Shadows in the Silence
Page 47
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“I know what you’re trying to do,” Stone replied. “And I want to help you. I want you to have the book.”
“Thank you,” I said earnestly. “Where is it?”
He started to turn, beckoning for me to follow him. “Come. The Guardian may join us, if you wish, as long as he doesn’t try playing the strangle tango with me again.”
I nodded to Will, happy to have him accompany me. There was something strange about Ethan Stone. His response to my asking if he was psychic was unnerving and dodgy. There really wasn’t an easy way to prove what he was, but I had to assume that I could handle myself around him, as dangerous as that assumption was.
Stone led us through his mansion and it never seemed to end. The architecture was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The corridors had short flights of staircases in the strangest of places and each hall had a different color and shape to its design; some were arched and lined with columns, others had sharp angles and corners with vaulted ceilings. Intermittent alcoves with elegant lighting and tapestries decorated the walls, and some windows stretched two stories high and were covered with enormous drapes.
“Did you design this place?” I asked. I was acutely aware of Will’s steady closeness and preparedness for whatever might occur around each corner.
“I did,” Stone replied. “I construct additional wings every so often when I begin a new collection. They all have their own themes. I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive that way.”
I gazed up at the forty-foot ceiling painted with biblical scenes. “I see.”
“I apologize for this rather long trek,” Stone said, glancing over his shoulder at us. “The book in question resides in my rarer-books library.”
“Rarer?”
“I have too many rare books to fit into one library,” he explained. “So I have a second library for the even rarer books. This one is smaller than the normal library. For example, it doesn’t have its own wing.”
I decided that this guy was a maniac, but when I saw the library in question, my eyes about bugged right out of my skull. His “smaller” library was about the size of the public library in my town. There was a main room lined floor to ceiling with books, smaller rooms off to the side filled with more books, and spiraling staircases that climbed to lofts covered with even more books. If Nathaniel had been there to see it, he would have had a heart attack. In the middle of it all was a sitting area with giant fluffy chairs and ottomans surrounding a coffee table that was more like a polished slab of wood taken from the biggest tree trunk in the world. When I stepped close to the table, there were so many rings in the wood that I guessed there to be a thousand. Above the sitting area was a chandelier made of dozens of very unusual-looking antlers and horns.
Ethan Stone must have noticed my curiosity and confusion, because he was suddenly next to me explaining. “These were all taken from reapers. Horns and antlers aren’t especially common, even on the demonic, so this piece was extremely expensive to procure.”
I had no desire to know what was “extremely expensive” by his standards, or how he managed to “procure” the chandelier of reaper antlers.
“You don’t want to know,” he said casually and walked right on by me.
I stared after him as he climbed one of the staircases. Will and I exchanged looks and followed the odd psychic. Stone navigated the second level and followed a curved wall of books into a narrow hallway that led to a beautiful stained-glass window featuring an image of an avenging angel striking down what appeared to be a demon with an enormous sword. In front of the window was a wooden pedestal with a glass case on top. A worn, ancient-looking leather book sat beneath the glass. Stone pressed a button on the underside of the pedestal and the glass lifted, freeing the book within.
Stone stepped aside, motioning for me to come forward. “It’s been in here for many years, beneath UV-filtering glass, so it’s in perfect condition.”
I lifted the book, finding it heavier than I thought it would be, and the leather cover was supple and creased after centuries of use. A beam of hope stewed in my heart as I stared at Nathaniel’s copy of the grimoire in my hands at last, but that hope blinked out like a candle flame when I saw Will’s sword shimmer into existence.
“Good-bye, Stone,” Will said, and raised his blade.
“Wait!” I cried out, aghast. “Stop!”
Will turned to me, his gaze hard. “He’s too dangerous to leave alive. He’s knows too much that can jeopardize our chances at winning this war. This entire compound is a goldmine for demonic and angelic artifacts. If Merodach found—”
“He’s human,” I said, and put a hand on Will’s arm, lowering his blade. “Please don’t do this. Don’t kill him.”
“It’s a mistake to let him live.”
“No,” I said in anger. “Are you no different from the demonic? Killing innocent humans? Will, you’re better than that, I know it.”
“He isn’t innocent,” he contended.
“But he’s human.” I tightened my hold on Will’s arm. “Please, please, Will. You promised me that you wouldn’t kill any humans. This includes Ethan Stone.”
His body stiffened and his jaws ground together hard. He watched Stone’s face with an angry, conflicted expression, but that meant he was at least considering my request. After a few heart-pounding moments, he withdrew his sword and Stone let out a huge breath of relief. “The lady has spoken. You’re lucky she has far more compassion than I.”
“Thank you,” I said earnestly. “Where is it?”
He started to turn, beckoning for me to follow him. “Come. The Guardian may join us, if you wish, as long as he doesn’t try playing the strangle tango with me again.”
I nodded to Will, happy to have him accompany me. There was something strange about Ethan Stone. His response to my asking if he was psychic was unnerving and dodgy. There really wasn’t an easy way to prove what he was, but I had to assume that I could handle myself around him, as dangerous as that assumption was.
Stone led us through his mansion and it never seemed to end. The architecture was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The corridors had short flights of staircases in the strangest of places and each hall had a different color and shape to its design; some were arched and lined with columns, others had sharp angles and corners with vaulted ceilings. Intermittent alcoves with elegant lighting and tapestries decorated the walls, and some windows stretched two stories high and were covered with enormous drapes.
“Did you design this place?” I asked. I was acutely aware of Will’s steady closeness and preparedness for whatever might occur around each corner.
“I did,” Stone replied. “I construct additional wings every so often when I begin a new collection. They all have their own themes. I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive that way.”
I gazed up at the forty-foot ceiling painted with biblical scenes. “I see.”
“I apologize for this rather long trek,” Stone said, glancing over his shoulder at us. “The book in question resides in my rarer-books library.”
“Rarer?”
“I have too many rare books to fit into one library,” he explained. “So I have a second library for the even rarer books. This one is smaller than the normal library. For example, it doesn’t have its own wing.”
I decided that this guy was a maniac, but when I saw the library in question, my eyes about bugged right out of my skull. His “smaller” library was about the size of the public library in my town. There was a main room lined floor to ceiling with books, smaller rooms off to the side filled with more books, and spiraling staircases that climbed to lofts covered with even more books. If Nathaniel had been there to see it, he would have had a heart attack. In the middle of it all was a sitting area with giant fluffy chairs and ottomans surrounding a coffee table that was more like a polished slab of wood taken from the biggest tree trunk in the world. When I stepped close to the table, there were so many rings in the wood that I guessed there to be a thousand. Above the sitting area was a chandelier made of dozens of very unusual-looking antlers and horns.
Ethan Stone must have noticed my curiosity and confusion, because he was suddenly next to me explaining. “These were all taken from reapers. Horns and antlers aren’t especially common, even on the demonic, so this piece was extremely expensive to procure.”
I had no desire to know what was “extremely expensive” by his standards, or how he managed to “procure” the chandelier of reaper antlers.
“You don’t want to know,” he said casually and walked right on by me.
I stared after him as he climbed one of the staircases. Will and I exchanged looks and followed the odd psychic. Stone navigated the second level and followed a curved wall of books into a narrow hallway that led to a beautiful stained-glass window featuring an image of an avenging angel striking down what appeared to be a demon with an enormous sword. In front of the window was a wooden pedestal with a glass case on top. A worn, ancient-looking leather book sat beneath the glass. Stone pressed a button on the underside of the pedestal and the glass lifted, freeing the book within.
Stone stepped aside, motioning for me to come forward. “It’s been in here for many years, beneath UV-filtering glass, so it’s in perfect condition.”
I lifted the book, finding it heavier than I thought it would be, and the leather cover was supple and creased after centuries of use. A beam of hope stewed in my heart as I stared at Nathaniel’s copy of the grimoire in my hands at last, but that hope blinked out like a candle flame when I saw Will’s sword shimmer into existence.
“Good-bye, Stone,” Will said, and raised his blade.
“Wait!” I cried out, aghast. “Stop!”
Will turned to me, his gaze hard. “He’s too dangerous to leave alive. He’s knows too much that can jeopardize our chances at winning this war. This entire compound is a goldmine for demonic and angelic artifacts. If Merodach found—”
“He’s human,” I said, and put a hand on Will’s arm, lowering his blade. “Please don’t do this. Don’t kill him.”
“It’s a mistake to let him live.”
“No,” I said in anger. “Are you no different from the demonic? Killing innocent humans? Will, you’re better than that, I know it.”
“He isn’t innocent,” he contended.
“But he’s human.” I tightened my hold on Will’s arm. “Please, please, Will. You promised me that you wouldn’t kill any humans. This includes Ethan Stone.”
His body stiffened and his jaws ground together hard. He watched Stone’s face with an angry, conflicted expression, but that meant he was at least considering my request. After a few heart-pounding moments, he withdrew his sword and Stone let out a huge breath of relief. “The lady has spoken. You’re lucky she has far more compassion than I.”
