Lector.
Zia crumpled. Carter and I had to grab her arms to keep her from falling on her face.
Desjardins looked up. When he saw the fire, his eyes widened with fear. “Zia!” he cursed. “You dare attack me?”
The column descended, passing through the branches of a tree and burning a hole straight through them. It landed in the street, hovering just a few centimeters above the pavement. The heat was so intense that it scorched the concrete curb and melted the tarmac. The fire came to a parked car, and instead of going round, it burned its way straight through the metal chassis, sawing the car in two.
“Good!” Amos yelled from the street. “Well done, Zia!”
In desperation, Desjardins staggered to his left. The column adjusted course. He blasted it with water, but the liquid evaporated into steam. He summoned boulders, but they just passed through the fire and dropped into melted, smoking lumps on the opposite side.
“What is that thing?” I asked.
Zia was unconscious, and Carter shook his head in wonder. But Isis spoke in my mind. A pillar of fire, she said with admiration. It is the most powerful spell a master of fire can summon. It is impossible to defeat, impossible to escape. It can be used to lead the summoner toward a goal. Or it can be used to pursue any enemy, forcing him to run. If Desjardins tries to focus on anything else, it will overtake him and consume him. It will not leave him alone until it dissipates.
How long? I asked.
Depends on the strength of the caster. Between six and twelve hours.
I laughed aloud. Brilliant! Of course Zia had passed out creating it, but it was still brilliant.
Such a spell has depleted her energy, Isis said. She will not be able to work any magic until the pillar is gone. In order to help you, she has left herself completely powerless.
“She’ll be all right,” I told Carter. Then I shouted down to the plaza: “Amos, come on! We’ve got to go!”
Desjardins kept backing up. I could tell he was scared of the fire, but he wasn’t quite done with us. “You will be sorry for this! You wish to play gods? Then you leave me no choice.” Out of the Duat, he pulled a cluster of sticks. No, they were arrows-about seven of them.
Amos looked at the arrows in horror. “You wouldn’t! No Chief Lector would ever-”
“I summon Sekhmet!” Desjardins bellowed. He threw the arrows into the air and they began to twirl, orbiting Amos.
Desjardins allowed himself a satisfied smile. He looked straight at me. “You choose to place your faith in the gods?” he called. “Then die by the hands of a god.”
He turned and ran. The pillar of fire picked up speed and followed.
“Children, get out of here!” Amos yelled, encircled by the arrows. “I’ll try to distract her!”
“Who?” I demanded. I knew I’d heard the name Sekhmet before, but I’d heard a lot of Egyptian names. “Which one is Sekhmet?”
Carter turned to me, and even with all we’d been through over the last week, I had never seen him look so scared. “We need to leave,” he said. “Now.”
C A R T E R
33. We Go Into the Salsa Business
YOU’RE FORGETTING SOMETHING, Horus told me.
A little busy here! I thought back.
You might think it’s easy steering a magic boat through the sky. You’d be wrong. I didn’t have Amos’s animated coat, so I stood in the back trying to shift the tiller myself, which was like stirring cement. I couldn’t see where we were going. We kept tilting back and forth while Sadie tried her best to keep an unconscious Zia from flopping over the side.
It’s my birthday, Horus insisted. Wish me happy birthday!
“Happy birthday!” I yelled. “Now, shut up!”
“Carter, what are you on about?” Sadie screamed, grabbing the railing with one hand and Zia with the other as the boat tipped sideways. “Have you lost your mind?”
“No, I was talking to-Oh, forget it.”
I glanced behind us. Something was approaching-a blazing figure that lit up the night. Vaguely humanoid, definitely bad news. I urged the boat to go faster.
Did you get me anything? Horus urged.
Will you please do something helpful? I demanded. That thing following us-is that what I think it is?
Oh. Horus sounded bored. That’s Sekhmet. The Eye of Ra, destroyer of the wicked, the great huntress, lady of flame, et cetera.
Great, I thought. And she’s following us because…
The Chief Lector has the power to summon her once during his lifetime, Horus explained. It’s an old, old gift- goes back to the days when Ra first blessed man with magic.
Once during his lifetime, I thought. And Desjardins chooses now?
He never was very good at being patient.
I thought that the magicians don’t like gods!
They don’t, Horus agreed. Just shows you what a hypocrite he is. But I suppose killing you was more important than standing on principle. I can appreciate that.
I looked back again. The figure was definitely getting closer-a giant golden woman in glowing red armor, with a bow in one hand and a quiver of arrows slung across her back-and she was hurtling toward us like a rocket.
How do we beat her? I asked.
You pretty much don’t, Horus said. She is the incarnation of the sun’s wrath. Back in the days when Ra was active, she would’ve been much more impressive, but still…She’s unstoppable. A born killer. A slaying machine-
“Okay, I get it!” I yelled.
“What?” Sadie demanded, so loud that Zia stirred.
“Wha-what?” Her eyes fluttered open.
“Nothing,” I shouted. “We’re being followed by a slaying machine. Go back to sleep.”
Zia sat up woozily. “A slaying machine? You don’t mean-”
“Carter, veer right!” Sadie yelled.
I did, and a flaming arrow the size of a predator drone grazed our port side. It exploded above us, setting the roof of our boathouse on fire.
I steered the boat into a dive, and Sekhmet shot past but then pirouetted in the air with irritating agility and dove after us.
“We’re burning,” Sadie pointed out helpfully.
“Noticed!” I yelled back.
I scanned the landscape below us, but there was nowhere safe to land-just subdivisions and office parks.
“Die, enemies of Ra!” Sekhmet yelled. “Perish in agony!”
She’s almost as annoying as you, I told Horus.
Impossible, Horus said. No one bests Horus.
I took another evasive turn, and Zia yelled, “There!”
She pointed toward a well-lit factory complex with trucks, warehouses, and silos. A giant chili pepper was painted on the side of the biggest warehouse, and a floodlit sign read: magic salsa, inc.
“Oh, please,” Sadie said. “It’s not really magic! That’s just a name.”
“No,” Zia insisted. “I’ve got an idea.”
“Those Seven Ribbons?” I guessed. “The ones you used on Serqet?”
