Page 30 of The Journal of a Thousand Years
“Get her!” Thurlow growled. “Shut her up before your bollocks are sliced off!”
The man closest to me covered his crotch with his hands, leaving his head exposed. He received a cut to his cheek and another to his shoulder. Blood tinged his shirt.
The second man was a little further away, but he blocked the doorway. His gaze narrowed as he readied himself to leap at me, low to the ground. I spoke the spell faster, changing the emphasis of a syllable here and there. Suddenly, the pages dove toward him, like a swarm of bees at their hive. He swore as he tried to bat them away.
There was no time to wonder at how I’d managed to direct the paper onslaught at him. With both men occupied, I ran past them, but hesitated in the doorway. “Bertie?” I managed to say between spell repetitions. I held out my hand.
He leapt up and took it. Thurlow tried to follow him, but the swarm of flying paper blocked his advance.
Bertie and I ran onto the road and spotted Thurlow’s motorcar. Like Gabe’s vehicle, it required a crank to start the engine, not a key like some newer ones. I took the driver’s seat while Bertie cranked. Only once the motor rumbled to life did I stop speaking the spell.
Gabe had given me driving lessons, so I knew what to do. I pulled away from the curb, expecting to hear a gunshot. But the house was silent. I hoped no one was terribly injured. Individual cuts shouldn’t be deep enough to bleed out or leave scars, but if they received too many…I shuddered to think.
It was fortunate that there was very little traffic on the road because the motorcar steered differently to the Vauxhall. I quickly got used to it, however, and headed in the direction of Mayfair.
“You’ve been cut.” Bertie pointed at my neck.
I touched it. My fingers came away sticky and the cut stung. I glanced at him. In the soft light of dawn, I could make out two cuts on his face. “So have you. Sorry.”
He dabbed at them with a handkerchief. “I didn’t know you’re a paper magician.”
“I just found out myself.”
After a few more turns, he added, “We’re heading to Gabe’s place, aren’t we?”
“I have to retrieve that note Thurlow left for him.” I flexed my fingers on the steering wheel and blew out a fortifying breath. “Can you look around for something to write with?”
He opened the glove compartment and found a notepad and pencil. When we stopped around the corner from number sixteen Park Street, I penned Gabe a note of my own.
It was the hardest thing I’d ever written.
My feet felt like they were bogged in clay as I made my way up the steps to Gabe’s front door. Another deep breath did nothing to steady my jangling nerves. Despite every part of me screaming that what I was doing was wrong, my head knew it was right.
I had to stay away from Gabe. Not to protect his family from social disgrace, but to protect him from Thurlow. Even if Thurlow was caught, someone else would take his place. Indeed, someone else had tried to kidnap Gabe before Thurlow even came onto the scene, and they were still at large.
I made Gabe vulnerable. His affection for me was a weak spot to be exploited by those who wanted to use his magic for themselves. I must leave London, leave my friends, and leave Gabe and the Glass Library behind.
I raised my hand to knock.
CHAPTER 7
It was surprisingly easy to swap Thurlow’s letter for mine. Bristow held it in his hand as he answered my knock. He must have spotted it on the floor when he came to open the door. He looked stunned to see me at such an early hour. He would barely be out of bed himself.
“Good morning, Bristow.” I whipped the letter out of his hand before he realized what was happening and held out my piece of paper, folded in half. “I changed my mind.Thisis the one I want delivered to Gabe.”
He took it and I crumpled Thurlow’s note in my fist.
“Will you come in for breakfast, Miss Ashe?”
“Not today. That letter isn’t urgent. Don’t wake him.” On a whim, I kissed Bristow’s cheek.
His cheeks pinked. “Is everything all right, Miss Ashe?”
“Fine. I have to go.” I hurried down the steps and along the pavement to the corner. I tried not to think about Gabe’s reaction as he read my note, but my mind continued to wander there anyway. He would be furious and worried, and perhaps confused. He would go directly to my lodgings then on to my friends’ homes to search for me. I must be quick if I didn’t want him catching up to me, even though I had a head start.
It wasn’t until I was driving home that I suddenly realized Bertie could have easily escaped while I was at Gabe’s house. Indeed, I’d expected him to. Yet he had not. That changed things a little.
The house where I rented a room was quiet. It was too early for any of the lodgers or our landlady to be up. Mrs. Parry must have gone back to bed after I’d been abducted, none the wiser to my predicament. My room was paid in advance, so after I packed a few essentials, I quickly dashed off a note of farewell without explaining why I was leaving in a hurry. I hadn’t yet thought of a suitable excuse for my sudden departure, so it was best to say nothing.
