Nicholas Flamel 1 - The Alchemyst

Somewhere in the distance, a sound that was caught between laughter and

screaming echoed down the corridors. With their rubber-soled sneakers making

no sound on the floor, they darted across the corridor into Josh s room.

How did we ever get into this mess? Josh wondered out loud.

I guess we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, Sophie said. She

had remained standing by the door, watching the corridor. But even as she was

saying the words, she was beginning to suspect that there was more to it than

that. There was something else going on, something to do with the prophecy

that Flamel had referred to, something to do with them. And the very idea

terrified her.

The twins slipped into the corridor and moved through the circular rooms,

taking their time, peering into each one before entering. They kept stopping,

listening as snatches of conversations in almost recognizable languages or

music played on unidentifiable instruments floated down the corridor. Once, a

high-pitched howl of maniacal laughter sent them ducking into the nearest

room as it seemed to approach, then disappear again. When they crept back out

of the room, they noticed that all the light crystals in the corridor had

dimmed to a bloodred glow.

I m glad we didn't see what passed by, Josh said shakily.

Sophie grunted a response. Her brother was in the lead; she followed two

steps behind, her hand on his shoulder. How do you know where we re going?

she whispered, bringing her mouth close to his ear. All the rooms looked

identical to her.

When we first came into the house, I noticed that the walls and floor were

dark, but as we moved down the corridors, they became lighter and paler in

color. Then I realized that we were walking through different shades of wood,

like the rings of a tree trunk. All we have to do is to follow the corridor

that leads to the dark wood.

Smart, Sophie said, impressed.

Josh glanced over his shoulder and grinned. Told you those video games

weren t a waste of time. The only way not to get lost in the maze games is to

watch for clues, like patterns on the walls or ceilings, and to keep a note

of your steps so you can retrace them if you need to. He stepped out into a

corridor. And if I m right, the main door should be there! he finished

triumphantly.

The twins fled across the vast open field in front of the huge tree house,

and made their way to the tree-lined pathway that led back to the car. Even

though night had fallen, they had no problem seeing. The moon hung bright and

low in the heavens, and the sky was filled with an extraordinary number of

brilliant stars, which combined with a swirling band of silvery dust high in

the sky to give the night a peculiar grayish luminescence. Only the shadows

remained pitch black.

Although it wasn't cold, Sophie shivered: the night felt wrong. Josh pulled

off his hooded sweatshirt and draped it over his sister s shoulders. The

stars are different, she muttered. They re so bright. Craning her neck,

she looked up into the heavens, trying to peer through the branches of the

Yggdrasill. I Can't see the Big Dipper, and the North Star is missing.

And there was no moon last night, Josh said, nodding to where the full moon

was rising huge and yellow-white over the treetops. No moon in our world,

he added solemnly.

Sophie stared hard at the moon. There was something about it something wrong.

She tried to identify the familiar craters, and then felt her stomach lurch

with a sudden realization. Her hand, when she pointed upward, was trembling.

That'snot our moon!

Josh looked hard, squinting against the glare. Then he saw what his sister

was talking about. The surface is different. Smoother, he said softly.

Where are the craters? I Can't see Kepler, Copernicus or even Tycho.

Josh, Sophie said quickly, I think we re looking at the night sky as it

was thousands of years ago, maybe hundreds of thousands of years ago. Sophie

tilted her head and looked up. Josh was startled to see that the moonlight

gave her face a skeletal appearance, and he quickly looked away, disturbed.

He had always been close to his sister, but the last few hours had served to

remind him just how important she was to him.

didn't Scathach say that Hekate had created this Shadowrealm? Josh asked.

I bet it s modeled on the world she remembered.

So this is the night sky and the moon as they were thousands of years ago,

Sophie said in awe. She wished she had her digital camera with her, just to

capture the extraordinary image of the smooth-faced moon.

The twins were looking into the heavens when a shadow flickered across the

face of the moon, a speck that might have been a bird except that the

wingspan was too wide, and no bird had that serpentlike neck and tail.

Josh grabbed his sister s hand and pulled her toward the car. I m really

beginning to hate this place, he grumbled.

The SUV was where they had left it, parked in the center of the path. The

moon washed yellow light across the shattered windshield, the broken patterns

in the starred glass picked out in shadow. The brilliance also highlighted

the scars on the car s body, the scratches and gouges in sharp relief. The

roof was studded with hundreds of tiny holes where the birds had pecked

through the metal, the rear window wiper dangled by a thread of rubber and

the two side mirrors were completely missing.

The twins regarded the SUV silently, the full realization of the bird attack

beginning to sink in. Sophie ran a finger down a series of scratches in the

window on the passenger side of the car. Those few millimeters of glass were

all that had protected her flesh from the birds claws.

Let s go, Josh said, pulling open the door and sliding into the driver s

seat. The keys were where he had left them, in the ignition.

I feel a little bad, running out on Nicholas and Scatty without saying

anything, Sophie said as she pulled open the door and climbed in. But the

immortal Alchemyst and the Warrior would be better off without them, she

reckoned. They were more than able to defend themselves; the last thing they

needed was two teenagers slowing them down.

We ll apologize if we ever see them again, Josh said. He privately thought

he would be happy never to see either of them again. Playing video games was

all fine and well. When you were killed in a game, you just started again. In

this Shadowrealm, though, there were no second chances, and a lot more ways

to die.

Do you know how we get out of here? Sophie asked.

Sure. Her brother grinned, his teeth white in the moonlight. We reverse.