The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

keep them at bay while we try to awaken Areop-Enap. She is our only chance now.”
    “Maybe we can hold the windows and doors,” Mars said doubtfully. The ruined building was little more than a shell, with no roof and gaping empty rectangles for windows. “But if they charge us . . .”
    “They’re charging!” Hel shouted.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
    SOPHIE AND JOSH followed Tsagaglalal down a corridor.
    They were still shaken by what had happened in the long room. One moment, the young-looking woman in the white armor had been standing in front of the three monstrous berserkers, and the next she was standing behind them, her curved swords dripping black blood. The three bear men had folded to their knees with looks of absolute surprise on their faces.
    “Questions later,” Tsagaglalal said as they raced outside, “but let me give you some answers first.”
    An unlucky anpu guard spotted them and made the mistake of reaching for Sophie. Josh hit him hard enough to send him cracking back into the wall.
    “We need to get out of this building so you can use your powers,” Tsagaglalal said.
    Suddenly the entire building shook, a deep shuddering vibration running up through the floor.
    “Earthquake,” Sophie breathed.
    “My husband created it,” Tsagaglalal told them. “Even now the shock wave is racing here. He made it for one of you to use. But you need to be in a place where you can use it.”
    Josh stopped so suddenly that Sophie ran into him. Their armor clanged together. “I’m starting to get sick and tired of people telling us what to do and expecting us just to do it. If it’s not you, it’s Isis and Osiris.”
    Tsagaglalal’s gray eyes were huge in her head. “Oh, believe me, Josh, I am not telling you what to do. You will make—you
must
make that decision yourself.” She pointed down a corridor and the twins saw Isis and Osiris emerge around a corner.
    The couple spotted the children at the same time, raised their hands and started to run toward them.
    “You may believe that they trained you for one thing,” Tsagaglalal said, “so that they could rule this land through you. But my husband has always believed that there was more behind it. They are powerful enough to put anyone on the throne—so why spend millennia plotting and planning to make sure it was a Gold and a Silver? They want to use you for something more than just ruling the island empire. You two are powerful—incredibly powerful. Abraham believed it was your power they were trying to access. But that very training they gave you will allow you to take control and make your own decisions.” She spread her arms. “It’s your choice.”
    Sophie put her hand in her brother’s. “Let’s get out of here—we’ve already chosen.”
    “I know,” Tsagaglalal said.
    “How do you know?” Sophie asked.
    “Because I trusted you to make the right decision.”
    The twins turned their backs on Isis and Osiris and raced down the long hallway, toward the opening and the light.
    Behind them, the two Elders screamed their names. It was not a pleasant sound.
    “Kill them. Kill them all!” Bastet screamed. “No survivors.”
    She stood in front of the pyramid and watched the vimana circling and the gliders dropping out of the sky.
    The air was starting to buzz with arrows, and a few of the anpu had tonbogiri rifles and were firing at the attackers.
    The ground continued to tremble with minor earthquakes, and cracks were starting to appear in the stones.
    The Elders began to stream out of the pyramid. They looked around in shock, stunned at the sight of the vimana and gliders in the air. Arrows and spears began to rain down. An Elder, his face caught somewhere between man and monkey, staggered and fell, and that was all it took to galvanize the Elders. One creature, a figure wrapped in stinking wet cloths, raised his arm to expose a three-fingered hand, and immediately a vimana overhead burst into flames and spiraled down to explode across the square.
    The Elders howled, screamed, squawked and cackled in delight.
    “Kill them all!” Bastet shouted again. “Death to all the humani!”
    The cry was taken up by the majority of the Elders. “Death to the humani!”
    “No survivors!” Bastet howled.
    “No survivors!” the Elders chanted. Their mixed auras flared into a rainbow of colors as they began to pull down the vimanas with their powers. A handful of the bigger craft burst into flames and streaked across the city like