Fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman are finally back home in San Francisco, but they're both more confused than ever about their futures. Neither of them has mastered the elemental magics they'll need to protect themselves from the Dark Elders, they've lost Scatty, Machiavelli is coming to unleash on their city the menagerie of Dr. John Dee. And most disturbing of all is that now they must ask themselves, can they trust Nicholas Flamel?...

"The twins of prophecy have been split. Nicholas Flamel is near death. John Dee has the swords of power. And Danu Talis has yet to fall. The future of the human race lies in the balance--how will the legend end?"--Provided by publisher.

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.

With Scatty, Joan of Arc, Saint Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare all in Danu Talis, Sophie is on her own with the ever-weakening Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. She must depend on Niten to help her find an immortal to teach her Earth Magic. The surprise is that she will find her teacher in the most ordinary of places.