radiation interfering with the birds natural navigation system.
Flamel directed them north, toward Mill Valley and Mount Tamalpais, but they
quickly left the highway and stuck to narrow two-lane roads. Traffic thinned
out until there were long stretches where they were the only car in sight.
Finally, on a narrow road that curved and turned with sickening complexity,
he had Josh slow almost to a crawl. He rolled down his window and peered out
into a thick forest that came right up to the edge of the road. They had
actually driven past the unmarked path before Flamel'spotted it. Stop. Go
back. Turn here.
Josh looked at his sister as he eased the car onto the rough, unpaved and
rutted track. Her hands were folded in her lap, but he could see that her
knuckles were white with tension. Her nails, which had been neat and perfect
only a few hours previously, were now rough and chewed, a sure sign of her
stress. He reached over and squeezed her hand; she squeezed tightly in
return. As with so much of the communication between them, there was no need
for words. With their parents away so much, Sophie and Josh had learned from
a very early age that they could only really depend on themselves. Moving
from school to school, neighborhood to neighborhood, they often found it
difficult to make and keep friends, but they knew that whatever happened,
they would always have each other.
On either side of the overgrown path, trees rose high into the heavens and
the undergrowth was surprisingly thick: wild brambles and thorn bushes
scraped at the side of the car, while furze, gorse, and stinging nettles,
wrapped through with poison ivy, completed the impenetrable hedge.
I ve never seen anything like it, Sophie murmured. It s just not natural.
And then she stopped, realizing what she d just said. She swiveled around in
the seat to look at Flamel. It s
He shook his head, suddenly looking old and tired. There were dark rings
under his eyes, and the wrinkles on his forehead and around his mouth seemed
deeper. Welcome to our world, he whispered.
There s something moving through the undergrowth, Josh announced loudly.
Something big I mean really big. After everything he d seen and experienced
so far today, his imagination started working overtime. It s keeping pace
with the car.
So long as we stay on the track, we shall be fine, Flamel'said evenly.
Sophie peered into the dark forest floor. For a moment she saw nothing, then
she realized that what she d first taken for a patch of shadow was, in fact,
a creature. It moved, and sunlight dappled its hairy hide. She caught a
glimpse of a flat face, a pug nose and huge curling tusks.
It s a pig a boar, she corrected herself. And then she spotted three more,
flanking the right-hand side of the car.
They re on my side too, Josh said. Four of the hulking beasts were moving
through the bushes to his left. He glanced in the rearview mirror. And
behind us.
Sophie, Scatty and Nicholas turned in their seats to stare through the rear
window at the two enormous boars that had slipped through the undergrowth and
were trotting along on the path behind them. Sophie suddenly realized just
how big the creatures were each one was easily the size of a pony. They were
hugely muscled across the shoulders, and the tusks jutting up from their
lower jaws were enormous, starting out as thick as her wrist before tapering
to needle-sharp points.
I didn't think there were any wild boars in America, Josh said, and
certainly not in Mill Valley, California.
There are wild boars and pigs all over the Americas, Flamel'said absently.
They were first brought over by the Spanish in the sixteenth century.
Josh shifted gears, eased off the accelerator and allowed the car to move
forward at a crawl. The road had come to a dead end. The barrier of bushes,
thorns and trees now stretched across the path. End of the road, he
announced, putting the car into park and setting the emergency brake. He
looked left and right. The boars had also stopped moving, and he could see
them, four to a side, watching. In the rearview mirror, he could see that the
two larger boars had stopped too. They were boxed in. What now, he wondered,
what now? He looked at his sister and knew she was thinking exactly the same
thing.
Nicholas Flamel leaned forward between the seats and looked at the barrier.
I believe this is here to discourage the foolhardy who have traveled this
far. And if one were exceptionally foolish, one might be tempted to get out
of one s vehicle.
But we are neither foolhardy nor foolish, Scatty snapped. So what do we
do? She nodded at the boars. I haven t seen this breed in centuries. They
look like Gaulish war boars, and if they are, then they are virtually
impossible to kill. For every one we can see, there are probably at least
three more in the shadows, and That'snot counting their handlers.
These are not Gaulish; this particular breed has no need of handlers,
Flamel'said gently, the merest hint of his French accent surfacing. Look at
their tusks.
Sophie, Josh and Scatty turned to look at the tusks of the huge creatures
standing in the middle of the track behind them. They ve got some sort of
carvings on them, Sophie said, squinting in the late-afternoon light.
Curls.
Spirals, Scatty said, a touch of wonder in her voice. She looked at Flamel.
They are Torc Allta?
Indeed they are, Flamel'said. Wereboars.
By wereboars, Josh said, do you mean like werewolves?
Scatty shook her head impatiently. No, not like werewolves
That'sa relief, Josh said, because for a second there I thought you were
taking about humans who changed into wolves.
Werewolves are Torc Madra, Scatty continued, as if she hadn't heard him.
They re a different clan altogether.
Sophie stared hard at the nearest boar. Beneath its piglike features, she
thought she could begin to see the shapes and planes of a human face, while
the eyes cool and bright, bright blue regarded her with startling
intelligence.
Josh turned back to the steering wheel, gripping it tightly. Wereboars of
course they are different from werewolves. Different clan entirely, he
muttered, how silly of me.
What do we do? Sophie asked.
We drive, Nicholas Flamel'said.
Josh pointed at the barrier. What about that?
