“Let’s walk around to the side of the building,” her father suggested. “See what it does.”
As they continued to walk around the building together, they talked freely.
“I can’t believe you married a Commoner,” Josie said.
“Is that a crime?” her father said.
“No, I always expected you to get married someday, I just thought it would be to a human.”
“Now, hold on there a minute, little Josie—Bianca is every bit as human as you and me.”
“No, she’s not.”
“She is where it counts.”
“I suppose. Um, can Commoners and humans, uh, like have babies together?”
“We already have a boy and a girl.”
“You mean I have half-breed siblings?”
“Please don’t use that term when referring to my children.”
“I’m related to Commoners,” Josie huffed. “I can’t believe it.”
“Do you have a problem with Commoners?”
“They’re the ones with the problem,” Josie hissed. “The captain of the slave ship was Commoner. The owner of the theater company was Commoner. A lot of my enemies in the ring were Commoners. It seems like every Commoner I meet is trying to sell me, own me, or fight me, so, yeah, I guess I do have a problem with them.”
He gave a deep sigh. “In time, you will learn it’s not the Commoner in a Commoner that is causing you so much trouble—it’s their human side. We’re a fallen race—you know.”
Growing up, to hear her mother talk, Josie’s father was about as intellectually stimulating as a turd. Josie never felt that way. He might not be book-smart, but he had a way of cutting down an argument to its bare bones. However, his decision to stay in Galatia when he knew that she was in the Northlands had wounded her deeply.
“When you learned the rest of the bunker had arrived, why didn’t you try to find me?”
“I wanted to, but other obligations held me here.” She had never seen her father cry, but a tear splashed from his lashes onto the dust of the alley cobblestones. “I’m sorry for not being there for you through the years, Josie. And I wish I could do more for you now, but I have a wife and two little kids here in Tectonia.”
“I suppose, in the end, you came through by being here today.”
“I love you, little girl,” he said, squeezing her shoulders in a one-arm hug.
“I’m not so little anymore. I can take care of myself pretty well now.”
“That you can.”
“I suppose it’s a good thing that you’ve finally found a woman—a wife I mean.”
“Yes, Bianca is a good woman.”
“What do you do here in Tectonia, anyway?”
“I’m just a notch below a lawyer,” her father said, standing a little straighter, a little prouder. “Businessmen pay me to read and write up contracts. Among the Galatians, I was just an average guy, .got through high school with Cs and Ds. Here on Future Earth, I’m practically a scholar. Being able to read and write English made it easier for me to learn how to read and write Commoner, which puts me ahead of most of the population.”
“That’s great, Dad.”
She returned her attention to the Seeker. No matter what side of the library she was on, the starburst pendant tugged toward the building. When they came full circle, the Seeker aimed itself up the steps once again. Josie matched the angle of the chain with her arm, following an imaginary line to the upper floors of the building.
“My guess is it’s on the third or fourth floor.”
“Here comes Dante and Lindsey.” Her father pointed down the congested city street.
Josie glanced their way as she started up the broad entrance staircase.
As people walked up the steps, she tried to read their personalities by looking at their demeanors, the way they held themselves. Most people walked swiftly, hunched over, heads down, but then she spotted him—a bulldog-jowled humanoid covered in shaggy white fur. A pair of wire half-moon glasses rested on the end of his snout. He held a stack of books against his chest, but took the time to nod and smile at everyone he passed.
She bounded up the stairs past him and positioned herself near the top so that he would pass by her with a cheery hello.
“Hello, young lady.”
“Hello, kind sir.” she said as he brushed past her toward the doors. Her father raised his eyebrows, but stepped aside and blended into the background to let her work. “Are you going into the library?”
“I’m not walking up the steps for my health,” he said with good humor.
“Me neither,” she said. “Are you a student?”
“I wish.” The dog man snorted with laughter. “No, I’m a very old Kaninder. I teach history at the Royal Academy. I take it you’re from out of town?”
“Indeed, far north of here. Blue Junction, actually,” she lied. “My name is Josephine.”
“A pleasure, Josephine.” He offered a paw. “My students call me Master Casey.”
She wasn’t sure what to do with a paw, so she gave it a shake. Master Casey looked momentarily taken aback. Was it the handshake or the fact that he had noticed she had five fingers—not the four of a Commoner?
“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to hide her embarrassment. “I don’t know your customs.”
“It’s quite all right, young lady. What brings you to Tectonia?”
“I’m looking for information.”
“You’ve certainly come to the right place.”
“I thought so,” she said with a long face. “But when I got here, I learned that not just anybody can access the Deposit of Knowledge.”
He started forward again toward the doors.
Images of armies heading toward Galatia marched through Josie’s imagination. This was taking far too long. Time to take a calculated risk.
“Look, Master Casey, I’ll be straight with you. I need to get in that building bad, real bad. I will pay you for assistance. Just tell me what you want.”
“I’m sorry, Josephine,” he said, looking more curious than shocked by her proposal. “But I have all the money I need.”
“What do you like besides money?” she asked, hoping he wasn’t some kind of pervert.
“Like I said, I’m a teacher of ancient history.”
Just then Lindsey climbed the steps to join them.
“Hey, Josie, what’s up?”
Then it clicked into place. She had the perfect bargaining tool. Taking Lindsey by the arm, she shoved her squarely in front of Master Casey.
“Do you want to see a neat trick?” she offered, despite Lindsey’s startled squawk. “Hand her your glasses, Master Casey.”
“Excuse me?”
“Hand her your spectacles and she will tell you their history.”
“This is most unprecedented,” Master Casey grumbled, but Josie was banking on his curious nature to win out. He gingerly handed them over. Lindsey shot her an irritated glare, but held the glasses between her palms. A few moments later, she rattled off the history of the glasses.
“These glasses were purchased in Faladore. A short fat guy named Hogsworth made them. He charged you double the agreed-upon price, which made you so furious, you swiped a cigar on the way out of his shop. You were wearing these glasses when your wife died two years ago. She passed away in a big warehouse where hundreds of other sick people were being treated. Was there a plague here or something?” His mouth was hanging open, but Lindsey continued rattling off information. “You teach cadets at the Royal Academy. You don’t fraternize with the other instructors much—sitting by yourself at lunch to read. Before your wife died, you used to rush home where a warm dinner and a kiss were waiting for you. Nowadays, when class is over, you go down to the bakery every single day, where you sit drinking a coffee and eating pastries. Then you come to the library, where you browse the collection of artifacts, just before you choose a book, which you read until closing. I get the impression that you don’t like to go home anym
ore.” Lindsey placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s sweet how you put the pillows on her side of the bed every night and cover them with the blanket, just so you can pretend that she is still there. You’ve been very lonely since your wife passed away—haven’t you? I think the secretary in the Royal Academy likes you. Haven’t you notice how she gets flustered whenever you come near her desk?”
“B-B-Bernice?”
“Definitely, you should ask her out for a bite at the bakery or something.”
“Wait a moment, h-h-how did you do that? Is this some parlor trick?”
“No,” Josie said. “Lindsey can read the history of any object, no matter how ancient. Get me into the Deposit of Knowledge, and she’s all yours until I get what I need. What do you say?”
“Hey!” Lindsey protested.
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” said Master Casey, giving both girls an enthusiastic handshake. He proceeded to offer each of them an arm. “Just wait until my associates and students see me waltz into the library escorted by two beautiful ladies.”
..............................
The inside of the Deposit of Knowledge didn’t look much like the bunker’s library. Instead of rows of metal shelves, computers, brightly painted walls, and carpets—the dark wooden shelves here were so tall you’d need a ladder to reach the top five shelves. The walls were more of the same dark wood, intermingled with oil paintings of pompous humanoids, landscapes and battle scenes. The floor was polished green marble. Chandeliers flickering with candles were arranged intermittently along the copper-tiled ceiling. Elderly gentlemen sat on long velvet-cushioned benches, smoking pipes, reading the books, and occasionally muttering to one another. One of them caught sight of Master Casey, nudged the gentlemen next to him and pointed. Soon, the congregation of old fellows were gawking in interest at him and his two female companions.
“I wonder what they’re saying.” Master Casey chuckled warmly. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
Josie wasn’t interested in old-men games. Her eyes went to the soldiers in military uniforms posted at the doorway. As library patrons left, each was stopped, and thoroughly frisked. Egads, how would she sneak anything out of this place?
“These are friends of the family from out of town,” Master Casey told the registrar at the front desk. “They are both avid readers and I’d like to show off the place—if you don’t mind.” The woman raised her eyebrows, but she pushed a tablet his way. “Have them sign in, please.”
Josie and Lindsey wrote their names in cursive without thinking. The woman looked at their scribbles and shook her head.
“What’s this gibberish?” the woman complained, pushing the tablet back toward them. “If you’re illiterate, just sign your names with an X.”
Master Casey peered over Josie’s shoulder. His eyes widened in interest. “Gibberish—I think not.” He guided them away from the registrar. “Tell me again, where are you are from?”
“The bunker—” Lindsey said.
“Blue Junction—” Josie blurted out at the same time.
“I mean Blue Junction,” Lindsey tried to correct herself, but it was too late.
“I see,” Master Casey said, looking at them shrewdly, but left it at that. “Tell me again, what kind of information are you after?”
“I’ll know it when I see it,” Josie said, and headed for the marble staircase sweeping up to the rotunda. Lindsey started going with her, but Josie put up her palm. “You go with Master Casey and do your rewindy thing, remember?”
“I’d like to have you take a look at the pre-history collection in the basement,” Master Casey said eagerly.
“This should only take a few minutes,” Josie said. “I’ll come find you when I’m done.”
People were going down the staircase, so she waited for them to pass before releasing the pendant. The Seeker’s angle lessened as she climbed to the second story. It went almost horizontal on the third, making her heart thump with excitement. As she was part way up the fourth flight, it started to sag. Josie suppressed a squeal of joy.
Holy Moley, it’s on an upper shelf on the third floor, she decided.
When she went back down to the third floor, she found dozens of young men in blue cadet uniforms sitting at tables with open books in front of them. They were busy kicking each other under the tables, throwing writing plumes at each other, and horsing around. A few of them gave her curious glances, but she wasn’t worried about them. It was the two people sitting in the corner with their faces shrouded in cloaks that gave her the heebie jeebies. She couldn’t tell if they were looking at her or only in her direction. Trying to appear confident, like she was doing nothing wrong, Josie stared boldly back at them. In response, they lowered their heads into thick books. Josie decided she had simply been paranoid and went on her way.
Turning behind the shelves, she let the Seeker go again.
It reached toward the center of the room, angling to the far wall. Jogging down the back aisle, she pictured the Seeker as the minute hand of a clock. Right now it hovered at the eleven o’clock position. As she passed more aisles, it shifted to ten o’clock. To nine. The stone began to glow that familiar blue as the Seeker pulled slightly upward.
“Oh, god,” she said, feeling weak in the knees, knowing she was getting close. Spying a shelf ladder, she calmly slid it from the end of the rack and climbed it. Dust puffed where she disturbed ancient texts, some that probably hadn’t been opened for decades, maybe longer. She sneezed again, breaking the quiet, making her muscles clench in fear. The Seeker landed between the spines of two thick leather-bound books—volumes IV and V of Alchemy.
Peering at the shelf, she realized a thin book was wedged between them. She carefully pulled it out to find, of all things, a paperback book with a cover illustration of a red-headed woman wearing a chainmail bikini and holding a sword. The edges of the pages had weathered to the shade of an overcooked biscuit. The stamp on the side said Property of Galatians Library. There was even a barcode on the back cover.
Her mind spun at the sight of Riddle of Steel.
“T-T-Truella?” Josie gasped, running her hand over the faded cover. She had seen it float away in its plastic bag when she and Buckwheat fell into the Kalida River. “H-how did you get here? How can this be?”
Gently, she opened the fragile cover. Inside, written in jaggedy blue ink in English,
Dear Josephine:
The words you are reading haven’t been written yet.
Did I blow your mind?
Yours Truly,
P.S. Never give in or give up.
You will find what you’re looking for
somewhere near the end.
“What the hell?” she whispered in puzzlement, but there wasn’t time to dwell on the impossibility of the book’s location. How frustrating that the signature was crossed out!
She started at the back of the book and carefully turned the yellowed pages. And there, folded neatly between pages 398 and 399, she found a piece of incredibly thin material that felt like soft linen. Upon closer inspection she noticed hair-width fiber optic threads running through it in a tight grid pattern. She unfolded enough to see black outlines of continents and oceans. Where her fingers had touched its surface, pinkish dots were left behind.
The Blood Map.
She suppressed a shriek with a palm and crossed one leg over the other to stop from peeing herself. Folding it back into the book, she slipped Riddle of Steel into her cloak, and clambered back down the ladder, thinking of an exit strategy. It was her book, with the stamp of Galatians Bunker on the side, so technically it didn’t belong to this library. But she wasn’t banking on the guards letting her take it out of here without a hassle.
But first she had to find Lindsey.
Twenty minutes later, she found Master Casey and Lindsey in the basement, seeming to enjoy one another’s company. The redhead’s elegant hands held a stack of LEGOS formed into the sha
pe of a car. Their colors had faded, but the building blocks were surprisingly intact.
“No, LEGOS never replaced real bricks. They were children’s toys. I played with them all the time as a kid.”
“Fascinating,” Master Casey said. He glanced down at her hands.
“Time to go,” Josie announced.
Lindsey stood, but Master Casey took her hand between his furry paws.
“Please, stay a little longer. I’m so enjoying my time with you.”
“And I you,” Lindsey said, patting his paw. “But my friend isn’t going to let me.”
“I understand,” he said softly.” I should just be grateful for the unexpected opportunity that came my way today. My life is richer for it.” He turned to Josie and asked in earnest, “Did you find what you were after?”
“Nope,” she replied. “Dead end.”
Josie and Lindsey headed straight for the doors. Josie held Riddle of Steel in her hand and showed it to the soldiers, praying they wouldn’t ask a lot of questions.
“I brought this in with me.” She pointed out the stamp on the side and how it lacked the Deposit of Knowledge’s numbering system imprint on the spine.
The soldier’s eyes widened at the half-naked woman in bright colors on the cover. “I’ve never seen a book like this,” he said. “I better let the curator take a look at it before I release it from the building.”
He motioned at one of the other guards, who promptly left.
“What do we do?” Josie said nervously.
Lindsey flicked a glance at the door, brought her forearm to her head and started swaying, “Oh, dear, I feel dizzy.” She fell to the floor, unmoving.
“Oh, my, god,” Josie screamed. “You hurt my friend!”
The guard backed up, holding up his hands. “I swear, I didn’t touch her.”
As the guards gathered around, Josie backed up and quietly made her exit. Thirty seconds later, Lindsey was sauntering down the steps with a smug look on her face.
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