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On Setne’s left, about fifteen feet away from me, the grass split open. A geyser of flames spewed upward, and the winged serpents flew straight into it. Earth, fire, rain and serpents swirled into a tornado of elements, merging and solidifying into one huge shape: a coiled cobra with a female human head.
Her reptilian hood was easily six feet across. Her eyes glittered like rubies. A forked tongue flickered between her lips, and her dark hair was plaited with gold. Resting on her head was a sort of crown – a red pillbox-looking thing with a curlicue ornament on the front.
Now, personally, I’m not fond of huge snakes, especially ones with human heads and stupid hats. If I’d summoned this thing, I would’ve cast a spell to send it back, super quick.
But Setne just rolled up his scroll, slipped it in his jacket pocket and grinned. ‘Awesome!’
The cobra lady hissed. ‘Who dares summon me? I am Wadjet, queen of cobras, protector of Lower Egypt, eternal mistress of –’
‘I know!’ Setne clapped his hands. ‘I’m a huge fan!’
I crawled towards Annabeth. Not that I could help much with the fall spell keeping me off my feet, but I wanted to be close to her if something went down with this eternal cobra queen of whatever, blah, blah, blah. Maybe I could at least use Riptide to cut those red cords and give Annabeth a fighting chance.
‘Oh, this is so great,’ Setne continued. He fished something out of his jeans … a cell phone.
The goddess bared her fangs. She sprayed Setne with a cloud of green mist – poison, I guessed – but he repelled it like the nose cone of a rocket repelled heat.
I kept crawling towards Annabeth, who was struggling helplessly in her red-liquorice cocoon. Her eyes blazed with frustration. She hated being sidelined worse than just about anything.
‘Okay, where’s the camera icon?’ Setne fumbled with his phone. ‘We have to get a picture together before I destroy you.’
‘Destroy me?’ demanded the cobra goddess. She lashed out at Setne, but a sudden gust of rain and wind pushed her back.
I was ten feet away from Annabeth. Riptide’s blade glowed as I dragged it through the mud.
‘Let’s see.’ Setne tapped his phone. ‘Sorry, this is new to me. I’m from the Nineteenth Dynasty. Ah, okay. No. Darn it. Where did the screen go? Ah! Right! So what do modern folks call this … a snappie?’ He leaned in towards the cobra goddess, held out his phone at arm’s length and took a picture. ‘Got it!’
‘WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?’ Wadjet roared. ‘YOU DARE TAKE A SELFIE WITH THE COBRA GODDESS?’
‘Selfie!’ said the magician. ‘That’s right! Thanks. And now I’ll take your crown and consume your essence. Hope you don’t mind.’
‘WHAT?’ The cobra goddess reared and bared her fangs again, but the rain and wind restrained her like a seat belt. Setne shouted something in a mixture of Egyptian and Ancient Greek. A few of the Greek words I understood: soul and bind and possibly butter (though I could be wrong about the last one). The cobra goddes
s began to writhe.
I reached Annabeth just as Setne finished his spell.
The cobra goddess imploded, with a noise like the world’s largest straw finishing the world’s largest milkshake. Wadjet was sucked into her own red crown, along with Setne’s four winged serpents and a five-foot-wide circle of lawn where Wadjet had been coiled.
The crown dropped into the smoking, muddy crater.
Setne laughed in delight. ‘PERFECT!’
I had to agree, if by perfect he meant so horrifying I want to vomit and I have to get Annabeth out of here right now.
Setne clambered into the pit to retrieve the crown as I frantically started cutting Annabeth’s bonds. I’d only managed to ungag her mouth before the bindings blared like an air horn.
My ears popped. My vision went black.
When the sound died and my vertigo faded, Setne was standing over us, the red crown now atop his pompadour.
‘The ropes scream if you cut them,’ he advised. ‘I guess I should’ve mentioned that.’
Annabeth wriggled, trying to free her hands. ‘What – what did you do to the cobra goddess?’
‘Hmm? Oh.’ Setne tapped the curlicue at the front of the crown. ‘I devoured her essence. Now I have the power of Lower Egypt.’
‘You … devoured a god,’ I said.
