urn here. Dr. John Dee leaned forward and pointed to the right.

Take the Barbary Coast Trail and continue around to the Embarcadero. Then
follow the signs for the Oakland Bay Bridge.
Josh nodded, mouth clamped tightly shut, unwilling to speak and trying hard not to breathe too deeply. The Magicians breath was foul with the stink of
rotten eggs.
Where are we going? Virginia Dare asked from the shadows.
Away from here, Dee spat. The streets will be swarming with police and firefighters.
Josh adjusted the mirror so that he could see into the back of the car. Dee was sitting almost directly behind him, outlined in the faintest tracery of
yellow, while the young-looking woman sat on the right, as far away from the Magician as possible. She was tapping the wooden flute against her bottom
lip.
Josh focused on driving, keeping the heavy car under control and within the speed limit. He tried not to think about what had just happened and, more
importantly, what had happened with his sister. Shed turned against himor rather, the Flamels had turned her against him. But where was she now
and how was he going to tell his parents that he had lost her? He was supposed to look after her, protect her. And hed failed.
What was the name of the comedian, Virginia Dare asked suddenly, part of a double act, who said, Heres another nice mess youve gotten me
into?
Stan Laurel, Dee said.
Oliver Hardy, Josh corrected him. His father loved Laurel and Hardy. Even though Josh preferred the anarchic humor of the Marx Brothers, one of his
earliest memories was of sitting on his fathers lap, feeling his entire body shake as he laughed uproariously at Laurel and Hardys antics.
Oliver Hardy, Virginia Dare repeated, nodding in agreement. I met them once, a long time ago, when I first came out to Hollywood.
Were you in movies? Josh asked, glancing at her in the mirror. She was certainly beautiful enough.
Dares white teeth flashed a quick smile in the gloom. Before there was sound, she said, then turned to the English Magician. Well, heres another
nice mess youve gotten me into.
Not now, Virginia, Dee said tiredly.
Youve gotten me in trouble before, John, but nothing like this. I knew I should never have joined with you.
It did not take much to convince you, Dee reminded her.
You promised me a world , she began, and then Dees hand shot out and touched her arm, his eyes darting toward Josh. The pause in her
sentence was so brief it was barely noticeable. free of all pain and suffering, she finished, unable to keep the note of sarcasm out of her voice.
Josh turned right off Bay Street onto the Embarcadero.
All is not lost yet, Dee said. Not while we still have this. Opening his stained and torn coat, he pulled out a small book bound in tarnished green
copper. The book was about six inches across by nine inches long and was older than humanity. The doctor ran his fingers across the metal surface and
yellow particles danced and crackled beneath his flesh. The air immediately turned sour as their three aurasorange, sage and sulfurmingled. Sparks
danced across every metal surface inside the car. The interior lights flashed on and off, then died, and the satellite navigation systems LCD screen
bubbled with warped rainbow-colored streamers. The radio turned itself on and ran through a dozen stations before dying in a squawk of static. Every
indicator on the dashboard lit up with red warning lights. The heavy car jerked and stalled.
Close it, Josh called from the front. Its going to destroy the electronics in the car. Dee snapped the book shut and shoved it back under his coat
and Josh turned the ignition to restart the car. The engine coughed, then caught, and Josh floored the accelerator.
Nicely done, Virginia Dare said.
The Codex is the key, Dee continued, as if nothing had happened. I am sure of that. All I have to do is figure out how to use it. He leaned forward
and tapped Josh on the shoulder. If only someone hadnt torn out the last two pages.
Josh kept his mouth shut. Concentrating on the drive had, curiously, allowed him to think more clearly again. Beneath his red 49ers Faithful T-shirt he
was carrying the two pages hed torn from the Codex in a cloth bag around his neck. Although he had come to trust the English Magicianor to distrust
him less than Flamel, anywayfor some reason he didnt quite understand, Josh was still reluctant to let Dee know that he had the pages.
Everything is coming, Virginia Dare said quietly. And I mean everything. Those cucubuths we encountered in London are nothing compared to
whats heading toward this city. She twisted in her seat to look out the rear window. A tall column of smoke was rising into the sky over San Francisco.
The humani authorities will start investigating. First your company causes chaos in Ojai and now your head office burns down. Even as she was
speaking a rumbling explosion rippled through the air, sounding like distant thunder. And this is not just any ordinary fire. Im sure theyll discover that you
were storing illegal substances in the building.
A few chemicals I needed for my experiments, Dee said dismissively.
Dangerous chemicals, Dare continued. Also, you attacked two police officers. The authorities are going to be looking very closely at you, Dr. Dee.
How vulnerable are you to that type of investigation?
Dee shrugged uncomfortably. If they dig deep enough Im sure they will find something. Nothing can remain truly secret in this digital age.
Virginia blew gently across the top of her flute. The sound was harsh, discordant. The SFPD will bring in the FBI; they will talk to Scotland Yard in
London, and if they link it to the recent devastation in Paris, they will get in touch with the French Sret. Once the police start to look for you on their
surveillance cameras, theyll find you. Then they will start asking questions. I am sure they will want to know how you got from Ojai to Paris with no record
of your travel, and then managed to get back to San Francisco without boarding a commercial or private jet.
You dont have to sound quite so pleased about it, Dee muttered.
And let us not forget the Elders. I would imagine even now, Elders, Next Generation and assorted creatures are making their way here, following the
stink of magic. No doubt a phenomenal reward has been offered for you dead or alive.
Alive, Dee said miserably, they want me alive.
How do you know?
Machiavelli told me.
Machiavelli! Virginia and Josh said simultaneously.
No friend of yours, John, Virginia said, unless youve had an extraordinary change of heart in the last few hundred years.
Not my friend, but not exactly my enemy, either. He too has failed his Elder master. He jerked his thumb behind him. Do you know, hes only a couple
of miles away? Hes on Alcatraz with Billy the Kid.
Billy the Kid? Josh said quickly. The Billy the Kid? The outlaw?
Yes, yes, Dee snapped. The immortal Billy the Kid.
What are they doing there? Josh asked, confused.
Mischief, Dee said with a smile.
How can they get onto the island? I thought it was closed to the public.
It is, Dee said. My company, Enoch Enterprises, owns it. We bought it from the state. We told them we were going to turn it into a living history
museum.
Josh slowed as the traffic lights ahead of him turned red. Im guessing that was a lie, he said.
Dr. John Dee is incapable of telling the truth, Virginia Dare muttered.
The immortal ignored her. My masters instructed me to gather a menagerie of beasts and monsters in a secure location as close to the city as
possible. The island prison was the perfect location. And it had ready-made cells to house them.
The woman sat forward. What sort of monsters? she asked. The usual kind, or did you find something interesting?
The worst kind, Dee said. The nightmares, the savages, the abominations.
Why?
When the time is right, they want to release them onto the city.
Why? she asked again.
To distract the humani and allow the Elders to return to this Shadowrealm. The creatures will ravage through the city, and even the most modern army,
with all its weapons and firepower, will be unable to stop them. When the city is on the very edge of collapse, the Elders will appear and defeat them. The
Elders will become the saviors of the humani and be worshipped again as gods.
But why do that? Josh asked.
Once they come back, they can start to repair the earth.
I know that. But why cant they just return? Why do you have to destroy the city?
Not the entire city , Dee began.
You know what I mean!
The Elders will destroy the beasts and repair the city. It will happen in the full glare of the media and be a spectacular demonstration of their powers.
Josh, remember, the Elders powers are nothing short of miraculous. Well, they can tell people about those powers or they can simply show the humani