Citeste mai jos inceputul 
cartii The Alchemyst, primul volum al seriei The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, scrisa de Michael Scott. Cartea este disponibila si in limba romana.
~~
Chapter One
”Answer me this: why would anyone want to wear an overcoat in San Francisco in the middle of summer?” Sophie Newman pressed her fingers against the Bluetooth earpiece as she spoke.
On the other side of the continent, her fashion-conscious friend Elle asked, “What sort of coat?”
Wiping her hands on the cloth tucked into her apron strings, Sophie moved out from behind the counter of the empty coffee shop and stepped up to the window, watching men emerge from the car across the street. “Heavy black wool overcoats. They’re even wearing black gloves and hats. And sunglasses.” She pressed her face against the glass. “Even for this city, that’s just a little too weird.”
“Maybe they’re undertakers?” Elle suggested, her voice popping and clicking on the cell phone. Sophie could hear something loud and dismal playing in the background—Lacrimosa maybe, or Amorphis. Elle had never quite got over her Goth phase.
“Maybe,” Sophie said, sounding unconvinced. She’d been chatting on the phone with her friend when, a few moments earlier, she’d spotted the unusual looking car. It was long and sleek and looked like it belonged in an old black-and-white movie. As it drove past the window, sunlight reflected off the blacked-out windows, briefly illuminating the interior of the coffee shop in warm yellow-gold light, blinding her. Blinking away the black spots dancing before her eyes, Sophie watched as the car turned at the bottom of the hill and slowly returned. Without signalling, it pulled over directly in front of The Small Book Shop right across the street.
“Maybe they’re Mafia,” Elle suggested dramatically. “My dad knows someone in the Mafia. But he drives a Prius,” she added.
“This is most definitely not a Prius,” Sophie said, looking at the car again and the two large men standing on the street bundled up in their heavy overcoats, gloves and hats, their eyes hidden behind overlarge sunglasses.
Citeste restul capitolului pe site-ul RandomHouse
copyright © 2007 Michael Scott.