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She pointed to our right In the corner of the room, twenty feet froany desk

Sadie had told me about Anubis’s instructions: We were supposed to find Menshikov’s desk The next section of the Book of Ra would be in the middle drawer Could that really be the desk? It seemed too easy As quietly as we could, Sadie and I cli the wall I prayed the invisibility shroud wouldn’t send up any more fireworks

We were about halfway to the desk when Vlad Menshikov finished his chant He slaht up, the tip still burning at a ht the glint of his white sunglasses He rulowed and the demon screamed in his chains

"Don’t fuss, Death-to-Corks," Menshikov chided His voice was even rougher than Sadie had described--like a heavy sh the blades of a fan "You know I need a sacrifice to su personal"

Sadie frowned at od?

I shook my head, baffled The House of Life didn’t allow ods It was the main reason Desjardins hated us Menshikov was supposedly his best bud So as he doing, breaking the rules?

"Hurts!" the poor demon wailed "Served you for fifty years, master Please!"

"No," Menshikov said without a trace of sympathy "I have to use execration Only the y"

Froular corkscrew and a shard of pottery covered with red hieroglyphics

He held up both iteain: "I name you Death-to-Corks, Servant of Vladiht"

As the dehtened around his body Menshikov held the corkscrew over the flame of his staff The demon thrashed and wailed As the san to smoke

I watched in horror I knew about sy sether The more alike the items were--like the corkscrew and the demon--the easier they were to bind Voodoo dolls worked on the same theory

But execration was serious stuff Itits physical foric to pull off that kind of spell If done wrong, it could destroy the caster But if done right, icians, ghosts, even deht not destroya nuclear bomb in their face They’d be blasted so deep into the Duat, they ht never come back

Vlad Menshikov worked the spell like he did it every day He kept chanting as the corkscrew began to melt, and the demon melted with it Menshikov dropped the pottery shard on the floor--the red hieroglyphs that spelled all the demon’s various names With one final word of power, Menshikov stepped on the shard and crushed it to bits Death-to-Corks dissolved, chains and all

Usually I don’t feel sorry for creatures of the underworld, but I couldn’t help getting a lump in my throat I couldn’t believe the casual way Menshikov had snuffed out his servant just to power a larger spell

As soon as the delyphs burned around the sureen jar trembled and a voice fro time"

Sadie inhaled sharply I had to cover herWe both knew that voice I remembered it all too well from the Red Pyramid

"Set" Menshikov didn’t even look tired fro He sounded awfully calod of evil "We need to talk"

Sadie pushed my hand away and whispered, "Is he mad?"

"Desk," I said "Scroll Out of here Now"

For once, she gave

Meanwhile the big green jar wobbled as if Set were trying to tip it over

"A od sounded annoyed "Really, Vladiht ere on friendlier terh sounded like so evil spirits, isn’t it? And this room has more malachite than any other place on earth Empress Alexandra was quite wise to have it built for her drawing room"

The jar plinked "But it smells like old pennies in here, and it’s much too cold Have you ever been stuck in a enie I’d be so much more talkative if we could sit face-to-face, perhaps over tea"

"I’m afraid not," said Menshikov "Now, you’ll answer my questions"

"Oh, very well," Set said "I like Brazil for the World Cup I’d advise investing in platinum and small-cap funds And your lucky numbers this week are 2, 13--"

"Not those questions!" Menshikov snapped

Sadie pulled a lu so to test the desk for ic defenses She was better at that kind of spell than I was, but I wasn’t sure how she’d do it Egyptian ic is pretty open-ended There are always a thousand different ways to acco creative with your supplies and picking a way that won’t get you killed

"You will tell me what I need to know," Menshikov demanded, "or that jar will become even more uncomfortable"