How It All Goes Down
The Place of Crosses
- Sadie wakes up with Muffin perched on her head. This reminds of her of Bast, which makes Sadie sad.
- Muffin leaps into Khufu's arms, and Amos says that he told Khufu to take Muffin back to Brooklyn, since things would get too dangerous for them.
- With Khufu and Muffin gone, Amos, Carter, and Sadie talk about what's next. Sadie and Carter silently communicate that they can't trust Amos just yet, so they tell him that it's best if he doesn't know the plan now. After all, what if Set has a magical listening device?
- Amos is bummed about that possibility but agrees that it's probably safest if Sadie and Carter keep important things from him for the time being.
- Carter suggests going to Las Cruces, but Amos says it's too dangerous.
- Something goes click in Sadie's head: she remembers her conversation with Geb, and figures out that "Las Cruces" is Spanish for "the crosses." So she voices her support for going.
- Amos finally agrees to go and tells Sadie and Carter to hop on board his boat. No water? No problem. He says a spell over his coat and it begins to steer the boat over the desert.
- In Las Cruces, handmade tortillas blow Sadie's mind. After Sadie, Carter, and Amos eat, they wander around looking for… whatever it was Geb said that Sadie needed and would find there.
- Finally, Sadie, Carter, and Amos see Zia. She greets them but seems uneasy around Amos.
- Zia thinks they need to convince Desjardins that they're not a threat, so that they can all work together to defeat Set. Sadie thinks Desjardins is the threat. He ordered Sadie and Carter killed, after all, and might be hosting Set.
- Zia insists that she has something important to tell them. Right then, Amos says that it's a trap—and they see Desjardins and some other magicians approaching them.
- Thinking Zia set them up, Amos blasts Zia with a lightning bolt. Carter rushes to her side. Amos tells Sadie and Carter that he'll hold off Desjardins while they get to the boat and flee.
- Desjardins creates a giant crack in the earth that threatens to swallow them up, but Sadie stops it by speaking divine words from Isis. Desjardins accuses all of them of collaborating with gods.
- Zia speaks up, saying that they have to work together; it's what Iskandar would have wanted.
- Then Zia summons a pillar of fire to hunt Desjardins, and she promptly collapses.
- Isis says (in Sadie's head) that it's an incredibly powerful spell and should last six to twelve hours, no matter what Desjardins does to evade it.
- Isis emphasizes that Zia won't be able to work any magic while the spell is in effect—she deliberately exhausted her magical reserves to protect them.
- As Carter and Sadie attempt to escape with an unconscious Zia, Desjardins pulls some arrows from the Duat and prepares another spell.
- Amos is horrified and tries to stop him, but it's too late: Desjardins summons Sekhmet.
- Amos says he'll try to distract Sekhmet, but the kids need to run. Now.
- Sadie is confused, because she doesn't know who Sekhmet is, but the look on Carter's face is so scared that they start running. Fast.