A/N Hey! Welcome back. It's been a long time. This is 3rd last chapter before the demigods and gods would visit the 21st Nome as earlier it was supposed to be like 5 chaps of the book before lunch and 1 after it. But Apollo, Hermes and Ares destroy my plan. So now the tour is after reading 3 chapters of the book. Hope you will like it.

CHAPTER 20: We Run from Four Guys in Skirts

Nico's pov.

I can't believe these guys use magic so easily. And they are soo cool. Especially Carter and Sadie. Anyway, we just returned from lunch. Now, we will read another 3 chapters and then the tour is on. Lady Hera picked up the book and started to read.

Chapter 9. We Run from Four Guys in Skirts.

Everyone laughed. "You ran from men who were wearing skirts." " Seriously, I had never heard anyone call the carrier's men in skirts." "You know how to name a chapter." I think you can guess who said what.

SO, YEAH. OUR CAT WAS A GODDESS.

"You Cat is The cat goddess Bast, not any goddess." Lady Bast huffed.

What else is new?

" Oh so many things are going to be new" " Your girlfriend will be a shabti. Your father will become a host. Your life is going to change forever, Carter " Sadie patted him.

She didn't give us much time to talk about it. She ordered me to the library to grab my dad's magic kit, and when I came back she was arguing with Sadie about Khufu and Philip.

"So Sadie got the harder job?" Lord Apollo asked. Nobody answered.

"We have to search for them!" Sadie insisted.

"Yes, you should!" Grover cried.

"They'll be fine," said Bast. "However, we will not be, unless we leave now."

" How can they be fine, even if they are magic, they are still animals?" Grover cried. " You will see," Sadie replied.

I raised my hand. "Um, excuse me, Miss Goddess Lady?

"Miss Goddess Lady? I have never seen anyone pay so much respect to a cat." We laughed. Bast glared at me.

Amos told us the house was—" "Safe?" Bast snorted. "Carter, the defenses were too easily breached. Someone sabotaged them." "What do you mean? Who—" "Only a magician of the House could've done it."

"Why would a magician do that? Is he allowed to do that?" "Technically, no magicians are not allowed to do that. The punishment for it is the 360th norm which is in Antarctica. As to answer your first question, daughter of Athena, they might breach other magicians' base if they hate them or have some enmity with them. "

"Another magician?" I asked. "Why would another magician want to sabotage Amos's house?" "Oh, Carter," Bast sighed. "So young, so innocent. Magicians are devious creatures. Could be a million reasons why one would backstab another, but we don't have time to discuss it. Now, come on!"

"Hey, we feel insulted." Julius and Ruby huffed. " You are not teaching them the right thing."

She grabbed our arms and led us out the front door. She'd sheathed her knives, but she still had some wicked sharp claws for fingernails that hurt as they dug into my skin. As soon as we stepped outside, the cold wind stung my eyes. We climbed down a long flight of metal stairs into the industrial yard that surrounded the factory. Dad's workbag was heavy on my shoulder. The curved sword I'd strapped across my back felt cold against my thin linen clothes. I'd started to sweat during the Serpopard attack, and now my perspiration felt like it was turning to ice.

"I know how that feels!" Percy replied rubbing his head." The first quest is so scary and confusing." " You won't know where the next monster will come from and what it will be?" Sadie added. "It's sometimes fun and helps in the groundwork for who we are." Carter finished and they shared a smile. All of us nodded remembering our first quest.

I looked around for more monsters, but the yard seemed abandoned. Old construction equipment lay in rusting heaps—a bulldozer, a crane with a wrecking ball, a couple of cement mixers. Piles of sheet metal and stacks of crates made a maze of obstacles between the house and the street a few hundred yards away.

"Humans! No regard for nature. " Grover wailed.

We were about halfway across the yard when an old gray tomcat stepped in our path. One of his ears was torn. His left eye was swollen shut. Judging from his scars, he'd spent most of his life fighting. Bast crouched and stared at the cat. He looked up at her calmly. "Thank you," Bast said. The old tomcat trotted off toward the river.

"Let me guess, you can talk to cats?" Grover asked. "Yes!" Came the reply.

"What was that about?" Sadie asked. "One of my subjects, offering help. He'll spread the news about our predicament. Soon every cat in New York will be on alert. "He was so battered," Sadie said. "If he's your subject, couldn't you heal him?"

"Cats! Their scars are very important for them." Grover informed depressed about the fate of the animals. G-man has his own priorities.

"And take away his marks of honor? A cat's battle scars are part of his identity. I couldn't—" Suddenly Bast tensed. She dragged us behind a stack of crates.

"What is it?" Julius and Ruby asked, alerted.

"What is it?" I whispered. She flexed her wrists and her knives slid into her hands. She peeped over the top of the crates, every muscle in her body trembling. I tried to see what she was looking at, but there was nothing except the old wrecking-ball crane.

Now they groaned. "One of the bad effects of having cat goddess as our protector," Sadie replied smiling while Lady Bast huffed. Her smile is soo pretty. Stop there Nico, she has a boyfriend.

Bast's mouth twitched with excitement. Her eyes were fixed on the huge metal ball. I'd seen kittens look like that when they stalked catnip toy mice, or pieces of string, or rubber balls...Balls? No. Bast was an ancient goddess. Surely she wouldn't—

"Even if she is a goddess, there is no turning back to her catty ways" Carter snorted.

"This could be it." She shifted her weight. "Stay very very still."

"There's no one there," Sadie hissed. I started to say, "Um..."Bast lunged over the crates. She flew thirty feet through the air, knives flashing, and landed on the wrecking ball with such force that she broke the chain. The cat goddess and the huge metal sphere smashed into the dirt and went rolling across the yard.

"Awesome, you should have made a video of that" Lord Hermes and his sons shouted only to get hit by people sitting next to them.

"Rowww!" Bast wailed. The wrecking ball rolled straight over her, but she didn't appear hurt. She leaped off and pounced again. Her knives sliced through the metal like wet clay. Within seconds, the wrecking ball was reduced to a mound of scraps.

"Woohoo! Go, Bast!" Most of us cheered.

Bast sheathed her blades. "Safe now! "Sadie and I looked at each other. "You saved us from a metal ball," Sadie said. "You never know," Bast said. "It could've been hostile."

Everyone gave her a Are you serious! look.

Just then a deep boom! shook the ground. I looked back at the mansion.

"You delayed them!" Julius and Ruby glared at Bast.

Tendrils of blue fire curled from the top windows. "Come on," Bast said. "Our time is up!" I thought maybe she'd whisk us off by magic, or at least hail a taxi. Instead, Bast borrowed a silver Lexus convertible.

"Awesome!" We boys shouted.

"Oh, yes," she purred. "I like this one! Come along, children." "But this isn't yours," I pointed out. "My dear, I'm a cat. Everything I see is mine." She touched the ignition and the keyhole sparked. The engine began to purr.

"Like a cat?" I asked.

[No, Sadie. Not like a cat, like an engine.]

"Oh!" I replied. Everyone looked at me weirdly.

"Bast," I said, "you can't just—"

"You are thinking about morals, when you should run for your safety!" Sons of Hermes groaned. Even I had to admit they were right.

Sadie elbowed me. "We'll work out how to return it later, Carter. Right now we've got an emergency."

She pointed back toward the mansion. Blue flames and smoke now billowed from every window. But that wasn't the scary part—coming down the stairs were four men carrying a large box, like an oversize coffin with long handles sticking out at both ends.

"What?" We exclaimed thinking how dangerous they could be. But the Egyptians looked worried so we didn't comment on them.

The box was covered with a black shroud and looked big enough for at least two bodies. The four men wore only kilts and sandals. Their coppery skin glinted in the sun as if made of metal.

"Oh, that's bad," Bast said. "In the car, please."

" Bad was a very weak word for that," Ruby said scared for her kids.

I decided not to ask questions. Sadie beat me to the shotgun seat so I climbed in back. The four metallic guys with the box were racing across the yard, coming straight for us at an unbelievable speed. Before I even had my seat belt on, Bast hit the gas.

We tore through the streets of Brooklyn, weaving insanely through traffic, riding over sidewalks, and narrowly missing pedestrians.

Bast turned red at all the admonishing glances.

Bast drove with reflexes that were...well, catlike. Any human trying to drive so fast would've had a dozen wrecks, but she got us safely onto the Williamsburg Bridge.

Ruby sighed in relief. " The sounds like the time when I came to camp for the first time. Except mom was at the wheels and she drove like a pro car racer." Percy laughed and we snorted. Most of us have heard that story.

I thought for sure we must've lost our pursuers, but when I looked back, the four copper men with the black box were weaving in and out of traffic. They appeared to be jogging at a normal pace, but they passed cars that were doing fifty. Their bodies blurred like choppy images in an old movie, as if they were out of sync with the regular stream of time.

"They can be quite tenacious," Zia commented. " Who are they? " She pointed towards the book.

"What are they?" I asked. "Shabti?"

"No, carriers." Bast glanced in the rearview mirror. "Summoned straight from the Duat. They'll stop at nothing to find their victims, throw them in the sedan—"

"Isn't that a car?" "They both are different things. "

"The what?" Sadie interrupted.

"The large box," Bast said. "It's a kind of carriage. The carriers capture you, beat you senseless, throw you in, and carry you back to their master. They never lose their prey, and they never give up."

Now I understood what they were worried about. Jeez Egyptian

"But what do they want us for?"

" Most probably not your dressing sense." Piper teased Carter. Sadie laughed while Carter blushed.

"Trust me," Bast growled, "you don't want to know.

I thought about the fiery man last night in Phoenix—how he'd fried one of his servants into a grease spot. I was pretty sure I didn't want to meet him face-to-face again.

Set crackled like a true villain.

"Bast," I said, "if you're a goddess, can't you just snap your fingers and disintegrate those guys? Or wave your hand and teleport us away?"

"Wouldn't that be nice? But my power in this host is limited."

" You mean your powers depend on your hosts. So if you have a powerful host, that means you will be very powerful on Earth." Jason commented thoughtfully. " You are partially correct. If the Host hosts a powerful god or goddess then it will make them both powerful. But too much usage of power can burn you alive." Carter explained. " Dam this hosting business sounds scary," Thalia muttered

"You mean Muffin?" Sadie asked. "But you're not a cat anymore."

"She's still my host, Sadie, my anchor on this side of the Duat—and a very imperfect one. Your call for help allowed me to assume human shape, but that alone takes a great deal of power. Besides, even when I'm in a powerful host, Set's magic is stronger than mine."

" Yeah! That is true." Set said smugly.

"Could you please say something I actually understand?" I pleaded.

"No! These adults love to talk in riddles." Leo commented.

"Carter, we don't have time for a full discussion on gods and hosts and the limits of magic! We have to get you to safety."

" That is why we don't tell you everything, because half the time we are trying to save you," Bast commented back.

Bast floored the accelerator and shot up the middle of the bridge. The four carriers with the sedan raced after us, blurring the air as they moved, but no cars swerved to avoid them. No one panicked or even looked at them.

" Mist! I bet they didn't tell you about it either." " No, and we call it glamour. "

"How can people not see them?" I said. "Don't they notice four copper men in skirts running up the bridge with a weird black box?"

Bast shrugged. "Cats can hear many sounds you can't. Some animals see things in the ultraviolet spectrum that are invisible to humans. Magic is similar. Did you notice the mansion when you first arrived?"

"Well...no."

"That is because you have lived in the mortal world so much, mist or glamour, as you say it, starts affecting you just as they do to the mortals." Lord Hermes informed.

"And you are born to magic," Bast said. "Imagine how hard it would be for a regular mortal."

"Born to magic?" I remembered what Amos had said about our family being in the House of Life for a long time. "If magic, like, runs in the family, why haven't I ever been able to do it before?"

"That is because you didn't know about it."

Bast smiled in the mirror. "Your sister understands."

"That would be the first and the last time. " Walt snorted and Carter smirked. Sadie punched them both.

Sadie's ears turned red. "No, I don't! I still can't believe you're a goddess. All these years, you've been eating crunchy treats, sleeping on my head—"

"That is awkward," I said making a face of disgust. Who would want a living person to sleep on their head?

"I made a deal with your father," Bast said. "He let me remain in the world as long as I assumed a minor form, a normal housecat, so I could protect and watch over you. It was the least I could do after—" She stopped abruptly.

"BAST!" Julius and Ruby shouted at the Cat goddess.

A horrible thought occurred to me. My stomach fluttered, and it had nothing to do with how fast we were going. "After our mom's death?" I guessed.

They both groaned. We leaned in to know more about them.

Bast stared straight ahead out the windshield.

"That's it, isn't it?" I said. "Dad and Mom did some kind of magic ritual at Cleopatra's Needle. Something went wrong. Our mom died and...and they released you?"

"That is partially true." Most of the Egyptians said.

"That's not important right now," Bast said. "The point is I agreed to look after Sadie. And I will."

She was hiding something. I was sure of it, but her tone made it clear that the subject was closed.

" When do they not hide from us." Sadie huffed at her parents and caretaker gods.

"If you gods are so powerful and helpful," I said, "why does the House of Life forbid magicians from summoning you?"

Bast swerved into the fast lane. "Magicians are paranoid.

"No, they are not," Zia said crossly.

Your best hope is to stay with me. We'll get as far away as possible from New York. Then we'll get help and challenge Set."

"What help?" Sadie asked.

Bast raised an eyebrow. "Why, we'll summon more gods, of course."

"Fine help they did. We ended up losing our father and uncle and had to become the leaders of our Nome. Also, the House of Life considered us traitors and our biggest enemy started to rise." Sadie might have commented more but Carter interrupted her by saying. "You are spoiling the book, Sadie." We smiled at that girl. "The chapter ends. Now who will read ?"