Key of Knowledge

by Nora Roberts

  the only way to get there was to move.

  Which way, that was the question. She decided to trust her instincts and move forward.

  The shadows were so deep, it seemed she might stumble into one and fall forever. The light that struggled through the trees was silver, the dull tone of unpolished swords.

  The thought passed through her mind, absently, that there were too many leaves on the trees for so late in October.

  She stepped on a twig, and the sound of it snapping under her heel was like a gunshot that had her stumbling forward in reaction.

  “All right, it’s all right.” Her own voice echoed back to her, had her pressing her lips together to prevent herself from speaking again.

  She looked down to check her footing, then simply stared, puzzling over her shoes. She was wearing sturdy brown hiking boots, not the dressy black leather pumps that she’d pulled on for the evening.

  She’d wanted to dress up because . . . The thought faded in and out of her mind until she bore down, grabbed it. She’d wanted to show off her ring. Yes, she’d wanted to look fabulous to match her engagement ring.

  But when she lifted her hand, she wore no ring.

  Her heart jumped, and every other terror faded to nothing at the idea of losing Jordan’s ring. She swung around, raced back through the woods, trying to find the place where she’d fallen.

  Wakened?

  And running, searching the ground for a glint of gold, she heard the first sly rustle behind her, felt the bright chill sprint up her spine.

  She’d been wrong. She wasn’t alone.

  She ran, but not in blind panic. She ran in a headlong rush to escape and survive. She heard him coming behind her, too arrogant to hurry. Too sure he would win this race.

  But he would lose, she promised herself. He’d lose because she was not going to die here.

  Her breath whistling, she burst out of the trees and into the shimmering light of a full white moon.

  It was the wrong moon. Part of her mind registered that as she loped across the grass. It shouldn’t be full. It should be in its last quarter, waning toward the new moon, and the end of her four weeks.

  The end of her quest.

  But here the moon was full, swimming in a black glass sky over the shadow of Warrior’s Peak.

  She slowed to a walk, pressed a hand to her side to ease a stitch.

  There was no white flag with the emblem of a key flying from the tower. There were no lights gleaming gold against the windows. It would be empty now, she thought, but for the busy spiders and the skittering mice.

  Because that was how Jordan had written it.

  She was in the book, walking through the pages of his book.

  “You’ve a very strong mind.”

  She whirled. Kane stood behind her, just at the edge of the woods.

  “This is false. Just another fantasy.”

  “Is it? You know the power of the written word, the reality created on the pages. This is his world, and was real to him when he built it. I’ve only brought you here. I wondered if your mind would hold up to it, and I see it has. That pleases me.”

  “Why should you be pleased? I’m only that much closer to the key.”

  “Are you? I wonder, do you remember what happens next?”

  “I know this wasn’t in the book. You weren’t in the book.”

  “A few changes.” He lifted an arm, swept it out in an elegant gesture. “That will lead to a different ending. You can run if you like. I’ll give you a sporting chance.”

  “You can’t keep me here.”

  “Perhaps not. Perhaps you’ll find your way out. Of course, if you leave, you lose.” He took a step closer, held up a hand that dangled a long white scarf. “If you stay, you’ll die. Your man made death in Phantom Watch.”

  He gestured toward the great house that Jordan had called the Watch in his novel. “How could he know it would be yours?”

  She spun toward the Watch, and ran.

  WE have to get her back.” Helpless, Flynn rubbed Dana’s cold hand between his. They’d laid her on the bed, tucked blankets around her.

  “If this is what she’s meant to do,” Brad began, “she shouldn’t have to do it alone.”

  “She’s not going to be alone.” Seeing only one choice, Jordan got to his feet. “We’re not bringing her back. The contact, calling her, being here. None of it’s bringing her back. Brad, I need you to go get Rowena. I need you to get her here, and fast.”

  “That’ll take an hour.” Zoe, standing at the foot of the bed, now moved to the side. “An hour’s too long. Malory, Rowena came to us before. We have to try to make her come to us again. Dana’s not supposed to be alone. That’s what he does. He separates us, isolates us. We don’t have to let him get away with it.”

  “We can try. We’re strongest when we’re together.” Malory reached across the bed for Zoe’s hand, kept her other clasped around Dana’s. “We’ll ask her to come.”

  “Not this time.” Zoe’s fingers tightened, and the light of battle shone in her eyes. “This time we tell her.”

  “How do they intend to order a god to make a house call?” Flynn said.

  Brad laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s going to be all right, Flynn. We’re going to get her back.”

  “She looks like the portrait.” His throat burned as he stared down at his sister’s face. Her white, empty face. “Like the daughter in your portrait. After . . .”

  “We’re going to get her back,” Brad said more firmly. “Look, I’ll head out right now, get up to the Peak. I’ll bring Rowena or Pitte, or both of them back if I have to do it at gunpoint.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” Rowena stood in the doorway, with Pitte behind her.

  DANA ran toward the house, fled toward it, hoping that the stone and glass would offer some kind of protection.

  What happened in the book? What chapter had she fallen into? Were her actions her own will, she wondered, or written?

  Think! she ordered herself. Think back and remember. Once she’d read a story, it became part of her. It was in her memory. She just had to clear away the fear and bring it back.

  She was so scared. The screech of an owl had her heart pounding at the base of her throat. Fog was eating over the ground now, thin and white, just edged with blue. It thickened, seemed to boil around her feet until it was as if she waded through smoke.

  It muffled the sound of her running footsteps. And his, she realized. God, and his.

  If she could reach the house, just reach the house, she could find somewhere to hide until she caught her breath. She could find a weapon, defend herself.

  For he meant to kill her, he meant to wrap that long white scarf around her neck and pull, pull while she struggled for air, while her eyes wheeled frantically in her head, while her veins burst with her blood.

  Because he was mad, and she had seen the madness too late.

  No. No. Those were Kate’s thoughts. The thoughts of a fictional character in a fictional world. It wasn’t a fictional killer who hunted her now. It was Kane.

  If he could, he would take something more precious than her life. He’d take her soul.

  At the last moment she veered away from the door. She remembered now, remembered this last chance and battle. Kate had wasted precious time battering against the wood, pounding on it and calling for help before she’d snapped back and accepted that there was no one to help.

  Edit out that bit, Dana thought, and setting her teeth, she smashed her elbow through the window. She ignored the shock of pain from jagged glass scraping her arm as she reached in, flipped the latch. With a grunt she shoved the window up, leaped onto the ledge, and rolled inside.

  She landed hard enough to hear her own bones rattle, and lay stunned, gasping against the pain as she struggled to see through this new layer of dark.

  The air was stale and damp, and the heels of her hands skidded on dust as she pushed herself up. No glossy floor, no dripping chandeliers o
r stunning antiques. No fire roaring in the hearth.

  Instead the room was dank and chill, with the gray spill of cobwebs and the breath of ghosts.

  This wasn’t the Peak of her world, but the Watch of Jordan’s. She gained her feet, holding her throbbing right arm with her left, and limped across the room over boards that creaked and groaned.

  Good job with the atmosphere, Hawke, she thought, fighting to steady herself. Class A haunted house you built here. The perfect place for our plucky heroine to battle the homicidal maniac.

  Wincing, she reached down and rubbed her tender knee. Kate had banged up her knee, Dana remembered, but it hadn’t stopped her.

  She drew a breath as she came to the entrance hall, saw the shadows facing off with the streams of moonlight that snuck through the grimy windows.

  She liked nothing better than diving into a book, Dana reminded herself, but this was a little more than she’d bargained for.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and took stock. She’d jammed her knee, jarred her shoulder, sliced up her arm some. She was scared, so scared it hurt to breathe.

  But that was all right, that was allowed. She could be hurt, she could be scared. She wasn’t allowed to panic, and she wasn’t allowed to give up.

  “We’ll see who pulls this story out in the end, you bastard. This goddamn ex-librarian is going to kick your ass.”

  She heard the sly tinkle of glass being crushed underfoot and made a dash for the stairs. And the big climax.

  “YOU came.” Zoe released Malory’s hand, reluctantly let go of Dana’s. “Do something.”

  Rowena stepped forward, touched her fingers lightly to Dana’s wrist as if checking her pulse. “What happened here?”

  “You’re the god,” Flynn shot out. “You tell us. And you get her back. You get her back now.”

  Jordan nudged Flynn aside, stepped between them. “Why don’t you know what happened?” he demanded of Rowena.

  “He’s capable of blocking certain actions from us.”

  “And you from him?”

  “Yes, of course. He doesn’t have her soul,” she said, gently, to Flynn.

  “Whatever he’s got, get it back.” Flynn shoved forward again, pushing Malory’s hand away. He only flicked a cold, hard stare at Pitte when he moved to flank Rowena. “Do you think you worry me right now?”

  “You waste time in your fear for your sister.”

  “She’s cold. Her skin’s like ice. She’s barely breathing.”

  “He took her into the book,” Jordan said and had Rowena’s attention snapping to him.

  “How do you know?”

  “I know.” He picked up the book he’d set on the night table. “She opened this and she was gone.”

  She took the book from him. “It’s gone. The key is gone from here. It was not to be this way,” she murmured. “He crosses too many lines, breaks too many pacts. Why is he not stopped? This is not temptation, intimidation, or even threat.”

  She turned to Pitte, and there was a spark of fear in her eyes. “He’s changed the field, and somehow he’s moved the key.”

  “It was in the book?” Jordan interrupted.

  “Yes. Now, somehow, he’s taken it into the story, and her with it. He should not be permitted to do so.”

  “She’s alone in there. Whether it’s the story or whether it’s Kane, her life’s in danger.” Jordan gripped Dana’s hand. “Bring her out.”

  “I can’t bring out what he put in. It’s beyond my power. He must release her, or she must free herself. I can warm her,” she began.

  “The hell with that.” Jordan snatched the book back. “Send me in with her.”

  “That’s not possible.” She turned away from him to lean over Dana, to run her hands gently over Dana’s face.

  On an oath, Jordan grabbed her arm, spun her back to him. “Don’t tell me it’s not possible.” He felt a jolt, a shock that sang straight up his arm to his shoulder, but he kept his grip firm.

  “Take your hand off my woman,” Pitte said very softly.

  “What are you going to do, smite me? My woman’s lying there helpless, going through Christ knows what, because she gave her word to you. And you’d stand here and do nothing?”

  “He conjured this world he took her into. It’s his power that holds there.” In a rare sign of agitation, Rowena pushed at her hair. “There’s no way of knowing what he’s done there, or what would become of you if I attempted it. And I’m not permitted to take you beyond your own world. To do so would break the vow I took when I came into this place, when I was given charge of the keys.”

  “I conjured this world,” Jordan tossed back, and threw the book on the bed beside Dana. “That’s my mind in there, my words, and I’ve got a real problem with some self-serving god threatening the woman I love, and plagiarizing me to do it. I don’t care how many vows you break, you’re not leaving her in there alone. You’re sending me after her.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Rowena.” Taking her shoulders, Pitte turned her to face him. “He has the right. Listen,” he insisted as she started to speak. “A man shouldn’t be stripped and bound while his woman fights alone. It was Kane who broke an oath, and doing so crossed beyond all honor. He was not meant to take her life. He was not meant to touch the key by hand or mind or sorcery. It’s a different battle now. We fight on his terms or we lose.”

  “My love.” She curled her fingers around his arms. “If I do this, even if I succeed, you know what it may cost us.”

  “Can we live, in this prison, and do nothing?”

  The sigh ached in her breast as she lowered her forehead to his heart. “I’ll need you.”

  “You’ll have me. Always.”

  She nodded, drew a deep breath, then looked at Jordan with eyes that seemed to burn. “Be sure. If I do this thing, her life, yours, and all are at risk.”

  “Do it.”

  “Send us all.” Zoe grabbed Dana’s hand again. “Send all of us in. You said we’re stronger together, and we are. We’ll have a better chance of getting her back if we all go.”

  “Valiant warrior.” Pitte smiled at her. “This is not for you. But if gods are willing, you’ll have your turn.”

  “Give him a weapon,” Brad demanded.

  “He can take nothing with him but his mind. Lie beside her,” Rowena told Jordan, then picked up the book. She closed her eyes, and it began to glow. “Ah, yes, I see. Take her hand.”

  “I’ve already got it.”

  Rowena opened her eyes. The blazing blue was nearly black against the pure white of her skin. Her hair seemed to lift in an unseen wind. “Are you ready?”

  “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  “Bring her back.” Flynn drew Malory close to his side as he looked down at Jordan. “Bring her home.”

  “Count on it.”

  He felt that wind blow through him, fast and warm. He felt it whirl him through time, through space, through shimmery silver curtains that parted with a sound like the sea.

  And he was standing in the moonstruck night, staring at the black peaks and towers of Phantom Watch.

  He sprinted toward it, noting the smoking fog, the scream of an owl. A dog would bay at that fat, full moon, he remembered, and felt a curious satisfaction when the sound echoed through the air.

  Last chapter, he realized, and confirmed it when he saw the broken window.

  Time to do a little revising, he thought, and climbed through the shattered glass.

  Chapter Twenty

  “WHAT can we do?” Malory held tight to Flynn. “There must be something we can do besides stand here and wait.”

  “Keep close,” Pitte told her.

  “Perhaps there’s a bit more.” Rowena sat on the side of the bed, with the book in her lap. “We’ve already broken our vow,” she said to Pitte. “If there is punishment, it won’t change if we do more.”

  “Watch, then.” He ranged himself beside her. “But they deserve the chance to win this on their ow
n. Read.” He laid his hand on her shoulders and merged his power with hers. “So the others can watch as well.”

  She nodded and opened the book to the last chapter.

  “ ‘She took the stairs at a limping run, and the fear was all around her, crowded close in the shadows of the Watch.’ ”

  AT the landing Dana started to veer right. There were dozens of rooms, hundreds of places to hide.

  But for how long?

  He would find her. The dark was no barrier for him.

  Would he kill her? Could he? Kate had saved herself in the end, but she had fought a man, flesh and blood against flesh and blood.

  How could she know how much of this was Kane’s world and how much was Jordan’s? Even, she realized, how much was her own creation brought on by bits and pieces she remembered from the book, spiked by her own fear?

  At the sound below, she whirled to see the shadow of Kane and the long white scarf glowing faintly blue in the path of the moonlight.

  And she saw the fog, now cold and blue, begin to crawl up the steps toward her.

  “I’ll find you, Kate.” He crooned it. “I’ll always find you.”

  The killer’s words, she thought. She heard her answer spill out of her mouth without conscious thought. “I won’t make it easy for you. It won’t be like the others.”

  She pivoted on the landing and charged up the next flight of stairs.

  She needed distance, she thought frantically. Enough distance to buy enough time to clear her mind. Fear was clouding it, making it harder for her to separate herself and her actions from the character’s.

  She batted madly at cobwebs, had to stifle a scream as they clung to her hair and face. But somehow the innately human disgust steadied her.

  Find the truth in his lies, she remembered, as her breath began to puff out in thin vapors.

  “I’m Dana!” she shouted. “I’m Dana Steele, you bastard from hell, and you’re not going to win this one.”

  His laughter chased her down the wide corridor where doors swung open, slammed shut with bulletlike snaps. The mist was sneaking along the floor, added a hideous glow to the dark and curling ice around her feet. The sweat sliding down her back and temples went clammy with cold as she stumbled into a maze of hallways.

  Breathless, she turned in circles. There were dozens of corridors now, and each seemed to stretch for miles like some mad dream.

  He was changing the story, she realized. Adding his own flourishes to confuse her. And doing a damn good job.

  “Choose. His voice whispered inside her head. Choose unwisely, you might tumble off the edge of the world, or rush toward a pit of fire. But stand, only stand and yield, and all this will be no more than a dream.”

  “You lie.”

  “Run and risk your life. Surrender and save it.”