🦅 Carter Kane & Percy Jackson 🌊

Percy Jackson|Sand EVERYWHERE

     Maybe starting a day out by getting smashed into the side of a plane isn't such a good idea. I mean, ouch.
The huge snake thing was bad enough, trying to eat the kid with the twisted sword, but I didn't even get to help. Annabeth even got a few hits in.
Now, shaking hands with Carter Kane, I felt myself have a very . . . not liking sensation. Carter seemed like a nice kid, but he had an aura of leadership, power and strength. I felt a little bit jealous. Which was sort of strange.
     And it didn't make matters better that Annabeth seemed okay with Carter too.
     "So, what are you guys doing here? And how did you even see that giant snake?" Carter asked, putting his crooked sword into his sheath.
     "We were just getting here," Annabeth explained, "We were about to head out, when we heard you and Scales."
     I rubbed my sore arm, "Who- or what are you anyway? You shouldn't have seen that either; only demigods can."
     Carter gave me a quizzical look, "Demigod? What? No, I'm the Eye of Horus. That's why I can see the monsters."
     I was starting to feel funny, "Wait, isn't Horus an Egyptian god?"
     "Yeah," Carter nodded, "But what's this about demigods?"
     Annabeth and I exchanged glances. I put my pen-Riptide back into my pocket, "I'm the son of Poseidon, and Annabeth is the daughter of Athena."
     Carter's face looked like we had just sprouted two demon horns, "You mean, the Greek gods?"
     Annabeth sighed, "It's a long story, but long too short, Greeks and Egyptians exist."
     There was dead silence except for the incoming wails of police sirens. I still was off about Carter, and I didn't want to take him anywhere with me or Annabeth, but I also didn't want to get caught and questioned by the cops.
     "Come on," I said, brushing my head off, "We gotta go."
     Carter snapped out of his trance, "Yeah, yeah. Let's get back to Brooklyn House. Maybe I can get too Egypt some other way. And figure out things with you."
     Annabeth followed Carter without hesitation, while me on the other hand . . . ? I wasn't even sure that I could trust Carter. For all we knew, he could be another one of Kronos's goons, or something worse.
We followed Carter through the airport, hurried away before the police showed up, and flew across the street. About two blocks later, we arrived at a huge mansion.
When I looked at it and didn't focus my eyes, the building seemed transparent, and not real, almost like a trick of the Mist. It took a tremendous amount of concentration to see the building at all. It was taller than any buildings back at Camp Half-Blood, so I had to squint to see the top.
Carter led us through a secret entrance along the bottom of the mansion and into a massive front room. Statues of gods from old Egyptian culture lined the walls. White pillars stood around the room into a high, domed ceiling, where pictured of hieroglyphs were painted. And if I looked at it closely, I could have sworn they were floating around.
     Carter collapsed on a chair and rested his head in his hands, "Greek gods are real, sister's gone, god of evil on the lose, two demigods. Horus, please help me."
     Annabeth stared around the room, "Wait, sister? You have a sister? And why is this place so empty?"
     Carter told us the story of the god of evil, (Set, or something. Kind of a strange name for a god, I have to say) kidnapping his sister and the rest of the people here. He gave us the short version of how he was connected with the god of war, Horus, and how Set planned to destroy everything.
     "And I only have so much time before Set's plan's set into action." Carter muttered, watching our reactions.
I ignored the not-so-much-pun with Set's name, "We, uh, saw the red sky today. Our friend told us we had to come and figure out what was happening. I just don't know if we can help- "
"Percy," Annabeth shot me a warning look, "Chiron told us to figure out what was going on. He didn't say we couldn't help."
Carter got up, "Look, I don't want to drag in more people after what's already happened. Thanks for the offer, but I really can't lose anyone else."
I felt a pang of sympathy for the man. I mean, I knew exactly how he felt. But it was quickly replaced by irritation, "You can't defeat a god by yourself. And we have experience dealing with gods of evil and that sort of thing."
Annabeth agreed, "Yeah, we want to help you. We just have to figure out a way to get to Egypt. . . "
Carter's face went slack, "Oh, yeah. We, uh, gotta take my Uncle's boat."
I felt my nerves settle, "Cool. Boats I can do." How wrong was I.
***
"Slow down!" I yelled, clenching the sides of the Egyptian boat.
"Percy, we're not even going that fast." Annabeth said, suppressing a smile.
Carter's boat, was not a boat. More like a flying death machine. It floated. Floated! Boats don't float! Why did this one float?!
Carter shrugged, "Sorry, I'll go slower. Just get ready to go into the Duat."
"The what?" I cried, just as the boat dipped, and we all plunged into nothingness.
All around us was foggy and grey, no color, sounds, smells, just zip. My heart felt like it was being wrapped in a icy towel as we slowly went deeper into the Dat, or whatever.
Then, as quickly as it had started, the feeling was gone, and we were sailing over tall dunes of sand. I gripped the mast so hard, my knuckles turned white, "Where are we?"
"Welcome to Egypt," Carter said grimly.
Grim was one way of explaining it. Even at night, it was hot. The moon shone down on the sand, making it look like dunes of light. The stars were so clear, I couldn't help but think of Grover, and how much he would have liked the view.
"What are we going to do?" Annabeth asked, quietly.
That's when the flaming ball of fire shot at us.
"Oh, not now," I grumbled, tensing for the hit.
"Hold on!" Carter shouted, obviously not looking at how tightly I was clenching the boat.
Carter steered the boat so the bottom was facing the fire, and WHAM. The fire blasted the side of the boat and we were falling.
We crashed into the sand, the boat splintering and breaking to pieces in every way. Sand had somehow already found its way to every part of my clothing.
I groaned and pulled myself upright, only to see an army of people marching towards us.