The Red Pyramid Chapter 33 Summary

We Go Into the Salsa Business

• Carter steers the magic boat, while Sadie tries to keep Zia (who's still unconscious) from rolling around the boat as it moves. Worse, when Carter looks back, he sees a fiery figure: Sekhmet.
• Horus gives Carter the lowdown on Sekhmet: she's the incarnation of the sun's wrath, and she's pretty much undefeatable.
• The Chief Lector of the House of Life has the power to summon her once in a lifetime, which makes Desjardins a hypocrite, given how much he goes on about banishing the gods.
• Zia wakes up just as Sekhmet shoots a burning arrow at them. The boat catches fire.
• Carter does his best to steer until Zia points them toward a factory, saying she has an idea.
• They steer their burning boat into a giant pile of chili peppers (they've broken into the production factory of Magic Salsa, Inc.).
• As the kids hide from Sekhmet, Zia tells them about the time Sekhmet got out of hand back in the day and started killing everyone (not just those she was supposed to punish).
• Sekhmet killed and gorged on blood daily, until people figured out a plan: they colored giant vats of beer red, and tricked Sekhmet into drinking them. She drank until she passed out, and Ra brought her back to the heavens and transformed her into Hathor, a gentle cow goddess.
• What's at hand now? Salsa. Which is red. Worth a shot, right?
• Carter invites Sekhmet to feast on the blood of their enemies. They pierce the vats of salsa, raining down salsa onto her.
• Sekhmet laps it up, not realizing how hot it is until smoke starts pouring from her mouth.
• When Sekhmet begins to stagger around from the heat and pain, Carter suggests that milk might help. The kind of milk you might get from a cow. Especially if you were a cow.
• Sekhmet realizes that she was tricked, but doesn't have a choice, so she turns into a cow.
• With Sekhmet neutralized, Sadie gets on Zia's case again about leading them into a trap.
• Carter insists that Zia's on their side—she told them how to defeat Sekhmet, after all.
• Sadie, Carter, and Zia debate about waiting for Amos to catch up (Zia is definitely against this), and end up deciding to get to Phoenix on their own, however they can.
• Most of the salsa factory was destroyed, but one sixteen-wheeled truck is still intact. The kids can't drive, but they remember Amos's coat steering the boat.
• Could they enchant another coat? Zia says yeah, but they'd need a figurine ready to enchant into a coat. Luckily, they have Doughboy from their father's magic box.