AS USUAL, SADIE LEFT OUT some important details, like how Walt and I nearly killed ourselves trying to find her.
It wasn't fun, flying to the Brooklyn Museum. We had to hang from a rope under the griffin's belly like a couple of Tarzans, dodging policemen, emergency workers, city officials, and several old ladies who chased after us with umbrellas screaming, "There's the hummingbird! Kill it!"
Once we managed to open a portal, I wanted to take Freak through with us, but the gate of swirling sand kind of...well, freaked him out, so we had to leave him behind.
When we got to London, television monitors in the storefronts were showing footage of Waterloo Station-something about a strange disturbance inside the terminal with escaped animals and windstorms. Gee, wonder who that could have been? We used Walt's amulet for Shu the air god to summon a burst of wind and jump to Waterloo Bridge. Of course, we landed right in the middle of a heavily armed riot squad. Just luck that I remembered the sleep spell.
Then, finally, we were ready to charge in and save Sadie, and she rides up in a limousine driven by an ugly dwarf in a swimsuit, and she accuses us of being late.
So when she told us the dwarf was driving us to Russia, I was like, "Whatever." And I got into the car.
The limousine drove through Westminster while Sadie, Walt, and I traded stories.
After hearing what Sadie had been through, I didn't feel so bad about my day. A dream of Apophis and a three-headed snake in the training room didn't seem nearly as scary as gods taking over our grandparents. I'd never liked Gran and Gramps that much, but still-yikes.
I also couldn't believe our chauffeur was Bes. Dad and I used to laugh about his pictures in museums-his bulging eyes, wagging tongue, and general lack of clothing. Supposedly, he could scare away almost anything-spirits, demons, even other gods-which is why the Egyptian commoners had loved him. Bes looked out for the little guy...um, which wasn't meant as a dwarf joke. In the flesh, he looked exactly like his pictures, only in full color, with full smell.
"We owe you," I told him. "So you're a friend of Bast's?"
His ears turned red. "Yeah...sure. She asks me for a favor once in a while. I try to help out."
I got the feeling there was some history there he didn't want to go into.
"When Horus spoke to me," I said, "he warned that some of the gods might try to stop us from waking Ra. Now I guess we know who."
Sadie exhaled. "If they didn't like our plan, an angry text message would've done. Nekhbet and Babi almost tore me apart!"
Her face was a little green. Her combat boots were splattered with shampoo and mud, and her favorite leather jacket had a stain on the shoulder that looked suspiciously like vulture poop. Still, I was impressed that she was conscious. Potions are hard to make and even harder to use. There's always a price for channeling that much magic.
"You did great," I told her.
Sadie looked resentfully at the black knife in her lap-the ceremonial blade Anubis had given her. "I'd be dead if not for Bes."
"Nah," Bes said. "Well, okay, you probably would be. But you would've gone down in style."
Sadie turned the strange black knife as if she might find instructions written on it.
"It's a netjeri," I said. "A serpent blade. Priests used it for-"
"The opening-of-the-mouth ceremony," she said. "But how does that help us?"
"Don't know," I admitted. "Bes?"
"Death rituals. I try to avoid them."
I looked at Walt. Magic items were his specialty, but he didn't seem to be paying attention. Ever since Sadie had told us about her talk with Anubis, Walt had been awfully quiet. He sat next to her, fidgeting with his rings.
