Author's note: Yeah, hello everyone! This is my first SINF fanfic, so I'm really looking forward to working on this. I just finished the Enchantress and I don't know if it was just me, but I felt disappointed that Dee died. Granted, it would have probably happened anyway, but he was one of my top favorite characters next to Josh. Anyway, I was sitting in math class a few days ago, and while I was sitting there, I thought "hey, what if Josh actually went with Dee much earlier on in the series? Then what would have happened?"
So, this is my brain child. It shall start towards the end of The Alchemist and will start to differ from then on. If you have any questions concerning the plot or something of that sort, please feel free to PM me. I am nice person ^^
Warnings: Well, not now, but I'll warn you when we get there
Disclaimer: I do not own The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel series. The series belongs respectfully to Michael Scott, for without him; this series would have never come to exist.
(June 1)
The door gave a slight ringing sound as it swung open by a very red faced teenager. He walked across the gravel of the road breathing heavily. His throat felt raw with embarrassment and the jingling door chimes seemed to mock him. The wind blew his blonde hair, and the sunlight hurt his eyes as he stared up at it, trying to calm his pounding heart.
The boy, Josh Newman, sighed. He hoped the embarrassment would end soon, but the witch's words still rang in his head.
"You have to leave. What I teach is not for the ears of a humani."
A humani. She had said that as if it was a bad thing. It wasn't his fault that the Yggdrasill had been attacked before Hekate could awaken him. He swallowed the anger down as he kicked the dirt across the gravel. He was angry with all of them. Flamel, Scatty, the witch…but most surprisingly, he was angry with Sophie. When he had been forced to leave, she had said nothing.
The witch, the way she spoke, made it sound like Sophie was no longer a human. Well, entirely human. He wouldn't deny it, her newly awakened powers were extraordinary, but they made her so different. She was…one of them.
He gave another sigh and continued to walk towards the park across the road. The summer breeze blew again, bringing the sounds of the kids playing nearby at the playground and the chuckles of two elderly men as they sat on a park bench reminiscing about the old times. Josh frowned and sat in front of the park fountain, watching the water as it swirled around and reflected the sunlight.
He still could not shake off the fact that everything he had known was gone. All the work his parents had done was a lie, and every myth and legend was supposedly real. His head was beginning to hurt with all this new knowledge, every word that Flamel or even Scatty ever said, was swimming around in his mind. All he wanted to do was erase the memories of the previous day and go home. Go back to Aunt Agnes' house, crawl into his bed, and go to sleep and wake up thinking it was just a dream.
Josh smiled at the ironic thought, though it was short lived. Deep down, a small voice that sounded ironically like Sophie's, told him his life was never going to be the same again. There was no going back now.
He looked back at the fountain, approving at way they were designed. Two flower-shaped bowls, one larger than the other, were set in the center of a circular pool. Water spouted from the top bowl and flowered over the sides into the largest bowl beneath. In then overturned into the pool. He found that the sound drowned out the nearby traffic noises, and the noises swimming around in his head.
He stood up and walked toward the promenade near the antique shop. He remembered seeing an ice cream parlor and thought that maybe a bit of ice cream would cheer him up. He practically worshiped ice cream. Sophie was the one who didn't like it very much.
His finger tapped the menu: Blueberry chocolate chip.
He reached his hand towards the back of his jeans…and felt a rising moment of panic when he realized that his wallet was not there. Where had he put it? The car…the shop…?
And then it hit him.
The last place he had seen his wallet, iPod, cell phone, and laptop, was in his bed room in the Yggdrasill. He practically wanted to pull his hair and scream in frustration. All his important things belonged in those items. Losing his wallet was bad enough, but his laptop was a disaster. Unfinished honors projects, pictures of his family from the past three years and at least sixty gigs of MP3s. He didn't remember the last time he had backed up, but it had not been recently. He already felt ill, and the sweet smell of ice cream was not helping.
Miserable, he walked back to the corner and crossed at the lights facing the post office, then turned left towards the park. The park was quiet now. The children playing nearby sounded distant. The trio of old men sitting nearby was now gathered on a shady bench. One of them was feeding bread crumbs to a couple of fat pigeons.
Josh closed his eyes and sat at the edge of the water fountain. He brought the water up to his face and put the droplets through his hair and neck. The cool water felt good on his warm skin, refreshing him.
What was he going to do?
Was there anything he could do?
He knew deep down that he had lost his twin. She had changed in ways that he could not imagine. Why hadn't Hekate been able to awaken him as well? What would have it been like to been awakened first? Would it be like to have those powers? Even though they were making Sophie sick, he was still jealous that she was able to do extraordinary things with them.
"Are you a victim too?"
He jumped at the sound of the voice, realizing that there was a man sitting right next to him in a light gray suit. He remembered the golden rule his parents had taught him when he was younger. You never entered conversation with them, or even replied to them.
"It seems we are all victims of Nicholas Flamel."
Josh slowly raised his head, surprised to see the man he never hoped to see again. Dr. John Dee. The last time he had seen the man was in Hekate's shadowrelm holding the sword Excalibur. Now he was looking right at him, his tailored suit looking slightly out of place. Josh looked around quickly, expecting to see Golems, or worse, the Morrigan.
"I'm alone," Dee affirmed pleasantly, smiling politely.
Josh's mind was spinning again. He needed to get to Flamel, even though he wanted nothing to do with the man. Though, if he did go, would Dee stop him with his magic?
"Do you know how long I've been chasing Nicholas Flamel, or Nick Fleming, or any of the hundred other alias he's used?" Dee carried on conversationally. "At least five hundred years. And he's always given me the slip. He's tricky and dangerous in that way. In 1666, when I was closing in on him in London, he set a fire that nearly burned the city to the ground."
"He told us you caused the Great fire," Josh blurted out, but then felt rather stupid. What if he offended Dee and the older man decided to use his magic on him? "Nothing is at seems. Question everything." He found himself saying, and shivered as the remaining bits of sunlight began to set over head. Strangely, he didn't feel threatened by the man's presence. He felt almost…comfortable.
Dee's thin lips turned into a smile. "Flamel never tells anyone everything. I used to say that half of everything he said was a lie, and the other half was entirely truthful either."
"Nicholas says you're working with the Dark Elders. Once you have the rest of the Codex, you will bring them back to the world."
"Correct in every detail," Dee commented in a tone that surprised Josh. "Though no doubt Nicholas has twisted the story somewhat. I am working with the Elders, and yes, I am looking for the last two pages from the Book of Abraham the Mage, commonly called the Codex. But only because Flamel and his wife stole it from the original Bibliotheque du Roi in the Louvre."
"He stole it?"
"Let me tell you about Nicholas Flamel," Dee said gently. "I'm sure he's told you about me. He has been many things in his time: a physician, and a cook, a bookseller, a soldier, a teacher of languages and chemistry, both and officer of the law and a thief. But he is now, and always has been a liar, a charlatan, and a crook. He stole the book from the Louvre when he discovered that it contained the immortality potion, and the philosopher's stone recipe. He uses them to keep himself and Perenelle immortal and turn stone formulas into cheap copper and lead into gold, and coal into diamonds."
"And what of Scatty and Hekate? Are they Elders?"
"Oh absolutely. Hekate was an Elderand Scathach is a Next Generation. But Hekate was a known criminal. She was banished from Danu Talis because of her experiments on animals. I suppose you would call her a genetic engineer: she created the Were clans, for example, and loosed the curse of the werewolf onto humanity. I believe you saw some of her experiments yesterday, the boar people. Scathach is nothing more than a hired thug, cursed for her crimes to wear the body of a teen for the rest of her days. When Flamel knew I was closing in, they were the only people he could go to."
Josh was now beyond confused. He wanted to believe everything Dee was telling him, but a part deep inside him still trusted Flamel. Just a little bit. "What about you? Are you really working to bring back the Elders?"
"Of course I am," Dee responded smoothly. "It is probably the single most important thing I can do for this world."
"Flamel says the Elders-or Dark Elders, he calls them-would destroy the world."
Dee shook his head. "Believe me when I tell you that he's lying to you. The Elders would be able to change this world for the better," his fingers moved in the water, the ripples were mesmerizing. Josh could see images forming, the pictures moving and matching Dee's every world. "In the ancient past, earth was a paradise. It had an incredibly advanced technology, but the air was clean, the water pure, and the seas unpolluted."
Dee had cleared his throat, moving his hand again in the water. "Not only did the Elder Race shape this world, they even nudged a primitive hominid on the road to evolution. The Elders were driven out form this paradise by the foolish superstition of the mad Abraham and the spells in the Codex. The Elders did not die-it takes a lot to kill one of the Elder Race-they simply waited. They knew that someday mankind would come to its senses and call them back to save the earth."
A lot of what Dee said sounded plausible, or so Josh thought. The images in the water were beautiful. Almost the kind of pictures one would see in a picture book. The earth was beautiful, untouched by all the foulness people had put in it.
"If we can bring them back, the Elders have the powers and abilities to reshape this world. They can make the deserts bloom…"
An image appeared showing a barren desert forming into a beautiful oasis. And then it appeared to show a hurricane head towards the Gulf of Mexico, but Dee spoke again. "They can control the weather," and the storm vanished.
Dee's fingers moved again and there appeared the unmistakable image of a hospital sign with a long row of empty beds.
"And they can cure disease. Remember, these beings were worshipped as gods because of their powers. And these are the ones Flamel is trying to stop us from bringing back to the world."
It took Josh ages to form the single word question. "Why? He blurted out, not imagining why Flamel would not want a perfect world like that.
"Because he has masters, Elders like Hekate and the Witch of Endor, for example, who want the world to dissolve into chaos and anarchy. When that happens, they can come out of the shadows and declare themselves rulers of the earth," he shook his head sadly. "It pains me to say this, but Flamel does not care about you, nor does he care about your sister. He put her in terrible danger today simply to roughly awaken her powers. The Elders I work with take three days to bring someone through the awakening ceremony."
"Three days," Josh mumbled. "Flamel said there was no one else in North America who could awaken me." He found it hard to not believe Dee, but everything he said sounded so reasonable. And Dee was appearing to be honest with him, giving him the whole truth about things.
"Another lie. My Elders could awaken you. And they could do it properly and safely. It is, after all, such a dangerous process."
Dee got up slowly, walking around slowly to crouch right beside Josh, bringing his steel colored eyes level with his. Fog was beginning to thicken and swirl around the fountain. Dee's voice was like silk, rich and smooth. "What's your name?" he asked, his voice as gentle as the water.
"Josh."
"Josh," Dee echoed. "Where is Flamel now?"
A very faint alarm bell rang in the back of his mind, but it was very, very distant. He couldn't trust Dee. He shouldn't trust Dee…and yet so much of what he said had a hint of truth in it.
"Where is he, Josh?"
Josh shook his head. Even though he believed Dee, he wanted to talk to Sophie first. He needed her advice and opinions before doing anything. And it was the same with her too.
"Tell me," Dee lifted his limp hand and placed it in the pool. The ripples settled into the image of a small antiques shop filled with glassware, directly across from the park. Dee let a triumphant grin settle on his face before coming to his feet and staring at the road ahead.
"You sit here and enjoy the pretty pictures," Dee purred, patting Josh's shoulder. "I'll be back for you shortly."
Perhaps driving the van over the group of zombies was not a particularly good idea. Granted, Josh thought it was the only way to save everyone, but still. He stepped out of the driver's side, shaky from all the driving and the creatures coming at him. Sophie was at his side immediately, her eyes filled with tears.
"I've wrecked the car," he said simply.
Sophie screamed in joy, but it then turned to horror has a skeletal bear had risen from the ground behind him. Scatty moved, hitting him hard and shoving him out of the way as her swords took off the bear's claws.
The skeletal animals were climbing to their feet, all of them not looking so happy about being attacked. The sound of the antique shop door opened could be heard faintly among the growling. "This way. Here! This way!" The Witch called out.
Scatty supported Flamel and Josh half carried his twin as they raced towards the shop. The Witch was standing in the doorway, looking blindly into the night with an old fashioned oil lantern. "We've got to get you out of here," she pulled the door closed and locked the bolts. "That won't hold them long."
"You said…you said you have no powers left," Sophie muttered tiredly.
"I don't," The Witch flashed a grin. "But this place has," she led them into a tiny back room. "Do you know what makes Ojai so special?" she asked. "It is built on an intersection of ley lines."
Josh opened his mouth, his lips forming ley but Sophie cut him off. "Lines of energy that crisscross the globe."
"How do you know that?"
"I don't know; I guess the Witch taught me. Many of the most famous buildings and ancient sites across the world are built where the ley lines meet."
"Exactly," The Witch said, sound pleased. "Couldn't have put it better myself." The store room was bare except for a long rectangle propped up against the wall, covered in a back issue of Ojai's newspaper. She swept the papers to the ground to reveal a mirror. It stood seven feet tall, four feet wide, the glass dirty, speckled and warped, the images it showed slightly distorted and blurred. "And do you know what drew me to Ojai in the first place? Seven great ley lines meet here. They form a leygate."
"Here?" Flamel whispered.
The Witch nodded, her foot tapping the ground. "Right here. And do you know how you use a leygate?"
Flamel shook his head.
The Witch reached for Sophie's hand. "Give me your hand, child." She took it and put it on the glass. "You use a mirror."
The mirror immediately came to life, the glass flaring silver and then clearing. When they looked into the glass, it no longer showed their reflections, but rather the image of a bare, cellar like room.
"Where?" Flamel asked.
"Paris."
"France," Flamel smiled brightly. "Home."
He stepped into the mirror without hesitation. They could see him on the other side and he turned, waving them through. Scatty groaned annoyance on her face. "I hate leygates," she muttered, but stepped through anyway. "Make me nauseous."
The Witch took Sophie and pushed her through the mirror, noticing that she was hesitant. Sophie tumbled to the ground at Flamel's feet, and then crouched to turn and look back. Her mouth moved, but there was no sound.
Josh gulped, getting ready to go through, but a voice stopped him. "Josh," Dee commanded, staring at him intently. "Stay where you are."
Josh turned to the glass, noticing in panic that the figures were starting to blur. "I've told you the truth about Flamel," Dee said urgently. "Stay with me. I can awaken you. Make you powerful. You can help change the world, Josh. Change it for the better!"
The offer was tempting. "I don't know," Josh muttered. He knew if he sided with Dee, he would lose Sophie altogether. Or would he? If The Magician awakened him, they would be alike again. Maybe this was how he could reconnect with her!
"Look," Dee started triumphantly, pointing at the fading pictures. "They've left you, deserted you again, because you are not one of them. You're no longer important."
Josh turned back towards the mirror, which was now beginning to flicker. The witch narrowed her unseeing eyes at him. "What are you waiting for, you foolish boy?" she snapped. "Go!"
Josh felt torn. He looked back at Dee, and then he looked back at the mirror. He bit his lip, frustration rising within him. What was the right thing to do? He couldn't trust Flamel, and he certainly shouldn't trust Dee, but the Englishman made so much more sense than he did.
And then there was Sophie. Everything always seemed to lead back to Sophie. If he went with Dee, then he would be leaving Sophie all alone with Flamel. At the same time, however, Sophie never seemed to doubt what Flamel was saying to her and trusted him so blindedly.
Plus, he always kind of wondered what it would be like to go off and do things by himself. To just be Josh Newman, for once. Not Sophie and Josh. Just Josh. He loved his sister, but he was tired of being compared with or to her.
"Well Josh? What is your answer?" Dee asked, confidence now rising in his voice.
"Go into the mirror!" the witch lunged forward, grabbing him by the back of his shirt. "Do not trust that man!"
"Think about it for a second. I can awaken you! You can be like your sister again!"
Josh looked at Dee with wide eyes. If Dee could awaken him, he could be like his sister again! They wouldn't be strangers. He stepped closer to Dee, who had outstretched his hand. "I…" the mirror flickered again, the barest trace of silver beginning to show. "I'll go with you."
The mirror flickered out of existence and the witch looked at Josh in horror. "You've got about three seconds to run," she whispered. "Child, you've made a terrible mistake."
They were barely out of the store when it exploded.
Word Count: 3,653
Well, there you go. A first chapter of 3,528 words. For me, that is quite a lot. Most chapters are around 2,000 at the most. Anyway, review! I do love them! No rude comments or anything of that sort please! I don't really know where this is going yet, so any suggestions or ideas would be wonderful!