01_-_The_Alchemyst

At the back of the book, two pages were missing, roughly torn out.
Dee closed his eyes and then licked his lips with a quick flicking
movement of his tiny tongue. “The boy,” he rasped, “the boy, when I pulled it
from his hand.” He opened his eyes and began to scan the preceding pages
carefully. “Maybe they’re not important…,” he murmured, lips moving as he
followed the shifting, moving words. He concentrated on the bright
illuminated letters at the top of every page, which gave a clue to what
followed. Then he stopped abruptly, clutching the book in trembling fingers.
When he raised his head, his eyes were blazing. “I’m missing the Final
Summoning!” he howled. Yellow sparks danced around his head, and the rear
window behind him bloomed a spiderweb of white cracks. Tendrils of
yellow-white power dripped from his teeth like saliva. “Go back!” he roared
to the driver. “Go back now. No, stop, cancel that order. Flamel’s no fool.
They’ll be long gone.” He snatched the phone off the floor and, avoiding
Perenelle’s eyes, took a moment to compose himself. He drew in a deep
shuddering breath and visibly calmed himself, then dialed. “We have a slight
problem,” he said crisply into the phone, voice calm and unemotional. “We
seem to be missing a couple of pages from the back of the book. Nothing
important, I’m sure. Perhaps you would do me a courtesy,” he said very
casually. “You might convey to the Morrigan that I am in need of her
services.”
Dee noticed that Perenelle’s eyes had widened in shock at the mention
of the name. He grinned in delight. “Tell her I need her special talents and
particular skills.” Then he snapped the phone shut and looked over at
Perenelle Flamel. “It would have been so much easier if they had just given
me the Codex. Now the Morrigan is coming. And you know what that
means.”