A dozen times during the course of the long day, Nicholas Flamel had been tempted to wake the twins, but Gilgamesh and Palamedes stood guard over them. The king had pulled a barrel alongside Josh; the knight had squatted down on a broken box beside Sophie. The two men scratched out a square board in the dirt and played endless games of checkers with stones and seeds, rarely speaking except to keep score with scraps of broken twig.

The first time Flamel had approached the twins, the two men had looked up, matching expressions of distrust on their faces. “Leave them be. They must sleep,” Gilgamesh said firmly. “The Magic of Water is unique. Unlike the other magics, which are external-spells that can be memorized, an aura that can be charged and shaped-the power of Water magic comes from within. We are all creatures of water. This is the magic we are born with. I have awakened that knowledge deep within their cells, their DNA. Now their bodies need to adapt, adjust and absorb what they have just learned. To awaken them now would be just too dangerous.”

Flamel folded his arms and looked down at the sleeping twins. “And how long are we expected to sit here, waiting?”

“All day and all night, if we have to,” Gilgamesh snapped.

“Dee is tearing this country apart looking for us, my Perenelle is trapped on an island full of monsters. We can’t just-” Flamel began angrily.

“Oh yes we can. And we will.” Palamedes slowly rose to his full height, towering over the Alchemyst. There was an expression of disgust on his face, and the scars under his eyes were bright against his dark skin. “You told me earlier that you did not kill people.”

“I don’t!”

“Well, I do.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Yes,” the knight said simply. “Impatience and stupidity claim more victims than any weapon. You will heed the king. Wake the twins now and you will kill them.” He paused and then added bitterly, “Just as you killed the others before them.” He turned his head to look down on Sophie and Josh. “Have you ever wondered if some of those who died might have been the twins of legend, and it was your eagerness that caused their deaths or was responsible for their madness?”

“Not a day passes that I do not think about them,” Flamel said sincerely.

The Saracen Knight sat down and stared at the game board carved into the earth. He moved a piece, then looked up again and spoke very softly. “And if you take a step closer, I will kill you.”

The Alchemyst had no doubt that he meant it.