The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

her eyes, swaying in place.
    “What did you see?” he asked.
    “The Witch’s memories . . .”
    “Of what?”
    “You and me on top of this pyramid. Fighting.”
    He shook his head firmly. “That’s not going to happen.”
    “Yes, it is,” she said simply. “It will happen today. Soon.”
    “No, you’re seeing one of those probable futures. One that will never happen,” he said fiercely.
    A single silver tear leaked from the corner of Sophie’s eye.
    “Did you learn anything about us?” he asked.
    “No,” she lied. She didn’t want to tell him what else she had seen. That she had seen him alone and lost on the pyramid, abandoned, while she fled. . . .
    “But I did see Scathach. I saw Joan and Saint-Germain, Shakespeare and Palamedes. They were all here.”
    “Where?” he demanded.
    “Here, on the steps of this pyramid,” she insisted.
    “That’s impossible.”
    They heard a scuffle of footsteps outside the door and a brief hurried knock.
    “About time,” Josh muttered. “I was starting to feel like a prisoner.”
    The ornate door handle, a gold circle showing a snake swallowing its own tail, turned and the door rattled on its hinges.
    “Hang on, hang on.” Josh hurried over to the door and turned the key in the lock. He glanced over his shoulder at his sister. “How would they all get here?” he asked.
    And then the door slammed open, sending Josh skidding into the room on his back. He tumbled over and over, his golden armor striking sparks from the stone floor. Sophie raced to her brother’s side.
    A hooded shape moved through the doorway and stepped into the room. Two more followed, and the last one to enter closed the door and turned the key in the lock once more.
    The figures were tall and muscular, and even before they had shrugged off the hooded cloaks, it was clear that they were not entirely human. Although their bodies were those of men, they had the heads, claws and feet of black bears. Their clothing hung in rags about their bodies, and they wore thick bearskin belts around their waists.
    “Bear-sarks,” Sophie whispered. “Berserkers.”
    The three creatures produced short-handled battle-axes and black obsidian glass knives.
    Josh scrambled to his feet and pulled his two swords free. Sophie took up a position to his left and balled her hands into fists. “Do you have any idea who we are?” Josh demanded.
    “No.” The berserker’s voice was a brutal grunt. “Nor do we care. We have been sent to kill you,” he said. “It will not take long unless you fight. We hope you fight,” he added.
    “Oh, we’ll fight,” Josh promised grimly.
    “Good. More sport for us.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
    “VIRGINIA,” DR. JOHN Dee began, “I really do not think this is a good idea.”
    Virginia Dare ignored him.
    Dee fell into step beside the American immortal and caught her arm, forcing her to slow down. “Hang on, hang on, I’m not as young as I used to be.” He was red-faced and gasping. “I’m going to have a heart attack.”
    Virginia’s face remained expressionless.
    “I could die. Right here, right now,” he said.
    Virginia’s lips turned up in a feral grin. She dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Is that a threat or a promise?”
    “Oh, you’re harsh. You weren’t always like this,” he grumbled.
    “Like what?” she demanded. They were standing in the center of a fruit market and her raised voice attracted attention. Some of the stallholders and customers glanced at her curiously. Although she was wearing the white robe and conical hat of the humani of Danu Talis, it was clear that this young woman was different. It showed in the way she held herself, in the way she walked and especially in the way she dealt with the older man standing before her.
    Virginia poked Dee in the shoulder with a stiffened finger. “Never once, not even once, in all the years of our association did you ever bother to try and find out any information about me. You know nothing about me.”
    He glanced around nervously. “Lower your voice; people are starting to stare.”
    “I don’t care.”
    “I know you killed your Elder Master.”
    “And that is all you know,” Virginia spat. “In fact, that is all anyone knows about me. The first thing everyone says to me is ‘Oh, you’re the immortal who killed her master.’ ”
    “Well, it is an impressive fact,” Dee said. “There are probably a handful of people who can claim it, and of those, you’re the only one