Mikkel Birkegaard - The Library of Shadows

As if Jon had turned a switch, the shaking stopped and Iversen's eyelids slowly closed as his old body sank back against the bed. His breathing was still fast and irregular, but the awful wheezing sound was gone.

'Go get the nurse,' said Jon as he removed the pillow and tore the book out of Iversen's hand.

Katherina dashed out into the hall and headed for the nurses' station, which suddenly seemed very far away.

'Help!' she cried loudly as she ran. She was quickly out of breath from running and shouting at the same time, but she didn't stop, even when the nurse came into view. She shouted again, motioning to the woman.

'Iversen,' she gasped, pointing back towards the room. 'He's had… he's had an attack.'

The nurse started running while Katherina stayed where she was, bending over and supporting herself against the wall to catch her breath. The blood was roaring in her ears as she gasped for air and her fingers began to tingle. Slowly she straightened up and stared in both directions. Patients were peering inquisitively from the doorways, some in wheelchairs, others wearing robes or hospital gowns. A doctor came running past her with a stethoscope bouncing round his neck.

Katherina clung to the railing along the wall as she walked back. With each step she looked around, studying the faces of the people who had begun to crowd into the hall. Everyone wore expressions of surprise and concern. Some whispered to each other as she passed, but no one was behaving suspiciously or tried to slip away.

Back at Iversen's room, they had hooked him up to an ECG, and the sound of his heartbeat cut through the room like a knife. The doctor was bending over the patient while the nurse adjusted the dials on the machine. Jon stood a few steps away from the bed, studying the scene with a worried look. In his hands was the book that Iversen had held on his lap.

Slowly the patient's heartbeat began to slow, and the doctor straightened up so that Katherina could see Iversen lying in bed. His face was white and his eyes were closed. His right hand was still holding the bed rail, but as she watched, it released its grip and dropped onto the bed.

'He's okay now,' said the doctor with relief.

Katherina went to stand next to Jon with her hands pressed to her cheeks. He put his arm round her shoulder and gave her a brief hug. It felt nice, and she leaned against him.

'I've given him a sedative,' explained the doctor, casting a quick glance in their direction and then looking back at his patient. 'He'll sleep for the next five hours. But he seems to be stable now.'

'What happened?' asked Jon.

'It was probably a panic attack,' said the doctor, sounding as if he believed it. 'It happens sometimes with patients who have gone through a traumatic experience. They relive the event, which can provoke a panic attack like this. It can be dangerous for a man his age.' The doctor nodded at them. 'It was lucky you were here, otherwise it might have ended with a heart attack.'

'And there's nothing else that might have provoked it?'

The doctor shook his head. 'That's very unlikely. The patient suffered no serious physical injuries in the fire, he has no lesions or any sign of a concussion, so I would rule out any other causes.'

Jon and Katherina exchanged glances.

'Can we stay with him?' Katherina asked the nurse.

'If you like. But as the doctor told you, he won't wake up for at least five hours.'

'We'll stay.'

Jon went to buy provisions while Katherina stayed at Iversen's bedside. She listened to his breathing. It was calm and regular. His face wore a peaceful expression, a sharp contrast to the wild grimace that had frightened her so badly only a short time ago. Of the two of them, Iversen was undoubtedly the one who felt most comfortable being there. Katherina didn't like hospitals, especially hospitals where they couldn't feel safe from attacks by receivers. She couldn't think of any other explanation – a receiver had to be involved, and Jon's expression had told her he'd come to the same conclusion.

It couldn't be a very nice way to die.

The image of Iversen's face, contorted with pain and fear, kept returning over and over again to her mind, and she regretted sending Jon off while she remained here alone.

The feeling of guilt resurfaced. She thought she was over it, but Luca's death and now this incident with Iversen had summoned up unpleasant memories. It was something that had happened so long ago, and for years she had kept the memory at bay, but it was like trying to cover rust with paint – sooner or later it would break through. She discovered that she was sitting there rubbing her chin, the spot where the scar had formed a small cleft.

The door opened, and Jon cautiously tiptoed inside with a plastic bag in his hand.

'How are things going?' he whispered.

'No change,' replied Katherina in a normal tone of voice. 'He's completely out of it.'

Jon set the bag on the bedside table.

'Newspapers, sweets, toothbrushes,' he said. 'We can borrow a bed tonight.' He took off his jacket, hung it on a hook behind the door and sat down in a chair on the other side of the bed.

Neither of them said anything, but Katherina was glad that she was no longer alone.

'Did you see anyone?' asked Jon after a long period of silence. 'I mean, out in the hall, immediately afterwards?'

Katherina shook her head. 'No one I recognized. That's the difficult thing about these powers – you can't see them just by looking at people. It's not like they walk around with a smoking gun behind their backs.'

'What's the range?'

'It varies, depending on the strength of a person's powers. A normal receiver, if you can say such a thing, would have to be in one of the adjacent rooms or on the floor directly above or below.'

'What about someone with your abilities?'

'A little further. Another floor, maybe two.'

'But it's not necessary to see the person?'

'No, but walls reduce the effect.'

Jon nodded once and then kept on, as if lost in his own train of thought.

'So my father's killer could have been standing outside Libri di Luca?' he said at last.

'In principle, yes,' replied Katherina. 'But it wouldn't be easy to sneak up on your father, so I assume the perpetrator was inside the shop in order to achieve maximum impact.' She sighed. 'But Iversen isn't nearly as strong as Luca was.'

'Yet he must represent some sort of threat,' said Jon.

'Or a risk,' said Katherina hesitantly. 'Luca was very focused whenever he read, and it was impossible to pick up any impressions from him, other than what the text conjured up. It was as if he could close out everything else the moment he started reading. Iversen is different. He can be quite unfocused, like most readers, which makes it possible for us to catch glimpses of what he has on his mind.'

'So he's not good at keeping a secret?'

'Consciously he is,' Katherina emphasized. 'But in the presence of a receiver he could give himself away inadvertently.'

'And someone was afraid he had information that we shouldn't find out about?'

'That would at least explain why they went after him, even in his condition.' Katherina studied the man lying in the bed between them. The colour had returned to his face. Only the bandages covering the cuts and burns he'd received in the fire bore witness to the fact he wasn't well. 'The question is whether even he realizes what it is that we're not supposed to know.'

It would take seven hours before they were able to get an answer to that question. Katherina and Jon took turns sitting next to the bed while the other one slept in the room next door. Iversen woke during Katherina's watch, and while the nurse checked his vital signs, she tiptoed out to wake Jon.

The patient seemed remarkably lively and in good spirits, which convinced the nurse that it would be all right for him to have visitors. He was even hungry, so the nurse ordered a couple of sandwiches, which he promptly started to eat.