“Shut up,” I murmured, but my heart was pounding.
You’ll never find her, the spirit taunted. She sleeps in the Place of Red Sand, but she will die there if you follow your pointless quest.
I felt like a tarantula was crawling down my back. The spirit was talking about Zia Rashid—the real Zia, who I’d been searching for since Christmas.
“No,” I said. “You’re a demon, a deceiver.”
You know better, boy. We’ve met before.
“Shut up!” I summoned the Eye of Horus, and the spirit hissed. Time sped up again. The red tendrils of Jaz’s spell wrapped around the bau and pulled it screaming into the vortex.
No one else seemed to have noticed what just happened.
Sadie was playing defense, swatting at bau with her flaming scroll whenever they got close. Walt set his boat amulet on the ground and spoke the command word. In a matter of seconds, like one of those crazy expand-in-water sponge toys, the amulet grew into a full-size Egyptian reed boat, lying across the ruins of the buffet table.
With shaking hands, I took the two ends of the griffin’s new necktie and tied one end to the boat’s prow and one to the stern.
“Carter, look!” Sadie called.
I turned in time to see a flash of blinding red light. The entire vortex collapsed inward, sucking all six bau into Jaz’s circle. The light died. Jaz fainted, her wand and the Sekhmet statue both crumbling to dust in her hands.
We ran to her. Her clothes were steaming. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing.
“Get her into the boat,” I said. “We have to get out of here.”
I heard a tiny grunt from far above. Khufu had opened the dome. He gestured urgently as searchlights swept the sky above him. The museum was probably surrounded by emergency vehicles.
All around the ballroom, afflicted guests were starting to regain consciousness. Jaz had saved them, but at what cost? We carried her to the boat and climbed in.
“Hold on tight,” I warned. “This thing is not balanced. If it flips—”
“Hey!” a deep male voice yelled behind us. “What are you—Hey! Stop!”
“Sadie, rope, now!” I said.
She snapped her fingers, and the rope entangling the griffin dissolved.
“GO!” I shouted. “UP!”
“FREEEEK!” The griffin revved its wings. We lurched into the air, the boat rocking crazily, and shot straight for the open dome. The griffin barely seemed to notice our extra weight. It ascended so fast, Khufu had to make a flying leap to get on board. I pulled him into the boat, and we held on desperately, trying not to capsize.
“Agh!” Khufu complained.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “So much for an easy job.”
Then again, we were the Kane family. This was the easiest day we were going to have for quite a while.
Somehow, our griffin knew the right way to go. He screamed in triumph and soared into the cold rainy night. As we flew toward home, Sadie’s scroll burned brighter. When I looked down, ghostly white fires were blazing across every rooftop in Brooklyn.
I began to wonder exactly what we’d stolen—if it was even the right object, or if it would make our problems worse. Either way, I had a feeling we’d finally pushed our luck too far.
S A D I E
3. The Ice Cream Man Plots Our Death
ODD HOW EASILY YOU CAN FORGET your hand is on fire.
Oh, sorry. Sadie, here. You didn’t think I’d let my brother prattle on forever, did you? Please, no one deserves a curse that horrible.