01_-_The_Alchemyst

Abraham the Mage, commonly called the Codex. But only because Flamel
and his wife stole it from the original Bibliothèque du Roi in the Louvre.”
“He stole it?”
“Let me tell you about Nicholas Flamel,” Dee said patiently. “I’m sure
he’s told you about me. He has been many things in his time: a physician and
a cook, a bookseller, a soldier, a teacher of languages and chemistry, both an
officer of the law and a thief. But he is now, and has always been, a liar, a
charlatan and a crook. He stole the Book from the Louvre when he
discovered that it contained not only the immortality potion, but also the
philosopher’s stone recipe. He brews the immortality potion each month to
keep Perenelle and himself at exactly the same age they were when they first
drank it. He uses the philosopher’s stone formula to turn cheap copper and
lead into gold and chunks of common coal into diamonds. He uses one of the
most extraordinary collections of knowledge in the world purely for personal
gain. And that’s the truth.”
“But what about Scatty and Hekate? Are they Elders?”
“Oh, absolutely. Hekate was an Elder and Scathach is Next Generation.
But Hekate was a known criminal. She was banished from Danu Talis
because of her experiments on animals. I suppose you would call her a
genetic engineer: she created the Were clans, for example, and loosed the
curse of the werewolf onto humanity. I believe you saw some of her
experiments yesterday, the boar people. Scathach is nothing more than a hired
thug, cursed for her crimes to wear the body of a teen for the rest of her days.
When Flamel knew I was closing in, they were the only people he could go
to.”
Josh was now hopelessly confused. Who was telling the truth? Flamel
or Dee?
He was cold now. Night had not yet fully fallen, but a low mist had
crept in over the town. The air smelled of damp earth and just the faintest hint
of rotten eggs. “What about you? Are you really working to bring back the
Elders?”