Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)(102)

“And?” Wolfe asked, and she blushed a little.

“Just a moment.” She turned, and Jess thought she was retrieving something from a hidden pocket in her dress. Or under it. She handed over a single sheet of paper to Wolfe. “It’s coded. Dario created the cipher for me. Do you need the key?”

Jess gestured for the page, and Wolfe passed it along. Jess blinked. “When did he make the code for you?”

“When? Just a few days ago. He said we’d be better off that way. Why?”

Jess felt himself smiling tightly; how like Dario to do something smart and at the same time demonstrate his arrogance. “Because I recognize it. It’s my family’s code.”

“Don’t tell me Dario’s a long-lost cousin!”

“Just an ass,” Jess said. “He asked me about the code once. I told him it was unbreakable. So of course he broke it. And now he’s using it. Idiot.”

“The contents?” Wolfe prompted impatiently. Santi, who’d said nothing, pushed himself off the wall he’d been holding up to stand next to them.

“There’s a hidden section in the Iron Tower. Several floors unaccounted for in all of the records that exist. What’s above the garden level, where the Translation comes in?”

Wolfe frowned. “Nothing. That’s the top of the Tower.”

“No, that isn’t true,” Thomas said. His eyes turned blank, the way they did as he performed calculations Jess couldn’t even fathom inside his head. “There must be at least four more floors above it. Possibly five.”

“Morgan would have found it by now. She’s had nothing but time to look!”

Jess sent Wolfe a warning look. “If Thomas says it’s there, it’s there. Perhaps we could hide in these hidden floors. Perhaps there’s even an escape of some kind there.”

“Don’t you think if there was a way upstairs, someone else would have found it by now?”

Wolfe hadn’t said anything, but he looked over their heads at Santi, who raised his eyebrows.

“We can try,” he said. “But I have a feeling that anything that’s secret inside the Iron Tower may be a great deal deadlier than it looks.”




Jess slept poorly, even as tired as he was. All the day’s events kept jumping through his mind, and the knowledge that Morgan was here, within reach, left him feeling restless. When he rose at the first light of dawn the next day, his first thought as he looked out the narrow, unbreakable window was, This is the last time I’ll see Alexandria. One way or another, they’d either leave this place for good or die here.

Not surprising to him that Wolfe and Santi were already up and dressed. Wolfe still wore a Scholar’s robe over his plain shirt and trousers. Santi had put on his uniform. Khalila emerged just a few minutes after, fresh and lovely in a dark blue dress and head scarf.

She smiled at Jess. “I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “You?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t seen Thomas yet. Maybe he’s the late riser among us.”

But he wasn’t. Glain was true to her word and appeared just a moment later, with Thomas walking at her side as she climbed the stairs. They were talking with an ease and animation that seemed vaguely surprising to Jess, given their circumstances.

And then Morgan. She’d changed into a practical costume: trousers and a gray jacket. Against the plain fabric, her gold collar seemed far too bright. She’d pulled her brown hair back in a twist. All business.

“The Artifex came to the gates just before dawn,” she said. “I saw him arrive with soldiers. The Obscurist ordered him to leave. Very tense. I’m surprised there wasn’t a fight.”

“There will be,” Santi said. “Soon. He’s not going to take no for an answer.”

“He won’t have to,” Wolfe said. “He’ll send for the Archivist, and that’s an end to it. And us.” He nodded to Khalila. “We’ll need to explore Khalila’s information. Quickly.”

“About that,” Santi said. “Wathen. How do you judge your ability to run today?”

Quick on the uptake, Glain. Her dark eyes flashed around at each of them, and she raised her chin and said, “Whatever the day requires, sir.”

Santi nodded. “Packs and weapons. Our time’s running out. Either we find a way out this morning or we fight.”

And our odds aren’t good, either way, Jess thought. He reached out for Morgan’s hand and her fingertips felt chilled in his. She knew, too. She had to know. This idea of Khalila’s might be a useless effort, but it was all they had left.

“Where are you going?” Morgan asked, and Jess explained it as quickly as he could. She caught on immediately. “Of course. There was something that always bothered me. The Obscurist would lock the garden entrance every few days. I thought she was conducting secret work via Translation. I didn’t think it could be anything else.”

“You’ve never heard of any hidden floors above it?”

“No,” she said. “Never. Not even a rumor.”

“Maybe they don’t actually exist,” Thomas said.

“Then we’ll have a nice garden stroll before we’re taken out to be killed,” Santi said. “I don’t see any drawbacks.”