The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

would have relished this battle.”
    Prometheus nodded in agreement. “And she’d have defeated the Spartoi too.”
    “They would have run from her,” Niten agreed. “I should have asked her to marry me.”
    Prometheus looked at him. “You loved her?”
    “Yes,” he said simply. “Over the centuries I came to love her.”
    “Did you ever tell her?”
    Niten shook his head. “No. I came close on a couple of occasions, but somehow, at the very last moment, my nerve always failed me.”
    Prometheus sighed. “So you didn’t do it. In my experience, we only ever regret the things we have not done.”
    Niten nodded. “You know that I have faced and fought centuries of monsters, both human and inhuman, and there is no one alive who could call me a coward. But I was afraid to ask Aoife to marry me.” The immortal looked over at the Elder. “What would I have done if she’d said no? Could we have remained together as friends if she’d rejected me?”
    “You should have asked her,” Prometheus said.
    Niten’s shoulders fell. “I know.”
    “Do you think she loved you?” Prometheus pressed.
    “It was hard to say with Aoife.”
    “And yet she stayed with you for how long?”
    “About four hundred years.”
    “I’d say she loved you,” the Elder said confidently.
    “And now she is gone,” Niten added. “Trapped in a Shadowrealm with a savage Archon, and no one to rescue her.”
    “I feel sorry for the Archon,” Prometheus said.
    “True.” Niten smiled, then froze and sniffed the air. “I am smelling . . .,” he began, then turned, breathing in deeply. The smell was all around them, a putrid stench that suddenly intensified as the Spartoi flowed out of the fog, spears and swords jabbing, mouths wide, claws outstretched.
    “It has been an honor to know you,” Prometheus said, sword blazing red in a semicircle about him, sparks screaming and exploding off shields and swords.
    “And it is an honor to die with you,” Niten answered. He dodged a spear, caught the head of another and wrenched it from a Spartoi’s hand, then deftly flipped it and plunged it into the surprised monster.
    The Drakon attacked.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
    THE TWINS FOLLOWED Isis and Osiris across a path of golden stones toward the entrance to the impossibly tall Pyramid of the Sun. Their boots clicked on the gilded walkway, the only sound in a cone of silence that gradually spread around them as everyone turned to look.
    Josh leaned close to his sister. “We’re attracting a lot of attention,” he said quietly.
    “I get the feeling that was the plan,” Sophie whispered back. She saw her brother’s blank look and continued. “I have a feeling we could have landed a lot closer to the entrance, but we didn’t. Isis and Osiris wanted us to go the long way so everyone would see us. I bet this is one of the reasons they made us wear the armor.” Sophie nodded to the people who had started to crowd around. “Look—who else is wearing armor?”
    “Well, the guards—” Josh started.
    Sophie cut him off before he could finish. “Besides the guards—who are all wearing black, I might add.”
    “Just us, I guess,” he conceded. “I hate it when you’re right.”
    “And this gold and silver armor is not exactly discreet, is it?”
    “They’re showing us off,” he said softly. Then he frowned. “Actually, I’m not sure I like that. It’s kind of like we’re animals in a zoo.”
    Sophie nodded. “Exactly—like prize attractions. They want everyone to know we’re here.”
    “I wish I’d brought my sunglasses,” Josh said suddenly. “Though it would probably ruin the look,” he added with a grin.
    “Armor and sunglasses.” Sophie smiled. “It would be an interesting image, that’s for sure.”
    “Wish I’d brought a camera, too,” Josh said, craning his neck to get a better view of the towering structure directly ahead of them. “The pyramid is pretty awesome. Look at the size of that door!”
    Directly ahead of them was a massive entrance into the heart of the Pyramid of the Sun. One hundred anpu stood shoulder to shoulder across the opening, all of them armed with spears that leaked a pale blue light. On either side of the door countless steps stretched to the sky, where the evening sun ran bloodred and golden off the polished stones.
    “Is it made out of real gold, do you think?” Josh asked.
    “Everything else is,” Sophie said. “Do you really think it’s paint?”
    As the twins