- Chapter 5 -

Oh no.

It's a man. He's tall, around his mid-forties, with peppered hair and a hardy expression. Dressed like a postman. A postman with a wings sprouting out of his hat and his shoes. The wings aren't what unsettle me, though: with Irene, I had to search and squint for the faint sensation of Greek magic surrounding her. This man radiates it.

Which, of course, begs the reaction:

"Bast," I snap.

She transforms into her human form of black hair, golden eyes, and leopard-print leotard. Out come her two knives moments later. She crouches in front of me, every visible muscle seeming to coil like a spring, ready to pounce on him at the next given cue.

"Whoa."

I spare a quick glance over to the doorway to the hotel room, where Percy is watching Bast with amazement. Annabeth appears behind his shoulder, watching me warily with a tight grip on her dagger. Their eyes both transfer from Bast, to myself, and then to the not-really-postman.

Percy steps outside with us, opening his mouth to say something, but snaps it shut a moment later when his gaze flickers over to me. He stops, rephrases whatever he was going to say in his head, and then he tries again, addressing the postman, "Hey, man, what are you doing here?"

"Hello, Percy," he responds pleasantly, but something about the tone is off. He tosses Percy the small, brown-wrapped package in his hand and says, "Delivery."

"Oh. Thanks," Percy says, catching the package and walking up to him. The postman holds out a clipboard, which Percy signs.

And maybe it's the shock of my adrenaline cutting off, or maybe it's the hesitation to react when Bast already looks ready to attack at any moment, or maybe it's even just that this day has been so horribly long already, and I just don't have any more thought capacity in me, but I'm frozen to the spot, staring at Percy and the postman with what I know must be an impressively blank expression.

The postman pulls his clipboard away when Percy is done, and then he looks over to me. Well, he actually glances at Bast first. Then to me.

"You aren't welcome here," Bast says, a growl under her tone that threatens pain.

"I think it's the other way around," he says, giving a lopsided smile. Holding out his hand, he says, "I'm Hermes, by the way. Nice to finally meet you."

A god. I turn to Percy. Calm, calmly now, Sadie. I say neutrally, "You brought a god to my hotel room."

"Well-" Percy looks over at the god sheepishly and says, "Well, yeah, I kind of did. But it was an accident!"

Introduce us, Sadie.

Why should I?

Courtesy. This meeting can occur in many different manners, and I would like to steer it towards the most positive direction possible.

I give Percy and Annabeth a quick look. It's the point of no return, isn't it?

Yes.

I say grudgingly, "I'm Sadie." I point to my own forehead and say, "This is Isis." Then I point to Bast. "That's Bast. We're from Brooklyn."

Hermes chuckles and runs a hand through his hair. The muscles in his arm are flexed so tightly that I can only imagine the stress boiling under his surface. He says, "This is a really bad time for you to be here."

"So we've heard," I say, scuffing my shoe against the cement anxiously.

Curious, he asks, "You've heard?"

"Word around the subway," I say smartly.

Respect.

Respect. Right. "Excuse me-" I cringe; the "respectful" tone I was going for just sounds awry coming from me. I try again: "Could you please-" No, still not right. Oh, bugger me. I give up. "Are you going to tell on me?"

A ringing sound comes from his pocket. He pulls out his mobile, flips it open, checks the screen, and then shuts it again. There is anxiety in his expression that mirrors my own as he looks back up to me, but it is so well hidden that I doubt anyone lacking godly senses could detect it.

"I think this would be better discussed inside," Hermes says resolutely. He turns to the only part-mortals on the balcony, cracking a smile. "Percy, Annabeth, I think you two should probably leave. The Camp must being falling apart without you two there."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'd like to know what's going on," Annabeth says. She has a brilliant poker face, I'll hand that to her. There is a strength in her eyes that makes her seem like she has the courage in her to stand up to the gods without even blinking.

Much like yourself. Unfortunately.

Hermes' smile twitches a little, but he nods his head. Annabeth and Percy walk into the hotel room. I turn back to see Bast jerking her head in the direction of the door, angrily ordering Hermes to walk in after me. He gives her a friendly smile and follows me in, Bast on his heels with her knives an ever-present threat.

Desist, Bast.

She loosens her stance slightly as we all sit down in the living room area, but the fire in her eyes doesn't dim. She's ready to fight, like the warrioress she really is.

Hermes, sitting on the end of the other couch, folds his hands together on his lap and grins. "Why don't we start with the voice in your head?"

"The what?" Percy asks.

I take in his confused expression, knowing that, by the end of this hour, he's more than likely going to see me in a completely different light. One that I more than likely won't like to be seen in. But it's too late to change my mind now.

It takes about an hour to explain the whole thing. They tell me about the Greek world here and the demigod system, about Camp Half-Blood, too. I tell them about my family's situation, the releasing of the gods from the Rosetta Stone, the journey to find my father, our combining with the gods, our banishing of Apophis, the meeting of the gods where Carter and I chose to form with Isis and Horus permanently. I even mentioned my argument with Carter, and how I got here.

"Just to clarify, the Egyptian gods have vessels they possess?" Annabeth asks. Hermes seems genuinely interested, too.

I give her a dark look. "I'm not a 'vessel.' Yes, Isis lives in my head, but that doesn't make me her vessel."

"But you live together now. Joined as one," Annabeth says.

"Sadly."

Isis scoffs in my head.

"So - so, wait. You're the queen? As in, Hera status?" Percy asks, looking a combination a confusion and panic.

"Hera?" I repeat after, looking over to Annabeth.

She nods. "The Greeks would probably equate Hera with Isis because of their similar positions and domains." Her grey eyes suddenly spark up with a new light. She says excitedly, "I haven't done extensive research on Egyptian mythology - there didn't seem to be a need to before - but now ..."

"You came here on vacation?" Hermes asks, drawing attention to himself.

I sigh. "I already know it was an idiotic thing to do, alright?"

"It could mean war for us. Not that we're not already about to go to war," Hermes says, something dark coming across his expression. The same seriousness appears on Percy and Annabeth's faces.

"I heard a war is going to start soon between the Greeks. And that a lot of hope is being put on him," I say, pointing to Percy. I add sarcastically, "Good choice, by the way."

"Hey!" Percy says.

Annabeth puts a hand on his arm and then asks Hermes, "Do you think a war could start between the Greek and Egyptian pantheon, too?"

Hermes shakes his head solemnly. "Can't be sure. I've worked for Zeus for ... well, forever, and I still can't predict his reactions to certain things. The Egyptians are one of those things."

"Do you think we can hide the fact that Sadie came here until after the war with Kronos is finished?" Percy asks.

"Or-" Annabeth breaks it, something dangerous glinting in her eyes. "-we could not hide it. Better yet, we could publicize it."

"Is she mental?" I ask, disbelieving. I turn to face her. "Are you mental?"

"Think about it! If Kronos knows that the Greeks are forming an alliance with the Egyptians, it could scare him off. At the very least, it could cause a majority of his soldiers to abandon his army. We could stop the war before it even started!" she explains. I can already sense the plan forming in her head.

Percy holds up a hand and says hesitantly, "But we're not forming an alliance with the Egyptians." He gives me uncertain look. "Not yet, I mean."

"Kronos doesn't need to know that, though," Hermes says. His eyes are focused on the ground in thought and a grin is tugging at his lips. He pulls out his mobile. "I need to run this by someone. Athena, maybe. See if she thinks it could work."

"Wait," I say, standing up. "You lot may be alright with outing me to the Greek world, but I'm certainly not comfortable with it. From what you've said, your Zeus doesn't sound very forgiving. If he decides he hates the Egyptians more than he hates Kronos, I'll be the one taking the brunt of his wrath."

Hermes stands up, too, with the most serious expression I've seen him wear since he arrived. He says, "Your next court session is in four days, right?" I nod. "I swear on the River Styx that you'll be back in Brooklyn by then."

"No," I say, fixing him with a stern glare. "Swear on the Eye of Horus."

He looks confused, but another grin breaks out onto his face. He says, "I swear on the Eye of Horus."

A gush of hot, humid air (straight from the deserts of Egypt, I can tell) blows through the room. Acknowledgement of the oath. I give him a nod, and so he flips open his mobile and dials a number on it. Just as he begins speaking to the person on the other end of the line, he steps onto the balcony and takes off into the air, his flapping shoes and hat propelling him into the night sky.

"Could an alliance happen? A real alliance?" Percy asks, looking between Annabeth and myself.

She and I look at each other. Size each other up. Put the question in perspective. An unspoken consensus passes between us.

She answers, "Maybe, Percy. But it wouldn't be pretty."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asks.

"We can't do anything but speculate at this point," I say.

"I'm worried about our enemies," Bast says. She hasn't spoken this entire time, I realize. Probably too deep in battle-mode to really process the conversation. I guess she's back in her normal attitude now that Hermes is gone. "If we 'team up,' who's to say that Apophis and Kronos won't do the same?"

Percy takes in a sharp breath through his teeth, cringing. "That ... sounds really bad."

"I thought you said Apophis was banished," Annabeth says to me.

I roll my eyes. "Yes. However, I think we're all quite aware that these massive, powerful, evil godly beings have a habit of, you know, reviving from time to time. Isn't that what you lot are afraid is going to happen in your upcoming civil war?"

"Well, yeah," Percy says, staring off into nothing with a frown.

"The Greek civil war will hopefully be prevented with the new alliance plan. I'd hate to lose half of the world to a war that we aren't even involved in. And, as nice as Egypt and Brooklyn are, I don't want them to be the only places on Earth still in existence," Bast says.

Annabeth turns to Bast as that light comes back into her eyes. She sits down next to Bast and starts interviewing her: what is her domain, what are her symbols, what is her position of power in the Egyptian pantheon, how is having a cat as a host different from having a human as one, etc. etc. and blah blah blah. Bast answers all of her questions with a laid back posture and an amused quirk to her lips.

"Hey, Sadie?"

I look to Percy. "Yes?"

His expression is serious, but his eyes are uncomfortable. "You said your brother is looking really hard for you, right?"

"Yeah."

"What do you think he would do if he thought that the Greeks - that we - had kidnapped you?"

I sit down and think it over, feeling a frown come to my face unbidden. "Well, my brother, Carter, he would be upset, but he would understand if we explained it to him properly. Horus, his kingly half, that is the one that would be the most problematic. He holds grudges, and he acts before hearing the whole story."

"He would declare war on the Greeks?" Percy prods.

"I would never let it get that far," I object, shaking my head.

He groans, resting his head in his hands. "But Sadie, you're not with him right now to tell him not to declare war."

"It won't happen, Percy," I say. "And, you know, this would have never happened if you hadn't have come back. If you had just left when I told you to, I would have gotten through my vacation without being noticed, returned to court, and no one would have been the wiser!"

"You shouldn't even be here in the first place, Sadie!" he shoots back, greenish blue eyes churning like angry waves. "You knew it was dangerous to come to Manhattan! You knew this could happen! You came anyway! How is it my fault?"

"You're saying that it's mine?" I ask, glaring. The room is beginning to shake again. I don't notice.

Percy does. His expression is wiped blank, and he says in a calmer tone, "No, I just don't think we should be pointing blame at anyone right now. What's done is done."

He sounds just like Carter.

The shuddering around us triples. The chandelier falls off of the ceiling and hits the table with loud, clattering sound as glass from both spills out onto the floor. My hair is whipped around my face as the wind around me picks up to a brutal speed, and yet blows even faster. The tiles of the floor turn to scorching sand under our feet; some of it is picked up by the wind and sent zipping away. I see in my periphery that the cabinets in the kitchen are shutting and opening rapidly as random objects fly around, slamming into walls and spilling over the floor.

And Percy is standing in front of me all the while it happens, taking it in with those eyes of his. When he finally looks back at me, the steel I expect isn't there.

Strength around the edges of his gaze: a willingness to fight, even though he knows he'll lose, but he'll go down trying. Experience towards the middle of his gaze: he's faced off against gods and goddesses before, and he knows what he's up against. The core, though. The core of his gaze is what reels my mind:

Fear. Because he's obviously faced death and impossible odds before and emerged victorious, but every time he's stepped out of the fray, successful, he's got a new scar. Irene said that Greek demigods have doomed lives. One misery after another. No peace. He must be anticipating death every morning that he wakes up. Must be desperate to do everything he can for the world and his friends and his family before his luck finally runs out.

An icy sensation creeps up my spine.

It suddenly comes to me that Percy is nothing like Carter. Not anymore. Carter is strong. Stronger than he even knows how to deal with. Carter is fresh to the battlefield. He's hardly even broached the depths of death in war. Carter is untainted. He carries a light in his eyes, one that Percy must have lost years ago. Carter is shy. Carter is dorky.

Carter is immortal.

He doesn't worry about death. He doesn't have to. And neither do I. But Percy ...

The shaking, the destruction, the everything stops.

Percy looks around us, confusion taking over his expression. He and Annabeth exchange uncertain glances. Bast just stares straight at me, a sympathetic look in her eyes that tells me she eavesdropped on what I was thinking a moment ago.

I rub my eyes. I'm not crying, so that's something. Looking back at Percy, I realize I can't even remember what he said that made me upset.

"I'm going to sleep. Take the couches if you want," I tell them, flicking me wrist in their direction. I turn around and start walking towards the bedroom. "Bast, clean this up."

I shut the bedroom door behind me and lie down on the bed.

"-like that? Throwing tantrums?" Annabeth asks in a whisper.

Godly ears. I can hear everything that goes on in the living room from here as though I'm still standing in it.

Bast sighs. I hear her snap her fingers and feel a rush of Egyptian magic sweep through the house, fixing my mess. Bast says, "Sadie only joined with Isis recently. She's still a thirteen-year-old girl at heart."

"Still, she's been a goddess for half a year, hasn't she? Shouldn't she have changed, even a little?" Annabeth asks.

"She did change. Sadie didn't use to be like this: throwing tantrums, ordering everyone around, nearly killing mortals. It was when she became a goddess that the change started. She can't die now, she can't have friends outside of the pantheon, she can't be normal. Sometimes I feel like she never got the chance to be normal, and that she regrets it more than anything. That she's overcompensating for her choice now by acting spoiled and pushing everyone away from her."

"Why did she agree to join with Isis then?" Percy asks, sympathy in his tone. Or maybe it's pity.

The sound Bast makes tells me that she's shaking her head. "Her brother agreed to join with Horus first. With her father and mother and her brother all anchored into the Egyptian world, what other choice could she have had?"

"Traitor," I whisper into my pillow.

Bast falls silent right after I say it.

"Bast?" Annabeth inquires.

Sleep, Sadie.

She's talking to them about me.

I know she is. Bast is simply looking out for you, as she always does.

I'm not overcompensating.

No, you are not.

It's what people expect out of me. I'm the queen.

It is, Sadie.

It's what Carter expects of me, too.

Of course he does. Now sleep. You need to clear your mind and rest.

I don't like the order, but my eyes shut regardless. I feel like someone is crying somewhere nearby. Bast. Or Annabeth. Or Percy. Or Isis. Or maybe even me. I'm not sure. Whoever it is, I will them to stop in my head.

It only seems to make them cry harder.