The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1)(52)

Vale frowned. He raised a hand to interrupt Kai. ‘A moment, please, Mr Strongrock. Driver!’ He hammered with the head of his cane on the roof of the carriage. ‘Driver! Why are we going this way?’

Irene pulled back the window shade. She couldn’t recognize the buildings going past outside, but they were clearly on a main street. ‘I think we’re going faster,’ she began, then yelped in shock as chaotic power flared across the window. She managed to snatch her fingers back just in time before it could touch them. Across the carriage, Kai flinched back from the window on his side, bumping into Vale.

‘Driver!’ Vale shouted. ‘What is going on?’

The cab jolted as it speeded up again. ‘The name is Alberich,’ a voice called from above, audible over the rattling of the wheels and the creaking of the carriage. ‘I suggest you ask your friends what that means, Mr Vale.’

Irene was conscious that she’d probably gone pale, but she was too busy trying not to shake with sheer terror to spend much time bothering about it. She couldn’t handle this – she couldn’t – her hand was still infected – this was Alberich, the Alberich, the one who had been cast out of the Library, there was no way she could handle this . . .

‘Brace, Miss Winters,’ Vale instructed Kai, then kicked out at the door with a coiled strength that should have burst it open.

It didn’t. The door stayed firmly in position, and the walls of the cab flexed with it as if it was a continuous part of the cab’s structure. Vale recoiled into his seat, thrown back by his own force, and bit back a muffled oath.

‘I’m afraid you Librarians have become an inconvenience,’ the voice called down. Male, Irene noted with the part of her brain that was capable of doing something other than shudder and try to hide. No discernible accent. Precise. Something about the rhythm of it was vaguely familiar, as though she’d heard someone else speak in the same way. ‘I require that book for my own collection. A pity to lose you as well, Mr Vale, but I draw the line at stopping the cab to let you out.’

Someone in the street ahead of them screamed as they dived out of the way of the speeding cab.

‘I think not,’ Vale said coldly. He spun his cane in his hands, and smashed the silver head against the window.

The glass took the blow without breaking or even splintering.

‘He’s sealed the cab.’ Irene forced the words out, nearly shouting against the banging and clattering of the wheels on cobblestones. ‘Chaos magic – he’s somehow bound it into a coherent whole, so nothing can get in or out – you’d have to break the whole thing to break part of it.’

‘Quite accurate,’ the voice said. ‘Though it’s not airtight – or watertight. A logical paradox which I’m afraid you won’t have the time to appreciate.’

‘The river,’ Kai said, barely audibly, and the same knowledge was in Vale’s eyes.

Irene’s thoughts ran round inside her head. There must be something I can do – even if the Language isn’t working reliably for me, could I use it enough to save us? But the cab itself is chaos-contaminated and Alberich too, so maybe it would cancel out any Library powers anyway . . .

‘Adieu,’ Alberich said. The cab rocked again, and speeded up in one last rush towards the river.

‘Together!’ Vale shouted. ‘Enough weight and we can force it over – ’ He threw himself against the side of the cab, and a moment later Irene and Kai joined him, struggling together in the confined space. The cab tilted, regained balance, tilted again –

‘Yes!’ Kai exulted.

– and the cab went over into the river.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN




The carriage did not sink elegantly into the water like a dying swan: it hit the surface of the river with a rattling crash that threw Irene into Kai, and Kai into Vale, and Vale into the wall of the carriage.

Force equals mass times acceleration, Irene thought dizzily. She should be thinking of a way out of this, but her thoughts cowered like frightened rabbits. She didn’t want to think.

The carriage tumbled as it began to sink, rolling over as the river tugged at it. The three of them automatically grabbed handles and benches, wedging themselves into corners until the vehicle came to a jolting stop on its side. Black Thames water covered the windows, not entirely cutting off all light, but making it only barely possible for the three of them to see each other.

‘The usual protocol in these cases is to wait until we are fully submerged, then open a window to equalize the water pressure, and swim up to the surface,’ Vale stated. Irene could hear the sheer control in his voice, over the creaking of the carriage and the slow trickling sound of water. ‘But if that person has sealed the carriage, given that I could not break the window earlier, this tactic would be ineffective.’

Right. She had to explain to Vale about Alberich. She owed him an explanation about a great many things now. But what was the point, if they were just going to die – well, it did remove the need for justifications. Yet there were other ways of dodging that sort of thing, and she was avoiding the subject again. And the water was pressing down, and they were all going to die . . .

He doesn’t just want us dead. He wants us dying in fear, in the dark, and slowly. This isn’t just wanting to get us out of the way, so he can work undisturbed. It’s malice, pure and simple.