01_-_The_Alchemyst

“I thought you were asleep,” he said quietly. Sophie, who had moved up
into the passenger seat beside him after a few hours of driving, lay curled up
asleep, and Flamel snored gently beside Scatty.
“I’ve no need to sleep,” she said simply.
There were a lot of questions he really wanted to ask, but instead, he
just said, “Do you know where we’re going?”
She leaned forward, rested her arms on the back of his seat and her chin
on her arms. “Straight on, past the post office—that’s the building with the
tower—then turn right after Libbey Park at Fox Street. Find a parking space
down there.” She nodded to the left, toward a row of shops nestled under the
white arches. “We’re going there.”
“Is that where your grandmother is?”
“Yes,” Scatty said shortly.
“And is she really a witch?”
“Not just a witch. She is the original Witch.”
“How do you feel?” Sophie asked. She stood on the sidewalk and
stretched, standing on her toes and arching her back. Something popped in
her neck. “That feels good,” she added, turning her face and closing her eyes
against the sun, which was still high in the cloudless robin’s-egg blue
heavens.
“I should be asking you that question,” Josh said, climbing out of the
car. He yawned and stretched, rotating his head from side to side. “I never
want to drive again,” he added. His voice dropped to little more than a
whisper. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He hesitated. “You are okay, aren’t you?”
Sophie reached out to squeeze her brother’s arm. “I think so.”
Flamel climbed out of the car and slammed his door. Scatty had already
moved away from the car to stand beneath the shelter of a tree. She’d dug a
pair of mirrored sunglasses from her pocket and popped them onto her face.
The Alchemyst went to join her as Josh hit the alarm on the key chain. The
car blipped once and its lights flashed.