01_-_The_Alchemyst

Hekate’s eyes flickered toward the car. “A boy and a girl, dressed in the
Tshirts and denim that are the shabby uniform of this age. That is all I see.”
“Look closer,” Flamel said. “And remember the prophecy,” he added.
“I know the prophecy. Do not presume to teach me my own history!”
Hekate’s eyes flared and, for an instant, changed color, becoming dark and
ugly. “Humani? Impossible.” Striding past Flamel, she peered into the
interior of the car, looking first at Sophie, and then at Josh.
The twins noticed simultaneously that the pupils of her eyes were long
and narrow, like a cat’s, and that behind the thin line of her lips, her teeth
were pointed, like tiny needles.
“Silver and gold,” Hekate whispered abruptly, glancing at the
Alchemyst, her accent thickening, small pointed tongue darting at her thin
lips. She turned back to the twins. “Step out of the vehicle.”
They looked at Flamel, and when he nodded, both climbed out. Sophie
went around the car to stand next to her brother.
Hekate reached out first toward Sophie, who hesitated momentarily
before she stretched out her hand. The goddess took Sophie’s left palm in her
right hand and turned it over, then she reached for Josh’s hand. He placed his
hand in hers without hesitation, trying to act nonchalant, as if stretching out to
touch a ten-thousand-year-old goddess were something he did every day. He
thought her skin felt surprisingly rough and coarse.
Hekate spoke a single word in a language that predated the arrival of the
earliest human civilization.
“Oranges,” Josh whispered, suddenly smelling—and then tasting—the
fruit.
“No, it’s ice cream,” Sophie said, “freshly churned vanilla ice cream.”
She turned to look at her brother…and discovered that he was staring at her
in wonder.
A silver glow had appeared around Sophie. Like a thin second skin, it
hovered just above the surface of her flesh, winking in and out of existence.
When she blinked, her eyes turned to flat reflective mirrors.