The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1)(116)

“You couldn’t possibly know his secret name.”

Zia held my gaze. Maybe it was the feather of truth, but I was certain she wasn’t bluffing. She did have the name of Set. Or at least, she believed she did.

And honestly, I’d overheard bits of her conversation with Carter while I was in the back of the cab. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to. I looked at Zia, and tried to believe she was hosting Nephthys, but it didn’t make any sense. I’d spoken with Nephthys. She’d told me she was far away in some sort of sleeping host. And Zia was right here in front of me.

“It will work,” Zia insisted. “But I can’t do it. It must be you.”

“Why not use it yourself?” I demanded. “Because you spent all your magic?”

She waved away the question. “Just promise me you will use it now, on Amos, before we reach the mountain. It may be your only chance.”

“And if you’re wrong, we waste the only chance we have. The book disappears once it’s used, right?”

Grudgingly, Zia nodded. “Once read, the book will dissolve and appear somewhere else in the world. But if you wait any longer, we’re doomed. If Set lures you into his base of power, you’ll never have the strength to confront him. Sadie, please—”

“Tell me the name,” I said. “I promise I’ll use it at the right time.”

“Now is the right time.”

I hesitated, hoping Isis would drop some words of wisdom, but the goddess was silent. I don’t know if I would’ve relented. Perhaps things would’ve turned out differently if I’d agreed to Zia’s plan. But before I could make that choice, the truck’s doors opened, and Amos and Carter climbed in with a gust of sand.

“We’re close.” Amos smiled as if this were good news. “Very, very close.”

Chapter 36. Our Family Is Vaporized

LESS THAN A MILE FROM Camelback Mountain, we broke through into a circle of perfect calm.

“Eye of the storm,” Carter guessed.

It was eerie. All around the mountain swirled a cylinder of black clouds. Traces of smoke drifted back and forth from Camelback’s peak to the edges of the maelstrom like the spokes of a wheel, but directly above us, the sky was clear and starry, beginning to turn gray. Sunrise wasn’t far off.

The streets were empty. Mansions and hotels clustered round the mountain’s base, completely dark; but the mountain itself glowed. Ever hold your hand over a torch (sorry, a flashlight for you Americans) and watch the way your skin glows red? That’s the way the mountain looked: something very bright and hot was trying to burn through the rock.

“Nothing’s moving on the streets,” Zia said. “If we try to drive up to the mountain—”

“We’ll be seen,” I said.

“What about that spell?” Carter looked at Zia. “You know...the one you used in the First Nome.”

“What spell?” I asked.

Zia shook her head. “Carter is referring to an invisibility spell. But I have no magic. And unless you have the proper components, it can’t be done on a whim.”

“Amos?” I asked.

He pondered the question. “No invisibility, I’m afraid. But I have another idea.”

I thought turning into a bird was bad, until Amos turned us into storm clouds.

He explained what he was going to do in advance, but it didn’t make me any less nervous.

“No one will notice a few wisps of black cloud in the midst of a storm,” he reasoned.

“But this is impossible,” Zia said. “This is storm magic, chaos magic. We should not—”

Amos raised his wand, and Zia disintegrated.

“No!” Carter yelled, but then he too was gone, replaced by a swirl of black dust.

Amos turned to me.

“Oh, no,” I said. “Thanks, but—”

Poof. I was a storm cloud. Now, that may sound amazing to you, but imagine your hands and feet disappearing, turning into wisps of wind. Imagine your body replaced by dust and vapor, and having a tingly feeling in your stomach without even having a stomach. Imagine having to concentrate just to keep yourself from dispersing to nothing.

I got so angry, a flash of lightning crackled inside me.

“Don’t be that way,” Amos chided. “It’s only for a few minutes. Follow me.”

He melted into a heavier, darker bit of storm and raced towards the mountain. Following wasn’t easy. At first I could only float. Every wind threatened to take some part of me away. I tried swirling and found it helped keep my particles together. Then I imagined myself filling with helium, and suddenly I was off.

I couldn’t be sure if Carter and Zia were following or not. When you’re a storm, your vision isn’t human. I could vaguely sense what was around me, but what I “saw” was scattered and fuzzy, as if through heavy static.

I headed towards the mountain, which was an almost irresistible beacon to my storm self. It glowed with heat, pressure, and turbulence—everything a little dust devil like me could want.

I followed Amos to a ridge on the side of the mountain, but I returned to human form a little too soon. I tumbled out of the sky and knocked Carter to the ground.

“Ouch,” he groaned.

“Sorry,” I offered, though mostly I was concentrating on not getting sick. My stomach still felt like it was mostly storm.