The Alchemyst

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

S ophie and Josh followed Scathach through Hekate's house. There were

reminders everywhere that they were inside a tree: everything floors, walls

and ceilings was wooden, and in places, little buds and shoots of green

leaves dappled the walls, as if the wood was still growing.

With her hand resting lightly on her brother s shoulder, Sophie looked

around. The house seemed to be composed of a series of circular rooms that

flowed, almost imperceptibly, into one another. She caught glimpses as she

and Josh passed them; almost all the rooms were bare, and most of them had

tall red-barked trees growing through the center of the floor. One room, off

to the side and much larger than the rest, had a large oval-shaped pool in

the middle of the floor. Startlingly large white-flowered water lilies

clustered in the center of the pool, giving it the appearance of a huge

unblinking eye. Another room was filled entirely with wooden wind chimes

dangling from the branches of its red tree. Each set of chimes was a

different size and shape, some etched and carved with symbols, others

unadorned. They hung still and quiet until Sophie looked into the room, and

then they slowly, melodically began to rattle together. It sounded like

distant whispers. Sophie squeezed Josh s shoulder, trying to attract his

attention, but he was staring straight ahead, forehead creased in

concentration.

Where is everyone? Josh finally asked.

There is only Hekate, Scathach said. Those of the Elder Race are solitary

creatures.

Are there many still alive? Sophie wondered aloud.

Scathach paused by an open door and turned to look back over her shoulder.

More than you might think. The majority of them want nothing to do with the

humani and rarely venture from their individual Shadowrealms. Others, like

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.

Josh swallowed hard. I didn't know .

No reason why you should have except that your ignorance could have gotten

you killed or worse.

But what did you do to the table? Sophie asked. She looked at the ruin of

the circular table: it was split down the middle where Scatty had cut it with

her knife. The wood on either side of the split looked dry and dusty.

Iron, Scatty said simply.

One of the surprising side effects of the artificial metal, Flamel'said,

is its ability to nullify even the most powerful magics. The discovery of

iron really signaled the end of the Elder Race s power in this world. He

held up the black stone arrowhead. That'swhy I was using this. The Elders

get nervous in the presence of iron.

But you re carrying iron, Sophie said to Scatty.

I m Next Generation not pure Elder like Hekate. I can bear to be around

iron.

Josh licked his dry lips. He was still remembering the green light buzzing in

Hekate's palms. When you said turned into green slime, you didn't really

mean

Scathach nodded. Sticky green slime. Quite disgusting. And I understand the

victim retains some measure of consciousness for a while. She glanced at

Flamel. I cannot remember the last person to cross one of the Elders and

live, can you?

Flamel'stood. Let s hope she doesn't remember in the morning. Get some

rest, he said to the twins. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Why? Sophie and Josh asked simultaneously.

Because tomorrow, I m hoping I can convince Hekate to Awaken your magical

potential. If you are going to have any chance of surviving the days to come,

I will have to train you to become magicians.