I didn’t have time to doubt myself. The Librarians would be upon us in a few moments. I held those cords, held my breath, and activated them like I would a pair of Oculator’s Lenses.
Immediately, something drained from me. My strength was sapped away, and I felt a shock of exhaustion—as if my body had decided to run a marathon when I wasn’t looking. I dropped the cords, wobbling, and reached out to steady myself against Sing.
“You’re all dead, you know,” Fitzroy sputtered in the darkness; he was still held—I assumed—under Sing’s arm. “They’ll burst in here in a second and then you’re dead. What did you think? You’re trapped! Sandless idiots!”
I took a deep breath, righting myself. Then I pushed the door open.
The blonde Knight of Crystallia standing guard was still outside. “You all right?” she asked, peeking in. “What happened?” Behind her I could see the stone stairwell of the Royal Archives, still packed with soldiers.
“We’re back!” Sing said. “How…?”
“You powered the glass,” Bastille said, looking at me. “Like you did with Rikers’s silimatic music box. You initiated a swap!”
I nodded. At my feet, the cords to the Librarian machinery lay cut at the ends. Our swap had severed them where they’d poked through the door.
“Shattering Glass, Smedry!” Bastille said. “How in the name of the first Sands did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I said, rushing out the doorway. “We can worry about it later. Right now, we’ve got to save Mokia.”
Chapter
20
Questions.
We’re at the end, and you probably have a few of them. If you’ve been paying attention closely, you probably have more than just “a few.”
You should probably have more than you do.
I’ve tried to be honest, as honest as I can be. I haven’t lied about anything important.
But some of the people in the story … well, they’re lying for certain.
No matter how much you think you know, there is always more to learn. It all has to do with Librarians, knights, and of course fish sticks. Enjoy this next part. I’ll see you in the epilogue.
“Aha!” I said, pulling not one but two pairs of Translator’s Lenses from Fitzroy’s jacket. The Dark Oculator lay tied up on the floor as we rode in the prince’s giant glass pig. I’d told my soldiers to get some sort of equipment and dig to the corner of the archives room and remove the glass there, so that the Librarians couldn’t swap the room back and steal any of the other books.
“I still don’t understand what happened,” Sing said, sitting nervously as our vehicle plodded toward the palace.
“Oculators can power glass,” I said. “Like Lenses.”
“Lenses are magic,” Sing said. “That Transporter’s Glass was technology.”
“The two are more similar than you think, Sing. In fact, I believe all of these powers are connected. Do you remember what you said when you and I were hiding down there a few moments ago? The thing about your sister?”
“Sure,” Sing said. “I mentioned that I wished she’d been there, because she could have imitated one of the Librarians.”
“Which I could do with these,” I said, holding up the pair of Disguiser’s Lenses that we’d retrieved from Fitzroy. “Sing, these work just like Australia’s Talent does. If she falls asleep thinking about somebody, she wakes up looking just like them. Well, if I wear these and concentrate, I can do the same thing.”
“What are you saying, Alcatraz?” Folsom asked.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “It just seems suspicious to me. I mean, look at your Talent. It makes you a better warrior when you hear music, right?”
He nodded.
“Well, what do Bastille’s Warrior’s Lenses do?” I said. “They make her a better fighter. My uncle Kaz’s Talent lets him transport people across great distances, which sounds an awful lot like what that Transporter’s Glass did.”
“Yes,” Sing said. “But what about your grandfather’s Talent? It lets him arrive late to things, and there aren’t Lenses that do that.”
“There are lots of types of glass we don’t know about,” I said. I picked up one of the rings of Inhibitor’s Glass, which we’d managed to get off our arms using a set of keys in Fitzroy’s pocket. “You thought these were mythical.”
Sing fell silent, and I turned, watching through the translucent walls as we approached the palace. “I think this is all related,” I said more softly. “The Smedry Talents, silimatic technology, Oculators … and whatever it is my mother is trying to accomplish. It’s all connected.”
She didn’t believe what she said about the Librarians ruling everything. She wasn’t certain.
She has different goals from the other Librarians. But what are they?
I sighed, shaking my head, and reached over to pick up the book we’d brought from the archives. At least we had it, as well as both pairs of Translator’s Lenses. I slipped the Lenses on, then glanced at the first page.
Soups for everyone, it read. A guide to the best Greek and Incarna cooking.
I froze. I flipped through the book anxiously, then took off the Lenses and tried the other pair. Both showed the same thing.
This wasn’t the right book.
“What?” Sing asked. “Alcatraz, what is it?”
“She switched books on us!” I said, frustrated. “This isn’t the book on Incarna history—it’s the cookbook!” I’d seen her work with deft fingers before, when she’d snatched the Sands of Rashid right out from under my nose back in my room in the Hushlands. Plus she had access to my father’s Talent of losing things. It might be of help in hiding stuff.
I slammed the book back down on the table. Around me, the rich, red-furnished room shook as the glass pig continued on its way.
“That’s not important right now,” Bastille said in an exhausted voice. She sat on the couch beside Folsom and Himalaya, and she looked like she’d gotten even worse since we’d left the Librarians. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she’d been drugged, and she kept rubbing her temples.
“We need to stop the treaty first,” she said. “Your mother can’t do anything with that book as long as you have both pairs of Translator’s Lenses.”
She was right. Mokia had to be our focus now. As the pig pulled up to the palace, I took a deep breath. “All right,” I said. “You all know what to do?”
Sing, Folsom, Himalaya, and Prince Rikers each nodded. We’d discussed our plan during the chapter break. (Neener neener.)
“The Librarians aren’t likely to let this go smoothly,” I said, “but I doubt there will be much they can do with all of the soldiers and knights guarding the palace. However, they’re Librarians, so be ready for anything.”
They nodded again. We prepared to go, and the door on the pig’s butt opened. (I think that undermined our dramatic exit.) Bastille stood to go with us, wobbling on unsteady feet.
“Uh, Bastille,” I said. “I think you should wait here.”
She gave me a stiff glance—the kind that made me feel like I’d just been smacked across the face with a broom. I took that as her answer.
“All right,” I said with a sigh. “Let’s go, then.”
We marched out of the pig and up the steps. Prince Rikers called for guards immediately—I think he just liked the drama of having a full troop of soldiers with us. Indeed, our entrance into the hallway with the wall-hanging panes of glass was rather intimidating.
The Knights of Crystallia standing at attention in the hallway saluted us as we passed, and I felt significantly more safe knowing they were there.