A man moved along the buildings of the square, from shadow to shadow. He wore small, round blue-tinted glasses and had curly dark hair streaked with gray. In his black leather jacket and black jeans he looked like a shadow himself.
Erasmus slid into a chair opposite them and lifted one finger to hail the waitress. “I hear you need to talk to me.” He spoke rapidly to the waitress in Czech.
“We didn’t know you were in Prague,” Amy said. “Sinead said you were on the way to Rome.”
“I leave for Rome tonight.”
He paused as the waitress put down a steaming cup of coffee. He took a sip. Behind the tinted glasses Amy knew his gaze was constantly roving, picking out possible danger, routes of escape. What Erasmus did before devoting himself to the Madrigals, she didn’t know. But he had a Vesper database in his head, every scrap of information the Madrigals had been able to pick up over the centuries.
Amy was wondering how to ask the question when Dan just blurted it out.
“Was our father a Vesper?”
Erasmus took a careful sip of coffee. He leaned back and blew out a sigh as he stared out at the square. Then he took off his sunglasses. His eyes looked tired. He leaned forward again, his big hands cradling the cup. With every move and gesture Amy felt her heart sink. She wanted to run as far and as fast as she could to escape what was coming next.
“Yes,” Erasmus said.
“The bro just orders,” Jonah said. “I’m not saying I don’t like him. I’m just saying.”
“I hear you,” Hamilton said. He threw another T-shirt into his pack.
“It’s my plane, bro. And he walks in, dressed so fine in his leather, and he says, ‘We’re going to Italy tonight,’ and it’s, like, say what?” Jonah zipped up his duffel. “I’d just like a vote. That’s all.”
Still talking, they rode down in the elevator and walked out into the lobby. A gray-haired woman in a gray jacket and a shapeless hat was just getting up from a chair. Just as they passed her, Hamilton slung his big pack over his shoulder and caught her on the side of the head. She stumbled, and her purse went flying.
“Oh, man, I’m so sorry.” Hamilton and Jonah dropped their packs and quickly stooped over to help gather the items that had spilled.
“It is okay,” the woman said in an Italian accent. She shook her wallet at Jonah playfully. “I know you. Jonah Wizard.”
“Busted!”
“That is a funny choice of words. In American English, that can be slang for … arrested, no?” The woman’s brown eyes twinkled.
“Word. I should be careful, right?”
“You should be very careful.” The woman flipped her wallet open. Inside they saw an ID card. Luna Amato was the woman’s name. And then, in big black letters – INTERPOL. “Perhaps we can have a chat, no?”
Jonah and Hamilton exchanged glances. They had a feeling that answering “no” was not an option.
She directed them to a quiet corner of the lobby. She sat in an armchair, parking her purse on the floor. They sat on the edge of the sofa facing her.
“Just a little chat,” she said in a friendly way. “You are here in Prague because … ?”
“Just chilling with my homey, doing the tourist thing,” Jonah said.
“And your cousins, Amy and Dan Cahill? Are they enjoying the city as well?”
Jonah’s heart sank into his running shoes. “Whoa, are they here, too? You know, I’ve got a bunch of cousins. Can’t keep track of everybody.”
“It seems to me,” Luna Amato said, “it would be easy to keep track of people who travel with you on your private plane.”
“What do you want?” Hamilton asked.
“Ah, let’s cut to the chase, as they say in American movies, no?” Luna Amato leaned forward. “I am hoping you will take a message to Amy and Dan Cahill. We know they have Il Milione.”
Jonah kept his face expressionless. Hamilton stiffened.
“Che macello! What a mess! The lost manuscript! And these two children steal it! Why? To sell it? But they have a fortune already. To keep it? But they are not known as art lovers. I have seen children manipulated and forced to do things they do not want to do. I say to myself, maybe this is the case with these two.”
“So what is the message?” Jonah asked.
Luna Amato sighed. “My partner, Milos Vanek – we are not alike. To him, if you steal something, you are a criminal. He does not believe in mercy. He believes in law. He will not listen to what they say. I will listen. Perhaps even I can help.” Her face was intent. “Do you understand? They will need a friend at Interpol. I am that friend.”
She gave them her card. Then she picked up the purse and walked out without looking back.
“Dude,” Hamilton said.
“Dawg,” Jonah said. “I can’t tell if I’m scared of her, or I want her to bake me cookies.”
The lights glowed around the square. The rain had cleared and freshened the air. But the evening was chilly, and most of the patrons now sat inside in the warm, lit cafe. Dan and Amy sat outside at the table, their dinners cold and untouched. Amy found she was hugging herself tightly, her fingers digging into her arms.
“He was recruited,” Erasmus said. “As Vespers often are, when they’re young. Arthur was in college. When he told Grace the story, he made it clear that he had no idea that the Vespers were a criminal organization. He was fascinated by the fact that, at that time, scientists and engineers and historians were part of the group. There were hints of famous scholars in history being Vespers, people Arthur admired. He was approached by Vesper One – the former Vesper One. We know that he died about three years ago.”
“But that means he knew who Vesper One was,” Dan said.
Erasmus shook his head. “He never knew. There’s a courting period where they indoctrinate you – you don’t know anyone’s real identity at first. There’s an initiation ceremony. Arthur was attracted to certain parts of the Vesper heritage, I admit. He was young, ambitious, maybe too impulsive for his own good. But after … uh, certain details of the Vesper philosophy came to light, he was horrified. He renounced the Vespers and married your mother. Your father is one of the reasons we know as much as we do about the Vespers.”
“What about the Sedlec Ossuary?” Dan asked. “Why didn’t he tell you about that?”
The challenge in Dan’s voice made Erasmus frown.
“I’m guessing that was the site of his initiation,” Erasmus said. “He was blindfolded and taken there. He only knew it was somewhere near Prague.”
“So he never …” Amy swallowed. “He never did anything bad.”
Erasmus turned his gaze to Amy. “I knew your father. He was a good man.”
“Thank you for telling us,” Amy said.
“You can count on me anytime,” Erasmus said. He slipped his sunglasses into his pocket. “Remember this: We’re on a dangerous path. But we have been on it for centuries. We will prevail.”
As silently and gracefully as he had appeared, he left. Within moments, Amy could not tell where he’d gone. She could see only shadows where he had been.
Amy woke up to a gray morning. She didn’t know if she’d really slept. The dreams were so real … the blurred memory of her father swinging her into a grocery cart, stringing pink fairy lights all over her bedroom to surprise her for a birthday, making a suit out of bubble wrap and declaring himself King Bub the Invincible.
Could that man be a Vesper?
She’d tried to talk to Dan about it, but Dan had withdrawn into himself. The muscles of his face pulled tight, and his eyes went flat. She wanted to shake him, as though she could shake good memories into him, the things about their father that he couldn’t remember.
But then she remembered other things. Coming into the room and just catching the end of an argument between her mother and her father.
“What aren’t you telling me, Arthur?”
The look on his face when he didn’t know she was watching him. Staring into the fire in the study, gripping the book at his side, the orange flames flickering on the taut line of his mouth …