01_-_The_Alchemyst

Sophie’s mouth moved, the words taking a moment or two to follow.
“Beware this girl, Bastet. She is your doom.”
Bastet’s fur was bristling and her bare arms dimpled with goose bumps.
Then she slowly backed away, turned and raced toward the burning
Yggdrasill. For the first time in millennia, she was frightened.
Nicholas dragged himself to his feet and staggered toward Sophie, Josh
and Scatty. He stepped up to Sophie. “Perenelle?” he whispered.
Sophie turned her head to him, eyes blank and unseeing. Her mouth
worked, and then, as in a badly dubbed movie, the words came. “I’m in San
Francisco, held in the basement of Enoch Enterprises. I’m safe and well.
Take
the children south, Nicholas.” There was a long moment of silence;
then, when she spoke again, the words came quicker than Sophie’s lips could
move, and the girl’s silver aura began to fade and her eyes started to close.
“Take them to the Witch.”