Page 12 (1/2)
"I’ll strengthen the charraded our security I’ll ain"
I nodded, but his promise didn’t make me feel much better Tomorrow, if Sadie came back safely, we’d be off on a quest to find the other two scrolls for the Book of Ra
Sure, we’d survived our last adventure fighting Set, but Apophis was in a totally different league And eren’t hosting gods anyicians, demons, monsters, spirits, and the eternal Lord of Chaos In the plus coluriffin with a personality disorder I wasn’t liking those odds
"A Ra doesn’t work?"
It had been a long time since I’d seen my uncle smile He didn’t look ot the same crinkles around his eyes
"My boy, look what you’ve accoic that hasn’t been practiced in millennia You’ve taken your trainees further in two et in two years You’ve battled gods You’ve accoician has--even me, even Michel Desjardins Trust your instincts If I were a betting man, my money would be on you and your sister every tiotten a pep talk like that since uess I hadn’t realized howDesjardins’ name reminded me that we had other probleical Russian ice crea to try to assassinate us And if Vlad was the third-ician in the world…
"Who’s second?" I asked
Amos frowned "What do you uy, Vlad Menshikov, is the third-ician alive Desjardins is the most powerful So who’s second? I want to knoe have another enemy to look out for"
The idea seemed to amuse As with Desjardins, I would not say he’s truly an enemy"
"Tell him that," I muttered
"I did, Carter We talked several times while I was at the First Nome I think what you and Sadie accomplished at the Red Pyramid shook him deeply He knows he could not have defeated Set without you He still opposes you, but if we had ht be able to convince him…"
That sounded about as likely as Apophis and Ra beco
Amos passed his hand over the tabletop and spoke a spell A red holograph of Ra appeared--a miniature replica of the statue in the practice roood looked like Horus: a falcon-headed man But unlike Horus, Ra wore the sun disk as a crown and held a shepherd’s crook and a war flail--the two symbols of the pharaoh He was dressed in robes rather than arally on his throne, as if he were happy to watch others do the fighting The god’s i with the color of Chaos
"So else you e you, but you asked why Rahim The Book of Ra was divided for a reason It was made intentionally difficult to find, so only the worthy would succeed You should expect challenges and obstacles on your quest The other two scrolls will be at least as well protected as the first And you should ask yourself: What happens if you wake a god who does not want to be awakened?"
The doors of the library banged open, and I alirls ca with their arms full of scrolls
"Here’s raph of Ra disappeared "We’ll speak again, Carter, perhaps after lunch"
I nodded, though even then I had a suspicion we’d never get to finish our conversation When I looked back fro his students, casually wiping the ashes of the scarab shell off the table
I got tothe sports channels He earing his favorite Lakers jersey and had a bowl of Cheetos on his stootten too noisy for Khufu to watch TV in peace, so he’d decided to becouess it was a co space with a baboon wasn’t easy You think dogs and cats shed? Try getting monkey hair off your clothes
"What’s up?" I asked
"Agh!"
That’s pretty much what he always said