The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

said icily. “They adapt—always have, always will. What you are doing is wrong.”
    “We shall have to agree to disagree.”
    “I hate that phrase.”
    Osiris and Virginia Dare were sitting on either side of a round pool in a small enclosed courtyard. Overhead, a patterned silk awning protected them from the slanting sunshine. The air was bright with flowers and heavy with perfume. Virginia had grown up in the forest and later trained as a botanist and horticulturalist, yet she recognized few of the plants. Enormous water lilies covered the surface of the pool, and almost transparent thumbnail-sized frogs moved slowly across the leaves, following the sun. The frogs hissed like cats.
    Osiris had changed into a loose white linen shirt and white trousers that ended high above his ankles. His feet were bare, and the American immortal noted that his toenails were painted black.
    “What happened with the anpu?” Osiris asked.
    Virginia’s slate-gray eyes blinked gold as she looked away from the table. “Oh, that,” she said lightly. “They got in my way.”
    “They would have stepped out of your way if you had identified yourselves. It was a mistake.” Osiris smiled, but it was nothing more than a movement of his lips, and there was no genuine emotion in it.
    “Their mistake was trying to stop me.”
    “Do you usually deal so harshly with those who get in your way?”
    “Yes.” Her smile matched the Elder’s. “I resent anyone—or anything—who attempts to curtail my liberty.”
    “I will remember that.”
    “Do. I grew up with nothing. No clothes, no food, no money, no possessions. All I had was my liberty. I learned to value it.”
    Osiris steepled his hands before his face. “You are an interesting person, Virginia Dare.”
    “Not really. I’m actually very simple, and my rule is equally simple: stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.”
    “I will remember that also.”
    Sophie’s laugher rang out and they both turned toward the sound. Through a wall of glass, they caught a glimpse of Sophie and Josh exploring the vast circular house.
    “First time I’ve heard her laugh,” the immortal remarked, then turned back to the Elder, eyeing him carefully. “Their arrival here was not a surprise. I get the impression that we are nearing the end of a plan that was laid down a long time ago.”
    Osiris sat back in a chair that had been carved from a block of solid gold and steepled his hands before his face again. “You are very astute.”
    “Underestimate me at your peril.” She smiled. “My Elder master did—and you know what happened to him.”
    “I wonder if you would be so brave without your flute,” Osiris commented.
    Virginia reached under her shirt and produced the simple wooden flute. She shook it out of its cloth bag and sunlight shivered across the spiral designs etched into the wood. Osiris stiffened, and she noted how his hand dropped to the sides of the chair. She guessed there was a weapon concealed in one of the armrests—a knife or throwing star, probably. Suddenly she tossed the flute at the Elder.
    Osiris snatched the instrument out of the air—and then hissed as the flesh of his palm sizzled and smoked. He flung the flute toward the pool, but Virginia caught it, spun it once to make it sing and tucked it into its bag and back beneath her clothes in one smooth movement.
    Osiris dropped to his knees and pushed his hand into the water. “You could have warned me,” he said.
    “If I’d told you that you wouldn’t be able to hold it, would you have believed me?”
    “Probably not,” he admitted.
    “A demonstration is worth a thousand words.”
    “I’ve come across such artifacts before,” Osiris told her. “Some are Earthlord or Archon. I’ve never been able to work out why the Elders cannot touch them. Do you know?”
    “Yes, I do,” she said simply.
    “But you’re not going to tell me?”
    “No, I’m not.”
    Osiris returned to the golden chair and sat down, his right hand dripping water on the white flagstones. “Miss Dare, what a revelation you are,” he murmured. “I suddenly realize that for centuries I have been dealing with the wrong humani agent. Dee was a fool—a useful fool, admittedly. But we should have been dealing with you.”
    Virginia Dare shook her head. “You were always able to control the doctor. You would not have been able to control me.”
    Osiris nodded. “Maybe so. But we would have dealt with you