01_-_The_Alchemyst

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The Morrigan and Bastet burst through the tangled hedges, carrying
John Dee between them. In the next instant the wall of foliage vanished and
one of the many winding paths leading to Mount Tamalpais appeared. They
stumbled, and Dee fell sprawling in the dust.
“What now?” Bastet growled. “Have we lost, have they won? We have
destroyed Hekate, but she has Awakened the girl.”
John Dee staggered to his feet and brushed off his ruined coat. There
were scrapes and tears in the sleeve, and something had ripped a fist-sized
hole through the lining. Carefully wiping Excalibur clean, he slid it back into
its concealed sheath. “It’s not the girl we need to concentrate on now. It’s the
boy. The boy is the key.”
The Morrigan shook her head, feathers rustling. “You talk in riddles.”
She glanced up into the clear morning skies, and almost directly overhead a
wisp of gray cloud appeared.
“He has seen his sister’s tremendous magical powers Awakened; how
do you think the boy is feeling now? Frightened, angry, jealous? Alone?” He
looked from the Morrigan to the Cat Goddess. “The boy is at least as
powerful as the girl. Is there anyone else on this continent to whom Flamel
could take the boy to have his talents Awakened?”
“Black Annis is in the Catskills,” the Morrigan suggested, the note of
caution clearly audible in her voice.
“Too unpredictable,” Dee said, “she’d probably eat him.”
“I heard that Persephone was in northern Canada,” Bastet said.
Dee shook his head. “Her years in the Underworld Shadowrealm have
driven her insane. She is dangerous beyond belief.”