The Kane Chronicles(115)

The crowd stirred nervously.

“But for now,” I added, “we are at peace. We can rebuild and expand the House of Life. If war comes again, I’ll be here as the Eye of Horus and as pharaoh. But as Carter Kane…”

I rose and placed the crook and flail on the throne. I stepped down from the dais. “As Carter Kane, I’m a kid who has a lot of catching up to do. I’ve got my own nome to run at Brooklyn House. And I’ve got to graduate from high school. So I’m going to leave day-to-day operations where they should be—in the hands of the Chief Lector, steward of the pharaoh, Amos Kane.”

Amos bowed to me, which felt a little strange. The crowd applauded wildly. I wasn’t sure if they approved of me, or if they were just relieved that a kid wasn’t going to be giving them daily orders from the throne. Either way, I was okay with it.

Amos embraced Sadie and me again.

“I’m proud of you both,” he said. “We’ll speak soon, but right now, come…” He gestured to the side of the dais, where a door of darkness had opened in the air. “Your parents would like to see you.”

Sadie looked at me nervously. “Uh-oh.”

I nodded. Strange how I went instantly from the pharaoh of the universe to a kid worried about getting grounded. As much as I wanted to see my parents, I’d broken an important promise to my father…I’d lost track of a dangerous prisoner.

The Hall of Judgment had turned into Party Central. Ammit the Devourer ran around the scales of justice, yapping excitedly with a birthday hat on his crocodile head. The guillotine-headed demons lounged on their pole arms, holding glasses of what looked like champagne. I didn’t know how they could drink with those guillotine heads, but I didn’t want to find out. Even the blue judgment god Disturber seemed to be in a good mood. His Cleopatra wig was sideways on his head. His long scroll had unraveled halfway across the room, but he was laughing and talking with the other judgment gods who had been rescued from the House of Rest. Fire-embracer and Hot Foot kept dropping cinders on his papyrus, but Disturber didn’t seem to notice or care.

At the far end of the room, Dad sat on his throne, holding hands with our ghostly mom. To the left of the dais, spirits from the Underworld played in a jazz ensemble. I was pretty sure I recognized Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and a few of my dad’s other favorites. Being the god of the Underworld has its perks.

Dad beckoned us forward. He didn’t look mad, which was a good sign. We made our way through the crowd of happy demons and judgment gods. Ammit yapped at Sadie and purred as she scratched under his chin.

“Children.” Dad held out his arms.

It felt strange being called children. I didn’t feel like a child anymore. Children weren’t asked to fight Chaos serpents. They didn’t lead armies to stop the end of the world.

Sadie and I both hugged our dad. I couldn’t hug Mom, of course, since she was a ghost, but I was happy enough to see her safe. Except for the glowing aura around her, she looked just like she did when she was alive—dressed in jeans and her ankh T-shirt, her blond hair gathered back in a bandana. If I didn’t look directly at her, I could have almost mistaken her for Sadie.

“Mom, you survived,” I said. “How—?”

“All thanks to you two.” Mom’s eyes sparkled. “I held on as long as I could, but the shadow was too powerful. I was consumed, along with so many other spirits. If you hadn’t destroyed the sheut when you did and released us, I would’ve been…well, it doesn’t matter now. You’ve done the impossible. We are so proud.”

“Yes,” Dad agreed, squeezing my shoulder. “Everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve hoped for—you have accomplished. You’ve exceeded my highest expectations.”

I hesitated. Was it possible he didn’t know about Setne?

“Dad,” I said, “um…we didn’t succeed at everything. We lost your prisoner. I still don’t understand how he escaped. He was tied up and—”

Dad raised his hand to stop me. “I heard. We may never know how Setne escaped exactly, but you can’t blame yourselves.”

“We can’t?” Sadie asked.

“Setne has evaded capture for eons,” Dad said. “He’s outwitted gods, magicians, mortals, and demons. When I let you take him, I suspected he would find a way to escape. I just hoped you could control him long enough to get his help. And you did.”

“He got us to the shadow,” I admitted. “But he also stole the Book of Thoth.”

Sadie bit her lip. “Dangerous stuff, that book. Setne may not be able to cast all the spells himself, being a ghost, but he could still cause all sorts of mischief.”