IвЂ™d seen crocodiles before, and this was a freakishly big one. Instantly it submerged again, but I knew what I was dealing with now. I didnвЂ™t notice the ripples in the water until fifty yards ahead of me something broke the surface-a line of leathery, blackish-green bumps. I wondered what that would be like-being a normal kid, hanging out with my friends on a summer afternoon. In the nearby subdivision, I heard kids shouting and laughing, probably playing some kind of game. I could be studying cheese demons.Д«ut I couldnвЂ™t quite convince myself. Suddenly I felt nervous and alone.Д¬ould be worse, I told myself. She never wouldвЂ™ve stopped laughing.Д®ven worse, making this much noise, I knew I wouldnвЂ™t be able to sneak up on any monsters. With every step, my shoes made such rude noises-suck-plop, suck-plop-that I was glad my sister Sadie wasnвЂ™t with me. The river bottom felt like congealed stew. I waded into the water and immediately sank to my knees. Armed with my sword and wand, I was all set for a stroll through the swamp to look for a hungry monster. I closed my fingers around the hilt of my sword and pulled it out-a heavy khopesh with a blade curved like a question mark. Over the last few months, IвЂ™d gotten better at storing emergency provisions in the shadow realm-extra weapons, clean clothes, Fruit by the Foot, and chilled six-packs of root beer-but sticking my hand into a magical dimension still felt weird, like pushing through layers of cold, heavy curtains. I concentrated and reached into the Duat. I opened my backpack and checked my supplies: some enchanted rope, my curved ivory wand, a lump of wax for making a magical shabti figurine, my calligraphy set, and a healing potion my friend Jaz had brewed for me a while back. I would have to take care of this monster problem, and then whistle for Freak to pick me up once I was done. Sadie grew up in London and developed some pretty strange tastes. So do fireworks, clowns, and the smell of SadieвЂ™s weird British Ribena drink. Flesh-eating monsters tend to scare him away. вЂњHey!вЂќ I yelled after him, but it was too late.ДЇreak is easily spooked. вЂќДЄs soon as I stepped out of the boat, Freak screeched and zoomed into the sky, the boat trailing behind him. If that happenedвЂ¦well, it was surrounded by an all-you-can-eat buffet. If there really was a carnivorous swamp monster below us, I wondered how long it would be before it developed a taste for humans. Just to the north, a line of cars inched along the Montauk Highway-vacationers escaping the crowds in the city to enjoy the crowds in the Hamptons. The area looked a bit like the Nile Delta back in Egypt, except here the wetlands were surrounded on both sides by residential neighborhoods with row after row of gray-roofed houses. I couldnвЂ™t see much below us-just a brown river glittering in the hot summer air, winding through swamp grass and clumps of gnarled trees until it emptied into Moriches Bay. After a couple of hours on patrol, he shrieked, вЂњFREEEAAAK!вЂќ and banked hard to the left, circling over a green marshy inlet between two subdivisions.ДЇreak shivered and squawked, whipping his barbed tail nervously. Unless you want to get shredded, itвЂ™s really better to ride in the boat.ДЇreak had a good nose for magic. If youвЂ™re wondering why I didnвЂ™t just ride on FreakвЂ™s back, imagine two hummingbird-like wings beating faster and more powerfully than helicopter blades. I hitched our flying reed boat to Freak, my pet griffin, and we spent the morning buzzing around the South Shore looking for signs of trouble. But they were all at the First Nome, in Egypt, for a weeklong training session on controlling cheese demons (yes, theyвЂ™re a real thing believe me, you donвЂ™t want to know), so I was on my own. Normally my sister, Sadie, or some of our other initiates from Brooklyn House wouldвЂ™ve come with me. When mortals start raising the alarm, you know itвЂ™s time to check things out. One reporter even called it the Long Island Swamp Monster. Then the local news started reporting that a large creature had been sighted in the ponds and marshes near the Montauk Highway-a creature that was eating the wildlife and scaring the locals. Our scryers had been sensing magical disturbances in the area for several weeks. WeвЂ™re like the police for Ancient Egyptian supernatural forces, making sure they donвЂ™t cause too much havoc in the modern world.ДЄnyway, on this particular day I was tracking down a rogue monster on Long Island. Just a lot of them-but that kind of goes with the territory, since IвЂ™m a magician in the House of Life. IвЂ™m Carter Kane-part-time high school freshman, part-time magician, full-time worrier about all the Egyptian gods and monsters who are constantly trying to kill me. The kid with the glowing sword only made my day worse. GETTING EATEN BY A GIANT CROCODILE was bad enough.

The son of sobek series