opening, and was doused in the dripping green light. Its black wings abruptly
developed holes and tears, and it fell back with a hideous chattering cawing.
Josh noticed that although the green light, which had the consistency of
honey, burned the creatures, it had no effect on the wood. He knew he should
be paying more attention, but all his concern was focused on his sister. She
was breathing quickly, and behind her closed eyelids her eyes were dancing.
Scatty scrambled to her feet and darted back to Flamel and Josh. Very
impressive, I m sure, she muttered. I didn't know you could do that.
Flamel'spun the staff like a baton. This focuses my power.
Scatty looked around. We seem to be trapped.
Hekate went this way, Nicholas said, turning to the right and pointing to
what looked like an impenetrable barrier of knotted roots. I saw her come
running out of the chamber and walk straight through this. He stepped up to
the knotted wood and stretched out his arm. It disappeared right up to the
elbow.
I'll go first, Scatty said. Josh noticed that although she had been
fighting the deadly combination of birds and cats, there was neither a
scratch on her body nor a hair out of place. She wasn't even breathing
hard though if she really was a vampire, then maybe she didn't need to
breathe at all, he thought. Scatty darted forward, and in the last moment
before she reached the wall of roots, she dived straight into the opening,
swords crossed over her chest.
Flamel and Josh looked at one another in the brief moment that followed and
then Scatty s head poked through the solid-looking tangle of roots. All
clear.
I'll take the rear, Flamel'said, stepping back to allow Josh to go ahead of
him. I'll deal with anything that follows us.
Josh nodded, unwilling to trust himself to talk to Flamel. He was still
furious with the Alchemyst for endangering his sister s life, but he also
recognized that Flamel was now fighting for them, placing himself in very
real danger to protect them. Josh stepped up to the wall of twisted roots and
packed earth, closed his eyes and walked right through. There was an instant
of damp chill and then he opened his eyes to see Scatty directly in front of
him. He was standing in a low, narrow chamber created entirely from the
Yggdrasill s gnarled roots. Clumps of green moss leaked a dim green light
into the chamber, and he could see that Scatty was standing at the bottom of
a set of narrow, irregular steps that led upward into the gloom. Scatty s
head was tilted to one side, but before Josh could ask what she was hearing,
Flamel'stepped through the wall. He was smiling, and the top of his staff
emitted traces of green gas. That should hold them for a while.
Let s go, Scatty called as soon as the Alchemyst appeared.
The stairway was so narrow that Josh was forced to move in a sideways
crab-crawl, head ducked low, with Sophie held close to his body to prevent
her head and legs from cracking against the rough wooden walls. He tested
every step before he took it; he didn't want to risk falling and dropping his
sister. He suddenly realized that these steps were cut into the space between
the inner and outer bark of the great tree, and couldn t help wondering if a
tree the size of Yggdrasill was riddled with secret passages, hidden rooms,
forgotten chambers and lost stairways. It must be, he decided. Did Hekate
even know where they all were? And then, his mind racing, he wondered who had
created these steps. Somehow he could not imagine the goddess carving them
out of the living wood herself.
As they climbed, they could smell the bitter stench of burning wood, and the
sounds of battle came clearer. The cat shrieks became even more human, the
bird screeches were completely terrifying, and they mingled with the
bellowing roars of the boars and the hissing of the nathair. Now that the
group was no longer underground, the heat and smoke intensified and they
began to hear another sound a deep bass groaning rumble.
We need to hurry. Scatty s voice drifted back out of the gloom. We
need to hurry now . And somehow the forced calm in the Warrior s voice
frightened Josh more than if she had screamed. Careful now; we've reached an
opening. We re at the end of a thick root, about thirty yards away from the
main body of the tree. We re well clear of the fighting, she added.
Josh rounded a corner and discovered Scatty standing bathed in shafts of
early-morning sunshine that shone through a curtain of vines directly ahead
of her. She turned to face him, sunlight turning her red hair golden and
running along the blades of her short swords, and in that moment, Josh saw
her as the ancient and terrifying Warrior she was. The sounds of battle were
all around them, but louder than all the other noises was the groaning rumble
that seemed to vibrate deep in the ground. What is that sound? he asked.
The cries of the Yggdrasill, Scatty answered grimly. Hekate's enemies have
set light to the World Tree.
But why? He found the very idea horrifying this ancient living tree had
harmed no one. But the action gave him an insight into the contempt with
which the Dark Elders held life.
Her powers are inextricably linked to it; her magic brought it to towering
life, its life force keeps her strong. They believe that by destroying it,
they will destroy her.
Flamel came panting up the steps to stand behind Josh. The Alchemyst s thin
face was bright red and beaded with sweat. Getting old, he said with a wry
smile. He looked at Scatty. What s the plan?
Simple, she began, we get away from here as quickly as possible. Then she
spun the sword in her left hand so that the blade was lying flat against the
length of her arm. She pointed with the hilt. Flamel and Josh stood close to
her and peered out through the curtain of vines. On the opposite side of the
field, Dr. John Dee had appeared, moving cautiously through the undergrowth.
The black-bladed short sword that he held in both hands glowed and flickered
with a cold blue light.
Dee, Flamel'said. Never in my life would I have imagined being delighted
to see him. This is good news indeed.
Both Scatty and Josh looked at him in surprise.
Dee is human which means that he came here via human transportation, the
Alchemyst explained.
A car Scatty nodded in agreement that he would probably have left just
outside the Shadowrealm.
Josh was about to ask how she knew he would have left it outside when he
suddenly realized he knew the answer. Because he knew if he drove it in
here, the battery would be drained.
Look, Scatty murmured.
