Sitting alone at the kitchen table with the crystal skull between them, Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel looked at one another. The Alchemyst’s shoulders slumped, exhaustion clear on his face and in his sunken eyes. Taking a deep breath, he looked at his wife and said, “So what do we do now?”

Perenelle absently reached out to stroke the skull. She could actually feel the vague tingling residue of Sophie’s and Aoife’s auras on the crystal. “This changes nothing,” she said finally. “We fight.”

Nicholas wheezed a laugh. “Look at us… well, look at me. I can’t help you.”

“Between us we have more than a millennium of knowledge,” Perenelle reminded him gently. “We use our brains; that’s all we need.”

The door opened and Prometheus stepped back into the room. “Niten and Aoife have gone with Sophie. I’ve given them a car,” he said. “But it’ll take them two and a half, maybe three hours to get into the city.”

“Three hours?” Perenelle looked at Nicholas. “Could Dee teach Josh anything about necromancy in that time?”

“Last night, Josh learned Fire magic in a couple of hours…”

“He learned the basics. But it will take him a lifetime to master it,” Prometheus said.

“And who knows what Dee can do,” Nicholas added. “How he got here from London is beyond me.”

“He’s been declared utlaga,” the Elder said. “The message rippled through the Shadowrealms yesterday. His own masters have put an enormous price on his head.”

“They want him dead?” Nicholas was shocked.

There was only pity in Prometheus’s laugh. “They want him alive first.”

The Alchemyst sat back into the creaking kitchen chair and rubbed his face with his hands. “But this changes everything,” he said. “If Dee is no longer working for the Dark Elders, why does he need Josh? Why would he want to teach him necromancy?”

Prometheus moved away from the door. “Dee obviously has his own plans,” he said.

“Dee and Dare,” Perenelle reminded them. “A dangerous combination.”

“And now Josh, too,” Nicholas whispered. “A gold twin, trained in Water and Fire magics.”

Prometheus pulled out a chair and spun it around so that he could straddle it. It creaked ominously under his weight.

Nicholas squinted into the Elder’s face. “What happens if a pure gold twin, knowledgeable in the Magics of Water and Fire, is trained in necromancy?”

Prometheus shook his head. “It has never happened before, to the best of my knowledge. It is a powerful combination, but the real potential lies in the strength of his aura. The boy is extraordinarily powerful… he simply does not realize that yet.”

“Dee does,” Nicholas muttered.

“So Josh is more powerful than Dee?” Perenelle asked.

“Yes, I believe so. Much more powerful,” Prometheus agreed. “Just untrained.”

“And necromancy raises the dead, and with Josh’s power…” Perenelle began slowly.