Page 78 of The Journal of a Thousand Years
Melville shrugged. “It’s irrelevant anyway. What matters is that Thurlow and others believe he can magically manipulate time. They won’t leave him alone until their theories are provedfalse, and that means they won’t leaveyoualone, Sylvia. As your father, I have to protect you.”
I rubbed my temples. “You don’t need to. I have capable friends.”
He concentrated on his sketch again. “I told our mutual acquaintance that I’ll trick you into going with me to the meeting place, where Thurlow can swoop in and capture you.”
I put up a hand to halt him. “Wait. Slow down. What reason did you give for knowing Thurlow’s interest in Gabe? Only we know.”
“I’m sure others do.”
“Why would he believe I could be tricked into trusting you?”
“I didn’t give a reason. I only said enough to pique his interest and meet me.” He turned his drawing around so I could see it properly then stabbed the pencil in the middle of a blank area between streets whose names I didn’t recognize. “Epping Forest at two this afternoon.”
Alex peered over my shoulder. “Why so far away?”
“It’s quieter than London parks and offers a lot more seclusion.”
Willie snorted. “For Thurlow’s men to hide, then capture Sylvia?”
“No. For both ofyouto hide and captureThurlow.” He pointed his pencil at Alex and Willie, then set about drawing lines through the park. “There are a number of paths, but I’ve given directions for him to meet us here, near the King’s Oak Hotel. There are a lot of trees in this area with trunks thick enough for you to hide behind.” He marked the hotel’s location on the map and indicated the trees.
“No,” Alex said. “It’s too dangerous, and it probably won’t work.”
Willie disagreed. She indicated her gun. “I take this, you take yours, Alex, and we stand where we get a good view of the path.”
“I can’t believe you of all people are considering the plan.” Alex lowered his voice. “I thought you didn’t trust him.”
Melville’s back stiffened. “I’m not going to place my own daughter in harm’s way. And whatever you may think of my past crimes, it wasn’t anything personal against either of you, or against the Glass family. I was under Coyle’s influence. I had to do as he said or suffer the consequences.”
Alex still didn’t look convinced, but Willie had warmed to the plan. Once she set her mind to something, she rarely backed down. “We need to dosomething,” she said to Alex. “Using Sylvia as bait to draw Thurlow out is at least a plan. You got another one?”
Alex huffed a breath. “Gabe would murder us if he knew.”
“Don’t tell him until it’s over. It’ll be fine, Alex. If we get in place well before the meeting time, Thurlow won’t know we’re there.”
“He’ll bring his own men.”
“He’s too arrogant to hide them. He’ll have them at his back, like he always does.” She tucked her gun into her waistband with a decisive shove. “This’ll work.”
Melville gave Alex an annoyed look, as if he were being deliberately disagreeable. “Sylvia’s life cannot continue to be shadowed by this man. He needs to be arrested or he’ll keep trying. You know that.”
Hands on hips, Alex stared up at the ceiling. “Bloody hell,” he muttered. “All right. Willie and I will be armed, but you two can’t be.”
“Thank you, Alex,” I said. “We can’t do this without you. But you can’t tell your father, either. Not until it’s over.”
Now that his mind was made up, Alex took on the role of commander. “You and Hendry can’t take guns, but you can still have weapons. Thurlow doesn’t know Hendry’s a paper magician, but even so, he won’t want to see any paper nearyou, Sylvia. He has seen what you can do with it. You’ll need to conceal some paper without trapping it somehow.”
Melville picked up the map he’d drawn. “I know a way.” He folded the paper into a square with a triangle on top, without using a spell, then tucked it into his jacket pocket leaving the triangle visible. It almost looked like a handkerchief, except part of the sketch clearly showed. “Have you got nicer paper? I can use one and Sylvia can tuck another up her sleeve.”
“That won’t work against a gun,” Willie said.
“They won’t have their guns in their hands. They’ll need to draw them faster than this paper moves.” Quicker than a blink, the paper handkerchief flew out of Melville’s pocket and circled Alex’s head.
Alex ducked but it was too late. If Melville had directed it to cut him, Alex wouldn’t have got out of the way in time.
“I didn’t see your lips move,” I said. “How did you make the paper fly without speaking the spell?”
“I thought it.” Melville flew the paper back into his outstretched palm and scrunched it into a ball. “Some magicians are strong enough that they don’t need to say the spell, they can just think it. If your magic is strong, Sylvia, then after a little practice, you’ll be able to speak a spell in your head, too.”
