Josh reached down and squeezed his sister’s hand hard. He wanted to distract her; he didn’t want her thinking about Palamedes. Even though Josh had never heard of him, he had no doubt that the Witch’s knowledge would tell Sophie about their driver. The man was huge, built like a linebacker or a professional wrestler, and he spoke English with a strange accent. Josh thought it might even be Egyptian. Four years ago, the entire Newman family had traveled to Egypt. They’d spent a month touring the ancient sites, and the man’s lilting accent was similar to the ones he’d heard then. Josh leaned forward for a closer look at the man. Massive short-fingered hands gripped the steering wheel-and then he noticed that the man’s wrists were thickened and his knuckles swollen and hard with calluses. Josh had seen similar hands on some of the sensei he’d trained with; they were usually signs of someone who had studied karate, kung fu or boxing for years.

“Hang on.” Palamedes made an illegal U-turn and headed back the way they’d come. “Just sit back and stay in the shadows,” he warned. “There are so many cabs on the street that they’re practically invisible; no one even looks at them. And besides, they won’t be expecting you to return this way.”

Josh nodded. It was a clever strategy. “Who are ‘they’?” he asked.

Before Palamedes could answer, Nicholas suddenly stiffened, staring out the window.

“You see them?” Palamedes asked in a deep rumble.

“I see them,” the Alchemyst whispered.

“What?” Sophie and Josh said simultaneously, sitting forward, following the Alchemyst’s gaze.

“The three men on the opposite side of the street,” he said shortly.

A trio of shaven-headed, pierced and heavily tattooed young men swaggered down the center of the road. In their stained blue jeans, dirty T-shirts and construction boots, they looked threatening, but not particularly otherworldly.

“If you squint,” Flamel explained, “you should be able to see their auras.”

The twins closed their eyes to little more than slits, and they immediately saw the ugly gray tendrils of smoky light that flowed off the trio. The gray was shot through with purple.

“Cucubuths,” Palamedes explained.

The Alchemyst nodded. “Very rare. They are the offspring of a vampire and a Torc Madra,” Flamel told the twins. “They often have tails. They’re mercenaries, hunters. Blood drinkers.”

“And as dumb as dirt.” Palamedes pulled up beside a bus, shielding the car from the cucubuths. “They’ll trace your scent as far as the church; then it will vanish. That will confuse them. With luck, they’ll end up arguing with one another and start fighting.”

The car slowed, then stopped as the lights changed.

“There, at the traffic lights,” Nicholas whispered.

“Yes, I passed them on the way down here,” Palamedes said.

The twins scanned the intersection but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “Who?” Sophie asked.

“The schoolgirls,” Palamedes rumbled.