Michael Scott - The Alchemyst

Thoroughly miserable, he walked to the corner and crossed at the lightsfacing the post office, then turned left, heading toward the park.

The iPod had been a Christmas present from his parents. How was he going toexplain to them that he d lost it? Plus there was close to another thirtygigs of music on the little hard drive.

But worse than losing his iPod, his wallet or even his computer was losinghis phone. That was a total nightmare. All his friends numbers were on it,and he knew he hadn t written them down anywhere. Because their parentstraveled so much, the twins were rarely more than one or two semesters at thesame school. They made friends easily especially Sophie and they were stillin touch with friends they d met years earlier in schools scattered acrossAmerica. Without those e-mail addresses and phone numbers, how was hesupposed to get in touch with them, how would he ever find them again?

There was a water fountain in a little nook before the entrance to the park,and he bent his head to drink. An ornamental metal lion s head was set into the wall over the fountain, and below it there was a small rectangular plaquewith the words Love is the water of life, drink deeply. He let the icy watersplash over his lips and straightened to look over at the shop, wonderingwhat was happening inside. He still loved his sister, but did she love him?Could she love him, now that he was ordinary?

Libbey Park was quiet. Josh could hear children racing around the nearbyplayground, but their voices sounded high and very distant. A trio of oldmen, identically dressed in sleeveless shirts, long shorts, white socks andsandals, gathered on a shady bench. One of the men was feeding bread crumbsto a quartet of fat and lazy pigeons. Josh sat down on the edge of the lowfountain and leaned over to trail his hand in the water. After the oppressiveheat, it felt deliciously cool, and he ran his wet fingers through his hair,feeling water droplets roll down his neck.

What was he going to do?

Was there anything he could do?

In just over twenty-four hours, his life and his sister s life too hadchanged utterly and incomprehensibly. What he had once believed to be merelystories now turned out to be versions of the truth. Myth had become history,legends had become facts. When Scatty had revealed earlier that themysterious Danu Talis was also called Atlantis, he had almost laughed in herface. To him, Atlantis had always been a fairy tale. But if Scathach andHekate and the Morrigan and Bastet were real, then so was Danu Talis. And sohis parents life work archaeology was suddenly worthless.

Josh knew deep down that he had also lost his twin, the constant in his life,the one person he could always count on. She had changed in ways he could noteven begin to comprehend. Why hadn t he been Awakened too? He should haveinsisted that Hekate Awaken him first. What would it be like to have those powers? The only thing he could compare it to was being a superhero. Evenwhen Sophie s newly Awakened senses were making her sick, he was jealous ofher abilities.

From the corner of his eye, Josh became aware that a man had sat down on oneof the other edges of the fountain, but he ignored him. He absently picked ata broken fragment of one of the blue tiles that ran around the fountain.

What was he going to do?

Are you a victim too?

It took him a moment before he realized that the figure sitting to his rightwas talking to him. He started to stand up, the golden rule with creeps beingthat you never responded, and you never ever entered into any conversationwith them.

It seems we are all victims of Nicholas Flamel.

Startled, Josh looked up and found he was staring at Dr. John Dee, the manhe d hoped never to see again. The last time he d seen Dee had been in theShadowrealm. Then, he d held the sword Excalibur in his hands. Now he satfacing him, looking out of place in his impeccably tailored gray suit. Joshlooked around quickly, expecting to see Golems or rats, or even the Morriganlurking in the shadows.

I am alone, Dee said pleasantly, smiling politely.

Josh s mind was racing. He needed to get to Flamel, he needed to warn himthat Dee was in Ojai. He wondered what would happen if he simply got up andran. Would Dee try to stop him with magic in front of all these people? Joshlooked over at the three old men again, and it dawned on him that theyprobably wouldn t even notice if Dee changed him into an elephant right inthe middle of downtown Ojai.

Do you know how long I ve been chasing Nicholas Flamel, or Nick Fleming, orany of the hundreds of other aliases he s used? Dee continued quietly,conversationally. He leaned back and trailed his fingers through the water.

At least five hundred years. And he s always given me the slip. He s trickyand dangerous that way. In 1666, when I was closing in on him in London, heset a fire that nearly burned the city to the ground.

He told us you caused the Great Fire, Josh blurted. Despite his fear, hewas curious. And now he suddenly remembered one of the first pieces of adviceFlamel had given them: Nothing is as it seems. Question everything. Josh found himself wondering if that advice also applied to the Alchemyst himself.The sun had set, and there was a definite chill in the evening air. Joshshivered. The three old men shuffled away, none of them even glancing in hisdirection, leaving him alone with the magician. Strangely, he didn t feelthreatened by the man s presence.

Dee s thin lips flickered in a smile. Flamel never tells anyone everything,he said. I used to say that half of everything he said was a lie, and theother half wasn t entirely truthful either.

Nicholas says you re working with the Dark Elders. Once you have thecomplete Codex, you will bring them back into this world.

Correct in every detail, Dee said, surprising him. Though no doubtNicholas has twisted the story somewhat. I am working with the Elders, he continued, and yes, I am looking for the last two pages from the Book ofAbraham the Mage, commonly called the Codex. But only because Flamel and hiswife stole it from the original Biblioth que du Roi in the Louvre.

He stole it?

Let me tell you about Nicholas Flamel, Dee said patiently. I m sure he s told you about me. He has been many things in his time: a physician and acook, a bookseller, a soldier, a teacher of languages and chemistry, both anofficer of the law and a thief. But he is now, and has always been, a liar, acharlatan and a crook. He stole the Book from the Louvre when he discovered that it contained not only the immortality potion, but also the philosopher sstone recipe. He brews the immortality potion each month to keep Perenelleand himself at exactly the same age they were when they first drank it. Heuses the philosopher s stone formula to turn cheap copper and lead into goldand chunks of common coal into diamonds. He uses one of the most extraordinary collections of knowledge in the world purely for personal gain.And that s the truth.

But what about Scatty and Hekate? Are they Elders?

Oh, absolutely. Hekate was an Elder and Scathach is Next Generation. ButHekate was a known criminal. She was banished from Danu Talis because of her experiments on animals. I suppose you would call her a genetic engineer: shecreated the Were clans, for example, and loosed the curse of the werewolfonto humanity. I believe you saw some of her experiments yesterday, the boarpeople. Scathach is nothing more than a hired thug, cursed for her crimes towear the body of a teen for the rest of her days. When Flamel knew I wasclosing in, they were the only people he could go to.

Josh was now hopelessly confused. Who was telling the truth? Flamel or Dee?

He was cold now. Night had not yet fully fallen, but a low mist had crept inover the town. The air smelled of damp earth and just the faintest hint ofrotten eggs. What about you? Are you really working to bring back theElders?