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“No. I think I’m going to throw up.”

“That’s okay.” He led me back down the corridor. “They won’t mind. They’re mostly made of water, remember?”

18

For a moment, it felt like the darkness was never going to go away. It pressed on me from all directions, and when I reached for Lucian’s hand, there was nothing there. Just a void where he’d once been standing. I opened my mouth to call his name, and ice crystals filled my throat, choking me.

Then there was light. Fluorescent light.

I blinked and looked around. I was standing in the trace lab, which was empty, at least for the moment. Lucian was standing next to me, looking like he’d just gone for a brisk walk. I swallowed down my nausea and took a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I want to stay in my apartment for the next week, with all of the lights on. Other than that, I’m good.” I saw the reproduction of Las Meninas, which was still sitting on a light table. “Did we come out of the painting?”

“Yes. I thought you’d like to come to the lab directly. Once you know how to travel by speculum, you can negotiate the entire network.”

“How come we didn’t end up on the table?”

Lucian frowned. “You know, I’m not quite sure. I think it has something to do with particle spin, though.”

“Thanks. I completely get that.”

“I figured you would.” He grinned slightly.

Cindée chose that moment to reenter the lab. She was carrying a box full of files, and she almost dropped them when she saw us.

“Tess? How did you get in here? I was only gone for a second.”

“We came out of Las Meninas.”

She stared at me. “Are you drunk?”

“I wish. But no. It’s a long story involving necromancy.” I reached into my coat and drew out the bone knife, which was sealed in an evidence bag. “Right now, I need some dental stone to make a plaster mold of this. If I don’t do it within the next hour, the whole thing’s going to disappear.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re sure you’re sober, hon?”

“She’s fine,” Lucian said. “I promise. The knife is from Trinovantum, and it can’t be away from the hidden city for long before it vanishes.”

“Is that were y’all just came from?”

I nodded. “It’s pretty. And frightening.”

“That’s what I’ve heard.” Cindée reached into a drawer under a nearby counter. “What kind of dental stone are you looking for? We’ve got gypsum-based, ADA type-three, type-four—”

“Just the pre-measured stuff. The bone is porous, so I’ll need to use some of the Mikrosil casting material to capture all of the grooves and little holes.”

“I believe they’re called lacunae.” She smiled and handed me a white container, along with a plastic mold. “But

‘little holes’ are the same thing.”

I placed the bone knife inside the mold, positioning it so that the serrated edge was slightly elevated and facing toward me. Then I mixed a pound of the dental stone with six ounces of water. I would have used more for a tire-track impression, but the knife was small and delicate, so it required less casting material. Lucian watched the process with some degree of fascination. It was strange that spider demons didn’t faze him, but this was suddenly capitvating.

“Can you stir this?” I asked him. “It’s just like pancake batter.”

He stared at the pink material. “It really doesn’t look like it.”

“Just stir it, please. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to make a call.” I turned to Cindée. “Is Selena still here?”

“She went home an hour ago.” Cindée was watching critically as Lucian mixed the dental stone.

“Honey, maybe you ought to let me do that.”

“He’s doing fine. Can you page her at home?”

“Tess. She’s gonna bite my head off.”

“Just tell her it’s about the Ordeño case.”

“Why don’t you call her?”

“I don’t have her home number. You’ve called her before.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Thanks so much.” I ran out of the lab before she could protest further. Delegation was a fine dance, and my balletic abilities sucked. But I did know how to leave a room at the perfect moment. It was a secret I’d learned from my mother.

I called the house. Derrick picked up after the first ring.

“Are you okay? Where are you?”

“Back at the lab. Did you honestly think I’d get reception in Trinovantum?”

“Maybe. It’s only a matter of time before the iPhone goes multidimensional. When did you get back?”

“A few minutes ago. I need you to come to the lab. Is Miles with you?”

“He’s watching TV with Mia and Patrick.”

“You got the closed captioning to work?”

“Yeah, Patrick figured it out. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to turn it off again, though. There was this crazy sub-menu under SAP—”

“That’s fine. I need you to bring everyone with you.

Miles, Patrick, and Mia. If Mia argues, tell her it’s non-negotiable.”

“What are you planning?”

“It would take too long to explain. And I’m barely holding on to the idea as it is, so I don’t want to jinx it. Just get here as soon as you can.”

“Okay. Wait—” I heard him saying something inaudible. “Patrick wants to know if he can drive.”

“Only if you sit in the front seat with him. And if he doesn’t obey the speed limit, you have to make him pull over.”

“He’s probably going to complain about that.”

“He owes me a favor. Just remind him of that, and it should be fine.”

“All right. We’ll be there soon.”

“Thanks, hon.”

I closed the phone and walked back into the lab. Cindée was in the middle of talking to Lucian. She saw me, and her eyes narrowed.

“You called her?”

“I did.”

“And did she bite your head off?”

“She said she’s changing her cell number.”

“That’s an empty threat. She’s said that dozens of times.”

“She said you’d say that, and I should tell you that she really means it this time, and that you owe her a coffee the size of her head.”

“Wow. She was pretty articulate. Usually she just swears.”

“At any rate, she’s on her way.”

“Good.” I turned to Lucian. “Done stirring?”

“I think so. It’s gotten much more solid.”

“It’s faster than most dental stone. We’ve been experimenting with injecting semisolid earth materia into the gypsum.”

“I’m not really sure what that means.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re just here to look pretty.” It came out before I could stop it. Cindée raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Lucian just smiled.

I took the plastic mold, sealed it, and put it in the fridge. “Just like Jell-O. In a few hours, we can send it down to the morgue, so Tasha can take a look at the casting. I’m willing to bet that the serrated edge of the bone shear matches the wound-track left in Ordeño’s neck. Even if the weapon disappears, we’ll still have the impression.”

“I guess the killer didn’t count on that,” Lucian said.

“No. They never do.”

“What’s next?”

I heard footsteps in the hallway. Selena emerged into the lab, wrapped in a full-length trench and looking a few shades away from pissed.

“Jesus, how many red lights did you run to get here so fast?”

She hung her coat up. “I took a cab. At one point, we were driving so fast down Cambie, I thought we might go into orbit.”

“You got here in one piece, though. That’s what counts.”

“No.” She folded her arms. “What counts is the story you’re about to tell me. It’s going to be rivet-ing. It’s going to involve concrete physical evidence, and an amazing reason for dragging me back here.”

“Actually, you’re right on nearly every count. I’m not sure I can deliver fully on the physical evidence part, though. Our murder weapon is dissolving as we speak.”

“I already don’t like where this is going.” She turned to Lucian. “Did you take her to Trinovantum?

Did she wreck anything?”

“Yes to the first, and no to the second.” He inclined his head. “She was actually quite professional.”

Selena blinked. “And then what happened?”

I stepped between them. “It was nothing important. I may have insulted Lord Nightingale. And I almost puked while riding a Nightmare. But I’m pretty sure that I made friends with a glowworm.”

Selena looked at Cindée. “Is she drunk?”

Cindée shrugged. “I already asked, and she said no.”

“There’s some delicate trace evidence in the fridge,” I said. “Once the dental stone hardens, we’ll have an impression of the weapon that—possibly—killed Ordeño. But the weapon itself is like one of Cinderella’s pumpkins. It won’t last.”

Selena sighed. “I’ll admit it. I’m slightly intrigued. But you’ll need to give me more than a casting impression.”

“Oh, we’ve got more. Lucian?”

He looked at me. “What?”

“Get out your pipe. We’re going into the evidence closet.”

“Sure. Tu eres el jefe.”

“No,” Selena said, “I’m el jefe. That does mean ‘boss,’ right?”

“It does.” Lucian smiled. “You speak Spanish?”

“My husband’s from Uruguay. Mostly, I just know profanity.”

“And how to make milaneses, I’ll bet.”

Her eyes softened. “God. They’re amazing, aren’t they? But I always end up with bread crumbs all over the kitchen floor.”

“The secret is to—”

“Can we stop talking about food?” I asked. “All I’ve had to eat today is a blueberry bagel, since someone wouldn’t let me have anything in Trinovantum.”

Lucian rolled his eyes. “Did you want to end up as a slave to the city forever? I was only trying to save your soul.”

“Maybe I was willing to sell it for one of those black watermelons.”

“They are pretty good. They kind of taste like licorice.”

Selena turned to me. “Fine. Why are we going into the evidence closet? I don’t want to have to clean it afterward.”

“You’ve got half of a Polybius Book in there. Now that we’ve got the other half, we can put them together. Cindée, can you unlock the door?”

She chuckled. “Why not? This is the most interesting thing that’s happened all night. Before you arrived, I was cataloguing fiber evidence.”

We all filed into the secure evidence locker, which was really a museum-style room exhibiting several precious artifacts. The most recognizable was Ordeño’s suit of armor, with its wings and eyes, sitting sedately under glass. Next to it was the first half of the Polybius Book, still smoking within its own glass cage.

Cindée closed the door behind us, then punched a code into a keypad on the wall.

“I’ve turned off the chemical sensors. Otherwise, the alarm will sound if there’s a one percent change in the atmospheric composition of the room. It’s designed to keep out everything, including materia.”

“I’m not even sure this falls under that classification,” I said. “What exactly would you call a Polybius Book, Lucian?”

He was already taking out his bone pipe, delicately carved into the shape of a blooming lily. “Dangerous. And not to be read lightly.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Selena said. “We weren’t sure that Ordeño’s book was one of those. It could have been any number of unpleasant things. But this isn’t the kind of book that tries to eat you, right?”

“No,” Lucian said. “I promise it won’t eat you.”

“And you took the second half of it from Trinovantum?”

“It’s not going to last,” I replied. “But Lord Nightingale gave us a crucible to hold it in, so I think we’ve got a few hours at least before—” I paused. “I was about to say before it goes up in smoke, but it’s already made of smoke. Before it evanesces?”

“I’m not sure you’re using that word correctly,” Lucian said.

“When did you become such a grammarian?”

“I’m not a grammarian. I’m just a perfectionist.”

Selena gave me an odd look. This was definitely descending into overly familiar territory. We needed to pull it back.

I reached into my bag and pulled out the second half of the book, which was encased in the glowing red matrix of Lord Nightingale’s crucible. Its tendrils of smoke moved silently against the invisible barrier of the cube. The smoke didn’t smell or taste like anything. I’m not sure what I’d expected. It was a grimoire, not BBQ.

“I don’t think we’re insured for this,” Selena said. “Cindée, do you have a fire extinguisher handy?”

“Don’t worry. Lucian’s done this before.”

“Right.” He sprinkled some tobacco into the pipe. “No pressure.”

“None at all.”

Selena’s eyes widened. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”

“Just watch,” I said. “It’s actually pretty cool.”

“Your definition of cool is exactly the sort of thing that I usually run from. I feel like I should be wearing protective gear.”

“I can get you a lead apron,” Cindée said. “Would it make you feel better?”

She shook her head. “At this point, nothing will. Just get on with it. We’ll figure out what damage forms we need to sign later.”

I placed the Polybius Book on an empty pedestal. “How do I release the crucible again? I don’t want to lose a finger.”

“Just breathe on it,” Lucian said. “That should be enough.”

I blew on the glowing crucible like it was a bowl of soup. The lines of light shivered, then vanished.

The Polybius Book began to curl and expand. I saw points of light flickering within its depths. Its tendrils moved toward the glass case, where its other half was resting.

“Can I lift the case?” I asked.

Cindée punched in a code. “There. Security’s off.”

“Just don’t lean too close to it when you remove the lid,” Lucian said. “You don’t want to get a mouthful by accident.”

Gingerly, I lifted the glass case. Both clouds of smoke began to swirl and roil, as if a storm had awakened inside of them. As I watched, they hovered in the air for a moment, and then flowed into each other.

Lucian lit the pipe, and the tobacco burned orange. He inhaled. I thought of Gandalf. I couldn’t help it.

A long tendril of smoke from the unified book rushed into the bowl of the pipe. Lucian closed his eyes, taking a long, luxuriant hit.

“Is this legal?” Cindée whispered.

“Of course,” I replied. “He’s only smoking the words.” Selena shook her head. “I should have stayed home. Why can’t I just learn to stop answering the phone when you call?”