A Discovery of Witches

by Deborah Harkness

  “It’s none of my business, but I don’t like him.” Sean looked down the central aisle as if he expected Matthew to pop out and glare at him. “The whole place has been full of strange ducks over the last week or so.”

  Unable to disagree, I resorted to muffled noises of sympathy.

  “You’d let me know if there was something wrong, wouldn’t you?”

  “Of course, Sean. But Professor Clairmont’s okay. You don’t have to worry about him.”

  My old friend looked unconvinced.

  “Sean may know I’m different—but it seems I’m not as different as you,” I told Matthew after returning to my seat.

  “Few are,” he said darkly, picking up his reading.

  I turned on my computer and tried to concentrate on my work. It would take hours for the manuscript to appear. But thinking about alchemy was harder than ever, caught as I was between a vampire and the call desk. Every time new books emerged from the stacks, I looked up.

  After several false alarms, soft steps approached from the Selden End. Matthew tensed in his chair.

  Peter Knox strolled up and stopped. “Dr. Bishop,” he said coolly.

  “Mr. Knox.” My voice was equally chilly, and I returned my attention to the open volume before me. Knox took a step in my direction.

  Matthew spoke quietly, without raising his eyes from the Needham papers. “I’d stop there unless Dr. Bishop wishes to speak with you.”

  “I’m very busy.” A sense of pressure wound around my forehead, and a voice whispered in my skull. Every ounce of my energy was devoted to keeping the witch out of my thoughts. “I said I’m busy,” I repeated stonily.

  Matthew put his pencil down and pushed away from the desk.

  “Mr. Knox was just leaving, Matthew.” Turning to my laptop, I typed a few sentences of utter nonsense.

  “I hope you understand what you’re doing,” Knox spit.

  Matthew growled, and I laid a hand lightly on his arm. Knox’s eyes fixed on the spot where the bodies of a witch and a vampire touched.

  Until that moment Knox had only suspected that Matthew and I were too close for the comfort of witches. Now he was sure.

  You’ve told him what you know about our book. Knox’s vicious voice sounded through my head, and though I tried to push against his intrusion, the wizard was too strong. When he resisted my efforts, I gasped in surprise.

  Sean looked up from the call desk in alarm. Matthew’s arm was vibrating, his growl subsiding into a somehow more menacing purr.

  “Who’s caught human attention now?” I hissed at the witch, squeezing Matthew’s arm to let him know I didn’t need his help.

  Knox smiled unpleasantly. “You’ve caught the attention of more than humans this morning, Dr. Bishop. Before nightfall every witch in Oxford will know you’re a traitor.”

  Matthew’s muscles coiled, and he reached up to the coffin he wore around his neck.

  Oh, God, I thought, he’s going to kill a witch in the Bodleian. I placed myself squarely between the two of them.

  “Enough,” I told Knox quietly. “If you don’t leave, I’m going to tell Sean you’re harassing me and have him call security.”

  “The light in the Selden End is rather glaring today,” Knox said at last, breaking the standoff. “I believe I’ll move to this part of the library.” He strolled away.

  Matthew lifted my hand from his arm and began to pack up his belongings. “We’re leaving.”

  “No we’re not. We are not leaving until we get that manuscript.”

  “Were you listening?” Matthew said hotly. “He threatened you! I don’t need this manuscript, but I do need—” He stopped abruptly.

  I pushed Matthew into his seat. Sean was still staring in our direction, his hand hovering above the phone. Smiling, I shook my head at him before returning my attention to the vampire.

  “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have touched you while he was standing there,” I murmured, looking down at his shoulder, where my hand still rested.

  Matthew’s cool fingers lifted my chin. “Do you regret the touch—or the fact that the witch saw you?”

  “Neither,” I whispered. His gray eyes went from sad to surprised in an instant. “But you don’t want me to be reckless.”

  As Knox approached again, Matthew’s grip on my chin tightened, his senses tuned into the witch. When Knox remained a few desks away, the vampire returned his attention to me. “One more word from him and we’re leaving—manuscript or no manuscript. I mean it, Diana.”

  Thinking about alchemical illustrations proved impossible after that. Gillian’s warning about what happened to witches who kept secrets from other witches, and Knox’s firm pronouncement that I was a traitor, resounded through my head. When Matthew tried to get me to stop for lunch, I refused. The manuscript had still not appeared, and we couldn’t be at Blackwell’s when it arrived—not with Knox so close.

  “Did you see what I had for breakfast?” I asked when Matthew insisted. “I’m not hungry.”

  My coffee-loving daemon drifted by shortly afterward, swinging his headset by the cord. “Hey,” he said with a wave at Matthew and me.

  Matthew looked up sharply.

  “Good to see you two again. Is it okay if I check my e-mail down there since the witch is here with you?”

  “What’s your name?” I asked, smothering a smile.

  “Timothy,” he answered, rocking back on his heels. He was wearing mismatched cowboy boots, one red and one black. His eyes were mismatched, too—one was blue and one was green.

  “You’re more than welcome to check your e-mail, Timothy.”

  “You’re the one.” He tipped his fingers at me, pivoted on the heel of the red boot, and walked away.

  An hour later I stood, unable to control my impatience. “The manuscript should have arrived by now.”

  The vampire’s eyes followed me across the six feet of open space to the call desk. They felt hard and crisp like ice, rather than soft as snowfall, and they clung to my shoulder blades.

  “Hi, Sean. Will you check to see if the manuscript I requested this morning has been delivered?”

  “Someone else must have it,” Sean said. “Nothing’s come up for you.”

  “Are you sure?” Nobody else had it.

  Sean riffled through the slips and found my request. Paper-clipped to it was a note. “It’s missing.”

  “It’s not missing. I saw it a few weeks ago.”

  “Let’s see.” He rounded the desk, headed for the supervisor’s office. Matthew looked up from his papers and watched as Sean rapped against the open doorframe.

  “Dr. Bishop wants this manuscript, and it’s been noted as missing,” Sean explained. He held out the slip.

  Mr. Johnson consulted a book on his desk, running his finger over lines scrawled by generations of reading-room supervisors. “Ah, yes. Ashmole 782. That’s been missing since 1859. We don’t have a microfilm.” Matthew’s chair scraped away from his desk.

  “But I saw it a few weeks ago.”

  “That’s not possible, Dr. Bishop. No one has seen this manuscript for one hundred and fifty years.” Mr. Johnson blinked behind his thick-rimmed glasses.

  “Dr. Bishop, could I show you something when you have a moment?” Matthew’s voice made me jump.

  “Yes, of course.” I turned blindly toward him. “Thank you,” I whispered to Mr. Johnson.

  “We’re leaving. Now,” Matthew hissed. In the aisle an assortment of creatures was focused intently on us. I saw Knox, Timothy, the Scary Sisters, Gillian—and a few more unfamiliar faces. Above the tall bookcases, the old portraits of kings, queens, and other illustrious persons that decorated the walls of Duke Humfrey’s Reading Room stared at us, too, with every bit as much sour disapproval.

  “It can’t be missing. I just saw it,” I repeated numbly. “We should have them check.”

  “Don’t talk about it now—don’t even think about it.” He gathered up my things with lightning speed, his
hands a blur as he saved my work and shut down the computer.

  I obediently started reciting English monarchs in my head, beginning with William the Conqueror, to rid my mind of thoughts of the missing manuscript.

  Knox passed by, busily texting on his mobile. He was followed by the Scary Sisters, who looked grimmer than usual.

  “Why are they all leaving?” I asked Matthew.

  “You didn’t recall Ashmole 782. They’re regrouping.” He thrust my bag and computer at me and picked up my two manuscripts. With his free hand, he snared my elbow and moved us toward the call desk. Timothy waved sadly from the Selden End before making a peace sign and turning away.

  “Sean, Dr. Bishop is going back to college with me to help solve a problem I’ve found in the Needham papers. She won’t require these for the rest of the day. And I won’t be returning either.” Matthew handed Sean the boxed manuscripts. Sean gave the vampire a dark look before thumping them into a neater pile and heading for the locked manuscript hold.

  We didn’t exchange a word on the way down the stairs, and by the time we pushed through the glass doors into the courtyard, I was ready to explode with questions.

  Peter Knox was lounging against the iron railings surrounding the bronze statue of William Herbert. Matthew stopped abruptly and, with a fast step in front of me and a flick of his shoulder, placed me behind his considerable bulk.

  “So, Dr. Bishop, you didn’t get it back,” Knox said maliciously. “I told you it was a fluke. Not even a Bishop could break that spell without proper training in witchcraft. Your mother might have managed it, but you don’t appear to share her talents.”

  Matthew curled his lip but said nothing. He was trying not to interfere between witches, yet he wouldn’t be able to resist throttling Knox indefinitely.

  “It’s missing. My mother was gifted, but she wasn’t a bloodhound.” I bristled, and Matthew’s hand rose slightly to quiet me.

  “It’s been missing,” Knox said. “You found it anyway. It’s a good thing you didn’t manage to break the spell a second time, though.”

  “Why is that?” I asked impatiently.

  “Because we cannot let our history fall into the hands of animals like him. Witches and vampires don’t mix, Dr. Bishop. There are excellent reasons for it. Remember who you are. If you don’t, you will regret it.”

  A witch shouldn’t keep secrets from other witches. Bad things happen when she does. Gillian’s voice echoed in my head, and the walls of the Bodleian drew closer. I fought down the panic that was burbling to the surface.

  “Threaten her again and I’ll kill you on the spot.” Matthew’s voice was calm, but a passing tourist’s frozen look suggested that his face betrayed stronger emotions.

  “Matthew,” I said quietly. “Not here.”

  “Killing witches now, Clairmont?” Knox sneered. “Have you run out of vampires and humans to harm?”

  “Leave her alone.” Matthew’s voice remained even, but his body was poised to strike if Knox moved a muscle in my direction.

  The witch’s face twisted. “There’s no chance of that. She belongs to us, not you. So does the manuscript.”

  “Matthew,” I repeated more urgently. A human boy of thirteen with a nose ring and a troubled complexion was now studying him with interest. “The humans are staring.”

  He reached back and grabbed my hand in his. The shock of cold skin against warm and the sensation that I was tethered to him were simultaneous. He pulled me forward, tucking me under his shoulder.

  Knox laughed scornfully. “It will take more than that to keep her safe, Clairmont. She’ll get the manuscript back for us. We’ll make sure of it.”

  Without another word, Matthew propelled me through the quadrangle and onto the wide cobblestone path surrounding the Radcliffe Camera. He eyed All Souls’ closed iron gates, swore quickly and enthusiastically, and kept me going toward the High Street.

  “Not much farther,” he said, his hand gripping mine a bit more tightly.

  Matthew didn’t let go of me in the lodge, and he gave a curt nod to the porter on the way to his rooms. Up we climbed to his garret, which was just as warm and comfortable as it had been Saturday evening.

  Matthew threw his keys onto the sideboard and deposited me unceremoniously on the sofa. He disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. He handed it to me, and I held it without drinking until he scowled so darkly that I took a sip and almost choked.

  “Why couldn’t I get the manuscript a second time?” I was rattled that Knox had been proved right.

  “I should have followed my instincts.” Matthew was standing by the window, clenching and unclenching his right hand and paying absolutely no attention to me. “We don’t understand your connection to the spell. You’ve been in grave danger since you saw Ashmole 782.”

  “Knox may threaten, Matthew, but he’s not going to do something stupid in front of so many witnesses.”

  “You’re staying at Woodstock for a few days. I want you away from Knox—no more chance meetings in college, no passing by him in the Bodleian.”

  “Knox was right: I can’t get the manuscript back. He won’t pay any more attention to me.”

  “That’s wishful thinking, Diana. Knox wants to understand the secrets of Ashmole 782 as much as you or I do.” Matthew’s normally impeccable appearance was suffering. He’d run his fingers through his hair until it stood up like a scarecrow’s in places.

  “How can you both be so certain there are secrets in the hidden text?” I wondered, moving toward the fireplace. “It’s an alchemy book. Maybe that’s all it is.”

  “Alchemy is the story of creation, told chemically. Creatures are chemistry, mapped onto biology.”

  “But when Ashmole 782 was written, they didn’t know about biology or share your sense of chemistry.”

  Matthew eyes collapsed into slits. “Diana Bishop, I’m shocked at your narrow-mindedness.” He meant it, too. “The creatures who made the manuscript might not have known about DNA, but what proof do you have that they weren’t asking the same questions about creation as a modern scientist?”

  “Alchemical texts are allegories, not instruction manuals.” I redirected the fear and frustration of the past several days at him. “They may hint at larger truths, but you can’t build a reliable experiment from them.”

  “I never said you could,” he replied, his eyes still dark with suppressed anger. “But we’re talking about potential readers who are witches, daemons, and vampires. A little supernatural reading, a bit of otherworldly creativity, and some long memories to fill in the blanks may give creatures information we don’t want them to have.”

  “Information you don’t want them to have!” I remembered my promise to Agatha Wilson, and my voice rose. “You’re as bad as Knox. You want Ashmole 782 to satisfy your own curiosity.” My hands itched as I grabbed at my things.

  “Calm down.” There was an edge to his voice that I didn’t like.

  “Stop telling me what to do.” The itching sensation intensified.

  My fingers were brilliant blue and shooting out little arcs of fire that sputtered at the edges like the sparklers on birthday cakes. I dropped my computer and held them up.

  Matthew should have been horrified. Instead he looked intrigued.

  “Does that happen often?” His voice was carefully neutral.

  “Oh, no.” I ran for the kitchen, trailing sparks.

  Matthew beat me to the door. “Not water,” he said sharply. “They smell electrical.”

  Ah. That explained the last time I set fire to the kitchen.

  I stood mutely, holding my hands up between us. We watched for a few minutes while the blue left my fingertips and the sparks went out entirely, leaving behind a definite smell of bad electrical wiring.

  When the fireworks ended, Matthew was lounging against the kitchen doorframe with the nonchalant air of a Renaissance aristocrat waiting to have his portrait painted.

  “Well,” he said
, watching me with the stillness of an eagle ready to pounce on his prey, “that was interesting. Are you always like that when you get angry?”

  “I don’t do angry,” I said, turning away from him. His hand shot out and whirled me back around to face him.

  “You’re not getting off that easy.” Matthew’s voice was soft, but the sharp edge was back. “You do angry. I just saw it. And you left at least one hole in my carpet to prove it.”

  “Let me go!” My mouth contorted into what Sarah called my “sour-puss.” It was enough to make my students quake. Right now I hoped it would make Matthew curl up into a ball and roll away. At the very least, I wanted him to take his hand off my arm so I could get out of there.

  “I warned you. Friendships with vampires are complicated. I couldn’t let you go now—even if I wanted to.”

  My eyes lowered deliberately to his hand. Matthew removed it with a snort of impatience, and I turned to pick up my bag.

  You really shouldn’t turn your back on a vampire if you’ve been arguing.

  Matthew’s arms shot around me from behind, pressing my back against his chest so hard that I could feel every flexed muscle. “Now,” he said directly into my ear, “we’re going to talk like civilized creatures about what happened. You are not running away from this—or from me.”

  “Let me go, Matthew.” I struggled in his arms.

  “No.”

  No man had ever refused when I asked him to stop doing something—whether it was blowing his nose in the library or trying to slip a hand up my shirt after a movie. I struggled again. Matthew’s arms got tighter.

  “Stop fighting me.” He sounded amused. “You’ll get tired long before I do, I assure you.”

  In my women’s self-defense class, they’d taught me what to do if grabbed from behind. I lifted my foot to stomp on his. Matthew moved out of the way, and it smashed into the floor instead.

  “We can do this all afternoon if you want,” he murmured. “But I honestly can’t recommend it. My reflexes are much faster than yours.”

  “Let me go and we can talk,” I said through clenched teeth.

  He laughed softly, his spicy breath tickling the exposed skin at the base of my skull. “That wasn’t a worthy attempt at negotiation, Diana. No, we’re going to talk like this. I want to know how often your fingers have turned blue.”