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‘Deal,’ said Carter.
We headed down the road from the old fort, past some fancy brick buildings that might have been officers’ quarters back in the day. We made our way across a soggy expanse of soccer fields. The rain kept pouring down, but Sadie’s magic umbrella travelled with us, keeping the worst of the storm away.
Annabeth and Carter compared notes from the research they’d done. They talked about Ptolemy and the mixing of Greek and Egyptian magic.
As for Sadie, she didn’t appear interested in strategy. She leaped from puddle to puddle in her combat boots. She hummed to herself, twirled like a little kid and occasionally pulled random things out of her backpack: wax animal figurines, some string, a piece of chalk, a bright yellow bag of candy.
She reminded me of someone …
Then it occurred to me. She looked like a younger version of Annabeth, but her fidgeting and hyperness reminded me of … well, me. If Annabeth and I ever had a daughter, she might be a lot like Sadie.
Whoa.
It’s not like I’d never dreamed about kids before. I mean, you date someone for over a year, the idea is going to be in the back of your mind somewhere, right? But still – I’m barely seventeen. I’m not ready to think too seriously about stuff like that. Also, I’m a demigod. On a day-to-day basis, I’m busy just trying to stay alive.
Yet, looking at Sadie, I could imagine that someday maybe I’d have a little girl who looked like Annabeth and acted like me – a cute little hellion of a demigod, stomping through puddles and flattening monsters with magic camels.
I must have been staring, because Sadie frowned at me. ‘What?’
‘Nothing,’ I said quickly.
Carter nudged me. ‘Were you listening?’
‘Yes. No. What?’
Annabeth sighed. ‘Percy, explaining things to you is like lecturing a gerbil.’
‘Hey, Wise Girl, don’t start with me.’
‘Whatever, Seaweed Brain. We were just saying that we’ll have to combine our attacks.’
‘Combine our attacks …’ I patted my pocket, but Riptide had not reappeared in pen form. I didn’t want to admit how nervous that made me.
Sure, I had other skills. I could make waves (literally) and occasionally even whip up a nice frothy hurricane. But my sword was a big part of who I was. Without it, I felt crippled.
‘How do we do combined attacks?’
Carter got a mischievous gleam in his eyes that made him look more like his sister. ‘We turn Setne’s strategy against him. He’s using hybrid magic – Greek and Egyptian together, right? We do the same.’
Annabeth nodded. ‘Greek-style attacks won’t work. You saw what Setne did with your sword. And Carter is pretty sure regular Egyptian spells won’t be enough, either. But if we can find a way to mix our powers –’
‘Do you know how to mix our powers?’ I asked.
Carter’s shoes squished in the mud. ‘Well … not exactly.’
‘Oh, please,’ Sadie said. ‘That’s easy. Carter, give your wand to Percy.’
‘Why?’
‘Just do it, brother dear. Annabeth, do you remember when we fought Serapis?’
‘Right!’ Annabeth’s eyes lit up. ‘I grabbed Sadie’s wand and it turned into a Celestial bronze dagger, just like my old one. It was able to destroy Serapis’s staff. Maybe we can create another Greek weapon from an Egyptian wand. Good idea, Sadie.’
‘Cheers. You see, I don’t need to spend hours planning and researching to be brilliant. Now, Carter, if you please.’
As soon as I took the wand, my hand clenched like I’d grabbed an electrical cable. Spikes of pain shot up my arm. I tried to drop the wand, but I couldn’t. Tears filled my eyes.
‘By the way,’ Sadie said, ‘this may hurt a bit.’
