One basketball to rule them all,” Leo muttered. Rick Riordan More Quotes by Rick Riordan More Quotes From Rick Riordan I grabbed a pair of glowing red legs. Rick Riordan glowinglegsred Egypt is the First Nome. New York is the twenty-first. What’s the last one, the Three-hundred-and-sixtieth?” “That would be Antarctica,” Zia said. “A punishment assignment. Nothing there but a couple of cold magicians and some magic penguins.” “Magic penguins?” “Don’t ask. Rick Riordan egyptcouplenew-york My name is Zia Rashid.” She tilted her head as if listening. Right on cue, the entire building rumbled. Dust sprinkled from the ceiling, and the slithering sounds of scorpion doubled in volume behind us. “And right now,” Zia continued, sounding a bit disappointed, “I must save your miserable lives. Rick Riordan dustnameslistening I frowned. “You mean Set’s got, like, other evil gods on speed dial? Rick Riordan speedevilmean Rowww!” Bast wailed. The wrecking ball rolled straight over her, but she didn’t appear hurt. She leaped off and pounced aain. Her knives sliced through the metal like wet clay. Within seconds, the wrecking ball was reduced to a mound of scraps. Bast sheathed her blades. “Safe now.” “You saved us from a metal ball,” Sadie said. “You never know,” Bast said. “It could’ve been hostile. Rick Riordan claykniveshurt I prayed the monsters would give up. Or that perhaps Philip of Macedonia would climb back to the terrace (do crocodiles climb?) and renew the fight. Rick Riordan giving-upfightingmonsters That’s Narmer with the spoon,” I guessed. “Angry because the other bloke stole his breakfast cereal? Rick Riordan spoonscerealbreakfast How do you have five children in a row, each on a different say?” “They’re gods,” Carter said. “They can do stuff like that. Rick Riordan differentstuffchildren Carter pulled out several lengths of brown twine, a small ebony cat statue, and a thick roll of paper. No, not paper. Papyrus. I remember Dad explaining how the Egyptians made it from a river plant because they never invented paper. The stuff was so thick and rough, it made me wonder if the poor Egyptians had had to use toilet papyrus. If so, no wonder they walked sideways. Rick Riordan dadcatrivers Carter started down the stairs, but I grabbed his arm. “Hang on. What about traps?” He frowned. “Traps?” “Didn’t Egyptian tombs have traps?” “Well…sometimes. But this isn’t a tomb. Besides, more often they had curses, like the burning curse, the donkey curse—” “Oh, lovely. That sounds so much better. Rick Riordan burninglovelysound There’s nothing here,” Carter said. “What do you want?” I asked. “We’ve got wax, some toilet papyrus, an ugly statue. Rick Riordan uglytoiletswant The first thing we pulled out was a lump of white gunk. “Wax,” Carter pronounced. “Fascinating. Rick Riordan carterwhitefirsts We were alone in a strange mansion with a baboon, a crocodile, and a weird cat. And apparently, the entire world was in danger. I looked at Sadie. “What do we do now? Rick Riordan strangecatworld Why didn’t you sleep with the headrest?” I shrugged. “It was uncomfortable.” I looked at Sadie for support. “You didn’t use it, did you?” Sadie rolled her eyes. “Well, of course I did. It was obviously there for a reason. Rick Riordan support-youeyesleep Amos sipped his coffee. The faraway look on his face reminded me of my dad. “I don’t want to scare you.” “Too late. Rick Riordan scaredadcoffee Right,” I said. “So the baboon, the crocodile…any other pets I should know about?” Amos thought for a moment. “Visible ones? No, I think that’s it. Rick Riordan momentspetthinking I got ready for bed and crawled in. The covers were comfortable and warm, but the pillow was just too weird. It gave me neck cramps, so I put it on the floor and went to sleep without it. My first big mistake. Rick Riordan bedmistakesleep Amos stopped before the entrance, which was the size of a garage door—a dark heavy square of timber with no visible handle or lock. “Carter after you.” “Um, how do I—” “How do you think?” Great another mystery. I was about to suggest we ram Amos’s head against it and see if that worked. Rick Riordan squaresdarkthinking My face felt like my normal face, as if that part of me hadn’t transformed into a bird. [Fine, Sadie. Call me the Carter-headed chicken. Happy?] Rick Riordan normalfacesbird It’s hard to look in charge when you’re hunched over like Quasimodo. Rick Riordan quasimodohardlooks
