Marcus Sedgwick - The Book of Dead Days

In the darkness Kepler started to laugh, bitterly. Then he stopped abruptly.

“But that is too ridiculous.”

“What?” asked Willow.

“That music box… I found it in Beebe’s grave. I gave it to Green. Me! I’d brought it back from Linden. It amused me. Then I sent for Green; I needed him to go and meet Valerian. He saw it on my desk, and asked what it was. When I showed him he smiled like a child. He asked for it, along with the money I was paying him. He refused to do the job unless I gave it to him. That thug! But it was nothing to me, so I gave it to him. He must have had it with him when he went out to meet Valerian in the Trumpet.”

“But it held Gad Beebe’s name!” cried Willow. “Without it we’d have never found the grave…”

“Fate, once more,” Kepler said. “Fate steering us all for its own ends…”

Willow thought about what he’d said. It did seem extraordinary-that little music box had made its way from Gad Beebe’s grave, to Kepler and Green to Boy to Valerian, and only she had known what it held. Without it Valerian would still be struggling for the answer, and Boy would be safe. It was a coincidence too great to be anything other than true. The true path of Fate.

Then something occurred to her.

“But why?” she asked. “Why did you send Green to meet Boy, in the Trumpet?”

“I sent him to meet Valerian-did he send Boy instead? That may have saved his life.”

“What do you mean?” asked Willow.

“I was supposed to meet Valerian that evening, to report any progress on the book. He knew I was close to finding it. In fact, I already had the book, and had read it. I’d learnt what it would mean for Valerian. For Boy. So I had to send Green instead. I sent a letter to Valerian at the theater, telling him to meet Green.”

“But what did you tell Green to say to Valerian? He was expecting to get some news from you.”

“I didn’t tell him to say anything. I told Green to kill him.”

Willow froze.

“Yes, Willow, I told Green to kill Valerian. In another few days he’d be dead anyway, and I knew if he found the book that Boy’s life would be in danger.”

“But he’s your friend! You’ve known him for years. Worked with him! You couldn’t just have him killed!”

“We were friends. Once, a long time ago, maybe. Then we fell out. We became rivals. He… hurt someone, someone I cared for. He betrayed me, around the time he was expelled by the Academy. We didn’t see each other for ten years. Then he came to ask for my help, but we were never friends again… He told me about the book. And I wanted it. I was never interested in helping Valerian. I wanted the book.”

“I still don’t believe it,” Willow said fiercely.

“Listen, girl,” cried Kepler, growing angry. “It’s him or Boy now. Understand that! Only one of them can live! And I want it to be Boy…” They sat in silence until all the questions in Willow’s head fought to be answered.

“So, what did you do then? After Linden? Did you use the tunnel to get here?”

“Tunnel?” asked Kepler.

“It’s how we got here,” Willow said. “We found the entrance to a tunnel in the crypt of the church, and an underground river that led all the way here.”

“I thought it was maybe so,” said Kepler. “During my researches into the book, I found a map of all the catacombs and canals. I made a model of them in my cellar, to try to learn the routes by heart. It is only because I did that I was able to find my way back here in the dark.”

“In your basement? The canals and the writing?”

Kepler nodded in the darkness.

“But I did not have time to investigate while I was in Linden. To see if I was right about a tunnel all the way out there. It was built by the Beebes, when they were most powerful, as a link to the heart of the City. That tunnel is much newer than the rest of this place.”

“So you came back to the City overland?”

“Yes, I had hired a horse. I’d found the book in the grave, and the music box there, too, and brought them both back from Linden. When I got back to the City, things had become complicated. Valerian’s house is being guarded by the Watch. And there have been deaths, I understand.”

Willow was silent.

“Yes, I know about the deaths,” Kepler said. “I heard about Green, though we may never know exactly what happened that night. I went to the Trumpet yesterday. And Korp too.”

“Who told you?” Willow asked.

“Korp’s murder is big news,” said Kepler.

“Valerian? Was it Valerian who did it?”

“I have no idea. Even I cannot work out everything that is going on here. I wonder where the book is now. Valerian must have taken it with him.”

“I don’t know that he has,” said Willow. “He can’t carry that and the light, can he?”

“True.”

“But what about the paper? The horoscope? Valerian found it in your desk.”

“The horoscope. So, I made another mistake! I think I left it there in my hurry to get to Linden. Well, that was as good as handing Valerian a key, but it would still not have been any use had he not found the book. That was why I had to get him away from here. When you three found me, I was hiding the book. Valerian was terrified of this place. He came down here once as a student. He got lost and nearly died. He vowed never to come here again. I thought this the best place to hide it.”

“You could have burned it. Thrown it in the river!”

“I could no more do that than cut off my own hand!” cried Kepler. “I want the book when Valerian is-I want the book. It is full of all knowledge. It holds enormous power, as the success of the Beebe family demonstrates. But more than that, it shows things to the reader, things only about them and their destiny…”

“But if it is so great a thing, so powerful, then why did the Beebes bury it with Gad?”

“Apparently they thought it dangerous. That its power was not always… good. That it could corrupt.”

Willow shivered.

“Are you sure it’s safe to use it?” she began, but Kepler cut her off.

“Of course!” he said dismissively. “The Beebes were fools. They used it unwisely and their downfall was the result. So they decided to hide the book. But in the right hands… it’s nonsense to suggest it could do anything other than impart wisdom.”

They sat without speaking as Kepler’s last words drifted away into the darkness around them. Willow began to panic.

“And we still have no light,” she said desperately.

“No,” agreed Kepler, “we do not.”

“Wait!” cried Willow. “Maybe we do.”

She rummaged around in her pocket and found the candle stub they had used in the great cemetery, and later in Kepler’s house.

“What is it?” asked Kepler, unable to see.

“I have a bit of a candle. Maybe you could try one more match and see if we can get it alight.”

“Excellent,” he said.

She heard him move and then felt him put out his hands.

“Where’s the candle?” he said. “Hold still, stay close. Right.”

Again the match flared briefly, and before the head could burn away, he held it to the wick of Willow’s candle stub. A small glow grew about them.

The relief was enormous, though the tiny patch of light only seemed to reinforce the oppressive gloom.

Now Kepler saw Willow’s face.

“Your face?” he asked.

Willow nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “Valerian.”

“We must find Boy.”

Then, in the light of the candle, which Kepler had taken from Willow and was shielding with one hand, they saw something else.

“The book!” Willow cried.

“That is good fortune. Our luck is turning. That is often how Fate works. One piece of good fortune begets another. Now come on! To your feet! I can get us out of here, but first we must find Boy!”