01_-_The_Alchemyst

flexed her fingers. She’d once been told that she’d die in an exotic location;
she wondered if Ojai in Ventura County qualified as exotic enough.
The shape loomed closer.
Flamel raised his hand, Sophie gathered the winds and Scathach lifted
her notched sword. Josh stepped out of the night. “I’ve wrecked the car,” he
said.
Sophie screamed with delight. She ran to her brother, and then her
scream turned to one of horror. The skeletal bear had risen from the ground
behind him, paws poised to strike.
Scathach moved, hitting Josh hard, shoving him out of the way, and sent
him tumbling into a mess of bones. The Warrior’s swords parried the bear’s
sweeping blow, sparks blinking in the fog. She struck out again, and a bear
claw as long as her hand tumbled through the air.
One by one the skeletal animals were climbing to their feet. Two huge
wolves, one little more than bones, the other merely shriveled flesh, loomed
out of the fog.
“This way. Here! This way.” The Witch’s voice sounded flatly across
the street, and a rectangle of light from an open door lit up the night. With
Scatty supporting Flamel and Josh half carrying his twin, they raced across
the street toward the shop. The Witch of Endor was standing in the doorway,
looking blindly into the night, an old-fashioned oil lantern held high. “We’ve
got to get you out of here.” She pulled the door closed and pushed the bolts
home. “That won’t hold them long,” she muttered.
“You said…you said you have no powers left,” Sophie muttered.
“I don’t.” Dora flashed a quick grin, revealing perfect white teeth. “But
this place has.” She led them through the shop and into a tiny back room. “Do
you know what makes Ojai so special?” she asked.
Something thumped against the door and all the glassware in the shop
rattled and tinkled.
“It is built on an intersection of ley lines.”