While armies of the Shadowrealms gather and Machiavelli goes to Alcatraz to kill Perenelle Flamel, fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman accompany the Alchemist to England to find someone who can teach them Water Magic.

Back in London, fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman must determine whom they can and cannot trust as they search for both Scatty and an immortal who can teach Josh the magic of fire, while Doctor Dee and Machiavelli continue to seek power.

Fifteen-year-old Josh has chosen to side neither with his twin sister Sophie nor with the Alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel, but rather to fight alongside Dr. John Dee and the mysterious Virginia Dare, while the immortal Machiavelli and Billy the Kid follow the Elders' plans to set loose the monsters of Alcatraz on San Francisco and trigger the end of the humani race.

No collection of nautical fiction would be complete without the inclusion of "Tom Cringle's Log", a novel that, along with the works of Marryat, became a cornerstone of the genre upon its publication some 150 years ago. Told in Scott's irresistible and immediate style, the novel follows the life of young midshipman Tom Cringle: his imprisonment in occupied Germany by Napoleon's forces, his West Indian cruise on the Torch, a British man-of-war, his...