Nico Visits 12 Grimmauld Place

10. Percy Tells Me Too Much

N I C O

Percy's only reaction was to blink like a fish. "Who?" he asked finally, voicing my thoughts.

"SAY-DEE KANE," Sadie repeated slowly.

"Dee Kane?" Percy stared. I wasn't sure if he was doing this on purpose or just being funny.

Sadie looked ready to start fighting him, "No, you dolt! My name is Sadie! I'm not telling you to say 'dee kane!' "

Percy nodded and put Riptide back into pen form. Sadie's eyes widened in surprise, and she seemed about to comment when Percy said, "It sounds a bit like Candy Cane."

Sadie groaned loudly and covered her face with her hands. I felt sorry for her. Meeting Percy when he was in one of these moods was never pleasant for those on a different level.

"What did I do?" Percy asked me worriedly.

"Don't call her Candy Cane," I informed him.

Percy smirked, and this time I could tell that he was joking, thank goodness. "I didn't know you had a thing against candy canes, Sadie."

"I don't!" Sadie snapped. Then she took a deep breath, "Okay, Mr. Emo and Mr. In-Need-of-a-Hearing-Aid, what are you doing here?"

"We were on a mission," I answered vaguely. I was still trying to get over the weirdness of this situation, and explaining it would only be possible after a decade of deliberation.

Sadie's face lit up with interest, "What sort of mission?"

"Attacking stuff," Percy said casually. "You know, saving this place from monsters."

"How nice," Sadie said. "I've still got a few questions for you two, like why aren't you two wearing cotton?"

"Cotton?" I looked down. I was wearing a black T-shirt and black jeans.

"Yes cotton," Sadie said, rolling her eyes like we were idiotic idiots, "I have to wear cotton because other fabrics interfere with my magic! How come you two don't need to wear cotton?"

"I have cotton underpants," Percy said.

"TMI! TMI!!" Sadie screamed. "Geez, I did not come here to be tortured by you two."

"I'm not torturing you," I protested.

Sadie tried to calm down, "Well, I'm assuming you two are not from the Ninth Nome since you have American accents. Are you following the Path of the Gods? If you are, I reckon it's not Thoth."

"I think we are?" I wasn't sure if being a son of Hades counted as following the Path of the Gods, whatever that was.

"What do you mean you think so?" Sadie demanded, rolling her eyes. "Either you are or you aren't."

I realized we should probably ask more to get information, "Well, are you?"

"I'm Sadie Kane. So yes, I have. I'm following the Path of Isis and I've hosted her before many times." She stared at us like we were supposed to applaud her.

"Like a...like a botfly?" I asked.

Sadie took a few seconds to figure out what I was talking about, "Gross! No! Are you trying to be funny? 'Cause that's just weird. I mean a different kind of hosting — ah, you know what I mean. Well, you should anyway."

When we just looked at her blankly, she said, "Oh great, I guess you two are just crazy non-magicians going to a high school play with a pet dog you think is normal-sized. Great, now Carter is going to kill me for talking too much. Now I'll just have to erase your memory. First time I've done this, by the way, so I might accidentally erase too much, but well, you two seem pretty dim-witted already."

I frowned, "Did you say magician?"

"Oh great, yeah, I did. This just confirms it." She took out a fancy curved stick, "Now hold still while I zap —"

"Wait a moment," I said. "No zapping necessary."

Sadie blinked and lowered her stick, "So are you magicians? This is getting more confusing than my brother."

Something was starting to make sense here. Percy must have given the Fates an idea to confuse us, saying I'd get trapped in a house full of magicians. I didn't know who Isis was, but I was pretty sure Anubis was the Egyptian god of funerals or something.

Percy seemed to have somehow put this together as well. "Is that a wand?" he pointed.

Sadie looked stunned, "Yeah, it is. Made of ivory."

"You follow the Egyptian gods," I said, amazed.

Sadie now looked more lost than us, "Well what do you follow? If not Egyptian?"

"The Greek gods."