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Carter grimaced. ‘That’s her point, Sadie. Percy isn’t the usual kind of host. If the pairing worked, he could be very powerful.’
‘Or it could melt his brain!’ Sadie said.
‘Hold it,’ Annabeth said. ‘I prefer my boyfriend with an unmelted brain. What exactly are we talking about here?’
Carter wagged the Yankees cap at me. ‘Nekhbet wants Percy to be her host. That’s one way the Egyptian gods maintain a presence in the mortal world. They can inhabit mortals’ bodies.’
My stomach jackknifed. ‘You want her –’ I pointed at the frazzled old vulture goddess – ‘to inhabit me? That sounds …’
I tried to think of a word that would convey my complete disgust without offending the goddess. I failed.
‘Nekhbet –’ Annabeth stepped forward – ‘join with me instead. I’m a child of Athena. I might be better –’
‘Ridiculous!’ The goddess sneered. ‘Your mind is too wily, girl – too stubborn and intelligent. I couldn’t steer you as easily.’
‘Steer me?’ I protested. ‘Hey, lady, I’m not a Toyota.’
‘My host needs a certain level of simplicity,’ the goddess continued. ‘Percy Jackson is perfect. He is powerful, yet his mind is not overly crowded with plans and ideas.’
‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Really feeling the love here.’
Nekhbet rounded on me. ‘There is no time to argue! Without a physical anchor, I cannot remain in the mortal world much longer. If you want to stop Setne from becoming immortal, you need the power of a god. We must act now. Together, we will triumph! We will feast upon that upstart magician’s carcass!’
I swallowed. ‘I’m actually trying to cut back on carcass feasting.’
Carter gave me a sympathetic look that only made me feel worse. ‘Unfortunately, Nekhbet is right. Percy, you’re our best shot. Sadie and I couldn’t host Nekhbet even if she wanted us to. We already have patron gods.’
‘Who, conveniently, have gone silent,’ Sadie noted. ‘Scared of getting their essences sucked up, I suppose.’
Nekhbet fixed her glittery black eyes on me. ‘Do you consent to hosting me, demigod?’
I could think of a million ways to say no. The word yes simply wouldn’t pass my lips. I glanced at Annabeth for support, but she looked as alarmed as I felt.
‘I – I don’t know, Percy,’ she confessed. ‘This is way beyond me.’
Suddenly the rainstorm fizzled out. In the eerie muggy quiet, a red glow lit the middle of the island, as if somebody had started a bonfire on the soccer fields.
‘That would be Setne,’ Nekhbet said. ‘He has begun his ascension to godhood. What is your answer, Percy Jackson? This will only work properly if you consent.’
I took a deep breath. I told myself that hosting a goddess couldn’t be worse than all the other weird horrible things I’d experienced in my demigod career … Besides, my friends needed my help. And I did not want that skinny Elvis impersonator to become a god and build a McPalace in
my neighbourhood.
‘All right,’ I said. ‘Vulture me up.’
Nekhbet dissolved into black smoke. She swirled around me – filling my nostrils with a smell like boiling tar.
What was it like merging with a god?
If you want the full details, read my Yelp review. I don’t feel like going into it again. I gave the experience half a star.
For now, let’s just say that being possessed by a vulture goddess was even more disturbing than I’d imagined.
Thousands of years of memories flooded my mind. I saw pyramids rising from the desert, the sun glittering on the River Nile. I heard priests chanting in the cool shadows of a temple and smelled myrrh incense on the air. I soared over the cities of Ancient Egypt, circling the palace of the pharaoh. I was the vulture goddess Nekhbet – protector of the king, shield of the strong, scourge of the weak and dying.
I also had a burning desire to find a nice warm hyena carcass, stick my face right in there and –
Okay, basically I wasn’t myself.
