Chapter Four
Carter Kane
Objective? Find Zia. Other objective? Stop my sister from rolling her eyes at me every time she happened to glance in my direction. I mean, it wasn't like I was insane or anything…
Right?
Anyways, let's get back to the situation at hand. I was squashed between Sadie, who was spilled Coke on my pants an accident' (lies) and some old man who smelled like he hadn't taken a shower in ages. So you could say I was not happy. With wet pants. In an airplane. To Miami. Landing in two hours. To find Zia. This was just getting better and better!
I closed my eyes and tried to keep still. I have no idea if it was because of my anticipation or something similar, but I felt like there was something weird about this plane. Something…out of the plan. The only problem? Figuring out what it was.
I gave a quick look at Sadie. She was asleep already, her mouth wide open and saliva dripping on one side of her mouth. For that moment, she actually seemed semi normal. Looking like an innocent [Ow Sadie, don't hit me with that!] twelve year old, not some magician who had the tendency to blow up things with a two syllable word and power. I have no idea why, but somehow that image warmed my heart.
Careful not to awake her, I craned my neck to look at the passengers behind. We were in the front row, economy, since we got there three hours early and we had not much money to afford first class or business. Nothing out of the blue. The people looked normal, ranging from babies to old people and from females to male. Some wore designer styles, while one or two looked like their clothes were fetched out of the Dumpster. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling off that there was something strange about this flight…
My eyes rested on the row on the left aisle, a few lengths away from us. In that row was a bunch of people who probably didn't know each other. There was an old lady wearing a frilly pink dress, and she held a cane with a flamingo at the tip, making sure it was poised firmly in front of her. A middle aged woman who looked normal enough, with shoulder length blonde hair and hazel eyes, reading a Harry Potter book. Lastly there was a boy, somewhere along Sadie's age with dark hair and brooding looks. He wore black combat boots which were strangely similar to my sister's, and a battered leather jacket hung from his seat. I could see a few cards inside the pocket, although for which use, I had no idea.
I frowned. Whatever it was, there was something weird about those three people. Or at least one of them. But who could it be?
Well, one thing was certain-I wasn't going to get anywhere by going over to them and demanding which one of them was the weird one. Although that sounded like an appeasing thought, I wasn't going to get any answers. Instead I decided to play it the old school style: waiting to see if any of them did anything remotely suspicious.
Pretending that I wasn't looking at the three anymore, I sat back in my seat, ignoring the looks that the man next to me was giving. Maybe I should just quit this. The three seemed normal at least. Why concentrate on them when I could be finding some leads on Zia Rashid?
Whenever I thought of her name, I felt like my brains got frozen. Zia was-well technically, it wasn't her. Around six months ago, Sadie and I had met her, and after a chain of events, had helped us defeat Set, who wasn't even the bad guy in the first place. At the moment of her death, she had admitted that she wasn't the real Zia and she was just a shabti, while the real Zia was hiding somewhere, hosting the river goddess Nephthys. Not only was she essential to defeating Apophis, well…you could say I liked her.
So that's why I would do anything to save her.
And then I didn't realize until two seconds later that I had fallen asleep, and now my ba was floating somewhere in the Duat-again.
I was somewhere in a forest. Not the kind of forest that it was all birds happily chirping and nature was abundant, or anything like the Disney movies. It might've been like that before, but now it was all dark and gloomy. The earth looked rotten and dead and dark clouds covered the sky. About half of the trees were uprooted or were somehow petrified. Call me crazy or anything, but it some of the trees, it looked like there were faces of people in them, a shocked and terrified expression on their faces.
Curious, I walked-actually, it was more of hovering. My feet were two inches off the ground-straight ahead, wondering why I was sent here. For some reason my instincts didn't want me to be here, it was like I wasn't supposed to be here. But then why was I here?
"I will never tell you."
I flinched, not expecting that there would be somebody in this dreary underground. I looked back, expecting someone to say "BOO!". But there was nobody else, so I gave myself a mental facepalm for reacting like a wimp. Then I realized that the voices were further away.
"So you choose to protect that foolish little camp of yours?" said a female. Her voice sounded melodious and harmonic, yet at the same time with a hint of fury.
"Yes," the same voice said. "Gaia shall never be allowed to rise!"
"Can we just kill him?" Another voice whined. "You said I could kill him if he doesn't want to help us!"
"Quiet!" barked the female. "We're not giving up yet!"
"You might as well do it now." As the man spoke, I crept closer to the sound of the voice, trying not to betray any sounds by moving slowly. "The information on where the campers are will be never told by me."
"Oh really?" the female asked slyly. "Not even if their lives were on stake?"
"Their lives are still going to be on stake even if I tell you where they are," the man pointed out.
I was already closer to the voices. Cautiously, I slid near the shadows and looked at the people. Standing up was a woman with tanned skin and with hazel eyes and hair. Next to her was a bored looking man with a white tuxedo on, a blue tie pinned lopsidedly at the edge. I couldn't really tell who was on the ground, but the figure had…horse hooves for feet? The first image that popped into my head was of the centaurs. Sometimes, when I was still with Dad and he was somewhere else, I'd read some other books about other mythologies because for some reason he didn't approve of Greek, Roman and Norse. It was probably because he was working for Egyptian mythology, and trying to please him, I'd stayed away from it as much as possible. Every now and then, I'd picked up a few glimpses of information though.
A malicious laugh escaped from the female's lips. "Yes. True, but on the other hand, me and the other allies will enjoy hearing them scream." She stepped closer to the figure on the ground. "After all, being the bringer of happiness, I can give as well I can take. And I will be taking as much as possible."
"You'll never succeed," the man said calmly. "The world will not tolerate evils like you treading the earth."
"But the earth has already approved of us," the woman said smugly. "Not only will I make sure that your little campers will not reach the solstice in time, I will bring you into the deepest pits of Tartarus. Not only will I stop there, I will watch the pit, hearing you scream for mercy."
"Kill him now?" The other man asked.
Her eyes flickered from the figure to her companion. As she swept her gaze smoothly around the clearing, I couldn't help flinching. That slight movement betrayed myself.
The woman's eyes stopped abruptly. Then, she quickly repositioned her eyes near the place I was in. I tried not to move, but this time it wasn't helping me anymore. She knew that someone was there. All she had to do was to…
"Oh. Another of them," the woman said dismissively. "Eurus, you are free to kill him."
The man, who I assumed was Eurus, grinned toothily. "Yay! More people to kill!"
Before I could make a move to get out, a wind coming from the east knocked me to the ground. I fell over, staining my shirt with soil. Even without no light, I could make out in the darkness the eyes of the fallen figure meet mine. They were filled with urgency and something else that I couldn't identify…
Suddenly, something tackled me. My eyes widened in surprise, and I struggled to get the weight out by moving from right to left haphazardly. Nothing happened. And then that's when things got to the weird part.
Fumbling slightly, I tried to visualize my wand-heck, at this time, even a stick would help me somehow at this point. For reasons unknown my mind was blocked, and I couldn't get anything to defend myself, let alone escape by waking up from here.
Eurus leaned closer to me. As he opened his mouth to talk, I could smell a foul stench of coleslaw or something like garbage. "Die puny ba!" He said cheerfully, bringing out a dagger from his pocket. "Don't let the monsters kill you! Oh no wait, that's right-I kill you first!"
This guy was obviously mad. And heavy. I didn't think I had the strength to do anything. Not only would I never see Zia again. Horus would be really angry at me for dying, and so would Sadie-
Sadie. That was it! Although it was a weak and flawed plan, it was the only one I had. Slowly, I unclenched my fists together, positioning my fingers like a gun pointing to the ground. "Ha-di!" I yelled, hoping that the spell wouldn't end up destroying me.
Suddenly, a flash of red escaped from my fingertips. The trail of sparks swept in the air, and like a dagger (A/N: Or an air assassination from AC: B XD) it stabbed Eurus in the back.
His eyes budged in surprise. "Not…funny..." The guy groaned, and rolled over, falling to the grass. A surge of relief flew through me as the heavy weight was gone.
As I caught I glimpse of his back, surprisingly there was nothing wrong with it. The shirt did seem slightly singed though, and the color blue seemed slightly black. I groaned. This was going to be hard. Summoning enough energy, I closed my eyes, and tried to get my khopesh.
"Enough!"
Surprised, I craned my neck to see what was behind me. And there was Horus, dressed in his battle armor and a bright fury glowing in his eyes. And when I mean glowing, I mean glowing-they were glowing a dark shade of gold.
The woman chuckled. "Hello Horus. We meet again."
Horus gave her a weird look. "Who are you?" He asked slowly. "I don't know you…
"The Treaty of Four. Remember? I was the one on the right of Ate. The one in the red dress…" the woman scowled. "See! This always happens when you're a minor goddess! No one respects you, especially if you're a girl!"
"Well, it doesn't look like you're exactly respecting my ally," Horus murmured. "You're letting him die against a god with mental problems."
"He was invading our territory," the woman protested. "We have every right to do whatever we want with him-"
His eyes flashed a deeper gold, spinning with flecks of amber. "Eutychia," Horus said calmly, words melting with imaginary shards of ice. "Let go of him. Now."
The world seemed to hold still for a moment. Even the shrouded figure across me seemed to examine Horus. Finally Eutychia sighed.
"Go."
I looked from Horus to the Eutychia girl. "Um," was all I could think of. "You guys know each other?"
"Briefly," Horus answered. "Stand up Kane."
I did, and felt the heavy gaze of the three people. Eutychia, gaze narrowing with suspicion and hate. Eurus, looking like a lost dog. And the figure in the darkness.
"Let's go Carter." Horus said. And then he tapped my shoulder.
The last thing I saw was the man with horse hooves, looking at me with eyes of pity.
The moment I blinked, I was in a palace. Literally.
It was covered with marble tiles, and tapestries of people fighting monsters covered the walls. Giant windows hung from every angle, the moon glowing dimly in the night. I was standing in the middle of the room, probably looking like an idiot. And then, in the north part of the room, there was a golden throne. With Horus sitting on it. His expression managed to look calm and furious at the same time.
"Carter?" Horus questioned, tapping his fingers.
"Um…yeah?" I replied, trying to meet his eyes. He probably knew about Zia. Maybe Sadie had told him? I don't know. Acting insane was not the best way to gain help…
"Don't go there ever again."
"But I didn't even know what place that was," I protested, mind swirling with thousands of questions. What was that place anyways? Why did Horus tell me not to go there? Why did Horus know Eutychia? Who were Eutychia and Eurus anyways? I've read many books about Egyptian mythology, and there wasn't exactly a sign saying: 'Need to find a person who you don't know? Turn the next page!'. She had also had mentioned something about a Treaty. And lastly, who exactly was the figure in the darkness?
Horus frowned. "You mean there were none of them?"
"Them?" I asked. "Who are you talking about?"
His expression shifted suddenly, revealing a mask of nonchalance. "No one. Now, why are you on the flight to-"
"Miami?" I asked. "Oh." I started to rack my head for excuses. Now what would I say…
"Um," I began. "Sadie's…going to have a..."
"A…?" Horus prodded.
"A synchronized swimming competition," I lied. I doubt Sadie even knew how to swim-or did she? If she was here right now, not only was she going to yell at me for putting her in this situation, she would also chide me for being a bad liar.
Horus raised an eyebrow, looking like as if he didn't believe me. Luckily, he decided not to question that.
"Okay," he said.
That was it? I stared up to the god. There was something slightly…off about him this time. His mind seemed distracted. I shrugged my shoulders mentally. Normally I would think about this further, but right now I really wanted to get back and save Zia. Besides, this whole thing wasn't really important. Right?
"Carter?" Horus gave a hesitant smile. "When you're done with your sister's competition, go to the Brooklyn Museum. You might find something that will help you with your mission with Ra…although I strongly do not recommend that option."
"Ra?" I echoed. Then I remembered. "You mean you knew this, and you haven't told us?" My eyes narrowed into flints of suspicion.
"Be gone Kane." And with a flick of his hand, everything turned black.
"Carter!" Someone called my name from a distance. "Wake up, you bloody old canker!"
"What…?" I moaned. And once I opened them, I found myself staring straight into the eyes of my sister. Surprisingly, they weren't filled with their usual sarcasm. More of…fear was the most appropriate term.
"Thank God you're up," Sadie said. "You're harder to rise than a rock."
"Hey, it's not my fault that my ba got sent somewhere else-again," I said defensively, adjusting my position so that I could avoid the ringing pain my back was sending. "What's the emergency?"
"Another ba trip?" She shook her head. "Nah, tell it to me later. Anyways, the pilot said that there are some unexpected problems-which is pathetic, even for them," Sadie explained, rolling her eyes. "I just wanted to know if you heard it, because heck, you were drooling all over me. Again."
I scowled. "I don't drool."
"Oh yes you do," Sadie crowed.
Just before I could think of a comeback, suddenly the plan started to vibrate, rocking from side to side. A child shrieked, and Sadie flinched. Then it subsided, but then mutterings arose from the crowd.
"People," the voice of the flight attendant came from the speakers. "Don't worry, this is only a minor inconvenience. We will-"
And then that's when the plane started spiraling. Towards the sea.
And it's not even ten minutes into the flight, a voice thought in my head. How rude.