#Not Batz but I feel like he would appreciate this

[jflashandclash]

Traitors of Olympus IV: The Fall of the Sun

Twenty: Sadie

Distracting Gods 101

             The god, Set, took a step toward us.

           I had several choice words that I wanted to share with Carter’s and my old frienemy. Unfortunately, all I could do was go “MMMM!” and feel far more sympathetic to mummies than anyone ever should feel, Egyptian or otherwise. I squirmed in my wrapping but I knew it was useless.

           “Oh, I do suppose you’d like your mouth back, wouldn’t you?” Set asked in that uncomfortable double voice. Set—or really, the boy that Set was possessing—smiled wickedly as his dark eyes shared a knowing look with Leo. “She’s such an amusing chatter.”

           I appreciated that Leo attacked Set instead of agreeing with him. I didn’t appreciate that the demigod must have forgotten everything I told him on the flight over: Leo held a hand up and blasted a stream of fire at the god of disorder and storms that could control fire.

           As the flames enveloped the leather vest and burgundy dress shirt, Set laughed. “Oh, that tickles!”

           In retaliation, Set did something I wasn’t expecting. He bit his Egyptian battleaxe. A trickle of blood dripped down the boy’s chin as he spit the concoction of body fluids at the stream of flames. Gross and, I thought, ineffective.

           “K’aak’t; Elel chi’bal!” the first, high-pitched voice of the boy hissed.[1]

           My ears popped, like I was in Ra’s sun boat when it decided to take a nosedive off a waterfall.

           The flames touching Set rippled from orange to a vibrant, whirling turquoise. The effect started to spread—well—like a wild fire, infecting Leo’s flame until the attack reversed course and overtook Leo’s hand.

           Leo shrieked, his eyes widening with panic and disbelief. He dropped the sledgehammer in his other hand and slapped at his arm. “Ay! Oh—ow! Ow! Oh! Fire hot!”

           That wasn’t a standard Set move. And trust me, I knew Set, down to his secret name.

           I rolled my eyes. If I wasn’t in these blasted wrappings, I would have pat Leo’s back and said, “Ah, yes, fire is hot.”

           But then, I remembered why Leo had come: he was fireproof. Leo’s next comment drove the point home. “This is what burning feels like!?!” he yelped.

           “Nicely done, little Lapis,” Set bellowed with laughter.

           Lapis must have been the name of Set’s host body. Anytime Isis took over my head, we communicated through our weird mental bond, like polite members of society. Leave it to Set to be bombastic about it.

           From my memory of our homicidal enemy, he wasn’t the type to let a host talk, let alone compliment them sincerely. Uncle Amos was the most powerful magician in the world and he still struggled to control Set when they shared power.

           “Dude, not cool on the weird fire,” Leo said, glaring fiercely and nursing the scorch marks on his hand. “How did you burn me? The only flames that can burn Admiral Leo are the flames of love.”

           I wanted to ask Set the same question—about the flames, not about his love life—but all I could do was go “MMMM!” still and do my best attempts at the worm dance move.

           Despite discovering a new weakness, I had to give Leo some credit: his eyes were scanning our surroundings like he was examining the blueprints of a car, looking for something to help us.

           From what I understood of Leo’s powers, he needed to be near machinery to be properly useful. He had the tools in his belt, but there weren’t a lot of machines around. Meanwhile, as Leo had summed up from my lecture on the flight over, the desert was like a Cookie Mart of Evil for jerks like Set. If it came down to a Leo versus Set fight, Set was in his element.

           “Oh.” Set waved a hand. “As I learned from some of the other gods that played with Sadie’s friends, you can become much more versatile when you intermix and play nice with others. I may not fully understand the methods for illusion and alteration, but Lapis is quite the Mayan sorceress.”

           His face contorted into a scowl and his posture altered to shift his weight onto one foot. “Sorcerer, you over-inflated ball of hot air!” the boy snarled to himself.  

           This god-to-host-chat was weird and complicated to follow.

           Leo glanced down at me for answers. As my most valuable skill had been taken away from me—my ability to be a brilliant orator—I furiously nodded towards Set, wishing Leo and I had some telepathic link to chat.

           From Leo’s immediate understanding, he must have fought plenty of big-and-tough guys before. Or actually had telepathy.

           “Sadie said you’re supposed to be in the Duat!” Leo protested. He understood: when in doubt, keep the arrogant megalomaniacs talking.

           Lapis’ weight shifted back to two feet to indicate Set had regained control. His vocalpitch dropped. “A god of chaos ignoring the rules? Tsk, Sadie Kane.” Those darks eyes peered down at me with amusement. “I thought we were closer than that. You know there is so much fun to be had in the mortal world.”      

           Something seemed off. The thick rings of charcoal around the boy’s eyes and the wild wideness of them, as though startled, reminded me of someone, and not Set.

           I’ve made a lot of people miffed in my life—I’m quite skilled at it actually—and I found myself wondering where I knew this young magician from. Set had said, “Long time no see.” Maybe that wasn’t just Set talking.

           “What are you doing here?” Leo asked. “A god of deserts and storms in a desert without a storm, beating up tiny demigods. Sounds suspicious.”

           Set belted out a boisterous laugh. “I would never miss one of Eris’s parties! Oh, does that Greek know how to party!” He twirled the Egyptian battle axe in one hand like a staff and pointed it at the unfortunate pile of rocks nearby. “I heard we’re going to execrate a goddess of day and I’ll get to feed off her dying powers. I do love a good picnic on a nice day.”

           “You hid Hemera in Camel Dung Mountain?” Leo asked.

           Either Leo was going to keep surprising me with how much we thought alike, or he really was telepathic. Considering how often I thought about Walt playing basketball shirtless, I was uncomfortable with the latter possibility.

           Set folded his arms and pouted. “It does not look like that.”

           “It really does,” Leo countered.

           “It’s a beautiful desert feature.”

           “Of camel dung.”

           Set glanced down at me again. “Really, Sadie, your friends are so rude. Let’s give you one chance to speak up for them, and if you go to cast a spell, I’ll spill sand into your lungs so fast, you won’t be able to say the word, ‘asphyxiate.’”

           To my surprise, he snapped his fingers. The wrappings shrank away from my mouth. It took every milliliter of my willpower to avoid saying something about camel dung. Instead, I said, “Lapis! Set is using you. He always uses people and will take full control of their bodies at the first chance. Fight him!”

           A devilish half-smile slid onto Set’s countenance. In a two-toned voice, they said, “What makes you think I can’t be a team player?”

           “Um, because you’re Set, god of evil and rockin’ red reaping and white pawn-eating. Remember the whole ‘I don’t do second-in-command’ thing you said to Menshikov?” I said, though my voice seemed to be losing conviction. Funny when that happens.

           Set waved his hand.

           The boy shifted his weight back onto one foot, signaling Lapis was in control. He glared with those terrifying, startled eyes. “Arrogant, rule-poppin’ Kanes think only your stupid family and initiates can come to equilibrium with a god. I mean, Holy Hun-Batz, how many times did that lie-mongering snake, Isis, tempt you to backstab the Sun God and put your brother and Horus on the throne? You don’t think she’d try to take over if she thought she could?”  

           I was rather offended. My initiates may have followed Ma’at and order, but we were quite a mischievous bunch and I wanted to defend our willingness to break rules, not “pop” them like Tic Tacs. Well, except Carter. [Sorry, my dear brother, you’re quite hopeless in the rule-breaking department.]

           On account of Isis, I couldn’t do much to defend her. She, ehem, wasn’t always the most loyal to Ra, having once poisoned him and all that.

           “See?” this time, Set spoke. “I’m rather fond of this little Pax child. Lapis occasionally lets me filet people. A much more enjoyable host than your Uncle Amos.”

           Lapis’ voice resurfaced, fluidly slipping away from Set. I was quite appalled. No one could get along with the god of evil so well and not be evil themselves. “And I had real reason to be here, before that double-crossing Ajaxamamma neglected to protect Tuft Ears or Ajaxapax against Ares.” Lapis kicked at the ground in anger. A mini swirl of red sand whirled up from his foot and spiraled away in a tiny dust storm. If any ants were about, they would surely need to sound the alarm for a tornado warning.  

           “This is getting confusing. Can you please stop with the voice alteration and the nicknames?” Leo asked.

           Lapis scowled down as though he hadn’t heard him. “I just want the Paxes to stick together and maybe kill that tree-romping hippie, Euna. Now, Tuft Ears and Ajaxapax are fucked up and my littlest brother, Dart Face, is well on his way to becoming a sociopathic baby killer.”

           “Yea, you’re setting a great example for him,” Leo said. He took a small step towards my cocoon. I wondered if he had some kind of mythical blowtorch that could cut me out of here without making a roasted Sadie dog.

           Lapis half-heartedly pointed his crossbow at my cocoon and said, “I wanted to meet the stupid person whose cursed, dead-boy boyfriend killed my mom, but Ms. Kane Swaddles is a bit underwhelming in person.”

           To be clear, I am quite impressive, but presentation is a bit difficult when you’re rolled up like a burrito.  

           But, dead-boy boyfriend? That was clearly in reference to Walt and Anubis, unless there were a lot of other dead-boy boyfriends running around. [Jack wanted me to clarify that I was not talking about a bloke named Nico Di Angelo. Apparently the Greeks do have their own supply.]

           “Your mum?” I asked, baffled.

            Lapis’ startled eyes fell onto me. Looking more exhausted than angry, he said, “Sarah Jacobi.”  

           For an instant, I didn’t understand. Lapis’ skin was chocolaty, so much that I would think him a pale African or a tanned islander. To my disgust, I realized my moment of hesitation was the same one people experienced when they saw me with my Dad and brother, because I was so pale and my brother and father were so dark. All those times people thought I couldn’t be related to them. And here I was. I had no idea what her father looked like, but, just because Sarah Jacobi’s skin was milky pale didn’t mean that wasn’t this boy’s mother.

           Shame choked me.

           During the battle in the First Nome, Walt had mummified Jacobi while she was alive and dragged her into the Underworld. But Jacobi had a child? Someone had loved that schizophrenic Wicked Witch of the West enough to have a baby with her?

           Jacobi would have killed me if Walt hadn’t stopped her, but knowing we’d left someone motherless, like I had been motherless, didn’t settle well in my stomach.

           Lapis’ startling eyes were just like hers and I could almost hear Jacobi’s laugh, like metal scrapping through sand. Try to imagine that as a lullaby. No wonder Lapis was a bit mental.

           “Yep,” Leo said, “That’s another name that means nothing to me.” He sidestepped close enough that he could have nudged me with his foot.

           “Sorry,” I said, suddenly unsure of what to say.

           Lapis didn’t look mad at me. Just frustrated with the situation. Although I didn’t know much about it, from what he was saying and what I had gathered from Leo and Jason, he and his siblings lost a lot in the last few months. Weirdly, I found myself feeling sorry for this crazy bloke.

           “You know, rule-poppers—“

           “I am NOT a rule-popper!” I snapped, unable to take that slander any longer.

           “—I don’t even care about this Hemera or any of Eris’ stupid ‘not’ plans anymore,” Lapis muttered, almost to himself. His gaze peered through me, and I had a feeling he wasn’t peeking into the Duat.

           “Then maybe you could not try to kill us, Desert Dude?” Leo suggested. He was right beside me now, two fingers in his toolbelt, hopefully looking for a magical jigsaw to get me out of these stupid restraints.

           Lapis’ expression went blank. He studied us.

           Gods of Egypt, could something that simple have actually worked?

           Then Set took back over. “I have a splendid alternative. See, Lapis did promise I’d get a chance at eating the power of a primordial goddess.” He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s have a fun little gamble. If you can survive me for five minutes and get Hemera, then—ta da!—you win. We’ll even get you a ride to the closest active portal.”

           “Do we need that?” Leo asked, glanced down at me.

           “Em… I may have forgotten to mention that portals have a twelve hour cool down period,” I admitted, a minor overlook. Though there must have been another portal somewhere nearby. Everyone was so obsessed with Egyptian artifacts, I never worried about there being an obelisk or pyramid in proximity, even if it was just an oddly shaped ice cream truck.

           “And if we lose?” I asked.

           “Why, I get to rip you limb-from-limb of course,” Set said with a good-natured laugh. “Lapis can execrate Hemera and I’ll get to feed off her power as the goddess fades to nothing.”

           “So, you’ll try to dismember us either way?” Leo asked.

           “Exactly!” Set exclaimed.

           Leo knelt down beside me.  The wind kicked up sand around us, like a storm was approaching. I had an uncomfortable feeling that Leo and I would not be able to stall much longer.

           “You know why you Egyptian gods are just like Greek ones?” Leo asked, the Latino elf’s face crunching into a grin.

           Set smirked, putting his hands on his hips. He licked his lips, like he was considering switching Leo’s and my head like the tops of canopic jars. “We both have gambling problems?”

           Leo’s grin turned smug.

           “You both like to talk too much.”

           By now, the wind was whipping Leo’s hair all about his eyes and kicking sand into my nostrils. I assumed Set was getting ready to obliterate us, but Leo must have known what was about to happen instead.

           A tornado blasted horizontally through the broken section of the iron fence. Had I been a mortal, I might have thought it hit Set. Instead, through the swirls of dust and sand, I could see Jason Grace propelled at the end. His fist slugged Set’s face.

           Set flew backwards, knocking another hole through the iron fence on the other side. A whirl of red sand followed him. The crossbow clattered away. He skidded to a stop with one knee in the sand, the other leg posed to rise. From the expression, I guessed Lapis was the one glaring at Jason’s hovering form.

           Lapis wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. He smirked. “You’re mine, Pretty Boy.”

           The red sand around him thickened, until there was a swirling vortex of desert, debris, red sparks, and smatters of flame encasing the magician: Set’s combat avatar. Although I could barely make out the image of Lapis’s hands, he twirled the Egyptian battle axe around him.

           “Go get Hemera,” Jason ordered, scowling.

           The son of Jupiter didn’t have to tell us twice.

           Leo scrambled to heft me up into his arms as Set’s spitting red storm thundered into Jason’s white tornado.

 Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed! :D

 Footnote:

[1] “Roast the fire; burn with pain.”