she’d freak out or anything. I don’t know if she’d believe it, but… she surprises me sometimes.”
After a brief pause, Adam brought them back to the matter at hand, and they looked at the flyers that Logan had drawn up. He’d made a few different styles, but it only took one look for everyone to cast their vote. It was a simple layout with the symbol from the Redoubt, a circle within a circle within a circle. Underneath he had written the date and time and place of the meeting and the single phrase in large lettering:
gendel sea
.
10
An Invisible Hand
T he pounding on the door brought Alex awake with a jerk. For two dark seconds, she thought she’d gone blind, but then the digital numbers on her clock swam into focus: 5:03. She wasn’t blind; it was still night.
More pounding. Who would be here at this hour?
The bathroom across the hall had a window that looked out on the front lawn. She quickly pulled away the blinds and looked down. It was Adam, and he was looking around anxiously. Alex’s initial confusion was instantly drowned by fear.
Pulling a sweatshirt over her head, she sprinted for the door and yanked it open just as he was about to start pounding again. He stopped short so quickly he almost fell over.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, I need to see your book. Do you have your book?”
“What?”
“The Book of Sight. I need to see it.”
“You’re pounding on my door at five in the morning for that? What’s wrong with your own book? Or your phone?”
“Can I come inside?”
Without replying, she stood back and let him in.
“I’m sorry I was so loud. I hope I didn’t wake your dad up.”
“No, he’s sleeping out back. He sleeps like the dead anyway.”
“Good. I mean, I’m glad I didn’t bother him. I just had to see your book for myself. To make sure.”
“To make sure of what? What’s wrong with you?”
“My book is gone.”
It was a simple enough statement, but it failed to connect in Alex’s brain.
“What?”
“My book is gone. Remember how I said yesterday that I left it at home on the table? Well, it wasn’t there when I got home last night. I figured it was no big deal, maybe I left it someplace else or my mom put it in my room when she was picking up. But it wasn’t in my room, either. I looked everywhere, and I can’t find it.”
“Well, if your mom moved it, maybe she just put it somewhere else.”
“I asked her. She says she didn’t clean the house yesterday and she didn’t see any book on the table. And I searched the whole house, not just my room.”
“Yeah, but sometimes you just overlook something. My dad loses his keys pretty much every time he uses them, and we’ve turned the house upside down until we give up only to discover them in a pile of newspapers the next morning when we aren’t even looking.”
“I know,” Adam nodded. “I know…but that book is a lot bigger than a set of keys. And I’m telling you, it’s just not there.”
“Are you sure that James didn’t take it back when he left?”
Adam’s lip curled. “I’m sure. He didn’t want anything to do with it, remember? Besides, I distinctly remember that I thought about throwing it at his head as he was closing the door. No, it was there when I left and gone when I came home last night.”
“So what are you saying? That someone stole it?”
“I don’t know. I mean, maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s just misplaced and I missed it when I was looking. That’s what I figured when I went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep. And then all of a sudden I thought about what the Dund told us those men had said: ‘We have to get back what he took from us.’ What if someone stole the book from them? What if that same person stole my book? All of a sudden I was totally freaked out, and I had to come over and see if yours was still here.”
Alex’s backpack was on the dining room table where she’d slung it when she got home from a long afternoon of hanging up
After a brief pause, Adam brought them back to the matter at hand, and they looked at the flyers that Logan had drawn up. He’d made a few different styles, but it only took one look for everyone to cast their vote. It was a simple layout with the symbol from the Redoubt, a circle within a circle within a circle. Underneath he had written the date and time and place of the meeting and the single phrase in large lettering:
gendel sea
.
10
An Invisible Hand
T he pounding on the door brought Alex awake with a jerk. For two dark seconds, she thought she’d gone blind, but then the digital numbers on her clock swam into focus: 5:03. She wasn’t blind; it was still night.
More pounding. Who would be here at this hour?
The bathroom across the hall had a window that looked out on the front lawn. She quickly pulled away the blinds and looked down. It was Adam, and he was looking around anxiously. Alex’s initial confusion was instantly drowned by fear.
Pulling a sweatshirt over her head, she sprinted for the door and yanked it open just as he was about to start pounding again. He stopped short so quickly he almost fell over.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, I need to see your book. Do you have your book?”
“What?”
“The Book of Sight. I need to see it.”
“You’re pounding on my door at five in the morning for that? What’s wrong with your own book? Or your phone?”
“Can I come inside?”
Without replying, she stood back and let him in.
“I’m sorry I was so loud. I hope I didn’t wake your dad up.”
“No, he’s sleeping out back. He sleeps like the dead anyway.”
“Good. I mean, I’m glad I didn’t bother him. I just had to see your book for myself. To make sure.”
“To make sure of what? What’s wrong with you?”
“My book is gone.”
It was a simple enough statement, but it failed to connect in Alex’s brain.
“What?”
“My book is gone. Remember how I said yesterday that I left it at home on the table? Well, it wasn’t there when I got home last night. I figured it was no big deal, maybe I left it someplace else or my mom put it in my room when she was picking up. But it wasn’t in my room, either. I looked everywhere, and I can’t find it.”
“Well, if your mom moved it, maybe she just put it somewhere else.”
“I asked her. She says she didn’t clean the house yesterday and she didn’t see any book on the table. And I searched the whole house, not just my room.”
“Yeah, but sometimes you just overlook something. My dad loses his keys pretty much every time he uses them, and we’ve turned the house upside down until we give up only to discover them in a pile of newspapers the next morning when we aren’t even looking.”
“I know,” Adam nodded. “I know…but that book is a lot bigger than a set of keys. And I’m telling you, it’s just not there.”
“Are you sure that James didn’t take it back when he left?”
Adam’s lip curled. “I’m sure. He didn’t want anything to do with it, remember? Besides, I distinctly remember that I thought about throwing it at his head as he was closing the door. No, it was there when I left and gone when I came home last night.”
“So what are you saying? That someone stole it?”
“I don’t know. I mean, maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s just misplaced and I missed it when I was looking. That’s what I figured when I went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep. And then all of a sudden I thought about what the Dund told us those men had said: ‘We have to get back what he took from us.’ What if someone stole the book from them? What if that same person stole my book? All of a sudden I was totally freaked out, and I had to come over and see if yours was still here.”
Alex’s backpack was on the dining room table where she’d slung it when she got home from a long afternoon of hanging up
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