How It All Goes Down
Zia Tells Me a Secret
- Sadie takes up the story, thanking Carter for making her entrance look so dramatic. The truth, though, wasn't as exciting. When Carter and Set take the fight outside, Sadie is left nursing Amos and Zia, who are both injured (it's mix of magical and physical wounds).
- As Sadie tries to bandage the cuts on Zia's leg, Zia stops her and tells her to listen. She has a message, remember? But she's not Nephthys, so what's going on?
- Zia tells Sadie that Set's secret name is Evil Day. Sadie remembers that Anubis had made her promise to listen to Nephthys, and this is, somehow, a message from her.
- Also, Sadie recalls bits of things that both Iskandar and Thoth had said, especially what Iskandar said about wanting to protect Sadie and Carter the way he'd protected… someone.
- Sadie stares at Zia, realizing the truth. Zia nods, and instructs her to use the name to make Set help. Set doesn't strike Sadie as the helping type, but Zia tells her to also go help Carter.
- First, though, it occurs to Sadie that she might help her dad while he's in the coffin.
- Isis warns her against it, and as soon as she touches the coffin, she's ripped away into the Land of the Dead.
- On the plus side, Anubis is there. He shows Sadie the empty black throne in the Hall of Judgment and tells her that all balance is gone. Sadie doesn't completely understand what he means, but she begins to feel a terrible sense of loss.
- Anubis melts into graveyard mist, and Sadie finds herself in the throne room of the gods—but it, too, is empty. Bast is there, and Sadie tears up. Bast tells her that the Duat is in turmoil, and if Set doesn't take over, someone else must. She also tells Sadie not to let her have died in vain.
- Next, Sadie's in the Hall of Ages, with Iskandar sitting there. He says that Ma'at needs a leader, and that the Kane family will either heal or destroy everyone.
- Finally, Sadie sees a scene at Cleopatra's Needle in London. Her parents are there. They have a serious conversation about how they must seek the truth. They say they must not fail.
- Sadie's mother wears the amulet of Isis, and Sadie realizes that her mom had contacted Isis with her divination skills, which started this whole thing. Her parents kiss one last time and then begin to chant, their staffs and wands glowing with power.
- Sadie is yanked back to reality, and in her mind she screams at Isis, saying that Isis knew her mother would be killed at the obelisk, but encouraged her anyway.
- The next thing Sadie sees is a ghostly image of her father rising from the coffin.
- Julius tells Sadie not to blame Isis for what happened to Ruby. No one knew exactly what would happen, but Ruby accepted her death when it was time.
- Sadie yells at her father, saying he should have helped their mother survive. She says that she hates him.
- Feeling guilty about saying this, and realizing that for years she's blamed her father for her mother's death, Sadie starts to cry.
- Julius tells Sadie that it's okay, and that she had to get those feelings out before doing what she's about to do. He says that Ruby was the first in centuries to commune with Isis and to realize that people needed the gods. He and Ruby knew, going in, that many hard sacrifices would be required.
- Sadie argues that Isis or Bast could have given her mother more power, so maybe she could have survived. Her father counters her, saying that her mother knew her limits. Ruby knew she'd be consumed, or worse. But with her life, she bought Sadie and Carter some time.
- Julius and Ruby put things in motion by releasing the gods, but it's Sadie and Carter who need to fight and accomplish the healing of Ma'at. It's something they have to do alone.
- Sadie still wants to save Julius, but he says that it might not work. Besides, the entire pyramid needs to be destroyed in order to prevent Set from consuming Osiris's power.
- Julius says that Osiris must take his throne through death; it's the only way. Then his voice and image fade.
- Sadie opens her connection with Isis and sees the goddess's whole history: her ongoing struggle to protect and raise up her family. Sadie sees her mother's memories imprinted on Isis, and she realizes that her mother had given her life to start something new. Now, the next move is Sadie's.
- Sadie tells Zia that she has a plan. She turns into a kite and flies straight up.