The Complete Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan Page A

Museum. Honestly, I’d been surprised that the police hadn’t taken the workbag too, but none of them seemed to notice it.
    “You’ll get it back,” Amos promised. “When the time is right.”
    He asked nicely enough, but something in his eyes told me that I really didn’t have a choice.
    I handed over the bag. Amos took it gingerly, as if it were full of explosives.
    “See you in the morning.” He turned and strode toward the chained-up doors. They unlatched themselves and opened just enough for Amos to slip through without showing us anything on the other side. Then the chains locked again behind him.
    I looked at Sadie, unsure what to do. Staying by ourselves in the Great Room with the creepy statue of Thoth didn’t seem like much fun, so we followed Khufu up the stairs.
    Sadie and I got adjoining rooms on the third floor, and I’ve got to admit, they were way cooler than any place I’d ever stayed before.
    I had my own kitchenette, fully stocked with my favorite snacks: ginger ale—[No, Sadie. It’s not an old person’s soda! Be quiet!]—Twix, and Skittles. It seemed impossible. How did Amos know what I liked? The TV, computer, and stereo system were totally high-tech. The bathroom was stocked with my regular brand of toothpaste, deodorant, everything. The king-size bed was awesome, too, though the pillow was a little strange. Instead of a cloth pillow, it was an ivory headrest like I’d seen in Egyptian tombs. It was decorated with lions and (of course) more hieroglyphs.
    The room even had a deck that looked out on New York Harbor, with views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty in the distance, but the sliding glass doors were locked shut somehow. That was my first indication that something was wrong.
    I turned to look for Khufu, but he was gone. The door to my room was shut. I tried to open it, but it was locked.
    A muffled voice came from the next room. “Carter?”
    “Sadie.” I tried the door to her adjoining room, but it was locked too.
    “We’re prisoners,” she said. “Do you think Amos…I mean, can we trust him?”
    After all I’d seen today, I didn’t trust anything, but I could hear the fear in Sadie’s voice. It triggered an unfamiliar feeling in me, like I needed to reassure her. The idea seemed ridiculous. Sadie had always seemed so much braver than me—doing what she wanted, never caring about the consequences. I was the one who got scared. But right now, I felt like I needed to play a role I hadn’t played in a long, long time: big brother.
    “It’ll be okay.” I tried to sound confident. “Look, if Amos wanted to hurt us, he could’ve done it by now. Try to get some sleep.”
    “Carter?”
    “Yeah?”
    “It was magic, wasn’t it? What happened to Dad at the museum. Amos’s boat. This house. All of it’s magic.”
    “I think so.”
    I could hear her sigh. “Good. At least I’m not going mad.”
    “Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” I called. And I realized I hadn’t said that to Sadie since we had lived together in Los Angeles, when Mom was still alive.
    “I miss Dad,” she said. “I hardly ever saw him, I know, but…I miss him.”
    My eyes got a little teary, but I took a deep breath. I was not going to go all weak. Sadie needed me. Dad needed us.
    “We’ll find him,” I told her. “Pleasant dreams.”
    I listened, but the only thing I heard was Muffin meowing and scampering around, exploring her new space. At least she didn’t seem unhappy.
    I got ready for bed and crawled in. The covers were comfortable and warm, but the pillow was just too weird. It gave me neck cramps, so I put it on the floor and went to sleep without it.
    My first big mistake.

C A R T E R
6. Breakfast with a Crocodile
    HOW TO DESCRIBE IT ? Not a nightmare. It was much more real and frightening.
    As I slept, I felt myself go weightless. I drifted up, turned, and saw my own sleeping form below.
    I’m dying, I thought. But that wasn’t it, either. I wasn’t a ghost. I had a new