“Come on," I said. "I've got some questions for Thoth. And then I'm going to punch him in the beak.”

“Thoth's beak! You are impossibley stubborn.""Yeah, it's a gift.”

“He raised an eyebrow. "You claim not to know me? Of course I'm Thoth. Also called Djehuti. Also called--"I [Sadie] stifled a laugh. "Ja-hooty?"Thoth looked offended. "In Ancient Egyptian, it's a perfectly fine name. The Greeks called me Thoth. Then later they confused me with their god Hermes. Even had the nerve to rename my sacred city Hermopolis, though we're nothing alike. Believe me, if you've ever met Hermes--”

“I held out the painting of the cat and the snake.“It’s a cat and a snake,” Thoth said.Thank you, god of wisdom. You placed it for us to find, didn’t you? You’re trying to give us some sort of clue.”“Who, me?”Just kill him, Horus said.Shut up, I said.At least kill the guitar.”

“If I've got the powers of a god, then why am I so...""Lame?" Sadie suggested."Shut up," I said.”

“Bloated!" he cried. The corresponding hieroglyph flew through the air, bursting against a demon's chest in a spray of light. Instantly, the demon swelled like a water balloon and rolled screaming down the pyramid."Flat!" Thoth blasted another demon, who collapsed and shriveled into a monster-shaped doormat."Intestinal problems!" Thoth yelled. The poor demon who got zapped with that one turned green and doubled over.”

“You wrote this right?” he said. “It tells how to defeat Set.”Thoth unfolded the papyrus pages. “Oh, dear. I hate reading my old work. Look at this sentence. I’d never write it that way now.” He patted his lab coat pockets. “Red pen—does anyone have one?”Isis chafed against my willpower, insisting that we blast some sense into Thoth. One fireball, she pleaded. Just one enormous magical fireball?I couldn’t say I was tempted, but I kept her under control.“Since when does drool make you powerful?”