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Make sense to you?
Me neither.
‘Your invisibility cap,’ I said. ‘It’s working again, right? How about I distract Setne while you sneak up behind him? You can knock the book out of his hands.’
Annabeth knitted her eyebrows. Even with her blonde hair plastered to the side of her face, she looked cute. Her eyes were the same colour as the storm clouds.
‘Setne is supposedly the world’s greatest magician,’ she said. ‘He might be able to see through invisibility. Plus, if you run out there, he’ll probably zap you with a spell. Believe me, Egyptian magic is not something you want to get zapped with.’
‘I know. Carter walloped me with a glowing blue fist once. But unless you have a better idea …’
Unfortunately, she didn’t offer one. She pulled her New York Yankees cap from her backpack. ‘Give me a minute’s head start. Try to take out those flying snakes first. They should be softer targets.’
‘Got it.’ I raised my ballpoint pen, which doesn’t sound like an impressive weapon, but it turns into a magic sword when I uncap it. No, seriously. ‘Will a Celestial bronze blade kill them?’
Annabeth frowned. ‘It should. At least … my bronze dagger worked on the staff of Serapis. Of course, that bronze dagger was made from an Egyptian wand, so …’
‘I’m getting a headache. Usually when I get a headache it’s time to stop talking and attack something.’
‘Fine. Just remember: our main goal is to get that scroll. According to Sadie, Setne can use it to turn himself immortal.’
‘Understood. No bad guys turning immortal on my watch.’ I kissed her, because 1) when you’re a demigod going into battle, every kiss might be your last, and 2) I like kissing her. ‘Be careful.’
She put on her Yankees cap and vanished.
I’d love to tell you that I walked in and killed the snakes, Annabeth stabbed Elvis in the back and took his scroll, and we went home happy.
You’d figure once in a while things would work out the way we planned.
But noooooo.
I gave Annabeth a few seconds to sneak into the courtyard.
Then I uncapped my pen, and Riptide sprang to full length – three feet of razor-sharp Celestial bronze. I strolled into the courtyard and sliced the nearest serpent out of the air.
Nothing says Hi, neighbour! like killing a guy’s flying reptile.
The snake didn’t disintegrate like most monsters I’d fought. Its two halves just landed in the wet grass. The half with wings flopped around aimlessly.
Crazy Elvis didn’t notice. He kept pacing back and forth, engrossed in his scroll, so I moved further into the courtyard and sliced another snake.
The storm made it hard to see. Normally I can stay dry when submersed in water, but rain is trickier. It needled my skin and got in my eyes.
Lightning flashed. By the time my vision cleared, two more snakes were dive-bombing me from either side. I jumped backwards just as they blew fire.
FYI, jumping backwards is hard when you’re holding a sword. It’s even harder when the ground is muddy.
Long story short: I slipped a
nd landed on my butt.
Flames shot over my head. The two snakes circled above me like they were too surprised to attack again. Probably they were wondering, Did that guy just fall on his butt on purpose? Should we laugh before we kill him? Would that be mean?
Before they could decide what to do, Crazy Elvis called out, ‘Leave him!’
The snakes darted off to join their brethren, who were orbiting ten feet above the magician.
I wanted to get up and face Setne, but my rear end had other ideas. It wanted to stay where it was and be in extreme pain. Butts are like that sometimes. They can be, well, butts.
