01_-_The_Alchemyst

“When can we go home?” Josh demanded, unwilling to admit that he too
was worn out. Even his bones ached. He felt as if he was coming down with
a cold.
Nicholas Flamel cut a neat slice from the apple and popped it in his
mouth. “I’m afraid you will not be able to return for a little while.”
“Why not?” Josh snapped.
Flamel sighed. He put down the stone arrowhead and the apple and
placed his hands flat on the table. “Right now, neither Dee nor the Morrigan
knows who you are. It’s only because of that, that you and your family are
safe.”
“Our family?” Sophie asked. The sudden thought that her mother or
father might be in danger made her feel queasy. Josh reacted with the same
shock, his lips drawing into a thin white line.
“Dee will be thorough,” Flamel said. “He is protecting a millennia-old
secret, and he will not stop with killing you. Everyone you know or have
come in contact with will have an accident. I’d hazard a guess that even
Bernice’s Coffee Cup will burn to the ground…simply because you once
worked in it. Bernice might even perish in the fire.”
“But she has nothing to do with anything,” Sophie protested, horrified.
“Yes, but Dee doesn’t know that. Nor does he care. He has worked with
the Dark Elders for a long time, and now he has come to regard humans as
they do: as little more than beasts.”
“But we won’t tell anyone what we’ve seen…,” Josh began, “and no
one would believe us anyway….” His sentence trailed away.
“And if we don’t tell anyone, then no one will ever know,” Sophie said.
“We’ll never speak of this again. Dee will never find us.” But even as the
words were leaving her mouth, she was beginning to realize that it was
hopeless. She and Josh were as trapped by their knowledge of the Codex’s
existence as Nicholas and Perry had been.
“He would find you,” Flamel said reasonably. He glanced at the
Warrior Maid. “How long do you think it would it take for Dee or one of the