‘Wait, you’ve been reading Plato? And Tolstoy? But you’re meant to be a meathead. No offence.’
‘I am in the top set for English. And history,’ Wolf reminded Maximilian.
And living in a bookshop. But again, Wolf didn’t say that bit.
‘Oh my God,’ said Maximilian. ‘Maybe you’re actually a scholar like me. A warrior scholar. That would be an interesting combination. You’d be like Napoleon or something.’
‘Nope,’ said Wolf. ‘I can’t be a scholar. I couldn’t use your spectacles, could I? And you can’t use my ring.’
‘Yes, you’re right,’ said Maximilian. ‘Well, let’s look in these catalogues for boons with the same stone. I don’t think there are that many blue stones, but I might be wrong.’
Effie picked up her bag, said a hurried goodbye to Octavia Bottle and followed the man out of the door of Mrs Bottle’s Bun Shop. She wasn’t sure how far she was going to trail him, because as soon as she could she was going to the Great Library in Truelove House to finish what her mother had started. No one would be able to say she was a galloglass if she risked her life for the universe, would they? And even if they did . . . What was it her father had said about heroes setting off on journeys on their own? That was basically Effie’s life. She would follow this man long enough to get any more information he had, then she’d go.
Maybe she was a galloglass, and maybe that meant everyone was going to hate her for ever. But that wasn’t going to stop her doing what she thought was right. And Festus had said that there’d been prophecies about her helping in the fight against the Diberi. Surely this was what she was meant to be doing. This was what the universe wanted her to do.
The man walked down the darkening street towards Lexy’s house. Where was he going? Effie was surprised when he slowed right down as he approached the front door. He then withdrew an envelope from his coat pocket and posted it through the letterbox.
He looked around, as if to check whether he was being watched. Effie quickly pretended to be looking at her wristwatch, but she fumbled with her sleeve and the whole action looked fake and staged. The man stared at her for a few seconds before walking away. Effie’s cover was blown. She sighed. There was no way she could continue to follow him now. She waited for him to leave and then went and knocked on Lexy’s door. What was going on with her? And why on earth would that man have put a note through her door? There was no reply. Effie would have to try to contact Lexy via walkie-talkie when she got home.
But right now she was going to go to the Otherworld to remove the book. Effie walked quickly back through the network of alleyways until she came out near the old village green. This was how she always travelled to Truelove House. Pelham Longfellow had explained to Effie how you make a sort of imprint in the place you regularly use to travel through the dimensions. She didn’t even have to use her magical calling card any more. She just had to go behind the hedge, get herself into a meditative state, and—
Melting. Through a cold layer and a warm layer and then—
The grey mist and the gatehouse and—
The sound of bees. The smell of flowers. Effie was home.
So why did she suddenly feel like a stranger?
As Effie walked up the path towards Truelove House with her Otherworld bag across her Realworld winter coat, she had the sudden sensation of being dirty and tainted, like a pile of old cutlery that no one has bothered to polish. What if she really is a galloglass? Rollo’s words again stung Effie, and the pain was so real, like a wasp crawling over her heart and injecting her with poison. If she really was a galloglass, she wouldn’t ever be able to come back here again. She probably wasn’t even supposed to be here now. But she could at least help everyone in their battle against the Diberi by removing the brown book again, once and for all. Even if it killed her.
Effie hoped that she wouldn’t meet anyone in the garden or the house. She just wanted to get into the Great Library, get the book and leave. Of course, they’d probably all be in the Great Library now, doing whatever they did in there. But perhaps Effie could get in and out quickly without them noticing. After all, the library appeared differently to everyone. Maybe Rollo, Clothilde and Cosmo wouldn’t even be in Effie’s version. The main thing was that she had enough lifeforce for getting in and out of the library in the first place. Fifty thousand would be plenty, surely?
There was no one in the large plant-filled conservatory when Effie entered Truelove House through its open doors. Good. The last thing she needed was Bertie offering her a cup of something or, worse, Clothilde, who was probably still cross with Effie after what had happened in Froghole. But aren’t you a terrible galloglass now? Effie imagined her saying in her sweet, honeyed voice. What are you even doing here? I don’t think you’re related to us after all. You can’t be.
The only other living being in the conservatory was Moonface, Cosmo’s cat. He was sitting very still, watching Effie as she walked across the tiled floor. For a moment Effie imagined that he was saying something, or trying to, but his mouth remained shut. Effie couldn’t understand any animals except horses, so if he was speaking in a telepathic language she wouldn’t even know. Which was probably a good thing, because even if Moonface had something to say, Effie wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it.
‘Are you going to say I’m a galloglass, like the rest of them did?’ she asked him. ‘Are you going to say I shouldn’t be here? That I shouldn’t meddle with things and take away the Diberi again?’
Moonface continued to stare at Effie.
Well, even if he did want to say something to her, it didn’t matter. She had to get to the Great Library. Effie walked towards the main part of the house. Moonface seemed to shake his head slightly. Then, unnervingly, he disappeared.
The last time Effie had been in the Great Library on her own it had been a disaster. The library had welcomed her in, because it had wanted the book she had been carrying. But of course that was the book she now wanted to take away again. Effie wondered whether the library would refuse to let her in now, because of this, and because her initiation as Keeper was not yet complete. But the library seemed completely neutral as Effie approached its wooden doors. When they clicked open to admit her they did so nonchalantly, as if to say, ‘All right then – how interesting – I wasn’t expecting this.’
Effie took a step forward.
‘I see you didn’t learn anything last time,’ came a deep voice.
‘Cosmo,’ said Effie. He was walking down the grand staircase and had reached the place where it curved just above the entrance to the Great Library. ‘I know you think what I’m doing is dangerous, but I don’t mind. You’re not going to stop me. I understand what my mother—’
‘Understand? Dear child, if you do, then you’re the only one who does. What happened with your mother was very—’
‘She wanted to save everyone from the Diberi. I realise that now. She took away the book, and—’
‘And you think it should be that simple, do you? The removal of one’s enemies, just like that? Dear child, if everyone who had a problem with something came and removed the relevant book from the Great Library, there’d be no books left – and no universe of any kind. You must see that.’
‘Yes,’ said Effie. ‘I understand. But in this case it’s the right thing to do. Everyone would agree about that.’
‘The Diberi wouldn’t.’
‘But they’re wrong.’
‘Yes, and they think we’re wrong.’
‘But they are wrong!’
‘Everyone thinks that their enemies are wrong, and that what they are doing is the right thing to do. That’s why there is war – in your world at least. Although we seem to be moving towards our first ever war in this world as well.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The Mainland Liberation Collective are getting serious about wanting to split permanently from the island. And their methods for persuading the rest of us . . . But that’s another matter. Euphemia, yo
u must understand that what your mother did was well-meaning, but wrong. It was the right thing for you to do to bring the book back, however much it seems to have created these troubles, and however much it hurt you at the time. Do you understand?’
Effie shook her head. ‘No. I don’t understand. And I don’t agree. The Diberi would change reality much more than I’m about to do. They’re evil. They have to be stopped. And this is the obvious way of doing it.’
‘Are you sure about that?’
‘Yes.’
Cosmo sighed. ‘Perhaps it is true that you are not of this world. That you are somehow incompatible with it. That would be a big disappointment for all of us. Especially as it seems you recently came so close . . .’ For a moment he looked very small, and very old. ‘If you go into the library and actually manage to return with the book . . .’ He shook his head, then took off his glasses and rubbed his wrinkled face. ‘Child, come away from the door, please, while we finish this conversation.’
Effie took her hand from the door. The word disappointment was marching through her like a marauding army, creating sadness wherever it went. Was she really such a horrible let-down? But of course she knew the answer to that already, didn’t she? She was an island galloglass. There could be nothing worse.
Cosmo had reached the bottom of the stairs.
‘Come, child.’ He led Effie through into the large airy drawing room. ‘Sit.’
Effie sat on the edge of the white sofa, with her bag still across her body. It felt wrong, and she was hot in her winter coat, so she took them both off and laid them carefully next to her. But she wasn’t staying here for long. She had to get into the library and remove the Diberi once and for all.
‘When you first came to Dragon’s Green we feared that you had been tarnished. They – we – decided that your being here was so important that it didn’t matter that we had, well, borrowed a rather unpleasant manner of getting you here. Obviously we don’t approve of destroying books in order to become a Last Reader. That’s what the Diberi do. The process should, in fact, be natural, beautiful. But I fear it may have corrupted you. Made it more difficult for you to—’
‘What do you mean? I don’t—’
‘Euphemia, do you know what kind of people take books out of the Great Library without the ritual?’
‘Um . . .’
‘The Diberi. They are the only people who tamper with reality in this way. We cannot become like them. Although I fear perhaps in some way you already are. You burned a book, after all. It’s not your fault, of course, and I regret we told you to do it, but it explains many things, including this unfortunate business with your shade. And why it’s taking you so long to discover . . . Well, I can’t tell you what you need to discover. But I don’t understand why it isn’t happening.’ He sighed. ‘It’s an error we made. An error upon an error upon an error upon—’
‘I’m not an error!’ said Effie, her voice breaking as tears began to well up deep inside her. She didn’t completely understand everything Cosmo was saying, but it seemed, somehow, to add up to that. She, Effie, was an error. A mistake. Someone they should never have invited here. Someone who should probably never have been born.
She got up from the sofa. Her blood was pumping through her so hard that she felt oddly resplendent in her desperate sadness, and also dangerous, and, in some unfathomable way, immortal.
‘If I’m just a mistake then you won’t miss me,’ she said.
‘No, dear child, I didn’t mean—’
‘You can’t take it back,’ said Effie, hotly. ‘And I don’t care, because I know I’m right. If the Diberi are the ones who want to take books out of the Great Library and change the universe, then they need to be stopped by any means necessary.’ Effie wasn’t sure where she’d heard that phrase, but it sounded right. ‘If we have to take one book out in order to protect the others, then surely that’s worth it? One wrong to prevent hundreds of wrongs.’
Cosmo sighed. ‘Spoken like a true hero,’ he said. But he didn’t make it sound like it was a good thing. Indeed, he made true hero sound rather like Diberi or galloglass.
‘You’re not going to stop me,’ said Effie, reaching for her bag.
‘No, I can see that,’ said Cosmo.
‘Lapis lazuli,’ said Wolf. ‘Here: I think I’ve found it.’
He showed Maximilian the page in the catalogue he’d been looking at. It was full of amazing boons from the Otherworld. There was the Athame of Althea, a rare dragonstooth dagger with an enchanted platinum handle studded with precious gemstones. Like all daggers, it was used by mages. There was an archer’s bow made from silverwood and unicorn gut (a rare type of Underworld mushroom), designed to be used by hunters. Then there was something called the Rosary of Peace, which comprised many blue stones on a silver chain with a silver cross. Rosaries, said the catalogue, were for clerics. As was lapis lazuli, which is what the stones were.
‘Interesting,’ said Maximilian. ‘And look at this.’
In his catalogue he’d been browsing a section on magical rings, which were of use to four different kharakters: clerics, heroes, warriors and alchemists. Usually, rings seemed to be very powerful boons, associated with higher levels of kharakter. Alchemists’ rings were all set with obsidian. Warriors’ rings usually had bloodstones. Heroes’ rings had sapphire or aventurine in them, both of which were blue. But they were different from Wolf’s stone. Aventurine was milky and almost green. Sapphire was lighter, clearer, almost turquoise.
‘I’m pretty sure the stone in your ring is lapis lazuli,’ said Maximilian. ‘Let’s check this last one.’
The two boys looked at a third catalogue together. And there it was. Not exactly the same ring, but one that was very similar, and with exactly the same type of blue stone. The Ring of the Noble Cleric, said the legend below the picture. Lapis lazuli set in silver.
‘What the hell is a cleric?’ asked Wolf.
Maximilian looked it up in his dictionary.
‘It’s a religious person,’ he said. ‘Weird. Are you religious?’
‘No,’ said Wolf. ‘It must be wrong.’
‘We need to go and see Raven, and borrow her Repertory of Kharakter, Art & Shade so we can look it up,’ said Maximilian. ‘I’ll page her and see where she is.’
Wolf turned the ring over and over in his hands. A cleric’s ring. What did that mean? He yearned to put it on. It felt warm and comfortable in the palm of his hand, almost as if it was enticing him: Put me on. Put me on. Put me on! Before he knew what he was doing, Wolf was trying it on different fingers. It fitted best on the index finger on his left hand. Before he’d even thought about what he was doing, he’d eased it on, and pushed it all the way down . . .
‘Wolf, what on earth are you—’
But Maximilian’s voice disappeared as Wolf was swept up into a sort of tornado of silence, joy and understanding. He could smell incense, and candle-wax, and something like heaven . . . Then he passed out.
When he woke up, he found Maximilian had put the ring under an empty glass on his desk. It was rattling against the sides, trying to get out.
‘I think we’re going to have to find out more about what this is, and what being a cleric means. Do you want me to look after it for you?’
But the ring wouldn’t stay under the glass. The next time it rattled so hard the glass broke and the ring flew towards Wolf. It clearly wanted to be on his finger again, now it had been there once. Maximilian found a piece of brown string (inspired by Dill Hammer and all his recycling, Maximilian now had a drawer full of such useful things) and threaded the ring onto it, finishing just as it became too hot and heavy for him to hold.
‘Here,’ he said. ‘You’d better keep it around your neck for now. It might calm down a bit if it’s closer to you. But don’t put it on again.’
His pager beeped.
‘Oh. That’s Raven. She says something about wanting to get away from a poet. She’s coming here. That’s good. We’ve actually got s
ome news for you as well. We’re all in the Gothmen now, and—’
‘The Gothmen?’
‘Yep. I’ll tell you all about it . . . You and Raven had better both stay for dinner. I’ll page Mum and tell her. Oh, and I’ll go and ask Dill to cook for two more.’
When Effie reached the door to the Great Library, it was already slightly open, as if it was expecting her, and as if she was welcome. ‘Come inside,’ it seemed to say. ‘Hurry . . .’ So it, too, agreed that the Diberi should be removed, even if it did mean breaking one of the fundamental rules of the universe. Ha! But . . .
Effie suddenly hesitated. What if Cosmo were right?
But she was here now, and her blood was still pumping hard, and anyway, the door was opening, and she was being drawn in by a great warmth, and the mellow smell of wood, and books, and she was definitely right, and invincible, and she had great power, power to influence the whole world, both worlds, and . . .
As Effie entered the Great Library she felt something of the tingling, joyful sensation she’d had in the market, except it was different – it was the thing Suri had done to her. In the market, when Effie had been afraid of the feeling it had immediately disappeared. But here it simply intensified, and a strange sweetness ran through her brain.
Effie’s library appeared as it had done before. A lot of wood, and the bookshelves all in a row, and a window leading out to an orchard. There was the usual wooden balcony with a further level of books in a small gallery. At the end of the lower level was usually a wall with a large painting on it, but Effie saw that this had now been replaced with an archway. Effie felt compelled to walk towards it, past the shelf of books where she knew the volume on the Diberi was housed. This shelf was where she should stop, but . . .
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