don't you?
Machiavelli straightened and stood, leaning against the stonework, favoring
his injured leg. My report will differ.
No one will believe you, Dee said confidently, turning away. Everyone
knows you are the master of lies.
Machiavelli reached into his pocket and pulled out a small digital tape
recorder. Well then, it s lucky I have everything you said on tape. He
tapped the recorder. Voice activated. It recorded every word you spoke to
me.
Dee stopped. He slowly turned to face the Italian and looked at the slender
tape recorder. Every word? he asked.
Every word. Machiavelli said grimly. I think the Elders will believe my
report.
Dee stared at the Italian for a heartbeat before nodding. What do you want?
Machiavelli nodded at the devastation below. His smile was terrifying. Look
at what the twins can do and they re barely Awakened, and not even fully
trained.
What are you suggesting? Dee asked.
Between us, you and I have access to extraordinary resources. Working
together rather than against one another we should be able to find the twins,
capture them and train them.
Train them!
Machiavelli s eyes started to glitter. They are the twins of legend. The
two that are one, the one that is all. Once they ve mastered all the
elemental magics, they will be unstoppable. His smile turned feral. Whoever
controls them controls the world.
The Magician turned to squint across the square to where Flamel was just
visible through the pall of dust and grit. You think the Alchemyst knows
this?
Machiavelli s laugh was bitter. Of course he knows. Why else do you think
he's training them!
MONDAY,
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
and began the two-hour-twenty-minute journey into London s St. Pancras
International Station.
Nicholas Flamel sat facing Sophie and Josh across a table in Business Premier
Class. Saint-Germain had bought the tickets using an untraceable credit card
and had supplied them with French passports that came complete with
photographs that looked nothing like the twins, while Nicholas s passport
photograph was that of a young man with a full head of jet-black hair. Tell
them you've aged a lot in the past few years, Saint-Germain said with a
grin. Joan of Arc had spent the morning shopping and had presented Sophie and
Josh each with a backpack filled with clothes and toiletries. When Josh had
opened his, he d discovered the small laptop Saint-Germain had given him the
day before. Was it only yesterday? It seemed so long ago.
Nicholas spread out the newspapers as the train left the station and pulled
on a pair of cheap reading glasses he d bought at a drugstore. He held up
devastation caused by Nidhogg.
It says here, Nicholas read slowly, that a section of the catacombs
collapsed. He turned the page. There was a half-page picture of piles of
shattered stone in the roped-off square before Notre Dame Cathedral.
Experts are claiming that the collapse and disintegration of some of
Paris s most famous gargoyles and grotesques was caused by acid rain that
weakened the structures. The two events are unconnected, he read, and
closed the paper.
So you were right, Sophie said, exhaustion etched onto her face even though
she d slept for nearly ten hours. Dee and Machiavelli have managed to cover
it up. She looked out the window as the train click-clacked across a maze of
interconnecting lines. A monster walked through Paris yesterday, gargoyles
climbed down off a building and yet there s nothing in the papers. It s like
it never happened.
But it did happen, Flamel said seriously. And you learned the Magic of
Fire and Josh s powers were Awakened. And yesterday you discovered just how
powerful the two of you are together.
And Scathach died, Josh said bitterly.
The blank look of surprise on Flamel s face confused and annoyed Josh. He
looked at his sister, then back at Nicholas. Scatty, he said angrily.
Remember her? She was drowned in the Seine.
Drowned? Flamel smiled, and the new lines at the corners of his eyes and
across his forehead deepened. She s a vampire, Josh, he said gently. She
doesn t need to breathe air. I ll bet she was mad, though; she hates getting
wet, he added. Poor Dagon: he didn't stand a chance. He sank back into the
comfortable seat and closed his eyes. We ve one brief stop to make outside
London, then we ll use the map of the ley lines to get back to San Francisco,
and Perenelle.
Why are we going to England? Josh asked.
We re going to see the oldest immortal human in the world, the Alchemyst
said. I m going to try and persuade him to train you both in the Magic of
Water.
Who is it? Josh asked, reaching for his laptop. The first-class carriages
had a wireless network.
Gilgamesh the King.
End of Book Two
AUTHOR S NOTE
THE CATACOMBS OF PARIS
The Catacombs of Paris that Sophie and Josh explore really exist, as does the
extraordinary sewer system, which comes, as Machiavelli observes, complete
with street signs. Although Paris receives millions of visitors a year, many
are unaware of the vast network of tunnels below the city.
