Michael Scott - The First Codex: The Alchemyst; The Magician; The Sorceress

This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

The Alchemyst
Text copyright 2007 by Michael Scott
Cover art copyright 2007 by Michael Wagner

The Magician
Text copyright 2008 by Michael Scott
Cover art copyright 2008 by Michael Wagner

The Sorceress
Text copyright 2009 by Michael Scott
Cover art copyright 2009 by Michael Wagner

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

The titles in this collection were originally published separately in hardcover by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, New York, in 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively.

Delacorte Press and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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The Alchemyst
Random House Childrens Books
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2007 by Michael Scott
eISBN: 978-0-375-84317-4

The Magician
Random House Childrens Books
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2008 by Michael Scott
eISBN: 978-0-375-84908-4

The Sorceress
Random House Childrens Books
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2009 by Michael Scott
eISBN: 978-0-375-89271-4

The First Codex
Random House Childrens Books
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2012 by Michael Scott
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
eISBN: 978-0-307-97802-8

A Delacorte Press Ebook Edition
Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

v3.1_r3

Published by Delacorte Press an imprint of Random House Childrens Books a division of Random House, Inc. New York

This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright 2007 by Michael Scott

All rights reserved.

Delacorte Press and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

www.GetUnderlined.com

Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
RHTeachersLibrarians.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Scott, Michael Dylan.

The alchemyst: the secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel / Michael Scott.1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: While working at pleasant but mundane summer jobs in San Francisco, fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.

(Gibraltar lib. bdg.)

1. Flamel, Nicolas, d. 1418Juvenile fiction. 2. Dee, John, 15271608Juvenile fiction. [1. Flamel, Nicolas, d. 1418Fiction. 2. Dee, John, 15271608Fiction. 3. AlchemistsFiction. 4. MagicFiction. 5. SupernaturalFiction. 6. Brothers and sistersFiction. 7. TwinsFiction. 8. San Francisco (Calif.)Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.S42736Alc 2007

[Fic]dc22

2006024417

eISBN: 978-0-375-84317-4

v3.0_r1

FRIDAY,

1st June

THURSDAY,

31st May

I am legend.

Death has no claim over me, illness cannot touch me. Look at me now and it would be hard to put an age upon me, and yet I was born in the Year of Our Lord 1330, more than six hundred and seventy years ago.

I have been many things in my time: a physician and a cook, a bookseller and a soldier, a teacher of languages and chemistry, both an officer of the law and a thief.

But before all these I was an alchemyst. I was the Alchemyst.

I was acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of all, sought after by kings and princes, by emperors and even the Pope himself. I could turn ordinary metal into gold, I could change common stones into precious jewels. More than this: I discovered the secret of Life Eternal hidden deep in a book of ancient magic.

Now my wife, Perenelle, has been kidnapped and the book stolen.

Without the book, she and I will age. Within the full cycle of the moon, we will wither and die. And if we die, then the evil we have so long fought against will triumph. The Elder Race will reclaim this Earth again, and they will wipe humanity from the face of this planet.

But I will not go down without a fight.

For I am the immortal Nicholas Flamel.

From the Day Booke of Nicholas Flamel, Alchemyst
Writ this day, Thursday, 31st May, in
San Francisco, my adopted city

For Claudette, of course
iamque opus exegi

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

D eep beneath Alcatraz, Perenelle Flamel lay on a narrow cot, her face turned toward the back wall of her cell. Behind her, in the corridor outside, she could hear the sphinx click-clacking up and down the cold stone floors, and the air was heavy with the musky odors of snake and lion. Perenelle shivered. The cell was freezing, and green-tinged water was dripping down the wall inches from her face.

Where was Nicholas?

What was happening?

Perenelle was afraid, but not for herself. The fact that she was alive meant that Dee needed her for something, and that sooner or later she would come face to face with him. And if Dee had a failing, it was arrogance. He would underestimate herand then she would strike! There was a particularly nasty little spell she had learned in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania that she was saving just for him.

Where was Nicholas?

She was afraid for Nicholas and the children. It was difficult for her to judge just how much time has passed, but by examining the wrinkles forming on the backs of her hands, she guessed shed aged at least two years, so two days had passed. Without the immortality elixir, she and Nicholas would age at the rate of a year a day. They had less than a month left before they succumbed to old