“Disturber shuffled his scroll. 'You have used magi for evil purposes, including twenty-three murders--''Self-defense!' Setne tried to spread his hands, but the ribbons restrained him.'--including one incident where you were paid to kill with magic,' Disturber said.Setne shrugged. 'That was self-defense for my employer.”

“There’s my baby!” I cried, quite carried away. “There’s my Poochiekins!”Ammit ran at me and leaped into my arms, nuzzling me with his rough snout.“My lord Osiris!” Disturber lost the bottom of his scroll again, which unraveled around his legs. “This is an outrage!”“Sadie,” Dad said firmly, “please do not refer to the Devourer of Souls as Poochiekins.”

“If a person cast no shadow at all, he couldn't be alive. His existence became meaningless.Execrating Apophis by destroying his shadow would cut his connection to the mortal world completely. He'd never be able to rise again. I finally understood why he'd been so anxious to burn Setne's scrolls, and he was afraid of this spell. (Carter Kane)”

“There!" Mars finished writing and threw the scroll at Octavian. "A prophecy. You can add it to your books, engrave it on the floor, whatever."Octavian read the scroll. "This says, 'Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die'.""Yes," Mars said. "Is that not clear?""Well, my lord...usually prophecies are unclear. They're wrapped in riddles. They rhyme, and..."Mars casually popped another grenade off his belt. "Yes?""The prophecy is clear!" Octavian announced. "A quest!”

“Egypt is the First Nome. New York is the twenty-first. What’s the last one, the Three-hundred-and-sixtieth?”“That would be Antarctica,” Zia said. “A punishment assignment. Nothing there but a couple of cold magicians and some magic penguins.”“Magic penguins?”“Don’t ask.”

“A long white ribbon shot out of the crack in the wall. The ribbon just kept coming, weaving itself into some kind of shape next to Anubis, and my first thought was, My god, he’s got a magic roll of toilet paper.”

“We still should have enough time to reach Rome.”Hazel scowled. “When you say should have enough…”Leo shrugged. “How do you feel about barely enough?”Hazel put her face in her hands for a count of three. “Sounds about typical for us.”