The lion turned and charged at Carter, as if she knew I was supposed to be dueling him.

I had a split second to think: What have I done?

Then the cat lunged…and Carter’s form flickered. He rose off the ground, surrounded by a golden holographic shell like the one Bast had used, except that his giant image was a warrior with the head of a falcon. Carter swung his sword, and the falcon warrior did likewise, slicing the lion with a shimmering blade of energy. The cat dissolved in midair, and my staff clattered to the ground, cut neatly in half.

Carter’s avatar shimmered, then disappeared. He dropped to the ground and grinned. “Fun.”

He didn’t even look tired. Once I got over my relief that I hadn’t killed him, I realized I didn’t feel tired either. If anything, I had more energy.

I turned defiantly to Zia. “Well? Better, right?”

Her face was ashen. “The falcon. He-he summoned-”

Before she could finish, footsteps pounded on the stones. A young initiate raced into the courtyard, looking panicked. Tears streaked his dusty face. He said something to Zia in hurried Arabic. When Zia got his message, she sat down hard in the sand. She covered her face and began to tremble.

Carter and I left our dueling circles and ran to her.

“Zia?” Carter said. “What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her composure. When she looked up, her eyes were red. She said something to the adept, who nodded and ran back the way he’d come.

“News from the First Nome,” she said shakily. “Iskandar…” Her voice broke.

I felt as if a giant fist had punched me in the stomach. I thought about Iskandar’s strange words last night: It seems I, too, can rest at last. “He’s dead, isn’t he? That’s what he meant.”

Zia stared at me. “What do you mean: ‘That’s what he meant’?”

“I…” I was about to say that I’d spoken with Iskandar the night before. Then I realized this might not be a good thing to mention. “Nothing. How did it happen?”

“In his sleep,” Zia said. “He-he had been ailing for years, of course. But still…”

“It’s okay,” Carter said. “I know he was important to you.”

She wiped at her tears, then rose unsteadily. “You don’t understand. Desjardins is next in line. As soon as he is named Chief Lector, he will order you executed.”

“But we haven’t done anything!” I said.

Zia’s eyes flashed with anger. “You still don’t realize how dangerous you are? You are hosting gods.”

“Ridiculous,” I insisted, but an uneasy feeling was building inside me. If it were true…no, it couldn’t be! Besides, how could anyone, even a poxy old nutter like Desjardins, seriously execute children for something they weren’t even aware of?

“He will order me to bring you in,” Zia warned, “and I will have to obey.”

“You can’t!” Carter cried. “You saw what happened in the museum. We’re not the problem. Set is. And if Desjardins isn’t taking that seriously…well, maybe he’s part of the problem too.”

Zia gripped her staff. I was sure she was going to fry us with a fireball, but she hesitated.

“Zia.” I decided to take a risk. “Iskandar talked with me last night. He caught me sneaking around the Hall of Ages.”

She looked at me in shock. I reckoned I had only seconds before that shock turned to anger.

“He said you were his best pupil,” I recalled. “He said you were wise. He also said Carter and I have a difficult path ahead of us, and you would know how to help us when the time came.”

Her staff smoldered. Her eyes reminded me of glass about to shatter.

“Desjardins will kill us,” I persisted. “Do you think that’s what Iskandar had in mind?”

I counted to five, six, seven. Just when I was sure she was going to blast us, she lowered her staff. “Use the obelisk.”

“What?” I asked.

“The obelisk at the entrance, fool! You have five minutes, perhaps less, before Desjardins sends orders for your execution. Flee, and destroy Set. The Demon Days begin at sundown. All portals will stop working. You need to get as close as possible to Set before that happens.”

“Hold on,” I said. “I meant you should come with us and help us! We can’t even use an obelisk, much less destroy Set!”

“I cannot betray the House,” she said. “You have four minutes now. If you can’t operate the obelisk, you’ll die.”

That was enough incentive for me. I started to drag Carter off, but Zia called: “Sadie?”

When I looked back, Zia’s eyes were full of bitterness.

“Desjardins will order me to hunt you down,” she warned. “Do you understand?”

Unfortunately, I did. The next time we met, we would be enemies.

I grabbed Carter’s hand and ran.

C A R T E R

OKAY, BEFORE I GET TO THE demon fruit bats, I should back up.

The night before we fled Luxor, I didn’t get much sleep-first because of an out-of-body experience, then a run-in with Zia. [Stop smirking, Sadie. It wasn’t a good run-in.]

After lights out, I tried to sleep. Honest. I even used the stupid magic headrest they gave me instead of a pillow, but it didn’t help. As soon as I managed to shut my eyes, my ba decided to take a little trip.

Just like before, I felt myself floating above my body, taking on a winged form. Then the current of the Duat swept me away at blurring speed. When my vision cleared, I found myself in a dark cavern. Uncle Amos was sneaking through it, finding his way with a faint blue light that flickered on the top of his staff. I wanted to call to him, but my voice didn’t work. I’m not sure how he could miss me, floating a few feet away in glowing chicken form, but apparently I was invisible to him.

He stepped forward and the ground at his feet suddenly blazed to life with a red hieroglyph. Amos cried out, but his mouth froze half open. Coils of light wrapped around his legs like vines. Soon red tendrils completely entwined him, and Amos stood petrified, his unblinking eyes staring straight ahead.

I tried to fly to him, but I was stuck in place, floating helplessly, so I could only observe.

Laughter echoed through the cavern. A horde of things emerged from the darkness-toad creatures, animal-headed demons, and even stranger monsters half hidden in the gloom. They’d been lying in ambush, I realized-waiting for Amos. In front of them appeared a fiery silhouette-Set, but his form was much clearer now, and this time it wasn’t human. His body was emaciated, slimy, and black, and his head was that of a feral beast.

“Bon soir, Amos,” Set said. “How nice of you to come. We’re going to have so much fun!”

I sat bolt upright in bed, back in my own body, with my heart pounding.

Amos had been captured. I knew it for certain. And even worse…Set had known somehow that Amos was coming. I thought back to something Bast had said, about how the serpopards had broken in to the mansion. She’d said the defenses had been sabotaged, and only a magician of the House could’ve done it. A horrible suspicion started building inside me.

I stared into the dark for a long time, listening to the little kid next to me mumbling spells in his sleep. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I opened the door with a push of my mind, the way I’d done at Amos’s mansion, and I sneaked out.

I was wandering through the empty marketplace, thinking about Dad and Amos, replaying the events over and over, trying to figure out what I could’ve done differently to save them, when I spotted Zia.

She was hurrying across the courtyard as if she were being chased, but what really caught my attention was the shimmering black cloud around her, as if someone had wrapped her in a glittery shadow. She came to a section of blank wall and waved her hand. Suddenly a doorway appeared. Zia glanced nervously behind her and ducked inside.