So after a busy evening full of banks, shops and nightclubs frequented only to try to lose their pursuers – they’d finally paused. Right now they were holed up in a department store that was closed for the night. The security guard was far more interested in a quiet life than in catching burglars. He made his rounds noisily, flashing his torch in a way that could be seen from the other end of the building. That gave Irene and Kai time to sit down and plan their next step.
‘Fetch me down the biggest atlas that you can,’ Irene directed. They were in the section that sold books and stationery. She’d stopped off on the way up through women’s clothing and jewellery to shoplift a large locket, decorated with rhinestones and in appallingly bad taste. She was going to have to collect some new clothing as well. Irene’s usual instinct in clothing – to go for the plain and unobtrusive – had steered her absolutely wrong in this time and place. Even if she’d chosen the right skirt length, at just below the knee, her clothing was far too drab. She wasn’t wearing any jewellery, and she was in muted dark colours, not bright ones. And the fashionable cloche hat just looked wrong on her. It was no wonder they’d been easy to follow.
‘Let me find one . . .’ Kai trailed along the shelves of books, having to lean in closely to read their titles in the dim light. They couldn’t risk putting the actual shop lights on. He had to make do with moonlight and the glare of street lamps through the windows. ‘Street or country?’
‘Global,’ Irene said. She removed the page with Evariste’s name on it from its concealment, and began folding it up as tightly as possible. ‘Our next stop’s probably China, given the book, but let’s try and find out where before we hit the airport.’
‘That’s reasonable,’ Kai said. ‘Now how about an explanation of why a department store, rather than a hotel or somewhere we could actually get some sleep?’ He pulled out one of the largest books and carried it across to where Irene was sitting on the floor. ‘And what do I do with this now?’
Irene nodded towards the floor in front of her. She squashed the small folded piece of paper into the locket and forced it shut. ‘Sorry, Kai. I’ve been so busy running these last few hours that there hasn’t been the chance for us to talk properly about our plans. I’m going to try to scry for Evariste. And then we’re going to do some shopping.’
‘I thought you didn’t practise magic.’ Kai put the heavy volume down with a thud, then pulled it forward a few inches so that it lay in a beam of moonlight. ‘There, that should be enough light to read by. And shopping? This place is plebeian.’
Irene dangled the locket by its chain. ‘This isn’t magic, it’s the Language. I’ve a clear link to Evariste here, through his name in the Language. I’m hoping – note the word hope – that I’ll be able to find out where he is on these maps. Then our next step is to go after him, and pull the plug on this whole situation – or at least remove the Library from the equation.’ She ignored Kai’s attack on off-the-peg shopping with the ease of practice.
Kai was silent for a moment, as Irene opened the atlas and held the locket above it. ‘Don’t you think we should be investigating the damage to the library here in Boston?’ he finally said. ‘If that was a Fae strike against the Library itself . . .’
Irene looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
‘Just because Hu may have lied to you about some things doesn’t mean he was lying to you about everything.’
‘It’s not only the fact that someone – Fae, or whoever – blew up the library which happens to contain the Traverse from our Library to this world,’ Irene said. The earlier anger was still seething within her. ‘They blew up a library. A library, Kai. They haven’t just offended me, they have attacked and insulted every single citizen of this place who used that library, who contributed to it, who even so much as might have used it some day in the future.’ She saw the locket trembling with her fury and took a deep breath, controlling herself. ‘I do want to know who damaged the library here in Boston. But it’s not my priority. It can’t be, until we’ve found Evariste and we know what’s going on with him. But I sincerely hope that whoever is responsible ends up being dragged to the police station and torn limb from limb by the mob.’
‘Irene . . .’ Kai said in a tone that suggested You don’t really mean that, do you? He did have these misconceptions about her being a fundamentally nice person. After the last couple of years, she wasn’t sure why.
‘All right. Cancel the vivid daydream about them being torn limb from limb.’ She looked away from him. ‘But don’t expect me to be lenient towards someone destroying books, Kai. Whoever it is.’
Even if it’s me, the thought ran through her head, as she swung the locket over the open atlas. ‘Pages of the atlas in front of me, turn; locket, indicate the place where the Librarian whose name you contain is to be found.’
The pages shifted as if touched by a wind, then began to ripple and move, one after another flipping over to show the next country, then the next – as the locket swung in Irene’s hand like a dowsing pendulum. Irene breathed deeply as she watched, bracing herself against the light drain of energy as the Language took its toll. It wasn’t a significant strain – not as bad, for instance, as having to bemuse half a dozen onlookers or freeze a canal – but it had been a long day, and she was tired.
‘If Hu isn’t someone you know,’ she said, her eyes still on the swinging locket, ‘who could he be? You knew Qing Song and Jin Zhi, after all – or at least you knew who they were, even if you hadn’t met them.’
‘His manners and bearing sound as if he’s at least minor nobility,’ Kai said. ‘But I don’t know anyone by that name of royal blood, or of the major nobility. I wonder if he might be someone’s servant.’
‘With the someone in question being one of our two book-hunters?’
‘Or another faction who wants to influence the situation. It’s a pity I couldn’t get close enough to see him . . . but yes, I do realize the problem with that is that he’d see me.’
Irene nodded. Kai didn’t want to interfere in other dragons’ business – or at least, he didn’t want to get caught. She agreed with that. But from her rather more selfish point of view, the longer Kai’s presence here went unknown, the more help he could be in finding Evariste.
And there was another factor. Did dragons gossip about her and Kai? If anyone here recognized Kai, would they deduce who Irene was – a librarian on a mission that might involve them? And in the longer term, could she really keep working with Kai? Might she inadvertently cause the very same problems to the Library, concerning forbidden dragon alliances, which she was currently trying to avoid? Irene had steered them well clear of dragon politics, so they should be above reproach. But if wholesale collusion between a dragon and the Library was proven – or even suspected – then rumour could label Irene and Kai as another piece of evidence.
The pages stopped turning. The locket jerked downwards. Irene frowned as she recognized the country on the page. ‘Wait a moment. That’s America. That’s here!’