Page 116

There was no whisky, but they ordered a pizza and soft drinks and cookies and sat around in an easy silence waiting for it to come. Cassie and Izzy sat beside each other on the second bed, their backs to the wall. After a while Izzy started speaking, wondering how Cassie could find the woman, how she could take her books or otherwise beat her. Cassie joined in, and she could see that Drummond was listening. The pizza came and they took slices and drinks and returned to their places. The conversation continued, and Lund turned down the TV so they could talk without distraction. They spoke about the woman and her abilities they had seen, trying to itemize the books she might have.

“What does she want?” Izzy wondered.

“She wants the books,” Cassie said.

“She wants the Fox Library,” Drummond said. “She told me. The first time I met her.” He picked pepperoni from his slice of pizza and discarded it into a garbage can next to the chair.

“Don’t waste that, man,” Lund muttered.

“What’s the Fox Library?” Izzy asked.

So Drummond explained and told her how he had hidden it.

“You have seventeen books?”

He nodded as he chewed, and Cassie found herself remembering that library she had visited all those years ago. It remained in her memory as a special place, despite the turmoil and uncertainty of those days since, a place she wanted to visit again. A place, perhaps, where she wanted to stay.

“Could we use the Fox Library as bait?” Izzy wondered. “Lure her to it?”

“I wouldn’t want to lead her right there, even as part of some plan,” Drummond said warily. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Well, a fake one, then,” Izzy said. “Lure her there and trap her or something?”

“Lure her and trap her,” Drummond echoed, skepticism hanging from every word.

“I don’t know. But at least I’m thinking.”

“What about an illusion?” Cassie wondered. “We can get the Book of Illusion, right? Could we create an illusion of the Fox Library, something she’d believe?”

“That’s right, she believed the illusion of me being shot in the ballroom,” Izzy offered. “So illusions work on her.”

Cassie looked at Izzy. “Could you use the Book of Illusion to make a library?”

Izzy scoffed. “I don’t even know how I did the thing in the ballroom. No, I don’t think I could do that, even if I wanted to.”

Cassie looked at Drummond. “You seem to be able to use every book that comes your way. Could you use the Book of Illusion like that? Could you make her believe she was in the Fox Library?”

“What are you going to do if I can?” Drummond asked. “Because I don’t think getting her somewhere is the hardest part of the job here. We can get her to come somewhere. But she’s still going to have her books. You need to be able to deal with them.”

“It’s a start,” Cassie said. “Someone once said to me that I don’t need to solve all problems at the same time. Let’s do it one at a time. Could you create that sort of illusion?”

Drummond sighed and thought about it, taking a swig of his drink. “I’ve never used the Book of Illusion,” he said. “Even if I could use it, I’m not sure I’d want to gamble on it in these circumstances. And besides, if you are facing the woman, you probably want me to be free to do other things.”

Cassie nodded, feeling deflated.

“Azaki could do it,” Lund said, and everyone looked at him.

“What?” Cassie asked.

“Azaki could do it. I saw him create a cathedral in the desert. I am sure he could make a library.”

“Who’s Azaki?” Cassie asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lund said. “He’s dead.”

“When? What happened to him?”

Lund explained about traveling with Azaki, about coming to New York, and what had happened in Cassie’s apartment when Hugo Barbary had shot them both. Cassie glanced a question at Drummond.