Smiling triumphantly, Dee turned back to Josh. It s your choice. So, give me
your answer do you want to go back to Flamel and his vague promises, or do
you want to have your powers Awakened?
Even as he was turning to follow the black threads of dark energy that
drifted off Excalibur s stone blade, Josh knew the answer. He remembered the
feelings, the emotions, the power, that had coursed through his body when
he d held Clarent. And Dee had said those feelings were nowhere near as
intense as being Awakened.
I need an answer, Dee said.
Josh Newman took a deep breath. What do I have to do?
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
car to a halt, blocking the entrance. Leaning over the steering wheel, she
scoured the alley, looking for movement, wondering if this was a trap.
Following Josh had been remarkably easy; all she d had to do was to follow
the gouge cut into the street by the metal rim of his car s front wheel.
She d had a brief moment of panic when she d lost him in a maze of back
streets, but then a thick plume of black smoke rose over the rooftops and
she d followed that: it had led her to the alley and the burning police car.
Stay here, she commanded the exhausted Flamel and the ashen-faced Sophie as
she climbed out of the car. She carried her sword loosely in her right hand
as she walked down the alley, tapping the blade gently against the palm of
her left hand. She was fairly sure that they were too late and that Dee,
Machiavelli and Josh were gone, but she wasn't prepared to take any risks.
Padding silently down the center of the alley, wary of the piles of trash
cans that could be hiding an assailant, Joan realized she was still in a
state of shock following Scatty s disappearance. One moment Joan had been
standing in front of her old friend, and the next, the creature that was more
fish than man had reared up out of the water and dragged Scatty down with
him.
Joan blinked away tears. She had known Scathach for more than five hundred
years. In those early centuries they d been inseparable, adventuring together
across the world into countries yet to be explored by the West, encountering
tribes that still lived as their ancestors had thousands of years in the
past. They d discovered lost islands, hidden cities and forgotten countries,
and Scatty had even taken her into some of the Shadowrealms, where they had
fought creatures that had long been extinct on the earth. In the
Shadowrealms, Joan had seen her friend fight and defeat creatures that
existed only in the darkest human myths. Joan knew that nothing could stand
against the Shadow and yet Scatty herself had always said that she could be
defeated, that she was immortal but not invulnerable. Joan had always
imagined that when Scatty finally laid down her life it would be in one final
dramatic and extraordinary event not by being dragged into a dirty river by
an overgrown fish-man.
Joan grieved for her friend, and she would weep for her, but not now. Not
yet.
Joan of Arc had been a warrior from the time she was barely a teenager,
riding into battle at the head of a massive French army. She had seen too
many friends fall in battle and had learned that if she concentrated on their
deaths she would be incapable of fighting. Right now she knew she needed to
protect Nicholas and the girl. Later, there would be time to grieve for
Scathach the Shadow, and there would also be time to go in search of the
creature Flamel had called Dagon. Joan hefted the sword in her hand. She
would avenge her friend.
The petite Frenchwoman walked past the blazing remains of the police car and
crouched on the ground, expertly reading the traces and signs on the damp
stones. She heard Nicholas and Sophie climb out of the battered Citro n and
walk down the alley, stepping around puddles of oil and dirty water. Nicholas
was carrying Clarent. Joan distinctly heard it buzz as he approached the
burning car, and she wondered if it was still connected to the boy.
They ran from the car and stopped here, she said, without looking up, as
they stopped beside her. Dee and Machiavelli were facing Josh. He stood over
there. She pointed. They ran through the water back there; you can clearly
see the outlines of their shoes on the ground.
Sophie and Flamel leaned over and looked at the ground. They nodded, though
she knew they could see nothing.
Now, this is interesting, she continued. At one stage Josh s footsteps are
pointing down the alley, and he s on the balls of his feet, almost as if he
was thinking about running. But look here. She pointed to traces of heel
prints on the ground that only she could see. The three of them walked off
together, Dee and Josh first, Machiavelli following behind.
Can you track them? Flamel demanded.
Joan shrugged. To the end of the alley, maybe, but beyond that She
shrugged again and straightened up, dusting off her hands. Impossible; there
will be too many other prints.
What are we going to do? Nicholas whispered. How are we going to find the
boy?
Joan s eyes drifted from Flamel s face to Sophie. We can t but Sophie can.
How? he asked.
Joan moved her hand in a horizontal line in front of her. It left the
faintest tracery of light in the air, and the foul alley briefly smelled of
lavender. She s his twin: she ll be able to follow his aura.
Nicholas Flamel caught both of Sophie s shoulders, forcing the girl to look
into his eyes. Sophie! he snapped. Sophie, look at me.
Sophie raised red-rimmed eyes to look at the Alchemyst. She was completely
numb. Scatty was gone, and now Josh had vanished, kidnapped by Dee and
Machiavelli. Everything was falling apart.
Sophie, Nicholas said very quietly, his pale eyes catching and holding
hers. I need you to be strong now.
What s the point? she asked. They re gone.
They re not gone, he said confidently.
But Scatty The girl hiccupped.
is one of the most dangerous women in the world, he finished. She s
survived for over two thousand years and fought creatures infinitely more
