Read Online The Necromancer by Michael Scott - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Michael Scott
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Magic, England, supernatural, Brothers and sisters, Twins, Siblings, London (England), Fairy Tales; Folklore & Mythology, Visionary & Metaphysical, Legends; Myths; Fables, Alchemists, Machiavelli; Niccolo, Dee; John, Flamel; Nicolas
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tourists, seeing the sudden influx of skinheads and fearing a brawl, began to scatter. Shops hastily closed. Within moments, only the ugly shaven-headed cucubuths were left in Covent Garden’s cobbled square.
“So what are you going to do now, Dr. Dee?”
Secrets of the Immortal 4 - The Necromancer
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
T
he noise echoing across the London rooftops and up into the skies alerted the ravens: the primeval howling of cucubuths that had once terrified primitive humani huddling in caves.
Huginn and Muninn dipped toward the sounds.
Blackbirds and crows streamed past them, the simple creatures radiating raw fear. Doves whirled in the air almost directly below; frightened, but incapable of doing anything about their fear, they settled back onto the rooftops around a broad cobbled square, only to immediately rise into the air again as another howl broke through the night.
The ravens flew low across the Thames River, over Victoria Embankment and the Royal Opera House. They spotted the first of the cucubuths in the streets below, seeing through its almost-human guise to reveal the beast-man beneath, with its tusks and ragged claws. Each cucubuth was swathed in a dark aura. And there were hundreds of them, running, loping, jogging, singly and in pairs, converging on the enclosed space of Covent Garden.
Instantly, the ravens knew that they must have found the English Magician. As one, their beaks worked to form a single word: “Dee.”
And in a place beyond time, in an isolated Shadowrealm, Odin awoke.
The Elder’s huge gray eye opened, but he did not see the bitter snowfields and towering ice crystals that surrounded him. He found he was looking down on a scene in shifting monochrome and without sound: a single human surrounded by three cucubuths. More and more of the creatures swarmed closer. And even though there was no sign of Dee’s distinctive aura, Odin knew the human was the English Magician.
The Elder bared his teeth in a ferocious grin: those to whom Dee owed allegiance wanted him brought before them for sentencing and punishment, but Odin had other plans. The huge figure pushed away from the only living thing in his world—a puny and twisted version of the Yggdrasill—and prepared to cross the Shadowrealms.
Secrets of the Immortal 4 - The Necromancer
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
H
e’d found the rear door to the bookstore open.
Josh Newman shrugged off his backpack as he stepped into the gloomy hallway and then waited, allowing his eyes to adjust. The stink was incredible—a mixture of rot and mildew, a sickly mustiness overlain with the noxious stench of bad eggs. He tried to breathe only through his mouth. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his hearing. Since Mars Ultor had Awakened him, he’d become extremely conscious of just how important the senses of hearing, taste and smell were. Modern humans tended to rely heavily on sight; Josh had come to realize that his Awakened senses were really the same heightened senses that primitive man had possessed and needed to survive.
But there were no sounds in the building: it even felt deserted.
Less than a week ago, he’d run up and down this corridor unloading a delivery of books from the back of a van. Now all the boxes he had so carefully piled on top of each other were black with mildew, the sides burst open, the books swollen like rotten fruit, almost unrecognizable.
Less than a week ago.
The realization suddenly brought home to Josh how much had changed in the past few days, how much he had discovered and how little he—and the rest of the world—knew about the truth.
Taking a deep breath, the fetid air catching at the back of his throat, Josh then opened his eyes and crept down the corridor, pushed open the door and stepped out into the bookshop.
And stopped in shock.
The shop was an unrecognizable ruin, lost beneath a thick layer of dust and furry mold—it was decaying right before his eyes. The sunlight shafting through the
“So what are you going to do now, Dr. Dee?”
Secrets of the Immortal 4 - The Necromancer
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
T
he noise echoing across the London rooftops and up into the skies alerted the ravens: the primeval howling of cucubuths that had once terrified primitive humani huddling in caves.
Huginn and Muninn dipped toward the sounds.
Blackbirds and crows streamed past them, the simple creatures radiating raw fear. Doves whirled in the air almost directly below; frightened, but incapable of doing anything about their fear, they settled back onto the rooftops around a broad cobbled square, only to immediately rise into the air again as another howl broke through the night.
The ravens flew low across the Thames River, over Victoria Embankment and the Royal Opera House. They spotted the first of the cucubuths in the streets below, seeing through its almost-human guise to reveal the beast-man beneath, with its tusks and ragged claws. Each cucubuth was swathed in a dark aura. And there were hundreds of them, running, loping, jogging, singly and in pairs, converging on the enclosed space of Covent Garden.
Instantly, the ravens knew that they must have found the English Magician. As one, their beaks worked to form a single word: “Dee.”
And in a place beyond time, in an isolated Shadowrealm, Odin awoke.
The Elder’s huge gray eye opened, but he did not see the bitter snowfields and towering ice crystals that surrounded him. He found he was looking down on a scene in shifting monochrome and without sound: a single human surrounded by three cucubuths. More and more of the creatures swarmed closer. And even though there was no sign of Dee’s distinctive aura, Odin knew the human was the English Magician.
The Elder bared his teeth in a ferocious grin: those to whom Dee owed allegiance wanted him brought before them for sentencing and punishment, but Odin had other plans. The huge figure pushed away from the only living thing in his world—a puny and twisted version of the Yggdrasill—and prepared to cross the Shadowrealms.
Secrets of the Immortal 4 - The Necromancer
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
H
e’d found the rear door to the bookstore open.
Josh Newman shrugged off his backpack as he stepped into the gloomy hallway and then waited, allowing his eyes to adjust. The stink was incredible—a mixture of rot and mildew, a sickly mustiness overlain with the noxious stench of bad eggs. He tried to breathe only through his mouth. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his hearing. Since Mars Ultor had Awakened him, he’d become extremely conscious of just how important the senses of hearing, taste and smell were. Modern humans tended to rely heavily on sight; Josh had come to realize that his Awakened senses were really the same heightened senses that primitive man had possessed and needed to survive.
But there were no sounds in the building: it even felt deserted.
Less than a week ago, he’d run up and down this corridor unloading a delivery of books from the back of a van. Now all the boxes he had so carefully piled on top of each other were black with mildew, the sides burst open, the books swollen like rotten fruit, almost unrecognizable.
Less than a week ago.
The realization suddenly brought home to Josh how much had changed in the past few days, how much he had discovered and how little he—and the rest of the world—knew about the truth.
Taking a deep breath, the fetid air catching at the back of his throat, Josh then opened his eyes and crept down the corridor, pushed open the door and stepped out into the bookshop.
And stopped in shock.
The shop was an unrecognizable ruin, lost beneath a thick layer of dust and furry mold—it was decaying right before his eyes. The sunlight shafting through the
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