Page 16 of The Journal of a Thousand Years (The Glass Library #6)

CHAPTER 16

A lthough I’d told Bristow to turn Melville away if he returned to the house, the butler nevertheless informed me of his visit the following morning while I was once again working in Gabe’s library.

“He claims to have found him,” Bristow told me.

“Found who?” I asked without looking up from the book I was cataloging.

“He didn’t say, but he asked me to tell you that. If I report back that you have no interest in speaking to him, he claims he will leave and never return. But he begged me to say that much to you. Miss Ashe,” Bristow prompted when I still didn’t look up, “could he mean he has found Thurlow?”

I dropped the book. Oh, God . “Bring him in here, then inform Alex, but not Willie or Gabe. Thank you, Bristow.”

When Melville entered, he peeled off the false beard and stuffed it inside his upturned hat. He placed the hat on the table. “Did the butler tell you I found him?” His eyes were bright, and his voice edged with excitement. “I found your kidnapper, Sylvia. I’ve set up a meeting so we can trap him.”

“What?” I exploded.

Footsteps came running and Alex appeared in the doorway. Seeing me safe, he released a breath. “Everything all right, Sylvia?”

“I’m not going to harm my own daughter,” Melville said snippily. “In fact, I’ve found a way to protect her. I’m glad you’re here, young man. You’re part of my plan.”

Another set of footsteps pounded on the staircase.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said to me.

“About what?”

Willie charged into the library and aimed her gun at Melville’s head. “Get down on your knees, put your hands in the air, and don’t move. You’re under arrest.”

Melville put his hands up but didn’t kneel. “You don’t have the power to arrest me. Anyway, I have a plan that involves you, and your gun.”

Willie screwed up her face. “Huh?”

Alex placed his hand over her wrist. “Don’t shoot him in here. It’ll make a mess.” Once she’d lowered the gun, although not put it away, he asked Melville to explain.

Melville addressed me. “I found Thurlow for you.”

Willie swore.

Alex shushed her and closed the library door. “Gabe is resting.”

Even if Gabe wasn’t resting, I didn’t want him hearing what Melville had planned. If it involved flushing out my kidnapper to arrest him, Gabe would want to be a part of it. In his current state, he was too weak. If his magic activated, it could weaken him further, perhaps to the point where his body couldn’t recover. Besides, his magic might not even work when he was already so frail. That wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want him to hear Melville, however. I suspected I was an integral part of Melville’s plan, and Gabe would try to forbid me from being involved. I’d be forced to go against his wishes, and I didn’t want that between us.

Melville pointed at my notebook. “May I borrow a blank page?”

Willie pointed the gun at him again. “So you can slice my throat open? I ain’t stupid.”

With a roll of his eyes, Alex forced her to lower the weapon again.

Melville sat beside me and accepted the blank page. “I found Thurlow?—”

“Where?” Alex asked. “Tell us and we’ll send the police.”

Melville shook his head. “I don’t know where he lives. When I say I found him, I mean I got word to him via a network.”

“Of thieves and thugs.”

“And worse.” Melville began to draw what appeared to be a map on the paper. “He doesn’t know who I am to you, Sylvia, or that I’m a magician. I told our mutual contact that I’d heard Thurlow tried to abduct you but failed. Given my previous encounter with the Glass family, I said I realized abducting you would upset Gabriel, which would upset his parents. I suggested it would be a perfect revenge for me and I wanted to be involved. I offered to help him lure Gabriel so he can study or use his magic.”

“I didn’t say anything about Gabe being a magician,” I said. “I told you Thurlow abducted me to lure Gabe, but I didn’t mention why.”

“I’ve read the newspaper articles about him. It wasn’t difficult to guess the reason. Is he a magician?”

“No,” all three of us said.

Melville shrugged. “It’s irrelevant anyway. What matters is that Thurlow and others believe he can magically manipulate time. They won’t leave him alone until their theories are proved false, and that means they won’t leave you alone, Sylvia. As your father, I have to protect you.”

I rubbed my temples. “You don’t need to. I have capable friends.”

He concentrated on his sketch again. “I told our mutual acquaintance that I’ll trick you into going with me to the meeting place, where Thurlow can swoop in and capture you.”

I put up a hand to halt him. “Wait. Slow down. What reason did you give for knowing Thurlow’s interest in Gabe? Only we know.”

“I’m sure others do.”

“Why would he believe I could be tricked into trusting you?”

“I didn’t give a reason. I only said enough to pique his interest and meet me.” He turned his drawing around so I could see it properly then stabbed the pencil in the middle of a blank area between streets whose names I didn’t recognize. “Epping Forest at two this afternoon.”

Alex peered over my shoulder. “Why so far away?”

“It’s quieter than London parks and offers a lot more seclusion.”

Willie snorted. “For Thurlow’s men to hide, then capture Sylvia?”

“No. For both of you to hide and capture Thurlow .” He pointed his pencil at Alex and Willie, then set about drawing lines through the park. “There are a number of paths, but I’ve given directions for him to meet us here, near the King’s Oak Hotel. There are a lot of trees in this area with trunks thick enough for you to hide behind.” He marked the hotel’s location on the map and indicated the trees.

“No,” Alex said. “It’s too dangerous, and it probably won’t work.”

Willie disagreed. She indicated her gun. “I take this, you take yours, Alex, and we stand where we get a good view of the path.”

“I can’t believe you of all people are considering the plan.” Alex lowered his voice. “I thought you didn’t trust him.”

Melville’s back stiffened. “I’m not going to place my own daughter in harm’s way. And whatever you may think of my past crimes, it wasn’t anything personal against either of you, or against the Glass family. I was under Coyle’s influence. I had to do as he said or suffer the consequences.”

Alex still didn’t look convinced, but Willie had warmed to the plan. Once she set her mind to something, she rarely backed down. “We need to do something ,” she said to Alex. “Using Sylvia as bait to draw Thurlow out is at least a plan. You got another one?”

Alex huffed a breath. “Gabe would murder us if he knew.”

“Don’t tell him until it’s over. It’ll be fine, Alex. If we get in place well before the meeting time, Thurlow won’t know we’re there.”

“He’ll bring his own men.”

“He’s too arrogant to hide them. He’ll have them at his back, like he always does.” She tucked her gun into her waistband with a decisive shove. “This’ll work.”

Melville gave Alex an annoyed look, as if he were being deliberately disagreeable. “Sylvia’s life cannot continue to be shadowed by this man. He needs to be arrested or he’ll keep trying. You know that.”

Hands on hips, Alex stared up at the ceiling. “Bloody hell,” he muttered. “All right. Willie and I will be armed, but you two can’t be.”

“Thank you, Alex,” I said. “We can’t do this without you. But you can’t tell your father, either. Not until it’s over.”

Now that his mind was made up, Alex took on the role of commander. “You and Hendry can’t take guns, but you can still have weapons. Thurlow doesn’t know Hendry’s a paper magician, but even so, he won’t want to see any paper near you, Sylvia. He has seen what you can do with it. You’ll need to conceal some paper without trapping it somehow.”

Melville picked up the map he’d drawn. “I know a way.” He folded the paper into a square with a triangle on top, without using a spell, then tucked it into his jacket pocket leaving the triangle visible. It almost looked like a handkerchief, except part of the sketch clearly showed. “Have you got nicer paper? I can use one and Sylvia can tuck another up her sleeve.”

“That won’t work against a gun,” Willie said.

“They won’t have their guns in their hands. They’ll need to draw them faster than this paper moves.” Quicker than a blink, the paper handkerchief flew out of Melville’s pocket and circled Alex’s head.

Alex ducked but it was too late. If Melville had directed it to cut him, Alex wouldn’t have got out of the way in time.

“I didn’t see your lips move,” I said. “How did you make the paper fly without speaking the spell?”

“I thought it.” Melville flew the paper back into his outstretched palm and scrunched it into a ball. “Some magicians are strong enough that they don’t need to say the spell, they can just think it. If your magic is strong, Sylvia, then after a little practice, you’ll be able to speak a spell in your head, too.”

But not in time for today’s meeting. “I haven’t learned to control the magic yet. The paper could fly in any direction, including toward me.”

Melville grasped my hand between both of his. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there to help you.”

Willie went in search of some quality paper while Alex fetched his gun. Once she returned, Melville showed me how to fold the paper to make it look like a white handkerchief in a gentleman’s pocket. It was easy.

Alex returned, tucking his gun into the waistband of his trousers. “Dodson is bringing the Vauxhall around. Willie and I will leave in that immediately, so we’re in place well before two o’clock. You two leave in thirty minutes in a taxi.”

I peered through the library window and watched Alex and Willie drive off. I couldn’t believe we were going ahead with the rash scheme. It was not only very hastily planned, but it was also concocted by someone I wasn’t yet sure possessed all his marbles. There was an air of madness about Melville, like a racing driver who can see the finish line and knows he has to take extreme risks to reach it first.

Thirty minutes later, the taxi that Murray had gone to fetch pulled up at the neighboring house. Bristow offered to tell the driver to reverse a little to meet us, but I told him not to bother. I hurried toward it alongside Melville, my attention on our surroundings, although I didn’t expect Thurlow to be so brazen as to attempt to abduct me off an upscale street in Mayfair.

I was wrong.

As Melville and I reached the taxi, we could see the front passenger seat was occupied as well as the driver’s seat. I registered the sleek dark hair of the female passenger at the same time I saw the gun pointed at her temple, and Thurlow turn to look at us through the window aperture. He sported cuts on his face and neck. He smiled that ugly smile of his with the crowded teeth fighting each other for space in the rat-like mouth.

I noticed everything all at once, too fast for me to think clearly, let alone act. I simply stood there and stared.

Beside me, Melville swore. “Are you Thurlow? You shouldn’t be here.”

Thurlow shrugged nonchalantly. “I know who you are to the Glass family, but I don’t know why you’d help them to capture me, and I don’t care. I suspected it was a trick and decided to find out for myself. I saw those two monkeys leave and waited around the corner for the footman to seek out a taxi. Ah, there it is now,” he said as a taxicab pulled up behind us.

Bristow watched on from the top of the front steps. He was probably confused since he couldn’t see what we could see.

Thurlow pressed the gun barrel into the passenger’s temple. She had her back to us, but I recognized the sleek hair and the regal stiffness to the shoulders.

“Ivy, are you all right?” I wasn’t sure if she deserved my consideration, after the role she’d played in my kidnap, but she was clearly not helping him now or Thurlow wouldn’t be holding her at gunpoint.

“No,” she said on a whimper. “My mother is dead.”

“The Hobson bitch was going to blame me for everything,” Thurlow snarled. “She thought I didn’t know she was planning to turn herself in and tell the police I’d forced her to help me. No one takes me for a fool. If they do…” He cocked the gun.

Ivy’s shoulders shook.

“Tell the taxi driver to leave, Hendry,” he said. “And you, my pretty little Sylvia, empty your purse and roll up your sleeves. If I see a single slip of paper flying at me, I will shoot her.”

Melville waved the taxi off while I tipped everything out of my purse onto the back seat of the motorcar. Then I unbuttoned the cuffs of my blouse and rolled them up. The hidden pieces of paper fell out.

Thurlow grunted. “Give them to Ivy.”

I did as directed, then Ivy handed them to Thurlow. He sat on them.

At least Melville still had his paper handkerchief, although he couldn’t use it without distracting Thurlow first. With his gun already drawn and cocked, Thurlow would shoot Ivy before the paper reached him.

It occurred to me that Melville might think it an acceptable risk to sacrifice Ivy to save me.

“Hendry, fetch Glass,” Thurlow said, his voice oozing with confidence. He was aware he had the upper hand. “I’ll keep the two women he loves most here with me as insurance. If he tries anything, I will shoot.”

He continued to point the gun at Ivy’s temple, so clearly she and Mrs. Hobson hadn’t told him that Gabe no longer cared for her. I wondered if Ivy now regretted keeping up the pretense. Or perhaps Thurlow knew Gabe was the sort of man who wouldn’t place anyone’s life in danger to save himself, not even the life of someone who’d conspired to kidnap me.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Melville speak to Bristow, still standing on the porch. Then Bristow disappeared inside.

“This is madness,” I said to Thurlow. “Why do you still believe Gabe can perform magic?”

“The one good trait Mrs. Hobson possessed was her clever mind. After your little escape the other day, she and I reassessed what we knew. We went through every newspaper article, and pieced together everything we’d witnessed ourselves, and it became clear that Glass did something magical to save himself and his loved ones. She came up with the theory that he can’t control it. The magic only works when his life is in danger, or that of a select few.”

I scoffed. “That’s absurd.”

“Is it? Glass saved himself and his friends in the war. He saved you, my dear little Sylvia, at the racetrack when someone shot at you. Just as he untangled the boy from the fishing net off the Isle of Wight then helped him to the surface, all of which took time.”

“The father drowned,” I said.

“Because Glass didn’t care about him. He didn’t care about the lad, either. Both were strangers to him. I’m sure Glass would have saved the father if he could. He likes to be the hero. But he couldn’t save him. Once the boy was saved and Glass returned to the net, it was too late for the father. Mrs. Hobson concluded that time only altered because Glass himself was in danger of drowning if he spent too long underwater. The boy and his father were irrelevant.”

He was right about it all. I would never admit it to him, however. “If that’s the case, and Gabe can’t control the magic, why are you trying to capture him and use it for yourself? By your own theory, you can’t harness it to use at will.”

“I didn’t say it was my theory. I said it was Mrs. Hobson’s. It’s why she gave up on our idea to lure Glass. But I haven’t given up. I want to test it myself, before I make a decision.” He adjusted his grip on the gun handle. “Imagine if shooting Ivy doesn’t trigger his magic and she dies. It would prove her mother’s theory wrong. I rather like the poetic justice of it, don’t you, Ivy?”

I couldn’t see her face, but Ivy sounded like she stifled a sob. “He doesn’t love me,” she choked out. “He loves her . Shoot her !”

“Oh, I will repeat the experiment with Sylvia, although it would be a gross pity if she died. I do like her better than you, which is why you’re first. You may be pretty, too, but you’re a snob and a cold bitch. Imagine, though, if I shoot you first and he saves you. What an unexpected twist in the plot that would be!”

Thurlow must know he’d not get away with it. He would become the most hunted man in the city.

Yet Hendry had proved that hiding for decades was possible. All he had to do was lay low until everyone had forgotten him, then live a life that didn’t attract attention. With his underworld contacts, Thurlow could easily disappear.

Ivy sniffed. “You say I’m a bitch, but I’m not the one who stole another woman’s fiancé.” Her voice was a guttural growl, coming from the very depths of her. “I am not the one who bewitched him. Kill her first, so I can watch his face when she dies.”

Thurlow smacked his lips together. Then he turned the gun on me. “Your idea has a certain appeal to it. I owe Glass for sending my girl away. It would be fitting to take his girl away from him.”

Now that the gun was no longer aimed at her, Ivy turned in the seat to look at me. A gash on her forehead and another on her jaw from the paper I’d wielded with my magic didn’t look too bad. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, but there was a gleam of pure hatred in them as she glared at me. The polished facade had fallen away completely, revealing the rotten foundations underneath.

I didn’t care about Ivy’s reaction. She was trying to save her own life. What I cared about now was that Melville couldn’t use his magic on the paper handkerchief in his pocket to attack Thurlow before he fired. With the gun already in Thurlow’s hand, cocked and ready, the paper simply wouldn’t reach him in time, no matter how fast Melville managed to work. Thurlow would shoot the moment he realized he was under attack.

Melville stood beside me again. In a moment, Gabe would emerge from the house. When he did, Thurlow would shoot. Either Gabe’s magic would activate as it had done in the past, taxing his strength, perhaps even to the point where his weakened body couldn’t cope. Or it wouldn’t activate at all because the magic knew it would draw on more energy than Gabe could afford to spend.

“Don’t,” I told Thurlow. “Gabe has been very ill these last few days.”

Ivy gasped. “What’s wrong with him? How bad is it?”

“He lost a lot of blood and is very weak. His magic won’t work.”

Thurlow huffed a laugh. “You don’t know that, my dearest little pet.”

“Don’t call her that,” Melville spat. “She is no man’s pet, and certainly not yours.”

Thurlow frowned. “What is she to you? No, don’t bother to explain. I don’t care. Ah. The door opens. Get ready for the show.”

“No!” Gabe’s voice was louder than I expected, stronger. It was a good sign and filled me with hope.

My hope dashed when I glanced at him. He wore only pajama pants. His chest and feet were bare. He’d not taken the time to throw even a dressing gown on. It was his physical weakness that worried me, however. He clung to the rail alongside the steps as he descended. The frail, aged butler behind him looked like a man in his prime by comparison.

“No, Gabe,” I said. “Stay there. You can’t do anything to help.”

He was close enough that I could see the panic in his eyes. He didn’t trust his magic to work either.

“Please,” I begged Thurlow. “Don’t do this. Whatever is in my power to give you, I will.”

Ivy barked a laugh. “My God, did you hear that, Gabe? It seems my mother was right after all and the librarian is a whore.”

“I meant?—”

I cut myself off as Melville spoke the words of the paper moving spell. He spoke them loudly and clearly, not even whispered. Why? Why attract Thurlow’s attention like that? Even more confounding, the handkerchief didn’t fly out of his pocket. It simply lifted up, slowly, as if peeping out of the pocket to tentatively look about.

Melville’s magic was strong. He didn’t need to hesitate. At such a slow pace, the paper wouldn’t strike Thurlow before he fired the gun. So why did Melville do it at all?

Then the reason became horribly, sickeningly clear.

He managed a tender smile for me before Thurlow turned the gun on him and fired.