The Red Pyramid Chapter 26 Summary

Aboard the Egyptian Queen

• Carter tells us that the boat is actually pretty cool: it has multiple decks, painted railings, and paddlewheels. The name of the boat, painted on its side, is Egyptian Queen. The boat also has painted-on eyes that move as though alive.
• Bast is waving to Carter and Sadie from the highest deck. Standing next to her is a dude with the body of a man but an axe for a head. A battle-axe. With bloodstains.
• The ship pulls up, and the kids see that moving balls of fire are doing all the work on board.
• Bast hugs them, and they recap their time with Thoth. She says she's not happy to be on the boat again. Again?
• Carter, Sadie, and Bast enter a banquet room with an awesome buffet laid out. The axe-dude enters, addresses the kids as Lord and Lady Kane, and introduces himself as Bloodstained Blade.
• According to Bast, Carter and Sadie can only summon the boat once a year and in times of great need. Also, they have to give the captain very clear directions if they're to arrive safely. The captain hints that Bast has left some information out.
• Carter asks Bloodstained Blade to take them to the Hall of Judgment in the Land of the Dead, and the captain agrees and exits. The kids and monkey eat, but Bast only picks at her food.
• Finally, Carter asks Bast about what the captain had meant.
• Bast reluctantly tells the whole truth: the last time she'd been on this boat was the night their mother died. After the accident, Julius brought Bast on the boat, and they made a deal.
• Looking closely at Bast, Carter makes a connection: Bast wasn't fighting just any chaos monster when she was freed from the obelisk. She was fighting Apophis: the primeval force of chaos.
• Sadie asks why Bast had kept the truth from them.
• At first, Bast says, it had been an honor to be the Eye of Ra, the sun god's warrior cat. The first Eye of Ra was Sekhmet, but she had been too violent and uncontrollable, so Bast replaced her.
• When Ra withdrew to the heavens, his last act was to put Bast in an abyss to fight Apophis.
• Carter realizes then that Bast isn't just a minor deity: she had been imprisoned longer than any of the other gods. Her release was a significant, intentional act.
• Bast talks more about being imprisoned with the serpent Apophis: they battled eternally in darkness, and while she was proud to fulfill Ra's command at first, she began to weaken.
• Ra's plan must have been to have the two destroy each other, so that he could withdraw to the heavens with peace of mind, knowing Apophis would no longer be a threat.
• However, the Kanes realized that Bast was weakening. Ruby foresaw that terrible things would happen if Bast were defeated. So the Kanes released Bast to give her time to heal.
• Ruby's death should have sealed the gate, leaving Apophis still trapped inside… but signs began to point in the other direction. Bast feels ashamed at leaving her post and ditching her duty, but it was the only way to survive.
• Sadie and Carter both tell Bast that she shouldn't feel bad for taking her chance to escape, but she keeps saying that she's a coward and should have been proud to serve her king.
• This leads Carter to say that she had a stupid king. The whole boat suddenly shudders!
• Bast cautions Carter that the whole world hinges on order, Ma'at, being upheld, part of which is loyalty to your rightful king.
• Then Horus scolds Carter in his head, saying that Carter is having unworthy thoughts.
• This makes Carter feel unworthy, too, so he just goes to bed. Guess what—it's another ba field trip.
• Carter's soul goes up to where the pilot of the boat should be, but instead of Bloodstained Blade, a young man in armor stands at the wheel.
• The guy—who is totally ripped and carries a sword like Carter's—points out that rivers are treacherous. Boats are painted with his eyes so they can see the dangers.
• Carter realizes that this guy is Horus. Indeed, his eyes are two different colors: one golden like the sun, the other silver like the moon.
• Horus says that Carter is wondering if order is better than chaos, and this is distracting him from their real enemy: Set. Indeed, Horus thinks Carter should be taught a lesson.
• Before Carter can object, his ba is taken to a new place: a large airplane.
• Carter recognizes Zia, Desjardins, and two other magicians from the House of Life.
• Thunder begins to shake the plane, and the magicians realize that a storm of Set is attacking them. The plane starts to plummet.
• Desjardins orders the magicians to protect the innocents. Even as the plane breaks apart, the magicians keep the interior intact and keep everyone inside and alive (though asleep).
• Zia saves the day by landing the plane in a field outside Dallas but then collapses from the effort. The other magicians grab her and run before anyone wakes up.
• Carter's ba then flies through Phoenix, where he hears Set's diabolical laughter.
• Carter sees Brooklyn next, where Amos's house lies ruined. Finally, Carter sees a river in a desert canyon. Something powerful and scary is moving under the water's surface.
• Horus tells Carter that this is only the beginning, and Set will destroy everyone he cares about.
• The river becomes a marsh, and we see a ten-year-old boy and a woman looking at an old sarcophagus. The woman has Carter's mother's face, but Carter knows that she is Isis.
• The woman tells the boy (Horus) that they've finally retrieved Osiris, and that she will use her magic to bring him back to life.
• Suddenly the hut explodes, and Set steps out of the fire. He knocks both the woman and the boy to the ground and splinters Osiris's coffin into multiple shards that scatter to the wind. Isis and Horus take flight as birds as Set attacks them.
• The scene returns to the riverboat. Horus tells Carter that Set destroyed his father and will do the same to Carter's father.
• According to Horus, Isis and Nephthys collected all fourteen pieces of Osiris's body but couldn't bring him fully back to life, so Osiris became lord of the undead. His loss gave Horus strength, however, so Horus was able to defeat Set and take the throne. Horus wants Carter to do the same. Carter says he doesn't want a throne; he just wants to save his dad.
• Horus tells Carter not to deceive himself: Set will use his despair and sorrow against him. Then Carter wakes up.
• Bast tells Carter that they've sailed down the Mississippi and into the Duat. Now they're at the First Cataract: the entrance to the Land of the Dead.