“But have you, Nicholas Flamel?”

“I don’t like your tone.”

In the rearview mirror, Palamedes’ smile was ferocious. “I don’t care whether you like it or not. Because I really do not like you, nor those others like you, who think they know what is best for this world. Who appointed you the guardian of the humani?”

“I am not the first; there were others before me.”

“There have always been people like you, Nicholas Flamel. People who think they know what’s best, who decide what people should see and read and listen to, who ultimately try to shape how the rest of the world thinks and acts. I’ve spent my entire life fighting against the likes of you.”

Josh leaned forward. “Are you with the Dark Elders?”

But it was Flamel who answered. His voice was scornful. “Palamedes the Saracen Knight has not taken sides in centuries. He is similar to Hekate in that respect.”

“Another of your victims,” Palamedes added. “You brought ruin to her world.”

“If you dislike me so much,” Flamel said icily, “then what are you doing here?”

“Francis asked me to help, and despite his many faults, or perhaps because of them, I consider him a friend.” The taxi driver fell silent, and then his brown eyes flickered in the rearview mirror to look over Sophie and Josh. “And, of course, because of this latest set of twins,” he added.

Sophie broke in and asked the question that was forming on her brother’s lips. “What do you mean, the latest set?”

“You think you’re the first?” Palamedes barked a laugh. “The Alchemyst and his wife have been looking for the twins of legend for centuries. They’ve spent the past five hundred years collecting young men and women just like you.”

Sophie and Josh looked at one another, shocked. Josh lurched forward. “What happened to the others?” he demanded.

Palamedes ignored the question, so the boy rounded on Nicholas. “What happened to the others?” he repeated, his voice cracking as it rose almost to a shout. For a single heartbeat his eyes blinked gold.

The Alchemyst looked down, then slowly and deliberately peeled Josh’s fingers off his arm where he had grabbed him.

“Tell me!” Josh could see the lie forming behind the immortal’s eyes and shook his head. “We deserve the truth,” he snapped. “Tell us.”

Flamel took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said finally. “There have been others, it is true, but they were not the twins of legend.” Then he sat back in the seat and folded his arms across his chest. He looked from Josh to Sophie, his face an expressionless mask. “You are.”

“What happened to the other twins?” Josh demanded, voice trembling with a combination of anger and fear.

The Alchemyst turned his face away and stared out the window.

“I heard they died,” Palamedes said from the front seat. “Died or went mad.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN