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“It was an unusual name.” She murmured to herself, as she struggled to remember. “Drummond,” she said finally, relieved. “He said he was trying to protect me.” More of the memories came back to her. She remembered Cassie talking to her, telling her that she would help her remember, and her love for Cassie washed over her like a wave of warm water. “She’s okay,” she concluded, suddenly feeling brighter. “She’s with that man.”
Izzy sipped some of her coffee, feeling better with the world now that she knew Cassie would be safe. “So what do I do now?” she wondered. “I can’t go back to the apartment. But I’m supposed to be at work today... oh god, work. They’re going to fire me.” She dropped her head into her hands. Everything was madness, it seemed, and she craved boring normality.
“I don’t think you need to worry about work anymore,” Lund said.
“What?” she asked. “Why not?”
“You’re gonna be rich,” he said.
“What?”
Lund pulled out his phone and checked it again. He nodded, then typed something and put his phone back into his pocket. “We are waiting for the Bookseller,” he said, as if that explained everything. “The man who was with me, Azaki, he had a contact who sells those magic books. I have his phone.” Lund patted the phone in his pocket as he spoke. “I told her we have a book and I want to meet her. I am waiting for her to reply.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Izzy exclaimed.
Lund reached into a different pocket and removed a book. Upon sight of the purple-and-green cover, Izzy flinched, and her stomach somersaulted. She looked away.
“We have this book,” he said. “It was lying there on the floor where that man dropped it. So I took it while you were packing. It’s not the book Azaki was looking for, but the Bookseller will still be interested in it. We sell it to her, and we’ll be rich.”
Izzy tried to make sense of his explanation. “Wait, what? I don’t understand. Why would I be rich?”
“These books,” Lund said. “They are priceless. People pay a lot of money to own them. Like, stupid amounts of money. Why do you think Azaki was looking for it? Just one book can set you up for life. That’s what we were looking for.” Lund thought for a moment, gazing down at the book. “He probably had other books,” he reflected. “Man like that probably had a few of them in his pockets. Maybe I shoulda checked. But being greedy is what gets people killed.”
“I’m sorry about your friend,” Izzy said, remembering the Japanese man then, realizing she hadn’t given him a second thought since stepping over him on the way out of the apartment. “God, he’s still lying there in my apartment. What if people think I killed him?”
“He wasn’t my friend,” Lund said. “Not really. But he was a nice man. Kind.”
“Can you put that away?” Izzy said, nodding at the book. “It’s making me ill.”
Lund returned the book to his pocket and turned his eyes to the world outside, just waiting again.
“So why would I be rich?” Izzy asked once more.
“The book,” Lund said. “We sell the book, you get half the money.”
“Why would I get half the money?”
Lund blinked, like she was being purposefully obtuse. “The book came from your apartment. It was used on you. It’s not the book Azaki was looking for. I was just in the right place at the right time to see it. It’s only fair you get some of the money. We’ll split it. Half for me for connecting you with the Bookseller. Half to you.”
“You’re saying all this like it’s totally reasonable,” Izzy muttered. “Why wouldn’t you just take the book and take all the money? It’s not like I can stop you, is it? You’re the size of a house.”
“I said I would look after you,” Lund said, as if that explained it.“Was going to split the money with Azaki anyway. How much money do I need? I don’t have expensive tastes.”
“How...” Izzy hesitated. “How much money are we talking about here?”
“Enough money you won’t need to worry about work anymore,” Lund said. “Just think of it as compensation for all that has happened to you.”
Izzy shook her head in disbelief.
“Besides, I have something else,” Lund said, pulling out a different book. This one was black, with a complex design in fine gold lines on the cover. “This was Azaki’s,” Lund said. “The Book of Illusion. He could make things out of nothing.”
Izzy frowned. “What, like the police badge he showed me? That wasn’t real, right?”
“Right,” Lund said. “He just held the book in one hand in his pocket and imagined it. I saw him create a cathedral in the desert a few days ago. Something like a badge was nothing for him.”
Izzy’s eyebrows shot up skeptically, but before she could say anything Lund pulled his phone from his pocket once more to read a message.
“Time to meet the Bookseller and make your fortune,” he said. “She is in the city.”
