Just drive, the Alchemyst commanded.
But , Josh began.
Do you trust me? Flamel asked for the second time that day. The twins
looked at each other, then back at Flamel, and nodded, heads bobbing in
unison. Then drive, he said gently.
Josh eased the heavy SUV into gear and released the emergency brake. The
vehicle crept forward. The front bumper touched the seemingly impenetrable
barrier of leaves and bushes and vanished. One moment it was there; the next,
it was as if the bushes had swallowed the front of the car.
The SUV rolled into the bushes and trees, and for a single instant everything
went dark and chill, and the air was touched with something bittersweet like
burnt sugar and then the path appeared again, curving off to the right.
How , Josh began.
It was an illusion, Flamel explained. Nothing more. Light twisted and
bent, reflecting the images of trees and bushes in a curtain of water vapor,
each drop of moisture acting as a mirror. And just a little magic, he added.
He pointed ahead with a graceful motion. We re still in North America, but
now we've entered the domain of one of the oldest and greatest of the Elder
Race. We ll be safe here for a while.
Scatty made a rude sound. Oh, she s
about
Scathach, I want you to behave yourself, Flamel'said, turning to the
young-looking but ancient woman sitting beside him.
I don't like her. I don't trust her.
you've got to put aside your old feuds.
She tried to kill me, Nicholas, Scatty protested. She abandoned me in the
Underworld. It took me centuries to find my way out.
That was a little over fifteen hundred years ago, if I remember my
mythology, Flamel reminded her.
I ve got a long memory, Scatty muttered; for an instant she looked like a
sulky child.
Who are you talking about? Sophie demanded, and then Josh hit the brakes,
bringing the heavy car to a halt.
wouldn't be a tall woman with black skin, would it? windshield Josh asked.
Sophie spun around to look through the cracked, while Flamel and Scatty
leaned forward.
That'sher, Scatty said glumly.
The figure stood in the path directly in front of the car. Tall and broad,
the woman looked as if she had been carved from a solid slab of jet-black
stone. The merest fuzz of white hair covered her skull like a close-fitting
cap, and her features were sharp and angular: high cheekbones; straight,
pointed nose; sharply defined chin; lips so thin they were almost
nonexistent. Her pupils were the color of butter. She was wearing a long,
simple gown made of a shimmering material that moved gently in a wind that
didn't seem to touch anything around her. As it shifted, rainbow colors ran
down its length, like oil on water. She wore no jewelry, though Sophie
noticed that each of her short blunt fingernails was painted a different
color.
doesn't look a day over ten thousand years old, Scatty muttered.
Be nice, Flamel reminded her.
Who is it? Sophie asked again, staring hard at the woman. Although she
looked human, there was something
her. It showed in the way she stood absolutely still and in the arrogant tilt
of her head.
This, Nicholas Flamel'said, a note of genuine awe in his voice, is the
Elder known as Hekate. He pronounced the name slowly,
The Goddess with Three Faces, Scatty added bitterly.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
outside onto the short-cropped grass.
Scatty folded her arms over her chest and glared out through the cracked
windshield. Fine by me.
Flamel ignored her jibe and slammed the door before she could say anything
else. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to compose himself as he stepped
toward the tall, elegant woman surrounded by the tall leafless trunks of
sequoia trees.
The undergrowth rustled and one of the enormous Torc Allta appeared directly
in front of the Alchemyst, its massive head level with his chest. Flamel
stopped and bowed to the creature, greeting it in a language that had not
been designed for human tongues. Abruptly, the boars were everywhere, ten of
them, eyes bright and intelligent, the coarse red hair on their backs and
shoulders bristling in the late-afternoon light, long strings of ropey saliva
dribbling from their ornately carved tusks.
Flamel took care to bow to each one in turn. I did not think there were any
of the Torc Allta clan left in the Americas, he said to no one in
particular, dropping back into English.
Hekate'smiled, the merest movement of her lips. Ah, Nicholas, you of all
people should know that when we are gone, when the Elder Race is no more,
when even the humani have gone from this earth, then the Allta clans will
reclaim it for themselves. Remember, this world belonged to the Were clans
first. Hekate'spoke in a deep, almost masculine voice, touched with an
accent that had all the hissing sibilants of Greece and the liquid consonants
of Persia.
Nicholas bowed again. I understand that the clans are strong in Europe the
Torc Madra particularly, and I hear that there are Torc Tiogar in India
again, and two new clans of Torc Leon in Africa. All thanks to you.
Hekate'smiled, her teeth tiny and straight in her mouth. The clans still
worship me as a goddess. I do what I can for them. The unseen, unfelt wind
touched her robe, swirling it around her body, so that it ran with green and
gold threads. But I doubt you have come all this way to talk to me about my
children.
I have not. Flamel glanced back at the battered and scarred SUV. Josh and
Sophie were staring intently at him, eyes wide in wonder, while Scathach s
face was just visible in the backseat. She had her eyes closed and was
