How It All Goes Down
Bast Keeps a Promise
- Carter naps for a few hours when Bast wakes him up. They're parked on a narrow mountain road, and they have to walk to wherever Bast is taking them as part of her plan.
- Turns out they're near El Paso, Texas, standing near the Rio Grande. Bast compares it to Egypt: a river civilization in the desert. Here, according to Bast, is the best place to summon Nephthys.
- Horus tells Carter that he remembers this place, which Carter finds doubtful, since why would Horus have come to Texas? But Carter is starting to remember something, too, about the marsh, and something evil lurking in the river.
- Sadie kneels by the river to try to contact Nephthys, while Carter catches sight of an immigrant family crossing the river. Sadie murmurs that Nephthys is sheltered far away in a sleeping host.
- Carter notices that the water looks disturbed and the family has vanished. He wades in against his (and Khufu's) better judgment.
- Horus's voice tells him to jump seconds before a giant crocodile erupts from the water. The croc is at least as long as their RV. Carter throws his sword at it to distract it from the family.
- As Carter battles the croc, he hears Bast scream and knows that something is wrong with Sadie. Carter manages to kill his croc but sees Bast battling a second one while Sadie lies limp on the shore.
- Bast kills her croc, but Sadie looks pale and bloody when they inspect her. Bast says they need to get out of there before—too late. A giant figure rises from the water.
- This giant dude has the head of a crocodile on a man's body and is dripping sweat and mucus.
- The croc-man calls out for Horus, and Horus in Carter's mind tells him that Sobek understands strength, so Carter needs to act strong. Carter manages to call out a few insults before they start fighting. Bast is quick enough to do some damage, but then Sobek grabs Carter and pulls him under.
- Horus again asks Carter to let him take control so he can save them. Carter refuses, and finds the strength to summon his warrior avatar, thus breaking free and surfacing.
- Bast and Carter both attack Sobek, but he's too strong. Worse, Sobek has summoned reinforcements: more crocodiles.
- Bast yells at Carter to get Sadie out and says to tell their father that she kept her promise.
- Bast launches herself at Sobek in one final attack. There's an explosion, and Sobek disappears—but so does Bast. The cat Muffin is tossed from the explosion, but her collar is gone, so Bast is also gone, back to the Duat.
- Carter turns to Khufu and Sadie to say they need to get out of there but is stunned to see another crocodile behind them. Oh, boy.
- However, it's a white crocodile—Philip of Macedonia—and he starts battling the other two crocs.
- Amos appears, too, examining Sadie. He tells Carter that they have a chance of surviving.