Setne leaned over Zia. He carefully extracted the Book of Thoth from beneath her bindings and tucked it under his arm. Then he smiled down at me.
“Oh, Carter, Carter.” He shook his head as if he were mildly disappointed. “I like you, pal. I really do. But you are way too trusting. After that business on the riverboat, you still gave me permission to cast a glamor spell on you? Come on! Changing a glamor into a straitjacket is sooo easy.”
“Mmm!” I grunted.
“What’s that?” Setne cupped his ear. “Hard to talk when you’re all bound up, isn’t it? Look, it’s nothing personal. I couldn’t cast that invocation spell myself, or I would have done it ages ago. I needed you two! Well…one of you, anyway. I figured I’d be able to kill either you or your girlfriend along the way, make the other one easier for me to handle. I never thought both of you would survive this far. Impressive!”
I wriggled and almost toppled into the water. For some reason, Setne pulled me back to safety.
“Now, now,” he chided. “No point killing yourself, pal. Your plan isn’t ruined. I’m just going to alter it. I’ll trap the shadow. That part I can do myself! But instead of casting the execration, I’ll blackmail Apophis, see? He’ll destroy only what I let him destroy. Then he retreats back into Chaos, or his shadow gets stomped, and the big snake goes bye-bye.”
“Mmm!” I protested, but it was getting harder to breathe.
“Yeah, yeah.” Setne sighed. “This is the part where you say, ‘You’re mad, Setne! You’ll never get away with it!’ But the thing is, I will. I’ve been getting away with impossible stuff for thousands of years. I’m sure the snake and I can come to a deal. Oh, I’ll let him kill Ra and the rest of the gods. Big deal. I’ll let him destroy the House of Life. I’ll definitely let him tear down Egypt and every cursed statue of my dad, Ramses. I want that blowhard erased from existence! But the whole mortal world? Don’t worry about it, pal. I’ll spare most of it. I’ve gotta have someplace to rule, don’t I?”
Zia’s eyes flared orange. Her bonds started to smoke, but they held her fast. Her fire receded, and she slumped against the rocks.
Setne laughed. “Nice try, doll. You guys sit tight. If you make it through the big shake-up, I’ll come back and get you. Maybe you can be my jesters or something. You two crack me up! But in the meantime, I’m afraid we’re done here. No miracle’s gonna drop from the sky and save you.”
A rectangle of darkness appeared in the air just above the ghost’s head. Sadie dropped out of it.
I’ll say this for my sister: she has great timing, and she’s quick on the draw. She crashed into the ghost and sent him sprawling. Then she noticed us wrapped up like presents, quickly realized what was going on, and turned toward Setne.
“Tas!” she yelled.
“Noooo!” Setne was wrapped in pink ribbons until he looked like a forkful of spaghetti.
Sadie stood and stepped back from Setne. Her eyes were puffy like she’d been crying. Her clothes were covered in dried mud and leaves.
Walt wasn’t with her. My heart sank. I was almost glad my mouth was covered, because I wouldn’t have known what to say.
Sadie took in the scene—the Sea of Chaos, the serpent’s writhing shadow, the white obelisk. I could tell she felt the pull of Chaos. She braced her feet, leaning away from the sea like the anchorperson in a tug-of-war. I knew her well enough to tell she was steeling herself, pushing her emotions back inside and forcing her sorrow down.
“Hullo, brother dear,” she said in a shaky voice. “Need some help?”
She managed to dispel the glamor on us. She looked surprised to find me holding Ra’s crook and flail. “How in the world—?”
Zia briefly explained what we’d been up to—from the fight with the giant hippo through Setne’s most recent betrayals.
“All that,” Sadie marveled, “and you had to drag my brother along too? You poor girl. But how can we even survive here? The Chaos power…” She focused on Zia’s scarab pendant. “Oh. I really am thick. No wonder Tawaret looked at you strangely. You’re channeling the power of Ra.”
“Ra chose me,” Zia said. “I didn’t want this.”
Sadie got very quiet—which wasn’t like her.
“Sis,” I said, as gently as possible, “what happened to Walt?”
Her eyes were so full of pain that I wanted to apologize for even asking. I hadn’t seen her look like that since…well, since our mom died, when Sadie was little.
“He’s not coming,” she said. “He’s…gone.”
“Sadie, I’m so sorry,” I said. “Are you—?”
“I’m fine!” she snapped.
Translation: I’m most definitely not fine, but if you ask again I’ll stuff wax in your mouth.
“We have to hurry,” she continued, trying to modulate her voice. “I know how to capture the shadow. Just give me the figurine.”