The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1)(110)

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.”

Chapter 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?”

Zia shook her head. “They can only be summoned once a year. But my plan—”

Another arrow blazed past us, only inches from our starboard side.

“Hang on!” I yanked at the tiller and spun the boat upside down just before the arrow exploded. The hull shielded us from the brunt of the blast, but the entire bottom of the ship was now on fire, and we were going down.

With my last bit of control, I aimed the boat toward the roof of the warehouse, and we crashed through, slamming into a huge mound of...something crunchy.

I clawed my way clear of the boat and sat up in a daze. Fortunately, the stuff we’d crashed into was soft. Unfortunately, it was a twenty-foot pile of dried chili peppers, and the boat had set them on fire. My eyes began to sting, but I knew better than to rub them, because my hands were now covered in chili oil.