01_-_The_Alchemyst

“Mr. Fleming is taking Perry out to their house in the desert and they’ve
asked us if we’d like to go with them for a little break. We said we had to ask
you first, of course. Yes, we spoke to Aunt Agnes; she said so long as it was
OK with you. Say yes, Mom, please.”
She turned to her brother and crossed her fingers. He crossed his too;
they had talked long and hard about what to say to their aunt and their mother
before they made the calls, but they weren’t entirely sure what they were
going to do if their mother said they couldn’t go.
Sophie uncrossed her fingers and gave her brother a thumbs-up. “Yes,
I’ve got time off from the coffee shop. No, we won’t be a bother. Yes, Mom.
Yes. Love to you, and tell Dad we love him too.” Sophie listened, then
moved the phone away from her mouth. “Dad found a dozen Pseudoarctolepis
sharpi in near-perfect condition,” she reported. Josh looked
blank. “A very rare Cambrian crustacean,” she explained.
Her brother nodded. “Tell Dad that’s great. We’ll keep in touch,” he
called out.
“Love you,” Sophie said, cutting the conversation short, then hung up. “I
hate lying to her,” she said immediately.
“I know. But you couldn’t really tell her the truth, now, could you?”
Sophie shrugged. “I guess not.”
Josh turned back to the sink. His laptop was perched precariously on the
draining board next to his cell phone. He was using the cell to go online
because, shockingly, there was no phone line or Internet connection in the
dojo.
Scatty lived above the dojo in a small two-room apartment with a
kitchen at one end of the hall and a bedroom with a tiny bathroom at the other.
A little balcony connected the two rooms and looked down directly onto the
dojo below. The twins were standing in the kitchen while Flamel brought
Scatty up to date on the events of the past hour in her bedroom at the other
end of the hall.
“What do you think of her?” Josh asked casually, concentrating on his
laptop. He’d managed to get online, but the connection speed was crawlingly