The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

said, “I wonder what it’s used for, though. It sort of looks like a gallery.” She pointed to a wall where faded rectangles were visible against the stones. “See? Something used to hang there.” She turned in a complete circle. “No windows, only one door . . .”
    “So where’s the light coming from?” Josh asked. He couldn’t find any source.
    “I think it’s coming from the walls themselves,” Sophie said in wonder.
    Josh walked over to the wall and placed his hand flat against the gold stones, but they were cool to the touch.
    “There’s something here.” Sophie pointed to the floor, where the remains of an ancient pattern were barely visible. Josh came back from the wall, dropped to the ground and blew hard. Dust swirled away to reveal a series of perfect circles, one within the other, made from thousands of tiny gold and silver tiles. The inner circle was filled with yellow and gold squares, and silver tiles had been used to create a long C shape, like a moon.
    Sophie traced the outline of the silver crescent with the toe of her boot. Then she tapped the innermost circle. “Sun and moon.” She stepped back and looked closely at the design. “It looks like this section of the floor is older than the rest. See? The stones are completely different.” She knelt and ran her hand across it, tracing the outline of the moon with her finger. The merest wisp of her silver aura dribbled from her fingertip and seeped through the glove of her armor to puddle in the crescent, running like mercury. “I wonder where it came from. . . .”
    . . . a wall
. . .
    . . . impossibly long, incredibly high
. . .
    . . . in a scarred desert where the sky and earth were brown, and the sun was a distant dot
. . .
    She shuddered as the images filled her mind, then faded. She looked over at her brother. “It’s older than the pyramid. Much older. I don’t even think it’s from this world.”
    Josh circled the pattern, studying it. “This world is such a crazy mixture of magic and technology. They’ve got this amazing mile-high pyramid with lighted walls, and yet they can’t even fix the vimana. They can create Shadowrealms and make human-animal hybrids, but they wear armor and everyone carries swords. There are no cars, no phones, and nothing that even
looks
like a TV!”
    “I think we’re seeing a dying world, Josh,” Sophie said slowly. “Whoever created the original technology and built the pyramids is either gone or Changing. Sure, there are people like Isis and Osiris who have amazing abilities. But what do they do: instead of using those powers to do something useful, they’ve spent thousands of years working to make sure that we’ll rule Danu Talis.”
    “For them,” Josh said suddenly. He crouched down and looked at his sister. “They’ve gone to all this trouble to make sure that we’ll rule Danu Talis
for them
.” He emphasized the last two words as he looked into Sophie’s blue eyes.
    “I guess they just expect us to do whatever they want.”
    “I guess they’re going to be disappointed.”
    “And then what happens?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “I have no idea. Well, I do, actually, but I don’t want to even think about it yet.” Josh straightened and rolled his shoulders. “It’s kind of creepy in here, don’t you think?”
    “Creepy? What do you have to be scared about?” Sophie stood, dusting off her gloves, and stepped away from the ancient tiled pattern. “Josh, did you get a good look at some of the people we just walked past? I guess they weren’t really people, but just think of all we’ve seen and done over the past few days.”
    Josh nodded.
    “You should never be scared again,” Sophie concluded.
    Her twin shrugged. “I’m a little scared now,” he admitted.
    “Don’t be,” she said firmly.
    Josh rolled his eyes. “You’re always bossing me around. I can be scared if I want to.”
    They both grinned, and then Sophie leaned in and lowered her voice. “Maybe it’s my enhanced senses, but I think we’re being watched.”
    Josh nodded again. He rubbed the back of his neck casually. “My neck is tingling—you know that feeling you get when someone is staring at you?”
    “Isis and Osiris?” she suggested.
    “I don’t think so. What reason would they have to spy on us? They’re used to us doing what we’re told, like good little boys and girls. They trained us to be obedient, just like they trained their