Demigods & Magicians

This collection contains three interconnected novellas bridging two of Rick Riordan's fantasy series: the Percy Jackson books, about teenage heroes descended from Greek gods, and the Kane Chronicles, about teenage magicians who police the supernatural forces of Ancient Egypt. The stories escalate from a chance encounter to a four-person battle against a sorcerer seeking godhood.

"The Son of Sobek"

Carter Kane, a teenage Egyptian magician and head of Brooklyn House, headquarters of his branch of the House of Life (an ancient organization that keeps Egyptian gods and monsters in check), narrates the first story. With his trainees in Egypt, Carter is alone as he investigates a large creature terrorizing Long Island's marshes. He wades into a marshy inlet and encounters an enormous crocodile with glowing yellow eyes and a gold-and-jewel necklace, marking it as a petsuchos, a son of the Egyptian crocodile god Sobek. The creature swallows Carter whole, but a stranger stabs it from behind, forcing it to vomit him out. The stranger is Percy Jackson, a Greek demigod from Camp Half-Blood, a training ground for demigods.

The two immediately clash. Percy calls Carter a "half-blood," his term for a demigod, but Carter, whose father was African American and mother was white, interprets it as a racial slur. Carter accidentally triggers the Fist of Horus, a giant magical hand that punches Percy across the marsh. Percy retaliates with a wall of water and his bronze sword. A child's scream interrupts the fight. Carter explains that the petsuchos is immortal and can only be neutralized by removing its enchanted necklace. They call a truce.

They find the crocodile in a suburban cul-de-sac. Carter summons a combat avatar, a hawk-headed warrior channeling the god Horus, and fights the creature while Percy climbs it to reach the necklace. When Carter's avatar collapses, Percy summons a massive whirlpool from the water streaming off the crocodile's hide. Carter transforms into a falcon, flies to the necklace's clasp, and pounds the correct hieroglyphic symbol. The clasp opens, and the monster shrinks into a harmless baby crocodile.

Afterward, Carter suspects someone deliberately placed the necklace to lure both a magician and a demigod together. They agree to investigate separately. Before parting, Carter draws the Eye of Horus on Percy's palm, a one-use beacon Percy can activate by speaking Carter's name.

"The Staff of Serapis"

Annabeth Chase, Percy's girlfriend and a daughter of the Greek goddess Athena, narrates the second story. At a subway station, she spots a bizarre creature: a lion and wolf head sprouting from a spiral shell glowing with Greek letters and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Instead of attacking her, it boards the A train. She follows, suspecting the creature is searching for a missing piece.

At a Brooklyn station, Sadie Kane, Carter's younger sister and fellow Egyptian magician, is fighting a black Labrador creature, the missing third piece. Sadie blasts the dog into Annabeth's car and leaps aboard. The train derails at Rockaway Beach. After pulling themselves from the wreckage, they exchange backgrounds and identify the three-headed creature as the staff of Serapis, a god created when the Greek general Ptolemy I merged Greek and Egyptian religions after taking power in Egypt.

They track the reassembled staff to a derelict apartment building, where a figure is cannibalizing the structure to build a tower. Annabeth shouts the god's name, freezing the chaos. Serapis leaps down: a 15-foot muscular figure who explains that Ptolemy elevated him to supreme deity of Alexandria. He intends to rebuild the Lighthouse of Alexandria to draw and devour other gods. He reveals that an ancient magician named Setne awakened him using the Book of Thoth, the most dangerous spell collection in existence.

Sadie's binding spell traps Serapis briefly, and her "Loosen" spell collapses a wall onto him, but the effort nearly kills her. Annabeth discovers that Athena has restored her old invisibility cap, signaling the threat's severity. She revives Sadie with ambrosia, the healing food of the Greek gods, and devises a plan: Sadie distracts Serapis while the invisible Annabeth attacks the staff. Annabeth plunges her dagger into the staff's dog head, causing all three heads to implode and consume Serapis in a fireball. On the beach, they conclude that Setne engineered both incidents to test hybrid Greek-Egyptian magic and suspect he seeks the crown of Ptolemy, the double crown of Egypt, to achieve godhood. They exchange phone numbers and part ways.

"The Crown of Ptolemy"

Percy narrates the final story. He and Annabeth are pinned down on Governors Island, unable to reach the Kanes. Across a courtyard, Setne, a gaunt figure resembling a short Elvis Presley, chants from the Book of Thoth while fire-breathing serpents circle him. Their attack fails: Setne detects Annabeth's invisibility, binds her, and hexes Percy. He summons Wadjet, the cobra goddess, devours her essence with a hybrid spell, and claims her red crown. Percy stabs Setne with his enchanted sword Riptide, but Setne absorbs the blade and everything nearby in a gravity explosion. Before Setne can strike again, a camel drops from the sky and flattens him. Carter and Sadie arrive in falcon form.

Since neither Greek nor Egyptian attacks work alone against Setne, the four forge hybrid weapons and head south to intercept him. They find Setne summoning Nekhbet, the vulture goddess, to steal her white crown. Nekhbet's defiance breaks Setne's spell. The heroes counterattack: Sadie reads a Greek incantation that dazes Setne, and the invisible Carter shouts an Egyptian word of power that slices off his hand, dropping the Book of Thoth. Setne escapes with both crown pieces.

Nekhbet, diminished without her crown, insists on merging with Percy to fight Setne. Despite warnings that hosting a goddess could destroy his mind, Percy consents. Flooded with millennia of memories, he confronts Setne, who is ripping fissures through reality to fuel his deification. Carter and Sadie attack, but Setne absorbs their magic. Sadie then whispers her ren, her secret name and the essence of her identity, into Annabeth's ear, granting temporary access to Egyptian magical knowledge. Annabeth reads the Book of Thoth aloud, casting hybrid spells that shock Setne.

Percy carries Setne into the sky in his vulture avatar. Setne shifts to psychological warfare, discovering that Percy once refused godhood and trying to convince him it was a mistake. Even Nekhbet begins to waver, but Percy recognizes the manipulation: Setne sifts through minds for exploitable emotions. Percy declares he does not want immortality, leaving Setne with no leverage. Setne shatters the avatar, and they plummet into New York Harbor, where Percy's power as Poseidon's son restores him. He overpowers Setne underwater and drags him to shore, knowing the trap his friends have prepared is the only way to defeat the magician.

Carter waits with an enchanted rope. Annabeth and Sadie have drawn a containment circle of Greek and hieroglyphic words of power. Percy throws Setne into the circle and pulls Riptide from the magician's mouth, draining his stolen magic. They chant in unison, and Setne is imprisoned in a snow globe, trapped as a tiny figure in a permanent blizzard.

The crown of Ptolemy rolls off Setne's head. All four refuse to use it, recognizing that hybrid magic could cause catastrophic damage. Carter will store the crown in the First Nome, the House of Life's main headquarters in Egypt. They form a secret task force, resolving to keep their worlds separate. The Kanes fly away as birds of prey, and Percy and Annabeth head off for cheeseburgers. Percy reflects that a kiss at sunset and the promise of a good meal make immortality unnecessary.