reasons why it should take many years, she said dismissively. The humani
barely use their senses. Yet you are proposing to Awaken these two to their
full potential. I will not do it: the sensory overload could destroy them,
drive them mad.
But Flamel began.
I will not do it. She turned back to the twins. What he is asking me to do
could kill you if you are lucky, she said, and then turned and swept from
the room, leaving little grassy footprints in her wake.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
T he twins were speechless for a moment. Then Josh began, What did she
mean ?
But Nicholas hurried past him, following Hekate out into the hallway. She s
exaggerating, he called back over his shoulder. Trying to frighten you.
Well, it worked, Josh muttered. He looked at Scathach, but she turned her
back and walked into the garden. Hey, he called, hurrying after her, come
back. I ve got questions. He felt a quick surge of anger; he was tired of
being treated like a child. He and his sister deserved some answers.
Josh, Sophie warned.
But her brother darted past her and reached for Scathach s shoulder. His
fingers never even touched her. Suddenly, he was caught, twisted, turned and
then spun through the air. He hit the ground hard enough to drive the breath
from his lungs, and he found himself staring down the length of Scathach s
sword, the tip of which she held rock steady between his eyes. When she
spoke, her voice was little more than a whisper. Last night you insulted a
goddess of the Elder Race; today you've managed to irritate one of the Next
Generation and it s not even dawn yet, she added. The Warrior Maid sheathed
her sword and looked over at a stunned Sophie. She hadn't even seen Scathach
move. Is he always like this? Scatty asked.
Like what? Sophie asked.
Foolish, ill-advised, reckless ? Shall I go on?
No need. And yes, he s usually like this. Sometimes worse. When they were
growing up, she used to tease Josh that he got all the doing genes, whereas
she got the thinking genes. Her brother was both impulsive and reckless,
but to be fair, she thought, he was also loyal and trustworthy.
Scathach pulled Josh to his feet. If you continue at this rate, you ll not
last long in this world.
I just wanted to ask you a few questions.
You re lucky. A couple of centuries ago, I probably would have killed you. I
used to have a bit of a temper, she admitted, but I ve been working on my
self-control.
Josh rubbed the small of his back. If Scathach had smashed him down on the
stones, he could really have been hurt, but he recognized that she d been
careful to drop him onto the grass and moss. That felt like a judo throw,
he said shakily, attempting to sound casual and change the subject.
Something like that
Where did you learn judo, anyway?
I didn't learn judo. I created the distant ancestor of most of the martial
arts that are studied today, the red-haired warrior said, bright green eyes
flashing wickedly. In fact, it would do neither of you any harm if I were to
show you a few simple moves.
I think we can do better than simple, Josh said. We studied tae kwon do
for two years when our parents were teaching in Chicago, and we did a year of
karate in New York or was that Boston?
You created judo? Sophie asked, keeping her voice carefully neutral.
No, Kano Jigoro created modern judo, but he based his fighting system on
jujitsu, which is related to aikido, which evolved around the fourteenth
century. I believe I was in Japan around then. All martial arts have a common
root. And That'sme, Scatty said modestly. Come, if you know a little tae
kwon do and karate, That'suseful. Let me show you some basic moves while
we re waiting for Nicholas.
Where is he? Sophie asked, looking back over her shoulder at the house.
What was going on in there? Is he asking Hekate to Awaken our magical
potential?
He is, Scatty affirmed.
But Hekate'said that could kill us! Josh said in alarm. He was beginning to
suspect that Flamel's agenda was about more than just protecting him and his
sister. The Alchemyst was up to something.
She was only guessing, Scatty said. She s always been a bit of a drama
queen.
Then Nicholas is sure we re in no danger? Josh said.
No, he s not really sure. Scatty smiled. But believe me, you are in
danger. The only difference is if Hekate Awakens you, then you ll be in grave
danger.
Nicholas Flamel followed Hekate through the house. The young woman s fingers
trailed along the walls, leaving streaks of bright wood touched with leaves
and flowers in her wake. I need your help, Hekate. I cannot do this alone,
he called after her.
The goddess ignored him. She turned down a long, straight corridor and darted
ahead. Her feet left little puddles of green grass that grew even as Flamel
hurried after her. By the time he was halfway down the corridor it was knee
high, then waist high, and suddenly, the entire corridor was covered in the
tall, razor-sharp grass. Its blades whispered softly together, sounds that
might almost have been words.
Nicholas Flamel allowed a little of his growing anger to seep into his aura.
Closing his right hand into a fist, he suddenly splayed his fingers and the
air was touched with the rich, tart odor of mint. The grass directly ahead of
him flattened as if it had been hit with a strong wind, and the Alchemyst was
just in time to see the young woman step into a room set slightly apart from
the rest of the house. If he had delayed a moment longer, he would have
walked right past the opening.
Enough of these games, Flamel'snapped, stepping into the room.
Hekate'spun to face him. She had aged in the few moments she had spent
running down the corridor. She now looked about fifteen. Her face was set in
an ugly mask and her yellow eyes were bitter. How dare you speak to me that
way! She raised her hands threateningly. You know what I can do to you.
You would not dare, Flamel'said with a calm that he did not feel.
And why not? Hekate asked, surprised. She was not used to being
contradicted.
Because I am the Guardian of the Book.
The book you lost
I am also the Guardian who appears in the prophecies in the Book, Flamel
snapped. The next-to-last Guardian, he added. The twins also appear in the
book. You say you knew Abraham you know then how accurate his prophecies and
foretellings were.
He was often wrong, Hekate muttered.
As Guardian, I am asking you to do something I believe to be essential to
the survival of not only the Elder Race, but humani, too: I want you to
Awaken the twins magical potential.
It could kill them, the goddess stated flatly. She didn't really care if
the humani cattle lived or died.
That is a possibility, Flamel admitted, feeling something icy settle in the
pit of his stomach, but if you do not help us, then their deaths are a
certainty.
Hekate turned and walked to the window. Across the sloping lawn, Scathac
h was
demonstrating a series of punches for the twins. They were smoothly mimicking
her moves. Flamel went to join Hekate by the window.
What a world we live in, he commented, sighing, when everything possibly
even the continuance of the human race lies on the shoulders of those
teenagers.
You know why the humani triumphed and the Elder Race was ultimately
banished? Hekate asked suddenly.
Because of iron, wasn't it?
Yes, because of iron. We survived the Fall of Danu Talis, we survived the
Flood, and the Age of Ice. And then, about three thousand years ago, a single
metalworker, who had been crafting in bronze, began to experiment in the new
metal. He was just one man and yet he managed to wipe out an entire race of
people and a way of life. Great change always comes down to the actions of a
single person. Hekate fell silent, watching the twins punch and kick next to
Scathach. Silver and gold. The rarest of all auras, she muttered, and for a
single heartbeat, the auras bloomed around the twins. If I do this and it
kills them, will you be able to live with it on your conscience?
I am old now, so old, Nicholas said very softly. Do you know how many
friends I ve buried over the centuries?
And did you feel their loss? There was a note of genuine curiosity in
Hekate's voice.
Every one.
Do you still?
Yes. Every day.
The goddess reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. Then you are
still human, Nicholas Flamel. The day you stop caring is the day you become
like Dee and his kind. She turned back to the garden and looked at the
twins. They were both trying, and failing, to land blows on Scathach, who was
ducking and weaving, though not moving from the one spot. From the distance
they looked like three ordinary teenagers practicing a new dance, but Hekate
knew that there was nothing ordinary about any of them.
I'll do it, she said eventually, I'll Awaken their powers. The rest is up
to you. You will have to train them.
Flamel bowed his head so she would not see the tears in his eyes. If the
twins survived the Awakening, then there was a chance, albeit a slim one,
that he would get to see Perenelle again. Tell me, he began, then coughed
to clear his throat. The man who discovered how to process iron that
blacksmith three thousand years ago. What happened to him?
I killed him, Hekate'said, her yellow eyes wide and innocent. His actions
destroyed us. What else could I do? But it was too late. The secret of iron
had been introduced into the world.
Flamel looked at the twins, watched Josh haul his sister to her feet, watched
her hook a leg behind his and drop him to the ground. Their laughter hung
bright and clear in the predawn air. He prayed that they were not too late
this time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
T he cats of San Francisco left the city in the dead of night.
Singly and in pairs, feral and scarred street cats, plump, smooth-coated
house cats, all shapes, every size, purebred and mixed, long-haired and
short-haired, they moved through the shadows in a silent feline wave. They
surged across the bridges, boiled through alleys, raced through the tunnels
beneath the streets, leapt across roofs.
All heading north.
They darted past shocked and terrified late-night revelers, skirted rats and
mice without stopping to feed, ignored birds nests. And although they moved
in complete silence, their passage was marked by an extraordinary sound.
That night the city of San Francisco echoed with the primeval howls of a
hundred thousand dogs.
Dr. John Dee was unhappy.
And just a little bit frightened. It was all very well to talk about
attacking Hekate in her own Shadowrealm, but it was another thing entirely to
sit at the entrance to her invisible kingdom and watch the cats and birds
arrive, called by their respective mistresses, Bastet and the Morrigan. What
could those small creatures do against the ancient magic of Hekate of the
Elder Race?
Dee sat in a huge black Hummer alongside Senuhet, the man who acted as
Bastet s servant. Neither of them had spoken during the short flight in Dee s
private jet from L.A. to San Francisco earlier, though there were a thousand
questions Dee wanted to ask the older man. Over the years he had come to
recognize that the servants of the Dark Elders like himself did not like to
be questioned.
They had reached the entrance to Hekate's Shadowrealm close to two o clock,
and were in time to see the first of the Morrigan s creatures arriving. The
birds swooped in from the north and east in long, dark flocks, the only sound
the snapping of their wings, and settled in the trees in Mill Valley,
gathering so thickly that some of the branches cracked beneath the strain.
Over the next few hours, the cats arrived.
They poured out of the darkness in a never-ending stream of fur, and then
stopped all facing the hidden opening to the Shadowrealm. Dee looked out his
car window: he couldn t see the ground. It was covered, as far as he could
see in every direction, with cats.
Finally, just as the eastern horizon began to pale with salmon-colored light,
Senuhet lifted a small black statue from a bag he wore around his neck and
placed it on the dashboard. It was a beautifully carved Egyptian cat no
bigger than his little finger. It is time, he said softly.
The eyes of the black statue glowed red.
She is coming, Senuhet said.
Why didn't we attack earlier, when Hekate'slept? Dee asked. Despite several
hundred years of study about the Dark Elders, he realized that, in truth, he
knew very little. But that gave him some comfort, because he realized that
they knew equally little about humans.
Senuhet waved his hand, gesturing to the gathered birds and cats. We needed
our allies, he said shortly.
Dee nodded. He guessed that Bastet was even now moving through the various
Shadowrealms that bordered the human world. The Elder Race s aversion to iron
meant that certain modern conveniences like cars and planes were off limits
to them. His thin lips curled in a humorless smile; that was why they needed
people like him and Senuhet to act as their agents.
He felt, rather than saw, the birds move in the trees: half a million maybe
more heads turned to the west. He followed their gaze, looking toward the
darkest spot in the sky. At first, he could see nothing, but then a shape
appeared high in the heavens, noticeable only because it blotted out the
stars. The Morrigan was coming.
Dee knew that at the heart of every legend there is a grain of truth. Looking
up into the night sky, watching the pale-faced creature appear out of the
west, her feathered cloak spread behind her like enormous wings, Dee believed
he knew where the legends of the Nosferatu vampires originated. Over the
course of his long life, he had met vampires real ones and none of them were
as terrifying as the Crow Goddess.
The Morrigan settled to the ground directly in front of the Hummer, cats
scattering at the last mom
ent as she folded her cloak and landed. In the
gloom, only the white oval of her face was visible; her eyes were as black as
night, looking like holes burned in paper.
Then the cats growled, a low rumbling that trembled through the very air, and
Bastet stepped out of the shadows. The Cat Goddess was wearing the white
cotton robes of an Egyptian princess and holding a spear that was as tall as
she was. She strode through the sea of cats, which parted before her and
closed in behind. Towering over the Morrigan, she bowed deeply to the Crow
Goddess. Niece, is it time? she purred.
It is, the Morrigan replied, returning the bow. Shrugging back her cloak,
she revealed a longbow strapped across her shoulders. She unslung the bow and
notched an arrow from the quiver at her hip.
Then, turning as one, the two Dark Elders raced toward the seemingly
impenetrable hedge and leapt through.
The cats and birds flowed after them.
Now it begins, Senuhet said gleefully, gathering his weapons two curved
Egyptian bronze swords and climbing out of the car.
Or ends, Dee thought, but he kept his fears to himself.
FRIDAY,
1st June
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
J osh stood at the edge of the ancient forest with his sister and watched a
trio of tiny winged creatures that looked astonishingly like dragons whirl
and dance through the first shafts of dawn sunlight. Josh glanced at her,
then looked quickly away. I don't want you to do this, he said quickly.
Sophie laid her hand on her brother s arm. Why not? she said. She moved in
front of her twin, forcing him to look at her. Over his left shoulder, in
front of the entrance to the incredible Yggdrasill, she could see Flamel,
Scatty and Hekate watching them. All around, thousands of Torc Allta, both in
their human and wereboar forms, were scurrying about, preparing for battle.
The boars wore plates of leather armor across their haunches and backs, and
the human Torc Allta were carrying bronze spears and swords. Huge flocks of
nathair swooped across the skies and the bushes, and tall grasses were alive
with unseen crawling, slithering, scuttling creatures. Guards were taking up
positions all around the Yggdrasill, clambering out onto the huge branches,
standing guard with bows and spears in every window.
Nicholas Flamel 1 - The Alchemyst sotinf-1 Page 18