01_-_The_Alchemyst

minute. The end of the bridge was in sight. He grinned; they were going to
make it.
And then the huge crow landed on the hood.
Sophie screamed and Josh jerked the wheel, attempting to knock the
evil-looking creature off, but it had hooked its feet into the raised ridges on
the hood. It cocked its head to one side, looking first at Josh, then Sophie,
and then, in two short hops, it came right up to the windshield and
deliberately peered inside, black eyes glittering.
It pecked at the glass…and a tiny starred puncture mark appeared.
“It shouldn’t be able to do that,” Josh said, trying to keep his eyes on the
road.
The crow pecked again and another hole appeared. Then there was a
thump, followed by a second and a third, and three more crows landed on the
roof of the car. The metal roof pinged as the birds began to peck at it.
“I hate crows.” Scathach sighed. She rooted through her bag and pulled
out a set of nunchaku—two twelve-inch lengths of ornately carved wood
linked by four and a half inches of chain. She tapped the sticks in the palm of
her hand. “Pity we haven’t got a sunroof,” she said. “I could get out there and
give them a little taste of this.”
Flamel pointed to where a long shaft of sunlight was coming through a
pinhole in the roof. “We may soon have. Besides,” he added, “these are not
normal crows. The three on the roof and the one on the hood are Dire-Crows,
the Morrigan’s special pets.”
The huge bird on the hood tapped the windshield again, and this time, its
beak actually penetrated the glass.
“I’m not sure what I can do…,” Scathach began, and then Sophie leaned
over and hit the windshield wiper switch. The heavy blades activated…and
simply swept the bird off the hood in a flurry of feathers and a shrill croak of
surprise. The red-haired warrior grinned. “Well, there is that, of course.”
Now the rest of the birds had reached the SUV. They settled on the
vehicle in a great blanket. First dozens, then hundreds gathered on the roof,