01_-_The_Alchemyst

and then breathed out in a long, slow exhalation. A face formed in the white
mist: that of Jefferson Miller.
Perenelle frowned; his ghost should be long gone by now. Unless…
unless he had come back to tell her something.
Nicholas!
Instantly, she knew her husband was in danger. Perenelle breathed in
another great lungful of air and held it. She concentrated hard on Nicholas,
seeing him clearly in her mind’s eye, with his narrow, rather mournfullooking
face, pale eyes and closely cropped hair. She smiled, remembering
him when he’d been younger and his hair, thick and dark, had been longer
than hers. He’d always worn it tied back at the nape of his neck with a purple
velvet ribbon. She breathed out and the air turned into a white cloud that
instantly formed into Jefferson Miller’s face again. Perenelle stared into the
ghost’s eyes, and there, reflected in his pupils, she could see her husband
trapped beneath the paw of the cat-headed goddess.
Rage and terror blossomed within her, and suddenly, her headache and
exhaustion left her. Her silver-threaded black hair rose from her head as if
blown in a strong breeze, sparks of blue and white static snapping along its
length. Her ice-white aura flared around her body like a second skin. Too
late the guards realized that something was wrong. They reached for her, but
the moment their hands touched the glowing edges of her aura, they were
catapulted away as if they’d received an electric shock. One guard even
threw himself onto her body, but before he could lay a finger on her,
Perenelle’s aura caught him and propelled him high into the wall with enough
force to knock the motorcycle helmet off his head. The figure slid down the
wall, arms and legs twisted in awkward positions. When Perenelle looked at
his face, she realized that the creatures were indeed simulacra. This one was
unfinished: his face and head were simply smooth flesh, bald, without eyes,
nose, mouth or ears.
The woman raced down the corridor, only pausing when she came to an
oily-looking puddle on the floor. Crouching over the puddle, she
concentrated hard and touched the murky water with her index and little
fingers. Her white aura sizzled when it touched the liquid, and the water