WHAT THE CROC?
Bang!
“What’s happening?” Aria squeezed the rail so tight her knuckles faded to white.
“I don’t know.” Jagger leaned over the river, searching for danger. Water splashed off to the left, and he fought a sudden urge to pee.
Mut rushed up and grabbed Jagger’s arm. “Where’s the prince?”
Jagger shook his head, confused. “I don’t—”
“We haven’t seen him.” Aria scanned the deck.
“The amulet, Jagger!” Mut yanked on the leather strap hanging from Jagger’s neck just as the captain strode up, Mut’s two guards at his side. “You must find Smenkare.”
“Wait. How did you know about—” Jagger’s mind felt as cluttered as Aria’s closet.
“You are the Protector!” Aria bounced up and down.
“Yes, Aria.” Mut spared her a small smile. “Now, Jagger.”
“Yay!” Aria beamed. “You were my first choice. I like you much more than him—”
“It’s not a reality show!” Jagger shouted. “We’re under attack.”
Bang!
The ship reeled, as if to emphasize his point.
“What’s happening?” Jagger turned back to the water churning beneath the ship.
“Damage assessment. Now!” The captain’s voice was steady. Soldiers scurried at his command.
“Find Smenkare!” Mut urged Jagger, jingling the Isis Knot.
“Yeah. Okay.” Breathe. He gulped air and clutched the amulet, focusing his thoughts on the prince. He’d used the amulet a few times since he’d been on the ship, feeling sheepish at first as he concentrated on Tatia, sensing her recede in the distance. He’d even tried Mom, but nothing happened. The prince’s presence, however, stood out like a beacon. “He’s in front of us, maybe ten kilometers, near the shore.” Jagger pointed.
“And your letter of introduction?” Mut pressed her hands to her temples. Hemet and Mutef stood behind her, stern faced as always.
“My …” Jagger dropped the amulet, grabbing the pocket where he’d kept Tatia’s letter to Herihor. “It’s … Wait! How?”
Mut put her hands on his shoulders. “I suspect Smenkare took it,” she said. “But certainty is always wise.” She nodded at the amulet.
“Right,” Jagger mumbled. “Okay. Right.” He squeezed his eyes shut tight. His palm, wrapped tightly around the amulet, was slick with sweat. He concentrated on the letter, and moaned when it came into focus. “Smenkare has it.”
“And my magic kit too, I suspect.” Mut sighed. “I’m a magician without a bag of tricks now. I’m not sure how we’ll get you in to see the High Priest without Meretaten’s letter. It’s impossible to reach Herihor in his temple fortress. The man is a hermit!”
BANG! The ship lurched to one side, then the other.
“I think we have a more immediate problem,” the captain said coolly, eyeballing the Nile. Mut pivoted and leaned over the rail beside him.
BANG! BANG!
Jagger’s stomach rolled with the lurching ship. Peering over Mut’s shoulder, he struggled to believe his eyes.
Giant crocodiles!
There were several of them, sharp teeth gleaming under blood red eyes. The scales on their backs were spiky—long daggers shooting from their spines. They were the size of the small yachts that sailed Lake Michigan. Jagger tried to count them, but they moved too fast, diving, surfacing, and twining around one another.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Babi’s voice was calm, but his brows were furrowed.
“And you probably never will again.” Mut’s eyes were wide. She looked more fascinated than scared. “Those are the crocs of Sobek, the god of war. They only appear if summoned by a fairly powerful magician. Smenkare must have called them before he left. Apparently, the prince’s magical abilities are stronger than I’d assumed. If only I had my magic kit.” She sighed.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
At this rate, the ship would tip over any minute. The guy next to Jagger whispered under his breath: a protection spell, Jagger realized. He looked around. Sailors were clutching amulets and chanting to the gods.
Even Aria looked worried, grasping the ship’s rail, jaw hanging open as she watched the crocs squirm through the water. She looked too pale, like she did after a bad asthma attack.
“Can you defeat them?” Babi asked Mut.
“I could if I had my magic kit.” She bit her bottom lip. “Without it …” She shook her head.
“What would you do if you had it?” Jagger had no idea how shooting questions at her would help, but his brain was accustomed to clicking through possibilities, sorting solutions from dead ends.
“I need wax.” She glanced at the captain.
Babi shook his head. “We have tar to fix, well, breaks like the ones we’re getting right now. Would that help?”
BANG!
“No. That won’t do.” She grimaced, curving her long neck to watch one of the oversized crocs twine its body around the ship’s hull.
BANG!
“Tar has the wrong properties,” she continued. “I need raw material, something void of magical properties that I can shape to my will, something that’s not already imbued with the power of the old gods. I need to call on Neith, goddess of war and the waters of creation. Only her magic can trump Sobek’s crocs. Fortunately, I know the spell. Unfortunately, I need wax from my magic kit to cast it.”
BANG, BANG!
“What would you do exactly? If you had wax?” Jagger’s brain was churning, looking for solutions. He tried to put Aria out of his mind. Having her two steps from death’s door was distracting.
“I need to create a wax Apep to cast the spell.”
Aria’s face scrunched up in confusion.
“Apep is a giant snake,” Jagger explained. “A symbol of chaos. Neith was his mom too. She was a pretty powerful goddess with some unusual kids.”
“So we need a giant snake to kill the giant crocodiles?” Aria wrinkled her nose then shrugged. “That makes sense. How much wax do you need?”
BANG! BANG!
The ship tipped. Men and boxes slid to one side of the deck. The captain grabbed Mut with one hand, holding her tight as he grasped the rail with his other. One of Mut’s guards grabbed her waist but the other fell to the deck.
BANG!
The ship rocked again. Jagger and Aria went spinning. He managed to grab onto a rope with one hand and his sister’s wrist with the other as they slid down the tilted deck. He heard a splash and hoped a box, rather than a sailor, just went overboard. He hated to think of what those crocs would do if they managed to get someone between those fierce teeth.
Aria’s arms slipped down his sweaty palm, and he squeezed her tighter. The ship righted itself just in time—a second more and she’d have slithered away. Jagger and Aria landed in a heap on the deck.
Aria crawled toward Mut. “How much wax do you need?”
“Not much. I need enough to craft a snake, and I need a few arrows.”
“Arrows we have.” The captain ordered a nearby sailor to bring arrows. Thinking he wanted to drive off the crocs, sailors started shooting at them.
“That won’t work,” Mut said casually, as if she were turning down a pair of new shoes.
“What about …” With a squeal, Aria pulled her sparkly, purple purse from under her shift. She shuffled through it and extracted a handful of small, silver rectangles along with a pink box.
She tossed the box at Jagger. “Think it will work?”
It took him a moment to understand what his sister was up to. “No! No, I don’t.”
“That’s ‘cause you’re a Pauly Pessimist,” Aria retorted, shoving a pink stick in her mouth.
BANG!
He tensed, then relented. “Let’s see if she likes spearmint or bubblegum, I guess.” He scrabbled over to his sister, chewing a huge wad of gum as quickly as possible.
BANG!
Mut watched them, head cocked to one side, as Babi directed sailors. Mutef and Hemet stood at her back—their the-world-is-ending faces looked exactly like their it’s-lovely-outside-today faces.
Jagger and Aria handed Mut their gobs of quickly chewed gum.
She squeezed it, then pulled it. A smile spread slowly across her face. “I can use this!” she breathed. “It’s so … blank! It’s unnatural. It has no divine properties at all.”
She slid to her knees, rolling the chewed gum between both hands. She laid the small, gummy snake she’d crafted on the deck and covered it with two crossed arrows, snatched from a sailor who was uselessly shooting at the crocs. She was waggling her fingers and chanting, “Come, Neith the Mother, Neith the Warrior, Neith the Protector …” Purple lights twinkled around like fairies in dresses, ranging from violet to maroon. Aria wiggled her nose dramatically, and Jagger realized the air smelled like lotus.
“She’s doing magic.” Aria elbowed Jagger. How could she smile at a time like this?
BANG.
Jagger held his breath.
TTTHHHHHHUUUUMMPP!
Okay. That sound was new.
Mut jumped up and ran to the rail, hanging over to stare down at the water. The captain, Jagger, and Aria rushed to her side. Jagger shoved himself between Aria and one of Mut’s guards.
Nothing. The water was still.
TTHHHUUUMMP! TTTHHHUUUMP!
The head of a gargantuan snake reared up, holding a croc between its teeth. Its scales were the size of a small house, glimmering yellow. Huge, black spots ran along its enormous back, and two long fangs protruded from its mouth. The croc looked small, sandwiched between them.
The snake gazed at Mut, its yellow eyes whirling. Like a dog releasing a dead rat at its owner’s feet, it dropped the bloody croc, and spun toward the next one.
TTTTHHHUUUUUMMP!
“Well,” Mut said dryly, following the snake with her eyes. “I’ve not only underestimated the prince’s powers, but his ambition as well. Clearly he’s the one working with the General.”
Jagger shook his head, struggling to process the last ten minutes. How was it possible for his crazy life to get even crazier?
“Smenkare is trying to kill his own family?” Aria hunched up like a cat.
“And ours!” Jagger added. His sister seemed to forget their lives were at stake too.
Mut quirked a brow. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone in the family has murdered in pursuit of the crown. Although I’ll admit, I wouldn’t have pegged Smenkare as a killer. A whiner, yes. A murderer … well, that’s a surprise.”
“But …” Jagger fumbled. “Won’t he die too? Tatia said if the General casts the spell, the entire family will die. He’s family!”
Mut tapped her fingers against the rail. “Yes. That’s a puzzle that needs solving.”
TTHHUUUMMP!
The snake gave the water one last whack as it disappeared under the waves, crocs devoured. The ship was eerily silent. Everyone on deck stared out at the Nile, holding their collective breath, hoping it was really over.
Nothing but peace and calm, as if they hadn’t almost been eaten by giant crocodiles and saved by an even more giant snake.
Jagger watched the river banks as the ship floated serenely along, feeling stunned and scared and, above all, intimidated. He’d faced real danger for the first time in his life, and he’d done nothing remotely useful. Why on earth did Tatia—and the old gods, if the princess was to be believed—think he could do this? Even his little sister had outperformed him. He’d have never thought to grab handfuls of gum. Maybe the gods had meant for the princess to summon Aria. Thinking of his sister, Jagger turned to her. “You okay?”
She grinned, eyes sparkling. Leave it to Aria to believe magical beasts were the coolest thing ever … even when they were trying to kill you! “That was even more interesting than the tiger that chased us when Mom took us on safari, or the time you got food poisoning in Istanbul!”
Jagger sighed. His sister had a bad habit of confusing danger with adventure.
“I guess this means the easy part is over, huh?” Aria leaned her elbows on the rail. “Soon we’ll be in Thebes. We’ll have to, I don’t know, do something.”
Jagger stared at his little sister, thinking he should compliment her on her quick thinking but worried she’d realize he was useless if he voiced the fact that she’d saved the day while he froze.
Aria rolled her eyes. “No, Brainy. I’m really not a total idiot. I have no idea why you think you’re the only one who can do things! Hopefully your faith in your own oversized brain means you have some kind of plan?”
“A plan?” Jagger replied. Of course he didn’t have a plan. With a sigh, he confessed, “No, I don’t have a plan. I mean, I guess the plan was to get to Herihor and hope he knew what to do. But how are we going to do that now?”
Aria scowled. “Smell-kare is a butthead. Tatia gave you the letter!”
Jagger shut his tingly eyes. “I keep hoping I’ll wake up and realize I’m still in our rental house in Amarna. Mom will be making coffee, and you’ll be talking to Grams on the phone, probably complaining about me making you do math on the plane.”
Aria melted, flashing a sympathetic smile as she patted his back.
“It’s like we’re in an alternate universe,” he continued. “I mean, I thought I understood ancient Egypt. Sure, I knew some people believed in magic—their doctors performed magic spells along with real cures—but I didn’t think there really was magic. It’s like the entire world is different from what I thought it was. And I thought I understood the world, how it worked, the science behind it all.”
“What happened to ‘Einstein said we could travel through time?’”
“Yeah, but he didn’t say some necklace could tell me where stuff was, or that a few pieces of gum and a magic spell could ward off oversized crocodiles!”
“I know, right?” Aria smiled, delighted by the same mysteries that Jagger found downright depressing. “Look on the bright side. We’re with the Protector now. I mean, she’s not as muscle-y as I’d imagined, but she’s way more fabulous. She’ll help us. And we’re almost at Thebes, which is exactly where Tatia wanted us to go. Plus, we survived a croc attack. We’re lucky, if you think about it the right way.”
Jagger looked over at Mut, flanked by Hemet and Mutef, whispering with the captain. Babi looked calm. Did this guy ever get ruffled? Maybe he was in on it. Maybe he knew the croc attack was going to happen, so he wasn’t actually surprised.
Mut must have felt Jagger’s eyes on them. She turned and strode toward them. Three graceful steps later, she straightened Aria’s crooked headband with a tight smile. “Well.” Her grin flagged. “That was unexpected.”
The captain, in her wake, chuckled. “That’s one word for it.”
“But, but,” Jagger stuttered. “How are we going to get Herihor’s help without Tatia’s letter of introduction?”
“Yes.” Mut threw her shoulders back. “That puzzle we must solve immediately.”