Nicholas Flamel 1 - The Alchemyst sotinf-1

by Michael Scott

  Codex.

  No, Flamel'said grimly. Where is he? Where is he hiding?

  Where s my brother? Sophie called desperately, and then screamed as a dead

  hand wrapped itself in her hair. Scathach chopped it off at the wrist, but it

  still hung tangled in her hair like a bizarre hair clip. What have you done

  with my brother?

  You brother is considering his options. Yours is not the only side in this

  battle. And now, since I have the boy, all I need are the pages.

  Never.

  The bear and the tiger charged through the crowd of bodies, brushing them

  aside, trampling them in their eagerness to get to the trio. The

  saber-toothed tiger reached them first. Its gleaming skeletal head was

  massive, and the two downward-jutting teeth were at least eight inches long.

  Flamel placed himself between Sophie and the creature.

  Hand over the pages, Nicholas, or I will loose these undead beasts on the

  town.

  Nicholas frantically hunted through his memory for a spell that would stop

  the creature. He bitterly regretted now not studying more magic. He snapped

  his fingers and a tiny bubble of light popped onto the ground in front of the

  tiger.

  Is that all you can manage, Nicholas? My, you re weakening.

  The bubble burst and spread across the ground in a cool emerald stain.

  He s close enough to see us, Nicholas said. All I need is one glimpse of

  him.

  The skeletal tiger s massive right front paw stepped into the green light.

  And stuck. It attempted to lift its leg, but thick strands of sticky green

  threads connected it to the road. And now its left paw stepped into the light

  and stuck.

  Not quite so weak, eh, Dee? Flamel'shouted.

  But the press of bodies behind the saber-toothed tiger kept pushing it

  forward. Suddenly, its bony legs snapped off, sending the huge beast lunging

  forward. Flamel managed to throw up his arms before the monster collapsed on

  top of him, jaw gaping, teeth wide and savage.

  Good-bye, Nicholas Flamel, Dee called. I'll just take the pages from your

  body.

  No, Sophie whispered. No, it was not going to end like this. She had been

  Awakened, and the Witch of Endor had imbued her with all her knowledge. There

  had to be something she could do. Sophie opened her mouth and screamed, her

  aura blazing with silver incandescence.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  J osh awoke, his sister s scream ringing in his ears.

  It took him several seconds before he realized where he was: sitting on the

  edge of the fountain in Libbey Park, while all around him thick,

  foul-smelling banks of fog shifted and twisted and crawled with half-glimpsed

  skeletons and mummified bodies clothed in rags.

  Sophie!

  He had to get to his sister. To his right, in the middle of the gray-black

  fog, green light sparkled and silver flared, briefly illuminating the mist

  from within, casting monstrous shadows. Sophie was there; Flamel and

  Scathach, too, fighting these monsters. He should be with them.

  He came shakily to his feet and discovered Dr. John Dee standing directly in

  front of him.

  Dee was outlined in a sickly yellow aura. It sparked and spat and hissed like

  burning fat and gave off the rancid odor of rotten eggs. The man had his back

  to him. He was leaning both forearms against the low stone wall next to the

  drinking fountain Josh had used earlier. Dee was staring intently at the

  events taking place in the street, concentrating so hard he was shaking with

  the effort of controlling the seemingly endless line of skeletons and

  mummified humans shuffling past. Now that he was on his feet, Josh noticed

  that there were other creatures in the fog too. He could see the remains of

  bears and tigers, mountain cats and wolves.

  He heard Flamel'shout and Sophie scream, and his first thought was to rush at

  Dee. But he doubted he d even get close. What could he do against this

  powerful magician? He wasn't like his twin: he had no powers.

  But that didn't mean he was useless.

  Sophie s scream sent out a shock wave of icy air that shattered the

  saber-toothed tiger to powder and knocked back the nearest skeletons. The

  huge bear crashed to the ground, crushing a dozen skeletons beneath its bulk.

  The blast of air had also cleared away a patch of fog, and for the first

  time, Sophie realized the enormity of what they were facing. There weren t

  dozens or even hundreds, there were thousands of the Old West s dead marching

  down the street toward them. Dotted through the mass were the bony remains of

  the animals that had hunted in the surrounding mountains for centuries. She

  didn't know what else she could do. The final use of magic exhausted her, and

  she slumped against Scathach, who caught her in her left arm while holding

  one sword in her right hand.

  Flamel climbed tiredly to his feet. Using magic had drained his reserves of

  energy as well, and even in the past few minutes he had aged. The lines

  around his eyes were deeper, his hair thinner. Scathach knew he could not

  survive much longer.

  Give him the pages, Nicholas, she urged.

  He shook his head stubbornly. I will not. I cannot. I ve spent my life

  protecting the Book.

  He who retreats lives longer, she reminded him.

  He shook his head. Flamel was bent over, breathing in great heaving gulps of

  air. His skin was deathly pale, with two spots of unnaturally bright red on

  his cheeks. This is the exception, Scathach. If I give him the pages, then

  I ve condemned all of us Perry, too, and the entire world to destruction. He

  straightened and turned to face the creatures for what they all knew would be

  the last time. Could you get Sophie away from here?

  Scathach shook her head. I cannot fight them and carry her.

  Could you get away on your own?

  I could fight my way out, she said carefully.

  Then go, Scatty. Escape. Get to the other Elders, contact the immortal

  humans, tell them what happened here, start fighting the Dark Elders before

  it is too late.

  I'll not leave you and Sophie here, Scathach said firmly. We re in this

  together to the end. Whatever that may be.

  It s time to die, Nicholas Flamel, Dee called out of the gloom. I'll make

  sure to tell Perenelle about this moment in every little detail.

  A rustle ran through the mass of skeletal human and animal bodies, and then,

  as one, they surged forward.

  And a monster came out of the fog.

  Huge and black, howling savagely, with two huge yellow-white eyes and dozens

  of smaller eyes blazing, it drove straight through the Libbey Park fountain,

  crushing it to powder, shattering the ornamental vases, and bore down on Dr.

  John Dee.

  The necromancer managed to fling himself to one side before the black Hummer

  crashed into the wall, pounding it to dust. It stuck nose-down against the

  remains of the wall, back wheels caught in the air, engine screaming. The

  door opened and Josh climbed out and carefully lowered himself to the ground.

  He was holding his chest where the seat belt had cut into it.

  Ojai Avenue was littered with the remains of the long dead. Wit
hout Dee to

  control them, they were just so many bones.

  Josh staggered into the street and picked his way through the bones and

  scraps of cloth. Something crunched beneath his feet, but he didn't even look

  down.

  Suddenly, the dead were gone.

  Sophie didn't know what had happened. There had been a tremendous roar, a

  scream of tortured metal and a crunch of stone and then silence. And in the

  silence, the dead had fallen down like windblown grass. What had Dee summoned

  now?

  A shape moved in the twisting fog.

  Flamel gathered the last of his energy into a solid sphere of green glass.

  Sophie straightened and tried to muster the dregs of her energy. Scathach

  flexed her fingers. She d once been told that she d die in an exotic

  location; she wondered if Ojai in Ventura County qualified as exotic enough.

  The shape loomed closer.

  Flamel raised his hand, Sophie gathered the winds and Scathach lifted her

  notched sword. Josh stepped out of the night. I ve wrecked the car, he

  said.

  Sophie screamed with delight. She ran to her brother, and then her scream

  turned to one of horror. The skeletal bear had risen from the ground behind

  him, paws poised to strike.

  Scathach moved, hitting Josh hard, shoving him out of the way, and sent him

  tumbling into a mess of bones. The Warrior s swords parried the bear s

  sweeping blow, sparks blinking in the fog. She struck out again, and a bear

  claw as long as her hand tumbled through the air.

  One by one the skeletal animals were climbing to their feet. Two huge wolves,

  one little more than bones, the other merely shriveled flesh, loomed out of

  the fog.

  This way. Here! This way. The Witch s voice sounded flatly across the

  street, and a rectangle of light from an open door lit up the night. With

  Scatty supporting Flamel and Josh half carrying his twin, they raced across

  the street toward the shop. The Witch of Endor was standing in the doorway,

  looking blindly into the night, an old-fashioned oil lantern held high.

  we've got to get you out of here. She pulled the door closed and pushed the

  bolts home. That won t hold them long, she muttered.

  You said you said you have no powers left, Sophie muttered.

  I don't. Dora flashed a quick grin, revealing perfect white teeth. But

  this place has. She led them through the shop and into a tiny back room. Do

  you know what makes Ojai so special? she asked.

  Something thumped against the door and all the glassware in the shop rattled

  and tinkled.

  It is built on an intersection of ley lines.

  Josh opened his mouth and was actually forming the word ley when his sister

  spoke. Lines of energy that crisscross the globe, Sophie whispered in his

  ear.

  How do you know that?

  I don't know; I guess the Witch taught me. Many of the most famous buildings

  and ancient sites across the world are built where the ley lines meet.

  Exactly, Dora said, sounding pleased. Couldn t have put it better myself.

  The little storeroom was bare except for a long rectangle propped up against

  the wall, covered in yellowed back issues of the Ojai Valley Times.

  More blows shook the shop window, the sound of bone against glass setting

  them on edge.

  Dora swept the papers to the ground to reveal a mirror. It stood seven feet

  tall, four feet wide, the glass dirty, speckled and warped, the images it

  showed slightly distorted and blurred. And do you know what drew me to Ojai

  in the first place? she asked. Seven great ley lines meet here. They form a

  leygate.

  Here? Flamel whispered. He knew about ley lines and had heard about the

  leygates used by the ancients to travel across the world in an instant. He

  hadn't thought any still existed.

  Dora tapped the ground with her foot. Right here. And do you know how you

  use a leygate?

  Flamel'shook his head.

  Dora reached for Sophie. Give me your hand, child. The Witch took Sophie s

  hand and put it on the glass. You use a mirror.

  The mirror immediately came to blazing life, the glass flaring silver and

  then clearing. When they looked into the glass, it no longer showed their

  reflections, but rather the image of a bare, cellarlike room.

  Where? Flamel asked.

  Paris, Dora said.

  France. He smiled. Home. And without hesitation, he stepped right through

  the glass. Now they could see him within the mirror. He turned and waved them

  through.

  I hate leygates, Scatty muttered. Make me nauseous. She hopped through

  the gate, and rolled to her feet beside Flamel. When she turned back to face

  the twins, she did look as if she was about to throw up.

  The skeletal bear lumbered straight through the shop door, ripping it off its

  hinges. The wolves and the cougars followed. Glassware tumbled, mirrors

  cracked, ornaments shattered as the beasts lumbered about.

  A bruised and cut Dee raced into the shop, pushing the skeletal beasts aside.

  A cougar snapped at him and he smacked it on the snout. If it had had eyes,

  it would have blinked in surprise.

  Trapped, he called gleefully. Trapped and nowhere to go!

  But when he stepped into the storeroom, he knew they had escaped him once

  more. It took him a single heartbeat to take in the tall mirror, the two

  figures in the glass staring out, the old woman standing next to the girl,

  pressing her hand to its surface. The boy stood alone, holding on to the

  frame. Dee instantly knew what it was. A leygate, he whispered in awe.

  Mirrors always acted as the gates. Somewhere at the other end of the ley line

  was another mirror linking them.

  The old woman caught the girl and shoved her through the mirror. Sophie

  tumbled to the ground at Flamel's feet, then crouched to turn and look back.

  Her mouth moved, but there was no sound. Josh.

  Josh, Dee commanded, staring at the boy, stay where you are.

  The boy turned to the glass. Already the image in the mirror had blurred.

  I ve told you the truth about Flamel, Dee said urgently. All he had to do

  was to keep the boy distracted for another moment or two and the mirror would

  lose its power. Stay with me. I can Awaken you. Make you powerful. You can

  help change the world, Josh. Change it for the better!

  I don't know . The offer was tempting, so tempting. But he knew if he sided

  with Dee, he would lose his sister altogether. Or would he? If Dee Awakened

  him, then they would be alike again. Maybe this was a way he could reconnect

  with his twin.

  Look, Dee said triumphantly, pointing to the fading image in the glass,

  they ve left you, deserted you again, because you are not one of them.

  You re no longer important.

  The mirror flared silver and Sophie stepped back through the glass. Josh?

  Hurry, she said urgently, not looking at Dee.

  I , he began. You came back for me.

  Of course I did! You re my brother. I'll never abandon you. Then, catching

  his hand, wrapping her fingers around his, she pulled him into the glass.

  And Dora pushed the mirror, sending it shattering to the floor. Whoops. She

  turned to face Dee and pulled off her
dark glasses to reveal the mirrors of

  her eyes. You should go now. you've got about three seconds.

  Dee didn't quite make it out of the shop before it exploded.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  MOVIE COMPANY CAUSES MAYHEM IN SCENIC OJAI

  The latest in a long line of horror movies from Enoch Studios caused traffic

  mayhem and more than a little confusion in downtown Ojai yesterday. The

  special effects were a bit too realistic for some locals, and emergency

  services were inundated with calls from people who claimed that the dead were

  walking the streets.

  John Dee, chairman of Enoch Films, a division of Enoch Enterprises,

  apologized profusely for the confusion, blaming it on a power outage and an

  unseasonable fog that swept in as they were about to shoot a scene from their

  new movie. It certainly made the extras look extra-scary, his spokesperson

  said. In a related incident, a drunk driver smashed through the historic

  Libbey Park fountain and into the recently restored pergola. Dee has promised

  to restore the fountain and pergola to their former glory.

  Ojai Valley News

  LOCAL ANTIQUES SHOP DEVASTATED BY EXPLOSION

  A gas explosion destroyed the shop of longtime Ojai resident Dora Witcherly

  late last night. An electrical fault ignited solvents used by the owner to

  clean, polish and restore her antiques. Miss Witcherly was in the shop s back

  room when the explosion occurred and was unharmed and apparently unconcerned

  by her brush with death. When you've lived as long as I have, nothing much

  surprises you. She has promised to reopen the shop in time for the holidays.

  Ojai Online

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  D eep beneath Alcatraz, Perenelle Flamel lay on a narrow cot, her face turned

  toward the back wall of her cell. Behind her, in the corridor outside, she

  could hear the sphinx click-clacking up and down the cold stone floors, and

  the air was heavy with the musky odors of snake and lion. Perenelle shivered.

  The cell was freezing, and green-tinged water was dripping down the wall

  inches from her face.

  Where was Nicholas?

  What was happening?

  Perenelle was afraid, but not for herself. The fact that she was alive meant

  that Dee needed her for something, and that sooner or later she would come

  face to face with him. And if Dee had a failing, it was arrogance. He would