Ignoring him, she passed it to her brother, who handed it to Nicholas. She was shaking with the shock of what had just happened… and something else, too: fear. She had never seen Josh move like that before. Even with her enhanced senses, she had barely registered that Gilgamesh had a knife in his hand and then Josh had struck, neatly disarming him without saying a word or even rising from his seat. Drawing her legs up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around her shins and rested her chin on her knees. “Do you want to tell us what that was all about?” she asked quietly.

“It took me a while,” Gilgamesh said grimly, staring at Flamel. “But I knew there was something about you, something familiar.” He wrinkled his nose. “I should have recognized your foul stench.” He sniffed. “Is it still mint or have you changed it to something more appropriate?”

Both twins automatically sniffed the air but could smell nothing.

“It is still mint,” the Alchemyst said softly.

“I see you know one another,” Josh said.

“We’ve met over the years,” Nicholas agreed. He looked at the king. “Perenelle told me to say hello.”

Streetlights ran liquid down Gilgamesh’s face as he turned to look at the twins. “And I knew I’d met you before,” he snapped.

“We’ve never seen you before in our lives,” Josh said sincerely.

“Honestly, we haven’t,” Sophie agreed.

A look of confusion passed across the immortal’s face; then he shook his head. “No, you’re lying. You’re Americans. We’ve met before. All of you.” He pointed at each of them in turn. “You two were with the Flamels. That’s when you tried to kill me.”

“It wasn’t these twins,” Nicholas said quietly. “And we weren’t trying to kill you. We were trying to save you.”

“Maybe I didn’t want to be saved,” Gilgamesh said petulantly. He dipped his head so that his hair fell over his forehead, covering his eyes. Then he peered out at the twins. “Gold and silver, eh?”

They both nodded.

“The twins of legend?”

“So we’re told.” Josh smiled. He glanced sidelong at his sister and saw her nod; she knew the question he was about to ask. She focused on the Alchemyst as Josh spoke, watching his reaction, but his face was a mask, and the passing streetlights turned it dark and ugly. Her brother leaned toward Gilgamesh. “Do you remember when you met the other American twins?”

“Of course.” The king frowned. “Why, it was only last month…” His voice trailed away into silence. When he spoke again, there was a note of terrible loss in his voice. “No. It was not last month, or last year, or even in the last decade. It was…” His gaze drifted and he turned to look at the Alchemyst. “When was it?”

The twins both turned to Flamel.

“In 1945,” he said shortly.