damaged house, which was quickly being surrounded by fire trucks, ambulances,
police cars and press. When they d left, Francis had been going upstairs to
change; he reasoned that all the publicity would do wonders for the sale of
his new album.
We ll cut across the Champs-Elys es and then head down toward the river,
Joan said, expertly maneuvering the Citro n through the narrow cobbled
alleyway. Are you sure that s where Nidhogg will go?
Nicholas Flamel sighed. I m only guessing, he admitted. I ve never
actually seen it I don't know of anyone who has and lived but I ve come
across creatures like it in my travels, and they are all related to the
marine lizards, like the mosasaur. It s scared, maybe it s hurt. It ll head
to the water, seeking cool, healing mud.
Sophie leaned forward between the front seats. She deliberately focused on
Nidhogg, desperately sorting through the Witch s memories, looking for
something that might help her. But even the Witch knew little about the
primal creature except that it was locked in the roots of the World Tree, the
tree that Dee had destroyed with
Excalibur, she whispered.
The Alchemyst swiveled in the seat to look at her. What about it?
Sophie frowned, trying to remember. Josh told me earlier that Dee had
destroyed Yggdrasill with Excalibur.
Flamel nodded.
And you told me that Clarent is Excalibur s twin.
It is.
Does it share the same powers? she asked.
Flamel s cool gray eyes flashed. And you re wondering, if Excalibur could
destroy something as ancient as the World Tree, could Clarent destroy
Nidhogg? He was nodding even as he was speaking. The ancient weapons of
power predate the Elders. No one has any idea where they came from, though we
do know that the Elders used some of them. The fact that the weapons are
still around today proves just how indestructible they are. He nodded. I m
sure Clarent could hurt and possibly even kill Nidhogg.
And you believe Nidhogg is hurt now? Joan spotted an opening in the light
early-morning traffic and slotted neatly into it. Car horns blared behind
her.
Something drove it from the house.
Then you know what you've just confirmed? she said.
Flamel nodded. We know Scatty would never touch Clarent. Therefore, Josh
wounded the creature enough to send it careering madly across Paris. And now
he s chasing it.
And Machiavelli and Dee? Joan asked.
Probably chasing him.
Joan cut across two lanes of traffic and roared down the Champs-Elys es.
Let s hope they don't catch up with him.
A sudden thought struck Sophie. Dee met Josh . She stopped, realizing what
she d just said.
In Ojai. I know, Flamel said, surprising her. He told me.
Sophie sat back, surprised that her twin had told the Alchemyst. Color
touched her cheeks. I think Dee made an impression on him. She felt almost
embarrassed saying this to the Alchemyst, as if she was betraying her
brother, but she pressed on. This was no time for secrets. Dee told him some
things about you. I think I think Josh sort of believed him, she finished in
a rush.
I know, Flamel said softly. The English Magician can be very persuasive.
Joan slowed the car to a stop. This isn't good, she muttered. There should
be virtually no one on the road at this hour.
They had driven right into a huge traffic jam. It stretched down the
Champs-Elys es directly ahead of them. For the second day in a row, traffic
on Paris s main thoroughfare had come to a complete halt. People were
standing beside their cars looking at the gaping hole in the side of the
building across the street. Police had just arrived and were quickly trying
to take control, urging traffic to move on and allow the emergency services
to get through to the building.
Joan of Arc leaned across the steering wheel, cool gray eyes assessing the
situation. It crossed the street and went this way, Joan said, signaling
pair of mangled traffic lights. I don't see them.
Nicholas rose in the seat, trying to see as far as possible down the long
straight street. Where does this come out?
On the Rue Fran ois, just before the Avenue Montaigne, Joan answered. I ve
walked, cycled and driven through these streets for decades. I know them like
the back of my hand. They drove past a dozen cars, each one bearing the
marks of Nidhogg: metalwork crumpled like tinfoil, windows spiderwebbed and
smashed. A ball of metal that had once been a bicycle was now pressed deeply
into the pavement, still attached to a railing by a length of chain.
Joan, Nicholas said very softly, I think you should hurry up.
I don't like driving fast. She glanced sidelong at the Alchemyst, and
whatever expression she saw on his face made her push her foot to the floor.
The small engine howled and the car lurched forward. What is it? she
demanded.
Nicholas chewed his bottom lip. I ve just thought of a potential problem,
he admitted finally.
What sort of problem? Joan and Sophie asked simultaneously.
A serious problem.
Bigger than Nidhogg? Joan jerked the stick shift and slammed the car into
top gear. Sophie couldn't see that it made any difference; she still felt she
could be walking faster. She pounded the back of the seat, frantic with
worry. They needed to get to her brother.
I gave Josh the two missing pages from the Codex, Flamel said. He twisted
around in the seat to look at Sophie. Do you think your brother has them
with him?
Probably, she said immediately, and then nodded. Yes, I m sure he does.
The last time we talked he was wearing the bag under his shirt.
So how did Josh end up guarding the pages of the Codex? Joan asked. I
thought you never let the book out of your sight.
I gave them to him.
You gave them? she asked, surprised. Why?
Nicholas turned away and looked out at the street, now littered with the
evidence of Nidhogg s passing. When he looked back at Joan, his face was set
in a grim mask. I figured that since he was the only person amongst us who
was neither immortal, Elder nor Awakened, he would not be involved in any of
the conflicts we d face, nor would he be a target: he s just a humani. I
thought the pages would be safe with him.
Something about the statement bothered Sophie, but she couldn't put her
finger on it. Josh wouldn't give the pages to Dee, she announced
confidently.
Nicholas twisted around to face the girl again, and the look in his pale eyes
was terrifying. Oh, believe me: Dee always gets what he wants, he said
bitterly, and what he cannot have he destroys.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
M achiavelli slid the car to a stop, half on, half off the curb. He pulled up
the brake but left the car in gear, and it jerked forward and cut out. They
were in a parking lot on the banks of the river Seine, close to where he d
anticipated Nidhogg would appear. For a moment, the only sound was the engine
ticking softly, and then Dee let out his breath in a long sigh. You are the
worst driver I ve ever come across.
I got us here, didn't I? You do know that explaining all this is going to be
very difficult, Machiavelli added, moving off the subject of his terrible
driving. He had mastered the most arcane and difficult arts, had manipulated
society and politics for half a millennium, was fluent in a dozen languages,
could program in five different computer languages and was one of the world s
experts on quantum physics. And he still couldn't drive a car. It was
embarrassing. Rolling down the driver s window, he allowed cold air to wash
into the vehicle. I can impose a press blackout, of course, claiming it s a
national security issue, but this is getting too public and way too messy.
He sighed. Video of Nidhogg is probably on the Internet right now.
People will dismiss it as a prank, Dee said confidently. I thought we were
in trouble when Bigfoot was caught on camera. But that was quickly rejected
as a hoax. If I ve learned anything over the years, it is that the humani are
masters at ignoring what is right in front of their noses. They ve
disregarded our existence for centuries, dismissing the Elders and their
times as little more than myth and legend, despite all the evidence.
Besides, he added smugly, absently stroking his short beard, everything is
coming together. We have most of the book; once we get the two missing pages,
we will bring back the Dark Elders and return this world to its proper
state. He waved a hand airily. You ll not have to worry about minor issues
like the press.
You seem to be forgetting that we have some other problems, like the
Alchemyst and Perenelle. They are not so minor.
Dee pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and waved it in the air. Oh,
I ve taken care of that. I made a call.
Machiavelli glanced sidelong at the Magician but said nothing. In his
experience, people often spoke merely to fill a silence in a conversation,
and he knew that Dee was a man who liked to hear the sound of his own voice.
John Dee stared through the dirty windshield toward the Seine. A couple of
miles downriver, just around the bend, the huge Gothic cathedral of Notre
Dame de Paris would be slowly taking shape in the early dawn light. I first
met Nicholas and Perenelle in this city almost five hundred years ago. I was
their student you didn't know that, did you? That s not in your legendary
files. Oh, don't look so surprised, he said, laughing at Machiavelli s
stunned expression. I ve known about your files for decades. And my copies
are even more up-to-date, he added. But yes, I studied with the legendary
Alchemyst, here in this very city. I knew within a very short time that
Perenelle was more powerful more dangerous than her husband. Have you ever
met her? he asked suddenly.
Yes, Machiavelli said shakily. He was astounded that the Elders or was it
just Dee? knew about his secret files. Yes. I met her just the once. We
fought; she won, he said shortly. She made quite an impression.
She is an extraordinary woman; quite remarkable. Even in her own time, her
reputation was formidable. What she would have achieved if only she d chosen
to side with us. I don't know what she sees in the Alchemyst.
You never did understand the human capacity for love, did you? Machiavelli
asked softly.
I understand that Nicholas survives and thrives because of the Sorceress. To
destroy Nicholas, all we have to do is kill Perenelle. My master and I have
always known that, but we thought that if we could capture both of them,
their accumulated knowledge was worth the risk of leaving them alive.
And now?
It is no longer worth the risk. Tonight, he added, very softly, I finally
did something that I should have done a long time ago. He sounded almost
regretful.
John, Machiavelli barked urgently, swiveling in the seat to look at the
English Magician. What have you done?
I ve sent the Morrigan to Alcatraz. Perenelle will not see another dawn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
J osh finally caught up with the monster on the banks of the Seine.
He didn't know how far he d run, miles probably but he knew that he shouldn't
have been able to do it. He d sprinted the entire length of the last
street he d thought the street sign said Rue de Marignan without any effort,
and now, swinging left onto the Avenue Montaigne, he wasn't even breathless.
It was the sword.
He d felt it buzz and hum in his hands as he d run, heard it whisper and sigh
what sounded like vague promises. When he held it directly in front of him,
toward the monster, the whispers grew louder and it visibly trembled in his
hand. When he moved it away, they faded.
The sword was drawing him toward the creature.
Following the monster s trail of destruction down the narrow street, racing
past confused, shocked and horrified Parisians, Josh found strange and
disturbing thoughts flickering at the very edges of his consciousness:
he was in a world without land, swimming in an ocean vast enough to swallow
whole planets, filled with creatures that made the monster he was chasing
look tiny .
he was dangling high in the air, wrapped in thick roots that bit into his
flesh, looking down over a blasted, fiery wasteland .
he was lost and confused, in a place filled with small buildings and even
tinier creatures, and he was in pain, an incredible fire searing the base of
his spine .
he was
Nidhogg.
The name snapped into his consciousness, and the shock that he was somehow
experiencing the monster s thoughts almost stopped him in his tracks. He knew
the phenomenon had to be connected to the sword. Earlier, when the creature s
tongue had touched the blade, he d glimpsed a snapshot of an alien world,
shocking images of a bizarre landscape, and now, having stabbed the creature
again, he caught hints of a life completely beyond his experience.
It dawned on him that he was seeing what the creature Nidhogg had seen at
some time in the past. He was experiencing what it was feeling now.
It had to be connected to the sword.
And if this was Excalibur s twin, Josh suddenly wondered, then did that
ancient weapon also transfer feelings, emotions, and impressions when it was
used? What had Dee felt when he had plunged Excalibur into the ancient
Yggdrasill? What sights had he seen, what had he experienced and learned?
Josh found himself wondering if that was the real reason Dee had destroyed
the Yggdrasill: had he killed it to experience the incredible knowledge it
contained?
Josh glanced quickly at the stone sword and a shudder ran through him. A
weapon like this gave the wielder unimaginable powers and what a frightening
temptation it was. Surely the urge to use it again and again to gain more and
more knowledge would become uncontrollable? It was a terrifying thought.
But why had the Alchemyst given it to him?
The answer came immediately: because Flamel didn't know! The sword was a dead
lump of stone until it stabbed or cut something only t
hen did it come alive.
Josh nodded to himself; now he knew why Saint-Germain, Joan and Scatty would
not touch the weapon.
As he raced down the street toward the river, he wondered what would happen
if he managed to kill Nidhogg with Clarent. What would he feel, what would he
experience?
What would he know?
Nidhogg burst through a stand of trees and darted across the road and down
onto the Port des Champs-Elys es. It stopped in the parking lot on the
quayside almost directly in front of Dee and Machiavelli and dropped onto all
fours, huge head swaying from side to side, tongue lolling out of its mouth.
It was so close they could see Scatty s limp body caught in its claws and the
Disir astride its neck. Nidhogg s tail lashed, buffeting parked cars and
smashing into a long tour bus, staving in the engine. A tire popped with a
deep boom.
I think we should get out of the car , Dee began, reaching for the door,
eyes fixed on the swinging tail as it flipped a heavy BMW onto its roof.
Machiavelli s arm shot out, fingers closing on the Magician s arm in a
painful viselike grip. Do not even think about moving. Do nothing that will
attract its attention.
But the tail
It s in pain, that s why the tail is thrashing about. But it seems to be
slowing down.
Dee turned his head slightly. Machiavelli was correct: there was something
wrong with Nidhogg s tail. About one-third of its total length had turned
black it looked almost stonelike. Even as Dee watched, tendrils and veins of
bubbling black liquid crept over the creature s hard flesh, slowly encasing
it in a solid crust. Dr. John Dee immediately knew what had happened.
The boy stabbed it with Clarent, he said, not even turning his head to look
at Machiavelli. That s what caused the reaction.
I thought you said Clarent was the Sword of Fire, not the Sword of Stone.
There are many different forms of fire, Dee said. Who knows how the
blade s energy reacted with something like Nidhogg? He stared at the tail,
watching as more of the thick black crust grew on the skin. As it hardened,
he caught a brief glimpse of red fire. Lava crust, he said, voice hushed in
wonder. It s lava crust. The fire is burning within the creature s skin.
No wonder it s in pain, Machiavelli muttered.