“As if that makes it better.”
“Scold him later,” Dana demanded. “Lets pull this thread through.”
“I saw her walking on the parapet,” Jordan continued. “In the moonlight. Washed in light and shadows with her cloak streaming in a wind that wasnt there. I thought she was a ghost, and when I wrote her I drew her as one. Lonely, trapped in the night and weeping for the day. But she wasnt a ghost.”
Dana laid a hand on his knee. “She was a goddess.”
“She was Rowena. I understood that today, when I went to see them at the Peak. I didnt know what it meant until now.“
“You were the first to see her,” Dana said softly. “And you wrote of her, in whatever form. You gave her another kind of substance, another kind of world. She, the key holder. The keys in the book.”
Her hand trembled as it slid into place for her. “The white field with black lines across. Words on a page. And the key melted into it. Into the page. The book.” She sprang to her feet. “Flynn, youve got a copy.”
“Yeah.” He looked around the room. “Im not exactly sure where. I havent unpacked everything yet.”
“Why should you? Youve only lived here nearly two years. Well, find it,” Dana demanded.
He gave her a weary look, then rose. “Ill go upstairs and look.”
“Ive got a copy at home,”Zoe put in. “A paperback. Ive got all your books, but my budget doesnt run tohardcovers ,” she said in apology.
Jordan reached over, yanked her hand to his lips, “You are the sweetest thing.”
“I could go get it. I might be able to bring it back before Flynn finds his.”
“Give him a little time.” Malory glanced at the ceiling, imagining Flynn upstairs rummaging through boxes. “Ive got a copy, too, and my place is closer if it comes to that.” Then she stopped, lifted the index fingers on both hands. “What do you want to bet we all have copies of Phantom Watch?”
“Well, I certainly do,” Jordan confirmed.
“And me,” Brad agreed.
“Yeah. Clink, clink, clink,” Dana said. “Thats the sound of links fusing on the chain. Come on, Flynn, how hard can it be to find a book?”
“Whens the last time youve been up in one of those spare rooms?” Malory asked.
“Good point.” She began to pace. “Its in there. Its in there. I know it. Ill go up and find it myself.”
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She spun toward the doorway just as Flynn came jogging down the stairs.
“Got it. Hah. It was in a box labeled „Books. I didnt know I had a box labeled „Books.” He handed the book to Dana.
She ran her hand over it, hoping for some sort of sign, and studied the silhouette of Warriors Peak brooding under a full moon. She opened it, fanned the pages, and smelled paper and dust. “Wheres the line, Jordan?”
“Its the end of the prologue.”
She turned the first few pages, read the words in her head, spoke them out loud. Waited.
“I dont feel anything. I should feel something. Malory?”
“There was an awareness, a kind of knowing. Its hard to explain.”
“But Id know it if I felt it,” Dana finished. “And I dont. Maybe I have to read it, get the whole picture. The way you had to paint the whole portrait before you could reach the key.”
“I wonder…”Zoe hesitated. “Well, I just wonder if maybe its not in that book, because that books not yours. Jordan wrote it, so all the copies are his in a way. But only one is yours. And youre the key, so wouldnt it make more sense for it to have to be your own book?”
Dana stared at her, then grinned. “Zoe, thats absolutely brilliant. Okay, troops, saddle up. Lets move this to my place.”