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I didn’t know vultures could hiss, but Nekhbet did. Smoke billowed from her wings.
All around the clearing, Setne’s earth magic shattered. The tendrils of red sand fell to the ground with a loud slosh, and suddenly I could move again. Sadie struggled to her feet. Annabeth ran to my side.
Setne didn’t seem concerned about us.
He gave Nekhbet a mock bow. ‘Very impressive. But watch this!’
He didn’t need to read from the scroll this time. He shouted a combination of Greek and Egyptian – words I recognized from the spell he’d used back at the fort.
I locked eyes with Annabeth. I could tell we were thinking the same thing. We couldn’t let Setne consume the goddess.
Sadie raised her muddy piece of papyrus. ‘Annabeth, you and Percy get Nekhbet out of here. GO!’
No time to argue. Annabeth and I ploughed into the goddess like linebackers and pushed her across the field, away from Setne.
Behind us, Sadie yelled, ‘Ke-rau-noh!’
I didn’t see the explosion, but it must have been impressive.
Annabeth and I were thrown forward. We landed on top of Nekhbet, who let out an indignant squawk. (By the way, I would not recommend stuffing your pillow with vulture feathers. They’re not very comfy.)
I managed to get up. Where Setne had been standing was a smoking crater.
Sadie’s hair was singed at the tips. Her scroll was gone. Her eyes were wide with surprise. ‘That was brilliant. Did I get him?’
‘Nope!’ Setne appeared a few feet away, stumbling a little. His clothes were smouldering, but he looked more dazed than hurt.
He knelt and picked up something conical and white … Nekhbet’s crown, which must’ve rolled off when we tackled her.
‘Thanks for this.’ Setne spread his arms triumphantly – the white crown in one hand, the Book of Thoth in the other. ‘Now, where was I? Oh, right! Consuming all of you!’
Across the field, Carter’s voice yelled: ‘STAHP!’
I guess stahp is actually a word in Ancient Egyptian. Who knew?
A bright blue hieroglyph scythed through the air, cutting off Setne’s right hand at the wrist.
Setne shrieked in pain. The Book of Thoth dropped into the grass.
Twenty feet away from me, Carter appeared out of thin air, holding Annabeth’s Yankees cap. He wasn’t in giant-chicken mode, but, since he’d just saved our lives, I wasn’t going to complain.
Setne glanced down at the Book of Thoth, still in his severed hand, but I lunged forward, thrusting the point of my new sword under his nose. ‘I don’t think so.’
The magician snarled. ‘Take the book, then! I don’t need it any more!’
He vanished in a whirl of darkness.
On the ground behind me, the vulture goddess Nekhbet thrashed and pushed Annabeth aside. ‘Get off me!’
‘Hey, lady –’ Annabeth rose – ‘I was trying to keep you from being devoured. You’re welcome.’
The vulture goddess got to her feet.
/> She didn’t look nearly as impressive without her crown. Her hairdo was a mud-and-grass salad. Her black dress had turned into a smock of moulting feathers. She looked shrivelled and hunched over, with her neck sticking out like … well, a vulture. All she needed was a cardboard sign saying, HOMELESS, ANYTHING HELPS, and I totally would have given her my spare change.
‘You miserable children,’ she grumbled. ‘I could have destroyed that magician!’
‘Not so much,’ I said. ‘A few minutes ago, we watched Setne inhale a cobra goddess. She was a lot more impressive than you.’
