The Crown Of Ptolemy Part 1

RICK RIORDAN.

THE CROWN of PTOLEMY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Rick Riordan is the creator of the award-winning, bestselling Percy Jackson series and the thrilling Kane Chronicles and Heroes of Olympus series. Don't miss his new series: Magnus Chase and the G.o.ds of Asgard.

According to Rick, the idea for the Percy Jackson stories was inspired by his son Haley. But rumour has it that Camp Half-Blood actually exists, and Rick spends his summers there recording the adventures of young demiG.o.ds. Some believe that, to avoid a ma.s.s panic among the mortal population, he was forced to swear on the River Styx to present Percy Jackson's story as fiction. Rick lives in Boston, Ma.s.sachussetts, (apart from his summers on Half-Blood Hill) with his wife and two sons.

To learn more about Rick and the Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles series, visit: www.rickriordanmythmaster.co.uk.

The Crown of Ptolemy.

'CARTER!' I SHOUTED.

Nothing happened.

Next to me, pressed against the wall of the old fort, Annabeth peered into the rain, waiting for magical teenagers to fall out of the sky.

'Are you doing it right?' she asked me.

'Gee, I dunno. I'm pretty sure his name is p.r.o.nounced Carter.'

'Try tapping the hieroglyph multiple times.'

'That's stupid.'

'Just try it.'

I stared at my hand. There wasn't even a trace of the hieroglyph that Carter Kane had drawn on my palm almost two months back. He'd a.s.sured me that the magic couldn't be washed away, but, with my luck, I'd accidentally wiped it off on my jeans or something.

I tapped my palm. 'Carter. h.e.l.lo, Carter. Percy to Carter. Paging Carter Kane. Testing, one, two, three. Is this thing on?'

Still nothing.

Usually I wouldn't panic if the cavalry failed to show. Annabeth and I had been in a lot of bad situations without any backup. But usually we weren't stranded on Governors Island in the middle of a hurricane, surrounded by fire-breathing death snakes.

(Actually, I have been surrounded by fire-breathing death snakes before, but not ones with wings. Everything is worse when it has wings.) 'All right.' Annabeth wiped the rain out of her eyes, which didn't help, since it was pouring buckets. 'Sadie's not answering her phone. Carter's hieroglyph isn't working. I guess we have to do this ourselves.'

'Sure,' I said. 'But what do we do?'

I peeked around the corner. At the far end of an arched entryway, a gra.s.s courtyard stretched about a hundred yards square, surrounded by redbrick buildings. Annabeth had told me this place was a fort or something from the Revolutionary War, but I hadn't listened to the details. Our main problem was the guy standing in the middle of the lawn doing a magic ritual.

He looked like a runty Elvis Presley, strutting back and forth in skinny black jeans, a powder-blue dress s.h.i.+rt and a black leather jacket. His greasy pompadour hairdo seemed impervious to the rain and the wind.

In his hands he held an old scroll, like a treasure map. As he paced, he read aloud from it, occasionally throwing back his head and laughing. Basically the dude was in full-on crazy mode.

If that wasn't creepy enough, flying around him were half a dozen winged serpents, blowing flames in the rain.

Overhead, lightning flashed. Thunder shook my molars.

Annabeth pulled me back.

'That's got to be Setne,' she said. 'The scroll he's reading from is the Book of Thoth. Whatever spell he's casting, we have to stop him.'

At this point I should probably back up and explain what the heck was going on.

Only problem: I wasn't sure what the heck was going on.

A couple of months ago, I fought this giant crocodile on Long Island. A kid named Carter Kane showed up, said he was a magician and proceeded to help me by blowing up stuff with hieroglyphs and turning into a giant glowing chicken-headed warrior. Together we defeated the crocodile, which Carter explained was a son of Sobek, the Egyptian crocodile G.o.d. Carter postulated that some strange EgyptianGreek hybrid stuff was happening. (Gee, I never would've guessed.) He wrote a magical hieroglyph on my hand and told me to call his name if I ever needed help.

Fast-forward to last month: Annabeth ran into Carter's sister, Sadie Kane, on the A train to Rockaway. They fought some G.o.dly dude named Serapis, who had a three-headed staff, and a cereal bowl for a hat. Afterwards, Sadie told Annabeth that an ancient magician named Setne might be behind all the weirdness. Apparently this Setne had come back from the dead, snagged an ultra-powerful sorcery cheat sheet called the Book of Thoth and was playing around with Egyptian and Greek magic, hoping to find a way to become a G.o.d himself. Sadie and Annabeth had exchanged numbers and agreed to keep in touch.

Today, four weeks later, Annabeth showed up at my apartment at ten in the morning and announced that she'd had a bad dream a vision from her mom.

(By the way: her mom is Athena, the G.o.ddess of wisdom. My dad is Poseidon. We're Greek demiG.o.ds. Just thought I should mention that, you know, in pa.s.sing.) Annabeth decided that, instead of going to the movies, we should spend our Sat.u.r.day slogging down to the bottom of Manhattan and taking the ferry to Governors Island, where Athena had told her that trouble was brewing.

As soon as we got there, a freak hurricane slammed into New York Harbor. All the mortals evacuated Governors Island, leaving Annabeth and me stranded at an old fort with Crazy Elvis and the Flying Death Snakes.

Make sense to you?

Me neither.

'Your invisibility cap,' I said. 'It's working again, right? How about I distract Setne while you sneak up behind him? You can knock the book out of his hands.'

Annabeth knitted her eyebrows. Even with her blonde hair plastered to the side of her face, she looked cute. Her eyes were the same colour as the storm clouds.

'Setne is supposedly the world's greatest magician,' she said. 'He might be able to see through invisibility. Plus, if you run out there, he'll probably zap you with a spell. Believe me, Egyptian magic is not something you want to get zapped with.'

'I know. Carter walloped me with a glowing blue fist once. But unless you have a better idea ...'

Unfortunately, she didn't offer one. She pulled her New York Yankees cap from her backpack. 'Give me a minute's head start. Try to take out those flying snakes first. They should be softer targets.'

'Got it.' I raised my ballpoint pen, which doesn't sound like an impressive weapon, but it turns into a magic sword when I uncap it. No, seriously. 'Will a Celestial bronze blade kill them?'

Annabeth frowned. 'It should. At least ... my bronze dagger worked on the staff of Serapis. Of course, that bronze dagger was made from an Egyptian wand, so ...'

'I'm getting a headache. Usually when I get a headache it's time to stop talking and attack something.'

'Fine. Just remember: our main goal is to get that scroll. According to Sadie, Setne can use it to turn himself immortal.'

'Understood. No bad guys turning immortal on my watch.' I kissed her, because 1) when you're a demiG.o.d going into battle, every kiss might be your last, and 2) I like kissing her. 'Be careful.'

She put on her Yankees cap and vanished.

I'd love to tell you that I walked in and killed the snakes, Annabeth stabbed Elvis in the back and took his scroll, and we went home happy.

You'd figure once in a while things would work out the way we planned.

But noooooo.

I gave Annabeth a few seconds to sneak into the courtyard.

Then I uncapped my pen, and Riptide sprang to full length three feet of razor-sharp Celestial bronze. I strolled into the courtyard and sliced the nearest serpent out of the air.

Nothing says Hi, neighbour! like killing a guy's flying reptile.

The snake didn't disintegrate like most monsters I'd fought. Its two halves just landed in the wet gra.s.s. The half with wings flopped around aimlessly.

Crazy Elvis didn't notice. He kept pacing back and forth, engrossed in his scroll, so I moved further into the courtyard and sliced another snake.

The storm made it hard to see. Normally I can stay dry when submersed in water, but rain is trickier. It needled my skin and got in my eyes.

Lightning flashed. By the time my vision cleared, two more snakes were dive-bombing me from either side. I jumped backwards just as they blew fire.

FYI, jumping backwards is hard when you're holding a sword. It's even harder when the ground is muddy.

Long story short: I slipped and landed on my b.u.t.t.

Flames shot over my head. The two snakes circled above me like they were too surprised to attack again. Probably they were wondering, Did that guy just fall on his b.u.t.t on purpose? Should we laugh before we kill him? Would that be mean?

Before they could decide what to do, Crazy Elvis called out, 'Leave him!'

The snakes darted off to join their brethren, who were orbiting ten feet above the magician.

I wanted to get up and face Setne, but my rear end had other ideas. It wanted to stay where it was and be in extreme pain. b.u.t.ts are like that sometimes. They can be, well, b.u.t.ts.

Setne rolled up his scroll. He sauntered towards me, the rain parting around him like a bead curtain. His winged snakes followed, their flames making plumes of steam in the storm.

'Hi, there!' Setne sounded so casual and friendly I knew I was in trouble. 'You're a demiG.o.d, I suppose?'

I wondered how Setne knew that. Maybe he could 'smell' a demiG.o.d's aura the way Greek monsters could. Or maybe my prankster friends the Stoll brothers had written I'M A DEMIG.o.d on my forehead in permanent marker and Annabeth had decided not to tell me. That happened occasionally.

Setne's smile made his face look even gaunter. Dark eyeliner rimmed his eyes, giving him a hungry, feral stare. Around his neck glittered a golden chain of interlocking ankhs, and from his left ear dangled an ornament that looked like a human finger bone.

'You must be Setne.' I managed to get to my feet without killing myself. 'Did you get that outfit at the Halloween Store?'

Setne chuckled. 'Look, nothing personal, but I'm a little busy at the moment. I'm going to ask you and your girlfriend to wait while I finish my incantation, okay? Once I've summoned the deshret, we can chat.'

I tried to look confused, which is one of my most convincing expressions. 'What girlfriend? I'm alone. Also, why are you summoning a dishrag?'

'It's deshret.' Setne patted his pompadour. 'The red crown of Lower Egypt. As for your girlfriend ...'

He wheeled and pointed behind him, shouting something like 'Sun-AH!'

Red hieroglyphs burned in the air where Setne pointed: Annabeth turned visible. I'd never actually seen her wearing her Yankees cap before, since she vanished every time she put it on, but there she was wide-eyed with surprise, caught in the act of sneaking up on Setne.

Before she could react, the red glowing hieroglyphs turned into ropes like liquorice whips and lashed out, wrapping around her, pinning her arms and legs with such force that she toppled over.

'Hey!' I yelled. 'Let her go!'

The magician grinned. 'Invisibility magic. Please. I've been using invisibility spells since the pyramids were under warranty. Like I said, this is nothing personal, demiG.o.ds. I just can't spare the energy to kill you ... at least not until the summons is over. I hope you understand.'

My heart hammered. I'd seen Egyptian magic before, when Carter helped me fight the giant crocodile on Long Island, but I had no idea how to stop it, and I couldn't stand to see it used against Annabeth.

I charged at Setne. He just waved his hand and muttered, 'Hu-Ai.'

More stupid hieroglyphs flashed in front of me.

I fell on my face.

My face did not appreciate that. I got mud in my nostrils and blood in my mouth from biting my tongue. When I blinked, the red hieroglyphs burned on the insides of my eyelids.

I groaned. 'What was that spell?'

'Fall,' Setne said. 'One of my favourites. Don't get up. You'll just hurt yourself more.'

'Setne!' Annabeth shouted through the storm. 'Listen to me. You can't make yourself into a G.o.d. It won't work. You'll just destroy '

The coil of magical red ropes expanded, covering Annabeth's mouth.

'I appreciate your concern,' said the magician. 'Really, I do. But I've got this figured out. That business with Serapis ... when you destroyed my hybrid G.o.d? I learned quite a bit from that. I took excellent notes.'

Annabeth struggled uselessly.

I wanted to run to her, but I had a feeling I'd just end up with my face in the mud again. I'd have to play this smart ... which was not my usual style.

I tried to steady my breathing. I scooted sideways, just to see if I could.

'So you were watching in Rockaway Beach?' I asked Setne. 'When Annabeth and Sadie took down Serapis, that was all an experiment to you?'

'Of course!' Setne looked very pleased with himself. 'I jotted down the incantations Serapis used while he tried to raise his new Alexandrian lighthouse. Then it was just a matter of cross-referencing those with the older magic in the Book of Thoth, and voila! I found exactly the spell combo I need to make myself into a G.o.d. It's going to be great. Watch and see!'

He opened his scroll and started chanting again. His winged serpents spiralled through the rain. Lightning flashed. The ground rumbled.

On Setne's left, about fifteen feet away from me, the gra.s.s split open. A geyser of flames spewed upward, and the winged serpents flew straight into it. Earth, fire, rain and serpents swirled into a tornado of elements, merging and solidifying into one huge shape: a coiled cobra with a female human head.

Her reptilian hood was easily six feet across. Her eyes glittered like rubies. A forked tongue flickered between her lips, and her dark hair was plaited with gold. Resting on her head was a sort of crown a red pillbox-looking thing with a curlicue ornament on the front.