Inside the jar, Set sighed. “Well, Vladimir, you do know how to make an appealing offer. The binding for Apophis, you say? Yes, I was there when Ra cast the Serpent into that prison of scarabs. I suppose I could remember the ingredients he used for the binding. Quite a day that was! I was wearing red, I think. At the victory feast they served the most delicious honey-baked locusts—”
“You have ten seconds,” Menshikov said.
“Oh, I’ll cooperate! I hope you have a pen and paper handy.
It’s a rather long list of ingredients. Let’s see…what did Ra use for a base? Bat dung? Then there were the dried toads, of course. And then…”
Set began rattling off ingredients, while Sadie’s wax dog sniffed around the desk. Finally it lay down on the blotter and went to sleep.
Sadie frowned at me. “No traps.”
“That’s too easy,” I whispered back.
She opened the top drawer. There was the papyrus scroll, just like the one we’d found in Brooklyn. She slipped it into her bag.
We were halfway back to the fireplace when Set caught us by surprise.
He was going on with his list of ridiculous ingredients: “And snakeskins. Yes, three large ones, with a sprinkling of hot sauce—” Then he stopped abruptly, like he’d had a revelation. He spoke in a much louder voice, calling across the room. “And a sacrificial victim would be good! Maybe a young idiot magician who can’t do a proper invisibility spell, like CARTER KANE over there!”
I froze. Vladimir Menshikov turned, and my panic became too much for the invisibility shroud.
Half a dozen golden sparks shot up with a loud happy WHEEEEE! The cloud of darkness dissolved.
Menshikov stared right at me. “My, my…how kind of you to deliver yourselves. Well done, Set.”
“Hmm?” Set asked innocently. “Do we have visitors?”
“Set!” Sadie growled. “I’ll kick you in the ba for that, so help me!”
The voice in the jar gasped. “Sadie Kane? How exciting! Too bad I’m stuck in this jar and no one will let me out.”
The hint wasn’t too subtle, but surely he couldn’t believe we’d free him after he’d blown our cover.
Sadie faced Menshikov, her wand and staff ready. “You’re working with Apophis. You’re on the wrong side.”
Menshikov removed his glasses. His eyes were ruined pits of scar tissue, burned skin, and glistening corneas. Believe me, that’s the least gross way I can describe them.
“The wrong side?” Menshikov asked. “Girl, you have no idea the powers that are in play. Five thousand years ago, Egyptian priests prophesied how the world would end. Ra would grow old and tired, and Apophis would swallow him and plunge the world into darkness. Chaos would rule forever. Now the time is here! You can’t stop it. You can only choose whether you’ll be destroyed, or whether you’ll bow to the power of Chaos and survive.”
“Right,” Set chimed in. “It’s too bad I’m stuck in this jar. Otherwise I might have to take sides and help someone.”
“Shut up, Set,” Menshikov snapped. “No one is crazy enough to trust you. And as for you, children, you are clearly not the threat I imagined.”
“Great,” I said. “So we can go?”
Menshikov laughed. “Would you run to Desjardins and tell him what you’ve heard? He wouldn’t believe you. He’d put you on trial, then execute you. But I’ll spare you that embarrassment. I’ll kill you right now.”
“How fun!” Set said. “Wish I could see it, but I’m stuck in this jar.”
I tried to think. Menshikov was still inside a protective circle, which meant he had a big defensive advantage. I wasn’t sure I could bust through it, even if I could summon a combat avatar. Meanwhile, Menshikov could take his time trying out different ways to destroy us. Would he blast us with elemental magic? Change us into bugs?
He threw his staff to the ground, and I cursed.
Throwing down your staff may sound like a sign of surrender, but in Egyptian magic, it’s bad news. It usually means Hey, I’m going to summon a big nasty thing to kill you while I stand safely inside my circle and laugh!
Sure enough, Menshikov’s staff began to writhe and grow.
Great, I thought. Another serpent.