01_-_The_Alchemyst

“And they can cure disease. Remember, these beings were worshipped
as gods because of their powers. And these are the ones Flamel is trying to
stop us from bringing back to the world.”
It took Josh an age to form the single-word question. “Why?” He
couldn’t work out why Flamel would want to prevent such obvious
advances.
“Because he has masters, Elders like Hekate and the Witch of Endor, for
example, who want the world to dissolve into chaos and anarchy. When that
happens, they can come out of the shadows and declare themselves the rulers
of the earth.” Dee shook his head sadly. “It pains me to say this, but Flamel
does not care about you, nor does he care about your sister. He put her in
terrible danger today simply to roughly Awaken her powers. The Elders I
work with take three days to bring someone through the Awakening
ceremony.”
“Three days,” Josh mumbled. “Flamel said there was no one else in
North America who could Awaken me.” He didn’t want to believe Dee…and
yet everything the man said sounded so reasonable.
“Another lie. My Elders could Awaken you. And they would do it
properly and safely. It is, after all, such a dangerous process.”
Dee got up slowly and walked around to crouch beside Josh, bringing
his eyes level with the boy’s face. Fog was beginning to thicken and swirl
around the fountain, shifting and eddying as he moved. Dee’s voice was silky
smooth, a gentle monotone exactly in sync with the rippling water. “What’s
your name?”
“Josh.”
“Josh,” Dee echoed, “where is Nicholas Flamel now?”
Even in his drowsy state, an alarm bell—very faint and very, very
distant—went off in Josh’s head. He couldn’t trust Dee, he shouldn’t trust
Dee…and yet so much of what he said had the ring of truth to it.
“Where is he, Josh?” Dee persisted.