01_-_The_Alchemyst

“How…,” Josh began.
“It was an illusion,” Flamel explained. “Nothing more. Light twisted
and bent, reflecting the images of trees and bushes in a curtain of water
vapor, each drop of moisture acting as a mirror. And just a little magic,” he
added. He pointed ahead with a graceful motion. “We’re still in North
America, but now we’ve entered the domain of one of the oldest and greatest
of the Elder Race. We’ll be safe here for a while.”
Scatty made a rude sound. “Oh, she’s old, all right, but I’m not so sure
about great.”
“Scathach, I want you to behave yourself,” Flamel said, turning to the
young-looking but ancient woman sitting beside him.
“I don’t like her. I don’t trust her.”
“You’ve got to put aside your old feuds.”
“She tried to kill me, Nicholas,” Scatty protested. “She abandoned me
in the Underworld. It took me centuries to find my way out.”
“That was a little over fifteen hundred years ago, if I remember my
mythology,” Flamel reminded her.
“I’ve got a long memory,” Scatty muttered; for an instant she looked like
a sulky child.
“Who are you talking about?” Sophie demanded, and then Josh hit the
brakes, bringing the heavy car to a halt.
“Wouldn’t be a tall woman with black skin, would it? windshield” Josh
asked.
Sophie spun around to look through the cracked, while Flamel and
Scatty leaned forward.
“That’s her,” Scatty said glumly.
The figure stood in the path directly in front of the car. Tall and broad,
the woman looked as if she had been carved from a solid slab of jet-black
stone. The merest fuzz of white hair covered her skull like a close-fitting cap,
and her features were sharp and angular: high cheekbones; straight, pointed