Nicholas Flamel 1 - The Alchemyst sotinf-1

by Michael Scott

Nicholas Flamel peered over her shoulder and read it. That'sgood, very

  good, and it explains why the bookshop is closed too. Flamel glanced over

  his shoulder to where Josh was tapping furiously at his keyboard. Let s go!

  Just checking my mail, Josh muttered, powering off the machine and closing

  it.

  At a time like this? Sophie asked incredulously.

  Life goes on. E-mail stops for no man. He attempted a smile, and failed.

  Sophie grabbed her bag and vintage denim jacket, taking a last look around

  the coffee shop. She had the sudden thought that she would not be seeing it

  again for a long time, but that was ridiculous, of course. She turned out the

  lights, ushered her brother and Nick Fleming Flamel through the door ahead of

  her and hit the alarm. Then she pulled the door shut, turned the key in the

  lock and dropped the key chain through the letter box.

  Now what? she asked.

  Now we get some help and we hide until I figure out what to do with you

  both. Flamel'smiled. We re good at hiding; Perry and I have been doing it

  for more than half a millennium.

  What about Perry? Sophie asked. Will Dee harm her? She d come to know and

  like the tall, elegant woman over the past few weeks as she came into the

  coffee shop. She didn't want anything to happen to her.

  Flamel'shook his head. He Can't. She s too powerful. I never studied the

  sorcerous arts, but Perry did. Right now all Dee can do is contain her,

  prevent her from using her powers. But in the next few days she will start to

  age and weaken. Possibly in a week, certainly within two weeks, he would be

  able to use his powers against her. Still, He'll be cautious. He will keep

  her trapped behind Wards and Sigils . Flamel'saw the look of confusion on

  Sophie s face. Magical barriers, he explained. He'll only attack when he

  is sure of victory. But first he will try to discover the extent of her

  arcane knowledge. Dee s search for knowledge was always his greatest

  strength and his weakness. He absently patted his pockets, looking for

  something. My Perry Can'take care of herself. Remind me to tell you the

  story sometime of how she faced down a pair of Greek Lamiae.

  Sophie nodded, though she had no idea what Greek Lamiae were.

  As Flamel'strode down the street, he found what he was looking for: a pair of

  small round sunglasses. He put them on, stuck his hands in the pockets of his

  leather jacket and began to whistle tunelessly, as if he hadn't a care in the

  world. He glanced back over his shoulder. Well, come on.

  The twins looked at each other blankly, then hurried after him.

  I checked him out online, Josh muttered, looking quickly at his sister.

  So That'swhat you were doing. I didn't think e-mail could be that

  important.

  Everything he says checks out: he s there on Wikipedia and there are nearly

  two hundred thousand results for him on Google. There are over ten million

  results for John Dee. Even Perenelle is there, and it mentions the book and

  everything. It even says that when he died, his grave was dug up by people

  searching for treasure and they found it empty no body and no treasure.

  Apparently, his house is still standing in Paris.

  He sure doesn't look like an immortal magician, Sophie murmured.

  I m not sure I know what a magician looks like, Josh said quietly. The

  only magicians I know are Penn and Teller.

  I m not a magician, Flamel'said, without looking at them. I m an

  alchemyst, a man of science, though perhaps not the science you would be

  familiar with.

  Sophie hurried to catch up. She reached out to touch his arm and slow him

  down, but a spark like static electricity snapped into her fingertips.

  Aaah! She jerked her hand back, fingertips tingling. Now what?

  I m sorry, Flamel explained. That'san aftereffect of the well, what you

  would call magic. My aura the electrical field that surrounds my body is

  still charged. It s just reacting when it hits your aura. He smiled, showing

  perfectly regular teeth. It also means you must have a powerful aura.

  What s an aura?

  Flamel'strode on a couple of steps down the sidewalk without answering, then

  turned to point to a window. The word TATTOO was picked out in fluorescent

  lighting. See there see how there is a glow around the words?

  I see it. Sophie nodded, squinting slightly. Each letter was outlined in

  buzzing yellow light.

  Every human has a similar glow around their body. In the distant past,

  people could see it clearly and they named it the aura. It comes from the

  Greek word for breath. As humans evolved, most lost the ability to see the

  aura. Some still can, of course.

  Josh snorted derisively.

  Flamel glanced over his shoulder. It s true. The aura has even been

  photographed by a Russian couple called the Kirlians. The electrical field

  surrounds every living organism.

  What does it look like? Sophie asked.

  Flamel tapped his finger on the shop window. Just like that: a glow around

  the body. Everyone s aura is unique different colors, different strengths.

  Some glow solidly, others pulse. Some appear around the edge of the body,

  other auras cloak the body like an envelope. You Can'tell a lot from a

  person s aura: whether they are ill or unhappy, angry or frightened, for

  example.

  And you can see these auras? Sophie said.

  Flamel'shook his head, surprising them. No, I cannot. Perry can, sometimes.

  I cannot. But I know how to channel and direct the energy. That'swhat you

  were seeing earlier today: pure auric energy.

  I think I d like to learn how to do that, Sophie said.

  Flamel glanced at her quickly. Be careful what you wish for. Every use of

  power has a cost. He held out his hand. Sophie and Josh crowded around on

  the quiet side street. Flamel's hand was visibly trembling. And when Sophie

  looked into his face, she noticed that his eyes were bloodshot. When you use

  auric energy, you burn as many calories as if you had run a marathon. Think

  of it like draining a battery. I doubt I could have lasted very much longer

  against Dee back there.

  Is Dee more powerful that you?

  Flamel'smiled grimly. Infinitely. Shoving his hands back into the pockets

  of his leather jacket, he continued down the street, Sophie and Josh now

  walking on either side of him. In the distance, the Golden Gate Bridge began

  to loom over the rooftops. Dee has spent the past five centuries developing

  his powers; I ve spent that same time hiding mine, concentrating only on

  those few little things I needed to do to keep Perenelle and myself alive.

  Dee was always powerful, and I dread to think what he is capable of now. At

  the bottom of the hill he paused, looking left and right, then abruptly

  turned to the left and headed into California Street. There ll be time for

  questions later. Right now, we have to hurry.

  Have you known Dee long? Josh persisted, determined to get some answers.

  Nicholas Flamel'smiled grimly. John Dee was a mature man when I accepted him

  as my apprentice. I still took apprentices in those days, and so many of them

  went on to make me proud. I had visions of creating the next generation of<
br />
  alchemists, scientists, astronomers, astrologers and mathematicians: these

  would be the men and women who would create a new world. Dee was probably the

  finest student I ever had. So I suppose you could say that I ve known him for

  nearly five hundred years though our encounters have been somewhat sporadic

  over the past few decades.

  What turned him into your enemy? Sophie asked.

  Greed, jealousy and the Codex, the Book of Abraham the Mage, Flamel

  answered. He s coveted that for a long time, and now he has it.

  Not all of it, Josh reminded him.

  No, not all of it. Flamel'smiled. He walked on, with the twins still on

  either side of him. When Dee was my apprentice in Paris, he found out about

  the Codex. One day I caught him attempting to steal it, and I knew then that

  he had allied himself with the Dark Elders. I refused to share its secrets

  with him and we had a bitter argument. That night he sent the first assassins

  after Perry and me. They were human and we dealt with them easily. The next

  night, the assassins were decidedly less than human. So Perry and I took the

  Book, gathered up our few belongings and fled Paris. He s been chasing us

  ever since.

  They stopped at a cross light. A trio of British tourists was waiting for the

  light to change and Flamel fell silent, a quick glance at Sophie and Josh

  warning them to say nothing. The light changed and they crossed, the tourists

  heading to the right, Nicholas Flamel and the twins moving to the left.

  Where did you go when you left Paris? Josh asked.

  London, Flamel'said shortly. Dee nearly caught us there in 1666, he

  continued. He loosed a Fire Elemental after us, a savage, mindless creature

  that almost devoured the city. History calls it the Great Fire.

  Sophie looked over at Josh. They had both heard of the Great Fire of London;

  they had learned about it in world history. She was surprised by how calm she

  felt: here she was, listening to a man who claimed to be more than five

  hundred years old, recounting historical events as if he had been there when

  they happened. And she believed him!

  Dee came dangerously close to capturing us in Paris in 1763, Flamel

  continued, and again in 1835, when we were in Rome working as booksellers,

  as it happens. That was always my favorite occupation, he added. He fell

  silent as they approached a group of Japanese tourists listening intently to

  their guide, who was standing beneath a bright yellow umbrella. When they

  were out of earshot, he continued, the events of more than a century and a

  half earlier obviously still fresh and bitter in his memory.

  We fled to Ireland, thinking he would never find us on that island at the

  edge of Europe. But he pursued us. He had managed to master the control of

  Wights then, and brought two over with him: the Disease Wight and the Hunger

  Wight, no doubt intending to set them on our trail. At some point he lost

  control of the creatures. Hunger and disease ravaged that poor land: a

  million people died in Ireland s Great Famine in the 1840s. Nicholas

  Flamel's face hardened into a mask. I doubt if Dee even paused to think

  about it. He always had nothing but contempt for humankind.

  Sophie glanced at her brother again. She could tell by the expression on his

  face that he was concentrating hard, trying to keep up with the deluge of

  information. She knew he would want to go online and check out some of the

  details. But he never caught you, she said to Flamel.

  Not until today. He shrugged and smiled sadly. It was inevitable, I

  suppose. Throughout the twentieth century, he kept getting closer. He was

  becoming more powerful, his organization was melding ancient magic and modern

  technology. Perry and I hid out in Newfoundland for a long time until he

  loosed Dire Wolves on us, and then we drifted from city to city, starting on

  the East Coast in New York in 1901 and gradually moving westward. I suppose

  it was only a matter of time before he caught up with us, he added.

  Cameras, videos, phones and the Internet make it so much harder to remain

  hidden nowadays.

  This book this Codex he was looking for , Josh began.

  The Book of Abraham the Mage, Flamel clarified.

  What s so special about it?

  Nicholas Flamel'stopped in the middle of the sidewalk so suddenly that the

  twins walked right past him. They turned and looked back. The rather

  ordinary-looking man spread his arms wide, as if he were about to take a bow.

  Look at me. Look at me! I am older than America. That is what is so special

  about the book. Flamel lowered his voice and continued urgently. But you

  know something the secret of life eternal is probably the least of the

  secrets in the Codex.

  Sophie found herself slipping her hand into her brother s. He squeezed

  lightly and she knew, without his saying a word, that he was as frightened as

  she was.

  With the Codex, Dee can set about changing the world.

  Changing it? Sophie s voice was a raw whisper, and abruptly, the May air

  felt chilly.

  Changing it how? Josh demanded.

  Remaking it, Flamel'said softly. Dee and the Dark Elders he serves will

  remake this world as it was in the unimaginably ancient past. And the only

  place for humans in it will be as slaves. Or food.

  CHAPTER SIX

  A lthough there were other ways he could have used to communicate, Dr. John

  Dee preferred this century s method of choice: the cell phone. Settling back

  into the cool leather interior of the limousine, he flipped open the phone,

  pointed it to where Perenelle Flamel was slumped unconscious between two

  dripping Golems and took a quick picture.

  Madame Perenelle Flamel. His prisoner. Now, that was certainly something for

  the photo album.

  Dee keyed in a number and hit Send, then he tilted his head, looking at the

  graceful woman across from him. Capturing Perenelle had been an extraordinary

  stroke of good fortune, but he knew he d only managed it because she d used

  up so much energy destroying his Golem. He stroked his small triangular

  beard. He was going to have to make more Golems soon. He looked at the two

  opposite: in the brief time they had been outside in the early-afternoon sun,

  they had started to crack and melt. The big one on Perenelle s left was

  dripping black river mud across the leather seat.

  Perhaps he would choose something other than Golems next time. The brutish

  creatures worked fine in damper climates, but were especially unsuited to a

  West Coast summer. He wondered if he still had the recipe to create a ghoul.

  It was Perenelle who presented him with a problem, however a serious problem:

  he simply wasn't sure how powerful she was.

  Dee had always been rather in awe of the tall, elegant Frenchwoman. When he d

  first apprenticed himself to Nicholas Flamel, the Alchemyst, he d made the

  mistake of underestimating her. He d quickly found that Perenelle Flamel was

  at least as powerful as her husband in fact, there were some areas in which

  she was even more powerful. Those traits that made Flamel'such a brilliant

  alchemyst his attention to detail, his knowledge of ancient languages, his
<
br />   infinite patience made him a poor sorcerer and a terrible necromancer. He

  simply lacked the imaginative spark of pure visualization that was needed for

  that work. Perenelle, on the other hand, was one of the most powerful

  sorceresses he had ever encountered.

  Dee pulled off one of his gray leather gloves and dropped it onto the seat

  beside him. Leaning toward Perenelle, he dipped his finger in the puddle of

  mud dripping from one of the Golems and traced a curling symbol on the back

  of the woman s left hand. Then he painted a mirror image of the symbol on her

  right hand. He dipped his hand in the sticky black mud again and was

  inscribing three wavy lines on her forehead when she suddenly opened her

  bright green eyes. Dee abruptly sat back in his seat.

  Madame Perenelle, I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to see you again.

  Perry opened her mouth to speak, but no words would form. She tried to move,

  but not only were the Golems gripping her arms tightly, her muscles refused

  to obey.

  Ah, you must excuse me, but I ve taken the liberty of placing you under a

  warding spell. A simple spell, but it will suffice until I can organize

  something more permanent. Dee smiled, but there was nothing humorous in his

  expression. His cell phone trilled, playing the theme from The X-Files, and

  he flipped it open. Excuse me, he said to Perenelle.

  You got the photo? Dee asked. Yes, I thought that would amuse you: the

  legendary Perenelle Flamel in our hands. Oh, I m quite sure Nicholas will

  come after her. And we ll be ready. This time he will not escape.

  Perenelle could clearly hear the cackle of laughter on the other end.

  Yes, of course. Dee reached into an inside pocket and took out the

  copper-bound book. We have the Codex. Finally. He began to turn the thick

  rough-edged pages as he spoke. His voice fell, and it was unclear whether he

  was talking to the caller or to himself. Ten thousand years of arcane

  knowledge in one place

  Then his voice trailed away. The phone dropped from his hand and bounced

  across the floor of the car.

  At the back of the book, two pages were missing, roughly torn out.

  Dee closed his eyes and then licked his lips with a quick flicking movement

  of his tiny tongue. The boy, he rasped, the boy, when I pulled it from his

  hand. He opened his eyes and began to sCan'the preceding pages carefully.