The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

and trailing roses flowed over the walls. “The ziggurat is the Palace of the Sun, home of the rulers of Danu Talis,” Isis said. “And beginning today, your home.”
    “I hope we have gardeners,” Josh muttered.
    “Josh, you will have everything,” Isis said sincerely. “On this island, you will both be the absolute rulers. The humani will worship you as gods.” She swiveled around in her seat to look at the twins. “You have been Awakened; you have a hint of the extent of your powers. Those powers will expand in the months to come. We will find the finest teachers to train you.” She smiled and her black tongue wriggled like a worm in her mouth. “Soon you will be able to create your own Shadowrealms. Think of that: you could make a world and populate it with anything you desire.”
    Josh grinned. “That’d be cool. I’m having no snakes in my worlds.”
    “Once you become the rulers of Danu Talis, you can have anything—everything—you want,” Osiris added.
    “You’ve never really explained what we have to do to become rulers,” Sophie said hesitantly.
    Isis swiveled in her seat. “Why, you do nothing. We will simply present you as the Gold and Silver.”
    “And we do nothing?” Sophie persisted. It just didn’t sound right.
    “Nothing,” Isis said, turning away.
    The twins glanced at one another. Neither believed her.
    “The assembled Elders will know you to be the true rulers of the island,” Osiris said. “For the last few millennia, a single family has ruled Danu Talis, but it was not always thus. In the beginning, even before it was first raised from the sea, the Elders, and the Great Elders too, were ruled by Gold and Silver—individuals with extraordinary auras.”
    “Individuals?” Sophie said, looking quickly at her brother, wondering if he realized the implications of what their father—Osiris, she corrected herself—was saying. “Not twins?”
    “Usually individuals,” Osiris said. “And rarely, very, very rarely, twins. In the entire history of the island, there has only been a handful of Gold and Silver twins. Their powers were almost beyond comprehension. It is said that the original twins created the first Shadowrealms, that they could move through time itself. There’s even a story,” he laughed, “that this world is a Shadowrealm created by them. But Gold and Silver twins have always been the true rulers of the island.”
    “So you see,” Isis said, “the Elders of Danu Talis will have to accept you as their rulers.”
    Sophie sat back in the chair. “There has to be someone who will object.”
    “Of course,” Isis said very softly, “and we will deal with those objections when the time comes.” Although her voice was just as light and unemotional as it had been since they’d arrived, there was a clear threat in her words.
    “Is it normal for so many people to be out in the streets?” Josh asked. He was leaning to his right, looking over the side of the craft to the city and canals below.
    Sophie saw Isis and Osiris glance at one another, but they said nothing. She looked across Danu Talis. Plumes of smoke spiraled up in the still evening air and her pulse quickened. “Look! There are fires! It looks like burning buildings.”
    “There is some unrest,” Osiris snapped, voice rising in outrage. Then he took a deep shuddering breath and continued in a more even tone. “There is a
little
civil unrest. In every city, in every time, there will always be the discontented.”
    “They too will be dealt with,” Isis said flatly. “But not today and not tonight. This is a time for celebration!”
    The vimana swung around and dipped toward the pyramid, its circular shadow skimming across the canals and golden streets.
    Sophie noticed that all the canals leading to the pyramid were guarded by anpu. There were crowds of white-robed humans on the opposite side of the water. They seemed to be shouting and waving their fists, and Sophie thought she saw fruit and other missiles sailing over the canals and into the massed ranks of the anpu.
    “I thought we’d be landing on top of the pyramid,” Josh said.
    “Not landing on it, landing in front. It’s hollow,” Isis said. “We’re going into it.”
    Osiris tipped the nose of the craft and a huge golden square in front of the pyramid came into view. As they moved closer, the twins could see that the square was crowded with people and carriages. Half a dozen vimana, in various states of disrepair,