Page 116
“No. I fear the implication runs deeper.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.”
She gestured and Adam dropped into the seat across from her.
“It’s connected to what Jack and I are working on, isn’t it?
“We became aware of it after your encounter with the cult in Chicago, after the boggins emerged. The Elven Academy’s library reported finding blank pages in some of their volumes.”
“In their books about your people’s religion?”
“Yes, but it is not just books. It’s icons, statues, mosaics. Someone is editing reality itself, erasing what they want hidden.”
“How is that possible?”
“The spirit realm is permeable. You’ve seen it change and twist. Someone with enough will and power can affect these changes. Alfheimr, too, is not as fixed as my people would like to believe. I cannot say what is missing, but I can see the hole, the place where it once was.”
“Who could do that? Who would be powerful enough?”
She cocked her head at him. Her smile was sad.
“He wouldn’t . . . would he?”
“I can no longer say. The crown has changed him. I struggle to believe it is to such a degree as this, to give rituals to humans, or to conspire with the knight to do so, but I advise you to show caution with him and to keep your work with Jack to yourselves.”
“So this means you want us to continue?”
“I cannot give you permission, especially not in the open, but yes.”
“How do you know the Archive Infinite hasn’t been affected?”
“I do not, but so far only elven records have been changed. The Archive was never ours. It may have escaped notice.”
Silver’s notice.
“Why would he do this? Why would anyone?”
“I cannot say.”
The whole thing had Adam wanting to run home and hide under the bed with Vic’s running shoes and the dust bunnies, but he had things to do.
“How long have you suspected him?”
“From the beginning, since the song began.”
“What will you do if it’s him?”
Another sad smile.
“That is an answer I cannot give you, because I do not know.”
27
Adam almost wished he didn’t have the day off. It would have been nice to throw himself into an engine in need of a lot of repairs. He could go to the garage, work on a reclamation, but opted instead to go by the bookstore. It was near the apartment and had a coffee bar with lots of specialty drinks based on the barista’s favorite books.
He changed into his civilian clothes, and even remembered a grocery bag. Dressed as Adam Binder, mild-mannered poor boy, he set out.
The walk cleared some of the prior day’s revelations and the fresh dread about Silver’s possible involvement from his thoughts. Occupying an old theater, the store had everything, including the new Barbara Ann Wright, but he quickly realized that he had no idea how to teach someone how to read. He didn’t even know what North would like, so he grabbed a few trade paperbacks of comics, nothing age-inappropriate, and some of those visual guides to the world. It gave him a fresh respect for fantasy authors. They had to drop their readers into a world they knew nothing about and teach them while still entertaining them.
