Disclaimer: All characters mentioned in this chapter belongs to Rick Riordan.
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Dinner went fairly well. Everyone in Brooklyn House gathered on the terrace. Annabeth, Carter, and Zia were indulged in a deep conversation about the design of the mansion. Nico was sitting on a deck chair away from the crowd. Everyone else was wishing Walt good-bye. Sadie sat down next to Nico. A very surprised Nico looked up from his plate of food. Sadie was too tired and hungry to say anything, so she just continued eating. Nico went back to eating too. Sadie noticed that their part of the terrace was darkest compared to the other parts of the terrace.
After dinner Annabeth led Sadie inside for a private chat. "Did you guys come across Anubis, today?" Annabeth asked.
Sadie nodded. "Did you already know about this stuff? Like him being a descendant of Amenhotep III?" Sadie asked.
Annabeth paled. "I know all about this stuff, Sadie. However, I can not tell you because it might lead to more trouble," she replied. "Also you do know that Nico is not Anubis, right? They may look alike, but Nico and Anubis have very different abilities. If Nico successfully hosted Anubis, you can be sure that it is not like Walt hosting him. Besides, learning magic will make him even stronger than the average demigod or magician. Especially when he's already a child of Hades," Annabeth warned.
Sadie nodded. Her legs trembled slightly. "Thanks for the warnings, mate," she replied.
Annabeth, however, looked unsatisfied. "Sadie Kane, you have to take this seriously, the prophecies are coming into play, the next few months will be harder, more monsters, problems, and...deaths," Annabeth let that hang in the air between them.
"What do you mean by deaths?" Sadie asked.
"I can't tell you. You might try to stop or prevent it somehow. And believe me, some deaths can't be prevented," Annabeth's tone was filled with bitterness. Sadie guessed something bad must've happened to someone who was close to her.
"So is this all then?" Sadie asked, trying to change the subject.
"One more thing, don't do anything rash, and keep Nico safe," she added.
Sadie nodded. "Of course I'll keep him safe. He's a member of the 21st Nome, now."
"Thanks, Sadie. It's just that he's been through a lot, and Percy and I took the responsibility of caring for him after he left camp. He's like a little brother to us," she explained.
"That would explain why you tackled and threatened him for being late," she said sarcastically.
Annabeth chuckled. "He deserved it. Besides, don't think this was the only time it has happened. Little Death Boy likes to shadow-travel everywhere, so just keep him within your sight, 'kay?"
"Sure thing," Sadie assured. "But shouldn't you put Carter in charge of this?" Sadie asked. "I mean, not to say I'm irresponsible or anything, but he's more the leader and I'm the second-in-command."
"If I wanted Carter to do this, I would've. However, I know more about you than him," she started.
"Probably because you know my secret name," Sadie cut in. It still bothered her that Annabeth knew her secret name. Now she knows how Carter felt when she found out what his secret name was.
"Hey, tough times call for extreme measures," she countered. "Also, you and Nico seem pretty close. You must've had a great time together right? Going through Little Italy, walking through parks, sharing information?" Annabeth teased.
Sadie stared at Annabeth dumbfound. "How did you know that?"
"Well, I am a part-time detective for a reason," answered Annabeth. She pulled out a coin from her pocket. "I found this at some bakery and, let's just say, some spells work great for tracking stuff down."
"But, you said you forgot how to do magic." Sadie recalled.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "That doesn't mean I stop learning. I'm a daughter of wisdom, for Athena's sake. I've been teaching myself a few spells, Greek and Egyptian."
Sadie scoffed. "So you're a sorceress, now?" she asked.
"I guess that is what I am. But, don't ever call me that. Ever," Annabeth warned.
Sadie started to reply when screams were heard from the balcony. They quickly ran to see what was going on. On the terrace, stood a dozen sphinxes, each with glowing red eyes and sharp knife-like talons. Annabeth was clearly faster than Sadie because she got to the terrace first and charged into battle. Annabeth slipped a silver ring onto her finger, and the next second, she was wearing complete silver armor, Greek style. A dagger appeared in her hand and she started hacking down a sphinx. Zia had drawn a protective circle around her and the younger initiates. Walt, Alyssa, Felix, Julian, and Sean were outside the protective circle and kept the sphinxes away from the entrance. Carter was using his khopesh and fought alongside Annabeth. Nico was also fighting another sphinx near the edge of the balcony. Sadie noticed that there were five magicians defending Brooklyn House and only three fighting back the monsters. She did learn battle tactics during her years at Brooklyn House. She joined those on the offensive side. Since Carter had Annabeth to help him, she ran to aide Nico. Another sphinx got ready to pounce on him.
"Ha-wi," she shouted, pointing her staff at the sphinx. Glowing blue hieroglyphs swirled around the sphinx and it was knocked off the terrace.
Nico drove his sword into his sphinx, Sadie didn't know if she was seeing things or if his sword actually sucked in the monster. Sadie blasted another sphinx with a spell, but by then her energy was fading. Maybe she should start working on her combat skills. Nico, on the other hand, seems to be pretty energized. He swung his sword through another sphinx and opened up the floor under another. Alyssa, who was using the power of Geb, followed Nico's example. Soon there were no sphinxes left. Zia distinguished her protective circle and everyone began repairing the terrace and railing.
While everyone was fixing the mess, Annabeth herded Carter, Zia, Sadie, and Nico inside. "I thought you said that your magical wards keep monsters from invading Brooklyn House." Annabeth pointed out.
Carter furrowed his brows, "They were supposed to, I don't know what happened. Only a magician can undo the spells."
Zia gasped. "Do you think a magician did this?"
"Why do you seem so surprised? Aren't there supposed to be evil magicians around?" asked Nico.
Annabeth shook her head. "Nico, magicians are not like demigods. Demigods can train harder and get stronger. Magicians, however, are only limited to a certain amount of power or they'll burn up. The only way they can get stronger is by hosting a god, and not all magicians are compatible. In other words, it's dangerous to host a god because the magician might be too weak, or the god is too controlling. Also, Carter is the Pharaoh of the House of Life, they'd be committing treason by doing so," she explained.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at Annabeth. "How do you know that? You're not even a magician?" asked Zia.
Annabeth shrugged. "I've done a little bit of research myself. It's crazing how being a detective takes you all over the place," she replied.
Nico nodded in agreement. "Like that one time we went to Egypt, and you disappeared for a week. Then we found you examining some ruins, in Sudan," Nico pointed out.
"That was just me getting carried away," Annabeth said, waving off Nico's comment. "Now, back to business. Who do think could've done this? It would have to be someone who really hates Carter or a member of this House, but most likely Carter."
"Gee, I wonder who would hate being ruled by a teenager?" asked Sadie sarcastically.
"Sadie, this is not a time for jokes, Annabeth is serious. Also, I think I make a fine pharaoh," replied a very annoyed Carter.
"I'll have to start searching into that," Annabeth mumbled. "Nico, do you think you can do some searching while you're here? Perhaps your fellow magicians can help," she suggested.
Nico nodded. "Sure thing."
"Wait, why are you asking Nico to do this?" Sadie asked. "No offenese, but you just got here and we know more about this stuff than you."
"Because Nico here is as good a detective as I am," Annabeth stated proudly. "You'd be surprised to see how much he can figure out." She stopped to check her watch. "I better get going. It's really late now."
"Do you want me to shadow-travel you home?" offered Nico.
"There's no need for that." Annabeth walked out to the terrace. She turned around. "Bye guys, I'll see you soon." With that she jumped over the railing.
Everyone, literally everyone that was there, ran to the railing. Then a big figure passed before their eyes. There was Annabeth on the back of a black pegasus. The younger initiates shouted "pony", while everyone else shouted their good-byes.