eyes studied me, 'Courage. Hope. Sacrifice.' I wasn't sure whether he was reading those qualities within me, or giving me a pep talk, or perhaps creating the traits I needed, the way he'd created the ba and the platypus. Whatever the case, I suddenly felt warmer inside, filled with new energy. 'You're beginning to understand,' he told me. 'Words are the source of all power. And names are more than just a collection of letters. Well done, Sadie. You may succeed yet.'" (Riordan 291)
The theme of this is that words are powerful and that one should be careful with what they say. This is illustrated in this passage when the Egyptian god Ptah (god of creation/craftsman) says those traits to Sadie. This is significant because whatever Ptah says is created. Earlier in Ptah tells Walt and Sadie that one day he created the word platypus and he said it aloud and that was how the platypus came about. So when Ptah says this to Sadie it created those traits inside her which made her feel warm inside. He did this because he wants to see her succeed and he wants Ra to rise to defeat Apophis (chaos/Ra's archenemy) and he knows that she will be needing these traits to succeed on her quest. Ptah also mentions the power of names. This is because everything has a secret name which if said correctly gives you power over that person or monster etc. But, the only way you can pronounce it correctly is if you get the secret name is if you hear the secret name from the person closet to them or from the person themselves. Sadie knows Carter's (her brother) secret name from healing him after he was poisoned from a snake bit. Sadie used to know Set's (god of chaos) secret name, but she had to give it back to get her ,Carter ,and Bes away from St. Petersburg. This means that Sadie no longer has power over Set which would have been very useful and helpful.
Summary- In this chapter "... But Not as Evil as Romans" Sadie and Walt find the catacombs in which the final part of the Book of Ra is hidden. They run into Mad Claude- a Roman ghost- who tries to hinder them by asking them to release his soul so he can go to the Roman afterlife and not be stuck here forever. Sadie and Walt make a deal to release his soul if he shows them where the final piece to the Book of Ra is. Mad Claude tells them the story of the Roman families that are also buried here as well as his own on the way to the scroll. Once in the chamber where the scroll should be they come upon a dilemma the entrance is blocked and Sadie can't just explode them away because that would mean the ceiling would collapse in on them. During their brainstorm session to fix this problem Walt finishes his story about his family curse when Mad Claude mentions that Walt had the aura/ presents of a god(Anubis). Walt goes on to explain that he can't use a lot of magic because the more he uses it the faster he will die. After this dramatic turn Sadie tries to summon the god Ptah with offerings but he does not appear. The knife Anubis gave her that is used for opening the mouth ceremonies is not helping. Mad Claude leaves once Sadie makes it clear that she wasn't using the knife to help him. While he's gone they brainstorm awhile longer and Sadie remembers sympathetic magic. This is where you connect to similar things and what you do to one thing happens to the other since they are connected. Sadie makes a small pile of rubble and then casts the spell connecting it with the boulders blocking the door. Then she scatters the smaller pile and the boulders to the same . Sadie quickly collects the last part of the Book of Ra. As they are leaving the catacombs Mad Claude and all his mummy friends attack Walt and Sadie. Walt and Sadie were about to risk their lives by burning the mummies when Sadie shoves herself and Walt against the wall as a sea of rats race over and around them eating the mummies. The rats were sent by Ptah to help Walt and Sadie. Then Ptah himself shows up and gives Sadie this advice and tells Walt that there is a cure for his curse although he won't like it. Ptah opens a portal to where Carter and Bes are so Sadie and Walt can go save them.
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