The Alchemyst

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

D r. John Dee finally arrived in Ojai as the last light was fading in

spectacular shades of pink over the surrounding Topa Topa Mountains. He d

been traveling all day; he was tired and irritable and looking for an excuse

to hurt someone.

Hekate's Shadowrealm had drained his cell battery, and it had taken him over

an hour before he could find a phone to contact his office. He d then been

forced to sit, fuming, by the side of the road for another ninety minutes

while a team of drivers scoured Mill Valley s backroads looking for him. It

was close to nine-thirty before he finally returned to his offices at Enoch

Enterprises in the heart of the city.

There he d learned that Perenelle had already been moved to Alcatraz. His

company had recently purchased the island from the state and had closed it to

the public while restoration work was being carried out. There was talk in

the papers that it was going to be turned into a living history museum. In

reality, the doctor intended to return it to its original use as one of the

most secure prisons in the world. The doctor briefly thought about flying out

to the island to talk to Perenelle, but dismissed the idea as a waste of

time. The missing pages from the Codex and the twins were his priorities.

Although Bastet had said to kill them if he couldn t kidnap them, Dee had

other ideas.

Dee knew of the famous prophecy from the Book of Abraham the Mage. The Elders

had known that twins were coming, the two that are one, the one that is

all. One to save the world, one to destroy it. But which one was which? he

wondered. And could their powers be shaped and twisted by the instruction

they received? Finding the boy was becoming as important as finding the

missing pages of the Codex. He had to have that gold aura.

Dr. John Dee had lived in Ojai briefly at the turn of the twentieth

century it was still called the city of Nordhoff then when he d been

plundering the surrounding Chumash burial grounds for their precious

artifacts. He d hated it: Ojai was too small, too insular and, in the summer

months, simply too hot for him. Dee was always happiest in the largest of

cities, where it was easier to be invisible and anonymous.

He d flown from San Francisco down to Santa Barbara in the company

helicopter, and rented a nondescript-looking Ford at the small airport. Then

he d driven down from Santa Barbara, arriving in Ojai just as the sun was

setting in a spectacular display, painting the town in long, elegant shadows.

Ojai had changed dramatically in the hundred or so years since he d last seen

it but he still didn't like it.

He turned the car onto Ojai Avenue and slowed. Flamel and the others were

close; he could feel it. But he had to be careful now. If he could sense

them, then they especially the Alchemyst and Scathach would be able to sense

him. And he still had no idea what the Witch of Endor was capable of doing.

It was extremely worrying that a very senior Elder had been living in

California and he d been totally unaware of her presence. He thought he knew

the locations of most of the important Elders and human immortals in the

world. Dee wondered if it was significant that he had not been able to

contact the Morrigan throughout the day. He d phoned her with persistent

regularity on the drive down, but she wasn't answering her cell. She was

either on eBay or playing one of the interminable online strategy games she

was addicted to. He didn't know where Bastet was and didn't care. She

frightened him, and Dee tended to destroy those people who scared him.

Flamel, Scathach and the twins could be anywhere in the town. But where?

Dee allowed a little energy to trickle into his aura. He blinked as his eyes

blurred with sudden tears, and blinked again to clear them. Suddenly, the

people in the car next to his, those crossing the road, and the pedestrians

on the sidewalk were outlined in shifting multicolored auras. Some auras were

just wisps of diaphanous tinted smoke, others were dark spots and sheets of

solid muddy colors.

In the end, he found them entirely by chance: he was driving down Ojai Avenue

and had gone past Libbey Park when he spotted the black Hummer parked on Fox

Street. He pulled in behind it and parked. The moment he got out of his car,

he caught the merest hint of a pure gold aura coming from the park, close to

the fountain. Dee s thin lips curled in a humorless smile.

They would not escape this time.

Josh Newman sat by the long, low fountain in Libbey Park directly across from

the antiques shop and stared into the water. Two flower-shaped bowls, one

larger than the other, were set in the center of a circular pool. Water

spouted from the top bowl and flowed over the sides into the larger bowl

beneath. This in turn overflowed into the pool. The sound helped drown out

the nearby traffic noises.

He felt alone, and more than a little lost.

When the Witch had made him leave the antiques shop, he d walked beneath the

shaded promenade and stopped in front of the ice cream shop, lured there by

the odors of chocolate and vanilla. He stood outside, reading the menu of

exotic flavors, and wondered why his sister s aura smelled of vanilla ice

cream and his of oranges. She didn't even really like ice cream; he was the

one who loved it.

His finger tapped the menu: blueberry chocolate chip.

Josh shoved his hand in the back pocket of his jeans and felt a rising moment

of panic as realized his wallet was missing. Had he left it in the car, had

he ? He stopped.

He knew exactly where he d left it.

The last place he d seen his wallet, along with his dead cell, his iPod and

his laptop, was on the floor next to his bed in his room in the Yggdrasill.

Losing his wallet was bad enough, but losing his computer was a disaster. All

his e-mails were on it, along with his class notes, a partially written

summer honors project, three years of photos including the trip to Canc n at

Christmas and at least sixty gigs of MP3s. He couldn t remember the last time

he had backed up, but it definitely wasn't recently. He actually felt

physically ill, and suddenly, the odors from the ice cream parlor didn't

smell so sweet and enticing.

Thoroughly miserable, he walked to the corner and crossed at the lights

facing the post office, then turned left, heading toward the park.

The iPod had been a Christmas present from his parents. How was he going to

explain to them that he d lost it? Plus there was close to another thirty

gigs of music on the little hard drive.

But worse than losing his iPod, his wallet or even his computer was losing

his phone. That was a total nightmare. All his friends numbers were on it,

and he knew he hadn't written them down anywhere. Because their parents

traveled so much, the twins were rarely more than one or two semesters at the

same school. They made friends easily especially Sophie and they were still

in touch with friends they d met years earlier in schools scattered across

America. Without those e-mail addresses and phone numbers, how was he

supposed to get in touch with them, how would he ever find them again?

There was a water fountain in a little nook before the entrance to the park,

and he bent his head to drink. An ornamental metal lion s head was set into

the wall over the fountain, and below it there was a small rectangular plaque

with the words Love is the water of life, drink deeply. He let the icy water

splash over his lips and straightened to look over at the shop, wondering

what was happening inside. He still loved his sister, but did she love him?

Could she love him, now that he was ordinary?

Libbey Park was quiet. Josh could hear children racing around the nearby

playground, but their voices sounded high and very distant. A trio of old

men, identically dressed in sleeveless shirts, long shorts, white socks and

sandals, gathered on a shady bench. One of the men was feeding bread crumbs

to a quartet of fat and lazy pigeons. Josh sat down on the edge of the low

fountain and leaned over to trail his hand in the water. After the oppressive

heat, it felt deliciously cool, and he ran his wet fingers through his hair,

feeling water droplets roll down his neck.

What was he going to do?

Was there anything he could do?

In just over twenty-four hours, his life and his sister s life too had

changed utterly and incomprehensibly. What he had once believed to be merely

stories now turned out to be versions of the truth. Myth had become history,

legends had become facts. When Scatty had revealed earlier that the

mysterious Danu Talis was also called Atlantis, he had almost laughed in her

face. To him, Atlantis had always been a fairy tale. But if Scathach and

Hekate and the Morrigan and Bastet were real, then so was Danu Talis. And so

his parents life work archaeology was suddenly worthless.

Josh knew deep down that he had also lost his twin, the constant in his life,

the one person he could always count on. She had changed in ways he could not

even begin to comprehend. Why hadn't he been Awakened too? He should have

insisted that Hekate Awaken him first. What would it be like to have those

powers? The only thing he could compare it to was being a superhero. Even

when Sophie s newly Awakened senses were making her sick, he was jealous of

her abilities.

From the corner of his eye, Josh became aware that a man had sat down on one

of the other edges of the fountain, but he ignored him. He absently picked at

a broken fragment of one of the blue tiles that ran around the fountain.

What was he going to do?

And the answer was always the same: what could he do?

Are you a victim too?

It took him a moment before he realized that the figure sitting to his right

was talking to him. He started to stand up, the golden rule with creeps being

that you never responded, and you never ever entered into any conversation

with them.

It seems we are all victims of Nicholas Flamel.

Startled, Josh looked up and found he was staring at Dr. John Dee, the man

he d hoped never to see again. The last time he d seen Dee had been in the

Shadowrealm. Then, he d held the sword Excalibur in his hands. Now he sat

facing him, looking out of place in his impeccably tailored gray suit. Josh

looked around quickly, expecting to see Golems or rats, or even the Morrigan

lurking in the shadows.

I am alone, Dee said pleasantly, smiling politely.

Josh s mind was racing. He needed to get to Flamel, he needed to warn him

that Dee was in Ojai. He wondered what would happen if he simply got up and

ran. Would Dee try to stop him with magic in front of all these people? Josh

looked over at the three old men again, and it dawned on him that they

probably wouldn't even notice if Dee changed him into an elephant right in

the middle of downtown Ojai.

Do you know how long I ve been chasing Nicholas Flamel, or Nick Fleming, or

any of the hundreds of other aliases he s used? Dee continued quietly,

conversationally. He leaned back and trailed his fingers through the water.

At least five hundred years. And he s always given me the slip. He s tricky

and dangerous that way. In 1666, when I was closing in on him in London, he

set a fire that nearly burned the city to the ground.

He told us you caused the Great Fire, Josh blurted. Despite his fear, he

was curious. And now he suddenly remembered one of the first pieces of advice

Flamel had given them: Nothing is as it seems. Question everything. Josh

found himself wondering if that advice also applied to the Alchemyst himself.

The sun had set, and there was a definite chill in the evening air. Josh

shivered. The three old men shuffled away, none of them even glancing in his

direction, leaving him alone with the magician. Strangely, he didn't feel

threatened by the man s presence.

Dee s thin lips flickered in a smile. Flamel never tells anyone everything,

he said. I used to say that half of everything he said was a lie, and the

other half wasn't entirely truthful either.

Nicholas says you re working with the Dark Elders. Once you have the

complete Codex, you will bring them back into this world.

Correct in every detail, Dee said, surprising him. Though no doubt

Nicholas has twisted the story somewhat. I am working with the Elders, he

continued, and yes, I am looking for the last two pages from the Book of

Abraham the Mage, commonly called the Codex. But only because Flamel and his

wife stole it from the original Biblioth que du Roi in the Louvre.

He stole it?

Let me tell you about Nicholas Flamel, Dee said patiently. I m sure he s

told you about me. He has been many things in his time: a physician and a

cook, a bookseller, a soldier, a teacher of languages and chemistry, both an

officer of the law and a thief. But he is now, and has always been, a liar, a

charlatan and a crook. He stole the Book from the Louvre when he discovered

that it contained not only the immortality potion, but also the philosopher s

stone recipe. He brews the immortality potion each month to keep Perenelle

and himself at exactly the same age they were when they first drank it. He

uses the philosopher s stone formula to turn cheap copper and lead into gold

and chunks of common coal into diamonds. He uses one of the most

extraordinary collections of knowledge in the world purely for personal gain.

And That'sthe truth.

But what about Scatty and Hekate? Are they Elders?

Oh, absolutely. Hekate was an Elder and Scathach is Next Generation. But

Hekate was a known criminal. She was banished from Danu Talis because of her

experiments on animals. I suppose you would call her a genetic engineer: she

created the Were clans, for example, and loosed the curse of the werewolf

onto humanity. I believe you saw some of her experiments yesterday, the boar

people. Scathach is nothing more than a hired thug, cursed for her crimes to

wear the body of a teen for the rest of her days. When Flamel knew I was

closing in, they were the only people he could go to.

Josh was now hopelessly confused. Who was telling the truth? Flamel or Dee?

He was cold now. Night had not yet fully fallen, but a low mist had crept in

over the town. The air smelled of damp earth and just the faintest hint of

rotten eggs. What about you? Are you really working to bring back the

Elders?

Of course I am, Dee said, sounding surprised. It is probably the single

most important thing I can do for this world.

Flamel'says the Elders the Dark Elders, he calls them would destroy the

world.

Dee shrugged. Believe me when I tell you that he s lying to you. The Elders

would be able to change this world for the better . Dee s fingers moved in

the water, the ripples languid and mesmerizing. Startled, Josh saw images

forming in the water, the pictures matching Dee s soothing words. In the

ancient past, the earth was a paradise. It had an incredibly advanced

technology, but the air was clean, the water pure, the seas unpolluted.

There was a rippling image of an island set under cloudless azure skies.

Endless fields of golden wheat marched into the distance. Trees were laden

with an assortment of exotic fruit.

Not only did the Elder Race shape this world, they even nudged a primitive

hominid on the road to evolution. But the Elders were driven out from this

paradise by the foolish superstition of the mad Abraham and the spells in the

Codex. The Elders did not die it takes a lot to kill one of the Elder

Race they simply waited. They knew that someday mankind would come to its

senses and call them back to save the earth.

Josh could not take his eyes off the sparkling water. Much of what Dee said

sounded plausible.

If we can bring them back, the Elders have the powers and the abilities to

reshape this world. They can make the deserts bloom .

An image formed in the water: huge windblown desert dunes turning green with

lush grass.

Another image appeared. Josh was looking at the earth from space, just like

Google Earth. A huge swirl of dense cloud had formed over the Gulf of Mexico,

heading toward Texas. They can control the weather, Dee said, and the storm

dissipated.

Dee s fingers moved and there appeared the unmistakable image of a hospital

ward with a long row of empty beds.

And they can cure disease. Remember, these beings were worshipped as gods

because of their powers. And these are the ones Flamel is trying to stop us

from bringing back to the world.

It took Josh an age to form the single-word question. Why? He couldn t work

out why Flamel would want to prevent such obvious advances.

Because he has masters, Elders like Hekate and the Witch of Endor, for

example, who want the world to dissolve into chaos and anarchy. When that

happens, they can come out of the shadows and declare themselves the rulers

of the earth. Dee shook his head sadly. It pains me to say this, but Flamel

does not care about you, nor does he care about your sister. He put her in

terrible danger today simply to roughly Awaken her powers. The Elders I work

with take three days to bring someone through the Awakening ceremony.

Three days, Josh mumbled. Flamel'said there was no one else in North

America who could Awaken me. He didn't want to believe Dee and yet

everything the man said sounded so reasonable.

Another lie. My Elders could Awaken you. And they would do it properly and

safely. It is, after all, such a dangerous process.

Dee got up slowly and walked around to crouch beside Josh, bringing his eyes

level with the boy s face. Fog was beginning to thicken and swirl around the

fountain, shifting and eddying as he moved. Dee s voice was silky smooth, a

gentle monotone exactly in sync with the rippling water. What s your name?

Josh.

Josh, Dee echoed, where is Nicholas Flamel now?

Even in his drowsy state, an alarm bell very faint and very, very

distant went off in Josh s head. He couldn t trust Dee, he shouldn t trust

Dee and yet so much of what he said had the ring of truth to it.

Where is he, Josh? Dee persisted.

Josh started to shake his head. Even though he believed Dee everything he

said made perfect sense he wanted to talk to Sophie first, he needed to get

her advice and opinion.

Tell me. Dee lifted Josh s limp hand and placed it in the pool. Ripples

spun out from it. They settled into the image of a small antiques shop filled

with glassware, directly across the road from Libbey Park. Grinning

triumphantly, Dee came to his feet and whirled around, staring across the

road as he activated his senses.

He located their auras immediately.

The green of Flamel, the gray of Scathach, Endor s brown and the girl s pure

silver. He had them and this time there would be no mistakes, no escape.

You sit here and enjoy the pretty pictures, Dee murmured, patting Josh on

the shoulder. The water bloomed with exotic, fractal-like patterns,

mesmerizing and hypnotic. I'll be back for you shortly. Then, without

moving a muscle, he called in his waiting army.

Abruptly, the fog thickened and darkened, stinking of rotten eggs and

something else: dust and dry earth, damp and mold.

And horror descended on Ojai.