Reinforcements who would be working their magic on my neighbors, editing the memories of people I called friends. Lizzie Pascoe had tried to help against an enemy she couldn’t have understood. She had stepped forward despite her fear. In return, I had blown out every window in her shop, and now her very thoughts would be violated and rewritten.
“You certainly seem to have gotten Mister Harrison’s attention.” Gutenberg rapped a knuckle against the book he carried. “Fascinating spellcraft. Far more stable than I would have guessed, to last for so many years with so little corruption. The fellow imprisoned in these pages was able to contain our magic long enough for his master to escape. Fortunately, I believe I can eliminate that threat.”
He plucked a gold fountain pen from his breast pocket and opened the book.
“What are you doing?” Guan Feng shoved past me. “Stop!”
Gutenberg tilted his head, the nib of the pen hovering over the rice paper. “You must be one of the Bì 
de dú 
.” His expression didn’t change, but the air inside the library seemed to drop twenty degrees. “You neglected to mention a prisoner in your phone call to Nicola, Isaac.”
“She came to ask for our help,” I said. “Harrison was able to create his own dryad. He’s going to use her to restore the rest of Bi Sheng’s students from their books, and to enslave them.”
“His friends have done an excellent job of hiding him. But all magic has limits.” He touched pen to paper and began to write.
Guan Feng lunged for the book, but Lena caught her in a bear hug and held her back. I stepped closer, trying to see what Gutenberg was doing. The pen left no visible mark on the paper, but I could feel the book reacting to the words.
I shouldn’t have been able to feel it at all. I was too raw and exposed from the past few days. “You’re hurting him.”
“Indeed,” he said without looking up. “It will be over soon enough.”
Smudge crawled around to the back of my head, tickling my neck. I half expected him to set my hair alight, but he was unnaturally cool to the touch. Whoever was bound to that book, he was lashing out, trying to counter Gutenberg’s magic. Invisible fingers curled through my body, searching for purchase. Gutenberg merely clucked his tongue and continued to write.
“Please.” Guan Feng’s face was wet. She had stopped struggling against Lena. “He’ll die.”
“He died five hundred years ago,” Gutenberg said. “This was a collection of memories, nothing more.”
“You’re locking the book.” More than anything, I felt disoriented. Off balance, as if I was falling in every direction. Desperation built like steam—desperation that belonged not to me, but to the man bound to that book. I heard a whisper in my head, but I didn’t understand the words. And then the struggle simply stopped, replaced by resignation and a sense of acceptance.
A second later, there was nothing.
“Very good.” Gutenberg capped his pen and returned it to his pocket.
I reached over to touch the book. Magically, it was cold and dead. “He’s gone.”
Guan Feng wiped her face, the movement violent. “His name was Lan Qihao. He was a poet. He was seventeen years old the day your automatons attacked. His parents were farmers. He lost his sister at the age of twelve, during a flood.”
She stared at the book, her eyes unfocussed. “He was in love with another student, a girl of nineteen, from Hopei. She was from a riverboat family. They spoke of running away together, but neither would dishonor their studies. When shelved, their books were always placed next to each other.”
“A touching story,” Gutenberg said. He drew a thin paperback from within his vest and turned in a slow circle.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I want to be certain Harrison hasn’t left any of his pets behind to eavesdrop.” He clapped the book shut. “Isaac, I’m told you had acquired one of these books when you and Lena escaped from August Harrison.”
With his attention on me, he didn’t see the sudden panic on Guan Feng’s face, nor the desperate pleading in her eyes.
“It was stolen during the fight,” said Nidhi. “While the dragon distracted Isaac and Lena, a second creature entered the library. A metal dog or wolf. It snatched the book and tried to attack Guan Feng. Lena was able to fend it off.”
I had never been a good liar, but Nidhi was amazing. Perhaps a second and a half of real time had passed while I battled the dragon and moved people to safety. There was no way Lena had fought anything during that time. Yet as I listened to Nidhi, I almost believed her.
“I see.” Gutenberg somehow managed to shove the oversized book into the back pocket of his trousers. Another trick I would love to learn one of these days.
“Harrison and Bi Sheng’s students aren’t the only threat.” I told him about the Army of Ghosts. “They’ve infested Harrison’s insects, and they did the same to Bi Wei when Lena restored her. We’ve got to assume everyone he and his dryad restores will be similarly infected.”
Gutenberg frowned. “Victor didn’t create his insects to house such things. Every documented encounter has involved human beings.”
“He did make them telepathic, though,” I said. “When we spoke to Victor’s ghost, he said at least one insect had gone missing overseas. It was supposed to be seeking out magic.”
“We’ll have to see about finding that lost insect,” said Gutenberg. “In the meantime, our priority is August Harrison. The Ghost Army is using him. They helped him learn how to build monsters for his protection, and how to restore the students of Bi Sheng, all as a way to provide vessels for their own return.”
“Harrison knows where I live,” I said. “Nidhi, too.”
“We have both places under observation. For now though, we’ll remain here.”
“Here?” I stared. “But he’s already attacked the library once. If they return—”
“Stop thinking so defensively, Isaac. Small and damaged though it may be, this library is our strongest fortress.”
“Small?” I bristled, but held my tongue before I could say things I would regret. On a per capita basis, the Copper River Library had more books than just about any other library in the country. I watched in silence as he browsed the broken shelves, selecting a book seemingly at random. He fanned the pages, and Guan Feng dropped to the floor unconscious. Nidhi crouched to touch the girl’s neck.
“She’s alive,” Gutenberg said, pulling out his gold pen once more. As he moved toward Guan Feng, understanding twisted my stomach.
All libriomancers knew Gutenberg could lock books, sealing away the most dangerous magic. Only a few of us knew he could do the same to people, suppressing any magic they might possess. He had even been known to wipe people’s memories of magic, and to erase them from the memories of others. Gutenberg argued that it was the most humane way to deal with magical criminals, and he wasn’t entirely wrong. You couldn’t exactly send them off to a mundane prison, which meant the only other alternative would be to kill them.
To most of us, death would be preferable. “She doesn’t have any magic.”
“Are you certain?” asked Gutenberg.
“What she does have is a connection to Bi Wei,” I continued. “A connection we don’t understand. Bi Wei appeared sane when we escaped. For all we know, Guan Feng is the one helping her to hold on to that sanity, and to resist the influence of the Ghost Army. Do you know what severing that bond might do?”
He pursed his lips. “When did you learn such caution, Isaac?”
“About the fourth time I nearly eradicated myself from existence.” I watched his pen as if it were a loaded gun. “Why did you try to wipe out the students of Bi Sheng?”