Chapter 20 : Goodbye

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The last Chapter of the crossover! Now we are finally going back to the main story line!

more than 3600 words :)

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We were running towards the Louvre which is apparently enough of a pyramid to open a portal. It has something to do with a ramp towards heaven. The form is magical blah,blah blah. Apparently the time period did not matter. The real question was, couldn't we just use a geo-triangle? Egyptians are weird.

Of course we were chased, because when are we not under the constant threat of death?

Carter turned back into a human and landed neatly on his feet while Sadie had a bit more trouble turning back but she managed. We ran away with the bats chasing us. It was useless to use swords against them since there were so many. Seriously, where did Desjardins get all those bats? Did he have some kind of Batcave underneath his house?

I sent multiple fireballs at the bats which vaporized hundreds of them all at once but Desjardins bought a family pack with unlimited access to bats.

We raced along in the cold rain. It was all I could do to avoid slipping on the slick pavements. I glanced back and saw two figures chasing us. Men with shaved heads and goatees and black raincoats. They might've passed for normal mortals except they each carried a glowing staff. Not a good sign.

"Sadie," Bast called as we ran. "You'll have only seconds to open the portal."

"Where is it?" Sadie yelled.

We dashed across the rue de Rivoli into a wide plaza surrounded by the wings of the Louvre. Bast made straight for the glass pyramid at the entrance, glowing in the dusk. "You can't be serious," Sadie said. "That isn't a real pyramid."

"Same here!" I mumbled while sending another dozen bats up in flames.

"Of course it's real," Bast said. "The shape gives a pyramid its power. It is a ramp to the heavens."

"Can we do the theory later?" Carter yelled.

The bats were all around us now, biting our arms, flying around our feet. As their numbers increased, it got harder to see or move. I strategically set myself on fire like Leo could but it drained energy fast.

Carter reached out for his sword until he realised it was pretty useless against bats. He swore and rummaged around in his work bag.

"Don't slow down!" Bast warned. Carter pulled out his wand. In total frustration, he threw it at a bat. I thought this a pointless gesture, but the wand glowed white-hot and thumped the bat solidly on the head, knocking it out of the air. The wand ricocheted through the swarm, thumping six, seven, eight of the little monsters before returning to Carter's hand. "Well that's a real batarang," I said. "Keep it up!"

We arrived at the base of the pyramid. The plaza was thankfully empty. The last thing I wanted was my embarrassing death by fruit bats posted on YouTube.

Chaos would never let it live me down.

"One minute until sundown," Bast warned. "Our last chance for summoning is now."

"Come one Sadie, you did it in Luxor too!" I yelled while getting swarmed by bats.

She unsheathed her knives and started slicing bats out of the air, trying to keep them away from Sadie. Carter's wand flew wildly, knocking fruit bats every which way. I fried a lot of bats, but it was useless in the long run.

Sadie turned to face the pyramid and tried to focus. She tried waving her hands, shouting at it but nothing happened. Bats kept swirling around us, occasionally lashing out at us and in the distance I saw the magicians drawing closer.

"Sadie, now please?" Carter cried out.

Sadie almost broke down and she began crying, that was 'till the pyramid trembled. Its glass walls shimmered and the top of the structure began to glow.

A swirling sand vortex appeared, all right. Only one problem: it was hovering above the very top of the pyramid.

"Climb!" Bast said. Easy for her, she was a cat.

I focused on pouring water from the air and letting it flow up the pyramid. I forced it to turn into ice and created a stairway up the pyramid from ice. When it was finally done I felt drained and struggled to keep myself from falling.

I almost fainted, but Chaos and Hemera kept shouting to keep climbing.

One of the 2 wizards came closer and shouted, "surrender, Miss Kane, and return our master's property."

It was probably some sort of charms peak because Sadie froze.

"Sadie, don't listen," Bast warned. "Come here."

"The cat goddess deceives you," the magician said. "She abandoned her post. She endangered us all. She will lead you to ruin."

"What does he mean?" Sadie asked Bast, "What did you do wrong?"

I passed Sadie and forced her to climb further and ignore the magicians.

Then we passed through the portal.

(Linebreak)

The Seth animal was climbing up the obelisk. I was about to kill it with fire when Chaos told me I can not kill it.

'Why not?'

'This beast is one of the challenges Carter has to face.' Hemera explained.

Carter's challenge was slowly making his way to the top.

You see, when we had teleported to the top of obelisks, back in America, I thought we were relatively safe.

Far away from the first nome and ready to take a nap.

When we woke up a nasty surprise was waiting for us. A monster was walking around the obelisk. A weird combination of a horse and a dog with exaggerated ears and pitch fork tail. The monster was ugly in every sense. And climbing up the pilar.

"Um, Bast?" Carter asked, looking at Bast.

"What?"

Sadie and Carter exchanged looks. Sadie mouthed the word scared and I couldn't help but to nod in understanding.

Bast was terrified by the Seth beast.

"Nothing," he said, though if the Set animal was so dangerous that it gave our goddess light-socket hair, that had to be a very bad sign.

"How do we get out of here?"

Sadie and Carter looked at me. "What? I can't kill him."

Bast smashed the windows with her daggers.

"You'll need to fly," Bast yelled over the wind. "It's the only way."

"No!" Sadie's face went pale. "Not the kite again."

"Sadie, it's okay," I said. She shook her head, terrified.

"What about you?" I asked Bast.

"I'll jump," she said. "Cats always land on their feet."

"What about you?" Carter asked me.

"I got my own transportation."

"Where?" Sadie asked.

I pointed downwards.

"It's over 320 feet!" Sadie cried.

"I jumped down bigger distances," I told them and it wasn't even a lie.

"I'll distract the Set animal, buy you some time." Bast said with a grimace. Before we could even protest she jumped out the window. She plummeted straight toward the pavement, as she fell she spread her arms and legs and seemed to relax. She hurtled straight past the Set animal, which let out a horrible scream like a wounded man on a battlefield, then turned and leaped after her.

Bast hit the ground with both feet and took off running. She must've been doing sixty miles an hour, easy. The Set animal wasn't as agile. It crashed so hard, the pavement cracked. It stumbled for a few steps but didn't appear hurt. Then it leaped after Bast and was soon gaining on her.

"She won't make it!" Sadie yelled.

"Never bet against a cat," I said. "We've got to do our part. Ready?"

She took a deep breath. "All right. Before I change my mind." Instantly, a black-winged kite appeared in front of me, flapping its wings to keep its balance caused by the intense wind. Carter followed and turned into a falcon. They looked at me but I gestured towards the window.

"Go!" I yelled and they both flew away.

I looked out of the window and whistled a tune. Now that the Egyptians were gone I could use my own transportation.

Underneath the monument a huge three-headed-black-mastiff (cool word for scrabble) appeared and barked at me. I jumped out of the window, only slowing down my fall by scratching FrostSilver against the needle. It was a bit tricky but Cerberus jumped up and caught me before I could get in trouble.

"Go Cerberus!" I yelled.

(line break)

I found Carter and Sadie at the entrance of the airport. He was looking like he just took a bath inside a dumpster. He had a weird looking box tugged between his arm and Sadie sitting on top of it. Still in Kite form.

I approached them and Carter gave me a happy look before it turned sour. "It's Sadie, she won't turn back!"

I looked at the Kite who yelled, Ha!

"Mmm...transformation is not my thing. If you ask me, she will turn back once she sleeps or something." I remembered it working for Frank,

Sadie looked afraid, but Carter began speaking to her with a soft tone. Reassuring her.

"Come on," I said. "Let's find Bast."

"You two!" A voice said behind us.

We turned around. It was a police officer from outside. He was giving us skeptical look as he approached us.

Sadie squawked, and the cop backed up, resting his hand on his nightstick. "You can't have pets in here," he told Carter.

"I have tickets..." He tried to reach his pockets, but nothing came. Because we didn't.

The cop scowled. "You two better come with me."

Suddenly a woman's voice called: "Oh, there are my kitties!"

Bast was hurrying over, pushing her way through the crowd. From the look on Carter's face he'd never been happier to see an Egyptian god in his life.

She'd managed to change clothes. She wore a rose-colored pantsuit, lots of gold jewelry, and a cashmere coat, so she looked like a wealthy businesswoman. Ignoring the cop, she sized up my appearance and wrinkled her nose.

"Carter, I told you not to wear those horrible falconry clothes. Honestly, you look like you've been sleeping in the wild and Percy I told you to watch over Carter"

I shrugged, "Sorry but he never listens to me."

Carter scowled at me.

She took out a handkerchief and made a big production of wiping my face, while the policeman stared.

"Uh, ma'am," he finally managed."Are they your-"

"Nephews," Bast lied. "I'm so sorry, officer. We're heading to Memphis for a falconry competition. I hope they haven't caused any problems. We're going to miss our flight!"

"Um, the falcon can't fly..." The officer protested half heartedly.

Bast giggled. "Well, of course it can fly, officer. It's a bird!"

I chuckled. 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."

I noticed the glazed look the man had and I realised Bast used the mist.

"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?"

We happily nodded.

"Um, yeah...Aunt Kitty." Carter said.

"It would be a cat-astrophe if we didn't." I added.

Bast glared at us before 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 us aside by the vending machines. "The Seth animal is close," her eyes frantically scanned the lobby. "We've got a few minutes at best. What's wrong with Sadie?"

"She's stuck in birth form." I explained.

I got the feeling something was near and I tried to focus on the unknown presence while Bast explained Carter how the duat worked, it was really fascinating. Who knew that there was an entire dimension filled with magic. I would have loved to hear more, wasn't it for the fact we were being chased.

"It's here!" I said startling both of them.

"So fast?" Bast asked.

We made our way through the security when we 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!"

"Moose?" Carter wondered.

"The mist." I explained which only resulted in a confused look.

The Seth 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.

"We need to make a run!" I said.

'Remember you can't kill him.' Chaos said.

"I can't just let it hurt these people." Carter said.

'I bet he's gonna stay behind.'' Chaos added.

Carter didn't move.

"Go to the gate," he told us. "Take Sadie. I'll meet you there."

"What? Carter-" I tried to argue.

"Go!" Carter yelled and gestured to Bast to make a move.

We stormed through the lines and skipped the waiting rooms while Carter was fighting that thing off behind us.

'Are you sure he can beat it?' I asked Chaos.

'Let's hope.' Was Chaos' only reply.

We made our way through the gate and found our seats. A voice announced there were some troubles by the security which worried me but Carter came in a few minutes later just in time. He looked tired and his clothes were ragged.

Bast let out a huge sigh of relief. "Carter, you made it! But you're hurt. What happened?"

Carter told us how he put the beast in his locker.

Bast's eyes widened. "You put the Seth animal in your locker? Do you know how much strength that requires?"

"Yeah," he said. "I was there."

The flight attendant started making her announcements. Apparently, the security incident hadn't affected our flight. The plane pushed back from the gate on time.

Carter doubled forward in pain, and only then did Bast notice how bad his arm was. Her expression turned grim. "Hold still." She whispered something in Egyptian, and his eyes began to shut.

"You'll need sleep to heal that wound," she said.

"But if Leroy comes back-" he mumbled.

"Who?"

"Nothing."

Bast put Carter into a seat and turned towards me. Sadie seemed to be sleeping as well even though I was not sure since I had no information about Kites and their sleepcycles ,as far as I knew she could be dead.

Bast turned to me, "Is it true about what you said?" she asked me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That Seth is just the beginning."

I nodded. "Yes, Seth is just the beginning. For some reason the 21st century has been the most dangerous time for quite some time."

Bast sighed, "you are leaving us when we land in Memphis don't you?"

I nodded, "Yes, sadly this is not my adventure. Iskander asked me to stay out of this. Carter and Sadie have to complete this adventure on their own. Wish I could help but to be honest, this is not my pantheon. Nor are it my Gods."

"I get it," Bast's shoulders slumped. "Any advice for the future?"

I wasn't Egyptian, nor did I know a lot. However, my short stay here did teach me something.

"Teach more people about the Gods and their paths. Wherever the future leads, Gods have to be part of it."

"Desjardins will never allow such a thing." Bast protested.

"I'll make sure of it." I promised. "I might not be able to interfere with this quest but when all is done?"

(Line break)

I drew a circle on Sadie's arm with my finger. Ink appeared on the skin and magically attached itself. Eight arrows pointed outwards from the circle and a trident in the middle. My personal symbol. "Rub over it if you ever need my help." I told them. They nodded looking curious at the symbol. "But remember, this is your own adventure and there's a big chance I'm busy with my own Gods when you need my help."

"Got it, use the nuclear option only in case of an emergency." Sadie said with a big smile.

I gave them a hug.

"I promise to keep an eye out for you two." I told Carter.

Bast looked sad. I had to leave and she understood it, as a Goddess the hardest thing was to watch and let people do things themself.

"Thanks for helping us anway," Carter said.

I nodded.

"Good luck with rescuing your dad and Amos."

They both nodded.

I stopped a Cab and entered it. My heart feeling heavy.

(Later)

'Trust me they will shit their pants.' Chaos said.

'I just don't feel comfortable with possession.' I responded.

'Trust me, I will do nothing that you wouldn't do.'

'Fine.'

I felt I lost control over my body and suddenly Chaos teleported me away from my bedroom.

'We can teleport?' I asked.

'Of course, I would be a shity creator of the universe if we could not do anything as simple as that but I won't let you teleport.'

I sighed. Chaos really was weird sometimes.

Carter and Sadie stood on a large square field that was previously a pyramid of destruction. However, they had done it. They stopped Seth's evil plan. Preventing the end of the world.

However, the House of Life wasn't done with them yet. A lot of angry magicians who had their wants raised at the two teens.

The siblings shared a look, a silent understanding passed them. "Yes I am sure." Carter spoke.

They both closed their eyes, and I could feel a powerful presence leaving their bodies, using the Washington monument as a port to the duat.

They both opened their eyes, grief-stricken, visibly weaker than before.

Desjardins was so stunned, he momentarily forgot how to speak English. "Ce n'est pas possible. On ne pourrait pas-"

"Yes, we could," Sadie said. "We've given up the Gods of our own free will. And you've got a lot to learn about what's possible."

Carter threw down his sword. "Desjardins, I'm not after the throne. Not unless I earn it by myself, and that's going to take time. We're going to learn the path of the gods. We're going to teach others. You can waste time trying to destroy us, or you can help."

Desjardins was about to say something when another magician spoke with a Russian accent, "we can take them out now! They are a danger to Ma'at!"

I heard he had some kind of Charm speak in his voice and Desjardins eyes dazed.

All the Magicians raised their wands again and got ready to fire a shot when Chaos/I appeared in front of them floating in the air like a true God.

Chaos for once radiated power, sending a shockwave through all the magicians. However, I also felt that Chaos placed a barrier around us to make sure only the magicians would feel this shockwave. Cleverly keeping everything that happened here contained.

"STOP!" Chaos shouted with her own voice channeling through me.

All the magicians stopped moving and for one second I was scared we might have killed them till the Russian said, "who are you! Are you siding with the Kanes?"

"He's Percy Jackson, a new recruit of Amos." Desjardins said with fear in his voice. "He suddenly disappeared off the radar."

"Is he the host of a God too?" Another magician asked.

To prove, weI decided to use the combat avatar, however I felt that she made sure only Desjardins and the Kanes could see it. Careful manipulations of different kinds of magic and physics layered reality. I smirked, it wouldn't do good if my secret got out like that.

Desjardins gasped as she saw my combat avatar.

"The Kanes are under the protection of Ma'at. Everything they do is in my name and everyone who opposed them is an enemy of Ma'at."

Desjardins tried to say something but ended up opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"Is that clear?" Chaos continued, her voice holding a dangerous edge.

Desjardins nodded.

He turned around to face the other magicians and said, "There has been too much destruction today, the Kanes shall not be prosecuted and are free of all Charges."

The Russian tried to say something but Desjardins only glared at him to shut him up.

"Thanks Percy!" Sadie said exhausted and I saw she looked very tired, both emotionally and physically.

I smiled. "Told you, you two would make it."

Chaos snapped her fingers and she teleported Sadie, Carter and Amos back to Brooklyn. We teleported away and a few seconds later I was back in my bedroom.

'Told you they would shit their pants.' Chaos laughed.

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So what are your thoughts about the crossover? Did it feel pushed or was it good?

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