“Inauspicious?” I frowned. “But inauspicious is bad. Why would they…oh.”
I realized for the forces of Chaos, our bad days must’ve been their good days. That meant they probably had a lot of good days.
Amos leaned on his staff. His hair seemed to be turning gray before my eyes. I remembered Michel Desjardins, the last Chief Lector, and how quickly he had aged. I couldn’t bear the idea of that happening to Amos.
“We don’t have the strength to defeat our enemies,” he said. “I will have to use other means.”
“Amos, no,” Zia said. “Please.”
I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. Zia sounded horrified, and anything that scared her, I didn’t want to know about.
“Actually,” I said, “Carter and I have a plan.”
I told them about our idea of using Apophis’s own shadow against him. Perhaps saying this in front of Leonid was reckless, but he had risked his life to warn us about Sarah Jacobi’s plans. He had trusted me. The least I could do was return the favor.
When I finished explaining, Amos gazed at his map. “I’ve never heard of such magic. Even if it’s possible—”
“It is,” I insisted. “Why else would Apophis delay his Doomsday attack so he could track down and destroy every scroll by this fellow Setne? Apophis is afraid we’ll figure out the spell and stop him.”
Zia crossed her arms. “But you can’t. You just said all copies were destroyed.”
“We’ll ask Thoth for help,” I said. “Carter’s on his way there now. And in the meantime…I have an errand to run. I may be able to test our theory about shadows.”
“How?” Amos asked.
I told him what I had in mind.
He looked as if he wanted to object, but he must’ve seen the defiance in my eyes. We’re related, after all. He knows how stubborn Kanes can be when they set their minds to something.
“Very well,” he said. “First you must eat and rest. You can leave at dawn. Zia, I want you to go with her.”
Zia looked startled. “Me? But I might…I mean, is it wise?”
Again I got the feeling I’d missed an important conversation. What had Amos and Zia been discussing?
“You’ll be fine,” Amos assured her. “Sadie will need your help. And I will arrange for someone else to watch Ra during the day.”
She looked quite nervous, which wasn’t like her. Zia and I had had our differences in the past, but she’d never been short of confidence. Now I almost felt worried for her.
“Cheer up,” I told her. “It’ll be a laugh. Quick trip to the Netherworld, fiery lake of doom. What could go wrong?”
C A R T E R
7. I Get Strangled by an Old Friend
SO, YEAH.
Sadie goes off on a side adventure with some guy, leaving me to do the boring work of figuring out how to save the world. Why does this sound familiar? Oh, right. That’s the way Sadie always is. If it’s time to move forward, you can count on her to veer sideways on some ADHD tangent of her own.
[Why are you thanking me, Sadie? That wasn’t a compliment.]
After the Brooklyn Academy dance, I was pretty miffed. Bad enough being forced to slow-dance with Sadie’s friend Lacy. But passing out on the dance floor, waking up with Lacy snoring in my armpit, and then finding out I’d missed visits from two gods—that was just embarrassing.
After Sadie and the Russian guy left, I got our crew back to Brooklyn House. Walt was confused to see us so soon. I pulled him and Bast aside for a quick conference on the terrace. I explained what Sadie had told me about Shu, Anubis, and the Russian dude Leonid.
“I’ll take Freak to Memphis,” I said. “Be back as soon as I talk to Thoth.”
“I’m going with you,” Walt said.