mayhem and more than a little confusion in downtown Ojai yesterday. The
special effects were a bit too realistic for some locals, and emergency
services were inundated with calls from people who claimed that the dead were
walking the streets.
John Dee, chairman of Enoch Films, a division of Enoch Enterprises,
apologized profusely for the confusion, blaming it on a power outage and an
unseasonable fog that swept in as they were about to shoot a scene from their
new movie. It certainly made the extras look
said. In a related incident, a drunk driver smashed through the historic
Libbey Park fountain and into the recently restored pergola. Dee has promised
to restore the fountain and pergola to their former glory.
LOCAL ANTIQUES SHOP DEVASTATED BY EXPLOSION
A gas explosion destroyed the shop of longtime Ojai resident Dora Witcherly
late last night. An electrical fault ignited solvents used by the owner to
clean, polish and restore her antiques. Miss Witcherly was in the shop s back
room when the explosion occurred and was unharmed and apparently unconcerned
by her brush with death. When you've lived as long as I have, nothing much
surprises you. She has promised to reopen the shop in time for the holidays.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
toward the back wall of her cell. Behind her, in the corridor outside, she
could hear the sphinx click-clacking up and down the cold stone floors, and
the air was heavy with the musky odors of snake and lion. Perenelle shivered.
The cell was freezing, and green-tinged water was dripping down the wall
inches from her face.
Where was Nicholas?
What was happening?
Perenelle was afraid, but not for herself. The fact that she was alive meant
that Dee needed her for something, and that sooner or later she would come
face to face with him. And if Dee had a failing, it was arrogance. He would
underestimate her and then she would strike! There was a particularly nasty
little spell she had learned in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in
Transylvania that she was saving just for him.
Where was Nicholas?
She was afraid for Nicholas and the children. It was difficult for her to
judge just how much time has passed, but by examining the wrinkles forming on
the backs of her hands, she guessed she d aged at least two years, so two
days had passed. Without the immortality elixir, she and Nicholas would age
at the rate of a year a day. They had less than a month left before they
succumbed to old
And with no one to stand against them, Dee and the others like him would
loose the Dark Elders into the world again. It would be chaos; civilization
would fall.
Where was Nicholas?
Perenelle blinked away tears. She wasn't going to give the sphinx the
satisfaction of seeing her weep. The Elders had nothing but contempt for
human emotion; they considered it their biggest weakness. Perenelle knew it
was humankind s great strength.
She blinked again, and it took her a moment to realize what she was seeing.
The foul dripping water running down the walls had briefly curled and formed
into a pattern. She focused, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
The liquid twisted and coiled into a face: Jefferson Miller, the ghost of the
security guard. The dribbling water bent into letters on the moss-streaked
walls.
The words lasted less than a heartbeat before they flowed away.
Now Perenelle had to blink hard to clear her eyes. Flamel and the children
were safe!
Thank you, Perenelle mouthed silently as Jefferson Miller s face dissolved
and ran liquid down the wall. She had so many questions but at least now she
had some answers: Nicholas and the children were safe. They had obviously
reached Ojai and met the Witch of Endor. She must have opened the leygate to
take them to Paris, and that suggested that the Witch had helped them and had
most likely instructed Sophie in the Magic of Air.
Perenelle knew that the Witch would not have been able to Awaken Josh s
powers but in Paris and across Europe there were Elders and immortal humans
who would be able to help, who could Awaken Josh and train both twins in the
five elemental magics.
She rolled over on her back and looked at the sphinx, which was now crouched
outside her cell, human head resting on enormous lion s paws, wings folded
across its back. The creature smiled lazily, long black forked tongue
flickering.
It is ending, Immortal, the sphinx whispered.
Perenelle s smile was terrifying. On the contrary, she replied. It is now
only just beginning.
End of Book One
AUTHOR S NOTE
Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel were real people. So was Dr. John Dee. Indeed,
all the characters in
based on real historical characters or mythological beings.
When I originally conceived the idea for
would be Dr. John Dee.
John Dee has always fascinated me. In the Elizabethan Age, the age of the
extraordinary, he was exceptional. He was one of the most brilliant men of
his time, and all the details about his life in
was an alchemist, a mathematician, a geographer, an astronomer and an
astrologer. He did choose the date for Queen Elizabeth I s coronation, and
when he was part of her network of spies, he signed his coded messages 007.
The two 0 s represented the eyes of the Queen, and the symbol that looked
