01_-_The_Alchemyst

appeared, fresh and green, in its place. Sophie was conscious of another
sound too, and realized she was listening to the Yggdrasill. And now, with
her incredibly sensitive hearing, she thought she could make out phrases and
words, snatches of songs and fragments of poems within the agonized cries of
the burning tree. In the distance, she could see Hekate desperately trying to
put out the fires, but she was also fighting the Morrigan, the cats and the birds
at the same time. Sophie also noticed that there were no more nathair in the
skies, and very few of the Torc Allta remained to guard their ancient
mistress.
Closer, Sophie spotted Scatty’s bright red hair. She, too, was
surrounded by dozens of birds and cats. The Warrior was moving in what
looked like an intricate dance, twin swords flashing, sending the creatures
howling back from her. Scatty was trying to fight her way over to where
Nicholas Flamel was lying facedown on the ground beneath the claws of the
most terrifying creature Sophie had ever seen: Bastet, the Cat Goddess. With
her incredibly sharp eyesight, the girl could make out the individual whiskers
on Bastet’s feline face, and she actually saw a droplet of saliva gather on the
overlarge fangs and drip onto the man below.
Flamel saw Sophie looking in his direction. He tried to draw a breath,
but it was difficult with the heavy creature standing on top of him. “Run,” he
whispered, “run.”
“Sophie, I only have a few moments…” Perenelle’s voice echoed
inside the girl’s head, shocking her to full alertness. “This is what you must
do. You must let me speak through you….”
Josh became aware that his sister was climbing to her feet, swaying
slightly, hands pressed to her ears as if the sounds were too much, eyes
squeezed tightly shut. He saw her lips move, as if she were talking to herself.
He lashed out at a pair of humans with mockingbird heads as they darted
forward. The heavy branch caught one of the creatures squarely on the beak,
and it staggered back, dazed and stunned. The other continued to circle Josh,
who realized that it was not coming for him—it was trying to get to Sophie.
He turned and lashed out at it, but at that moment, a tall, slender man with a
tabby cat’s head came bounding toward him. Josh tried to swing the branch,