Dunkerque. Just in case we re being followed, he said softly, his lips
barely moving as they darted through the early-morning traffic.
Once they were across the road, Josh shrugged off Nicholas s hand. What Dee
said made a lot of sense, he continued.
I m sure it did, Flamel said with a laugh. Dr. John Dee has been many
things in his long and colorful life, a magus and a mathematician, an
alchemist and spy. But let me tell you, Josh, he was often a rogue and always
a liar. He is a master of lies and half-truths, and he practiced and
perfected his craft in that most dangerous of times, the Elizabethan Age. He
knows that the best lie is one that is wrapped around a core of truth. He
paused, his eyes flickering over the crowd streaming past them. What else
did he tell you?
Josh hesitated for a moment before replying. He was tempted not to reveal all
of his conversation with Dee but then realized that he d probably said too
much already. Dee said that you only used the spells in the Codex for your
own good.
Nicholas nodded. It s a fair point. I use the immortality spell to keep
Perenelle and myself alive, that is true. And I use the philosopher s stone
formulation to turn ordinary metal into gold and coal into diamonds. There s
no money in bookselling, let me tell you. But we only make as much wealth as
we need we re not greedy.
Josh hurried ahead of Flamel, then turned around to face him. This isn't
about the money, he snapped. There is so much else you could be doing with
what s in that book. Dee said it could be used to turn this world into a
paradise, that it could cure all disease, even repair the environment. He
found it incomprehensible that someone would
Flamel stopped in front of Josh. His eyes were almost on a level with the
boy's. Yes, there are spells in the Book which would do all that and much,
much more, he said seriously. I've glimpsed spells in the Book that could
reduce this world to a cinder, others that would make the deserts bloom. But
Josh, even if I could work those spells which I cannot the material in the
Book is not mine to use. Flamel's pale eyes bored into Josh s, and Josh had
no doubt now that the Alchemyst was telling the truth. Perenelle and I are
only the Guardians of the Book. We are simply holding it in trust until we
can pass it on to its rightful owners. They will know how to use it.
But who are the rightful owners? Where are they?
Nicholas Flamel put both hands on Josh s shoulders and stared into his bright
blue eyes. Well, I was hoping, he said very softly, that it might be you
and Sophie. In fact, I m gambling everything my life, Perenelle's life, the
survival of the entire human race that you are.
Standing on the Rue de Dunkerque, looking into the Alchemyst's eyes, reading
the truth in them, Josh felt the people fade away until it was as if they
were standing alone on the street. He swallowed hard. And you believe that?
With all my heart, Flamel said simply. And everything I have done, I ve
done to protect you and Sophie and to prepare you for what is to come. You
have to believe me, Josh. You must. I know you re angry because of what has
happened with Sophie, but I would never let her come to harm.
She could have died or fallen into a coma, Josh muttered.
Flamel shook his head. If she were an ordinary human, then yes, that could
have happened. But I know she isn't ordinary. Nor are you, he added.
Because of our auras? Josh asked, digging for as much information as he
could get.
Because you are the twins of legend.
And if you re wrong? Have you thought about that: what happens if you re
wrong?
Then the Dark Elders return.
Would that be so bad? Josh wondered aloud.
Nicholas opened his mouth to reply and quickly pressed his lips tightly
together, biting back whatever he had been about to say, but not before Josh
saw the quick flash of anger that darted across his face. Finally, Nicholas
forced his lips into a smile. Gently, he turned Josh around so that he was
facing the street. What do you see? he asked.
Josh shook his head and shrugged. Nothing just a bunch of people heading off
to work. And the police looking for us, he added.
Nicholas caught Josh s shoulder and urged him down the street. don't think
of them as a bunch of people, Flamel admonished sharply. That s how Dee and
his kind see humankind: what they call the humani. I see individuals, with
worries and cares, with family and loved ones, with friends and colleagues. I
see people.
Josh shook his head. I don't understand.
Dee and the Elders he serves look at these people and see only slaves. He
paused, then quietly added, Or food.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
directly above her head and wondered how many other prisoners incarcerated on
Alcatraz had done the same. How many others had traced the lines and cracks
in the stonework, seen shapes in the black water marks, imagined pictures in
the brown damp? Almost all of them, she guessed.
And how many had heard voices? she wondered. She was sure that many of the
prisoners had imagined they heard sounds in the dark whispered words, hushed
phrases but unless they possessed Perenelle s special gift, what they were
hearing did not exist outside their imaginations.
Perenelle heard the voices of the ghosts of Alcatraz.
Listening intently, she could distinguish hundreds of voices, maybe even
thousands. Men and women children, too clamoring and shouting, muttering and
crying, calling out for lost loved ones, repeating their own names again and
again, proclaiming their innocence, cursing their jailers. She frowned; they
weren t what she was looking for.
Allowing the voices to wash over her, she sorted through the sounds until she
picked up one voice louder than all the rest: strong and confident, it cut
through the babble, and Perenelle found herself concentrating on it, focusing
on the words, identifying the language.
It was a man, speaking Spanish in an old, very formal accent. Concentrating
