I am tired now, so tired.
And I am aging fast. There is a stiffness in my joints, my sight is no longer sharp and I find I have to strain to hear. Over the past five days I have been forced to use my powers more times than I have used them in the entire previous century, and that has speeded up the aging process significantly. I estimate that I have aged by at least a decade-perhaps more-since last Thursday. If I am to live, I have to retrieve the Book of Abraham, and I cannot-I dare not-risk using my powers again.
But Dee has the Codex, and I know that I will be forced yet again to use my waning aura.
I must, if we are to survive.
Every time I use it I grow closer to death… and once I die, and Perenelle, too, no one will stand against Dee and the Dark Elders. When we die, the world will end.
But we are not dead yet.
And we have the twins. The real twins this time, the true twins of legend with auras of pure gold and silver. While the twins survive, there is still hope.
We are about to enter London. I fear this city above all others, for it is at the very heart of Dee’s power. The last time Perenelle and I were here, in September 1666, the Magician almost burned the city to the ground trying to capture us. We’ve never been back. London has attracted Elders from around the globe: there are more of them in this city than in any other on earth. Elders, Next Generation and immortal humans move freely and unnoticed through the streets, and I know of at least a dozen Shadowrealms scattered across the British Isles.
More ley lines meet and converge over these Celtic lands than over any other country, and I pray that with the twins’ Awakened powers, we can use those lines to return to San Francisco and my Perenelle.
And here too is Gilgamesh the King, the oldest immortal human in the world. His knowledge is incalculable and encyclopedic. It is said that he was once the Guardian of the Codex, that he even knew the mythical Abraham who created the book. Legend has it that Gilgamesh knows all the elemental magics-though, strangely, he has never possessed the power to use them. The king has no aura. I’ve often wondered what that must be like: to be aware of so many incredible things, to have access to the wisdom of the ancients, to know the words and spells that could return this world to the paradise it once was… and yet to be unable to use them.
I have told Sophie and Josh that I need Gilgamesh to train them in the Magic of Water and find us a ley line that will take us home. But they do not know that it is a desperate gamble; if the king refuses, then we will be trapped in Dee’s domain, with no possibility of escape.
Nor have I told them that Gilgamesh is quite, quite insane… and that the last time we met, he thought I was trying to kill him.