The Alchemyst

CHAPTER FOUR

I suppose calling the police is out of the question. Sophie Newman leaned

against a precariously listing bookcase and wrapped her arms around her body

to stop herself from shaking. She was surprised that her voice sounded so

calm and reasonable. we've got to tell them that Perry s been kidnapped .

Perry s not in any danger just yet. Nick Fleming was sitting on one of the

lower rungs of a short stepladder. He was holding his head in his hands and

breathing deeply, coughing occasionally as he tried to clear his lungs of

dust and grit. But you re right, we re not going to the police. He managed

a wan smile. I m not sure what we could say to the police that would make

any sense to them.

I m not sure that it makes much sense to us either, Josh said. He was

sitting on the only unbroken chair left in the bookshop. Although he d broken

no bones, he was bruised all over and knew he was going to turn several

really interesting shades of purple over the next couple of days. The last

time he d felt like this was when he d been run over by three guys on the

football field. Actually, this felt worse. At least then, he knew what was

happening.

I think that perhaps gas escaped into the shop, Nick suggested cautiously,

and what we've all experienced and seen is nothing more than a series of

hallucinations. He stopped, looking at Sophie and Josh in turn.

The twins lifted their heads to look at him, identical expressions of

disbelief on their faces, bright blue eyes still wide with shock. Lame,

Josh said finally.

Very lame, Sophie agreed.

Nick shrugged. Actually, I thought it was a pretty good explanation. It

covered the smells, the explosion in the shop and any any peculiar things you

thought you might have seen, he finished hurriedly.

Adults, Sophie had decided a long time before, were really bad at making up

good excuses. We didn't imagine those things, she said firmly. We didn't

imagine the Golems.

The what? Josh asked.

The big guys were Golems; they were made out of mud, his sister explained.

Perry told me.

Ah, she did, did she? Fleming murmured. He looked around the devastated

shop and shook his head. It had taken less than four minutes to completely

trash it. I m surprised he brought Golems. They are usually so unreliable in

warmer countries. But they served his purpose. He got what he came for.

The book? Sophie asked. She had caught a glimpse of it in Josh s hand

before the small man pulled it free. Although she was standing in a shop full

of books, and their father owned a huge library of antiquarian books, she had

never seen anything like that particular one before. It looked as if it was

bound in tarnished metal.

Fleming nodded. He s been looking for that for a long time, he said softly,

his pale eyes lost and distant. A very long time.

Josh rose slowly to his feet, his back and shoulders aching. He held out two

crumpled pages to Nick. Well, he didn't get all of it. When he pulled the

book out of my hand, I guess I must have been holding on to these.

Fleming snatched the pages from Josh s hand with an inarticulate cry.

Dropping to the floor, he brushed away shredded books and shattered shelving

and laid the two pages on the floor side by side. His long-fingered hands

were trembling slightly as he smoothed the pages flat. The twins knelt on the

floor on either side of him, staring intently at the pages and trying to make

sense of what they were seeing. And we re certainly not imagining that,

Sophie whispered, tapping the page with her index finger.

The thick pages were about six inches across by nine inches long and were

composed of what looked like pressed bark. Tendrils of fibers and leaves were

clearly visible in the surface, and both were covered with jagged, angular

writing. The first letter at the top left-hand corner of each page was

beautifully illuminated in gold and red, while the rest of the words were

written in reddish black ink.

And the words were moving.

Sophie and Josh watched as the letters shifted on the page like tiny beetles,

shaping and reshaping themselves, becoming briefly almost legible in

recognizable languages like Latin or Old English, but then immediately

dissolving and re-forming into ancient-looking symbols not unlike Egyptian

hieroglyphs or Celtic Ogham.

Fleming sighed. No, you re not imagining that, he said finally. He reached

down the neck of his T-shirt and pulled out a pair of pincenez on a length of

black cord. The pincenez were old-fashioned glasses without arms, designed to

perch on the bridge of the nose. Using the spectacles as magnifying glasses,

Nick moved them across the wriggling, shifting words. Ha!

Good news? Josh asked.

Excellent news. He s missing the Final Summoning. He squeezed Josh s

bruised shoulder, making him wince. If you had wanted to take two pages from

the book, rendering it useless, then you could not have chosen better than

these. The broad smile faded from his face. And when Dee finds out, He'll

be back, and I guarantee you he will not just bring Golems with him next

time.

Who was the gray man? Sophie asked. Perry also called him Dee.

Gathering up the pages, Nick stood. Sophie turned to look at him and realized

that he suddenly looked old and tired, incredibly tired. The gray man was

Dr. John Dee, one of the most powerful and dangerous men in the world.

I ve never heard of him, Josh said.

To remain unknown in this modern world: that, indeed, is real power. Dee is

an alchemist, a magician, a sorcerer and a necromancer, and they are not all

the same thing.

Magic? Sophie asked.

I thought there was no such thing as magic, Josh said sarcastically, and

then immediately felt foolish, after what he d just seen and experienced.

Yet you have just fought creatures of magic: the Golems are men created of

mud and clay, brought to life by a single word of power. In this century,

I'll wager there are less than half a dozen people who have even seen a

Golem, let alone survived an encounter with one.

Did Dee bring them to life? Sophie asked.

Creating Golems is easy; the spell is as old as humanity. Animating them is

a little harder and controling them is practically impossible. He sighed.

But not for Dr. John Dee.

Who is he? she pressed.

Dr. John Dee was Court Magician during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in

England.

Sophie laughed shakily, not entirely sure whether to believe Nick Fleming.

But that was centuries ago; the gray man couldn t have been older than

fifty.

Nick Fleming crawled around on the floor, pushing through books until he

found the one he wanted. England in the Age of Elizabeth. He flipped it open:

on the page facing an image of Queen Elizabeth I was an old-fashioned etching

of a sharp-faced man with a triangular beard. The clothes were different, but

there was no doubt that this was the man they had encountered.

Sophie took the book from Nick s hands. It says here that Dee was born in

1527, she said very softly. That would make him nearly five hundred years

old.

Josh came to stand beside his sister. He stared at the picture, then looked

around the room. If he breathed deeply, he could still smell the peculiar

odors of magic. That was what he had been smelling not mint and rotten eggs,

but the scent of magic. Dee knew you, he said slowly. He knew you well,

he added.

Fleming moved about the shop, picking up odd items and dropping them to the

floor again. Oh, he knows me, he said. He knows Perry, too. He s known us

for a long time a very long time. He looked over at the twins, his almost

colorless eyes now dark and troubled. You re involved now, more s the pity,

so the time for lies and subterfuge is past. If you are to survive, you will

need to know the truth.

Josh and Sophie looked at one another. They had both picked up the phrase If

you are to survive

My real name is Nicholas Flamel. I was born in France in the year 1330.

Perry s real name is Perenelle: she is ten years older than me. But don't

ever tell her I said that, he added hastily.

Josh felt his stomach churn and rumble. He was going to say Impossible! and

laugh and be irritated with Nick for telling them such a stupid story. But he

was bruised and aching from being flung across the room by by what? He

remembered the Golem that had reached for Perry Perenelle and how it had

dissolved into powder at her touch.

What what are you? Sophie asked the question that was forming on her twin s

lips. What are you and Perenelle?

Nick smiled, but his face was cold and humorless, and for an instant, he

almost resembled Dee. We are legend, he said simply. Once a long time

ago we were simple people, but then I bought a book, the Book of Abraham the

Mage, usually called the Codex. From that moment on, things changed.

Perenelle changed. I changed. I became the Alchemyst.

I became the greatest alchemyst of all time, sought after by kings and

princes, by emperors and even the Pope himself. I discovered the secret of

the philosopher s stone hidden deep in that book of ancient magic: I learned

how to turn ordinary metal into gold, how to change common stones into

precious jewels. But more than this, much more, I found the recipe for a

formulation of herbs and spells that keeps disease and death at bay.

Perenelle and I became virtually immortal. He held up the torn pages in his

hand. This is all that remains of the Codex. Dee and his kind have been

seeking the Book of the Mage for centuries. Now they have it. And Perenelle,

too, he added bitterly.

But you said the Book is useless without these pages, Josh reminded him

quickly.

That is true. There is enough in the Book to keep Dee busy for centuries,

but these pages are vital, Nick agreed. Dee will be coming back for them.

There s something else, though, isn t there? Sophie asked quickly.

Something more. She knew he was holding something back; adults always did.

Their parents had taken months to tell Josh and her that they would be

spending the summer in San Francisco.

Nick glanced at her sharply, and once again she was reminded of the look Dee

had given her earlier: there was something cold and inhuman in it. Yes there

is something more, he said hesitantly. Without the Book, Perenelle and I

will age. The formulation for immortality must be brewed afresh every month.

Within the full cycle of the moon, we will wither and die. And if we die,

then the evil we have so long fought against will triumph. The Elder Race

will claim this earth again.

The Elder Race? Josh asked, his voice rising and cracking. He swallowed

hard, conscious now that his heart was thumping in his chest. What had

started out as just another ordinary Thursday afternoon had turned into

something strange and terrible. He played a lot of computer games, read some

fantasy novels, and in those, elder always meant ancient and dangerous.

Elder, as in old?

Very old, Flamel agreed.

You mean there are more like Dee, like you? Josh said, then winced as

Sophie kicked his shins.

Flamel turned to look at Josh, his colorless eyes now clouded with anger.

There are others like Dee, yes, and others like me, too, but Dee and I are

not alike. We were never alike, Flamel added bitterly. We chose to follow

different paths, and his has led him down some very dark roads. He too is

immortal, though even I am not sure how he retains his youth. But we are both

human. He turned to the cash register, which was lying broken open on the

floor, and started scooping out the money as he spoke. When he turned to look

at the twins, they were startled by the grim expression on his face. Those

whom Dee serves are not and never were from the race of man. Shoving the

money into his pockets, he grabbed a battered leather jacket off the floor.

we've got to get out of here.

Where will you go? What will you do? Sophie asked.

What about us? Josh finished the thought for her, as she often did for him.

First I have to get you to a place of safety before Dee realizes that the

pages are missing. Then I'll go in search of Perenelle.

The twins looked at each other. Why do you have to get us to a safe place?

Sophie asked.

We don't know anything, Josh said.

Once Dee discovers that the Book is incomplete, he will return for the

missing pages. And I guarantee you, he will leave no witnesses on this

earth.

Josh started to laugh, but the sound died in his throat when he realized that

his sister was not even smiling. You re He licked suddenly dry lips.

You re saying that he would kill us?

Nicholas Flamel tilted his head to one side, considering. No, he said

finally, not kill you.

Josh heaved a sigh of relief.

Believe me, Flamel continued. Dee can do much worse to you. Much worse.