sprinkling of hot sauce—” Then he stopped abruptly, like he’d had a revelation. He spoke in a much louder voice, calling across the room. “And a sacrificial victim would be good! Maybe a young idiot magician who can’t do a proper invisibility spell, like CARTER KANE over there!” I froze. Vladimir Menshikov turned, and my panic became too much for the invisibility shroud. Half a dozen golden sparks shot up with a loud happy WHEEEEE! The cloud of darkness dissolved. Menshikov stared right at me. “My, my…how kind of you to deliver yourselves. Well done, Set.” “Hmm?” Set asked innocently. “Do we have visitors?” “Set!” Sadie growled. “I’ll kick you in the ba for that, so help me!” The voice in the jar gasped. “Sadie Kane? How exciting! Too bad I’m stuck in this jar and no one will let me out.” The hint wasn’t too subtle, but surely he couldn’t believe we’d free him after he’d blown our cover. Sadie faced Menshikov, her wand and staff ready. “You’re working with Apophis. You’re on the wrong side.” Menshikov removed his glasses. His eyes were ruined pits of scar tissue, burned skin, and glistening corneas. Believe me, that’s the least gross way I can describe them. “The wrong side?” Menshikov asked. “Girl, you have no idea the powers that are in play. Five thousand years ago, Egyptian priests prophesied how the world would end. Ra would grow old and tired, and Apophis would swallow him and plunge the world into darkness. Chaos would rule forever. Now the time is here! You can’t stop it. You can only choose whether you’ll be destroyed, or whether you’ll bow to the power of Chaos and survive.” “Right,” Set chimed in. “It’s too bad I’m stuck in this jar. Otherwise I might have to take sides and help someone.” “Shut up, Set,” Menshikov snapped. “No one is crazy enough to trust you. And as for you, children, you are clearly not the threat I imagined.” “Great,” I said. “So we can go?” Menshikov laughed. “Would you run to Desjardins and tell him what you’ve heard? He wouldn’t believe you. He’d put you on trial, then execute you. But I’ll spare you that embarrassment. I’ll kill you right now.” “How fun!” Set said. “Wish I could see it, but I’m stuck in this jar.” I tried to think. Menshikov was still inside a protective circle, which meant he had a big defensive advantage. I wasn’t sure I could bust through it, even if I could summon a combat avatar. Meanwhile, Menshikov could take his time trying out different ways to destroy us. Would he blast us with elemental magic? Change us into bugs? He threw his staff to the ground, and I cursed. Throwing down your staff may sound like a sign of surrender, but in Egyptian magic, it’s bad news. It usually means Hey, I’ m going to summon a big nasty thing to kill you while I stand safely inside my
circle and laugh! Sure enough, Menshikov’s staff began to writhe and grow. Great, I thought. Another serpent. But something was wrong with this one. Instead of a tail, it had a head on both ends. At first I thought we’d caught some luck, and Menshikov had summoned a monster with a rare genetic birth defect. Then the thing sprouted four dragon legs. Its body grew until it was the size of a draft horse, curved like a U, with mottled red and green scales and a rattlesnake head on either side. It reminded me of that two-headed animal from Doctor Dolittle. You know—the pushmi-pullyu? Except Doctor Dolittle would never have wanted to talk to this thing, and if he had, it would probably have said just Hello, I’m