Ink and Bone

‘Abdul!’ Nabeeha’s shout held all ma

‘Take the lady outside,’ Wolfe said, and Niccolo muscled the struggling woman out her own front door. Now that the game was up, she seemed about as weak and infirm as a cobra. ‘Continue, Master Nejem. I really am fascinated.’

‘It was my wife’s idea. I never read them, I tell you! I never touched them until today! She – her family—’ Nejem gulped air again. ‘Her family is full of black market criminals. I can give you names, Scholar, I swear that I can, if you will show mercy …’

It was, Jess hoped, a bluff and a lie, because if it wasn’t, there could be consequences. The community engaging in black trade here in the very shadow of the Great Library was small and close-knit. It wouldn’t take much for it to come apart … and that would affect him, too.

It might even implicate him.

‘How many in your household?’ Wolfe asked. He was thumbing through the books that he’d taken from Nejem, and he sounded distracted. ‘Besides your wife.’

‘My two sons are grown men and live with their own families. It is only me, and two servants.’

‘The servants may go. You did know of her activities. That makes you complicit in the …’ Wolfe stopped talking and concentrated on the book he’d just opened. He read for a moment, then looked up and gestured to Jess. ‘Take these. All of them. Scrolls as well. Catalogue them and tag them for removal.’

Nejem paled still more. ‘Please, Scholar, I beg you …’

‘It’s not for me to decide your fate, Master Nejem. That will be up to the jurists. But if you want my advice, hire yourself an advocate, and don’t attempt to leave the Library’s precincts unless you want to try to outrun a sphinx.’

Jess took possession of the books. The man was openly weeping now, and the servant girl that they’d met before came in from the garden door to offer him a soft cloth to wipe his face. She glanced at Jess, then quickly down, and he realised that she was afraid of him.

He’d become the enemy, the terrifying spectre of authority.

Don’t think about it. Just do what you’re told.

‘Sir,’ Jess said. ‘I need tags.’

Wolfe handed him a bag of them without comment. Jess paused to give him a look. ‘Are you still grading me?’

‘Of course,’ Wolfe said. ‘You disappoint me by asking.’

It was no different than it had been in training, except that he thought it would be better, given the urgency of the situation, to place all the tags on the books at once, and activate them all at the same time. The Obscurists had created the things, after all; he was only triggering the potential held within the seal. Sending them all together was more efficient. Wolfe said nothing to indicate he was making a mistake as he placed the tags, activated them all quickly, and stepped back as the glow brightened around the clips.

Even at the safe distance, Jess felt the tingle of energy sweep through him as the tags – all of them – activated at once. It felt vastly more powerful than in training, a jolt like being struck by lightning, and he smelt a peculiar, sharp odour of burning that vanished almost as quickly as it came.

He turned to see that Khalila and Danton were standing behind him, watching. They seemed riveted.

‘How many did you send at once?’ Khalila asked him. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes, I’m fine …’ That was an automatic response, but then he realised that he wasn’t, not at all. He felt disoriented, exhausted, and suddenly violently sick. In fact, it was all he could do to control his nausea long enough to stumble out of the room to the peaceful garden, where he dropped to his knees to void his stomach. He remembered Wolfe’s curious stare when he’d done so many, one after another, at the original training. That hadn’t seemed to hurt him at all. He’d had no idea that it would drain him so much to activate twenty at the same moment.

Danton and Khalila had followed him, and as Jess knelt there shaking and chilled, Danton passed him a cup of clean water and an orange. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘It should help.’

The food and water did do him good, and Jess regained his balance after a few moments. Khalila offered him a cloth with which to wipe the sweat from his face, and the two of them helped him to his feet. ‘That was impressive,’ Danton said. ‘I’ve heard librarians sometimes pass out from managing five tags one after another, never mind twenty at the same time. I got sick from just one in Wolfe’s training.’

Jess hadn’t even considered it, really. Training hadn’t made him feel much, just a brief dizziness that had passed in seconds. Since it had been an individual process, with only Wolfe in attendance to show him the steps, he hadn’t even known the others felt sick.

‘Next time, group them in fives and rest between,’ Khalila said. ‘It might avoid the discomfort.’

‘Good advice,’ Jess said. ‘Thanks.’

He pulled free of them and stood on his own. Shaky, but manageable. As he stood there testing himself, their fellow student Portero sauntered through another door, looked around, and said, ‘Nothing in the rest of the rooms. Nice place, isn’t it? What did I miss?’

Khalila patted him on the shoulder. ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘Absolutely nothing.’

EPHEMERA

Text of secured Library correspondence between the Obscurist Magnus and Scholar Tyler, stationed at the Oxford Serapeum.

Greetings to my fellow servant of the Library. I trust this message finds you well.

I regret troubling you at this time, given the unsettled state of affairs in England, but this is of the utmost importance.

Recently we detected unusual activity on the Codex, which indicates the possible existence of a budding Obscurist in Oxford. We are striving to trace this incident back to the young person – for, as I am sure you are aware, Obscurist talent begins to manifest before the age of twenty in every case – so that this individual may be properly secured and conveyed to us here at the Iron Tower. We believe this incident, which may well have been visible to another, occurred within the Oxford Serapeum in the past three days. I shall require from you a detailed listing of all persons under the age of twenty who visited the Serapeum during that time so that we may more closely investigate, and shall also require that you quickly and quietly interview all staff to find out if anyone was witness to an unusual incident.

I am sure you understand the urgency of this matter.

No reply to this message has been found.

Handwritten paper message from Scholar Tyler in Oxford to Morgan Hault:

As I feared, your efforts to remove the traces you left on the Codex were unsuccessful. You are no longer safe here. The Obscurists, when they send the High Garda, will be looking for you in Oxford, and so you must leave immediately. I can buy you passage out, but you must leave tonight. Go to London. It is possible at the London Serapeum you may have both more time and concealment to alter the records and hide yourself, but stay on your guard at all times.

If London does not serve, I fear you may have to go into the heart of the Library itself, in Alexandria. I have been told that the closer you can come to the Iron Tower, the easier access is to the formulae of the Codex, and the records. It may be the only place in the world where you can remove all traces of your talent from their sight, and secure your freedom.

I pray, for your sake, that you don’t have to resort to this extreme. Try London first, and be safe.

CHAPTER FOUR

Jess expected the day to be over when they left Abdul Nejem’s home; after all, as far as he could tell, they’d all passed the test. But instead, after a stop at Ptolemy House to allow the other three to exit, Wolfe ordered him back inside the carriage, and climbed in after him.