Page 5 of Unbroken
“Love you, too.” Sebastian snuggled in closer. “But I can’t wait until we have our own place.”
Sebastian stood in a room that seemed familiar, though he couldn’t recall having seen it before. The walls were made of stone, and a great slab of an altar dominated the cold chamber. Upon it lay a shrouded figure.
Four chairs stood to either side of the altar, two on each side, with one left empty. Three were occupied by two women and one man, dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Bloodied thread connected each of them to the concealed figure upon the altar.
With a jolt, he realized he knew their names: Emeline. Thaddeus. Filomena. Three of the four Hollowell siblings who had been murdered so long ago, their bodies taken apart and remade into the Books of the Bound.
He wanted to ask who had killed them. If it had indeed been Lydia, wife of Gregorio, the man they’d come to Widdershins to resurrect from the dead. Sebastian’s great-grandmother.
But his tongue remained still; in this dream, he could only watch.
“It failed,” Filomena said. “We failed.”
“Not this time.” Thaddeus had a face as severe as a Puritan preacher’s.
Emeline looked to the sole chair remaining with no occupant. “Our great work will succeed, even if not as we originally conceived of it.” Her eyes shifted to lock onto Sebastian’s. “It won’t be long now.”
CHAPTER 4
The next day, Sebastian and Irene sat in his office. Irene pored over the reams of architectural drawings left behind by Alexander Dromgoole, while Sebastian sorted through the jumbled mess of Nathaniel Ladysmith’s correspondence with the doomed architect.
“It’s almost time for lunch,” she said, glancing at the clock on the wall of the rhomboid-shaped room. “Have you had any luck?”
Sebastian took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Only letters from Dromgoole from 1854, complaining of strange dreams after he Bound the Book of Blood to himself.” He waved the letter at her, which read:
August 12, 1854
Dear Nathaniel,
I regret to say my strange dreams have continued apace. Last night, it seemed to me I spoke to a man dressed in a frock coat whose cut recalled those from our youth. He seemed very disappointed in me, shaking his head and sighing a great deal, as though I wasn’t what he wanted. Later, I dreamed I was riding a tiger through Mrs. Waite’s dining room, so I wouldn’t place too much importance on any of my nocturnal ramblings!
It is interesting that your acquaintances in Arkham have suggested visiting the western part of the state. I shudder to think what might lurk in those forested hills, and with no more of a precise destination I don’t imagine it will do us much good.
At any rate, I’m considering what to do with the Book of Bone. I have some ideas, but will discuss them more thoroughly when we meet tomorrow. Until then, please rest, as I do not wish your fever to return, and I suspect neither do you!
Yours as always,
Alex
“And are you having strange dreams?” Irene asked.
“You sound like Ves.” At her look, he sighed. “None that I recall, which once again proves that the Books affect those of us descended from, well, them in a different manner. If they’d let Great-Uncle Thomas take Dromgoole’s place, we might not be in this mess now.”
“Perhaps.” She tapped the drawing in front of her. “I need to look at this more, but?—”
A sharp rap on the door interrupted her. “Come in,” Sebastian called.
Librarian Amelia Cohen stuck her head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but there’s a man here to see you. He asked for both or either of you. They made him wait in the grand foyer.”
Irene exchanged a puzzled look with Sebastian. “What’s his name?”
Amelia checked a note, no doubted handed to her by whatever staff member had braved the library to find them. “Mr. Paul Tubbs.”
“Tubbs?” Sebastian exclaimed. “That unpleasant fellow from city hall? I thought he hated us.”
Amelia looked shocked at the suggestion. “Who could hate a librarian? At any rate, that’s all I know. Should I ask a guard to send him away?”
The notion was tempting. He and Irene had visited the city’s Department of Records, looking for plans of the revisions Dromgoole made to First Esoteric Church while concealing the Book of Bone. Though he ultimately cooperated, Tubbs had behaved as though they were bent on stealing the plans, along with everything else not nailed down.
