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‘So my girlfriend is a magician now, like, permanently? Because she was scary enough before.’
Annabeth
laughed. ‘Don’t worry, Seaweed Brain. The effect of learning Sadie’s ren is already wearing off. I’ll never be able to do any magic on my own.’
I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Okay. So, um … last question.’
I nodded to the crown of Ptolemy, which sat on the parapet next to Sadie. It looked like part of a Halloween costume, not the sort of headgear that could violently rip the world apart. ‘What do we do with that?’
‘Well,’ Sadie said, ‘I could put it on and see what happens.’
‘NO!’ Carter and Annabeth yelled.
‘Kidding,’ Sadie said. ‘Honestly, you two, calm down. I must admit, though, I don’t see why Wadjet and Nekhbet didn’t reclaim their crowns. The goddesses were freed, weren’t they?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I sensed that cobra lady Wadjet get expelled when Setne was puking rainbows. Then Nekhbet went back to … wherever goddesses go when they’re not annoying mortals.’
Carter scratched his bandaged head. ‘So … they just forgot their crowns?’
Traces of Nekhbet’s personality lingered in the corners of my mind – just enough to make me uncomfortably sure that the crown of Ptolemy had been left here on purpose.
‘It’s a test,’ I said. ‘The Two Ladies want to see what we’ll do with it. When Nekhbet learned that I’d turned down immortality once before, she was kind of offended. I think she’s curious to find out if any of us will go for it.’
Annabeth blinked. ‘Nekhbet would do that out of curiosity? Even if it caused a world-destroying event?’
‘Sounds like Nekhbet,’ Sadie said. ‘She’s a malicious old bird. Loves to watch us mortals squabble and kill each other.’
Carter stared at the crown. ‘But … we know better than to use that thing. Don’t we?’ His voice sounded a little wistful.
‘For once you’re right, brother dear,’ Sadie said. ‘As much as I’d love to be a literal goddess, I suppose I’ll have to remain a figurative one.’
‘I’m going to puke rainbows now,’ Carter said.
‘So what do we do with the crown?’ Annabeth asked. ‘It’s not the kind of thing we should leave at the Governors Island Lost and Found.’
‘Hey, Carter,’ I said, ‘after we defeated that crocodile monster on Long Island, you said you had a safe place to keep its necklace. Could you store the crown, too?’
The Kanes had a silent conversation with each other.
‘I suppose we could bring the crown to the First Nome in Egypt,’ Carter said. ‘Our Uncle Amos is in charge there. He has the most secure magic vaults in the world. But nothing is one hundred percent safe. Setne’s experiments with Greek and Egyptian magic sent tremors through the Duat. Gods and magicians felt them. I’m sure demigods felt them, too. That kind of power is tempting. Even if we lock the crown of Ptolemy away –’
‘Others might try hybrid magic,’ Annabeth said.
‘And the more it’s tried,’ Sadie said, ‘the more damage could be done to the Duat, and the mortal world, and our sanity.’
We sat in silence as that idea sank in. I imagined what would happen if the kids in the Hecate cabin back at camp heard about Egyptian magicians in Brooklyn, or if Clarisse from the Ares cabin learned how to summon a giant wild-boar combat avatar.
I shuddered. ‘We’ll have to keep our worlds separate as much as possible. The info is too dangerous.’
Annabeth nodded. ‘You’re right. I don’t like keeping secrets, but we’ll have to be careful who we talk to. Maybe we can tell Chiron, but –’
‘I bet Chiron already knows about the Egyptians,’ I said. ‘He’s a wily old centaur. But, yeah. We’ll have to keep our little task force here on the down-low.’
‘“Our little task force”.’ Carter grinned. ‘I like the sound of that. The four of us can keep in touch. We’ll have to stand ready in case something like this happens again.’
‘Annabeth has my number,’ Sadie said. ‘Which, honestly, brother, is a much easier solution than writing invisible hieroglyphs on your friend’s hand. What were you thinking?’
‘It made sense at the time,’ Carter protested.
