The Book of Peril (The Last Oracle 2)

by Melissa McShane

  Malcolm smiled. “I thought you might appreciate having the help of someone you know.”

  “I do. If I have to have a bodyguard, I suppose Gemini is a good candidate.”

  “Until I’m convinced you’re no longer in danger, he’ll be nearby.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  We both fell silent. Malcolm examined the room like someone looking for weak points to drive a bulldozer through. “What is your next step? The team, I mean?” I asked.

  “Quincy is working on magic that will track down more of your exploded snowflakes. Then we will find an active one and use it to trace the others, and then shut down the primary illusion—the one that’s still afflicting the oracle.”

  I tried not to feel disappointed. “I suppose that’s more important than proving who did it.”

  “Miss Rasmussen is in no danger from house arrest. Protecting the oracle is our primary goal. But when we discover the source, I think it likely we will discover the culprit. To be honest, the fact that Miss Rasmussen is locked up for the moment will go a long way toward proving her innocence.”

  “Because the bad guy is still planting origamis?”

  Malcolm’s gaze continued to rove the store, never settling on me. “Yes. It’s true, we could say she is working with someone, but the case against her is already strained. I believe she will be free soon.”

  “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

  Malcolm looked grave. “I don’t want to alarm you.”

  “Too late.”

  He let out a long breath. “There is an urgency to this I don’t understand, but I feel it in my bones. As if we are working against a diabolical clock. You haven’t seen any invaders in the store, have you?”

  “I’d have let someone know if I had.” The memory of the black tentacled thing clinging to the store’s ceiling still haunted me.

  “That’s the only threat I can imagine that would feel this urgent, and yet there it is.” He shook his head. “I promise to keep you updated as we make progress. You strike me as the sort of woman who chafes at being told to sit still and wait for things to come to her.”

  “You strike me as a very observant man.”

  He laughed and went to the door. “Have patience, Helena. I’ll speak with you again soon.”

  I watched him through the plate glass window as he walked away and wished I were going with him. For once, it wasn’t a selfish wish, informed by my attraction to him. This time, I wished I could be doing something. He was right; I didn’t like sitting still and waiting. But there wasn’t much else I could do.

  On the other hand, what he’d said about feeling urgency to solve this mystery unnerved me. I remembered all too well how it had felt to see Abernathy’s under attack by a giant invader, the knowledge that if it wasn’t stopped, it would consume the oracle’s magic and destroy it. I picked up the next augury slip and entered the oracle, but instead of looking for the blue-lit book, I searched the stacks for signs of an invader of any size. I found nothing. This failed to relieve my mind.

  I retrieved the augury and returned to the front counter. This one, at least, had gone off without any errors or blundering. If it wasn’t invaders attacking, what was it? What was the point of confusing the oracle with illusions? If I—

  My breath caught. I could see through illusions. Why couldn’t the oracle? I slammed the latest book onto the counter and snatched up the next slip. Why wasn’t my ability extended to Abernathy’s?

  I walked back into the oracle and concentrated hard on the augury slip. How should I divide my fortune among my heirs? Good question. Mrs. Esther Horowitz had sense, asking for help in her estate planning. I read the question over and over again until I had it memorized, down to the penmanship. Then I started looking for the book. I can’t be fooled, and neither will you if you see through my eyes.

  I found the blue-limned book, volume three of a multi-volume set on tax law in Michigan, and drew it from the shelf, holding my breath in anticipation. Esther Horowitz’s name, and—

  I cursed. The blue light didn’t die away, and I could see another one coming from around the corner. Sighing, I went to retrieve the next “augury,” then the next two, and carried my armload out to the counter. It was too much to hope that would have worked, but even so, it would have been such a relief.

  I called Lucia and left a message, and then had lunch, feeling so discouraged I wanted to cry. It was like watching your favorite actress age into senility, seeing the oracle producing wrong auguries as if they were correct. My food, a hastily assembled roast beef sandwich and carrot sticks, tasted like cardboard. I wished we’d caught the guy back at the Hyperion, smacked him upside the head with Viv’s giant flashlight and kept him prisoner until Malcolm could come for him. Of course, he’d probably just have killed us both. Maybe I needed to learn karate. Anything to not feel so helpless.

  My phone rang. “Davies, how the hell should I know why you can see through illusions and the oracle can’t?”

  “Then who would know, Lucia?” I shouted. “Because it seems suspicious that Abernathy’s is being attacked in a manner I’d be completely immune to.” My voice was shrill, but I didn’t feel like controlling myself.

  There was a brief silence. Then Lucia said, “Talk to Gauthier. He might know. I don’t have time for this.” She hung up. I swore at my phone until I felt better. Then I felt guilty. If Rasmussen was trying to bring her up before a tribunal, maybe she really didn’t have time for my stupid, fumbling questions.

  When six o’clock rolled around, I tidied up and locked the front door, catching the briefest glimpse of Gemini at the end of the street. I hoped he didn’t get rousted for loitering, but that was unlikely to be the fate of anyone Malcolm trusted. I gathered up my purse and a handful of sanguinis sapiens tubes, then got in my car and headed downtown. Yes, I’d promised Judy about the market, but talking to Malcolm had convinced me restoring the oracle was more important than proving she was innocent. I hoped I was right.

  Guille was on duty. “Hey, Helena, how’s it going?”

  “Well enough, I guess. Guille, how do I talk to Claude Gauthier?”

  His eyes widened. “I don’t know. We hear from him sometimes, but it’s always him contacting us. I guess you’ll have to access the Athenaeum and make a search request on him.”

  “Thanks. Um, does Irina work days, or do you trade off?”

  Guille flashed his gold tooth at me in a smile. “She’s good people, I promise. Just a little shy with strangers. You’ll get to know her soon enough.”

  I considered that as I descended the ladder. You could say the same about Judy, really. I wasn’t sure I knew Judy well yet, but I did know she concealed her discomfort at social situations under a prickly exterior and brusque attitude. Maybe Irina just needed some time to get to know me. Or maybe I was making too much of the situation. I couldn’t be friends with everyone.

  In my pod, I popped in a tube of sanguinis sapiens and said, “Contact Claude Gauthier.”

  The whiteness fizzed with blue and gray bees. Claude Gauthier is unavailable. You may leave a message.

  “This is urgent. Helena Davies of Abernathy’s wants to speak with Claude Gauthier.”

  More fizzing. The angular trails were making me dizzy. You have insuffi—

  “Mademoiselle Davies, hello.” The window opened up on the wall, revealing Gauthier’s cheerful face. “You have returned. I am very glad to see you.”

  “I’m glad to see you, um, sir.”

  “Please do call me Claude, and I will call you Helena, and we will entirely be friends, non?”

  “I hope so. Thank you, Claude. I’m afraid this isn’t a social call. I need information.”

  “With all of the Athenaeum before you, you come to me for information?” He sounded offended.

  “I didn’t mean it like that. I think what I need is understanding, and I can’t get that from records. I need to talk to someone else like me. Someone responsible for a Neutrality
. Lucia said I should talk to you.”

  “Ah, that is a very different matter.” Gauthier went back to being jovial. “You wish understanding of our natures, yours and mine.”

  “Yes. I—do you have the ability to see through illusions? Or is it just me, thanks to the oracle?”

  “That is a thing for the oracle’s custodian, I think. Me, I do not have the ability, no.”

  “Then why is it that Abernathy’s can be fooled by these illusions? I mean—I’m sorry. I assumed you know what’s been going on.”

  “Not to worry. I do, in fact, know of Abernathy’s troubles. I have no answer for you, but I have two theories, if you care to hear them.”

  “Please.”

  Gauthier scratched his rather large nose. “One is that the illusions may be bypassing the oracle’s natural protections. It is rather like the difference between seeing an illusion with one’s eyes and having the illusion put directly into the brain. If it is your eyes that can see through illusion, then an illusion which bypasses the eyes may yet fool you. Yes?”

  “That makes sense.” The idea of having anything implanted into my brain made me feel uncomfortable.

  “The second is that you, as the custodian, may be intended to serve as the oracle’s eyes—its defense against illusions. Whoever has struck at Abernathy’s may have found a way around that defense.”

  “That seems likely. Whoever it is must want the oracle to be disrupted for a longer term than if they got rid of me.”

  Gauthier shook his head. “No, my dear, it is not disruption this shadowy enemy wants. They wish to destroy the oracle.”

  Stunned, I said, “What makes you say that?”

  “I am sorry, I believed you knew. The attacks are clearly intended to render the oracle permanently incapacitated.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I have followed the progress of the investigation—all the Neutralities interest me—and the description of the ways in which the auguries fail is the same as what befell Abernathy’s predecessor.”

  My head whirled. “Stop,” I said, “wait a minute. Abernathy’s predecessor?”

  “There was an attempt to create an oracle some fifty years prior to Elizabeth Abernathy’s success in 1782. In that case, the oracle was improperly constructed and destroyed itself. Before its destruction, its custodian reported auguries similar to what you yourself have described. Lucia Pontarelli knows this. I made sure to inform her when I realized the connection.”

  “Yet she didn’t bother to tell me.”

  “I believe she is rather preoccupied.” Gauthier’s voice bore a gentle reprimand.

  I flushed. “I wish someone had told me. It’s my Neutrality that’s in danger.”

  “What good would that have done?”

  It was a fair question. “I don’t know. I just would like to be prepared. What happens to me without a Neutrality to be custodian of?”

  “Nothing,” Gauthier said. “You return to your previous life, unharmed, if in possession of rather more knowledge than before.”

  The thought chilled me. To be without Abernathy’s… “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Continue to perform auguries. As long as you can provoke the oracle into providing correct auguries, it cannot be destroyed. But you will not be able to prevent its ultimate collapse.”

  “I understand.” All I wanted now was to harass Malcolm until he found the man responsible. At the very least, I had to be sure he knew what was at stake. “Thank you.”

  “You will now ride off to the attack, to motivate your forces,” Gauthier said with an indulgent smile.

  “Am I that obvious?”

  “You care very much about your Neutrality, as do I,” he said. “It is nothing I would not do, in your circumstances. And I am not bound to one place as you are. I empathize with your frustration.”

  “I’m glad to have someone else who understands. I wish we could talk under better conditions. There’s so much I don’t know, and Lucia is always so busy—”

  “Lucia takes on more than her share of burdens. I honor her for it.” Gauthier nodded at me. “Bonne chance, Helena, and I hope to see you again soon.”

  I stood in the pod for a few minutes after Gauthier was gone, trying to compose myself. Then I wiped my eyes and climbed the ladder. This wasn’t hopeless. I wasn’t defenseless. Malcolm and his team would find the answers, we’d capture and stop the enemy, and Abernathy’s would recover. I was going to keep telling myself that until I believed it.

  When I was halfway home, I became convinced someone was following me. I was frightened until it occurred to me my tail was probably Gemini. I felt a little bad about making him trail after me all across the city, but watching me was his job, and I wasn’t going to sit at home doing nothing just to make his life easier. Even so, I changed lanes frequently and took the long way around, just to be sure I wasn’t being followed by a stranger.

  My tail vanished before I reached the store, and I pulled into the parking lot feeling relieved he didn’t intend to follow me quite that far. I still got spooked going from my car to my door, even though I was careful to hitch my purse strap across my chest and have my key securely in hand before unlocking the car door. Maybe I could get the Wardens to install more lighting in the parking lot. That would benefit everyone, not just me, right?

  Nobody accosted me, but I ran up the stairs to my apartment and locked the door behind me anyway. Then I collapsed on my couch and willed my heart rate to go down. Damn Chet—no, damn the man who’d put him under that illusion. Was I ever going to stop being afraid of my own home?

  I checked my phone, which I’d turned off before talking to Gauthier, and saw Judy had left me ten messages and Malcolm one. Judy’s messages were all about the party her father had thrown that night, bitingly witty commentary on the guests and their inane blather about how innocent she was. MAKES ME WANT TO COMMIT A FELONY TO GET THEM TO SHUT UP, she wrote. I snorted with laughter. At least her spirits were still high.

  Malcolm’s message said FOUND ONE MORE ORIGAMI. INACTIVE. NO NEW LEADS. It was nice of him to keep me posted, even if only to tell me nothing had changed. I texted back GAUTHIER SAYS ABERNATHY’S IN DANGER OF DESTRUCTION DID YOU KNOW THIS? and went to change into my pajamas.

  My phone rang as I was brushing my teeth. I rinsed, spat, and said, “Hello?”

  “Destruction?” Malcolm said. “No, I was not aware of this.”

  “It seems Lucia didn’t send out the memo.” I filled him in on what little I knew.

  Malcolm listened without comment, then said, “I’ll let the others know how urgent this has become. I assure you we are doing everything we can.”

  “I know. Thanks for keeping me informed.” I put my toothbrush away and wandered into my living room.

  “This affects you more than anyone. I am concerned for Lucia, though. She contacts me rarely these days, though in the beginning, she wanted updates four times a day.” Malcolm sounded tired, as if Lucia’s woes wore on him as well.

  “She’s under a lot of stress if Judy’s right about her father.” I lay back on my velvet-covered sofa and trailed my fingers along the cushion seams.

  “I have no time nor inclination to pay attention to what Rasmussen does, but I have no doubt he’s making Lucia’s life hell. But I also have no time to do anything about it, except find the man behind all of this.”

  I sat up. “Do you think it’s one man? Couldn’t it be a group?”

  “It could. For now, for convenience, we speak as if it’s a single person. But the truth is we only have to capture a single person to solve this mystery. One person can be persuaded to give up a great deal of information.”

  “I’m not going to ask for details on ‘persuaded.’”

  Malcolm laughed. “Better for both of us that you do not. Good night, Helena.”

  “Good night, and thanks again.” I sat on the couch for a few minutes, holding my phone in both hands and staring out the darkened window. Talking to Malc
olm soothed me, no matter what we talked about, and that was a problem because it made getting over him hard. I blew out my breath in a great puff of air and went to bed.

  Once there, though, I lay awake, unable to sleep, my mind going over my various problems. Was this how a mother felt, watching her sick child in the hospital, dependent on doctors and nurses and unable to stop the advance of illness? Except I didn’t feel like Abernathy’s mother, I felt like its… guardian? Friend? Whatever this feeling was, it wasn’t something I could explain to anyone except, possibly, another custodian.

  What was I going to do if Abernathy’s was destroyed? I wouldn’t be part of the magical world anymore, but I had made so many friends I couldn’t bear to leave behind. And Malcolm—that was me being stupid, but he was a friend, too. Would Judy even care about being my friend if we didn’t have the store in common?

  I finally fell asleep and into unsatisfying dreams, fragments that wouldn’t make sense when I woke, and when I did wake, I felt as exhausted as if I hadn’t bothered sleeping at all. I had more coffee than I usually did, hoping it would make up for my deficiencies, and stumbled downstairs wishing it was Sunday and I could go back to sleep.

  It was 9:30, but someone already waited at the front door. I smothered a curse behind a yawn and unlocked it. I didn’t have to open until ten, but I felt it was bad manners to pretend I didn’t see the woman. On the other hand, I didn’t have to let her in. “We’re open at ten,” I said.

  “Helena Davies?” The woman wore a neat gray business suit and pumps and had her hair pulled back in a feminine yet professional way.

  “That’s me.”

  The woman held out a folded sheet of paper. “You’ve been summoned before the tribunal.”

  ut I haven’t done anything wrong,” I exclaimed.

  “As a witness. It’s all in the brief.” The woman turned to walk away.

  “Wait, please.” She paused but didn’t turn back around. “I don’t know where to go.”