The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1)(70)

His face reddened. “I mean on a plane.”

“Oh! We have the paperwork.” To my amazement, she pulled out an envelope and handed it to the cop, along with our tickets.

“I see,” the cop said. He looked our tickets over. “You bought...a first class ticket for your falcon.”

“It’s a black kite, actually,” Bast said. “But yes, it’s a very temperamental bird. A prizewinner, you know. Give it a coach seat and try to offer it pretzels, and I won’t be held responsible for the consequences. No, we always fly first class, don’t we, Carter?”

“Um, yeah...Aunt Kitty.”

She flashed me a look that said: I’ll get you for that. Then she went back to smiling at the cop, who handed back our tickets and Sadie’s “paperwork.”

“Well, if you’ll excuse us, officer. That’s a very handsome uniform, by the way. Do you work out?” Before he could respond, Bast grabbed my arm and hurried me toward the security checkpoint. “Don’t look back,” she said under her breath.

As soon as we turned the corner, Bast pulled me aside by the vending machines.

“The Set animal is close,” she said. “We’ve got a few minutes at best. What’s wrong with Sadie?”

“She can’t...” I stammered. “I don’t know exactly.”

“Well, we’ll have to figure it out on the plane.”

“How did you change clothes?” I asked. “And the document for the bird...”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, mortal minds are weak. That ‘document’ is an empty ticket sleeve. And my clothes haven’t really changed. It’s just a glamour.”

I looked at her more closely, and I saw she was right. Her new clothes flickered like a mirage over her usual leopard-skin bodysuit. As soon as she pointed it out, the magic seemed flimsy and obvious.

“We’ll try to make it to the gate before the Set animal,” she said. “It will be easier if you stow your things in the Duat.”

“What?”

“You don’t really want to tote that box around under your arm, do you? Use the Duat as a storage bin.”

“How?”

Bast rolled her eyes. “Honestly, what do they teach magicians these days?”

“We had about twenty seconds of training!”

“Just imagine a space in the air, like a shelf or a treasure chest—”

“A locker?” I asked. “I’ve never had a school locker.”

“Fine. Give it a combination lock—anything you want. Imagine opening the locker with your combination. Then shove the box inside. When you need it again, just call it to mind, and it will appear.”

I was skeptical, but I imagined a locker. I gave it a combination: 13/32/33—retired numbers for the Lakers, obviously: Chamberlain, Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar. I held out my dad’s magic box and let it go, sure it would smash to the floor. Instead, the box disappeared.

“Cool,” I said. “Are you sure I can get it back?”

“No,” Bast said. “Now, come on!”

Chapter 22. Leroy Meets the Locker of Doom

I’D NEVER GONE THROUGH SECURITY with a live bird of prey before. I thought it would cause a holdup, but instead the guards moved us into a special line. They checked our paperwork. Bast smiled a lot, flirted with the guards and told them they must be working out, and they waved us through. Bast’s knives didn’t set off the alarms, so maybe she’d stored them in the Duat. The guards didn’t even try to put Sadie through the X-ray machine.

I was retrieving my shoes when I heard a scream from the other side of security.

Bast cursed in Egyptian. “We were too slow.”

I looked back and saw the Set animal charging through the terminal, knocking passengers out of its way. Its weird rabbit ears swiveled back and forth. Foam dripped from its curved, toothy snout, and its forked tail lashed around, looking for something to sting.

“Moose!” a lady screamed. “Rabid moose!”

Everyone started screaming, running in different directions and blocking the Set animal’s path.

“Moose?” I wondered.

Bast shrugged. “No telling what mortals will perceive. Now the idea will spread by power of suggestion.”

Sure enough, more passengers started yelling “Moose!” and running around as the Set animal plowed through the lines and got tangled up in the stanchions. TSA officers surged forward, but the Set animal tossed them aside like rag dolls.

“Come on!” Bast told me.

“I can’t just let it hurt these people.”

“We can’t stop it!”

But I didn’t move. I wanted to believe Horus was giving me courage, or that maybe the past few days had finally woken up some dormant bravery gene I’d inherited from my parents. But the truth was scarier. This time, nobody was making me take a stand. I wanted to do it.

People were in trouble because of us. I had to fix it. I felt the same kind of instinct I felt when Sadie needed my help, like it was time for me to step up. And yes, it terrified me. But it also felt right.

“Go to the gate,” I told Bast. “Take Sadie. I’ll meet you there.”

“What? Carter—”

“Go!” I imagined opening my invisible locker: 13/32/33. I reached out my hand, but not for my dad’s magic box. I concentrated on something I’d lost in Luxor. It had to be there. For a moment, I felt nothing. Then my hand closed around a hard leather grip, and I pulled my sword out of nowhere.