The Alchemyst

As Hekate’s Shadowrealm is breaking down, Dee performs a necromantic spell with the Goddess’s remains. She confirms that Josh and Sophie are the twins mentioned in the Codex, and informs him that she only awakened Sophie’s power.

Dee, Bastet, and Morrigan narrowly escape the crumbling Shadowrealm and wonder who Flamel might run to in order to awaken Josh’s power. Dee suggests that the Morrigan may be able to do it, as she has absorbed her two sisters’ magic. They realize that the twins’ trail leads toward the Witch of Endor, and the two Elders task Dee with capturing or killing them. Dee, who noticed that Bastet left her most loyal servant to die in the Shadowrealm, knows that he is expendable to the Elders. He has been secretly planning to ensure his survival.

Josh, Sophie, Flamel, and Scathach reach Ojai, where the Witch of Endor lives. Sophie is overwhelmed by her newly awakened senses, and Josh feels distraught and powerless. They find the Witch’s antique store, which is filled with mirrors, but the Witch is not there. While Flamel goes out looking for her, Scathach absorbs some of Sophie’s pain and fear to relieve her.

Perenelle wakes up in a cell in Alcatraz. At first, she is confused about the absence of magical wards keeping her locked up. However, she realizes that her guardian is a sphinx, a dangerous creature that absorbs magic, so Perenelle is powerless.

Flamel finds the Witch, who calls herself Dora. She has “the Sight, the ability to see the patterns of time—time past, present and possible-future” (323) and, although she is blind, she can see through mirrors. She is aware of Hekate’s death and decides to train Sophie in the magic of Air, knowing that it is the only path to a hopeful future.

Dora asks Josh to leave, as humans cannot hear what she is about to teach Sophie. Dora weaves a web of air and magic around Sophie, passing on her entire knowledge and memories to the young girl through the process. When she is done, night has fallen. They sense that Dee is nearby and run out to find Josh.

Feeling dejected and lonely, Josh is sitting by a fountain when he is approached by Dee. The magician tells the young boy that Flamel is a liar and a crook, and that he stole the Codex from the Louvre. He preys on Josh’s feelings of inadequacy to try to convince the young boy to reject Flamel and join Dee’s side, arguing that the so-called Dark Elders only want to make the world better. Dee is weaving a spell while talking to Josh, so the young boy unwittingly tells him where to find Flamel and the others. The magician leaves Josh in a trance before walking up to the Witch’s store.

As Flamel, Sophie, and Scathach leave the store, a dark fog has engulfed the town. Skeletons and mummies start roaming the streets toward them, and they realize that Dee has raised the dead from a nearby cemetery to attack them. They start fighting them off and calling out to Josh, but the undead crowd is too thick. Skeletal bears and wild creatures soon join the human dead while Dee’s voice taunts Flamel from afar. When a sabertooth tiger leaps on the alchemyst, Sophie lets out a magical scream.

Sophie’s scream wakes Josh from his trance. He realizes what is happening and notices Dee controlling the undead creatures from a distance. He drives the car toward the magician, forcing him to break his focus, and the skeletons fall to the ground, inanimate. Josh then meets back with the others before Dora waves them back inside her store. She shows them an old mirror that works as a portal to Paris and urges them to go through. When Dee enters the store, Josh is the only one who has not crossed over yet. The magician tries to convince him that the others abandoned him again, but Sophie comes back to get her brother. Dora then creates an explosion, which Dee narrowly escapes.

This chapter is made up of two newspaper clippings. The first one relates that a movie company owned by a certain John Dee caused confusion in Ojai when the extras for their new horror movie proved “extra-scary” (365) in the unseasonable fog. The second clipping is about an accidental explosion in a local antique store.

In her cell, Perenelle is worried about Flamel and the twins, but the security guard ghost briefly appears to let her know that they are safe in Paris.