<P> This book begins six months after the events of the preceding novel , when Carter Kane and Sadie Kane travel to Dallas the 51st nome , with their initiates and meet J.D. Grissom , the leader of the nome . They tell him that they need a magic scroll from the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art , or his nome will get attacked and destroyed by the forces of Apophis , the god of chaos , who will rise , swallow the sun , and destroy the world in three days time . Sadie sees a face in the wall which tells them they instead need a golden box . However , the nome is attacked , and the scroll is destroyed . To save everyone from getting killed , Sadie summons Ma'at , repulsing the forces of chaos but blacks out from the experience , later learning that for two minutes , she had no heartbeat . They discover that all the 51st nome has been destroyed , and all of the magicians killed . At the 21st nome in Brooklyn , they discover that the golden box Sadie was told to retrieve by the wacko magician , is a shadow box of king Tut . </P>
when does the serpent 's shadow take place
six months after the events of the preceding novel