Josh twisted around to look at the humanlike figures standing unmoving by the sides of the road. A sudden thought struck him and he twisted in his seat to look at the four people in the back. “So if he helped create the first humani,” he said hopefully, “then that means he’ll help us?”

Aoife’s laughter was ugly.

“What’s so funny?” Sophie demanded.

The warrior’s grin revealed her vampire teeth. “My uncle gave the humani life and taught them the Magic of Fire… but they abandoned him. They have always abandoned and betrayed him. Even your friend Saint-Germain,” she said, and abruptly caught Sophie’s arm, twisting it to expose the tattoo on her wrist. “First he befriended my uncle, and then he stole the secret of fire.” She shook her head. “Prometheus has no time for the humani. He despises them.”

Josh looked back out the window at the creatures, which had begun to crowd ever closer to the car. “So what are these First People doing here?”

“They are the Shadowrealms’ guardians.” Aoife grinned. “And they are hungry. Always hungry.”

The car suddenly jerked, then sputtered and died.

“I guess I don’t want to know what they eat,” Josh muttered.

“No, you don’t,” his sister said.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

“Niten?” Nicholas asked.

“Battery’s dead.” The immortal turned the key in the ignition, but it clicked uselessly.

Nicholas reached up to turn on the overhead light. Nothing happened. “The Shadowrealm has drained the power.”

“What do we do?” Josh asked.

“We sit and wait,” the Alchemyst said.

With a growing sense of unease, Sophie watched as the mud figures crowded in closer around the car. Wherever they touched it, they deposited streaks of what looked like dried and flaking earth on the shining metal. One flailing arm left a muddy smear across the windshield; another pressed against her door, completely coating the glass in sticky brown-gray mud. There was a thump as something fell onto the roof, and then the car rocked from side to side with the mass of heavy bodies pressing against it.

“What’s happening?” Josh asked, a tremor in his voice. A figure started to crawl across the hot hood of the car, the heat drying out its soft flesh, leaving chunks stuck to the metal.

“Don’t open the windows!” Sophie said suddenly, her voice cracking. She sounded different than usual-old and hoarse, her words heavy with an unidentifiable accent. “They must not touch us.”

Aoife spun in the seat to look at her, green eyes narrowing suspiciously. “How do you know that?”