01_-_The_Alchemyst

senses are so acute; you wouldn’t believe what I can hear.” She pointed to a
battered red Toyota driving slowly down the road. “The woman in that car is
talking on the phone to her mother. She’s telling her she doesn’t want fish for
dinner.” She pointed to a truck parked in a yard on the opposite side of the
street. “There’s a sticker on the back of the truck; do you want me to tell you
what it says?”
Josh squinted; he couldn’t even read the license plate.
“When we ate earlier today, the taste of the food was so overwhelming
it almost made me throw up. I could taste the individual grains of salt on the
sandwich.” She stooped and picked a jacaranda leaf off the ground. “I can
trace each vein in the back of this leaf with my eyes closed. But you know
what’s worst of all? The smells,” she said, looking deliberately at her
brother.
“Hey…” Ever since he’d hit puberty he’d tried every deodorant on the
market.
“No, not just you”—she grinned—“though you’ve really got to change
your deodorant, and I think you’re going to need to burn your socks. It’s all
the scents, all the time. The stink of gas in the air is awful, the smell of hot
rubber on the road, of greasy food, even the perfume from these flowers is
overwhelming.” She stopped in the middle of the street, and her tone abruptly
changed. She looked at her brother, and the tears she had no idea were there
started to leak from her eyes. “It’s too much, Josh. It’s just too much. I feel
sick and my head is pounding, my eyes hurt, my ears ache, my throat is raw.”
Josh awkwardly tried to put his arms around his sister to hug her, but
she pushed him away. “Please, don’t touch me. I can’t bear it.”
Josh struggled to find words to respond, but there was nothing he could
say or do. He felt so helpless. Sophie was always so strong, always in
control; she was the person he went to when he was in trouble. She always
had the answers.
Until now.
Flamel! Josh felt the anger flare again. This was Flamel’s fault. He
would never forgive the Alchemyst for what he’d done. He looked up to see