The Alchemyst

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. Without 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.