The Book of Dead Days (21 page)

Now Willow was confused.

“To hide it? To hide it?”

“Yes. You see, Willow, I learnt things. I have been helping Valerian for a long time. We had not seen each other since… for years, until one day he just arrived at my house and told me about the specter he faced. He turned up as if nothing had ever happened between us! But when he told me about the book, I knew I would put the past behind me. Now is not the time, and certainly not the place to tell you all the trials and troubles we faced, attempting to find the book. Suffice to say that I discovered that an answer would be contained therein.”

“But what is the book? What did you learn?”

“It is an almanac, but much more than that. It holds answers to questions that men ask. It holds information about all manner of dealings, both light and dark. It contains much information on the nature of the… agreement into which Valerian placed himself. And it answers questions-questions in the mind of the reader. It could solve Valerian’s problem-of that there is no doubt.”

“You mean-”

“Yes, I mean exactly that. Valerian’s life ending in a most horrible way.”

Willow thought of something that had been bothering her. Something important.

“Why?” she asked.

“What?” Kepler replied.

“You were supposed to be helping Valerian find the book. And now you’re telling me you’ve been trying to hide it from him. Why?”

“I thought you had realized that. The horoscope. Boy’s horoscope. That gave me the answer, really.”

“What’s a-?”

“Horoscope? It’s a method of thinking about people, based on the patterns of the stars and the planets. It explains who people are, and why they are. It has deep scientific basis that few men truly understand, and yet the results of such investigation can be powerful.

“It concerns the heavens-the stars and the planets and their motions around the Sun, which is the center of the universe, and their relative motions around the Earth.”

Willow tried to follow what he said, feeling lost and lonely again.

“The position of all these things in the sky at the moment of an individual’s conception determines the nature, the character, of that individual. Irrevocably.”

Now Willow began to understand.

“The piece of paper Valerian found, with Boy’s name on it-is that his horoscope?”

“Sort of,” said Kepler. “Sort of.”

“But how can you have worked these things out about Boy? You said you have to know where the planets were at the moment someone was conceived, but no one even knows when he was born-not even he does!”

“I made a guess. I felt a coincidence. An enormous coincidence, maybe, or Fate working its path through Boy and Valerian’s lives. And mine too. And then I found the book, and the book confirmed it. It
showed
me. I found out the truth.”

“But what is this coincidence?” asked Willow.

“That two people have come to be together. In all this sprawling city of tens of thousands, that two people should find each other. No, I think it is not coincidence. I think this is how Fate works.”

“So why were you trying to hide it?”

“Valerian will kill Boy,” said Kepler. “That is the answer. That is the only way he can save himself now-for him to give Boy’s life in place of his own. The pact can be broken only by a life exactly as long as the term of the bargain. That is what I discovered. I guessed much of this. The book confirmed it to me. I guessed who Boy is, and when he was conceived, and I drew up his horoscope. I found that it described the boy I knew very well. And so then, knowing who Boy is and having looked into the book, I knew what Valerian would do if he found out. And so I began to try to cover the path I had started to clear. I came down here to hide the book.

“In a few hours from now Valerian can offer Boy in place of himself, and he will go free. That is how and why Valerian will kill Boy. That is why we have to find Boy before Valerian does.”

Willow’s heart thumped inside its rib-prison.

Boy. Valerian would kill Boy to save himself. Finally she began to understand the insane nature of the journey they had all been making. A dance-a hideous dance with Fate and Death.

Something else occurred to her.

“But why do you care about Boy?” she asked.

“Why do you?” said Kepler.

Before Willow could answer, Kepler spoke again.

“I have my reasons, as I’m sure do you. And I want the book.”

“So where did you find it?” Willow asked. “Who does it belong to?”

“I heard, after years of searching far and wide, that it had been in the possession of a rich and powerful family. A family who lived in the City itself. A family called Beebe.”

In the darkness, Willow jumped at the name, but Kepler continued unaware.

“A large and powerful family, though corrupt and broken now. They once owned properties in the City, and a large estate in the countryside. They built a church there, as their private place of worship and eternal rest. That was where I found the book, in Gad Beebe’s grave. I had traced it as far as the Beebes. A sum of money to one of their more degenerate members, and the book’s whereabouts became known to me…”

“But…” Willow felt her head swimming. “But I don’t understand.”

“What?” asked Kepler.

“Gad Beebe. We looked in Gad Beebe’s grave-there was nothing in there but his bones… you must have got there before us.”

Now it was Kepler’s turn to be surprised.

“You went to Linden? You went to Beebe’s grave? But how? How did you know his name?”

Willow smiled.

“I worked it out, from the music box that Boy got from Green. I don’t know where Green had got it from, but the notes of the tune it played spelled his name. Gad Beebe.”

In the darkness Kepler started to laugh, bitterly. Then he stopped abruptly.

“But that is too ridiculous.”

“What?” asked Willow.

“That music box… I found it in Beebe’s grave. I gave it to Green. Me! I’d brought it back from Linden. It amused me. Then I sent for Green; I needed him to go and meet Valerian. He saw it on my desk, and asked what it was. When I showed him he smiled like a child. He asked for it, along with the money I was paying him. He refused to do the job unless I gave it to him. That thug! But it was nothing to me, so I gave it to him. He must have had it with him when he went out to meet Valerian in the Trumpet.”

“But it held Gad Beebe’s name!” cried Willow. “Without it we’d have never found the grave…”

“Fate, once more,” Kepler said. “Fate steering us all for its own ends…”

Willow thought about what he’d said. It did seem extraordinary-that little music box had made its way from Gad Beebe’s grave, to Kepler and Green to Boy to Valerian, and only she had known what it held. Without it Valerian would still be struggling for the answer, and Boy would be safe. It was a coincidence too great to be anything other than true. The true path of Fate.

Then something occurred to her.

“But why?” she asked. “Why did you send Green to meet Boy, in the Trumpet?”

“I sent him to meet Valerian-did he send Boy instead? That may have saved his life.”

“What do you mean?” asked Willow.

“I was supposed to meet Valerian that evening, to report any progress on the book. He knew I was close to finding it. In fact, I already had the book, and had read it. I’d learnt what it would mean for Valerian. For Boy. So I had to send Green instead. I sent a letter to Valerian at the theater, telling him to meet Green.”

“But what did you tell Green to say to Valerian? He was expecting to get some news from you.”

“I didn’t tell him to say anything. I told Green to kill him.”

Willow froze.

“Yes, Willow, I told Green to kill Valerian. In another few days he’d be dead anyway, and I knew if he found the book that Boy’s life would be in danger.”

“But he’s your friend! You’ve known him for years. Worked with him! You couldn’t just have him killed!”

“We were friends. Once, a long time ago, maybe. Then we fell out. We became rivals. He… hurt someone, someone I cared for. He betrayed me, around the time he was expelled by the Academy. We didn’t see each other for ten years. Then he came to ask for my help, but we were never friends again… He told me about the book. And I wanted it. I was never interested in helping Valerian. I wanted the book.”

“I still don’t believe it,” Willow said fiercely.

“Listen, girl,” cried Kepler, growing angry. “It’s him or Boy now. Understand that! Only one of them can live! And I want it to be Boy…” They sat in silence until all the questions in Willow’s head fought to be answered.

“So, what did you do then? After Linden? Did you use the tunnel to get here?”

“Tunnel?” asked Kepler.

“It’s how we got here,” Willow said. “We found the entrance to a tunnel in the crypt of the church, and an underground river that led all the way here.”

“I thought it was maybe so,” said Kepler. “During my researches into the book, I found a map of all the catacombs and canals. I made a model of them in my cellar, to try to learn the routes by heart. It is only because I did that I was able to find my way back here in the dark.”

“In your basement? The canals and the writing?”

Kepler nodded in the darkness.

“But I did not have time to investigate while I was in Linden. To see if I was right about a tunnel all the way out there. It was built by the Beebes, when they were most powerful, as a link to the heart of the City. That tunnel is much newer than the rest of this place.”

“So you came back to the City overland?”

“Yes, I had hired a horse. I’d found the book in the grave, and the music box there, too, and brought them both back from Linden. When I got back to the City, things had become complicated. Valerian’s house is being guarded by the Watch. And there have been deaths, I understand.”

Willow was silent.

“Yes, I know about the deaths,” Kepler said. “I heard about Green, though we may never know exactly what happened that night. I went to the Trumpet yesterday. And Korp too.”

“Who told you?” Willow asked.

“Korp’s murder is big news,” said Kepler.

“Valerian? Was it Valerian who did it?”

“I have no idea. Even I cannot work out everything that is going on here. I wonder where the book is now. Valerian must have taken it with him.”

“I don’t know that he has,” said Willow. “He can’t carry that and the light, can he?”

“True.”

“But what about the paper? The horoscope? Valerian found it in your desk.”

“The horoscope. So, I made another mistake! I think I left it there in my hurry to get to Linden. Well, that was as good as handing Valerian a key, but it would still not have been any use had he not found the book. That was why I had to get him away from here. When you three found me, I was hiding the book. Valerian was terrified of this place. He came down here once as a student. He got lost and nearly died. He vowed never to come here again. I thought this the best place to hide it.”

“You could have burned it. Thrown it in the river!”

“I could no more do that than cut off my own hand!” cried Kepler. “I want the book when Valerian is-I want the book. It is full of all knowledge. It holds enormous power, as the success of the Beebe family demonstrates. But more than that, it shows things to the reader, things only about them and their destiny…”

“But if it is so great a thing, so powerful, then why did the Beebes bury it with Gad?”

“Apparently they thought it dangerous. That its power was not always… good. That it could corrupt.”

Willow shivered.

“Are you sure it’s safe to use it?” she began, but Kepler cut her off.

“Of course!” he said dismissively. “The Beebes were fools. They used it unwisely and their downfall was the result. So they decided to hide the book. But in the right hands… it’s nonsense to suggest it could do anything other than impart wisdom.”

They sat without speaking as Kepler’s last words drifted away into the darkness around them. Willow began to panic.

“And we still have no light,” she said desperately.

“No,” agreed Kepler, “we do not.”

“Wait!” cried Willow. “Maybe we do.”

She rummaged around in her pocket and found the candle stub they had used in the great cemetery, and later in Kepler’s house.

“What is it?” asked Kepler, unable to see.

“I have a bit of a candle. Maybe you could try one more match and see if we can get it alight.”

“Excellent,” he said.

She heard him move and then felt him put out his hands.

“Where’s the candle?” he said. “Hold still, stay close. Right.”

Again the match flared briefly, and before the head could burn away, he held it to the wick of Willow’s candle stub. A small glow grew about them.

The relief was enormous, though the tiny patch of light only seemed to reinforce the oppressive gloom.

Now Kepler saw Willow’s face.

“Your face?” he asked.

Willow nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “Valerian.”

“We must find Boy.”

Then, in the light of the candle, which Kepler had taken from Willow and was shielding with one hand, they saw something else.

“The book!” Willow cried.

“That is good fortune. Our luck is turning. That is often how Fate works. One piece of good fortune begets another. Now come on! To your feet! I can get us out of here, but first we
must
find Boy!”

It had been a mistake to show himself to Valerian, and Boy knew it. How could he trust Valerian anymore? How could he? Valerian was probably already a murderer. Korp or Green-or both? No, he couldn’t have killed them both.

What was certain was that Boy could not trust himself with Valerian. Just to be held by his eyes for a moment too long was to forget right and wrong, to mistake black for white.