Annabeth traced her finger through the sand. Without really thinking about it, she drew the hieroglyphic symbol for Isis: the tyet. ‘I’ll do some research, too. My friends in the Hecate cabin may know something about Ptolemy’s magic. Maybe I can get my mom to advise me.’
Thinking about her mother made her uneasy.
Today, Serapis had been on the verge of destroying both Annabeth and Sadie. He’d threatened to use them as gateways to draw Athena and Isis to their doom.
Sadie’s eyes were stormy, as if she were thinking the same thoughts. ‘We can’t let Setne keep experimenting. He’ll rip our worlds apart. We have to find this crown, or –’
She glanced into the sky and her voice faltered. ‘Ah, my ride is here.’
Annabeth turned. For a moment she thought the Argo II was descending from the clouds, but this was a different kind of flying boat – a smaller Egyptian reed barque with painted eyes on the prow and a single white sail emblazoned with the tyet symbol.
It settled gently at the edge of the surf.
Sadie rose and brushed the sand off her trousers. ‘Give you a lift home?’
Annabeth tried to imagine a boat like this sailing into Camp Half-Blood. ‘Um, it’s okay. I can make it back.’
‘Suit yourself.’ Sadie shouldered her pack, then helped Annabeth up. ‘You say Carter drew a hieroglyph on your boyfriend’s hand. All well and good, but I’d rather stay in touch with you directly.’
Annabeth smirked. ‘You’re right. Can’t trust boys to communicate.’
They exchanged cell-phone numbers.
‘Just don’t call unless it’s urgent,’ Annabeth warned. ‘Cell-phone activity attracts monsters.’
Sadie looked surprised. ‘Really? Never noticed. I suppose I shouldn’t send you any funny-face selfies on Instagram, then.’
‘Probably not.’
‘Well, until next time.’ Sadie threw her arms round Annabeth.
Annabeth was a little shocked to be getting a hug from a girl she’d just met – a girl who could just as easily have seen Annabeth as an enemy. But the gesture made her feel good. In life-and-death situations, Annabeth had learned, you could make friends pretty quickly.
She patted Sadie’s shoulder. ‘Stay safe.’
‘Hardly ever.’ Sadie climbed in her boat, and it pushed out to sea. Fog rose out of nowhere, thickening around the vessel. When the mist cleared, the ship and Sadie Kane were gone.
Annabeth stared at the empty ocean. She thought about the Mist and the Duat and how they were connected.
Mostly she thought about the staff of Serapis, and the howl the black dog had made when she’d stabbed it with her dagger.
‘That wasn’t my future I destroyed,’ she assured herself. ‘I make my own future.’
But somewhere out there a magician named Setne had other ideas. If Annabeth was going to stop him, she had planning to do.
She turned and set out across the beach, heading east on the long journey back to Camp Half-Blood.