A/N Sorry for the delay. I was having exams. No worries, this is chapter 3.

CHAPTER 3 A DEATH AT THE NEEDLE part 1

Nobody's pov

Athena reads

Chapter 1. A Death at the Needle

Nico sarcastically says "Talk about a depressing start to the story" "Yup because Carter started the recording." Sadie retorts which causes Carter to glare at her.

WE ONLY HAVE A FEW HOURS, so listen carefully.

If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance

"Oh, that was not true. There were other Nomes, who would not have eaten you" Zia states. "Still you can say they were the best of the choices, otherwise we would not have been alive today. "Walt retorts. By the time he ended all the demigods and Greek gods were gaping while Sadie and Carter were bright red.

Go to the school. Find the locker. I won't tell you which school or which locker, because if you're the right person, you'll find it. The combination is 13/32/33.

You know giving half-baked information to others can land them in even more trouble. "Annabeth comments. Walt answers"It is not a "half-baked answer". The locker is placed where only magicians like us can only reach it. "This intrigues Annabeth while Apollo, Hermes and his sons slump down in their seats demotivated that they cannot steal the items in the locker.

By the time you finish listening, you'll know what those numbers mean. Just remember the story we're about to tell you isn't complete yet. How it ends will depend on you.

"Apollo says dramatically "No pressure".

The most important thing: when you open the package and find what's inside, don't keep it longer than a week.

Why? " Zeus asks

Sure, it'll be tempting. I mean, it will grant you almost unlimited power.

At this Thalia's and Zeus's eyes gleams.

But if you possess it too long, it will consume you.

At this, the gleam disappears as they slump back in their seats. Percy whispers to Nico and Jason"Like Father, like daughter. " They try not to laugh only to get zapped by Thalia who only smirks at them.

Hide it for the next person, the way Sadie and I did for you.

"Smart move." Osiris nods his head in approval making the Kane siblings blush again at the open praise given to them by their father and Athena looks at them suspiciously.

Then be prepared for your life to get very interesting.

"That is one way to describe it. " Walt snorts.

Okay, Sadie is telling me to stop stalling and get on with the story.

"Thank you, Sadie. " The Greek gods and demigods sang loudly earning a glare from Carter.

Fine. I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum.

"Awesome" Ares hooted while Athena frowned. "That was not meant literally, right?"

My name is Carter Kane.

"Hello, book Carter" Travis jokes earning a glare from almost everyone.

I'm fourteen and my home is a suitcase.

You think I'm kidding?

At this, most demigods shake their heads. "We live like that whenever we go on quests" Percy answers to the questioning glances given by Egyptians.

Since I was eight years old, my dad and I have traveled the world.

"That. Is. So. Cool. "Annabeth says dreamily. Carter shifts nervously in his seat " It was not in our case. "

I was born in L.A. but my dad's an archaeologist, so his work takes him all over. Mostly we go to Egypt, since that's his specialty. Go into a bookstore, find a book about Egypt, there's a pretty good chance it was written by Dr. Julius Kane.

"Hold on, your father was the famous Egyptologist Dr Julius Kane."Annabeth and Athena exclaim. "Yup", Sadie and

Carter says proudly making Osiris blush.

"Why is he not here? I always wanted to meet him." Annabeth stated. "Oh trust me he is here. You will find out about him in further chapters. "Sadie says.

You want to know how Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built the pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb?

"nope, nope and definitely nope", Walt says hiding a shudder. Carter pats his shoulder while others look at him weirdly.

"I know all of them and even experienced the last one. "He simply answers.

My dad is your man. Of course, there are other reasons my dad moved around so much, but I didn't know his secret back then.

"You make it sound like he is a fugitive, not an archaeologist. " Piper stated. "Trust me he was much more than a fugitive then, "Zia said.

I didn't go to school. My dad homeschooled me, if you can call it "home" schooling when you don't have a home.

"Theoretically it should be called on-road schooling," Hermes said jokingly.

He sort of taught me whatever he thought was important, so I learned a lot about Egypt and basketball stats and my dad's favorite musicians. I read a lot, too—pretty much anything I could get my hands on, from dad's history books to fantasy novels—because I spent a lot of time sitting around in hotels and airports and dig sites in foreign countries where I didn't know anybody. My dad was always telling me to put the book down and play some ball. You ever try to start a game of pick-up basketball in Aswan, Egypt? It's not easy.

"Why is it not easy?" Hestia asks. "Well mostly because I didn't know their language and also it was a quite hot and humid place," Carter replies.

Anyway, my dad trained me early to keep all my possessions in a single suitcase that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment. My dad packed the same way, except he was allowed an extra workbag for his archaeology tools. Rule number one: I was not allowed to look in his workbag.

"Let me guess you never broke that rule?" Zia asked him.

That's a rule I never broke until the day of the explosion.

At this Zia blushes while Hermes and his sons, Apollo, Percy, Thalia and Nico shouted in sync "You never broke that rule? How are you even alive? " While Ares and Clarisse shout " AN EXPLOSION, AWESOME! "

Carter blushes at the first comment while other magicians raise their eyebrows at the second one. Carter simply rubs his forehead and murmurs" And here I thought only Horus has that defect", making people sitting near him hide their smiles.

It happened on Christmas Eve. We were in London for visitation day with my sister, Sadie.

See, Dad's only allowed two days a year with her—one in the winter, one in the summer—because our grandparents hate him.

" We know how it feels to see your parent only once or twice a year," The demigods' bar Nico said sympathetically. To this, Sadie replies with a sad smile"No worries. I don't have a problem now. Everything happens for a reason. I guess." "Wow, Sadie I didn't know you could be so thoughtful," Carter replies with fake astonishment earning laughter from everyone and a hard punch from his sister.

After our mom died, her parents (our grandparents) had this big court battle with Dad. After six lawyers, two fistfights, and a near-fatal attack with a spatula

"Don't even dare to ask "Carter replies to all the questioning glances. While Ruby becomes sad to see her family breaking like this.

(don't ask), they won the right to keep Sadie with them in England. She was only six, two years younger than me, and they couldn't keep us both—at least that was their excuse for not taking me. So Sadie was raised as a British schoolkid, and I traveled around with my dad. We only saw Sadie twice a year, which was fine with me.

"It was fine with you that you see me, your only sister, only twice a year. I take that as an insult to my pride because I state that I am a very lovable person. " Sadie declared mockingly causing the room to be filled with a roar of laughter.

[Shut up, Sadie. Yes—I'm getting to that part.]

Sadie blows a raspberry at her brother, who in turn, ignores her.

So anyway, my dad and I had just flown into Heathrow after a couple of delays. It was a drizzly, cold afternoon. The whole taxi ride into the city, my dad seemed kind of nervous.

Julius thinks with a frown Am I that easy to read making other Kanes hide their smile knowing what is going on in his head?

Now, my dad is a big guy. You wouldn't think anything could make him nervous. He has dark brown skin like mine, piercing brown eyes, a bald head, and a goatee, so he looks like a buff evil scientist.

"Buff evil scientist!" Osiris shouts at Carter making all the Greeks and Romans narrow their eyes suspiciously. Athena and Annabeth start thinking hard. On detecting that he might have given himself away Osiris says in a calmer voice to Carter "I doubt your father would like that description. " Carter replies with a shrug "I was only saying it to explain to the listeners of my dad's appearance."

That afternoon he wore his cashmere winter coat and his best brown suit, the one he used for public lectures. Usually he exudes so much confidence that he dominates any room he walks into, but sometimes—like that afternoon—I saw another side to him that I didn't really understand. He kept looking over his shoulder like we were being hunted.

Yep 'hunted' is the exact word that happened to us that day. " Carter amends.

"Dad?" I said as we were getting off the A-40. "What's wrong?"

"No sign of them," he muttered. Then he must've realized he'd spoken aloud, because he looked at me kind of startled. "Nothing, Carter. Everything's fine."

Which bothered me because my dad's a terrible liar.

So are you, Carter" Sadie says. "And you too Sadie" Carter counters her. "I believe, from what I have known, none of the Kanes is good liars," Zia states firmly while all the Egyptians shake their heads in agreement making the Greeks (A/N I am going to use Greeks for both Greeks and Romans.) laugh in amusement.

I always knew when he was hiding something, but I also knew no amount of pestering would get the truth out of him.

"And here my friends we find another family trait of Kanes which is stubbornness, "Zia remarked causing another roar of laughter.

He was probably trying to protect me, though from what I didn't know. Sometimes I wondered if he had some dark secret in his past, some old enemy following him, maybe; but the idea seemed ridiculous. Dad was just an archaeologist.

"I doubt I could be any farther than the truth," Carter commented gravely.

The other thing that troubled me: Dad was clutching his workbag. Usually when he does that, it means we're in danger. Like the time gunmen stormed our hotel in Cairo. I heard shots coming from the lobby and ran downstairs to check on my dad. By the time I got there, he was just calmly zipping up his workbag while three unconscious gunmen hung by their feet from the chandelier, their robes falling over their heads so you could see their boxer shorts. Dad claimed not to have witnessed anything, and in the end the police blamed a freak chandelier malfunction.

Except for Osiris, Sadie, Carter and Walt who knew about this incident, everyone else fell into fits of laughter with "That was awesome" and "Could you do that again" was heard all around the room. Someone even asked about the colour of their boxer shorts. Once everyone was in control the reading began again.

Another time, we got caught in a riot in Paris. My dad found the nearest parked car, pushed me into the backseat, and told me to stay down. I pressed myself against the floorboards and kept my eyes shut tight. I could hear Dad in the driver's seat, rummaging in his bag, mumbling something to himself while the mob yelled and destroyed things outside. A few minutes later he told me it was safe to get up. Every other car on the block had been overturned and set on fire. Our car had been freshly washed and polished, and several twenty-euro notes had been tucked under the windshield wipers.

"You didn't even look up. How could you do that?" All demigod boys and some immature gods *cough Apollo and Hermes cough* cried at Carter. While Annabeth said " You guys' stories rival ours. Seriously."

"Ahem. To answer your first question that is Carter to you. and second, to the comment, I would say I am more than happy to listen to your stories if they are as crazy as ours. At least I would know that people are suffering from a similar mental disorder as ours." Making demigods and magicians laugh while gods scowled at them for calling them 'mental disorders.

Anyway, I'd come to respect the bag. It was our good luck charm. But when my dad kept it close, it meant we were going to need good luck.

We drove through the city center, heading east toward my grandparents' flat. We passed the golden gates of Buckingham Palace, the big stone column in Trafalgar Square. London is a pretty cool place, but after you've traveled for so long, all cities start to blend together. Other kids I meet sometimes say, "Wow, you're so lucky you get to travel so much." But it's not like we spend our time sightseeing or have a lot of money to travel in style. We've stayed in some pretty rough places, and we hardly ever stay anywhere longer than a few days. Most of the time it feels like we're fugitives rather than tourists.

"Still you are traveling, " Annabeth says. "And that you were with Dad" Sadie adds silently. Julius looks at her to find her usually cheerful face a little sad and hesitates as if not knowing what to say.

To release the tension in the room Percy stated with mock seriousness " At least you get to bath every day during your fugitive period." causing tension to release "And not have to ask a pink poodle for directions" Making everyone bar Annabeth and Grover to look at him in confusion. "What, oh come on I was talking about my first quest where we had to ask a pink poodle for direction and Annabeth, Grover and I became fugitives and my stepfather even put money on me which backfired in his face as I gave all the electronics from his shop as a gift for all those who helped us. " By the time he finished, most of the people were looking at him with amusement and Sadie said, "When we take a break I am so going to ask for more details of that quest."

I mean, you wouldn't think my dad's work was dangerous. He does lectures on topics like "Can Egyptian Magic Really Kill You?" and "Favorite Punishments in the Egyptian Underworld" and other stuff most people wouldn't care about.

"To answer the above questions first is yes Egyptian magic can kill you and the second is I love the part of 'feeding your heart to a monster' punishment of our underworld" Bast replied. "Wait there is a punishment to feed the heart to a monster. That is so cool. Why don't we have one in ours." Nico cried to Hades who after much thought nodded his head and said " That is a pretty good way to punish. I am going to add it as soon as we return. " And then he materialised a notebook and pen to write them.

But like I said, there's that other side to him. He's always very cautious, checking every hotel room before he lets me walk into it. He'll dart into a museum to see some artifacts, take a few notes, and rush out again like he's afraid to be caught on the security cameras.

One time when I was younger, we raced across the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch a last-minute flight, and Dad didn't relax until the plane was off the ground, I asked him point blank what he was running from, and he looked at me like I'd just pulled the pin out of a grenade.

"I think your dad was overreacting Carter. We were not that much following him." Zia replies indignantly.

"What you were stalking your boyfriend's father? Oh, this is huge" Making Carter, Zia and, surprisingly for Greeks, Osiris glare at Leo. To relieve him of the torture Sadie said " No she was not stalking anyone. Dad was punished for some reasons you will find out about it later and was given a punishment again which you will find out later. And many magicians like Zia and people you will know about later were instructed to make sure he followed the punishment. Understood ." At this everyone other than Athena and Annabeth shook their heads negatively making Sadie sigh. " Oh come on read further and you will find it all out" Annabeth replied." You are saying as if you know the answers to the blanks" Piper said suspiciously. " Yes, I do except one. But I would like it better to be revealed in the story."At this, everyone accepted the answer and the reading began again.

For a second I was scared he might actually tell me the truth. Then he said, "Carter, it's nothing." As if "nothing" were the most terrible thing in the world.

After that, I decided maybe it was better not to ask questions.

"How could you decide not to ask questions ?" Throth looked at him disapprovingly.

My grandparents, the Fausts, live in a housing development near Canary Wharf, right on the banks of the River Thames. The taxi let us off at the curb, and my dad asked the driver to wait.

We were halfway up the walk when Dad froze. He turned and looked behind us.

"What?" I asked.

Then I saw the man in the trench coat. He was across the street, leaning against a big dead tree. He was barrel shaped, with skin the color of roasted coffee.

Amos looks at Carter and Sadie questioningly at the barrel shape description. Carter and Sadie flush at that look while other Egyptians try not to laugh at Amos while at the same time praying to anyone listening that they may be described by Carter in the story.

On the other hand, Greeks look confused at the reactions and are thinking who could be that is described in the book? While Gods are even more weirded out by the prayers of Egyptian gods.

His coat and black pinstriped suit looked expensive. He had long braided hair and wore a black fedora pulled down low over his dark round glasses. He reminded me of a jazz musician, the kind my dad would always drag me to see in concert.

Even though I couldn't see his eyes, I got the impression he was watching us. He might've been an old friend or colleague of Dad's.

"Ok spill out why are you being so weird? " Jason asks. "And who the hades are this person friend or foe?" Piper continued making Lord Hades frown." And why they are praying that Carter does not describe them in the book. ", Athena finished pointing at the Egyptian gods making Carter scowl at them.

"To answer your questions -", Osiris began only to be cut off by his daughter who said " No wait, first does anyone wishes to guess who the person is ?", looking at Annabeth. Annabeth immediately said, " I am 99 % sure it is your uncle Amos sitting there who looks quite livid by that description ." "And I presume that you found that out not because of barrel shape part. " "No I assure you I did not guess because of that. And to answer Mom's question these gods are praying because as we can see Carter has to say it simply a weird way of describing people soo... You guys get it right." At this, all Greeks nod their head in understanding while Grover comments " His descriptive ways rival that of Percy's you know." Eliciting a"hey" from Percy makes demigods nod their heads and magicians laugh at their jokes.

No matter where we went, Dad was always running into people he knew. But it did seem strange that the guy was waiting here, outside my grandparents'. And he didn't look happy.

"Carter," my dad said, "go on ahead."

"But—"

"Get your sister. I'll meet you back at the taxi."

He crossed the street toward the man in the trench coat, which left me with two choices: follow my dad and see what was going on, or do what I was told.

I decided on the slightly less dangerous path. I went to retrieve my sister.

"Wait I was the less dangerous path" Sadie raised one eyebrow at Carter. " Now that I think about it should have said it as 'I decided to take the more dangerous path as I am a daredevil.'" Making Sadie blush at his comment and punch him. Zia and Walt snickered at his comment.

Before I could even knock, Sadie opened the door.

"Late as usual," she said.

She was holding her cat, Muffin, who'd been a "going away" gift from Dad six years before.

Oh not her please for the sake of maat let him not describe her Bast thought with a frown making Zia, Walt, and Sadie control their laugh while Carter huffed indignantly.

Muffin never seemed to get older or bigger. She had fuzzy yellow-and-black fur like a miniature leopard, alert yellow eyes, and pointy ears that were too tall for her head. A silver Egyptian pendant dangled from her collar. She didn't look anything like a muffin, but Sadie had been little when she named her, so I guess you have to cut her some slack.

Sadie hadn't changed much either since last summer.

[As I'm recording this, she's standing next to me, glaring, so I'd better be careful how I describe her.]

You would never guess she's my sister. First of all, she'd been living in England so long, she has a British accent. Second, she takes after our mom, who was white, so Sadie's skin is much lighter than mine. She has straight caramel-colored hair, not exactly blond but not brown, which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors. That day it had red streaks down the left side. Her eyes are blue. I'm serious. Blue eyes, just like our mom's. She's only twelve, but she's exactly as tall as me, which is really annoying.

Greeks notice that bar the British accent, age now that she was 14, height Carter was almost a head taller than her and the colour of the streak which was blue down her right side, everything else was the same as he described her in the book.

She was chewing gum as usual, dressed for her day out with Dad in battered jeans, a leather jacket, and combat boots, like she was going to a concert and was hoping to stomp on some people. She had headphones dangling around her neck in case we bored her.

[Okay, she didn't hit me, so I guess I did an okay job of describing her.]

"No Carter you think very highly of me to think that I was even listening to you" Sadie replied mockingly. All other Magicians simply nodded their head knowing Sadie was the only person on Earth to never listen to Pharaoh.

"Our plane was late," I told her.

She popped a bubble, rubbed Muffin's head, and tossed the cat inside. "Gran, going out!"

From somewhere in the house, Grandma Faust said something I couldn't make out, probably "Don't let them in!"

"Yep, unfortunately, those were the exact words of Gran," Sadie says sadly making Osiris and Ruby frown.

Sadie closed the door and regarded me as if I were a dead mouse her cat had just dragged in. "So, here you are again."

" Nope, my muffin has better tastes," Sadie replies winking at Bast

"Yep."

"Come on, then." She sighed. "Let's get on with it."

That's the way she was. No "Hi, how you been the last six months? So glad to see you!" or anything. But that was okay with me. When you only see each other twice a year, it's like you're distant cousins rather than siblings. We had absolutely nothing in common except our parents.

Zia said" I can happily assure you that - just as everyone present here has seen- you both have a lot more in common than just your parents like your inability to lie, your stubbornness, your curiosity, your-" "Ok no need to list our similarities here. As you said everyone has seen." Carter and Sadie cut her off." I think we got another one." Percy teased. "Ok, let us move on with the book otherwise it won't end any time soon. It is quite thick. " Walt said. Everyone nodded their head.