Serpent's Shadow Analysis

In The Serpent's Shadow it says, " ' I'll take Freak to Memphis,' I said. 'Be back as soon as I talk to Thoth.' 'I'm going with you,' Walt said. Sadie had told me to take him along ,of course, but looking  at him now , I had second thoughts. Walt's cheeks were sunken. His eyes were glassy. I was alarmed by how much worse he looked since just yesterday. I know this is horrible, but I couldn't help thinking about Egyptian burial practices-how they'd pack the body with embalming salts to slowly dry it up from the inside. Walt looked like he'd been started on the process. 'Look, man,' I said, 'Sadie asked me to keep you safe. She's worried about you. So am I.' His clenched his jaw. 'If you plan on using a shadow for your spell, you'll have to capture it with that figurine. You'll need a sau, and I'm the best you've got.' Unfortunately, Walt was right. Neither Sadie nor I had the skill to capture a shadow, if that was even possible. Only Walt had that kind of charm-making talent. 'All-right,' I muttered. 'Just...keep your head down. I don't want my sister going nuclear on me.' Bast poked Walt's arm, the way a cat might nudge a bug to see if it was still alive. She sniffed his hair. 'Your aura is weak,' Bast said,' but you should be all right to travel. Try not to exert yourself. No magic unless absolutely  necessary.' Walt rolled his eyes. 'Yes, Mother.' Bast seemed to like that. 'I'll watch the other kittens,' she promised. 'Er, I mean initiates. You two be careful. I don't have much love for Thoth, but I don't want you caught up in his problems.' 'What problems?' I asked. 'You'll see. Just come back to me.'" (Riordan 116-117)

This passage shows that Walt's curse/ condition is getting worse and he's inching closer and closer to death. We also see that Carter and Sadie need advice from the god of wisdom Thoth about a spell for a shadow to destroy Apophis. Carter doesn't want to bring Walt along since his condition is so bad but he needs his skills to defeat Apophis and it looks as though the efforts could do Walt in. We also see that Walt, Carter, Sadie and the other initiates see Bast as a mother even if they have a living mother who loves them Bast is like a second mother to them. She protects them and watches over them every second when she isn't taking a nap. We can also see that Bast doesn't like Thoth. We can predict that something happened back in ancient times that made Bast dislike the god of wisdom. She tells Carter and Walt that Thoth has many problems and to stay away from them. We can predict that they will indeed get caught up in Thoth's problems because in order to get things from Thoth you have to do something for him in return like solving his problems or going on an y errand for him. And the errand that you must run for him usually puts you in mortal danger.