How It All Goes Down
- A while later, Josh is driving Sophie, Scatty, and Flamel in an SUV toward the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Josh is surprised that Nick and Scatty have never learned how to drive in all their years of existence, but they counter by asking if the twins know how to ride a horse or drive a coach-and-four.
- Of course the twins have no idea how to do these things, so Flamel tells them that they are just experienced in different skills, though Flamel's and Scatty's are obviously older.
- Because he has barely ever driven before, Josh is understandably having some difficulty staying calm. Luckily, Sophie can reassure him with a smile.
- But that nice moment can't last long, because Flamel has some unsettling news: he tells Sophie and Josh that their lives are changed forever. The twins nod.
- Uh, yeah, dude, we got that much, what with the rats and the auras and the Golems.
- In any case, it's time for the twins to learn a bit more about Scatty.
- She's a creature of the Elder Race, along with the Were clan, the Vampires, the Giants, the Dragons, and the Monsters.
- Some stories call them gods, which makes sense when we learn that they existed before the human race.
- Here's the thing, Flamel tells them. When science can't explain something, it dismisses it. We guess that's why we call creatures like Scatty gods—there's simply no other word for them.
- Suddenly Josh feels uncomfortable. He knows from his parents that archaeologists discover impossible things all the time—things that cannot be explained by normal science.
- So he can't help but wonder if Flamel is telling the truth.
- Oh, and by the way, folks, Flamel knew Shakespeare. Or at least that's what he tells Josh and Sophie in the car.
- He's thrilled that Sophie can quote Hamlet (see "Literary Shout Outs" for more), and he tells them that Shakespeare based the character of Prospero from The Tempest on Dr. John Dee. Now there's a brain snack.
- FLAP. FLAP. FLAP.
- As they speak, a ton of birds are gathering on the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Flamel and Scatty both arrive at the same conclusion: they are "the Morrigan's children."
- In other words, big trouble.
- They tell Josh to keep driving and not to stop no matter what.
- Then Flamel borrows Sophie's cell phone—not to work magic, but to make a call. He hopes he doesn't get an answering service.
- Yeah dude, now does not seem like the time for voicemail.