washed through me. I was probably a little too cheery considering the circumstances.

But not far behind came confusion, anger, and a teensy weensy bit of jealousy.

Firstly, Rachael didn't seem as happy to see me as I was to see her, which I admit made me feel a little betrayed. I knew Rachael can keep her emotions bottled up pretty well, but still. The first thing she did after a week of separation was to yell at me. For disappearing, as if that was my fault.

Also, I was mad that she doubted my trust. Couldn't she see that I had found somewhere I belonged? Couldn't she just accept the fact that she wasn't the only friend I had now?

The jealousy part I felt guilty about. Rachael couldn't help it if she was exceedingly intelligent and strategic, more so than I had known her before. She couldn't help it if she could shoot perfectly with a bow and arrow and had lightning reflexes with a dagger, more advanced than I was with Thorn. She couldn't help being brave, courageous, calm, cool, and pretty much superhero.

Not to forget she had tons of the strange delicious healing brownies at hand— though they didn't actually taste like brownies. They tasted like Beth's cheesecake. Although her cheesecake was always too crumbly, I loved them, and it made me miss her so much. And for some reason, after eating them some of the gashes on my thigh had healed.

But I had more pressing matters to deal with. Rachael was in pain. I glanced back at her again, worried. The brownie squares, or the ambrosia, as she had called it, had helped her a little. Bast had helped her to set her ankle and took away a little pain by magic. But she was still obviously feeling her injury.

I realized I was tugging my sa amulet. I had picked it up and fastened it around my neck even after it had been used. Another thing I couldn't believe— that the gods had listened to my prayers. They had sent me Bast.

I had heard a lot of stories about Bast. She was Carter and Sadie's favourite goddess. I felt like I already knew her, and I was immensely happy the gods had sent Bast. Bast seemed to decide to trust me too, but she and Rachael didn't seem to get along.

The big downside was that if Bast came back, the rest of the gods would. If the gods came back… what about Apophis? I had never met him, but I really did NOT want too.

I shook my head. I was getting carried away again. I needed to stay focused.

"Almost there," Bast told me. Her feline eyes searched the streets as we walked, looking for spots of danger.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked.

"Metropolitan Museum of Art," She answered. "A couple of years ago, Sadie and Carter — and I — were there to conjure a portal. Behind the museum is Central Park. There's a monument there you can use to conjure up a portal."

"Okay," I said absently, looking back at Rachael. Then I stopped. "Wait. Me?"

Bast smiled at me kindly for the first time. "Yes, you. Cats are protectors. We don't do portals."

"B… But…" I had no clue how I was supposed to open up a portal. Zia had said it was super advanced magic, and I was already worn out. But how else were we supposed to get to the House of Life?

And then I had a brilliant idea. (This is your cue to gasp. Two ideas in a day?! Unbelievable, right?)

I reached into my messenger bag, pushing aside various amulets, shabti, my wand and my staff, until I produced a small red object. A whistle.

Sucking in a gulp-ful of air, I blew into it.

Nothing happened, and no sound came out.

Rachael looked at me weirdly. "What was that?"

"Patience," I said, looking up at the sky, a maniac grin on my face. Rachael was going to hate me for this…

…

Okay, so maybe calling Freak wasn't the most brilliant idea after all. He didn't take long to show up, and I thought Rachael was just about to pass out from fear. I had almost forgotten her aversion to birds, and a large half bird like Freak was sure to be more than a little scary. I pushed her on Freak while she stuttered and protested, and she jumped a mile high when he gave a loud FREEEAK!

"Don't worry Freak," I said. "I'll get you some turkeys soon."

Rachael shot me a weird look for the fiftieth time today.

I'm not going to bother with giving you the full explanation of the trip to the Hall of Ages, but here's the shortened version— we went through the Duat and Rachael freaked out. We went through the Cairo airport and she freaked out. We took a shortcut through the city and she freaked out. She looked completely overwhelmed by the whole new world she had just been introduced too.

By the time we got to the Hall of Ages she had a thunderstruck expression on her face, and she gaped wordlessly at the shifting pictures on each wall as we walked through the long hall.

I must admit, it was fun to see Rachael the one freaking out for once. For one and a half years of best friend history she acted like she's seen it all, knew it all. And now she looked like… well, me, I guess.

"C'mon," I said, pulling her away from an image of some of the gods at a banquet. "We're almost there."

"Almost where?"

I grinned. "The coolest war room on earth."

I pushed the door open to the secret room at the back of the hall, letting Bast and Rachael go in first. And stopped.

Let me explain something really quickly before I go on. So I've always had a regular interest in boys, a few crushes here and there, no serious relationships or anything. Mostly I was too concentrated on other stuff in life than dealing with the opposite gender. So I was so not prepared for… for…

The guy standing in the middle of the room.

My first though was that I had died and went to heaven. He was astoundingly, astonishingly, remarkably hot. Drop dead gorgeous, which is what I felt like doing. Dropping dead, that is.

I was feeling a weird tingly sensation I had never felt before. I couldn't name it, and it felt weird.

The god-like creature couldn't have been more than 16, and was tall and athletic.

He had beautiful coffee brown skin and dark chocolate eyes, and he was wearing all black— black jeans, black muscle tee, a black leather jacket and combat boots.

Speaking of combat boots…

I didn't realize at first, but Sadie was standing next to him. I noticed Carter, Zia, and Amos there too, but I was only looking at Sadie. And her hand. Which was holding Walt's.

Well, damn.

I couldn't speak, it was like someone had popped my dream like it was a bubble. The world narrowed down to one point— the hands of Sadie and the god-boy, interwoven together. Perhaps if I stared at it long enough, they would jerk apart. Let go. Let go. Let go.

Rachael was the one to break the silence.

"Nope," She said. "Not the coolest war room."

"What?" I mumbled distractedly, still staring at their hands.

"I've seen cooler war rooms. This is nothing compared to Bunker 9." Rachael said absently, staring at Sadie, Carter, Amos and Zia.

And then came the explosion.

"BAST!" Carter and Sadie shrieked in unison. I breathed a sigh of relief as Sadie finally let go of the god-boy's hand, and she and Carter both barrelled past us to attack Bast— sorry, to hug her a little over-enthusiastically.

Bast smoothed their hair down and immediately began checking their bodies for injuries. "My kittens! I've been so worried!"

Meanwhile I was still gazing at the guy. He stared back, a little curiously, as if wondering why a lunatic was looking at him so intently.

Sadie seemed to finally notice me. "Oh yeah, Savvy. This is Walt Stone, or you could call him Anubis." My brow furrowed in confusion, but Sadie didn't notice because she was grinning at him idiotically and he was smiling back with the same ridiculous grin on his face. "He's my boyfriend."

That was when I knew.

Well, DUH!

I was socially awkward. I had no experience in boys. And I was interested in someone way beyond my league? Someone who was incredibly hot and should be way too old for me? I was such an idiot! I didn't have a chance.

Worst of all, Sadie was already with him. Sadie was one of my closest friends for god's sakes. What was I to do? A snide little voice in my head urged me to ditch Sadie, to hate her for going out with the boy of my dreams, but I clamped down on it. I wasn't that shallow. Was I?

My eyes were hot and prickly, and I blinked quickly. Rachael caught that, and she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Carter seemed to notice Rachael at the same time. "Who's that?"

I finally tore my eyes away from Walt Stone. Zia was looking baffled by the turn of events, and Amos was frowning.

"It seems we have a lot to discuss." He said, shaking his head.

…

A couple minutes later, we were sitting around the table with the map of the world on it. We all had a cup of sahlab, delicious tasting hot vanilla, sitting in front of us. I had introduced Rachael to everybody and vice versa already. Amos had wanted us to recount our full story properly.

I decided to start from the very start.

I hadn't yet told Sadie, Carter, Zia, and Amos about our encounter with the arai, and I felt like this was the time to enlighten them at last. I avoided Walt's gaze as I explained what had happened from my point of view starting from what happened in the classroom, Miss Uglyface, our fight and my disappearance. I tried not to talk too much about the part when I was injured and doomed, and needed a goddess to save me, because for some reason I didn't quite want Walt to know.

I filled in Rachael quickly about where I'd been for the past 5 days. I only said I had been found by Carter/Sadie, had to fight off a god, and ended up here. I told her that we were in Manhattan because we were on a hunting mission.

"What I don't get," I concluded, "Was Miss Uglyface back at school. I mean, what is she?"

I hadn't actually expected an answer, I was just wondering out loud. So it surprised me when Rachael did.

"Arai," Rachael muttered. "The monster was an arai, from Tartarus."

We stared at her.

"Rachael," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "Could you please tell us your story? Who exactly are you?"

She closed her eyes and sighed, raising one finger, as she thought hard. Then she spoke.

"You — all of you — you're Egyptian." Her voice matched mine, cool and calm. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," I said, refraining from adding a "duh".

"So it's true. Everything is true. The myths, your gods, everything."

"Yes," I repeated impatiently. "But who and what are you?"

There was silence, and then Rachael opened her eyes.

"I suppose I can't keep it from you much longer. And Savvy, I think you deserve to know. I—" Her voice caught. "I'm… well, I'm kind of… I'm sort of a Greek demigod."

"Marvelous! You're a god?" Sadie exclaimed immediately.

Rachael frowned, "No no no, I'm a demigod. A half blood. Half god, half mortal. Isn't that what you are?"

Carter leaned forwards. "You mean you're like a hybrid? Half and half?"

"No… well, I guess. You people are demigods too, right?" Rachael was perplexed.

"No," Zia answered. "We are Egyptian magicians. We are not gods. We have the blood of the pharaohs, and we train in the methods of Egyptian mythology and magic. That is what we are, that is what we do."

"Wait a sec," I cut in. "Rachael — did you say Greek?"

"Yes," She said, meeting my gaze. "I'm Greek. I'm a Greek demigod. I am the daughter of one of the many Greek gods and goddesses. I'm not Egyptian."

There was silence so thick is pressed at our eardrums.

Finally Walt spoke. "That's… that's…"

He said "impossible" at the same time I said "unbelievable" and Sadie said "brilliant".

Rachael cracked a smile. "It's possible. It's overwhelming, but true. And it sounds brilliant at first, but it can be horrible."

"But how can this be possible?" Carter pressed. "We have Nomes all over the world, yet we've never heard of such thing as a Greek demigod!"

"It's not just Greek," said Rachael. "There's Roman demigods too, but we only joined together very recently. There's more of me. There are hundreds of Greek and Roman demigods, and we live in two separate camps. The Roman one is in 'Frisco, called Camp Jupiter." She hesitated, as if reluctant to give out information. "The Greek one is Long Island South, New York, called Camp Half-Blood.

"It's dangerous being a demigod. We have a scent only monsters can distinguish, and they are absolutely bent on making our lives hell. We train at the camps to fight monsters, and to survive, because chances of survival are pretty darn small."

"The camp," I thought aloud. "I saw you in a camp in one of my dreams. But it was so… weird. It had flying horses, lava climbing walls, warships, swordfighting arenas—"

"It's not strange for demigods to have dreams and visions that show you places and people," Rachael said, interrupting me. "We are vulnerable in some ways like humans, but we have our godly parent's traits too. We have some level of control or skill over our parent's realm. For example— one of my friends, Percy Jackson—"

"Hey, I know that name!" I blurted out. A little memory popped to the surface of my brain— Rachael trying to get me to read a book in school, pestering me continuously. "Percy Jackson… isn't he the main character of…"

"The books written by Rick Riordan?" Rachael ended. "Yes, the very same Percy Jackson."

She went on to explain the story behind Rick Riordan and his books, and how they had gone to him after the wars to write the two series so that the catastrophic events could be recorded and that demigods across the world would be aware that there were people like them.

However, she said, she wasn't allowed by Chiron to be included in the stories, and she didn't know why.

"Back to the subject," said Rachael. "So, demigods have some level of control or skill over their realm. Percy's dad — he's kind of Poseidon, god of the ocean, horses and earthquakes. Poseidon's one of the most powerful gods, so Percy is a powerful demigod. He can control the ocean and talk to sea creatures and horses. It's rare for someone to be as powerful as him."

I sighed loudly as I realized that Rachael was in full speech mode now, as if she was giving a lecture on the subject "demigods".

"Demigods can speak Ancient Greek and Latin a bit, which is why most of us have dyslexia — Ancient Greek and Latin are our godly parent's languages, and we are born to speak those languages, not English. Most of us also have Attention Deficit Disorder or ADHD too, because our brain is hardwired for battle."

"That doesn't make sense," I protested. "I have ADHD AND dyslexia, and I'm not a semi-god or whatever it is."

"Yes," Rachael murmured. "I thought you were a demigod too, when I first met you. That's why I was at the same school as you, I was helping recruit demigods and you seemed like one, so I was watching you all year, protecting you from monsters when you don't realize. You have a powerful aura. But I suppose it was just a coincidence all along that you have ADHD and dyslexia. You're obviously part of the Egyptian world.

"Anyway," She continued her lecture. "A lot of the time, the world is in danger. The Titans, who are old and powerful, threatened to take over Olympus and destroy the world two years or so ago. The gods and demigods fought back and won, but barely. Later, the Giants stirred, led by Gaea, the old and powerful Earth goddess. We had to join with the Romans to defeat the Giants and lull Gaea back to her slumber."

"Sounds fun," muttered Walt. He had been thinking along the same lines as me! That made me feel happy inside. Walt and I were obviously meant for each other, we had so much in common already.

"Basically," Rachael said, interrupting my train of thought. "Life as a demigod is a lot of trouble. We have to go on numerous quests to save the world numerous times. I thought that after Kronos and Gaea, I'd finally be able to live my life as peacefully as a normal demigod would. But then YOU came along."

I pressed my fingers to my temples, hard, trying to grasp the situation. Looking around, I saw that Carter, Sadie, Zia and Walt were all looking shell shocked. Walt still managed to look stunning, even when he's stunned, which was totally unfair. How was I supposed to concentrate in a situation like this?

Bast was tilting her head, absorbing the words and thinking them over. She looked a little bewildered. "Greek gods and goddesses? Possible, but that's completely…" she muttered, trailing off.

Meanwhile, Amos was frowning but didn't look too surprised. "I've heard stories of other myths being real," He mused. "They say Egypt has always face challenges from outside— magicians from elsewhere. Maybe even gods from elsewhere. I've always thought there were other people in this world, it does explain a lot."

"Rachael," I was horrified that my voice was shaky with shock. "Rachael, you've never told me anything like that before. Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend. Or was that a lie too?"

"I'm sorry," Rachael said, looking regretful. "When a demigod is aware he or she's a demigod, monsters can track them down faster. I couldn't tell you anything, but believe me, I really wanted too. Just because I've been protecting you doesn't mean I was pretending the whole time, I'm still your best friend." She gave me a small smile that I didn't return; I was still in a stupor.

"But then… if you're actually a godly whatever-it-is..." Sadie leaned forward. "Who's your parent?"

Rachael slumped, as if she was used to this question. "I honestly… don't know. Some demigods don't know at all. After the Titan war… well, it's a long story, but we made the gods promise to claim every single kid. But I didn't get claimed for some stupid reason. I'm supposedly a powerful demigod… I'm could be Poseidon like Percy, but I'm afraid of water. I might be Athena, the goddess of wisdom, but I don't know for sure. My best guess is Hecate, the goddess of magic, but…"

"Rachael Rachael Rachael." I shook my head from side to side slowly, trying to grasp the situation. "You're saying there is such thing as Greek demigods."

"And Romans," She clarified.

"And they are half god— like actually half a god."

"Or goddess," She added. "And they go on quests, but then they'll need Rachel to issue a prophecy when they do…"

Suddenly she broke off, her eyes widening. "Wait a second! The prophecy! I had almost forgotten!"

"What?"

"When demigods go on quests, they go to Rachel, our oracle. She makes prophecies for their quests. Before I left, Rachel randomly sprouted a prophecy. It made no sense then, but it does a little now." Rachael's eyes were sparkling now, like it usually does when she's cracked a code or solved a particularly difficult question.

"What?" I repeated, totally lost.

Rachael closed her eyes, ignoring me as she tried to remember the words.

"This was the whole prophecy," She said.

"A price to pay, shall end the light of day

Two halves must unite, through a window of light

The darkest shall rise, after tales of endless lies

Born in the shortest of twelve parts,

Alone to face the ones with no hearts.

"And some of it makes sense now! Two halves must unite, that probably means the Greek/Romans and the Egyptians! The demigods and the magicians must unite, but why? End the light of day, the darkest shall rise, that means… that means Nyx! Night! Night is rising! I knew it! We must unite to defeat Night!"

"Why are you reciting poems?" I half-yelled, frustrated. "And who in the freaking hell is Night?"

"Night? Oh, she just happens to be the oldest goddess of them all, the mother of all terrors such as the Fates, Old Age, Pain, Death, the Giants, the Monster, the Titans, the most dangerous goddess, the goddess of night, who lives in the pit of Tartarus and wants to overthrow the gods and rule the world and is by far worse than the Titans and about as bad as Gaea, but it really doesn't matter who she is because obviously she's not important…"

"And she's RISING?" I shrieked, my voice shooting through two octaves. "She wants to rule the WORLD?" Somehow this didn't strike me as the situation to make jokes.

"I think so; it explains the sudden inflation of attacks by monsters, and my weird dreams, and how it's so much darker nowadays. She's the goddess of Night, after all. But she can't rise by herself, she's anchored to Tartarus. She'll need help from someone." On and on Rachael rambled, still in the same excited tone until…

"Great!" Sadie shouted, throwing her hands up. She was giving up, like me, in frustration. "Just lovely, absolutely cracking! First we have the threat of Apophis coming back! Now your barmy goddess Night lady person is plotting to overthrow the blimming world, for heaven's sakes. That's just completely…"

"Sadie, calm down." Bast cut in, finally speaking. Her hair was all poofed up, like a cat does when it senses danger or is scared. "I just realized something. It probably is no coincidence that Apophis and Night are both rising at the same time. They both want the same thing, don't they? To rule the world, to destroy civilization. It's probably not a surprise if—"

"They're in it together." Carter's face was pale and sickly, and he looked terrified. Like, wet-your-pants terrified. As the pharaoh of the Egyptians, Carter was a natural at leading. He barely ever betrayed fear; he was always brave, calm and collected. I had never seen him like this before.

For a second I had an urge to laugh at his expression, and then I realized that he had battled Apophis before, and I hadn't. He knew what it was like, and if this could make him scared… if this could make all of them scared…

"We don't know that for certain, Carter," Zia said. She looked at all of us, her brown eyes piercing. "We probably shouldn't dwell on the unknown. We should plan ahead for what we know now."

"Yeah, okay whatever," Rachael said tiredly. "But now it's your turn. I just told you about my world, but I still don't know anything about yours. Who are you guys, what are you guys, what do you do, what is your life like as a magician, who are your gods…?"

On and on and on, Rachael let loose a torrent of questions upon us. Carter was eager to explain, and their conversations dragged on like a college lecture, with the rest of them chipping in here and there. That allowed me enough time to sit back and let Carter talk for once, and think about everything Rachael told me.

Walt smiled at me from across the table, but before I could smile hesitantly back he had looked away towards Sadie.

Rachael explained what had happened to her while I was gone. Apparently, she had gone back to her little godly camp and during one of her deadly war games, had been teleported mysteriously to Manhattan.

"From the way you describe it, it was probably a portal," Zia said thoughtfully. "I wonder how it was placed there- most likely the gods."

I was beginning to realize how big of a part the gods played in our mortal's lives. Although Isis had said many times during our "appointment" that the Fates don't allow her to say or do much, they still were very capable of changing our lives entirely.

Rachael snapping her fingers below my nose woke me out of my reverie. "Hey Savvy!"

"What?" I grumbled.

"I have one last question about that weird Set animal monster thing. I mean, are all your monsters like that? Like "explodes in sand not dust" and "talking into my head" kind of thing?"

"'Course all monster disintegrate in sand, not… wait." Sadie straightened up. "The Set animal doesn't talk in people's heads. What are you on about?"

"Well, it did." Rachael disagreed, looking at me for support. "Didn't you hear it, Savvy, or was it just me? It was talking. It had sort of a raspy voice — it was super creepy."

I knit my eyebrows. Come to think of it, I did remember a strange hissing sound from the Set animal but I had been too occupied to think about it much.

"Sounds like it was Apophis…" Carter said worriedly. "Apophis must've been talking through the Set animal, possessing it. He does have a creepy raspy voice, and he prefers speaking through things rather than showing his fat ugly face. "

"So Setne didn't release the Set animal after all. It was Apophis, probably targeting you, Rachael." Hearing Walt's voice had the calm butterflies in my stomach start up again.

"It was most likely both," Bast pointed out. "Setne could be working for Apophis."

"Well we can always figure it out in the morning," Amos said calmly, showing none of the anxiousness on his face that was on all of ours. "I'm sure we're all very tired from the events of today, and if Savvy would kindly show our guest to a room, we can all rest."

I pushed my chair back and leapt up. "C'mon, Rachael! Let me show you your new bedroom!" I grabbed her arm and yanked her out of her chair. "And the best thing is, it's right next to mine!"