Michael Scott - The Alchemyst

Of course I am, Dee said, sounding surprised. It is probably the singlemost important thing I can do for this world.

Flamel says the Elders the Dark Elders, he calls them would destroy theworld.

Dee shrugged. Believe me when I tell you that he s lying to you. The Elderswould be able to change this world for the better. Dee s fingers moved inthe water, the ripples languid and mesmerizing. Startled, Josh saw imagesforming in the water, the pictures matching Dee s soothing words. In the ancient past, the earth was a paradise. It had an incredibly advancedtechnology, but the air was clean, the water pure, the seas unpolluted.

There was a rippling image of an island set under cloudless azure skies.Endless fields of golden wheat marched into the distance. Trees were ladenwith an assortment of exotic fruit.

Not only did the Elder Race shape this world, they even nudged a primitivehominid on the road to evolution. But the Elders were driven out from this paradise by the foolish superstition of the mad Abraham and the spells in theCodex. The Elders did not die it takes a lot to kill one of the Elder Race they simply waited. They knew that someday mankind would come to itssenses and call them back to save the earth.

Josh could not take his eyes off the sparkling water. Much of what Dee saidsounded plausible.

If we can bring them back, the Elders have the powers and the abilities toreshape this world. They can make the deserts bloom.

An image formed in the water: huge windblown desert dunes turning green withlush grass.

Another image appeared. Josh was looking at the earth from space, just likeGoogle Earth. A huge swirl of dense cloud had formed over the Gulf of Mexico,heading toward Texas. They can control the weather, Dee said, and the stormdissipated.

Dee s fingers moved and there appeared the unmistakable image of a hospitalward with a long row of empty beds.

And they can cure disease. Remember, these beings were worshipped as godsbecause of their powers. And these are the ones Flamel is trying to stop usfrom bringing back to the world.

It took Josh an age to form the single-word question. Why? He couldn t work out why Flamel would want to prevent such obvious advances.

Because he has masters, Elders like Hekate and the Witch of Endor, forexample, who want the world to dissolve into chaos and anarchy. When thathappens, they can come out of the shadows and declare themselves the rulersof the earth. Dee shook his head sadly. It pains me to say this, but Flameldoes not care about you, nor does he care about your sister. He put her interrible danger today simply to roughly Awaken her powers. The Elders I workwith take three days to bring someone through the Awakening ceremony.

Three days, Josh mumbled. Flamel said there was no one else in North America who could Awaken me. He didn t want to believe Dee and yeteverything the man said sounded so reasonable.

Another lie. My Elders could Awaken you. And they would do it properly andsafely. It is, after all, such a dangerous process.

Dee got up slowly and walked around to crouch beside Josh, bringing his eyeslevel with the boy s face. Fog was beginning to thicken and swirl around thefountain, shifting and eddying as he moved. Dee s voice was silky smooth, agentle monotone exactly in sync with the rippling water. What s your name?

Josh.

Josh, Dee echoed, where is Nicholas Flamel now?

Even in his drowsy state, an alarm bell very faint and very, verydistant went off in Josh s head. He couldn t trust Dee, he shouldn t trust Dee and yet so much of what he said had the ring of truth to it.

Where is he, Josh? Dee persisted.

Josh started to shake his head. Even though he believed Dee everything hesaid made perfect sense he wanted to talk to Sophie first, he needed to gether advice and opinion.

Tell me. Dee lifted Josh s limp hand and placed it in the pool. Ripplesspun out from it. They settled into the image of a small antiques shop filledwith glassware, directly across the road from Libbey Park. Grinningtriumphantly, Dee came to his feet and whirled around, staring across the He located their auras immediately.

The green of Flamel, the gray of Scathach, Endor s brown and the girl s puresilver. He had them and this time there would be no mistakes, no escape.

You sit here and enjoy the pretty pictures, Dee murmured, patting Josh onthe shoulder. The water bloomed with exotic, fractal-like patterns,mesmerizing and hypnotic. I ll be back for you shortly. Then, withoutmoving a muscle, he called in his waiting army.

Abruptly, the fog thickened and darkened, stinking of rotten eggs andsomething else: dust and dry earth, damp and mold.

And horror descended on Ojai.

N icholas Flamel s hands were already beginning to glow with green light whenhe pulled open the door of the small shop, grimacing in annoyance as the belljangled merrily.

The sun had dipped below the horizon while the Witch worked with Sophie, anda chill fog had rolled down the valley. It swirled and rolled the length ofOjai Avenue, curling and twisting through the trees, leaving everything ittouched beaded with moisture. Cars crept along, their headlights outlined inhuge halos of light barely able to penetrate the gloom. The street wascompletely deserted; the people outside had all been dressed for summerweather and had fled indoors away from the damp.

Scatty joined Flamel at the door. She carried a short sword in one hand, anunchaku in the other, dangling loosely on its chain. This is not good, notgood at all. She breathed deeply. Smell that?

Flamel nodded. Sulfur. The odor of Dee.

Scatty rattled the nunchaku. He s really starting to annoy me.

Somewhere in the distance there was a metallic bang as two cars collided. Acar alarm echoed forlornly behind them. And there was a scream, high-pitchedand terrifying, and then another and another.

It s coming. Whatever it is, Nicholas Flamel said grimly.

We don t want to be trapped here, Scatty said. Let s find Josh and getback to the car.

Agreed. He who retreats lives longer. He turned to look back into the shop.The Witch of Endor had Sophie by the arm and was whispering urgently to her.Wisps of white smoke still curled off the girl, and tendrils of white airdripped from her fingers like unwound bandages.

Sophie leaned forward and kissed the old woman on the cheek, then she turnedand hurried down the length of the shop. We have to go, she said breathlessly, we have to get away from here. She had no idea what layoutside, but her newfound knowledge enabled her imagination to populate thefog with any number of monstrous creatures.

And close the door behind you, the Witch called out.

And at that moment all the lights flickered and died. Ojai was plunged intodarkness.

The bell jangled as the trio stepped out into the now-deserted street. Thefog had become so thick that drivers had been forced to pull off the road andthere was no longer traffic moving on the main street. An air of unnaturalsilence had fallen. Flamel turned to Sophie. Can you pinpoint Josh?

He said he d wait for us in the park. She squinted, trying to penetrate thefog, but it was so thick that she could barely see a foot in front of herface. With Flamel and Scatty on either side of her, she stepped off thesidewalk and made her way to the middle of the empty road. Josh? The fog swallowed her words, muffling them to little more than a whisper. Josh, she called again.

There was no response.

A sudden thought struck her and she flung out her right hand, fingerssplayed. A puff of air curled from her hand, but did nothing to the fogexcept make it swirl and dance. She tried again, and an icy gale whippedacross the street, cutting a neat corridor through the fog, catching the rearwing of an abandoned car in the middle of the road, leaving a raggedindentation in the metal. Whoops. I guess I have to practice, she muttered.