A stale unwashed smell assaulted Josh’s nose and he turned to find the bald man they’d glimpsed earlier standing close to him, squinting shortsightedly behind his thick black-rimmed glasses. His eyes were a pale washed-out blue. And he stank. Josh coughed and took a step back, eyes watering. “Man, you could use a bath!”

“Josh!” Sophie said, shocked.

“I do not believe in bathing,” the man said in his clipped accent, the voice completely at odds with his appearance. “It damages the natural oils in the body. Dirt is healthy.”

The small man moved from Josh to Sophie and looked her up and down. Josh noticed that his sister blinked hard and wrinkled her nose. Then she clamped her mouth tightly shut and stepped back.

“See what I mean?” Josh said. “He needs a bath.” He brushed dirt off the sword blade and took a step closer to his sister. The man looked harmless, but Josh could tell that something about him angered-or was it frightened?-the Alchemyst.

“Yeah.” Sophie tried not to breathe in through her nose. The stench from the man was indescribable: a mixture of stale body odor, unwashed clothes and rank hair.

“I will wager you are twins,” the man asked, looking from one to the other. He nodded, answering his own question. “Twins.” He reached out with filthy fingers to touch Sophie’s hair, but she slapped his hand away. Her aura sparked and the stench around the man briefly intensified.

“Don’t touch me!”

Flamel stepped between the man in the mechanic’s overalls and the twins. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “I thought you were dead.”

The man smiled, revealing shockingly bad teeth. “I’m as dead as you are, Alchemyst. Though I am better known.”

“You two have obviously met before,” Josh said.

“I’ve known this”-Nicholas hesitated, lines and wrinkles creasing his face-“this person since he was a boy. In fact, I once had high hopes for him.”

“Would someone like to tell us who this is?” Josh demanded, looking from the Alchemyst to Palamedes and back again, waiting for an answer.

“He was my apprentice, until he betrayed me,” Flamel snapped, almost spitting the words. “He became John Dee’s right hand.”

The twins immediately backed away from the man, and Josh’s grip tightened on the sword.

The bald man tilted his head to one side, and the expression on his face became lost and indescribably sad. “That was a long time ago, Alchemyst. I’ve not associated with the Magician for centuries.”

Flamel stepped forward. “What changed your mind? Was he not paying you enough to betray your wife, your family, your friends?”