Long Distance Relationships (Stretching to the Underworld and Back)

[SPOILER ALERT]

In the book The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan the two main characters, Sadie and Carter Kane, loose many people they care about. Their mother died when they were kids, then their father turned into the Egyptian God of the Dead. One of their really good godly friends had his soul taken, and each of their potential girlfriend/boyfriend got possessed by a god. These examples can show how Sadie and Carter learn to keep a difficult relationship.

Sadie and Carter's mom died closing up a portal, and ultimately preventing the end of the world for some years. In the first book, which is held years later, their dad gets possessed by the God of the Dead, then becomes his permanent host. The Kane kids then make trips to the underworld, as their quests require them to. Down there, their father is portrayed as a big blue man in egyptian clothes, and their mother is an intangible ghost. The Kanes still love their parents, but they have to focus on the task at hand. They will do anything they can for them, and their parents still look out for them. In the second book the parents try and warn them against someone dangerous, and in the third book the kids save their mom. While they are on missions, they sometimes think of their parents, and the times they had when they were alive.

In the second book, Sadie and Carter loose a bet against a god, who in return takes the soul of their friend Bes. Bes is the god of ugly, as weird as that sounds. When the god takes Bes' soul, he leaves the body intact, just leaving them like a hollow husk. In the second and third book they promise to bring his soul back. Sadie especially cares about Bes, ever since he saved her life in London. Sadie's other friend Walt likes her, and she likes him, but he is destined to die at a young age. Until Sadie's other crush, the god Anubis takes him as a host, Walt is cursed. But instead of feeling joy that she can be with the two guys she can't choose between, she is angry. She doesn't feel as if she can forgive them, until later in the book. Carter's almost-girlfriend is also hosted by a god, and not just any god, the god. The egyptian sun god, Ra. Carter doesn't know how to respond to this, because anything he does for or to the girl, he also is doing to an immortal, buff guy with a voice deeper than his.

Although these weird and sometimes disturbing things happen to the people they love, Sadie and Carter Kane still care for the people, and show how love can stretch any distance.