The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

the stones anymore. She was rising slowly into the air.
    Josh was grinning widely. “Isn’t this the coolest thing?” he asked. “Virginia showed me how to do it.” He straightened his legs and allowed them to dangle, and Sophie followed him. “Sure beats walking.” The three were spinning slowly around one another as they rose skyward.
    “I’m standing on air,” Sophie said, stamping her feet.
    “Solidified air—it’s the same principle as a hovercraft.” He turned to Tsagaglalal. “What do you think?”
    She smiled. “You should have seen the looks on the anpu’s faces.”
    They rose faster and faster, the air streaming cold around them now, the steps blurring beneath them. The city grew small; the many battles diminished to dots of flame.
    As they neared the top, Sophie looked down between her feet and watched a shadow flowing up the steps and realized it was the anpu and the other hybrids. “They’re still coming. There are thousands of them.”
    “They will never stop until they are called off,” Tsagaglalal said. “And neither Bastet nor Anubis will do it. They need you dead.”
    Sophie looked up. “How close are we . . . Oh, there’s someone on the steps above,” she said in alarm. “It looks like . . .” She stopped, suddenly speechless.
    In burnished red armor, Prometheus sat on the steps close to the top of the pyramid, arms resting on his thighs, fingers clasped together. “Ah, there you are,” he said pleasantly. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
    “We?” Josh asked weakly. He was beginning to tire out.
    “Why don’t you take a spin around the pyramid,” Prometheus suggested lightly.
    With a tremendous effort of will, Josh brought the cushion of air clockwise around the sides of pyramid, finding Saint-Germain lying stretched out on a step, busy with his notebook. He waved up to them. “Wonderful evening, isn’t it?” he called. “Just look at that sunset—it’s positively musical.”
    Palamedes and William Shakespeare were on the north side of the great pyramid. The Bard looked at the Saracen Knight and pointed as the three people floated slowly past. “Now, that is something you do not see every day.”
    And finally they floated to the east side, which was already deep in shadow. Joan of Arc sat crossed-legged on a step, eyes closed, upturned palms resting in her lap. She opened her eyes, smiled brightly and inclined her head. “Very nice armor, Sophie.” As she was speaking, she spread her arms, the air suddenly filling with lavender as her own silver armor flowed over her body.
    “What are they doing here?” Sophie asked.
    “They are here to guard you and protect you,” Tsagaglalal explained as they floated higher, creeping closer to the top of the pyramid. “They will keep the anpu at bay for as long as possible. But don’t delay too long.”
    “What are you talking about?” Josh demanded. He was starting to shiver with the strain of holding the cushion of air together. “How close are we? I can’t keep this up much longer.”
    “Take us in to the steps,” Tsagaglalal commanded. “Now!”
    They had barely reached the stone steps before Josh slumped. Sophie and Tsagaglalal helped him stagger the last half-dozen stairs to the top of the pyramid . . .
    . . . just as Isis and Osiris’s crystal vimana dropped out of the sky and landed on the flat roof.
    “So now it ends,” Tsagaglalal murmured. “Now the fate of the world—this world and all the other worlds and Shadowrealms—is yours to decide.” Reaching into her armor, she pulled out a small rectangle of emerald and pressed it into Josh’s hands. “But before you make your final decision, you should probably read this.”
    “What is it?”
    “It is a parting gift from Abraham the Mage. It is the last message he ever wrote,” she said. She stopped at the edge of the steps, turned back and took both twins’ hands in hers. She smiled sadly, large gray eyes shimmering in the fading light. “I would hope to see you again in ten thousand years’ time. Be nice to your old Aunt Agnes, and know that she loves you very much.” Then she kissed each one on the cheek and turned away, walking down to stand beside Prometheus, leaving the twins alone on the roof with Isis and Osiris.
    Josh looked at Sophie. “Just you and me,” he said.
    “As always.”
    Then, together, they walked toward the vimana.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
    TSAGAGLALAL RAN ONTO the bridge.
    Her aura blazed cold white