The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

Gold—as powerful as I have ever seen. And you are brave, too. That much is clear. You know what has to be done, and the swords will give you the power to do it, if you so choose, because even now, at this twilight hour, you still have a choice. And you do not need me to tell you that you will pay a price, a terrible price, no matter how you choose
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    By now, you will have heard the prophecy time and again. The two that are one must become the one that is all. One to save the world, one to destroy it
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    You know who you are, Josh Newman
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    Do you know what you have to do?
    Have you the courage to do it?
    The words slowly faded from the tablet, leaving it nothing more than a blank green stone once more. Josh turned it over in his hand and then gently slipped it back beneath his armor.
    Josh looked over at the girl who was not his sister but was still his twin, and they both nodded. “It’s time,” he whispered.
    “Time for what?” she asked, groaning as she got up, arm pressed to her stomach.
    “One to save the world,” he said, “one to destroy it.”
    The pyramid groaned as another earthquake tremor rippled through it. The nearby volcano detonated in a long slow rumble, showering sparks onto the city below. There was a sudden patter of footsteps around them. Josh grabbed Clarent and Excalibur and scrambled to his feet . . . just as Prometheus and Tsagaglalal, then Scathach and Joan, Saint-Germain and finally Palamedes, carrying a groaning Will Shakespeare, climbed onto the top of the pyramid. They were all bloodied and bruised, clothes torn, armor shattered, weapons broken. But they were alive.
    “We need to get out of here,” Prometheus said. “The earthquake will tear the pyramid apart.” They started to climb into Isis and Osiris’s gleaming vimana.
    “I thought I said I was never getting into another vimana,” Shakespeare muttered.
    Josh helped Sophie to her feet and half carried her toward the vimana. Scathach and Joan were about to go to his aid, but Saint-Germain put a hand on their shoulders. “No. Leave them be,” he said in French. “They need this moment together.”
    Sophie was crying. “Josh, we’re powerful, we can do something else. . . .”
    “You know what has to be done,” he said simply. “That’s why we’re here. That’s why all of us are here. We were brought here to do this one thing. This is what we were born for. This is our destiny.”
    “I should be the one to do it,” she insisted. “I’m older.”
    “No you’re not.” He smiled. “Not anymore. I’m about thirty thousand years older than you. And you’re injured. I’m not.” There were tears on his face now, but he was unaware of them. “Besides, I think yours is going to be the harder job.” He hugged her. “Let me do this,” he said, “and if I can, I’ll come find you.”
    “Promise?”
    “I promise. Now go,” he pleaded.
    “I will never forget you,” Sophie whispered.
    “I will always remember you,” Josh promised.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
    AREOP-ENAP HAD AWAKENED.
    Eight bruise-colored eyes looked at the Alchemyst, and then each blinked in turn. Although Areop-Enap had the body of a huge spider, set in the center of her body was a huge, almost human head. It was smooth and round, with no ears or nose, but with a horizontal slash for a mouth. Like a tarantula’s, her tiny eyes were set close to the top of her skull. Beneath the thin shell, the Old Spider’s mouth opened and two long spearlike fangs appeared. “You should probably move now,” she said in a surprisingly sweet voice.
    Nicholas scrambled away just as Areop-Enap erupted upward.
    The Karkinos was huge.
    But Areop-Enap was massive.
    When Perenelle had first encountered the creature, the Old Spider had been large, but she had grown within the protective shell. She stretched, her massive body uncoiling out of the muddy shell. Areop-Enap was easily twice the size of the crab. Finger-thick purple hairs on her broad back waved to and fro.
    “I am smelling Quetzalcoatl and that cat-headed monstrosity in this fog.” She turned to look down at Perenelle. “Madam, would you care to explain just what is going on?”
    The Sorceress pointed. “The crab is trying to eat you. It’s just eaten Xolotl. We need you, Old Spider.”
    The creature shivered. “I have waited a lifetime to hear that.”
    And then she jumped straight up in the air and landed on top of the Karkinos, driving it into the ground. The crab squealed, snapping