“Perhaps you'd be interested in where they get their power?” Lazer asked.
Sting smiled. Now here was a brother raccoon that actually might be useful to him.
Chapter 25: No Mercy
On his way to the Lost and Embedded Manuscripts conference at the Library of Alexandria, Professor Chin took his planned layover in Greece. He was not there for sightseeing. A silent man nodded to him at the Athens airport and whisked him off to a smaller airport, where they boarded a private plane to the island of Rhodes. From Rhodes, a powerful skiff jetted them to a small remote island. In hardly any more time than it usually took to retrieve his luggage at Heathrow, he was sitting in the living room of Dr. Warner. He declined the offer of a drink.
He knew everyone here. They’d been meeting for five years and they were the closest to a family he would ever have. But by the end of the meeting, Professor Chin knew he wouldn’t be coming back. He wasn’t looking for a family. These men talked too much; they were too soft. And he was looking to do more than world building; their ideas would never be more than a fantasy. His, he knew, could be real. And people would pay the ultimate price for his world.
He needed men attuned to great leaders, like Hitler. Like Himmler. He would be the Grandmaster. Under his breath, he whispered Himmler’s favorite word, ‘gnadelos’, no mercy.
Chapter 26: The Library of Alexandria
The first thing that surprised Professor Chin about Alexandria was how modern it was. It was a bit disconcerting to be surrounded by foreigners—but what did he expect? He was pleased that everyone knew English, surprisingly well.
The second thing he learned was that, in this Mediterranean coastal city, he was overdressed in his tweed coat. He never went anywhere without his coat and umbrella. Reluctantly, he left both in his hotel room and joined the tour group, feeling slightly underdressed.
The third thing he discovered was that the new Library of Alexandria was jarring to his senses. He didn’t bother to browse the stacks. His love for books wasn’t like the love of a bibliophile. That was something he always had to be careful of at work, not letting on that books were only a means to an end.
The architectural lines of the ultramodern library were at odd angles, which threw him off balance. It's open, soaring lines made him small and insignificant. In London, he was always surrounded by a sense of the solidness of it. Here, he was out of his element, out of control.
He rubbed one hand over the other, massaging his fingers and wrist, something he'd done to relieve anxiety since he was a boy.
He was so distracted that he almost missed the next exhibit. The tour guide was talking about the historic burning of the original library. They were standing in front of a bronze statue of a young man in a tunic. There were bronze cats climbing all over him. “Nothing remains of the ancient library,” the girl said, “but legends. This is Akeel, the Guardian librarian who, it is said, saved seven powerful mystical books, which were sheltered in secret chambers under the main buildings. He escaped the fire with a handful of books and an armful of library cats. When he found new hiding places for the books, he put the cats in charge of guarding them. As Egyptians, who revere cats, this story holds special charm for us.” She smiled at the group and there were murmurs of appreciation. “The books are shrouded in mystery, but the legend says that whoever finds them and unlocks their secrets will be able to rule the world.”
Professor Chin thought he was going to be sick. He struggled to hear more of what she said about the books, but he was feeling faint.
The thought of having cats crawling over him like the man in the statue made him nauseous. Gypsies believed cats were filthy creatures, if not downright evil. But when he was too small to know better, he had befriended one and always saved scraps of food from his evening meal.
When his stepfather caught him feeding the kitten, he beat him, then forced his mother to drown the cat, making him watch. He still remembered him yelling 'dinili!', stupid, and how the cat scratched his mother's arms and face as she struggled to force the kitten's head into a bucket of water. "You think we have enough to feed a filthy cat when we can barely feed ourselves?" his stepfather had shouted.
He started trembling. He'd had nightmares about his cat coming back to life to punish him. In one dream, there were a dozen cats climbing all over him and he woke up screaming as one tried to suck the breath out of him.
Now he was looking at this statue of his nightmare while the people around him were obviously enjoying it.
He desperately wanted to avoid a panic attack but it was too late. The tour guide, an attractive young Arab girl, asked him if he was ok as the room started to spin and he reached out for something to hold onto.
The last thing he heard was the snickers of school children. When he woke up, he was lying on the floor and a paramedic was taking his blood pressure, a crowd standing over him. He passed out again.
Later, when he woke up the second time, he was in his hotel room, thankful to be away from people. But he wasn't alone.
"What was that all about?" demanded the Whisperer.
"Nevermind."
"Nevermind! What is the matter with you?" demanded the Whisperer. “You’ll never get anywhere falling apart like that!”
“Have a little sympathy,” said Professor Chin. “Maybe it was something I ate.”
“Sympathy! You’re one to ask for sympathy. Am I wasting my time with you?”
“No. I’ll be fine. You heard what she said, didn’t you? You were there?”
“You mean about the books?”
“Of course, I mean about the books.”
“What about them? It’s just a story.”
“You don’t believe that any more than I do. These kinds of things exist. You know about the Spear of Destiny, don’t you? It was the tool for Hitler’s power. These books will be my Spear.”
“How badly do you want them?”
“With all my soul.”
“I have my resources,” said the Whisperer, after some considering. “I could have them look for the books. But I must warn you. They expect a steep price for their services.”
“Any price is worth increasing my powers.”
“You would give your soul for a magical book?”
“What need have I of my soul? It causes me only pain. Take what’s left of it. What I need, my soul won’t give me. What I need is power.”
Chapter 27: Polo’s dangerous discovery
“Marco, where have you been?” demanded Polo. Marco was climbing down the wide trunk of the tree next to the ferrets’ home, his usual spot, except for nights when he fell asleep at the library. Cicero had implied that the staff might not want a second library cat, so he always had to scurry out the window when the librarians opened up in the morning.
To be sure, he hadn’t been around much lately, as he was spending more and more time at the library. He hadn’t told Polo about his other life, because… he wasn’t sure why. It was just a feeling, but he figured Polo would want to tag along with him and he didn’t think the library was ready for the likes of a silly ferret.
Still, Marco felt a little guilty about keeping secrets from his new friend. Polo bounced and leaped and ran circles around Marco. “I’ve been looking all over for you!
“What’s the matter? What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I missed you.”
“Oh, Polo! I’m sorry.” Marco felt badly about ignoring him. “I’m not trying to avoid you or anything. It’s just that I have things I need to do.”
This statement from his cat friend stopped the little ferret for a moment. “Oh well,” said Polo, shrugging it off. “You’re here now! I can show you my new treasure!” he cried out. “It’s my most beautiful possession!”
He ran under the house and reappeared with a silver keychain attached to a tube of liquid. “Look! It’s got water inside.”