“No!” Felix cried.
The room rumbled, much stronger this time.
Khufu screamed and jumped on Carter’s head, knocking him to the floor. Under different circumstances that would’ve been funny, but I realized Khufu had just saved my brother’s life.
Where Carter had been standing, the floor dissolved, marble tiles crumbling as if broken apart by an invisible jackhammer. The area of disruption snaked across the room, destroying everything in its path, sucking artifacts into the ground and chewing them to bits. Yes…snaked was the right word. The destruction slithered exactly like a serpent, heading straight for the back wall and the Book
of Overcoming Apophis.
“Scroll!” I shouted.
No one seemed to hear. Carter was still on the floor, trying to pry Khufu off his head. Felix knelt in shock at the puddles of his penguins, while Walt and Alyssa tried to pull him away from the fiery criosphinxes.
I slipped my wand from my belt and shouted the first word of power that came to mind: “Drowah!”
Golden hieroglyphs—the command for Boundary—blazed in the air. A wall of light flashed between the display case and the advancing line of destruction:
I’d often used this spell to separate quarreling initiates or to protect the snack cupboard from late-night nom-nom raids, but I’d never tried it for something so important.
As soon as the invisible jackhammer reached my shield, the spell began to fall apart. The disturbance spread up the wall of light, shaking it to pieces. I tried to concentrate, but a much more powerful force—Chaos itself—was working against me, invading my mind and scattering my magic.
In a panic, I realized I couldn’t let go. I was locked in a battle I couldn’t win. Apophis was shredding my thoughts as easily as he’d shredded the floor.
Walt knocked the wand out of my hands.
Darkness washed over me. I slumped into Walt’s arms. When my vision cleared, my hands were burned and steaming. I was too shocked to feel the pain. The Book of Overcoming Apophis was gone. Nothing remained except a pile of rubble and a massive hole in the wall, as if a tank had smashed through.
Despair threatened to close up my throat, but my friends gathered around me. Walt held me steady. Carter drew his sword. Khufu showed his fangs and barked at the criosphinxes. Alyssa wrapped her arms around Felix, who was sobbing into her sleeve. He had quickly lost his courage when his penguins were taken away.
“So that’s it?” I shouted at the criosphinxes. “Burn up the scroll and run away as usual? Are you so afraid to show yourself in person?”
More laughter rolled through the room. The criosphinxes stood unmoving in the doorway, but figurines and jewelry rattled in the display cases. With a painful creaking sound, the golden baboon statue that Khufu had been chatting up suddenly turned its head.
“But I am everywhere.” The serpent spoke through the statue’s mouth. “I can destroy anything you value…and anyone you value.”
Khufu wailed in outrage. He launched himself at the baboon and knocked it over. It melted into a steaming pool of gold.
A different statue came to life—a gilded wooden pharaoh with a hunting spear. Its eyes turned the color of blood. Its carved mouth twisted into a smile. “Your magic is weak, Sadie Kane. Human civilization has grown as old and rotten. I will swallow the sun god and plunge your world into darkness. The Sea of Chaos will consume you all.”
As if the energy were too much for it to contain, the pharaoh statue burst. Its pedestal disintegrated, and another line of evil jackhammer magic snaked across the room, churning up the floor tiles. It headed for a display against the east wall—a small golden cabinet.
Save it, said a voice inside me—possibly my subconscious, or possibly the voice of Isis, my patron goddess. We’d shared thoughts so many times, it was hard to be sure.
I remembered what the face in the wall had told me…Go for the golden box. That’ll give you a clue about what you need.
“The box!” I yelped. “Stop him!”
My friends stared at me. From somewhere outside, another explosion shook the building. Chunks of plaster rained from the ceiling.
“Are these children the best you could send against me?” Apophis spoke from an ivory shabti in the nearest case—a miniature sailor on a toy boat. “Walt Stone…you are the luckiest. Even if you survive tonight, your sickness will kill you before my great victory. You won’t have to watch your world destroyed.”
Walt staggered. Suddenly I was supporting him. My burned hands hurt so badly, I had to fight down a surge of nausea.
The line of destruction trundled across the floor, still heading for the golden cabinet. Alyssa thrust out her staff and barked a command.
For a moment, the floor stabilized, smoothing into a solid sheet of gray stone. Then new cracks appeared, and the force of Chaos blasted its way through.
“Brave Alyssa,” the serpent said, “the earth you love will dissolve into Chaos. You will have no place to stand!”