“It’s probably ancestral memory,” Bast said. “The river was a dangerous place in Egypt. Snakes, hippos, all kinds of problems.”
“Hippos?”
“Don’t take it lightly,” Bast warned. “Hippos can be deadly.”
“Was that what attacked Horus?” I asked. “I mean in the old days, when Set was looking for him?”
“Haven’t heard that story,” Bast said. “Usually you hear that Set used scorpions first. Then later, crocodiles.”
“Crocodiles,” I said, and a chill went down my back.
Is that it? I asked Horus. But again he didn’t answer. “Bast, does the Rio Grande have crocodiles?”
“I very much doubt it.” She knelt by the water. “Now, Sadie, if you’d do the honors?”
“How?”
“Just ask for Nephthys to appear. She was Isis’s sister. If she’s anywhere on this side of the Duat, she should hear your voice.”
Sadie looked doubtful, but she knelt next to Bast and touched the water. Her fingertips caused ripples that seemed much too large, rings of force emanating all the way across the river.
“Hullo, Nephthys?” she said. “Anyone home?”
I heard a splash downriver, and turned to see a family of immigrants crossing midstream. I’d heard stories about how thousands of people cross the border from Mexico illegally each year, looking for work and a better life, but it was startling to actually see them in front of me-a man and a woman hurrying along, carrying a little girl between them. They were dressed in ragged clothes and looked poorer than the poorest Egyptian peasants I’d ever seen. I stared at them for a few seconds, but they didn’t appear to be any kind of supernatural threat. The man gave me a wary look and we seemed to come to a silent understanding: we both had enough problems without bothering each other.
Meanwhile Bast and Sadie stayed focused on the water, watching the ripples spread out from Sadie’s fingers.
Bast tilted her head, listening intently. “What’s she saying?”
“I can’t make it out,” Sadie whispered. “Very faint.”
“You can actually hear something?” I asked.
“Shhh,” they both said at once.
“‘Caged’…” Sadie said. “No, what is that word in English?”
“Sheltered,” Bast suggested. “She is sheltered far away. A sleeping host. What is that supposed to mean?”
I didn’t know what they were talking about. I couldn’t hear a thing.
Khufu tugged at my hand and pointed downriver. “Agh.”
The immigrant family had disappeared. It seemed impossible they could cross the river so quickly. I scanned both banks-no sign of them-but the water was more turbulent where they’d been standing, as if someone had stirred it with a giant spoon. My throat tightened.
“Um, Bast-”
“Carter, we can barely hear Nephthys,” she said. “Please.”
I gritted my teeth. “Fine. Khufu and I are going to check something-”
“Shh!” Sadie said again.
I nodded to Khufu, and we started down the riverbank. Khufu hid behind my legs and growled at the river.
I looked back, but Bast and Sadie seemed fine. They were still staring at the water as if it were some amazing Internet video.
Finally we got to the place where I’d seen the family, but the water had calmed. Khufu slapped the ground and did a handstand, which meant he was either break dancing or really nervous.
“What is it?” I asked, my heart pounding.
“Agh, agh, agh!” he complained. That was probably an entire lecture in Baboon, but I had no idea what he was saying.
“Well, I don’t see any other way,” I said. “If that family got pulled into the water or something…I have to find them. I’m going in.”
“Agh!” He backed away from the water.
“Khufu, those people had a little girl. If they need help, I can’t just walk away. Stay here and watch my back.”
Khufu grunted and slapped his own face in protest as I stepped into the water. It was colder and swifter than I’d imagined. I concentrated, and summoned my sword and wand out of the Duat. Maybe it was my imagination, but that seemed to make the river run even faster.
I was midstream when Khufu barked urgently. He was jumping around on the riverbank, pointing frantically at a nearby clump of reeds.
The family was huddled inside, trembling with fear, their eyes wide. My first thought: Why are they hiding from me?
“I won’t hurt you,” I promised. They stared at me blankly, and I wished I could speak Spanish.
Then the water churned around me, and I realized they weren’t scared of me. My next thought: Man, I’m stupid.
Horus’s voice yelled: Jump!
I sprang out of the water as if shot from a cannon-twenty, thirty feet into the air. No way I should’ve been able to do that, but it was a good thing, because a monster erupted from the river beneath me.
At first all I saw were hundreds of teeth-a pink maw three times as big as me. Somehow I managed to flip and land on my feet in the shallows. I was facing a crocodile as long as our RV-and that was just the half sticking out of the water. Its gray-green skin was ridged with thick plates like a camouflage suit of armor, and its eyes were the color of moldy milk.
The family screamed and started scrambling up the banks. That caught the crocodile’s attention. He instinctively turned toward the louder, more interesting prey. I’d always thought of crocodiles as slow animals, but when it charged the immigrants, I’d never seen anything move so fast.
Use the distraction, Horus urged. Get behind it and strike.
Instead I yelled, “Sadie, Bast, help!” and I threw my wand.
Bad throw. The wand hit the river right in front of the croc, then skipped off the water like a stone, smacked the croc between the eyes, and shot back into my hand.
I doubt I did any damage, but the croc glanced over at me, annoyed.
Or you can smack it with a stick, Horus muttered.
I charged forward, yelling to keep the croc’s attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the family scrambling to safety. Khufu ran along behind them, waving his arms and barking to herd them out of harm’s way. I wasn’t sure if they were running from the croc or the crazy monkey, but as long as they kept running, I didn’t care.
I couldn’t see what was happening with Bast and Sadie. I heard shouting and splashing behind me, but before I could look, the crocodile lunged.
I ducked to the left, slashing with my sword. The blade just bounced off the croc’s hide. The monster thrashed sideways, and its snout would’ve bashed my head in; but I instinctively raised my wand and the croc slammed into a wall of force, bouncing off as if I were protected by a giant invisible energy bubble.
I tried to summon the falcon warrior, but it was too hard to concentrate with a six-ton reptile trying to bite me in half.
Then I heard Bast scream, “NO!” and I knew immediately, without even looking, that something was wrong with Sadie.
Desperation and rage turned my nerves to steel. I thrust out my wand and the wall of energy surged outward, slamming into the crocodile so hard, it went flying through the air, tumbling out of the river and onto the Mexican shore. While it was on its back, flailing and off balance, I leaped, raising my sword, which was now glowing in my hands, and drove the blade into the monster’s belly. I held on while the crocodile thrashed, slowly disintegrating from its snout to the tip of its tail, until I stood in the middle of a giant pile of wet sand.
I turned and saw Bast battling a crocodile just as big as mine. The crocodile lunged, and Bast dropped beneath
