The Son of Sobek

The Son of Sobek
Publication Information
Publisher	Disney

The Son of Sobek is written by Rick Riordan and a short story in the paperback version of The Serpent's Shadow with a guest appearance of Percy Jackson, from Rick Riordan's other mythological series.

Plot

After hearing reports about magical disturbances in the Long Island area and about a crocodile scaring mortals away, Carter Kane goes up to Long Island to investigate. When he is exploring across the river, the crocodile suddenly appears and swallows Carter whole. While Carter is thinking about using a 'word of power' to bust himself out, the crocodile suddenly spits him out. The crocodile leaves after that. Carter picks himself up and sees another teenager in the mud, he is wearing an orange T-shirt that says 'camp' but the rest is unreadable. Carter has been to all of the North American Nomes and met most of their magicians but not him. The teen,"Camper boy", who is actually Percy Jackson, has a strange double-edged straight sword that glows faintly. Percy can see Carter's khopesh and wand. Percy asked Carter if he was a son of Ares and asked what bent his sword. Percy says the crocodile went south and calls Carter a half-blood, which Carter being of mixed race takes offense to. Carter then accidentally punches Percy with the Fist of Horus, which he had been planning to do to break out of the monster's belly. Carter rushes to Percy, trying to apologize him, and thinking he might have killed him, but Percy is enraged and sends a 20- foot tall wave at Carter. Percy then starts attacking Carter with his sword, thinking that he must be some monster, a spirit from The Doors of Death, or a rogue demigod from Kronos' army.

Carter is unable to defeat Percy with his sword or wand, and Percy wounds Carter at the same time he sends a magic rope towards Percy, wrapping his sword arm to the side of his head. Percy angrily tells Carter that when he said "half-blood" he meant demigod, and clears the misunderstanding. They call a truce because they have a common enemy, the crocodile, and Carter frees Percy from the rope. On the way, they introduce each other, and Carter tells Percy that the monster was a petsuchos, a Son of Sobek, and could not be killed. Carter further tells him that even if Percy destroyed its body, the petsuchos will simply reappear somewhere else, and the only way to defeat it was to take away its magic necklace.

Percy and Carter find the petsuchos in a nearby cul-de-sac. Carter distracts the crocodile with his combat avatar while Percy tries to unclasp the necklace. Percy is unable to do it due to the fact that he is not a magician, so Carter sends a wax hippo against the monster to buy some time. Meanwhile, Percy tells a group of little kids to go slow down the police so Carter and he can kill the crocodile. Percy then creates a huge whirlpool, out of the sweat of the crocodile, to create a distraction while Carter turns himself into a falcon. He lands on the crocodile's back and with much effort, unclasps the necklace, turning the petsuchos into a harmless little baby crocodile.

Carter and Percy later go to a diner for some cheeseburgers due to the fact that fighting drained them both. . Carter decides to take the crocodile to Brooklyn House, and send the necklace somewhere safe. Carter and Percy come to a conclusion that some common enemy of the Greeks and the House of Life put the necklace on the crocodile in the first place, wanting them to meet, hoping for bad things to happen. Until they know more about the reason behind the crocodile incident, they decide to keep some distance from each other.

Before leaving, Percy says that if they have a common enemy, then they might need each other to fight him and Percy would need a way to contact Carter. So Carter draws the Eye of Horus symbol on Percy's palm. Carter tells Percy that should he need his help, Percy should just call out his name and he would be there to meet him. Carter warns him that it works only once, so Percy should use it carefully. Percy thanks Carter and leaves.

Once home, Carter thinks about his encounter with Percy, which had turned out okay, for now, avoiding Chaos. He had a feeling that, sooner or later, Percy would need his help.

Format

"The Son of Sobek' will be released as an electronic e-single. It will cost less than the paperback book described above, and it will include the text version of The Son of Sobek the audio version of the story, read by yours truly -- the first time I've ever narrated one of my own stories in its entirety. And . . . drum roll . . . it will also include an exclusive sneak peek chapter for The House of Hades. You can read it here before it's available anywhere else." - Rick Riordan

Sequel

• Rick Riordan revealed that the sequel is titled "The Staff of Serapis" and is centered around Sadie Kane and Annabeth Chase. The short story was released on April 8, 2014 inside the paperback version of The Mark of Athena. It was released as a e-book and audiobook on May 20th, 2014.

Trivia

• The audio book is narrated by author Rick Riordan.
• It was released May 7, 2013 in the paperback version of The Serpent's Shadow.
• It was released as a separate ebook on June 18, 2013.