The Magician (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #2) Read Free

of Paris wink into existence on the screen. Paris was an incredibly ancient city. The first settlement went back more than two thousand years, though there had been humans living on the island in the Seine for generations before that. And like many of the earth s oldest cities, it had been sited where groups of leylines met.
    Machiavelli hit a keystroke, which laid down a complicated pattern of leylines over the map of the city. He was looking for a line that connected with the United States. He finally managed to reduce the number of possibilities to six. With a perfectly manicured fingernail, he traced two lines that directly linked the West Coast of America to Paris. One finished at the great cathedral of Notre Dame, the other in the more modern but equally famous Sacre -Coeur basilica in Montmartre.
    But which one?
    Suddenly, the Parisian night was broken by a series of howling alarms. Machiavelli hit the control for the electric window and the darkened glass whispered down. Cool night air swirled into the car. In the distance, rising high above the rooftops on the opposite side of the Place du Tertre, was Sacre -Coeur. The imposing domed building was always lit up at night in stark white light. Tonight, however, red alarm lights pulsed around the building
    That one. Machiavelli’s smile was terrifying. He called up a program on the laptop and waited while the hard drive spun.
    Enter password.
    His fingers flew over the keyboard as he typed: Discorsi sopra la prima decadi Tito Livio. No one was going to break that password. It wasn’t one of his better-known books.
    A rather ordinary-looking text document appeared, written in a combination of Latin, Greek and Italian. Once, magicians had had to keep their spells and incantations in handwritten books called grimoires, but Machiavelli had always used the latest technology. He preferred to keep his spells on his hard drive. Now he just needed a little something to keep Flamel and his friends busy while he gathered his forces.
     
    Josh’s head snapped up. “I hear police sirens.”
    “There are twelve police cars headed this way”, Sophie said, her head tilted to one side, eyes closed as she listened intently.
    “Twelve? How can you tell?”
    Sophie looked at her twin. “I can distinguish the different locations of the sirens.”
    “You can tell them apart?” he asked. He found himself wondering, yet again, at the full extent of his sister’s senses.
    “Each one”, she said.
    “We must not be captured by the police”, Flamel interjected sharply. “We’ve neither passports nor alibis. We’ve got to get out of here!”
    “How?” the twins asked simultaneously.
    Flamel shook his head. “There has to be another entrance”, he began, and then stopped, nostrils flaring.
    Josh watched uneasily as both Sophie and Scatty suddenly reacted to something he could not smell. “What what is it?” he demanded, and then he suddenly caught the faintest whiff of something musky and rank. It was the sort of smell he’d come to associate with a zoo.
    “Trouble”, Scathach said grimly, putting away her nunchaku and drawing her swords. “Big trouble.”

CHAPTER THREE
     
    “W hat?” Josh demanded, looking around. The smell was stronger now, stale and bitter, and almost familiar.
    “Snake”, Sophie said, breathing deeply. “It’s a snake.”
    Josh felt his stomach lurch. Snake. Why did it have to be snakes? He was terrified of snakes though he’d never admit it to anyone, especially not his sister. Snakes, he began, but his voice sounded high-pitched and strangled. He coughed and tried again. “Where?” he asked, looking around desperately, imagining them everywhere, sliding out from under the pews, curling down the pillars, dropping down from the light fixtures.
    Sophie shook her head and frowned. “I don’t hear any. I’m just smelling them.” Her nostrils flared as she drew a deep breath. “No, there’s just one”.
    “Oh, you’re smelling a snake,