How It All Goes Down
We Meet the Human Flamethrower
- Sadie informs us that she's taking the mic, since Carter won't tell this part properly. Why not? It's about Zia. Who's Zia? You'll find out soon.
- Glancing back as they run, Sadie sees that the situation doesn't look good: Bast's warrior form is starting to flicker as more and more scorpions dog-pile her.
- Carter and Sadie dash into the Met, skipping ticket lines and guards to get the Egyptian section.
- They try to find the temple and end up arguing loudly. A glass case next to them shatters, reminding them of Sadie's birthday party, when they'd blown up her cake by arguing.
- Alarms start sounding, so Carter and Sadie resume their search for the temple.
- The Egyptian display at the Met is huge, and they end up lost. Worse, they hear the clacking of scorpions on the floor.
- Finally, Sadie and Carter round a corner and bump into someone.
- It's the same girl Sadie and Carter saw in London. She looks Arabic, with caramel-colored skin and dark hair. She's got golden eyes that Sadie thinks are both beautiful and scary.
- The girl asks Carter and Sadie a few questions (like: Where's Amos? Where's the cat demon?—which tells you what magicians think of gods) before introducing herself as Zia Rashid.
- More scorpions show up, and Zia says that she's going to save Carter's and Sadie's miserable lives.
- Sadie and Carter follow Zia to the temple room, which is huge, since it's been built to hold a fully reconstructed ancient Egyptian temple. Zia says it should have enough power to open a gate.
- Zia says they need to stall for time until the portal opens at noon, and she has Carter and Sadie help her with the ritual elements (chalk circle, etc.) needed for the portal.
- When Zia touches the chalk circle with her wand, it begins to glow. Which is good timing, since right then, a bunch of scorpions scuttle in.
- Zia instructs Sadie and Carter to stay inside the circle no matter what.
- Serqet shows up, and Sadie asks what chance Zia has against a goddess. Zia replies that she is a scribe in the House of Life—meaning that she is trained to fight gods. Oh, yeah.