Nicholas Flamel 2 - The Magician

Perenelle wasn't feeling well. She shook her head. Try and keep up!

It s been a little busy, Josh reminded her. I can t remember everything.

Besides, that s your job.

Then we said that Nicholas and Perenelle had invited us to spend some time

with them in their house in the desert.

So. Josh looked at his sister, fingers hovering over the keys. What will I

tell Mom?

Tell her that everything s OK and Perenelle is feeling a lot better.

Remember to call them Nick and Perry, though, she reminded him.

Thanks, he said, hitting the backspace key, replacing Perenelle with Perry.

His fingers skipped over the keys as he typed. OK, next one, he continued.

From Mom again, dated yesterday. Tried phoning, but my call goes directly

to your voice mail. Is everything OK? Got a call from your aunt Agnes. She

said you didn't come home to collect any clothes or toiletries. Give me a

number where I can call you. We re worried. Josh looked at his sister. So

what do we tell her now?

Sophie chewed on her bottom lip, thinking aloud. We should tell her She

hesitated. Tell her we had the things with us at the shop. She knows we have

clothes there. That s not a lie. I hate lying to her.

Got it, Josh said, typing fast. The twins both kept clothes in his locker

in the back room of the bookshop for the occasional evening when they went to

the movies or walked down to the Embarcadero.

Tell her we have no cell service here. Just don't say where here is, she

added with a smile.

Josh looked disgusted. You mean we have no cell phones

I ve still got mine, but the battery is dead. Tell Mom that we ll call as

soon as we get a signal.

Josh continued to type. His finger hovered over the Enter key. Is that it?

Send it.

He hit Enter. Sent!

And you said there was an e-mail from Dad? she asked.

It s for me. He opened it, read it quickly and smiled broadly. He s sent a

jpeg of some fossil shark teeth he found. They look pretty good. And he s got

some new coprolites for my collection.

Coprolites. Sophie shook her head in mock disgust. Fossilized poo! Why

couldn't you collect stamps or coins like a regular person? It s just too

weird.

Weird? Josh looked up, suddenly irritated. Weird! Let me tell you what s

weird: we re in a house with a two-thousand-year-old vegetarian vampire, an

immortal alchemist, another immortal who s a musician specializing in Fire

magic and a French heroine who should have died sometime in the middle of the

fifteenth century. He nudged the sword on the floor with his foot. And

let s not forget the sword that was used to kill King Arthur. Josh s voice

had been rising as he spoke and he suddenly stopped and drew in a deep

shuddering breath, calming himself. He started to smile. Compared to all

that, I think collecting fossil poo is probably the least weird thing around

here! His smile turned to a grin and Sophie smiled, and then they were both

laughing. Josh laughed so hard he got the hiccups, and that made them laugh

even harder, until tears ran down their cheeks and their stomachs hurt.

Oh, stop, Josh moaned. He hiccupped again, and they both dissolved into

near hysteria.

It took a tremendous effort of will to control themselves, but for the first

time since Sophie had been Awakened, Josh felt close to her again. Usually,

they laughed every day; heading into work on Thursday morning was the last

time they d laughed together as they d watched a skinny man in roller skates

and running shorts being pulled along by a huge Dalmatian. All they needed to

do was to keep finding things to laugh at but unfortunately, there hadn't

been too many of those over the past few days.

Sophie sobered up first and turned back to the window. She could see her

brother in the glass and waited until he looked down at the screen before she

spoke. I m surprised you didn't object more when Nicholas suggested that

Francis train me in Fire magic, she said.

Josh raised his eyes and looked at his sister s face reflected in the window.

Would it have made any difference if I had? he asked seriously.

She took a moment to think. No. I suppose not, she admitted.

I didn't think so. You d still have done it.

Sophie turned to look directly at her twin. I have to. I need to.

I know, he said simply. I know that now.

Sophie blinked in surprise. You know?

Josh closed the laptop and dropped it on the bed. Then he picked up the sword

and rested it across his knees, absently rubbing the smooth blade. The stone

felt warm. I was angry, scared no, more than scared terrified when Flamel

had Hekate Awaken you. He didn't tell us about the dangers. He didn't tell us

that you could have died, or fallen into a coma. I ll never forgive him for

that.

He was pretty sure nothing would happen .

Pretty sure isn't sure enough.

Sophie nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

And then, when the Witch of Endor passed her knowledge to you, I was scared

again. But not so much scared for you I was scared of you, he admitted very

softly.

Josh, how can you even say that? Sophie began, genuinely shocked. I m your

twin. The look on his face silenced her.

You haven t seen what I ve seen, he said earnestly. I watched you stand up

to the cat-headed woman. I saw your lips move, but when you spoke, the words

were out of sync, and when you looked at me, you didn't recognize me. I don't

know what you were but you weren t my twin sister then. You were possessed.

Sophie blinked and huge tears rolled down her cheeks. She had only the

vaguest memories, little more than dreamlike fragments, of what her brother

was talking about.

Then, in Ojai, I watched you make whirlwinds, and today yesterday I saw you

make fog out of nothing.

I don't know how I do those things, she murmured.

I know, Soph, I know. He stood up and crossed to the window, looking out

over the rooftops of Paris. I understand that now. I've been thinking about

it a lot. Your powers have been Awakened, but the only way you ll be able to

control them, the only way you ll be safe, is by being trained. At the moment