01_-_The_Alchemyst

Dr. John Dee had lived in Ojai briefly at the turn of the twentieth century
—it was still called the city of Nordhoff then—when he’d been plundering
the surrounding Chumash burial grounds for their precious artifacts. He’d
hated it: Ojai was too small, too insular and, in the summer months, simply
too hot for him. Dee was always happiest in the largest of cities, where it
was easier to be invisible and anonymous.
He’d flown from San Francisco down to Santa Barbara in the company
helicopter, and rented a nondescript-looking Ford at the small airport. Then
he’d driven down from Santa Barbara, arriving in Ojai just as the sun was
setting in a spectacular display, painting the town in long, elegant shadows.
Ojai had changed dramatically in the hundred or so years since he’d last seen
it…but he still didn’t like it.
He turned the car onto Ojai Avenue and slowed. Flamel and the others
were close; he could feel it. But he had to be careful now. If he could sense
them, then they—especially the Alchemyst and Scathach—would be able to
sense him. And he still had no idea what the Witch of Endor was capable of
doing. It was extremely worrying that a very senior Elder had been living in
California and he’d been totally unaware of her presence. He thought he
knew the locations of most of the important Elders and human immortals in
the world. Dee wondered if it was significant that he had not been able to
contact the Morrigan throughout the day. He’d phoned her with persistent
regularity on the drive down, but she wasn’t answering her cell. She was
either on eBay or playing one of the interminable online strategy games she
was addicted to. He didn’t know where Bastet was and didn’t care. She
frightened him, and Dee tended to destroy those people who scared him.
Flamel, Scathach and the twins could be anywhere in the town. But
where?
Dee allowed a little energy to trickle into his aura. He blinked as his
eyes blurred with sudden tears, and blinked again to clear them. Suddenly,
the people in the car next to his, those crossing the road, and the pedestrians
on the sidewalk were outlined in shifting multicolored auras. Some auras
were just wisps of diaphanous tinted smoke, others were dark spots and
sheets of solid muddy colors.