Mikkel Birkegaard - The Library of Shadows

'What do you mean, "In thebest case scenario, we may have a traitor among us"?' Henning Petersen wanted to know. He spoke the words slowly and with his eyes narrowed, as if it were taking all his concentration, but not for a moment did he take his gaze off Kortmann.

Katherina abruptly leaned forward.

'That it's not the receivers who are behind these events,' she replied before Kortmann had time to respond. 'And if it's not the receivers, then it must be you, the transmitters, but since you deny any knowledge of it, you're either lying or there are one or more traitors among you.' Katherina paused to take a breath. Jon watched her from the corner of his eye. She kept her green eyes stubbornly fixed on Henning; her expression was neutral but her breathing revealed how upset she was, and her chin with the little scar was trembling faintly. 'Of the two possibilities, we regard the latter as a more likely scenario than the former.'

Henning stared at her. His eyes blinked involuntarily, as if they couldn't believe what they saw.

'Ah, now I remember you,' he exclaimed. 'You're Katherina, right? The receiver?' He didn't give her time to reply before he went on: 'And one of the best, from what I've heard.'

Jon noticed that Katherina's cheeks turned a bit pink. She nodded and sent a defiant look towards Kortmann before she again spoke.

'That's right. My name is Katherina. I'm a receiver and have been for fifteen years now. Ten of those years I've spent with Luca Campelli and Svend Iversen, and they deserve all the credit if my powers happen to be better than most.'

'Okay, no offence,' said Henning, raising his hand. 'It wasn't meant to be an accusation.'

'No one should have any doubts as to Katherina's loyalty,' Jon interrupted. 'I saw how she fought the flames last night, and she's really the one you should thank for the fact that the bookshop didn't burn to the ground, not me.' Katherina leaned back with her arms crossed as everyone now turned their attention to Jon. 'Kortmann has asked me to undertake an investigation of recent events, including my father's death, and there's no one else I'd rather have helping me than Katherina. Right now she's the only one I trust.'

Looks were exchanged around the table, but most nodded their approval to both Jon and Katherina.

Kortmann cleared his throat.

'As Jon said, he's going to carry out an investigation among us, but also among the receivers. The purpose is to find out who's behind the attacks we've experienced lately – whether we like what he finds out or not.'

'But…' Birthe began hesitantly. 'Could anyone besides a receiver be responsible for Luca's death? No transmitter would be capable of provoking heart failure like that.'

'I wouldn't say that,' replied Henning calmly. 'A transmitter's powers could very well cause an elevation in the pulse and other physiological reactions in a listener. But no one has yet exhibited powers that are strong enough to kill someone outright in that way. Besides, it would be relatively easy to protect yourself against such an attack.' He shrugged his shoulders. 'All you'd have to do is cover your ears.'

'Forgive my ignorance,' said Jon, 'but is that all? Covering your ears?'

Henning nodded. 'A transmitter's powers depend on having the text heard by a listener. It's the text combined with the emotions that it evokes that open the channel and make the person in question susceptible to the Lector. So the best defence is to cover your ears, or simply walk away.'

'Does that mean we can rule out that it was a transmitter who murdered my father?'

'Well, it's very unlikely that it was done by using a transmitter's powers – unless Luca was tied down, but there was no sign of that, was there?'

Kortmann shook his head. 'It would have left marks.'

'Okay,' said Jon after no one else spoke for a couple of seconds. 'Luca's death indicates that it was the work of a receiver, but it could still be the result of natural heart failure, or possibly poisoning. None of the other attacks points exclusively to a receiver, so I don't want to rule anything out yet.' He scanned the faces of the people sitting around the table. Most of them had a more or less resigned look; only Line displayed something other than dismay. Her eyes shone with fear.

'Maybe we should discuss what the motive might be,' suggested Jon.

After another few seconds of silence Henning cleared his throat. He shut his eyes tight for a moment before he spoke.

'That's what doesn't make any sense,' he said, clasping his hands on the table in front of him. 'No Lector, either a transmitter or a receiver, has anything to gain from all this. It's simply too risky. The connection between these events may not be obvious to so-called normal people, but if the attacks continue, we're going to be exposed, and none of us wants that.'

'Why not?' asked Jon. 'Why all the secrecy? Couldn't your powers be of use to everyone if they became known?'

'Let me answer that by asking you a question,' said Henning. 'How do you feel about the fact that there are people like us who can influence your decisions and opinions without you having any control over it?'

'Well, everything's rather new to me,' Jon began. 'I haven't really thought through all the consequences, but I have to admit that it does make me uneasy.'

Lee broke in by leaning forward and jabbing his index finger at the table.

'That's exactly the reason,' he said earnestly. 'That's the normal reaction. Maybe in the beginning people would be fascinated. We'd become exhibits in a freak show – wearing brilliantly coloured robes, we'd "mind-read" what the people in the audience were reading, or we'd make people do silly things by reading to them, like in one of those phoney hypnotist shows. But after a while people would start to worry; they'd be afraid of being manipulated, and maybe they'd even refuse to read anything unless they were sure they were alone, or at least among friends.'

Jon saw how Henning and the married couple exchanged glances, and Thor smiled indulgently. But Lee didn't notice, or at least refused to be deterred and went on with his explanation.

'Anyone with powers would become an outcast, as if he were a leper, because people would be constantly on guard around him. The growing paranoia would end up forcing the Lectors to be registered, maybe even wear a special symbol so that people on the street could recognize them and take precautionary measures. Before long, society might come to the conclusion that the easiest and safest thing would be to lock us up, put us somewhere far away from other people, and maybe even prevent us from having any access to books and texts.' Lee stopped his tirade for a moment to allow Jon to catch up.

'Soon new Lectors would try to hide their powers,' Lee went on with a shrug. 'Just like we do now, actually, and regular manhunts would be carried out to find those who weren't registered or those who had managed to escape from the prisons. A great deal of energy would be expended to detect the existence of powers, even in infants, and "bloodhounds", either electronic or in the form of trained traitors, would track us down like hunted animals. Underground movements would be created by those of us who had managed to get away, and before long the groups would be forced to defend themselves using violent means. Wars would break out-'

'All right, thank you,' said Kortmann. 'I think we get the point, Lee.'

Lee blushed. 'I guess I got a bit carried away,' he said apologetically. 'But it was just to illustrate that none of us has anything to gain by becoming known. Neither transmitters nor receivers.' He leaned back in his chair.

'Even though Lee's version may seem a trifle exaggerated, he's right,' said Kortmann. 'We're different, and as such we can expect to be treated differently, and not in an especially good way, if what we're capable of doing ever gets out.'