01_-_The_Alchemyst

“Of course I am,” Dee said, sounding surprised. “It is probably the
single most important thing I can do for this world.”
“Flamel says the Elders—the Dark Elders, he calls them—would
destroy the world.”
Dee shrugged. “Believe me when I tell you that he’s lying to you. The
Elders would be able to change this world for the better….” Dee’s fingers
moved in the water, the ripples languid and mesmerizing. Startled, Josh saw
images forming in the water, the pictures matching Dee’s soothing words. “In
the ancient past, the earth was a paradise. It had an incredibly advanced
technology, but the air was clean, the water pure, the seas unpolluted.”
There was a rippling image of an island set under cloudless azure skies.
Endless fields of golden wheat marched into the distance. Trees were laden
with an assortment of exotic fruit.
“Not only did the Elder Race shape this world, they even nudged a
primitive hominid on the road to evolution. But the Elders were driven out
from this paradise by the foolish superstition of the mad Abraham and the
spells in the Codex. The Elders did not die—it takes a lot to kill one of the
Elder Race—they simply waited. They knew that someday mankind would
come to its senses and call them back to save the earth.”
Josh could not take his eyes off the sparkling water. Much of what Dee
said sounded plausible.
“If we can bring them back, the Elders have the powers and the abilities
to reshape this world. They can make the deserts bloom….”
An image formed in the water: huge windblown desert dunes turning
green with lush grass.
Another image appeared. Josh was looking at the earth from space, just
like Google Earth. A huge swirl of dense cloud had formed over the Gulf of
Mexico, heading toward Texas. “They can control the weather,” Dee said,
and the storm dissipated.
Dee’s fingers moved and there appeared the unmistakable image of a
hospital ward with a long row of empty beds.