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The old man reached out and gripped the book, but before she released it, Lottie said, “I’ll take all your pain away.”
Barbary’s eyes widened in surprise, and color spilled out of all sides of the book. A moment later he crumpled at the knees, one hand still holding the book, Lottie still holding the other edge. They were two people holding a firework between them, the book a connection, and through the book Lottie could feel all of the man’s pain. She could feel his physical trauma, the ache in his bones and his left leg, in the old bullet wounds that riddled his body. But below and beyond that, deeper in the pool of Hugo Barbary’s consciousness, she could feel theotherpain, the spiritual and psychological pain that made him what he was. It swam there in the depths, curling and turning out of sight.
Lottie thought about pulling that pain away from Barbary. She could feel the strands of it and began to tug. It was fibrous and tough, and resisted her as she tugged on it, like a tangle of hair in a shower drain. She closed her eyes and concentrated, bringing the pain to the surface, collecting it together and giving it form to remove it, to cleanse the wound that was his soul.
Barbary was on his knees before her, screaming, shocked by the sudden gathering of all of his pain.
Lottie kept pulling, strands and strands of darkness and agony, of bitter fury, dragging them from this man’s soul, bringing them up to dissipate and vanish in the light. She opened her eyes and saw Barbary’s upturned face looking back at her, wide, clear eyes, the eyes of a terrified child. She met that gaze, she held it, and she continued wrenching the darkness to the surface.
“I free you from your pain,” she said, her teeth gritted.
She was aware of movement, something rising just beyond herperipheral vision. And then, before she could finish her surgery of Barbary’s soul, the contact was broken, and Barbary was sent tumbling across the floor, Okoro wrestling him.
Lottie gasped at the break of the connection and stumbled backward. Arms caught her before she fell and she craned her neck to see Lund behind her, steadying her.
“Mr. Okoro!” she yelled. Some of the people, the younger and fittest, were starting to pull themselves up from the floor, from where Barbary’s wave had dropped them. Others lay dead or seriously injured—Elizabeth Fraser, without her Book of Health, among them. But Okoro had been the first to his feet. “Okoro, stop!”
Okoro and Barbary were wrestling on the floor, Okoro throwing brutal punches, Barbary holding his hands up defensively, obviously still dazed by what Lottie had done to him.
“Take it!” Barbary spat, pulling the book from his pocket again and tossing it away. “Take your fucking book!”
The Book of Matter skidded across the dance floor and came to a stop on the worn carpet.
Immediately Okoro was up on his feet, pursuing his prized possession, Barbary forgotten. He stalked across the floor and picked up the book, dusting it down and slipping it into his breast pocket. And then he turned his eyes to Lottie.
“I will take the other book now,” he said, holding out a hand as he walked toward her.
Lund stepped between them, looking down on Okoro from a foot above him. He said nothing. He just stood there, motionless, staring at the man. Lottie didn’t know why the big man felt the need to protect her, but in that instant, she was grateful to have him between her and Okoro.
“You want to play with me?” Okoro asked, unperturbed. “I’ve killed big men before.”
Things were out of control, Lottie knew, but she still had the Book of Pain. People’s attention appeared to be on the confrontation between Lund and Okoro. Barbary lay on the floor gazing up at the chandelier as if dazed, and Izzy stood behind Lottie, cowering against the wall and trying to appear small and insignificant. Lottie thought it was perhapstime for her to make an exit. There could be another auction, on another day.
She started backing away, heading toward the mirror behind the podium.
Then the door on the far wall opened, beyond Lund and Okoro, and Cassie and Drummond Fox stepped into the ballroom. Behind them, through the door, was a different place entirely, a room in a different building.
Seeing them arrive like that was astonishing, even to Lottie. She felt her mouth drop open and she was aware that everyone else in the room, even Okoro, had stopped to look.
“It’s the Librarian,” someone said.
Cassie and Drummond stood there, absorbing the bedlam of broken bodies and blood. Then Cassie’s eyes settled on Izzy, and Lottie heard Izzy call Cassie’s name.
In that moment Hugo Barbary pushed himself up from the floor.
“Hugo,” Drummond muttered, upon seeing him. “Again.”
Lottie saw him throw a pointed glance at Cassie.
Hugo swung his gun around to aim it past Lottie to Izzy behind her.
“Give me back my Book of Control, Librarian,” Barbary said. “Or I will put a bullet through the pretty face of your friend.”
Barbary looked at Cassie.
“And I’ll take the Book of Doors as well, for good measure.”
Too Late Arrives
