The Secret Chapter

by Genevieve Cogman

  ‘We’ve already identified your vehicle,’ Hao Chen declared over the open channel, unaware that his audience had stopped responding. ‘We’re moving in CENSOR forces with roadblocks right this minute. You can’t keep driving round Vienna forever. You should really consider making a deal, while we’re still prepared to talk to you –’

  ‘Your plan’s fine by me,’ Tina said. When Felix turned to stare at her, she shrugged, eyes still on the road. ‘I’m not saying I’m happy about it, but there’s a limit to how well even I can drive this thing, if a dragon hitches a ride on top again. How long do you want us to wait – and how will you find us?’

  ‘Kai will do the finding,’ Irene answered, glad that at least one person could stand the idea of trust. ‘Six hours should be more than enough time.’

  ‘I can stomach this idea,’ Ernst muttered, ‘which is to say, I don’t like it. But it makes sense. How will you find us, dragon boy? Do you have our scent in your nose?’

  ‘It’s more metaphysical than that,’ Kai said with dignity.

  Indigo lowered her gaze to her monitors again. ‘I approve your plan too,’ she said.

  Felix’s expression was shadowed, and for a moment Irene thought he would refuse. Then, astonishingly, he laughed. ‘The thing I most regret is that we won’t see the expression on their faces when we’ve vanished. It’s a deal, Irene. Give me your word in your Language, and I’ll give you mine.’

  ‘I swear that this isn’t a betrayal, and that I intend to join you later, after you’re safely out of here – so that we can all escape,’ Irene said. A twinge of caution made her add, ‘And claim the reward Mr Nemo has promised us all.’ The words echoed, carrying more weight than they should have done.

  ‘And I swear by my name and nature that once we’re in a safe location, before we take the canvas to Mr Nemo, we’ll wait six hours for you to join us,’ Felix said. ‘You have my word. Ernst?’

  ‘It’ll do. I pledge as well.’ He offered his hand to Kai. ‘Here, dragon boy. Get a good grip on my hand and be sure you can find me again. We don’t want you getting lost.’

  Kai had a slightly mixed expression on his face as he took Ernst’s hand. ‘By now I think I could find any of you,’ he said, ‘wherever you were. But I appreciate the gesture.’ There was something in his eyes that seemed to give the moment an extra significance. An offered hand, a gesture of trust between Fae and dragon . . .

  ‘Hello? Hello . . . Will you do a deal? I’m waiting for your answer,’ Hao Chen said over the connection.

  ‘Let’s do it,’ Irene said. ‘How long to the car park, Tina?’

  ‘Three minutes,’ Tina said. ‘Might be two.’

  Irene made a turn-the-audio-back-on-again gesture at Indigo, who nodded. ‘How do we know we can trust you?’ she asked Hao Chen. ‘This could be just one more trick.’

  ‘You’re the ones who broke into the museum,’ Hao Chen responded. ‘How do we know we can trust you?’

  ‘Aaaand roadblock ahead,’ Tina said, her tone deadpan. ‘Hang on, this is going to be bumpy.’

  Felix yelped and covered his face with his arms. Irene glimpsed the road beyond – the marshalled police cars, the men with guns – and dropped to the floor. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the others doing the same. They were all clinging onto something. Even Indigo.

  The lorry hit the barricade of cars and careened through with a bone-shaking crash. The windscreen smashed to pieces: Tina ducked her head sideways as a bullet smashed through the glass, pinging off the back wall. They slowed, the lorry listing to one side, and then accelerated again, glass and metal crunching in their wake. The sound of bullets receded behind them.

  Irene reflected that just as they’d kept Hao Chen talking while they escaped, he’d been setting up a roadblock while he ‘negotiated’. She glanced around. No casualties. Good. ‘You think that’s going to make us surrender?’ Irene said into the link.

  ‘Think of it as a warning shot,’ Hao Chen said. ‘You’ve been marked from the air. You won’t get past the next roadblock. Surrendering now is your only chance of getting out of this alive.’

  ‘You really think CENSOR’s going to shoot us, rather than shoot actual dragons?’ Felix demanded. ‘What happened to their priorities?’

  ‘As far as CENSOR knows, you’re a group of terrorist mages who summoned the dragons yourselves,’ Hao Chen answered. ‘Once you’re stopped, the dragons will magically disappear.’

  ‘Yes, but they’re attacking us!’ Felix pointed out. ‘How does that fit with your stupid narrative?’

  Irene could almost hear the shrug on the far end. ‘Everyone knows mages are insane and evil. So who cares if their own weapons turn upon them? I should really thank you for the pro-CENSOR publicity, by the way. It’s the best we’ve had in years. The main problem with keeping it funded is the lack of genuine supernatural activity here. But you know that, don’t you? You’re not from this world either.’

  ‘So just how long have you been running CENSOR?’ Irene asked. The revelation was less shocking than it might have been, now that she put the pieces together, but she still found herself disgusted by it. All that fear, all that paranoia, and all of it based on a lie simply to keep convenient control of this world. Maybe there were no universal standards of morality – but this was still just plain wrong.

  Hao Chen laughed. ‘Getting me to betray myself over an open channel? I’m not that stupid. This channel’s secure. Even if you distributed a recording, who’d believe you?’

  Tina made a cut audio gesture to Indigo. ‘Five seconds,’ she said. ‘The next turning.’

  ‘Look where you’re driving, woman!’ Ernst growled.

  ‘Yeah, yeah. Everyone who’s getting out, be ready to do so.’ She spun the wheel abruptly and hit the brake. The truck turned with a ferocious squeal, rocking to the right. One of Indigo’s monitors finally came loose from its brackets and went flying. She cursed in fine archaic style.

  Irene snatched up one of Ernst’s explosive packages. It might be useful: there were still enemy dragons and CENSOR to deal with, after all.

  Kai scrambled to the back of the vehicle, keeping his balance in spite of the vehicle’s contortions, and held out a hand to Irene. ‘Let me go first,’ he suggested, ‘and I’ll catch you.’

  ‘No offers to catch me?’ Indigo demanded. She picked up her ever-present attaché case, swaying in the dim interior as she rose to her feet.

  ‘You are tough dragon,’ Ernst pointed out before Kai could say something regrettable. ‘You will break less easily than puny Librarian. Dragon boy has his priorities right.’

  ‘There’ll be a barrier gate up before the garage,’ Felix said. He was still curled to one side, his arms protectively in front of his face. ‘It’ll be closed this time of night.’

  ‘Twenty-four-hour parking for us!’ Tina answered, and the lorry charged down the slope into the car park. The barrier pole bowed under the vehicle’s momentum, then gave way and went bouncing loose, shuddering across the concrete. From behind them came the furious roar of a dragon seeing its prey escaping.

  The car park was well lit inside – Irene could see flashes of it through the shattered windscreen, over the shoulders of Felix and Tina, momentary glimpses of the sort of concrete and painted pillars that seemed universal to all worlds which had developed cars and needed somewhere to park them. Then there was a crunch from above, and the lorry jerked mid-movement as something low-hanging hit the roof.

  ‘I’ll turn left and drop you,’ Tina said, totally focused on her job, ‘then we’re free to go.’

  As she spoke, she spun the lorry into another jerking turn, and the tyres screamed again, an accompaniment to the roaring dragons outside the building. Briefly, the vehicle slowed. Kai pushed the rear doors open and leapt out, landing with barely a stagger.

  Irene’s jump was much less graceful than Kai’s – or Indigo’s. But she landed without breaking anything or spraining an ankle, underrated hazards when leaping from
moving vehicles. The back door was still swinging open as Tina gunned the lorry into motion again. Ernst flipped a casual wave in their direction. It charged between rows of parked cars, leaving a trail of glass and a shattered wing mirror behind it.

  The noise of its passage was drowned out by the sounds coming from the entrance. Irene and the two dragons turned to look, then broke into a run, with the operative direction being away.

  Shu Fang was writhing through the entrance in a long coil of rain-grey scales and muscles, her wings pressed tight against her sides. Wind came with her, gusting blasts that whined against car windows and sent random pieces of rubbish rattling along the floor. Dozens of car alarms started jangling at the disturbance, adding new tones to the cacophony. Shu Fang moved with surprising speed, not at all slowed by the confined quarters.

  Indigo was in the lead as they fled, her precious case swinging as she sprinted. Kai had Irene by the wrist in the sort of grip that would leave bruises later, dragging her along behind. They were going in the opposite direction to their truck, dodging behind one row of cars and then another. Irene desperately wanted to know what Shu Fang was chasing – the lorry, or them – but she wasn’t waiting around to find out.

  And then, between one moment and another, the constant squeal of wheels on tarmac was gone – as was the truck. Indigo paused mid-step, eyes wide with sudden fear, and gestured for Kai and Irene to stop and take cover.

  The three of them crouched to hide behind the nearest car – a sleek Renault, Irene noticed with the distraction of terror, and owned by someone with a family, judging by the scatter of toys in the back seat. They waited. They could hear the heavy grinding of Shu Fang’s movements, her belly rasping against the concrete. Her claws and wings scraped on the pillars and random cars, and the wailing of innumerable car alarms made for an insufferable accompanying dirge.

  On the positive side, Irene reflected hopefully, there’s only one dragon in here, so maybe both won’t fit? Or maybe Lady Ciu just dislikes the noise . . .

  There was no way she was going to stand around and wait for an elevator, with a rampaging dragon in the vicinity, but this sort of place usually had fire exits. The stairwell it was, then.

  Kai tugged wordlessly at her arm, then pointed at one of the further columns. There was indeed a fire exit sign on it, and the outline of a door. She nodded, then prodded Indigo.

  They all froze as Shu Fang’s voice echoed through the underground car park. It carried above the car alarms, echoing with a cadence that rattled human bones and made Irene’s breath catch in fear. ‘Little ones . . . why do you waste your time running? I already have your scent.’

  Irene hadn’t thought of that. No chance that she’d lose their trail, then.

  ‘Surrender,’ Shu Fang said, her voice a cascade of deep-toned wind chimes, ‘or I’m coming to get you.’

  Irene drew the pistol from its holster on her purloined uniform. ‘Slide across the floor when I throw you, and keep going until you hit a wall,’ she whispered to it. Then she pitched it under the nearest row of cars. It skidded across the floor, moving with an impetus beyond anything her throw could have supplied, and kept on moving out of her line of sight.

  Wind plucked at their clothing and made car aerials quiver and hum. Behind their sheltering car, they watched Shu Fang slide past, following the noise of the gun on concrete. Her eyes were like onyx, her body a length of storm cloud that gleamed under the neon lights like a winter river in flood. She should have seemed ridiculous in the concrete surroundings, but instead she was utterly terrifying, a creature out of mythology that could rip the modern world apart.

  Now, before she realizes it’s a diversion and destroys us all . . . Irene twisted Ernst’s explosive’s detonator to five seconds and slipped it under the fuel tank of the adjacent car. Then they bolted for the exit.

  Shu Fang was right behind, lunging towards them like an express train. Wind blasted ahead of her, slamming into Irene’s back and making her stumble. Panicked, Irene wondered if she should have set the explosion to go off sooner, or later, or if it would have any effect at all . . .

  And then it went off. The noise in the confined space was devastating; it drowned out the alarms, and even Shu Fang’s roar of fury. Flames crackled behind them as they all piled through the exit – thank heavens for fire doors and regulations. They could hear cars exploding as they ran up the stairs.

  ‘What if CENSOR’s out there?’ Indigo demanded.

  ‘Then you’re “under arrest” and we’re taking you in for questioning,’ Kai answered, his gesture taking in Indigo’s civilian silk top and jeans. ‘Just be yourself and it’ll look convincing.’

  Indigo snorted. ‘Did he learn that sort of deceit from you?’ she asked Irene.

  ‘Yes,’ Irene panted, wishing she was as fit as the dragons. ‘I believe he did. Good job, Kai. Let’s go.’

  Following the rest of the team’s trail had taken them reassuringly far from the world of Alpha-327 – and its hostile dragons. Winter in the desert was colder than winter in Vienna: the wind licked across empty hills and valleys, cutting through Irene’s coat as if it wasn’t there. The landscape beneath them was divided by a single road running through it – like the stroke of a pen, where the ink had dried from glossy black to dusty grey. On either side of the road the land rose in successive ridges, in shades of pink, grey and orange. The only landmark was the solitary building in the distance, with a very familiar truck parked outside it.

  Riding on Kai – something that Irene had done less than half a dozen times – was still a thing of wonder. In his true form, as a dragon, he was a shimmering marvel of dark blue. His scales shone like sapphires, his voice thundered but was still recognizable as his own. She sat in the hollow of his back, behind his shoulders, as he cut through the sky, his flight more supernatural than physical. He didn’t beat his wings but glided through the air, as fluid as a shark in water. Despite the rushing of the air, they could hear each other well enough to talk.

  ‘You’re supporting an unjust regime,’ Indigo said with passion, not for the first time. She was parked behind Irene on Kai’s back, seated with a graceful nonchalance that indicated just how little she worried about falling off. ‘Your treaty does nothing more than rubber-stamp the draconic status quo. If political allegiances do shift, then why should a new regime honour its predecessor’s commitments? To the Fae, or the Library?’

  ‘Would you argue the dragons’ political regime was unfair, if you were one of the ones in power?’ Irene asked, wryly.

  Indigo didn’t lose her temper. ‘If I’d wanted to be in power, under my father and mother, then I could have been. It would have been easy. But have you ever been in a situation where you felt you had to do something about the status quo? That your ethics demanded it? Or don’t Librarians care about that sort of thing?’

  ‘You’ve yet to tell me what you’re actually standing for,’ Irene countered. ‘It’s all been about what you’re standing against. But if you’re disputing the authority of the monarchs, what do you plan to put in their place? Or are you an anarchist?’

  ‘An elitist,’ Indigo said. ‘And I’m not alone. Far from it.’

  ‘So you and your allies are planning a situation where dragons still hold power over humans – just with different dragons in charge?’

  Indigo looked unapologetic. ‘The definition of elitist, as I understand it, is that those who are superior should hold power. I’m a reasonable person. Show me humans who are as competent or intelligent as dragons, and I’ll bring them into government as well.’

  Irene somehow didn’t expect Indigo would find any humans whom she considered ‘superior’. Even Kai, who was prepared to admit that Librarians, humans and even Fae could be competent or useful, wouldn’t have argued for democracy – for the will of the people to choose their own government. As for herself . . . well, she’d willingly sworn to the Library. She’d bound herself to serve a hierarchical organization in the process. If she disobeyed h
er orders, she’d be punished.

  But Indigo seemed determined to challenge her own kind.

  ‘What if you can’t change the status quo?’ Irene demanded.

  Sparks flickered in Indigo’s eyes like a foreshadowing of lightning. ‘Anything can be changed if you really put your mind to it, Irene. If you’re strong enough. You and I are both strong. If we don’t achieve our desires, then we have nobody and nothing to blame except ourselves.’

  Abruptly Kai banked, dropping from the sky in a smooth plummet. ‘We’re here,’ he said, his voice a deep rumble that Irene could feel in her bones. ‘You were so busy arguing, I didn’t like to interrupt.’

  ‘We should be careful when we draw near,’ Irene said. ‘We never described your true form to the group. All they’ll see is a dragon.’

  ‘Land at a distance and approach on foot,’ Indigo suggested.

  Kai descended, and Irene tried not to think about how fast the road and earth were rising to meet them. She really didn’t like heights. It was impossible not to think about falls, and impacts, and messy splashes.

  But Kai settled gently on the ground beside the road, about fifty yards from the building. At this distance Irene could see it better. It looked like a disused diner, in the middle of nowhere. Maybe the area had once been inhabited. An old sign above the main entrance was so smeared with dust that it was impossible to make it out, and the broad window was shielded by tattered drawn blinds. If the Fae were in there, then they were hardly rushing out to greet them.

  Behind her and Indigo, light flared for a moment, briefly casting a pair of harsh shadows across the dusty earth. Then Kai clasped her shoulder, human once more. ‘Which of us goes in first?’ he asked.

  The question was answered by Ernst cautiously appearing in the doorway of the diner. He waved to them.

  ‘About time,’ Indigo muttered, and strode ahead. Irene and Kai followed at a more leisurely pace.