Codex.
No, Flamel'said grimly. Where is he? Where is he hiding?
Where s my brother? Sophie called desperately, and then screamed as a dead
hand wrapped itself in her hair. Scathach chopped it off at the wrist, but it
still hung tangled in her hair like a bizarre hair clip. What have you done
with my brother?
You brother is considering his options. Yours is not the only side in this
battle. And now, since I have the boy, all I need are the pages.
Never.
The bear and the tiger charged through the crowd of bodies, brushing them
aside, trampling them in their eagerness to get to the trio. The
saber-toothed tiger reached them first. Its gleaming skeletal head was
massive, and the two downward-jutting teeth were at least eight inches long.
Flamel placed himself between Sophie and the creature.
Hand over the pages, Nicholas, or I will loose these undead beasts on the
town.
Nicholas frantically hunted through his memory for a spell that would stop
the creature. He bitterly regretted now not studying more magic. He snapped
his fingers and a tiny bubble of light popped onto the ground in front of the
tiger.
Is that all you can manage, Nicholas? My, you re weakening.
The bubble burst and spread across the ground in a cool emerald stain.
He s close enough to see us, Nicholas said. All I need is one glimpse of
him.
The skeletal tiger s massive right front paw stepped into the green light.
And stuck. It attempted to lift its leg, but thick strands of sticky green
threads connected it to the road. And now its left paw stepped into the light
and stuck.
Not quite so weak, eh, Dee? Flamel'shouted.
But the press of bodies behind the saber-toothed tiger kept pushing it
forward. Suddenly, its bony legs snapped off, sending the huge beast lunging
forward. Flamel managed to throw up his arms before the monster collapsed on
top of him, jaw gaping, teeth wide and savage.
Good-bye, Nicholas Flamel, Dee called. I'll just take the pages from your
body.
No, Sophie whispered. No, it was not going to end like this. She had been
Awakened, and the Witch of Endor had imbued her with all her knowledge. There
had to be something she could do. Sophie opened her mouth and screamed, her
aura blazing with silver incandescence.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
J osh awoke, his sister s scream ringing in his ears.
It took him several seconds before he realized where he was: sitting on the
edge of the fountain in Libbey Park, while all around him thick,
foul-smelling banks of fog shifted and twisted and crawled with half-glimpsed
skeletons and mummified bodies clothed in rags.
Sophie!
He had to get to his sister. To his right, in the middle of the gray-black
fog, green light sparkled and silver flared, briefly illuminating the mist
from within, casting monstrous shadows. Sophie was there; Flamel and
Scathach, too, fighting these monsters. He should be with them.
He came shakily to his feet and discovered Dr. John Dee standing directly in
front of him.
Dee was outlined in a sickly yellow aura. It sparked and spat and hissed like
burning fat and gave off the rancid odor of rotten eggs. The man had his back
to him. He was leaning both forearms against the low stone wall next to the
drinking fountain Josh had used earlier. Dee was staring intently at the
events taking place in the street, concentrating so hard he was shaking with
the effort of controlling the seemingly endless line of skeletons and
mummified humans shuffling past. Now that he was on his feet, Josh noticed
that there were other creatures in the fog too. He could see the remains of
bears and tigers, mountain cats and wolves.
He heard Flamel'shout and Sophie scream, and his first thought was to rush at
Dee. But he doubted he d even get close. What could he do against this
powerful magician? He wasn't like his twin: he had no powers.
But that didn't mean he was useless.
Sophie s scream sent out a shock wave of icy air that shattered the
saber-toothed tiger to powder and knocked back the nearest skeletons. The
huge bear crashed to the ground, crushing a dozen skeletons beneath its bulk.
The blast of air had also cleared away a patch of fog, and for the first
time, Sophie realized the enormity of what they were facing. There weren t
dozens or even hundreds, there were thousands of the Old West s dead marching
down the street toward them. Dotted through the mass were the bony remains of
the animals that had hunted in the surrounding mountains for centuries. She
didn't know what else she could do. The final use of magic exhausted her, and
she slumped against Scathach, who caught her in her left arm while holding
one sword in her right hand.
Flamel climbed tiredly to his feet. Using magic had drained his reserves of
energy as well, and even in the past few minutes he had aged. The lines
around his eyes were deeper, his hair thinner. Scathach knew he could not
survive much longer.
Give him the pages, Nicholas, she urged.
He shook his head stubbornly. I will not. I cannot. I ve spent my life
protecting the Book.
He who retreats lives longer, she reminded him.
He shook his head. Flamel was bent over, breathing in great heaving gulps of
air. His skin was deathly pale, with two spots of unnaturally bright red on
his cheeks. This is the exception, Scathach. If I give him the pages, then
I ve condemned all of us Perry, too, and the entire world to destruction. He
straightened and turned to face the creatures for what they all knew would be
the last time. Could you get Sophie away from here?
Scathach shook her head. I cannot fight them and carry her.
Could you get away on your own?
I could fight my way out, she said carefully.
Then go, Scatty. Escape. Get to the other Elders, contact the immortal
humans, tell them what happened here, start fighting the Dark Elders before
it is too late.
I'll not leave you and Sophie here, Scathach said firmly. We re in this
together to the end. Whatever that may be.
It s time to die, Nicholas Flamel, Dee called out of the gloom. I'll make
sure to tell Perenelle about this moment in every little detail.
A rustle ran through the mass of skeletal human and animal bodies, and then,
as one, they surged forward.
And a monster came out of the fog.
Huge and black, howling savagely, with two huge yellow-white eyes and dozens
of smaller eyes blazing, it drove straight through the Libbey Park fountain,
crushing it to powder, shattering the ornamental vases, and bore down on Dr.
John Dee.
The necromancer managed to fling himself to one side before the black Hummer
crashed into the wall, pounding it to dust. It stuck nose-down against the
remains of the wall, back wheels caught in the air, engine screaming. The
door opened and Josh climbed out and carefully lowered himself to the ground.
He was holding his chest where the seat belt had cut into it.
Ojai Avenue was littered with the remains of the long dead. Wit
hout Dee to
control them, they were just so many bones.
Josh staggered into the street and picked his way through the bones and
scraps of cloth. Something crunched beneath his feet, but he didn't even look
down.
Suddenly, the dead were gone.
Sophie didn't know what had happened. There had been a tremendous roar, a
scream of tortured metal and a crunch of stone and then silence. And in the
silence, the dead had fallen down like windblown grass. What had Dee summoned
now?
A shape moved in the twisting fog.
Flamel gathered the last of his energy into a solid sphere of green glass.
Sophie straightened and tried to muster the dregs of her energy. Scathach
flexed her fingers. She d once been told that she d die in an exotic
location; she wondered if Ojai in Ventura County qualified as exotic enough.
The shape loomed closer.
Flamel raised his hand, Sophie gathered the winds and Scathach lifted her
notched sword. Josh stepped out of the night. I ve wrecked the car, he
said.
Sophie screamed with delight. She ran to her brother, and then her scream
turned to one of horror. The skeletal bear had risen from the ground behind
him, paws poised to strike.
Scathach moved, hitting Josh hard, shoving him out of the way, and sent him
tumbling into a mess of bones. The Warrior s swords parried the bear s
sweeping blow, sparks blinking in the fog. She struck out again, and a bear
claw as long as her hand tumbled through the air.
One by one the skeletal animals were climbing to their feet. Two huge wolves,
one little more than bones, the other merely shriveled flesh, loomed out of
the fog.
This way. Here! This way. The Witch s voice sounded flatly across the
street, and a rectangle of light from an open door lit up the night. With
Scatty supporting Flamel and Josh half carrying his twin, they raced across
the street toward the shop. The Witch of Endor was standing in the doorway,
looking blindly into the night, an old-fashioned oil lantern held high.
we've got to get you out of here. She pulled the door closed and pushed the
bolts home. That won t hold them long, she muttered.
You said you said you have no powers left, Sophie muttered.
I don't. Dora flashed a quick grin, revealing perfect white teeth. But
this place has. She led them through the shop and into a tiny back room. Do
you know what makes Ojai so special? she asked.
Something thumped against the door and all the glassware in the shop rattled
and tinkled.
It is built on an intersection of ley lines.
Josh opened his mouth and was actually forming the word ley when his sister
spoke. Lines of energy that crisscross the globe, Sophie whispered in his
ear.
How do you know that?
I don't know; I guess the Witch taught me. Many of the most famous buildings
and ancient sites across the world are built where the ley lines meet.
Exactly, Dora said, sounding pleased. Couldn t have put it better myself.
The little storeroom was bare except for a long rectangle propped up against
the wall, covered in yellowed back issues of the Ojai Valley Times.
More blows shook the shop window, the sound of bone against glass setting
them on edge.
Dora swept the papers to the ground to reveal a mirror. It stood seven feet
tall, four feet wide, the glass dirty, speckled and warped, the images it
showed slightly distorted and blurred. And do you know what drew me to Ojai
in the first place? she asked. Seven great ley lines meet here. They form a
leygate.
Here? Flamel whispered. He knew about ley lines and had heard about the
leygates used by the ancients to travel across the world in an instant. He
hadn't thought any still existed.
Dora tapped the ground with her foot. Right here. And do you know how you
use a leygate?
Flamel'shook his head.
Dora reached for Sophie. Give me your hand, child. The Witch took Sophie s
hand and put it on the glass. You use a mirror.
The mirror immediately came to blazing life, the glass flaring silver and
then clearing. When they looked into the glass, it no longer showed their
reflections, but rather the image of a bare, cellarlike room.
Where? Flamel asked.
Paris, Dora said.
France. He smiled. Home. And without hesitation, he stepped right through
the glass. Now they could see him within the mirror. He turned and waved them
through.
I hate leygates, Scatty muttered. Make me nauseous. She hopped through
the gate, and rolled to her feet beside Flamel. When she turned back to face
the twins, she did look as if she was about to throw up.
The skeletal bear lumbered straight through the shop door, ripping it off its
hinges. The wolves and the cougars followed. Glassware tumbled, mirrors
cracked, ornaments shattered as the beasts lumbered about.
A bruised and cut Dee raced into the shop, pushing the skeletal beasts aside.
A cougar snapped at him and he smacked it on the snout. If it had had eyes,
it would have blinked in surprise.
Trapped, he called gleefully. Trapped and nowhere to go!
But when he stepped into the storeroom, he knew they had escaped him once
more. It took him a single heartbeat to take in the tall mirror, the two
pressing her hand to its surface. The boy stood alone, holding on to the
frame. Dee instantly knew what it was. A leygate, he whispered in awe.
Mirrors always acted as the gates. Somewhere at the other end of the ley line
was another mirror linking them.
The old woman caught the girl and shoved her through the mirror. Sophie
tumbled to the ground at Flamel's feet, then crouched to turn and look back.
Her mouth moved, but there was no sound. Josh.
Josh, Dee commanded, staring at the boy, stay where you are.
The boy turned to the glass. Already the image in the mirror had blurred.
I ve told you the truth about Flamel, Dee said urgently. All he had to do
was to keep the boy distracted for another moment or two and the mirror would
lose its power. Stay with me. I can Awaken you. Make you powerful. You can
help change the world, Josh. Change it for the better!
I don't know . The offer was tempting, so tempting. But he knew if he sided
with Dee, he would lose his sister altogether. Or would he? If Dee Awakened
him, then they would be alike again. Maybe this was a way he could reconnect
with his twin.
Look, Dee said triumphantly, pointing to the fading image in the glass,
they ve left you, deserted you again, because you are not one of them.
You re no longer important.
The mirror flared silver and Sophie stepped back through the glass. Josh?
Hurry, she said urgently, not looking at Dee.
I , he began. You came back for me.
Of course I did! You re my brother. I'll never abandon you. Then, catching
his hand, wrapping her fingers around his, she pulled him into the glass.
And Dora pushed the mirror, sending it shattering to the floor. Whoops. She
turned to face Dee and pulled off her
dark glasses to reveal the mirrors of
her eyes. You should go now. you've got about three seconds.
Dee didn't quite make it out of the shop before it exploded.
CHAPTER FORTY
MOVIE COMPANY CAUSES MAYHEM IN SCENIC OJAI
The latest in a long line of horror movies from Enoch Studios caused traffic
mayhem and more than a little confusion in downtown Ojai yesterday. The
special effects were a bit too realistic for some locals, and emergency
services were inundated with calls from people who claimed that the dead were
walking the streets.
John Dee, chairman of Enoch Films, a division of Enoch Enterprises,
apologized profusely for the confusion, blaming it on a power outage and an
unseasonable fog that swept in as they were about to shoot a scene from their
new movie. It certainly made the extras look extra-scary, his spokesperson
said. In a related incident, a drunk driver smashed through the historic
Libbey Park fountain and into the recently restored pergola. Dee has promised
to restore the fountain and pergola to their former glory.
Ojai Valley News
LOCAL ANTIQUES SHOP DEVASTATED BY EXPLOSION
A gas explosion destroyed the shop of longtime Ojai resident Dora Witcherly
late last night. An electrical fault ignited solvents used by the owner to
clean, polish and restore her antiques. Miss Witcherly was in the shop s back
room when the explosion occurred and was unharmed and apparently unconcerned
by her brush with death. When you've lived as long as I have, nothing much
surprises you. She has promised to reopen the shop in time for the holidays.
Ojai Online
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
D eep beneath Alcatraz, Perenelle Flamel lay on a narrow cot, her face turned
toward the back wall of her cell. Behind her, in the corridor outside, she
could hear the sphinx click-clacking up and down the cold stone floors, and
the air was heavy with the musky odors of snake and lion. Perenelle shivered.
The cell was freezing, and green-tinged water was dripping down the wall
inches from her face.
Where was Nicholas?
What was happening?
Perenelle was afraid, but not for herself. The fact that she was alive meant
that Dee needed her for something, and that sooner or later she would come
face to face with him. And if Dee had a failing, it was arrogance. He would