The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

She’s had a lot of adventures over the years, but this morning she returned safe and well to San Francisco and Aunt Agnes.”
    “And you, Josh? What of you?”
    “Josh is no more. Now I am Marethyu. I am Death, and I am here to take you home.” His hook moved and a golden arc appeared over the bench. The air suddenly smelled of oranges, and he smiled. “You did say Paris, didn’t you?”
    The leygate opened and then winked out of existence.

EPILOGUE
    My Dearest Sister,
    I cannot promise you too many letters—you know how bad I am at writing, and there aren’t really phones where I’ve been.
    I wanted you to know that I am safe and well and getting used to the hook. I did scratch my head with it, but that’s a mistake you make only once. I’ve had a couple of offers to turn it into a proper silver hand or a golden glove, but to be honest, I’ve grown rather fond of it. And of course, it does have some wonderful advantages. I used it to make this most amazing Shadowrealm only last month. I put some great prehistoric animals in it and added two moons—and of course, there are no snakes.
    I believe you are off to London shortly with Aunt Agnes. Give my regards to Gilgamesh. It’s probably best not to tell him who I was/am/will be. He’s confused enough as it is.
    Please do not worry about me.
    I know that is like telling you not to breathe, but I do need you to know that I am fine. More than fine. I am discovering more and more of my powers every day. I am immortal and eternal and I regret nothing. We did the right thing: one to save the world, one to destroy it.
    You know that if you ever need me, all you have to do is look into a mirror and call my name three times. (Use the new name; I’m not sure calling Josh would have any impact.)
    If you ever call me, I will come to you.
    But even if you do not call, Sophie, know that I will watch over you all the days of your life.
    It’s what a brother is supposed to do, isn’t it?
    Marethyu
    Writ this day, the 10th of Imbolc
,
    on the Shadowrealm Isle
    of Tir na nOg
    P.S. The Flamels send their love.
    Marethyu
    P.P.S. We were at Aoife and Niten’s wedding last month. Scathach was her bridesmaid. Everyone cried.
    —M

AUTHOR’S NOTE
ATLANTIS (DANU TALIS)
    Did Atlantis really exist?
    There are thousands of books that will tell you it did, and an equal number that will say it did not. Was it in the Atlantic? The Mediterranean? Off the west coast of Spain or Africa, or the east coast of America, or perhaps in Mexico? Was it south of India? Is it buried under Antarctica, or was it in the heart of Ireland?
    The huge outpouring of research and speculation originates from a surprisingly small piece of text. Everything we know about Atlantis comes from the dialogues of Timaeus and Critias, written by Plato around 350 B.C. The word
Atlantis
is specifically used in Timaeus, where it is described as a vast island empire existing “beyond the Pillars of Hercules,” which are the Straits of Gibraltar, between Spain and North Africa. Plato gives us a very clear description of Atlantis, including the rings of land and water and the canals, walls and bridges. Each bridge, for example, was described as being one hundred feet wide—a detail I used when creating the Danu Talis that appears in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel books.
    In the second work, the unfinished
Critias
, there is a lengthier description of a catastrophic war and the ultimate destruction of the island in a single day and night by a combination of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.
    Plato is supposed to have based his text on a story told to the Greek lawgiver Solon three hundred years earlier. An Egyptian priest in the temple of Neith at Sais showed Solon the ancient story inscribed in stone. Some early Greek writers claimed to have seen those stones, but they have never been found.
    Significantly, in Plato’s own time, very few people believed he was writing about a real place—they considered Atlantis to be an idealized world that had been perfect in every way until it was destroyed by greed.
    There is, sadly, no evidence for the advanced civilization of Atlantis; however, every year, there are new revelations about Earth’s past, and we keep discovering that “primitive” peoples were not as primitive as we suspected. It is also true that around ten thousand years ago, at the end of the last ice age, the sea rose, and many shoreline communities would have been swamped. Recent