Mikkel Birkegaard - The Library of Shadows

'Are you okay?'

'I went to the bakery,' he said, holding the bags out in front of him. His hands were shaking so hard that the bags rustled.

'What happened?' Katherina asked with concern.

Jon sat down at the kitchen table and told her about his experience at the bakery. Only afterwards did he discover he was still clutching the bags and still wearing his jacket.

'I think that's perfectly normal,' said Katherina. 'Iversen likes to tell the story about when he was first activated; he felt as if he were being attacked by all the books that had previously been his best friends.' She took the bakery bags out of his hands. 'It only seems like that in the beginning. After you get used to it, you'll feel more in charge.'

Jon's breathing had returned to normal, but he stayed sitting in the chair as he took off his shoes and jacket. Katherina went back to the living room. He rubbed his palms over his face. What would have happened if he'd actually read that newspaper? Would it be safe for him ever to read anything again, or was it only in Libri di Luca that he was a danger to those around him?

'How did we get back here yesterday?' Jon called loudly.

'You mean the day before yesterday,' Katherina shouted back. 'You've been asleep for thirty-six hours.'

She came back to the kitchen, fully dressed now.

'Kortmann drove us here. His chauffeur carried you all the way upstairs. We couldn't get you to wake up.'

'And you've been here the whole time?'

'I didn't have anything else to do,' she said, smiling with embarrassment.

Jon fixed her with his gaze. He could see she hadn't had much sleep, and he pictured to himself how she might have sat by his side as he slept. Maybe she had stroked his forehead lightly with her fingertips with a worried look in her green eyes.

He cleared his throat and looked down.

The news that he'd slept for a full day and a half woke up his stomach and he suddenly felt very hungry. He got up to make coffee.

As they ate, Katherina told him what had happened in the bookshop after he fell asleep again. They had mostly spent the time discussing whether the Shadow Organization existed or not, and they hadn't come to any sort of consensus. Clara was convinced and called for a meeting of the two factions, while Kortmann and Pau refused to believe in it. The discussion had ended with a compromise. Jon was going to have to seek out Remer to establish or refute his affiliation with the Shadow Organization, and after that they would decide what to do next.

'So how are we going to find him?' asked Katherina cheerfully.

Jon rummaged through the pockets of his jacket, which was still draped over the back of his chair.

'We'll have a little help from this guy,' he said, placing a key ring on the kitchen table.

Clever Smurf stood among the keys with a pensive look on his face.

'Our entrйe to the Remer case. I forgot to turn in the keys when they fired me.' He stood up. 'But first I'm taking a shower. I think I need it.'

The fresh baked goods and coffee had done the trick. Jon was no longer hungry and the coffee had given him a buzz. As the water from the shower sprayed over him, he couldn't help smiling because he felt rested and content, and soon he would also feel clean. He enjoyed the feeling of the hot water on his skin. He closed his eyes and turned his face up towards the spray.

Maybe that's why he didn't notice Katherina come in until she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her body against his back. She was hot, hotter than the water. He hummed contentedly and let his hands slide over hers. She kissed his back and caressed his chest and stomach. When he tried to turn round, she stubbornly held him tight. He let her have her way, leaning forward with both hands on the wall in front of him. Her hands slid down across his stomach and out to his hips, then down his thighs. She moved her hands back the same way, touching him only with her fingertips, just as he had seen her stroking the spines of the books the very first time he saw her in Libri di Luca. Then she rested her hands on his hips and turned him round to face her. Jon opened his eyes and looked into hers. The sight of her red hair, those green eyes and the white skin made him catch his breath. He leaned forward and carefully kissed the scar on her chin. She sighed, and he moved his mouth to her lips. With a slightly sharper tug she pulled him closer and returned his kiss.

They spent the following day alternating between making love, sleeping and eating. They shut out everything else; not even Iversen's worried messages on Jon's voicemail could make them show any interest in the world outside the flat. As reserved and wary as Katherina had seemed to Jon when he first met her, she now seemed open and warm, and it felt unreal that only two weeks ago they hadn't even known the other existed.

They both knew they couldn't isolate themselves forever, but they postponed it as long as possible and kept finding new excuses, mainly sex, for blocking out the world. Aside from the fact that it was wonderful hiding out with Katherina, Jon was also concerned about how he was going to function outside, where his new powers might manifest themselves. Katherina was sure he would be able to control them now that he was aware of the consequences, but he wasn't convinced. The activation should have been only a matter of form. They had meticulously avoided any reading since he'd come back from the bakery, but at some point he would have to leave the flat. Katherina suggested they start with some controlled reading.

For safety's sake Katherina rang Iversen, who was relieved to hear they were okay. He also thought it was a good idea to do a little training before Jon was let loose.

Jon had never in his life bought a work of fiction. The breach with Luca had made him hate books to such a degree that he read only non-fiction, but he did own a couple of detective novels that had been given to him as presents. They were stuffed away in the bottom of the wardrobe. As Katherina brushed off the dust, she decided there was no danger of them being charged. They had most likely never been read, and so they were 'dead' in the Lector sense.

'First you need to familiarize yourself with your powers,' said Katherina, trying to sound serious even though they were lying naked in Jon's bed. 'As you've already noticed, a text can fill up a lot of space in your consciousness. You can't ignore your powers, but you can learn to mute them when you aren't using them.'

'So what exactly do we do?' asked Jon.

'You start reading, and I'll jump in if it begins to get out of hand,' she replied. 'The most important thing is that you take it easy and don't try to force the powers or make any big deviations. I have to be able to follow along the whole way.'

'In a minute you're going to tell me that it's just like riding a bicycle,' said Jon.

Katherina laughed and blushed. 'Just start whenever you're ready,' she said, handing him one of the books. 'If you sense an obstacle, that's me holding you back, and that means you should stop.'

Jon nodded and studied the cover. He gave a start when the title rose up towards him like a three-dimensional advert. He observed the phenomenon for a while, getting used to the way the type was pulsating in both colour and size.

'You doing okay?' asked Katherina.

He nodded and opened the book. Suddenly all the symbols on the page came rushing at him and he had to look away. He felt sweat break out on his forehead. Stubbornly he forced himself to look at the page again and started to read. His impression of the book pages instantly changed. It felt as if the words and letters were now behaving themselves, waiting for their turn to be read, instead of having all the sentences on the page creating one big confusion like before. Relieved, Jon quickly found a comfortable reading pace, but he still didn't dare put any emotion into his reading, and occasionally he cast a glance at Katherina. She was lying on her stomach, resting her head on her arms, with her face turned towards him. There wasn't a trace of concern in her expression.