Nicholas Flamel 1 - The Alchemyst sotinf-1

by Michael Scott

  hours later when she made your auras visible. I give you my word that

  everything I ve done has been for your protection.

  Josh started to shake his head; he wasn't sure he believed Flamel. He opened

  his mouth to ask a question, but Scatty put her hand on his shoulder before

  he could speak. Let me just say this, she said, her voice low and serious,

  her Celtic accent suddenly pronounced. I ve known Nicholas Flamel for a very

  long time. America was barely even colonized when we first met. He is many

  things dangerous and devious, cunning and deadly, a good friend and an

  implacable enemy but he comes from an age when a man s word was indeed

  precious. If he gives you his word that he s done all this for your

  protection, then I am suggesting that you believe him.

  Josh eased on the brake and the car slowed as it rounded a corner. Finally,

  he nodded and let out his breath in a deep sigh. I believe you, he said

  aloud. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he kept hearing Hekate's last

  words to him Nicholas Flamel never tells anyone everything and he had the

  distinct impression that the Alchemyst still wasn't telling everything he

  knew.

  Suddenly, Nicholas tapped Josh s arm. Here stop here.

  Why, what s wrong? Scatty demanded, reaching for her swords.

  Josh signaled and pulled the Hummer off the road to where a roadside diner

  sign had flickered into life.

  Nothing s wrong. Flamel grinned. Just time for some breakfast.

  Great. I m famished, Scatty said. I could eat a horse. If I weren t a

  vegetarian and liked horse, of course.

  And you weren t a vampire, Josh thought, but kept his mouth shut.

  Sophie woke up while Scatty and Flamel were in the diner ordering breakfast

  to go. One moment she was asleep, the next she sat bolt upright in the

  backseat. Josh jumped and was unable to prevent a little startled cry from

  escaping his lips.

  He swiveled around in the driver s seat, kneeling up to lean over the back.

  Sophie? he asked cautiously. He was terrified that something strange and

  ancient would look through his sister s eyes again.

  You don't want to know what I was dreaming about, Sophie said, stretching

  her arms wide and arching her back. Her neck cracked as she rotated it. Ow.

  I ache everywhere.

  How do you feel? Well, it sounded like his sister.

  Like I m coming down with flu. She looked around. Where are we? Whose car

  is this?

  Josh grinned, teeth white in the shadows. We stole it from Dee. We re

  somewhere on the road out of Mill Valley, heading back into San Francisco, I

  think.

  What happened what happened back there? Sophie asked.

  Josh s smile broadened into a wide grin. You saved us, with your newly

  Awakened powers. You were incredible: you had a silver whip energy thing, and

  every time it touched one of the cats or birds, it changed them back into

  their real forms. He trailed off as she started to shake her head. You

  don't remember anything?

  A little. I could hear Perenelle talking to me, telling me what to do. I

  could actually feel her pouring her aura into me, she said in awe. I could

  hear her. I could even see her, sort of. She suddenly drew in a deep,

  shuddering breath. Then they came for her. That'sall I can remember.

  Who did?

  The faceless men. Lots of faceless men. I watched them drag her away.

  What do you mean, faceless men?

  Sophie s eyes were wide and terrified. They had no faces.

  Like masks?

  No, Josh, not masks. Their faces were smooth no eyes, no nose, no mouth,

  just smooth skin.

  The image that formed in his head was deeply disturbing, and he deliberately

  changed the subject. Do you feel different? He chose the word carefully.

  Sophie took a moment to consider. What was wrong with Josh, why was he so

  concerned? Different? How?

  Do you remember Hekate Awakening your powers?

  I do.

  What did it feel like? he asked hesitantly.

  For a moment Sophie s eyes flickered with cold silver light. It was as if

  someone had flipped a switch in my head, Josh. I felt alive. For the first

  time in my life I felt alive.

  Josh felt a sudden inexplicable pang of jealousy. From the corner of his eye,

  he spotted Flamel and Scatty leaving the diner, arms piled high with bags.

  And how do you feel now?

  Hungry, she said. Extremely hungry.

  They ate in silence: breakfast burritos, eggs, sausage, grits and rolls,

  washed down with soda. Scatty had fruit and water.

  Josh finally wiped his mouth with a napkin and brushed bread crumbs off his

  jeans. It was the first proper meal he d had since lunchtime the day before.

  I feel human again. He glanced sideways at Scatty. No offense.

  None taken, Scatty assured him. Believe me I ve never wanted to be human,

  though there are, I believe, some advantages, she added enigmatically.

  Nicholas bundled up the remains of their breakfast and shoved them into a

  paper bag. Then he leaned forward and tapped the screen of the satellite

  navigation system set into the dashboard. Do you know how this works?

  Josh shook his head. In theory, I guess. We put in a destination and it

  tells us the best way to get there. I ve never used one before, though. My

  dad s car hasn t got one, he added. Richard Newman drove a five-year-old

  Volvo station wagon.

  If you looked at it, could you make it work? Flamel persisted.

  Maybe, Josh said doubtfully.

  Of course he can. Josh is a genius with computers, Sophie said proudly from

  the backseat.

  This is hardly a computer, her twin muttered, leaning forward and hitting

  the On button. The large square screen flickered to life, and an incredibly

  patronizing voice warned them about typing addresses into the system while

  driving, then instructed Josh to hit the OK button, acknowledging that he d

  heard and understood the warning. The screen blinked and immediately showed

  the position of the Hummer on an unnamed backroad. Mount Tamalpais appeared

  as a little triangle at the top of the screen, and arrows pointed south to

  San Francisco. The little track that led to Hekate's Shadowrealm wasn't

  shown.

  We need to go south, Flamel continued.

  Josh experimented with the buttons until he got the main menu. Okay. I need

  an address.

  Put in the post office at the corner of Signal Street and Ojai Avenue in

  Ojai.

  In the backseat, Scatty stirred. Oh, not Ojai. Please tell me we re not

  going there.

  Flamel twisted in his seat. Perenelle told me to go south.

  L.A. is south, Mexico is south, even Chile is south of here. There are lots

  of nice places that lie to the south .

  Perenelle told me to take the children to the Witch, Flamel'said patiently.

  And the Witch is in Ojai.

  Sophie and Josh looked quickly at each other, but said nothing.

  Scatty sat back and sighed dramatically. Would it make a difference if I

  told you I didn't want to go?

  None at all.

  Sophie crouched between the seats to stare at the little screen. How long

  will it take? How far away are we? she wondered ou
t loud.

  It s going to take most of the day, Josh said, leaning forward to squint at

  the screen. Where his hair brushed his sister s, a tiny spark crackled

  between them. We need to get to Highway One. We go across the Richmond

  Bridge His fingers traced the colored lines. Then to I-580, which

  eventually turns into I-5. He blinked in surprise. We stay on that for over

  two hundred and seventy miles. He hit another button, which calculated some

  totals. The entire trip is just over four hundred miles, and will take at

  least six and a half hours. Before today, the farthest I ve ever driven is

  about ten miles!

  Well, this will be great practice for you, then, the Alchemyst said with a

  smile.

  Sophie looked from Flamel to Scatty. Who is this Witch we re going to see?

  Flamel'snapped his seat belt into place. We re going to see the Witch of

  Endor.

  Josh turned the key in the ignition and started the car. He glanced in the

  rearview mirror at Scatty. Someone else you've fought with? he asked.

  Scathach grimaced. Worse than that, she muttered. She s my grandmother.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  T he Shadowrealm was breaking down.

  In the west, the clouds had vanished and huge patches of the sky had already

  disappeared, leaving only the blinking stars and the overlarge moon in the

  black sky. One by one the stars were winking out of existence, and the moon

  was beginning to fray at the edges.

  We don't have much time, the Morrigan said, watching the sky.

  Dee, who was crouching on the ground, gathering as many icy fragments of

  Hekate as he could find, thought he could hear a note of fear in the

  Morrigan s voice. We have time, he said evenly.

  We Can't afford to be here when the Shadowrealm disappears, she continued,

  looking down at him, her face expressionless. But he knew by the way she

  hugged the cloak of crow feathers about her shoulders that she was nervous.

  What would happen? Dee wondered aloud. He d never seen the Crow Goddess

  like this before, and he took pleasure in her discomfiture.

  The Morrigan raised her head to look at the encroaching darkness, her black

  eyes reflecting the tiny spots of stars. Why, we d disappear also. Sucked

  away into the nothingness, she added softly, watching the mountains in the

  distance turn to something like dust. The dust then spiraled up into the

  black sky and vanished. A true death, the Morrigan murmured.

  Dee was crouched among the melting remains of the Yggdrasill, while all

  around him Hekate's elegant and beautiful world was turning to dust and

  blowing away on invisible winds. The goddess had created her Shadowrealm out

  of nothingness, and now, without her presence to hold it together, it was

  returning to that once more. The mountains had vanished, blown away like

  grains of sand, whole swathes of the forest were slowly fading and blinking

  out of existence like lights being turned off and the overlarge moon hanging

  low in the sky was losing shape and definition. Already it was nothing more

  than a featureless ball. In the east, the rising sun was a golden orb of

  light and the sky was still blue.

  The Crow Goddess turned to her aunt. How long before it all disappears? she

  asked.

  Bastet growled and shrugged her broad shoulders. Who knows? Even I have

  never witnessed the death of an entire Shadowrealm. Minutes perhaps

  That'sall I need. Dee laid the sword Excalibur on the ground. The smoothly

  polished stone blade reflected the blackness creeping in from the west. Dee

  found three of the largest chunks of ice that had once been Hekate and placed

  them on the blade.

  The Morrigan and Bastet leaned over his shoulders and stared at the sword,

  their reflections rippling and distorted. What is so important that you must

  do it here? Bastet asked.

  This was Hekate's home, Dee replied. And here, right here, at the place of

  her death, the connection to her will be strongest.

  Connection , Bastet growled, and then nodded. She suddenly knew what Dee

  was about to attempt: the darkest and most dangerous of all the dark arts.

  Necromancy, Dee whispered. I m going to talk to the dead goddess. She

  spent so many millennia here that it is part of her. I m wagering her

  consciousness remains active and attached to this place. He reached out and

  touched the handle of the sword. The black stone glowed yellow and the carved

  snakes around the hilt came briefly alive, hissing furiously, tongues

  flickering, before they solidified once again. As the ice melted, the liquid

  ran over the black stone, covering it in a thin oily sheen. Now we shall see

  what we shall see, he muttered.

  The water on the blade began to bubble and pop, sizzling and crackling. And a

  face appeared in each bubble: Hekate's face. It kept flickering through her

  three guises, only the eyes butter-colored and hateful remaining the same as

  she glared at him.

  Talk to me, Dee shouted, I command you. Why did Flamel come here?

  Hekate's voice was a bubbling, watery snap. To escape you.

  Tell me about the human children.

  The images that appeared on the sword blade were surprisingly detailed. They

  were all from Hekate's perspective. They showed Flamel arriving with the

  twins, showed the two children sitting, fearful and pale, in the battered and

  scratched car.

  Flamel believes they are the twins of legend mentioned in the Codex.

  The Morrigan and Bastet crowded closer, ignoring the rapidly encroaching

  nothingness. In the west, there were no longer any stars in the heavens, the

  moon was gone and huge portions of the sky had completely vanished, leaving

  just blackness in its wake.

  Are they? Dee demanded.

  The next image on the sword showed the twins auras flaring silver and gold.

  Moon and sun, Dee murmured. He didn't know whether to be horrified or

  elated. His suspicions were confirmed. From the first moment he d seen them

  together, he d started to wonder if the teens were, in fact, twins.

  Are these the twins foretold in legend? he demanded again.

  Bastet brought her massive head down next to Dee s. Her foot-long whiskers

  tickled his face, but he didn't risk brushing them away, not with her teeth

  so close. She smelled of wet cat and frankincense; Dee felt a sneeze building

  at the back of his nose. The Cat Goddess reached out for the blade, but Dee

  caught her hand in his. It was like grasping a lion s paw, and her retracted

  claws suddenly appeared dangerously close to his fingers. Please don't touch

  the blade; this is a delicate spell. There is time for perhaps one or two

  more questions, he added, nodding toward the western horizon, to where the

  edges of the earth were crumbling, blowing away like multicolored dust.

  Bastet glared at the black blade, her slit-pupiled eyes flaring. My sister

  has or should I say had a very special gift. She could Awaken powers in

  others. Ask her if she did that with these humani twins.

  Dee nodded in sudden understanding; he had been wondering why Flamel had

  brought the twins to this place. He remembered now: in the ancient world, it

  was believed Hekate had power over magic and spells. Did
you Awaken the

  twins magical abilities? he asked.

  A single bubble popped. No.

  Dee rocked back on his heels, surprised. He had been expecting her to say

  yes. Had Flamel failed, then?

  Bastet growled. She s lying.

  She cannot, Dee said. She answers what we ask.

  I saw the girl with my own eyes, the Egyptian goddess growled. I saw her

  wield a whip of pure auric energy. I ve never seen such power in my life, not

  since the Elder Times.

  Dr. John Dee glanced at her sharply. You saw the girl but what of the boy?

  What was he doing?

  I did not notice him.

  Ha! Dee said triumphantly. He turned back to the sword.

  The Morrigan s cloak rustled warningly. Make this your last question,

  Doctor.

  The trio looked up to see that the utter blackness was almost upon them. Less

  than ten feet ahead of them, the world ended in nothingness. Dee turned back

  to the sword. Did you Awaken the girl?

  A bubble popped and the sword ran with images of Sophie rising off the

  ground, her aura blazing silver. Yes.

  And the boy?

  The sword showed Josh cowering in a corner of a darkened chamber. No.

  The Morrigan s clawlike hands gripped Dee s shoulders and jerked him to his

  feet. He caught his sword and shook the bubbling water droplets into the

  rapidly encroaching void.

  The mismatched trio towering Bastet, dark Morrigan and small human raced away

  as the world crumbled into nothingness behind them. The last remnants of

  their army the birdmen and cat-people remained, wandering aimlessly. When

  they saw their leaders fleeing, they turned to follow. Soon every creature

  was racing to the east, where the last of the Shadowrealm remained. Senuhet

  limped after Bastet, calling out her name, begging her to stop and help him.

  But the world dissolved too quickly. It swallowed birds and cats, it took the

  ancient trees and rare orchids, the magical creatures and the mythical

  monsters. It consumed the last of Hekate's magic.

  Then the void claimed the sun and the world went dark and was no more.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  T he Morrigan and Bastet burst through the tangled hedges, carrying John Dee

  between them. In the next instant the wall of foliage vanished and one of the

  many winding paths leading to Mount Tamalpais appeared. They stumbled, and