They cross into Manhattan, but the carriers are still right behind them. Bast makes a low growling noise, and cats converge on the carriers, forcing them to stop. Bast warns that “it won’t hold them long” (123), and the group continues on foot, Sadie and Carter struggling to keep up.

Bast leads them to an obelisk in Central Park and tells Sadie to open a portal to the Duat. The carriers arrive, beaten but still moving, and Bast transforms into a giant green avatar of her goddess form to fend them off. With Carter’s help, they slice the carriers into tiny pieces, but before Sadie can open a portal, an army of scorpions charges with Serqet, goddess of scorpions, at their center. Bast orders the kids to get to the temple in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, telling them she’ll catch up, but Carter can tell by the look on her face that “she was just buying us time” (129). Carter grabs Sadie and runs.

At the museum, Carter and Sadie stumble into the Egyptian section, where they come face-to-face with one of the people who appeared on the bridge in London. She demands to know about Amos and