The Alchemyst

CHAPTER FIVE

T he twins stood on the sidewalk outside the bookshop, glass from the broken

windows crunching under their feet, watching as Nick produced a key. But we

Can't just leave, Sophie said firmly.

Josh nodded. We re not going anywhere.

Nick Fleming or Flamel, as they were beginning to think of him turned the key

in the lock of the bookshop and rattled the door. Within the shop, they could

hear books sliding onto the floor. I really loved this shop, Flamel

muttered. It reminded me of my very first job. He glanced at Sophie and

Josh. You have no choice. If you want to survive the rest of the day, you

have to leave now. Then he turned away, pulling on his battered leather

jacket as he hurried across the road to The Coffee Cup. The twins looked at

each other, then hurried after him.

you've got keys to lock up?

Sophie nodded. She produced the two keys on their Golden Gate Bridge key

ring. Look, if Bernice comes back and finds the shop closed, sHe'll probably

call the police or something .

Good point, Flamel'said. Leave a note, he told Sophie, something

short you had to leave suddenly, some sort of emergency, that sort of thing.

Say that I accompanied you. Scribble it; make it look as if you left in a

hurry. Are your parents still on that dig in Utah? The twins parents were

archaeologists, currently on loan to the University of San Francisco.

Sophie nodded. For another six weeks at least.

We re still staying with Aunt Agnes in Pacific Heights, Josh added. Aunt

Agony.

We Can't just disappear. SHe'll be expecting us home for dinner, Sophie

said. If we re even five minutes late, she gets in a tizzy. Last week, when

the trolley car broke down and we were an hour late, she d already phoned our

parents by the time we got there. Aunt Agnes was eighty-four, and although

she drove the twins to distraction with her constant fussing, they were very

fond of her.

Then you ll need to give her an excuse too, Flamel'said bluntly, sweeping

into the coffee shop with Sophie close behind him.

Josh hesitated before stepping into the cool, sweet-smelling gloom of The

Coffee Cup. He stood on the sidewalk, his backpack slung over his shoulder,

looking up and down. If you ignored the sparkling glass littering the

sidewalk in front of the bookshop, everything looked perfectly normal, an

ordinary weekday afternoon. The street was still and silent, the air was

heavy with just a hint of the ocean. Across the bay, beyond Fisherman s

Wharf, a ship s horn sounded, the deep noise lost and lonely in the distance.

Everything looked more or less as it had half an hour earlier.

And yet

And yet it was not the same. It could never be the same again. In the last

thirty minutes, Josh s carefully ordered world had shifted and altered

irrevocably. He was a normal high school sophomore, not too brilliant, but

not stupid either. He played football, sang badly in his friend s band, had a

few girls he was interested in, but no real girlfriend yet. He played the

occasional computer game, preferred first person shooters like Quake and Doom

and Unreal Tournament, couldn t handle the driving games and got lost in

Myst. He loved The Simpsons and could quote chunks of episodes by heart,

really liked Shrek, though he d never admit it, thought the new Batman was

all right and that X-Men was excellent. He even liked the new Superman,

despite what other people said. Josh was ordinary.

But ordinary teens did not find themselves in the middle of a battle between

two incredibly ancient magicians.

There was no magic in the world. Magic was movie special effects. Magic was

stage shows with rabbits and doves and sometimes tigers, and David

Copperfield sawing people in half and levitating over the audience. There was

no such thing as real magic.

But how then could he explain what had just happened in the bookshop? He had

watched shelves turn to rotten wood, seen books dissolve into pulp, smelled

the stink of rotten eggs from Dee s spells and the cleaner scent of mint when

Fleming Flamel worked his magic.

Josh Newman shivered in the bright afternoon sunshine and ducked into The

Coffee Cup, pulling open his backpack and reaching in for his battered

laptop. He needed to use the caf s wireless Internet connection; he had

names he wanted to look up: Doctor John Dee, Perenelle and especially

Nicholas Flamel.

Sophie scribbled a quick note on the back of a napkin, then chewed the end of

the pencil as she read it.

Mrs. Fleming unwell. Gas leak in the shop. Gone to hospital. Mr. Fleming with

us. Everything else OK. Will phone later.

When Bernice came back and found the shop closed just before the

late-afternoon rush, she was not going to be happy. Sophie guessed that she

might even lose her job. Sighing, she signed the note with a flourish that

tore through the paper, and stuck it to the cash register.

Nicholas Flamel peered over her shoulder and read it. That'sgood, very

good, and it explains why the bookshop is closed too. Flamel glanced over

his shoulder to where Josh was tapping furiously at his keyboard. Let s go!

Just checking my mail, Josh muttered, powering off the machine and closing

it.

At a time like this? Sophie asked incredulously.

Life goes on. E-mail stops for no man. He attempted a smile, and failed.

Sophie grabbed her bag and vintage denim jacket, taking a last look around

the coffee shop. She had the sudden thought that she would not be seeing it

again for a long time, but that was ridiculous, of course. She turned out the

lights, ushered her brother and Nick Fleming Flamel through the door ahead of

her and hit the alarm. Then she pulled the door shut, turned the key in the

lock and dropped the key chain through the letter box.

Now what? she asked.

Now we get some help and we hide until I figure out what to do with you

both. Flamel'smiled. We re good at hiding; Perry and I have been doing it

for more than half a millennium.

What about Perry? Sophie asked. Will Dee harm her? She d come to know and

like the tall, elegant woman over the past few weeks as she came into the

coffee shop. She didn't want anything to happen to her.

Flamel'shook his head. He Can't. She s too powerful. I never studied the

sorcerous arts, but Perry did. Right now all Dee can do is contain her,

prevent her from using her powers. But in the next few days she will start to

age and weaken. Possibly in a week, certainly within two weeks, he would be

able to use his powers against her. Still, He'll be cautious. He will keep

her trapped behind Wards and Sigils . Flamel'saw the look of confusion on

Sophie s face. Magical barriers, he explained. He'll only attack when he

is sure of victory. But first he will try to discover the extent of her

arcane knowledge. Dee s search for knowledge was always his greatest

strength and his weakness. He absently patted his pockets, looking for

something. My Perry Can'take care of herself. Remind me to tell you the

story sometime of how she faced down a pair of Greek Lamiae.

Sophie nodded, though she had no idea what Greek Lamiae were.

As Flamel'strode down the street, he found what he was looking for: a pair of

small round sunglasses. He put them on, stuck his hands in the pockets of his

leather jacket and began to whistle tunelessly, as if he hadn't a care in the

world. He glanced back over his shoulder. Well, come on.

The twins looked at each other blankly, then hurried after him.

I checked him out online, Josh muttered, looking quickly at his sister.

So That'swhat you were doing. I didn't think e-mail could be that

important.

Everything he says checks out: he s there on Wikipedia and there are nearly

two hundred thousand results for him on Google. There are over ten million

results for John Dee. Even Perenelle is there, and it mentions the book and

everything. It even says that when he died, his grave was dug up by people

searching for treasure and they found it empty no body and no treasure.

Apparently, his house is still standing in Paris.

He sure doesn't look like an immortal magician, Sophie murmured.

I m not sure I know what a magician looks like, Josh said quietly. The

only magicians I know are Penn and Teller.

I m not a magician, Flamel'said, without looking at them. I m an

alchemyst, a man of science, though perhaps not the science you would be

familiar with.

Sophie hurried to catch up. She reached out to touch his arm and slow him

down, but a spark like static electricity snapped into her fingertips.

Aaah! She jerked her hand back, fingertips tingling. Now what?

I m sorry, Flamel explained. That'san aftereffect of the well, what you

would call magic. My aura the electrical field that surrounds my body is

still charged. It s just reacting when it hits your aura. He smiled, showing

perfectly regular teeth. It also means you must have a powerful aura.

What s an aura?

Flamel'strode on a couple of steps down the sidewalk without answering, then

turned to point to a window. The word TATTOO was picked out in fluorescent

lighting. See there see how there is a glow around the words?

I see it. Sophie nodded, squinting slightly. Each letter was outlined in

buzzing yellow light.

Every human has a similar glow around their body. In the distant past,

people could see it clearly and they named it the aura. It comes from the

Greek word for breath. As humans evolved, most lost the ability to see the

aura. Some still can, of course.

Josh snorted derisively.

Flamel glanced over his shoulder. It s true. The aura has even been

photographed by a Russian couple called the Kirlians. The electrical field

surrounds every living organism.

What does it look like? Sophie asked.

Flamel tapped his finger on the shop window. Just like that: a glow around

the body. Everyone s aura is unique different colors, different strengths.

Some glow solidly, others pulse. Some appear around the edge of the body,

other auras cloak the body like an envelope. You Can'tell a lot from a

person s aura: whether they are ill or unhappy, angry or frightened, for

example.

And you can see these auras? Sophie said.

Flamel'shook his head, surprising them. No, I cannot. Perry can, sometimes.

I cannot. But I know how to channel and direct the energy. That'swhat you

were seeing earlier today: pure auric energy.

I think I d like to learn how to do that, Sophie said.

Flamel glanced at her quickly. Be careful what you wish for. Every use of

power has a cost. He held out his hand. Sophie and Josh crowded around on

the quiet side street. Flamel's hand was visibly trembling. And when Sophie

looked into his face, she noticed that his eyes were bloodshot. When you use

auric energy, you burn as many calories as if you had run a marathon. Think

of it like draining a battery. I doubt I could have lasted very much longer

against Dee back there.

Is Dee more powerful that you?

Flamel'smiled grimly. Infinitely. Shoving his hands back into the pockets

of his leather jacket, he continued down the street, Sophie and Josh now

walking on either side of him. In the distance, the Golden Gate Bridge began

to loom over the rooftops. Dee has spent the past five centuries developing

his powers; I ve spent that same time hiding mine, concentrating only on

those few little things I needed to do to keep Perenelle and myself alive.

Dee was always powerful, and I dread to think what he is capable of now. At

the bottom of the hill he paused, looking left and right, then abruptly

turned to the left and headed into California Street. There ll be time for

questions later. Right now, we have to hurry.

Have you known Dee long? Josh persisted, determined to get some answers.

Nicholas Flamel'smiled grimly. John Dee was a mature man when I accepted him

as my apprentice. I still took apprentices in those days, and so many of them

went on to make me proud. I had visions of creating the next generation of

alchemists, scientists, astronomers, astrologers and mathematicians: these

would be the men and women who would create a new world. Dee was probably the

finest student I ever had. So I suppose you could say that I ve known him for

nearly five hundred years though our encounters have been somewhat sporadic

over the past few decades.

What turned him into your enemy? Sophie asked.

Greed, jealousy and the Codex, the Book of Abraham the Mage, Flamel

answered. He s coveted that for a long time, and now he has it.

Not all of it, Josh reminded him.

No, not all of it. Flamel'smiled. He walked on, with the twins still on

either side of him. When Dee was my apprentice in Paris, he found out about

the Codex. One day I caught him attempting to steal it, and I knew then that

he had allied himself with the Dark Elders. I refused to share its secrets

with him and we had a bitter argument. That night he sent the first assassins

after Perry and me. They were human and we dealt with them easily. The next

night, the assassins were decidedly less than human. So Perry and I took the

Book, gathered up our few belongings and fled Paris. He s been chasing us

ever since.

They stopped at a cross light. A trio of British tourists was waiting for the

light to change and Flamel fell silent, a quick glance at Sophie and Josh

warning them to say nothing. The light changed and they crossed, the tourists

heading to the right, Nicholas Flamel and the twins moving to the left.

Where did you go when you left Paris? Josh asked.

London, Flamel'said shortly. Dee nearly caught us there in 1666, he

continued. He loosed a Fire Elemental after us, a savage, mindless creature

that almost devoured the city. History calls it the Great Fire.

Sophie looked over at Josh. They had both heard of the Great Fire of London;

they had learned about it in world history. She was surprised by how calm she

felt: here she was, listening to a man who claimed to be more than five

hundred years old, recounting historical events as if he had been there when

they happened. And she believed him!

Dee came dangerously close to capturing us in Paris in 1763, Flamel

continued, and again in 1835, when we were in Rome working as booksellers,

as it happens. That was always my favorite occupation, he added. He fell

silent as they approached a group of Japanese tourists listening intently to

their guide, who was standing beneath a bright yellow umbrella. When they

were out of earshot, he continued, the events of more than a century and a

half earlier obviously still fresh and bitter in his memory.

We fled to Ireland, thinking he would never find us on that island at the

edge of Europe. But he pursued us. He had managed to master the control of

Wights then, and brought two over with him: the Disease Wight and the Hunger

Wight, no doubt intending to set them on our trail. At some point he lost

control of the creatures. Hunger and disease ravaged that poor land: a

million people died in Ireland s Great Famine in the 1840s. Nicholas

Flamel's face hardened into a mask. I doubt if Dee even paused to think

about it. He always had nothing but contempt for humankind.

Sophie glanced at her brother again. She could tell by the expression on his

face that he was concentrating hard, trying to keep up with the deluge of

information. She knew he would want to go online and check out some of the

details. But he never caught you, she said to Flamel.

Not until today. He shrugged and smiled sadly. It was inevitable, I

suppose. Throughout the twentieth century, he kept getting closer. He was

becoming more powerful, his organization was melding ancient magic and modern

technology. Perry and I hid out in Newfoundland for a long time until he

loosed Dire Wolves on us, and then we drifted from city to city, starting on

the East Coast in New York in 1901 and gradually moving westward. I suppose

it was only a matter of time before he caught up with us, he added.

Cameras, videos, phones and the Internet make it so much harder to remain

hidden nowadays.

This book this Codex he was looking for , Josh began.

The Book of Abraham the Mage, Flamel clarified.

What s so special about it?

Nicholas Flamel'stopped in the middle of the sidewalk so suddenly that the

twins walked right past him. They turned and looked back. The rather

ordinary-looking man spread his arms wide, as if he were about to take a bow.

Look at me. Look at me! I am older than America. That is what is so special

about the book. Flamel lowered his voice and continued urgently. But you

know something the secret of life eternal is probably the least of the

secrets in the Codex.

Sophie found herself slipping her hand into her brother s. He squeezed

lightly and she knew, without his saying a word, that he was as frightened as

she was.

With the Codex, Dee can set about changing the world.

Changing it? Sophie s voice was a raw whisper, and abruptly, the May air

felt chilly.

Changing it how? Josh demanded.

Remaking it, Flamel'said softly. Dee and the Dark Elders he serves will

remake this world as it was in the unimaginably ancient past. And the only

place for humans in it will be as slaves. Or food.