Michael Scott - The Sorceress

"Hang on." Palamedes made an illegal U-turn and headed back the way they'd come. "Just sit back and stay in the shadows," he warned. "There are so many cabs on the street that they're practically invisible; no one even looks at them. And besides, they won't be expecting you to return this way."

Josh nodded. It was a clever strategy. "Who are 'they'?" he asked.

Before Palamedes could answer, Nicholas suddenly stiffened, staring out the window.

"You see them?" Palamedes asked in a deep rumble.

"I see them," the Alchemyst whispered.

"What?" Sophie and Josh said simultaneously, sitting forward, following the Alchemyst's gaze.

"The three men on the opposite side of the street," he said shortly.

A trio of shaven-headed, pierced and heavily tattooed young men swaggered down the center of the road. In their stained blue jeans, dirty T-shirts and construction boots, they looked threatening, but not particularly otherworldly.

"If you squint," Flamel explained, "you should be able to see their auras."

The twins closed their eyes to little more than slits, and they immediately saw the ugly gray tendrils of smoky light that flowed off the trio. The gray was shot through with purple.

"Cucubuths," Palamedes explained.

The Alchemyst nodded. "Very rare. They are the offspring of a vampire and a Torc Madra," Flamel told the twins. "They often have tails. They're mercenaries, hunters. Blood drinkers."

"And as dumb as dirt." Palamedes pulled up beside a bus, shielding the car from the cucubuths. "They'll trace your scent as far as the church; then it will vanish. That will confuse them. With luck, they'll end up arguing with one another and start fighting."

The car slowed, then stopped as the lights changed.

"There, at the traffic lights," Nicholas whispered.

"Yes, I passed them on the way down here," Palamedes said.

The twins scanned the intersection but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Who?" Sophie asked.

"The schoolgirls," Palamedes rumbled.

Two red-haired and pale-skinned young women were chatting, waiting for the lights to change. They were alike enough to be sisters and seemed to be wearing school uniforms. Both were carrying expensive-looking handbags.

"Don't even look at them," Palamedes warned. "They're like beasts; they can sense when they're being watched."

Sophie and Josh stared hard at the floor, concentrating fiercely on not thinking about the two girls. Nicholas picked up a newspaper he'd found on the backseat and held it open in front of his face, focusing on the most boring item he could find, the international exchange rates.

"They're crossing right in front of the car," Palamedes murmured, turning to look back into the cabin, hiding his face. "I'm sure they wouldn't recognize me, but I don't want to take the risk."

The lights changed and Palamedes pulled away with the rest of the traffic.

"Dearg Due," Flamel said, before the twins could ask the question. He swiveled to look through the rear window. The girls' red hair was still visible as they disappeared into the crowd. "Vampires who settled what became the Celtic lands after the Fall of Danu Talis."

"Like Scatty?" Sophie asked.

Nicholas shook his head. "Nothing like Scatty. These are most definitely not vegetarian."

"They were heading toward the church too," Palamedes said, chuckling. "If they encounter the cucubuths, that should make for an interesting meeting. They hate one another."

"Who would win?" Sophie asked.

"Dearg Due, every time," Palamedes said with a cheery smile. "I fought them in Ireland. They're vicious fighters, impossible to kill."

They continued down Marylebone Road before turning left onto Hampstead Road. Traffic slowed to a crawl, then finally ground to a halt. Somewhere ahead of them horns blared, and an ambulance wail started up. "We might be here for a while." Palamedes pulled the emergency brake and twisted in his seat once again to look at the twins and Flamel. "So you're the legendary Nicholas Flamel, the Alchemyst. I've heard a lot about you over the years," he said. "None of it good. Do you know, there are Shadowrealms where your very name is used as a curse?"

The twins were startled by the vehemence in the man's voice. They were unsure whether he was joking.

Palamedes focused on the Alchemyst. "Death and destruction follow in your wake-"

"The Dark Elders have been ruthless in their attempts to stop me," Flamel said slowly, with a definite chill in his voice.

"-as do fires, famines, floods and earthquakes," Palamedes rumbled on, ignoring the interruption.

"What are you suggesting?" Nicholas asked pointedly, and for an instant there was a whiff of mint in the back of the taxi. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, hands clasped in a tight knot.

"I am suggesting that perhaps you should have chosen less populated places to live out your long life. Alaska, maybe, or Mongolia, Siberia, the Outback or some far reaches of the Amazon. Places without people. Without victims."

An icy silence descended on the back of the car. The twins looked at one another, and Josh raised his eyebrows in silent question, but Sophie shook her head imperceptibly. She pressed her index finger to her earlobe; Josh got the message: listen, say nothing.

"Are you suggesting I've caused the deaths of innocent people?" Flamel asked very softly.

"Oh yes."

Color flushed Flamel's pale face. "I have never-" he began.

"You could have disappeared from this world," Palamedes pressed on, deep voice vibrating through the cab. "You faked your own death once, you could have done it again, and made a home someplace remote and inaccessible. You could even have slipped into one of the Shadowrealms. But you didn't; you choose to remain in this world. Why is that?" Palamedes asked.

"I have a duty to protect the Codex," the Alchemyst snapped, genuine anger in his voice, the scent of mint stronger now, filling the air.

Car horns started to blare again, and Palamedes swiveled in the seat, released the brake and drove on.

"A duty to protect the Codex," he repeated, staring straight ahead. "No one forced you to become the Guardian of the book. You took that role gladly and without question… just like all the other Guardians before you. But you were different from your predecessors. They went into hiding with it. But not you. You stayed in this world. And because of that, many humani have died: a million in Ireland alone, more than one hundred and forty thousand in Tokyo."

"Killed by Dee and the Dark Elders!"

"Dee followed you."

"And if I had surrendered the Book of Abraham," Flamel said evenly, "then the Dark Elders would have returned to this world and the earth would have learned the true meaning of the word Armageddon. Ripping open the Shadowrealms would have sent shock waves across the earth, bringing with it hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunami. Millions would die. Pythagoras once calculated that perhaps half the earth's entire population would be destroyed just by the initial event. And then the Dark Elders would have come pouring back into this world. You've met some of them, Palamedes; you know what they are like, you know what they are capable of. If they ever return to this planet, it will be a catastrophe of global proportions."

"They say it will herald a new Golden Age," the driver replied mildly.

Josh watched Flamel's face for his reaction; Dee had made the same claims.

"That is what they say, but it is untrue. You've seen what they've done as they've tried to take the Book from me. People have died. Dee and the Dark Elders have no regard for human life," Flamel argued.

"But have you, Nicholas Flamel?"

"I don't like your tone."

In the rearview mirror, Palamedes' smile was ferocious. "I don't care whether you like it or not. Because I really do not like you, nor those others like you, who think they know what is best for this world. Who appointed you the guardian of the humani?"