The Alchemyst

CHAPTER EIGHT

D r. John Dee crouched in the back of the car and attempted, not entirely

successfully, to control his temper. The air was heavy with the odor of

sulfur, and thin tendrils of yellow-white fire crackled around his fingertips

and puddled on the floor. He had failed, and while his masters were

particularly patient they often instigated plans that took centuries to

mature their patience was now beginning to run out. And they were definitely

not known for their compassion.

Unmoving, held by the warding spell, Perenelle Flamel watched him, eyes

blazing with a combination of loathing and what might even have been fear.

This is becoming complicated, Dee muttered, and I hate complications.

Dee was holding a flat silver dish in his lap, into which he had poured a can

of soda the only liquid he had available. He always preferred to work with

pure water, but technically any fluid would do. Crouched over the dish, he

stared into the liquid and allowed a little of his own auric energy to

trickle across the surface as he muttered the first words of the spell of

scrying.

For a single moment there was just his own reflection in the dark liquid,

then it shuddered and the soda began to bubble and boil furiously. When the

liquid settled, the image in the bowl no longer reflected Dee s face, but

showed a curiously flat image, rendered in shades of purple-gray and greenish

black. The viewpoint was close to the ground, shifting and moving with

sickening rapidity.

Rats, Dee murmured, thin lips curling with distaste. He hated using rats as

Eyes.

I cannot believe you led them here, Scatty said, shoving handfuls of

clothes into a backpack.

Nicholas Flamel'stood in the doorway of Scatty s tiny bedroom, arms folded

across his chest. Everything happened so fast. It was bad enough when Dee

got the Codex, but when I realized there were pages missing, I knew the twins

would be in trouble.

At the mention of the word twins, Scatty looked up from her packing. They re

the real reason you re here, aren't they?

Flamel'suddenly found something very interesting to stare at on the wall.

Scatty strode across the small room, glanced out into the hall, to make sure

Sophie and Josh were still in the kitchen, and then pulled Flamel into the

room and pushed the door closed.

You re up to something, aren't you? she demanded. This is about more than

just the loss of the Codex. You could have taken Dee and his minions on your

own.

don't be so sure. It s been a long time since I fought, Scathach, Flamel

said gently. The only alchemy I do now is to brew a little of the

philosopher s stone potion to keep Perenelle and myself young. Occasionally,

I'll make a little gold or the odd jewel when we need some money.

Scatty coughed a short humorless laugh, and spun back to her packing. She had

changed into a pair of black combat pants, steel-toed Magnum boots and a

black T-shirt, over which she wore a black vest covered in pockets and

zippers. She pushed a second pair of trousers into her backpack, found one

sock and went looking for its match under her bed.

Nicholas Flamel, she said, her voice muffled by the blankets, you are the

most powerful alchemyst in the known world. Remember, I stood beside you when

we fought the demon Fomor, and you were the one who rescued me from the

dungeons of An Chaor-Thanach and not the other way around. She came out from

under the bed with the missing sock. When the Rusalka were terrorizing St.

Petersburg, you alone turned them back, and when Black Annis raged across

Manitoba, I watched you defeat her. You alone faced down the Night Hag and

her Undead army. you've spent more than half a millennium reading and

studying the Codex, no one is more familiar with the stories and legends it

holds Scatty stopped suddenly and gasped, green eyes widening. That'swhat

this is about, she said. This is to do with the legend .

Flamel reached out and pressed his forefinger to Scatty s lips, preventing

her from saying another word. His smile was enigmatic. Do you trust me? he

asked her eventually.

Her response was immediate. Without question.

Then trust me. I want you to protect the twins. And train them, he added.

Train them! Do you know what you re asking?

Flamel nodded. I want you to prepare them for what is to come.

And what is that? Scathach asked.

I have no idea Flamel'smiled except that it is going to be bad.

We re fine, Mom, honestly, we re fine. Sophie Newman tilted the cell phone

slightly so that her brother could listen in. Yes, Perry Fleming was feeling

sick. Something she ate, probably. She s fine now. Sophie could feel the

beads of sweat gathering in the small hairs at the back of her neck. She was

uncomfortable lying to her mother even though her mother was so wrapped up in

her work that she never bothered to check.

Josh and Sophie s parents were archaeologists. They were known worldwide for

their discoveries, which had helped reshape modern archaeology. They were

among the first in their field to discover the existence of the new species

of small hominids that were now commonly called Hobbits in Indonesia. Josh

always said that their parents lived five million years in the past and were

only happy when they were up to their ankles in mud. The twins knew that they

were loved unconditionally, but they also knew that their parents simply

didn't understand them or much else about modern life.

Mr. Fleming is taking Perry out to their house in the desert and they ve

asked us if we d like to go with them for a little break. We said we had to

ask you first, of course. Yes, we spoke to Aunt Agnes; she said so long as it

was OK with you. Say yes, Mom, please.

She turned to her brother and crossed her fingers. He crossed his too; they

had talked long and hard about what to say to their aunt and their mother

before they made the calls, but they weren t entirely sure what they were

going to do if their mother said they couldn t go.

Sophie uncrossed her fingers and gave her brother a thumbs-up. Yes, I ve got

time off from the coffee shop. No, we won t be a bother. Yes, Mom. Yes. Love

to you, and tell Dad we love him too. Sophie listened, then moved the phone

away from her mouth. Dad found a dozen Pseudo-arctolepis sharpi in

near-perfect condition, she reported. Josh looked blank. A very rare

Cambrian crustacean, she explained.

Her brother nodded. Tell Dad That'sgreat. We ll keep in touch, he called

out.

Love you, Sophie said, cutting the conversation short, then hung up. I

hate lying to her, she said immediately.

I know. But you couldn t really tell her the truth, now, could you?

Sophie shrugged. I guess not.

Josh turned back to the sink. His laptop was perched precariously on the

draining board next to his cell phone. He was using the cell to go online

because, shockingly, there was no phone line or Internet connection in the

dojo.

Scatty lived above the dojo in a small two-room apartment with a kitchen at

one end of the hall and a bedroom with a tiny bathroom at the other. A little

balcony connected the two rooms and looked down directly onto the dojo below.

The twins were standing in the kitchen while Flamel brought Scatty up to date

on the events of the past hour in her bedroom at the other end of the hall.

What do you think of her? Josh asked casually, concentrating on his laptop.

He d managed to get online, but the connection speed was crawlingly slow. He

called up Altavista and typed in a dozen versions of Scathach before he

finally got a hit with the correct spelling. Here she is: twenty-seven

thousand hits for Scathach, the shadow or the shadowy one, he said, then

added offhandedly, I think she s cool.

Sophie picked up on the too-casual tone immediately. She smiled broadly and

her eyebrows shot up. Who? Oh, you mean the two-thousand-year-old warrior

maid. don't you think she might be a little too old for you?

A wash of color rose from beneath the neck of Josh s T-shirt, painting his

cheeks bright red. Let me try Google, he muttered, fingers rattling across

the keyboard. Forty-six thousand hits for Scathach, he said. Looks like

she s real too. Let s see what Wiki has to say about her, he went on, and

then realized that Sophie wasn't even looking at him. He turned to her and

discovered that she was staring fixedly through the window.

There was a rat standing on the rooftop of the building across the alley,

staring at them. As they watched, it was joined by a second and then a third.

They re here, Sophie whispered.

Dee concentrated on keeping his lunch down.

Looking through the rat s eyes was a nauseating experience. Because of their

tiny brain, it required a huge effort of will to keep the creature

focused which, in an alleyway filled with rotten food, was no easy task. Dee

was momentarily grateful that he had not used the full force of the scrying

spell, which would have allowed him to hear, to taste and this was a

terrifying thought to smell everything the rat encountered.

It was like looking at a badly tuned black-and-white television. The image

shifted, pitched and lurched with the rat s every movement. The rat could go

from running horizontally on the ground, to running vertically up a wall,

then upside-down across a rope, all within a matter of seconds.

Then the image stabilized.

Directly in front of Dee, outlined in purple-tinged gray and glowing in

grayish black, were the two humans he had seen in the bookshop. A boy and a

girl in their midteens, perhaps and similar enough in appearance for them to

be related. A sudden thought struck him hard enough to break his

concentration: brother and sister, possibly or could they be something else?

Surely not!

He looked back into the scrying dish and concentrated with his full will,

forcing the rat he was controlling to stand absolutely still. Dee focused on

the young man and woman, trying to decide if one was older than the other,

but the rat s vision was too clouded and distorted for him to be sure.

But if they were the same age that meant they were twins. That was curious.

He looked at them again and then shook his head: they were humans. Dismissing

the thought, he unleashed a single command that rippled through every rat

within a half-mile radius of the twins position. Destroy them. Destroy them

utterly.

The gathering crows took to the air, cawing raucously, as if applauding.

Josh watched openmouthed as the huge rat leapt from the roof opposite,

effortlessly bridging the six-foot space. Its mouth was wide and its teeth

were wickedly pointed. He managed a brief Hey! and jerked away from the

window just as the rat hit the glass with a furry, wet thump. It slid down to

the alley one floor below, where it staggered around in stunned surprise.

Josh grabbed Sophie s hand, and dragged her out of the kitchen and onto the

balcony. we've got a problem, he shouted. And stopped.

Below them, three huge Golems, trailing flaking dried mud, were pushing their

way through the wide-open alley door. And behind them, in a long sinuous

line, came the rats.