pointed nose; sharply defined chin; lips so thin they were almost
nonexistent. Her pupils were the color of butter. She was wearing a long,
simple gown made of a shimmering material that moved gently in a wind that
didn't seem to touch anything around her. As it shifted, rainbow colors ran
down its length, like oil on water. She wore no jewelry, though Sophie
noticed that each of her short blunt fingernails was painted a different
color.
doesn't look a day over ten thousand years old, Scatty muttered.
Be nice, Flamel reminded her.
Who is it? Sophie asked again, staring hard at the woman. Although she
looked human, there was something different, something otherworldly about
her. It showed in the way she stood absolutely still and in the arrogant tilt
of her head.
This, Nicholas Flamel'said, a note of genuine awe in his voice, is the
Elder known as Hekate. He pronounced the name slowly, HEH-ca-tay.
The Goddess with Three Faces, Scatty added bitterly.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
S tay in the car, Nicholas Flamel directed, opening the door and stepping
outside onto the short-cropped grass.
Scatty folded her arms over her chest and glared out through the cracked
windshield. Fine by me.
Flamel ignored her jibe and slammed the door before she could say anything
else. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to compose himself as he stepped
toward the tall, elegant woman surrounded by the tall leafless trunks of
sequoia trees.
The undergrowth rustled and one of the enormous Torc Allta appeared directly
in front of the Alchemyst, its massive head level with his chest. Flamel
stopped and bowed to the creature, greeting it in a language that had not
been designed for human tongues. Abruptly, the boars were everywhere, ten of
them, eyes bright and intelligent, the coarse red hair on their backs and
shoulders bristling in the late-afternoon light, long strings of ropey saliva
dribbling from their ornately carved tusks.
Flamel took care to bow to each one in turn. I did not think there were any
of the Torc Allta clan left in the Americas, he said to no one in
particular, dropping back into English.
Hekate'smiled, the merest movement of her lips. Ah, Nicholas, you of all
people should know that when we are gone, when the Elder Race is no more,
when even the humani have gone from this earth, then the Allta clans will
reclaim it for themselves. Remember, this world belonged to the Were clans
first. Hekate'spoke in a deep, almost masculine voice, touched with an
accent that had all the hissing sibilants of Greece and the liquid consonants
of Persia.
Nicholas bowed again. I understand that the clans are strong in Europe the
Torc Madra particularly, and I hear that there are Torc Tiogar in India
again, and two new clans of Torc Leon in Africa. All thanks to you.
Hekate'smiled, her teeth tiny and straight in her mouth. The clans still
worship me as a goddess. I do what I can for them. The unseen, unfelt wind
touched her robe, swirling it around her body, so that it ran with green and
gold threads. But I doubt you have come all this way to talk to me about my
children.
I have not. Flamel glanced back at the battered and scarred SUV. Josh and
Sophie were staring intently at him, eyes wide in wonder, while Scathach s
face was just visible in the backseat. She had her eyes closed and was
pretending to be asleep. Flamel knew the Warrior had no need of sleep. I
want to thank you for the Ghost Wind you sent us.
Now it was Hekate's turn to bow. Her right hand moved and opened, revealing a
tiny cell phone cupped in her palm. Such useful devices. I can remember a
time when we entrusted our messages to the winds or trained birds. Seems like
only yesterday, she added. I am glad the ruse was successful.
Unfortunately, you have probably revealed your ultimate destination to the
Morrigan and Dee. They will know who sent the Ghost Wind, and I am sure they
are aware that I have an enclave here.
I know that. And I apologize for drawing them down on you.
Hekate'shrugged, a slight movement of her shoulders that sent a rainbow of
light down her robe. Dee fears me. He will bluster and posture, threaten me,
possibly even try a few minor spells and incantations, but he will not move
against me. Not alone not even with the Morrigan s assistance. He would need
at least two or more of the Dark Elders to stand against me and even then he
would not be assured of success.
But he is arrogant. And now he has the Codex.
But not all of it, you said on the phone.
No, not all of it. Nicholas Flamel drew the two pages from under his
T-shirt and went to hand them to Hekate. But the woman abruptly backed away,
throwing up her hand to shield her eyes, a sound like hissing steam bubbling
from her lips. In an instant the boars were around Flamel, crowding him,
mouths open, tusks huge and deadly against his skin.
Sophie drew breath to scream and Josh shouted and then Scathach was out of
the SUV, an arrow notched to her bow, leveled at Hekate. Call them off, she
shouted.
The Torc Allta didn't even glance in her direction.
Hekate deliberately turned her back on Flamel and folded her arms, then she
glanced over her shoulder at Scathach, who immediately pulled the bowstring
taut. You think that can harm me? the goddess laughed.
The arrow was dipped in the blood of a Titan, Scathach said quietly, her
voice carrying on the still air. One of your parents, if I remember
correctly? And one of the few ways left to slay you, I do believe.
The twins watched as the Elder s eyes turned cold and became, for a split
second, gold mirrors, reflecting the scene before her. Put the pages away,
Hekate commanded the Alchemyst.
Flamel immediately tucked the two pages back under his T-shirt. The older
woman muttered a word and the Torc Allta stepped back from the Alchemyst and
trotted into the undergrowth, where they immediately disappeared, though
everyone knew they were still there. Hekate then turned to face Flamel again.
They would not have harmed you without a command from me.
I m sure, Nicholas said shakily. He glanced down at his jeans and boots.
They were covered with dribbles and strings of white Torc Allta saliva, which
he was sure was going to leave a stain.
Do not produce the Codex or any portion of it in my presence nor in the
presence of any being of the Elder Race. We have an aversion to it, she
said, choosing the word carefully.
It doesn't affect me, Scathach said, loosening her bow.
You are not one of the First Generation of the Elder Race, Hekate reminded
her. Like the Morrigan, you are of the Next Generation. But I was there when
Abraham the Mage set down the first words of power in the Book. I saw him
trap the Magic of First Working, the oldest magic, in its sheets.
I apologize, Flamel'said quickly. I did not know.
There is no reason you should have known. Hekate'smiled, but there was
nothing humorous in it. That eldritch magic is so strong that most of my
people cannot even bear
to look upon the letters. Those who came after the
original Elder Race, though still of our blood and here she gestured toward
Scathach can look upon the Codex, though even they cannot touch it. The ape
descendents the humani can. It was Abraham s ultimate joke. He married one of
the first humani, and I believe he wanted to ensure that only his children
could handle the book.
We re the ape descendents, Josh said, his voice unconsciously dropping to
little more than a whisper.
The humani the human race, Sophie said, then fell silent as Flamel
continued talking.
Is that why the Book was given into my keeping?
You are not the first of the humani to to care for the Codex, Hekate'said
carefully. It should never have been created in the first place, she
snapped, threads of red and green running like live wires on her robe. I
advocated that every single page should be separated from the others and
dropped into the nearest volcano, and Abraham along with it.
Why wasn't it destroyed? Nicholas asked.
Because Abraham had the gift of Sight. He could actually see the curling
strands of time, and he prophesied that there would come a day when the Codex
and all the knowledge it contained would be needed.
Scatty stepped away from the SUV and approached Flamel. She was still holding
the bow loosely by her side, and she noted how Hekate's butter-colored eyes
watched her closely.
The Book of the Mage was always assigned a guardian, Scathach explained to
Flamel. Some, history recalls as the greatest heroes of myth, while others
were less well known, like yourself, and a few remained completely
anonymous.
And if I a human was chosen to caretake this precious Codex, because your
people cannot even look upon it, much less touch it, then it is obvious that
another human must have been chosen to find it, Flamel'said. Dee.
Hekate nodded. A dangerous enemy, Dr. John Dee.
Flamel nodded. He could feel the cool, dry pages against his skin beneath his
T-shirt. Although he had possessed the Codex for more than half a millennium,
he knew he had barely even begun to scratch the surface of its secrets. He
still had no real idea just how old it was. He kept pushing the date of its
creation back further and further. When the Book first came to him in the
fourteenth century, he believed it to be five hundred years old. Later, when
he started to do his research, he thought it might be eight hundred years
old, then a thousand years, then two thousand years old. A century ago, in
light of the new discoveries coming out of the tombs of Egypt, he had
reassessed the age of the Book at five thousand years. And now, here was
Hekate, who was ten thousand and more years old, saying she had been around
when the mysterious Abraham the Mage had composed the Book. But if the Elder
Race the gods of mythology and legend could neither handle nor look upon the
book, then what was Abraham, its creator? Was he of the Elder Race, a humani
or something else, one of the many other mythical races that walked the earth
in those first days?
Why are you here? Hekate asked. I knew the Codex had been taken as soon as
it left your presence, but I cannot help you recover it.
I have come to you for another reason, Flamel continued, stepping away from
the car and lowering his voice, forcing Hekate to lean close to listen to
him. When Dee attacked me, stole the Book and snatched Perry, two humani
came to our aid. A young man and his sister. He paused and then added,
Twins.
Twins? she said, her voice as flat and expressionless as her face.
Twins. Look at them: tell me what you see.
Hekate's eyes flickered toward the car. A boy and a girl, dressed in the
T-shirts and denim that are the shabby uniform of this age. That is all I
see.
Look closer, Flamel'said. And remember the prophecy, he added.
I know the prophecy. Do not presume to teach me my own history! Hekate's
eyes flared and, for an instant, changed color, becoming dark and ugly.
Humani? Impossible. Striding past Flamel, she peered into the interior of
the car, looking first at Sophie, and then at Josh.
The twins noticed simultaneously that the pupils of her eyes were long and
narrow, like a cat s, and that behind the thin line of her lips, her teeth
were pointed, like tiny needles.
Silver and gold, Hekate whispered abruptly, glancing at the Alchemyst, her
accent thickening, small pointed tongue darting at her thin lips. She turned
back to the twins. Step out of the vehicle.
They looked at Flamel, and when he nodded, both climbed out. Sophie went
around the car to stand next to her brother.
Hekate reached out first toward Sophie, who hesitated momentarily before she
stretched out her hand. The goddess took Sophie s left palm in her right hand
and turned it over, then she reached for Josh s hand. He placed his hand in
hers without hesitation, trying to act nonchalant, as if stretching out to
touch a ten-thousand-year-old goddess were something he did every day. He
thought her skin felt surprisingly rough and coarse.
Hekate'spoke a single word in a language that predated the arrival of the
earliest human civilization.
Oranges, Josh whispered, suddenly smelling and then tasting the fruit.
No, it s ice cream, Sophie said, freshly churned vanilla ice cream. She
turned to look at her brother and discovered that he was staring at her in
wonder.
A silver glow had appeared around Sophie. Like a thin second skin, it hovered
just above the surface of her flesh, winking in and out of existence. When
she blinked, her eyes turned to flat reflective mirrors.
The glow that covered Josh was a warm golden hue. It was concentrated mainly
around his head and hands, throbbing and pulsing in sync with his heartbeat.
The irises of his eyes were like golden coins.
But although the twins could see the glow that hovered around each other and
their own bodies, they felt no different. There were only the smells in the
air oranges and vanilla ice cream.
Without a word, Hekate pulled away from the twins, and immediately the glow
faded. Striding back to Flamel, she caught him by the arm and moved him
farther down the path, out of earshot of the twins and Scatty.
Do you have any idea what that was all about? Sophie asked the Warrior.
There was a distinct tremble in her voice, and she could still taste vanilla
ice cream in her mouth and smell it on the air.
The goddess was checking your auras, Scathach said.
That was the golden glow around Josh? Sophie asked, looking at her brother.
Yours was silver, Josh said immediately.
Scathach picked up a flat pebble and tossed it into the bushes. It hit
something solid, which immediately lumbered away through the undergrowth.
Most auras are a mixture of colors. Very, very, very few people have pure
colors.
Like ours? Sophie asked.
Like yours, Scatty said glumly. Last person I knew to have a pure silver
aura was the woman you know as Joan of Arc.
What about the gold aura? Josh said.
Even ra
rer, Scatty said. The last person I can recall having that color
was She frowned, remembering. The boy king, Tutankhamen.
Was that why he was buried with so much gold?
One of the reasons, Scathach agreed.
don't tell me you knew King Tut, Josh teased.
Never met him, Scathach said, though I did train dear Joan and fought by
her side at Orl ans. I told her not to go to Paris, she added very softly,
pain in her eyes.
My aura is rarer than yours, Josh deliberately teased his sister to break
the somber mood. He looked at the Warrior Maid. But what exactly does it
mean to have pure-colored auras?
When Scathach turned to look at him, her face was expressionless. It means
you have extraordinary powers. All of the great magicians and sorcerers of
the past, the heroic leaders, the inspired artists, have had pure-color or
single-color auras.
The twins looked at one another, suddenly uncertain. This was just a little
too weird, and there was something in Scathach s lack of expression that was
frightening. Sophie s eyes suddenly widened in shock. I just realized that
both of those people, Joan of Arc and Tutankhamen, died young.
Very young, Josh said, sobering, recalling his history. They both died
when they were nineteen.
Yes, they did, didn't they? Scathach agreed, turning away to look at
Nicholas Flamel and the Goddess with Three Faces.
Humani, Hekate'snarled. Humani with silver and gold auras. She sounded
both puzzled and angry.
It has happened before, Flamel'said mildly.
You think I don't know that?
They were standing at the edge of a bubbling brook that cut through the trees
and fed into an octagonal pond dappled with white water lilies. Huge red and
albino koi moved through the perfectly clear water.
I ve never come across the two auras together, and never in twins. They
possess enormous untapped power, Flamel'said urgently. Do I have to remind
you of the Codex? The two that are one and the one that is all the very
first prophecy Abraham speaks of.
I know the prophecy, Hekate'snapped, her dress now shot through with red
and black veins. I was there when the old fool made it.
Flamel was about to ask a question, but kept his mouth shut.
He was never wrong either, Hekate muttered. He knew that Danu Talis would
sink beneath the waves and that our world would end.
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