The Magician (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #2) by Michael Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

where to find one, and even if I did, I would have no idea where their allegiances lay. Perenelle would know”, he added, a hint of sadness in his voice.
    “Would your grandmother know?” Josh asked Scatty.
    The Warrior glanced at him. “I’m sure she would.” She turned to look at Sophie. “Amongst all of your new memories, can you recall anything about immortals or Elders living in Paris?”
    Sophie closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, but the scenes and images that flashed by fire raining from a bloodred sky, a huge flat-topped pyramid about to be overwhelmed by a gigantic wave were chaotic and terrifying. She started to shake her head, then stopped. Even the simplest of movements hurt. “I can’t think”, she sighed. “My head is so full, it feels like it’s going to burst.”
    “The Witch might know”, Flamel said, “but we have no way of getting in touch with her. She has no phone.”
    “What about her neighbors, friends?” Josh asked. He turned back to his sister. “I know you don’t want to think about this, but you have to. It’s important.”
    “I can’t think”, Sophie began, looking away and shaking her head.
    “Don’t think. Just answer”, Josh snapped. He took a quick breath and lowered his voice, speaking slowly. “Sis, who is the Witch of Endor’s closest friend in Ojai?”
    Sophie’s bright blue eyes closed again and she swayed as if she was about to faint. When her eyes opened, she shook her head. “She has no friends there. But everyone knows her. Maybe we could call the store next to hers”, she suggested. Then she shook her head. “It’s too late there.”
    Flamel nodded. “Sophie’s right; it’ll be closed at this time of night.”
    “It’ll be closed, all right”, Josh agreed, a touch of excitement entering his voice, “but when we left Ojai, the place was in chaos. And don’t forget, I drove a Hummer into the fountain in
Libbey
Park
; that had to have caught someone’s attention. I’ll bet the police and the press are there right now. And the press might answer some questions if we ask the right ones. I mean, if the Witch’s shop was damaged they’re sure to be looking for a story.”
    “It might work”, Flamel began. “I just need to know the name of the newspaper.”
    “Ojai Valley News, 646-1476”, Sophie said immediately. “I remember that much or the Witch does”, she added, and then shuddered. There were so many memories in her head, so many thoughts and ideas and not just the terrifying and fantastic images of people and places that should never have existed, but also ordinary mundane thoughts: phone numbers and recipes, names and addresses of people she’d never heard of, pictures from old TV shows, posters from movies. She even knew the name of every single Elvis Presley song.
    But all of these were the Witch’s memories. And right now, she had to struggle to remember her own cell phone number. What would happen if the Witch’s memories grew so strong that they overwhelmed her own? She tried to focus on the faces of her parents, Richard and Sara. Hundreds of faces flickered past, images of figures carved in stone, the heads of giant statues, paintings daubed onto the sides of buildings, tiny shapes etched in shards of pottery. Sophie started to get frantic. Why couldn’t she remember her parents’ faces? Closing her eyes, she concentrated hard on the last time she had seen her mother and father. It would have been about three weeks ago, just before they had left for the dig in
Utah
. More faces tumbled behind Sophie’s closed eyes: images on scraps of parchment, fragments of manuscripts or cracked oil paintings; faces in faded sepia photographs, in blurred newspapers
    “Sophie?”
    And then, in a flash of color, the faces of her parents popped into her head, and Sophie felt the Witch’s memories fade away and her own come back to the surface. She suddenly knew her own phone number.
    “Sis?”
    She opened her eyes and blinked at