Nicholas Flamel 1 - The Alchemyst

his arms. He reached in and gently stretched her out on the backseat. Scatty

burst through the barrier of leaves and came hurtling down the path, a broad

smile on her face.

Now, that, she said as she launched herself into the back of the SUV, was

the most fun I ve had in a millennium.

Josh climbed into the driver s seat, adjusted it and turned the key in the

ignition. The big V6 engine growled to life.

Flamel hopped into the passenger s seat and slammed the door. Get us out of

here!

Josh pushed the gearshift into drive, gripped the leather steering wheel in

both hands and pressed the accelerator flat to the floor. The big Hummer

lurched forward, kicking up stones and dirt as he spun it in a circle and

then set off down the narrow path, rocking and bouncing over the ruts, tree

branches and bushes scraping its sides, scoring lines along its pristine

paintwork.

Although the sun had risen in both the Shadowrealm and the real world, the

road was still in deep shadow, and no matter where Josh looked, he still

couldn t find the controls for the lights. He kept glancing in the side and

rearview mirrors, expecting at any moment to see the Morrigan or the Cat

Goddess step through the wall of vegetation behind them. It was only when the

path ended in a burst of sunshine and he wrenched the steering wheel to the

right, turning the heavy SUV onto the narrow, winding blacktop, that he eased

off the gas. The Hummer immediately lost speed.

Everyone OK? he asked shakily.

He tilted the rearview mirror down so that he could see into the back. His

twin lay stretched across the wide leather seats, her head on Scatty s lap.

The Warrior was using a scrap of cloth torn from her T-shirt to wipe the

girl s forehead. Sophie s skin was deathly white, and although her eyes were

closed, her eyeballs moved erratically beneath her lids, and she twitched as

if she was having a nightmare. Scatty caught Josh looking at them in the

glass and she smiled in encouragement. She s going to be OK, she said.

Is there anything you can do? Josh demanded, glancing at Flamel'sitting

next to him. His feelings for the Alchemyst were completely confused now. On

the one hand, he had placed them in terrible danger, and yet Josh had seen

how savagely Flamel had fought in their defense.

There is nothing I can do, Flamel'said tiredly. She is simply exhausted;

nothing more. Nicholas also looked worn out. His clothes were streaked with

mud and what might have been blood. Bird feathers stuck in his hair, and both

hands were scratched from his encounters with the cats. Let her sleep, and

when she awakens in a few hours time, she will be fine. I promise you.

Josh nodded. He concentrated on the road ahead of him, unwilling to continue

the conversation with the Alchemyst. He doubted that his sister would ever be

fine again. He d seen how she looked at him, her eyes blank and staring: she

hadn't recognized him. He d listened to the voice that had come out of her

mouth: it wasn't a voice he d known. His sister, his twin, had been utterly

changed.

They came up on a sign for Mill Valley, and he turned left. He had no idea

where they were going; he just wanted to get away from the Shadowrealm. More

than that: he wanted to go home, wanted to go back to a normal life, he

wanted to forget that he d ever come across that ad in the university

newspaper his father had brought home.

Assistant Wanted, Bookshop. We don't want readers, we want workers.

He d sent in a r sum and a few days later he d been called for an interview.

Sophie had had nothing else to do that day and had come along for company.

While she d been waiting, she d gone to the shop across the road for a chai

latte. When Josh had come out of The Small Book Shop, beaming delightedly

because he d been offered the job, he d discovered that Sophie had found a

job as well in The Coffee Cup. They would be working right across the street

from each other it was perfect! And it had been perfect until yesterday, when

this madness had begun. He had trouble believing it had only been yesterday.

He looked in the mirror at Sophie again. She was resting quietly now,

completely still, but he was relieved to see that a little color had come

back into her cheeks.

What had Hekate done? No what had Flamel done? It all came back to the

Alchemyst. This was all his fault. The goddess hadn't wanted to Awaken the

twins she knew the dangers. But Flamel had pushed, and now, because of the

Alchemyst, Hekate's Shadowrealm paradise was under attack, and his sister had

become a stranger to him.

When Josh had started working in the bookshop for the man he knew then as

Nick Fleming, he d thought he was a little strange, eccentric, maybe even a

little weird. But as he d gotten to know him, he d come to genuinely like the

man, and to admire him. Fleming was everything Josh s father wasn't. He was

funny, and interested in just about everything Josh did, and his knowledge of

trivia was incredible. Josh knew that his father, Richard, was really only

happy and comfortable when he was standing before a lecture hall full of

students or buried up to his knees in dirt.

Fleming was different. When Josh quoted Bart Simpson to him, Fleming

countered with Groucho Marx and then went further and introduced Josh to the

movies of the Marx Brothers. They shared a love of music even though their

tastes were widely different; Josh introduced Nick to Green Day, Lamb and

Dido. Fleming recommended Peter Gabriel, Genesis and Pink Floyd. When Josh

let Fleming listen to some ambient and trance on his iPod, Fleming loaned him

CDs of Mike Oldfield and Brian Eno. Josh introduced Nick to the world of

blogging and showed him his and Sophie s blog, and they had even started

talking about putting the entire shop s stock online.

In time Josh had come to think of Fleming as the older brother he d always

wished he had. And now that man had betrayed him.

In fact, he d been lying to Josh from the very beginning. He hadn't even been

Nick Fleming. And somewhere at the back of Josh s mind, an ugly question was

beginning to form. Keeping his voice low and his eyes on the road ahead, he

asked, Did you know all this would happen?

Flamel'sat back into the deep leather seat and turned to look at Josh. The

Alchemyst was partially in shadow and he clutched the seat belt across his

chest with both hands. What would happen? he asked carefully.

You know, I m not a kid, Josh said, his voice rising, so don't talk to me

like one. In the rear seat, Sophie muttered a little in her sleep, and he

forced himself to lower his voice. Did your precious Book predict all this?

He caught a glimpse of Scatty moving in the backseat and realized she had

eased forward to hear the Alchemyst s answer.