Ra to power. At the same time, Apophis has magician assassin Vladimir Menshikov, one of his allies, hunt the Kanes and sends various monsters after them. Despite the best efforts of Apophis' forces, the Kanes manage to awaken Ra, but he is in a weakened and senile state. In a final confrontation in the cavern holding Apophis' prison, the Kanes learn that the price of retrieving Khepri - Ra's final aspect - is the release of Apophis from his prison. Sadie nevertheless completes the spell, taking the final beetle of Khepri's form and releasing Apophis who possesses Menshikov to fight the Kanes directly, proving to be more than a match for them. However, House of Life Chief Lector Michel Desjardins arrives to help after finally believing that the Kanes are telling the truth. Desjardins performs an execration spell on Apophis, a spell that uses a small representation of a target to completely erase the spell's target. However, as a god, Apophis can't be killed by the spell which only destroys Menshikov and banishes the serpent a little deeper into the Duat, buying the Kanes time to escape with Ra. Desjardins dies after using up all of his life force to banish Apophis. In The Serpent's Shadow, Apophis is in an all-out war with the House of Life and has secretly allied himself with the rebel magicians who are fighting against Amos Kane's leadership of the House of Life, putting the Kanes and their allies into a two-front war that they are slowly losing. The Kanes learn that Apophis intends to rise on the fall equinox while having the rebels attack the First Nome at the same time. With Ra still in a senile state, the Kanes desperately search for a way to defeat Apophis and learn that he has been destroying copies of the Book of Overcoming Apophis written by Setne and attempt to secure the last copy resulting in a battle that destroys the Fifty-First Nome and kills many of their remaining allies. Sadie manages to banish Apophis from the battle by invoking Ma'at, but the effort involved nearly kills her. However, the magicians manage to recover a shadow box containing King Tut's sheut or shadow which is a part of his soul. Carter comes upon the idea of using Apophis' own shadow in a stronger execration spell which Anubis reveals is possible, but is highly secret and forbidden