the Dark Elders, want a return to the old ways, and work through agents like
Dee to make it happen.
And what about you? Josh demanded. Do you want to return to these old
ways?
I never thought they were that great, she said, then added, especially for
the humani.
They found Nicholas Flamel'sitting outside on a raised wooden deck set into a
branch of the tree. Growing horizontally from the tree trunk, the branch was
at least ten feet across, and sloped down to plunge into the earth close to a
crescent-shaped pool. Walking across the branch, Sophie glanced down and was
startled to see that beneath the green weeds that curled and twisted in the
pool, tiny almost-human faces peered upward, mouths and eyes open wide. On
the deck, five high-backed chairs were arranged around a circular table,
which was set with beautifully hand-carved wooden bowls and elegant wooden
cups and goblets. Warm, rough-cut bread and thick slices of hard cheese were
arranged on platters, and there were two huge bowls of fruit apples, oranges
and enormous cherries in the center of the table. The Alchemyst was carefully
slicing the skin off an emerald green apple with a triangular sliver of black
stone that looked like an arrowhead. Sophie noticed that he had arranged the
green skin into shapes that resembled letters.
Scatty slid into the seat beside the Alchemyst. Is Hekate not joining us?
she asked, picking up a piece of cut skin and chewing on it.
I believe she is changing for dinner, Flamel'said, slicing off another curl
of skin to replace the piece Scatty was chewing. He looked over at Sophie and
Josh. Sit, please. Our hostess will join us shortly and then we ll eat. You
must be exhausted, he added.
I am tired, Sophie admitted. She d become aware of the exhaustion a little
earlier, and now she could barely keep her eyes open. She was also a little
frightened, realizing that the tiredness was caused by the magic of the place
feeding off her energy.
When can we go home? Josh demanded, unwilling to admit that he too was worn
out. Even his bones ached. He felt as if he was coming down with a cold.
Nicholas Flamel cut a neat slice from the apple and popped it in his mouth.
I m afraid you will not be able to return for a little while.
Why not? Josh snapped.
Flamel'sighed. He put down the stone arrowhead and the apple and placed his
hands flat on the table. Right now, neither Dee nor the Morrigan knows who
you are. It s only because of that, that you and your family are safe.
Our family? Sophie asked. The sudden thought that her mother or father
might be in danger made her feel queasy. Josh reacted with the same shock,
his lips drawing into a thin white line.
Dee will be thorough, Flamel'said. He is protecting a millennia-old
secret, and he will not stop with killing you. Everyone you know or have come
in contact with will have an accident. I d hazard a guess that even Bernice s
Coffee Cup will burn to the ground simply because you once worked in it.
Bernice might even perish in the fire.
But she has nothing to do with anything, Sophie protested, horrified.
Yes, but Dee doesn't know that. Nor does he care. He has worked with the
Dark Elders for a long time, and now he has come to regard humans as they do:
as little more than beasts.
But we won t tell anyone what we've seen , Josh began, and no one would
believe us anyway . His sentence trailed away.
And if we don't tell anyone, then no one will ever know, Sophie said.
We ll never speak of this again. Dee will never find us. But even as the
words were leaving her mouth, she was beginning to realize that it was
hopeless. She and Josh were as trapped by their knowledge of the Codex s
existence as Nicholas and Perry had been.
He would find you, Flamel'said reasonably. He glanced at the Warrior Maid.
How long do you think it would it take for Dee or one of the Morrigan s
spies to find them?
Not long, she said, munching on the apple skin. A couple of hours maybe.
The rats or birds would track you, then Dee would hunt you down.
Once you have been touched by magic, you are forever changed. Flamel moved
his right hand in front of him, leaving the faintest hint of pale green smoke
dangling in the air. You leave a trail. He huffed a breath at the green
smoke and it curled away and disappeared.
Are you saying we smell? Josh demanded.
Flamel nodded. You smell of wild magic. You caught a whiff of it earlier
today when Hekate touched you both. What did you smell then?
Oranges, Josh said.
Vanilla ice cream, Sophie replied.
And earlier still, when Dee and I fought: what did you smell then?
Mint and rotten eggs, Josh said immediately.
Every magician has his or her own distinctive odor; rather like a magical
fingerprint. You must learn to heed your senses. Humans use but a tiny
percentage of theirs. They barely look, they rarely listen, they never smell,
and they think that they can only experience feelings through their skin. But
they talk, oh, do they talk. That makes up for the lack of use of their other
senses. When you return to your own world, you will be able to recognize
people who have some taint of magical energy. He cut out a neat cube of
apple and popped it into his mouth. You may notice a peculiar scent, you
might even taste it or see it as a shimmer around their bodies.
How long will the feeling last? Sophie asked, curious. She reached out and
took a cherry. It was the size of a small tomato. Will it fade?
Flamel'shook his head. It will never fade. On the contrary, it will get
stronger. You have to realize that nothing will ever be the same for either
of you from this day forth.
Josh bit into an apple with a satisfying crunch. Juice ran onto his chin.
You make that sound like a bad thing, he said with a grin, wiping his mouth
with his sleeve.
Flamel was about to respond, but glanced up and suddenly came to his feet.
Scathach also rose smoothly, silently. Sophie immediately stood, but Josh
remained sitting until Sophie caught his shoulder and pulled him up. Then she
turned to look at the Goddess with Three Faces.
But this wasn't Hekate.
The woman she had seen earlier had been tall and elegant, middle-aged maybe,
her hair cut in a tight white helmet close to her head, her black skin smooth
and unwrinkled. This woman was older, much, much older. The resemblance to
Hekate was there, and Sophie guessed that this was her mother or grandmother.
Although she was still tall, she stooped forward, picking her way around the
branch, leaning into an ornately carved black stick that was at least as tall
as Sophie. Her face was a mass of fine wrinkles, her eyes deeply sunken in
her head, glittering with a peculiar yellow cast. She was completely bald,
and Sophie could see where her skull was tattooed in an intricate curling
pattern. Although she was wearing a dress similar to the one Hekate had worn
earlier, the metallic-looking fabric ran black and red with her every
movement.
Sophie blinked, squeezed her eyes shut and
then blinked again. She could see
the merest hint of an aura around the woman, almost as if she were exuding a
fine white mist. When she moved, she left tendrils of this mist behind her.
Without acknowledging anyone s presence, the old woman settled into the seat
directly facing Nicholas Flamel. Only when she was seated did Flamel and
Scathach sit. Sophie and Josh sat down also, glancing from Nicholas to the
old woman, wondering who she was and what was going on.
The woman raised a wooden goblet from the table, but didn't drink. There was
movement in the trunk of the tree behind her, and four tall, muscular young
men appeared, carrying trays piled high with food, which they set down in the
center of the table before backing away silently. The men looked so alike
that they had to be related, but it was their faces that drew the twins
attention: there was something wrong with the planes and angles of their
skulls. Foreheads sloped down to a ridge over their eyes, their noses were
short and splayed, their cheekbones pronounced, and their chins receded
sharply. The hint of yellow teeth was visible behind thin lips. The men were
bare-chested and barefoot, wearing only leather kilts, onto which rectangular
plates of metal had been sewn. And their chests, legs and heads were covered
with coarse red hair.
Sophie suddenly realized that she was staring, and deliberately turned away.
The men looked like some breed of primitive hominid, but she knew the
differences between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, and her father had plaster
skulls of Australopithecus, Peking man and the great apes in his study. These
men were none of those. And then she noticed that their eyes were blue:
bright blue, and incredibly intelligent-looking.
They re Torc Allta, she said, and then froze in surprise when everyone
turned to look at her. She hadn't realized she had spoken aloud.
Josh, who d been staring suspiciously at what might have been a chunk of fish
he d forked out of a big bowl of stew, glanced at the backs of the four young
men. I knew that, he said casually.
Sophie kicked him under the table. You did not, she muttered. You were too
busy checking out the food.
I m hungry, he said, then leaned across to his twin. It was the red hair
and piggy noses that gave it away, he murmured. I thought you d realized
that.
It would be a mistake to let them hear you say that, Nicholas Flamel
interrupted quietly. It would also be a mistake to judge by appearances or
to comment on what you see. In this time, in this place, different standards,
different criteria apply. Here words can kill literally.
Or get you killed, Scathach added. She had piled her plate high with an
assortment of vegetables, only some of which were familiar to the twins. She
nodded in the direction of the tree. But you are right: they are Torc Allta
in their humani form. Probably the finest warriors of any time, she said.
They will accompany you when you leave here, the old woman said suddenly,
her voice surprisingly strong coming from such a frail-looking body.
Flamel bowed. We will be honored by their presence.
don't be, the old woman snapped. They ll not accompany you solely for your
protection: they re to ensure that you really do leave my realm. She spread
her long-fingered hands on the table, and Sophie noticed that her fingernails
were each painted a different color. Strangely, the pattern was identical to
the one she d noticed on Hekate's nails earlier. You cannot stay here, the
woman announced abruptly. You must go.
The twins glanced at each other; why was she being so rude?
Scathach opened her mouth to speak, but Flamel reached over and squeezed her
arm. That was always our intention, he said smoothly. The late-afternoon
sunlight slanting through the trees dappled his face, turning his pale eyes
into mirrors. When Dee attacked my shop and snatched the Codex, I realized
that I had nowhere else to go.
You should have gone south, the old woman said, her dress almost completely
black now, the red threads looking like veins. You would have been more
welcome there. I want you to leave.
When I began to suspect that the prophecy was beginning to come about, I
knew I had to come to you, Flamel continued, ignoring her. The twins, who
were following the exchange closely, noticed how his eyes had flickered
briefly in their direction.
The old woman turned her head and looked at the twins with her butter-colored
eyes. Her wizened face cracked in a humorless smile that showed her tiny
yellow teeth. I have thought about this; I am convinced that the prophecy
does not refer to humani and especially not humani children, she added with
a hiss.
The contempt in the woman s voice made Sophie speak out. I wish you wouldn't
talk about us as if we weren t here, she said.
Besides, Josh said, your daughter was going to help us. Why don't we wait
and see what she has to say.
The elderly woman blinked at him, and her almost-invisible eyebrows raised in
a silent question. My daughter?
Sophie saw Scathach s eyes widen in surprise or warning, but Josh pressed on.
Yes, the woman we met this afternoon. The younger woman your daughter? Or
maybe she s your granddaughter? She was going to help us.
I have neither a daughter nor a granddaughter! The old woman s dress flared
black and red in long sheets of color. Her lips drew back from her teeth and
she snarled some incomprehensible words. Her hands curled into claws, and the
air was suddenly filled with the citrus scent of lime. Dozens of tiny
spinning balls of green light gathered in the palms of her hand.
And then Scathach slammed a double-edged dagger into the center of the table.
The wood split in two with a thunderous snap that spewed splinters into the
air, and the bowls of food shattered on the ground. The old woman reared
back, the green light dribbling from her fingers like liquid. It ran hissing
and spitting down the branch before sinking into the wood.
The four Torc Allta were immediately behind the old woman, curved, scythelike
swords in their hands, and three more of the creatures in their boar shape
burst through the undergrowth and raced up the branch to assume positions
behind Flamel and Scatty.
The twins froze, terrified, unsure what had just happened. Nicholas Flamel
hadn't moved, he merely continued to cut and eat the apple. Scathach calmly
sheathed her dagger and folded her arms. She spoke quickly to the old woman.
Sophie and Josh could see Scathach s lips moving, but all they could hear was
a tinny, mosquito-like buzz.
The old woman didn't respond. Her face was an expressionless mask as she
stood and swept away from the table, surrounded by the Torc Allta guards.
This time neither Flamel nor Scathach stood.
In the long silence that followed, Scathach stooped down to gather some of
the fallen fruits and vegetables from the ground, dusted them off and popped
them into the only remaining unbroken wooden bowl. She started to eat.
Josh was opening his mouth to ask the same question Sophie wanted an answer
to
, but she reached under the table and squeezed his arm, silencing him. She
was aware that something terribly dangerous had just occurred, and that
somehow Josh was involved.
I think that went well, don't you? Scathach asked eventually.
Flamel finished the apple and cleaned the edge of the black arrowhead on a
leaf. It depends on how you define the word well, he said.
Scathach munched on a raw carrot. We re still alive and we re still in the
Shadowrealm, she said. Could be worse. The sun is going down. Our hostess
will need to sleep, and in the morning, sHe'll be a different person.
Probably won t even remember what happened tonight.
What did you say to her? Flamel asked. I ve never mastered the Elder
Tongue.
I simply reminded her of the ancient duty of hospitality and assured her
that the slight to her was unintentional and made through ignorance and was,
therefore, no crime under the Elder Laws.
She is fearful , Flamel murmured, glancing toward the huge tree trunk. The
Torc Allta guards could be seen moving inside, while the largest of the boars
had remained outside, blocking the doorway.
She is always fearful when the evening draws in. It is when she is at her
most vulnerable, Scathach said.
It would be nice, Sophie interrupted, if someone told us exactly what just
happened. She hated it when adults talked among themselves and ignored any
children present. And that was exactly what was happening now.
Scathach smiled, and suddenly, her vampire teeth looked very long in her
mouth. Your twin managed to insult one of the Elder Race and was very nearly
turned into green slime for his crime.
Josh shook his head. But I didn't say anything , he protested. He looked at
his twin for support as he quickly thought over his conversation with the old
woman. All I said was that her daughter or granddaughter had promised to
help us.
Scathach laughed softly. There is no daughter or granddaughter. The mature
woman you saw this afternoon was Hekate. The old woman you saw this evening
is also Hekate, and in the morning, you will meet a young girl who is Hekate
as well.
The Goddess with Three Faces, Flamel reminded them.
Hekate is cursed to age with the day. Maiden in the morning, matron in the
afternoon, crone in the evening. She is incredibly sensitive about her age.
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