up to something. He s too eager for Hekate to Awaken our powers despite the
dangers.
He said it s our only chance, Sophie persisted.
Yesterday, he said he had to get us away from the shop to keep us safe now,
all of a sudden, we have to be trained so that we can protect ourselves from
Dee and these Dark Elders. Trust me, Sophie, Nicholas Flamel is playing his
own game.
Sophie s gaze drifted to the Alchemyst. She d known him for a couple of
months, and she remembered writing in her blog that she thought he was
Of course, now she realized that she didn't really know him at all. The man
she d thought of as Nick Fleming was an imposter. A lie. Flamel was staring
intently at her, and for the briefest of moments, she imagined that he knew
what they were talking about.
Both of us don't have to go through this Awakening, Josh continued. Let me
do it.
Again, Sophie looked into his eyes. And how do you think I d feel if
something happened to you?
This time it was Josh who found he couldn t speak. The idea that something
terrible could happen to his sister had only occurred to him a little while
before. But the very thought of it terrified him.
Sophie took her brother s hands in hers. From the moment we were born, we've
done everything together, she said, her voice low and serious. And with Mom
and Dad away so much, it s really always been just you and me. you've always
looked after me, I ve always looked out for you. I m not going to allow you
to go through this process by yourself. We ll do this just like we've done
everything else together.
Josh looked long and hard at his sister. Are you sure? he asked. He was
beginning to see a new Sophie.
I ve never been more sure.
They both knew what remained unsaid: neither wanted to be left behind if
anything happened during the Awakening.
Josh finally nodded. He then squeezed his sister s hand and they both turned
to face the Alchemyst, Hekate and Scatty.
We re ready, the twins said.
The Morrigan is here, Scatty informed them as they followed Nicholas and
Hekate through the huge door into the heart of the tree. She had changed into
black pants, a high-necked black T-shirt that left her arms bare and
thick-soled combat boots. She wore two short swords strapped to her back, the
hilts protruding slightly over her shoulders, and had daubed her eyes and
cheekbones with a black dye that gave her face a startlingly skull-like
appearance. She s brought Bastet with her. They re already surging into the
Shadowrealm.
Hekate can hold them back, Can't she? Sophie asked. She only had an inkling
of the goddess s powers, but the thought that there was something more
powerful than her was terrifying.
Scatty shrugged. I have no idea. They ve arrived in force; they ve brought
their armies with them.
Armies? Josh echoed. What kind of armies? More mud people?
No Golems this time. They have brought the birds of the air and the cats of
the earth with them.
Sophie laughed shakily. Birds and cats what Can't
Scatty glanced at the girl, the whites of her eyes startling against the
black war paint. You saw what the birds did to the car on the way here.
Sophie nodded, suddenly feeling sick in the pit of her stomach. Images of the
filthy black crows battering the windshield and pecking holes in the metal
hood would haunt her to her dying day.
Well, imagine what would happen if tens of thousands of birds gathered.
Tens of thousands, Sophie whispered.
More like hundreds of thousands, Scatty said, turning into a narrow
corridor. The nathair scouts estimate maybe half a million.
And didn't you say something about cats? Josh asked.
Yes, I did. More than we can count.
Josh looked at his sister, the realization of the terrible danger they faced
really beginning to sink in now. They could die in this strange Shadowrealm
and no one would ever know. He felt tears prickling his eyes and blinked them
away; their parents would spend the rest of their lives wondering what had
happened to them.
The corridor they were following turned into another, even narrower
passageway. The ceiling was so low that both twins had to walk with their
heads ducked down. There were no steps or stairs, but the corridor circled
down and down in a long, slow spiral. The twins realized that they were going
into the ground deep beneath the tree. The walls became darker, the smooth
wood now scarred with straggling roots that curled out and pulled at their
hair with clutching fingers. The air turned damp, perfumed with loam and
fresh earth, rotting leaves and new growth.
The house
twisting, spiraling corridor that was completely composed of the gnarled and
bulbous roots of the great tree that rose above them. Even with us moving
around inside, with the rooms and the windows and the pools it s still a
living tree! She found the idea both astonishing and frightening at the same
time.
This tree was grown from a seed of the Yggdrasill, the World Tree, Scatty
said quietly, rubbing the palm of her hand against the exposed roots. She
brought her palm to her face and breathed deeply, drawing in the aroma.
Millennia ago, when Danu Talis sank beneath the waves, a few of the Elders
were able to rescue some of the flora and fauna and transplant it to other
lands. But only two of the Elders, Hekate and Odin, managed to nurture their
Yggdrasill seeds to life. Odin, like Hekate, had power over magic.
Josh frowned, trying to remember what little he knew about Odin. wasn't he
the one-eyed Norse god? But before he could ask, Hekate disappeared into an
opening framed by knots of twisted roots. Nicholas Flamel'stopped and waited
for the twins and Scatty to catch up. His pale eyes were deeply shadowed, and
a thin vertical crease showed between his eyebrows. When he spoke, he chose
his words with care, his nervousness making his French accent even more
pronounced. I wish you did not have to do this, he said, but you must
believe me when I say that there is no other way. He reached out and put one
hand on Sophie s right shoulder and one on Josh s left shoulder. Their
auras silver and gold flared briefly, and the heavy air was touched with the
