She and the goddess were involved in a dangerous dance. Zia twirled and spun with her fiery staff, and everywhere she passed, she left a trail of flames burning in the air. I had to admit it: Zia was almost as graceful and impressive as Bast.
I had the oddest desire to help. I wanted—very badly, in fact—to step outside the circle and engage in combat. It was a completely mad urge, of course. What could I possibly have done? But still I felt I shouldn’t—or couldn’t—jump through the gate without helping Zia.
“Sadie!” Carter grabbed me and pulled me back. Without my even realizing it, my foot had almost stepped across the line of chalk. “What are you thinking?”
I didn’t have an answer, but I stared at Zia and mumbled in a sort of trance, “She’s going to use ribbons. They won’t work.”
“What?” Carter demanded. “Come on, we’ve got to go through the gate!”
Just then Zia opened her fist and small red tendrils of cloth fluttered into the air. Ribbons. How had I known? They zipped about like living things—like eels in water—and began to grow larger.
Serqet was still concentrating on the fire, trying to keep Zia from caging her. At first she didn’t seem to notice the ribbons, which grew until they were several meters long. I counted five, six, seven of them in all. They zipped around, orbiting Serqet, ripping through her shadow scorpion as if it were a harmless illusion. Finally they wrapped around Serqet’s body, pinning her arms and legs. She screamed as if the ribbons burned her. She dropped to her knees, and the shadow scorpion disintegrated into an inky haze.
Zia spun to a stop. She pointed her staff at the goddess’s face. The ribbons began to glow, and the goddess hissed in pain, cursing in a language I didn’t know.
“I bind you with the Seven Ribbons of Hathor,” Zia said. “Release your host or your essence will burn forever.”
“Your death will last forever!” Serqet snarled. “You have made an enemy of Set!”
Zia twisted her staff, and Serqet fell sideways, writhing and smoking.
“I will...not...” the goddess hissed. But then her black eyes turned milky white, and she lay still.
“The gate!” Carter warned. “Zia, come on! I think it’s closing!”
He was right. The tunnel of sand seemed to be moving a bit more slowly. The tug of its magic did not feel as strong.
Zia approached the fallen goddess. She touched Serqet’s forehead, and black smoke billowed from the goddess’s mouth. Serqet transformed and shrank until we were looking at a completely different woman wrapped in red ribbons. She had pale skin and black hair, but otherwise she didn’t look anything like Serqet. She looked, well, human.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“The host,” Zia said. “Some poor mortal who—”
She looked up with a start. The black haze was no longer dissipating. It was getting thicker and darker again, swirling into a more solid form.
“Impossible,” Zia said. “The ribbons are too powerful. Serqet can’t re-form unless—”
“Well, she is re-forming,” Carter yelled, “and our exit is closing! Let’s go!”
I couldn’t believe he was willing to jump into a churning wall of sand, but as I watched the black cloud take the shape of a two-story-tall scorpion—a very angry scorpion—I made my decision.
“Coming!” I yelled.
“Zia!” Carter yelled. “Now!”
“Perhaps you’re right,” the magician decided. She turned, and together we ran and plunged straight into the swirling vortex.
C A R T E R
13. I Face the Killer Turkey
MY TURN.
First of all, Sadie’s “puppy dog” comment was totally out of line. I was not starry-eyed about Zia. It’s just that I don’t meet a lot of people who can throw fireballs and battle gods. [Stop making faces at me, Sadie. You look like Khufu.]
Anyway, we plunged into the sand tunnel.
Everything went dark. My stomach tingled with that top-of-the-roller-coaster weightlessness as I hurtled forward. Hot winds whipped around me, and my skin burned.