Part 29 (1/2)

Two guards raced into the foyer, drawn by the noise, and stopped abruptly at the sight of the ruined door and their colleague lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. One went for his weapon, the other for his radio... and a heartbeat later they were both unconscious on the floor as well. Aoife rubbed her hands together as she slipped her nunchaku back into her belt. ”This could be fun.”

There was an explosion of sparks as Niten drove his short sword through the computer server and the cables in the small office behind the front desk. ”Phones and Internet are down,” he announced.

Aoife laughed delightedly. ”Good. We've got a few minutes before someone notices the door is missing and calls the police. Let's find your brother.”

”If he's still here,” Niten said quietly.

”Oh, he's here,” Sophie said. She pressed her hand to her stomach. ”I can feel him. He's...” She jabbed her finger upward. ”Upstairs.”

The smoke rising off the Swords of Power had turned foul, mixing into a dark miasma that hung in the air.

”Coatlicue is coming,” Dee said quietly, standing behind Josh. ”Stay focused. Stay strong. You have been Awakened. You have learned the Magic of Water and the Magic of Fire. But these are not entirely practical magics. Soon you will know the rarest magic of all, the dark art of necromancy-and then there is nothing you cannot achieve. You will learn wonders. I did.”

The column of filthy smoke almost reached the ceiling. It was the color of mud streaked with rusty red. A rancid smell seeped into the room: the distinctive stink of serpents.

”Coatlicue...”

Josh tried to concentrate, but the serpent odor sickened him and the images of the snake-headed creature had returned. He wasn't sure where the images were coming from-from the Flamels, maybe? Were they trying to distract him? They knew he was terrified of snakes. Dee had told him that Nicholas and Perenelle had caused his migraine and had probably been trying to control his thoughts. The doctor had protected him with what he called a Warding spell, and the moment he'd activated it, all traces of the terrible headache and the stomach-churning nausea had vanished, so he'd obviously been right about the Flamels attacking Josh. But what Josh didn't understand was why? The only reason he could come up with was that they didn't want him to become a necromancer, and he was beginning to suspect that it was because they were afraid of what he might discover-about them, about the Elders.

Light.

And heat.

And flesh.

The mouthwatering scent of life.

The tingle of a powerful aura.

Calling to her. Calling, calling, calling.

Running and falling, crawling and walking, on limbs that had not been used in millennia, Coatlicue moved toward the light, toward freedom.

”Coatlicue...,” Josh rasped, his voice hoa.r.s.e.

The smoke from the blades on the floor before him had solidified into a thick brown sheet. He thought he saw something move behind it.

He was still trying to work out what he'd do with the Magic of Necromancy... but wait, hadn't Dee called it an art rather than a magic? What was the difference? And were there rules to necromancy? It had to be fueled by his aura, which meant that it probably followed some of the basic rules of the magics he'd already learned. So he'd have to choose very carefully before he decided to bring someone back from the dead. And how long could he keep them alive? Was there a time limit...?

”Coatlicue...”

Josh squinted. There was a definite shape moving behind the gauzy smoke.

He'd bring back Leonardo da Vinci, who was supposed to be buried in Amboise, France. And he'd love to talk to Mark Twain and Einstein and...

The brown smoke rippled; then two hands appeared and pulled it apart like a curtain.

Coatlicue emerged.

And she was beautiful.

”Where is he?” Sophie screamed, frustration and panic churning inside her.

They had fought their way up the stairs. There were no staff in the offices, only a scattering of uniformed guards, and they fell quickly to Aoife's nunchaku and Niten's lightning-fast fists and feet.

”We're on the top floor,” Niten announced as he drove a foot through the plate-gla.s.s door. The lock snapped and he stepped into what was obviously Dee's private office. He moved swiftly around the room, checking the small side corridors. ”Nothing. A bathroom, a kitchen, a small private elevator. No sign that Josh has even been here.”

Aoife spun around to look at Sophie. ”You said he was here. You felt him.”

The girl nodded. Her head was starting to thump with a sick headache.

”You said he was upstairs. Think. Where is he now?”

Sophie breathed deeply and concentrated on her brother. Then she frowned in confusion. ”Downstairs.”

With Niten in the lead, they raced down the stairs, leaping over the bodies of the unconscious guards. ”Twelfth floor,” the j.a.panese immortal called. Standing in the middle of the stairwell, Aoife turned to Sophie. ”Where is he now?”

Sophie visualized her brother's face... and then blinked. She raised a tentative finger and pointed to the ceiling. ”But that can't be right. It feels like he's upstairs now.”

Niten grinned and looked at Aoife. ”Secret floor,” they said in unison.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR.

Josh stared at Coatlicue. She was the most elegant and beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life. She was tall-seven, maybe eight feet-and looked like she'd stepped out of a painting on the wall of an Egyptian tomb. Jet-black hair cut in a straight line across her forehead hung in a silky curtain to her shoulders, and her eyes were outlined in kohl. Her skin was copper and her eyes were a deep l.u.s.trous brown. She was wearing a simple white robe and was barefoot. When she looked down at Josh, she smiled warmly, and although her lips did not move, Josh clearly heard her voice in his head. You called me and I came. I am Coatlicue...

When she stretched out her hand, he noticed that her fingernails had been painted in a snakeskin pattern.

Without even thinking, Josh took a step toward the creature and raised his right hand.

A solid sheet of flame blossomed in front of Josh, crisping his hair, searing his eyebrows and sending him staggering back. He shouted as he slipped and fell to the floor, voice high-pitched with terror, and he heard Dee roar and Virginia scream. He rolled over, and through the dancing flames he saw his sister standing at an open door on the opposite side of the room, fire still curling off her fingers.

”Sis?” Confused, disoriented, he climbed to his feet and then grunted as someone hit him from behind, sending him staggering forward, into the flame, toward Coatlicue. He threw up his hand to protect himself from the fire-and the flame instantly winked out, and he fell on his hands and knees at Coatlicue's bare feet.

”Jos.h.!.+” Sophie screamed.

Your name is Josh? Take my hand, Josh.

Immediately, Josh slipped his hand into Coatlicue's.

Sophie watched in horror as Josh stepped toward the creature trapped within the square of swords. Coatlicue had a body that was vaguely female, but with the claws of a crocodile and two serpents' heads coiling from a thick neck. A long robe composed entirely of writhing snakes covered her body. Dee's companion, the woman who had to be Virginia Dare, stood behind Josh and shoved him forward-toward the fire and into the sword square on the floor.

Instinctively, Sophie uncurled Perenelle's whip and lashed out with it. It keened through the air and laid open a long stripe across Coatlicue's back. One hissing snake head darted toward Sophie and spat a shower of white liquid at her. It fell short, bubbling and burning into the floor, giving her an inkling of what it could do to her skin.

Niten drew both swords and leapt toward Dee. A blade of smoking sulfurous yellow appeared in the Magician's hand and struck at the j.a.panese immortal. Niten easily countered the blows, sparks exploding where his metal swords clashed against Dee's burning blade. The j.a.panese immortal closed in on Dee, swords whirling, while the Magician desperately backpedaled, flailing wildly with the blazing longsword.