“Oh, yes?” I said. “And what about you, Mr. Trash Tornado? We’re preparing for war, and the most important thing you can do is keep people from waltzing?”
The air pressure rose suddenly. Blood roared in my head.
“See here, girl,” Shu growled. “I’ve already helped you more than you deserve. I heeded that Russian boy’s prayer. I brought him here all the way from St. Petersburg to speak with you. So, shoo!”
The wind blasted me backward. The ghosts blew away like smoke. The unconscious mortals began to stir, shielding their faces from the debris.
“Russian boy?” I shouted over the gale. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Shu disbanded into rubbish and swirled around Anubis, lifting him off his feet.
“Sadie!” Anubis tried to fight his way toward me, but the storm was too strong. “Shu, at least let me tell her about Walt! She has a right to know!”
I could barely hear him above the wind. “Did you say, Walt?” I shouted. “What about him?”
Anubis said something I couldn’t make out. Then the flurry of debris completely obscured him.
When the wind died, both gods were gone. I stood alone on the dance floor, surrounded by dozens of kids and adults who were starting to wake up.
I was about to run to Carter to make sure he was all right. [Yes, Carter, honestly I was.]
Then, at the edge of the pavilion, a young man stepped into the light.
He wore a gray military outfit with a wool coat too heavy for the warm September night. His enormous ears seemed to be the only things holding up his oversized hat. A rifle was slung across his shoulder. He couldn’t have been more than seventeen; and though he was definitely not from any of the schools at the dance, he looked vaguely familiar.
St. Petersburg, Shu had said.
Yes. I’d met this boy briefly last spring. Carter and I had been running from the Hermitage Museum. This boy had tried to stop us. He’d been disguised as a guard, but revealed himself as a magician from the Russian Nome—one of the servants of the evil Vlad Menshikov.
I grabbed my staff from the Duat—successfully this time.
The boy raised his hands in surrender.
“Nyet!” he pleaded. Then, in halting English, he said: “Sadie Kane. We…need…to talk.”
S A D I E
6. Amos Plays with Action Figures
HIS NAME WAS LEONID, and we agreed not to kill each other.
We sat on the steps of the gazebo and talked while the students and teachers struggled to wake up around us.
Leonid’s English was not good. My Russian was nonexistent, but I understood enough of his story to be alarmed. He’d escaped the Russian nome and somehow convinced Shu to whisk him here to find me. Leonid remembered me from our invasion of the Hermitage. Apparently I’d made a strong impression on the young man. No surprise. I am rather memorable.
[Oh, stop laughing, Carter.]
Using words, hand gestures, and sound effects, Leonid tried to explain what had happened in St. Petersburg since the death of Vlad Menshikov. I couldn’t follow it all, but this much I understood: Kwai, Jacobi, Apophis, First Nome, many deaths, soon, very soon.
Teachers began corralling students and calling parents. Apparently they feared the mass blackout might have been caused by bad punch or hazardous gas (Drew’s perfume, perhaps) and they’d decided to evacuate the area. I suspected we’d have police and paramedics on the scene shortly. I wanted to be gone before then.
I dragged Leonid over to meet my brother, who was stumbling around, rubbing his eyes.
“What happened?” Carter asked. He scowled at Leonid. “Who—?”
I gave him the one-minute version: Anubis’s visit, Shu’s intervention, the Russian’s appearance. “Leonid has information about an impending attack on the First Nome,” I said. “The rebels will be after him.”
Carter scratched his head. “You want to hide him at Brooklyn House?”