Page 81 of Ink Blood Sister Scribe

A hot, sour feeling rose in the back of Esther’s throat. “What do you mean, human?”

“I mean the thread looks like it could be a combination of hair and sinew. The glue is likely rendered collagen.” He pinched the cover between thumb and forefinger. “The leather’s probably human skin.”

“Okay,” Collins said, “great, well, if you need me, I’ll be outside screaming.”

“I don’t know how your father got his hands on it,” said Nicholas, “or who it’s attached to, but—”

“Whoit’s attached to?” Esther interrupted. “Don’t you meanwhat? If it’s another object-permanence spell or whatever?”

“Object-connected,” said Nicholas, “and yes, that, too.” He paused for breath. “Sorry, I forget I’m literally the only person alive who’s been forced to learn this. Look, any book written by two Scribes has two points of magical action. This one has an object-connection and a body-connection.”

“So it’s connected to both an object and a person,” said Joanna.

“Yes,” Nicholas said. “Until today, I didn’t even know this kind of thing was possible.”

“But what does it do?” said Esther.

Nicholas was rubbing his temples again. “It connects a person’s life-force to an object,” he said. “As long as the object is intact, so is the life.”

Esther looked at Joanna, waiting for a recap, but even Joanna didn’t immediately understand what he was saying. When she did, her eyes went huge.

“It’s an immortality spell.”

Nicholas nodded. “As much as anything can be, yes.”

“You said it’s in progress,” Collins said. “So it’s attached to someone?”

“Yes,” said Nicholas, and glanced at Joanna. “It obviously wasn’t your father, because, well...”

“If it was, he’d be alive.”

He rubbed his face roughly. “I don’t know what to think about this. Sir Kiwi!”

Esther turned to see that the dog had gotten hold of someone’s boot and was lying on the hearth, gnawing on it enthusiastically. At Nicholas’s voice she froze, made eye contact, then resumed her gnawing.

“I should take her out,” said Nicholas. “We’ll look at the book again later. After we prove my theory.” He looked pointedly at Esther, who kept her expression neutral.

Today, she was going to write a book.

“How long will that take?” Joanna said.

“Well, seeing as it’s her first one, and all the writing has to be done by hand, we’re probably looking at an eight-hour process, all together,” Nicholas said. “You’ll make ink and write this morning; the pages will dry by late afternoon; and we’ll bind it in the evening. Then Joanna can read it to Collins.”

“Yay,” said Collins.

“If getting rid of Collins’s NDA is really so important,” Esther said, “if we’re in such a hurry for answers, maybe now isn’t the time to test a wild theory. Maybe you should write the spell yourself.”

“No,” said Nicholas, plucking a few dog hairs from his expensive-looking sweater. “The sooner we can test you, the sooner we have at least one answer—and speaking for myself, a definitive answer aboutanythingsounds lovely right now.”

“Also,” Collins put in, “if we take any more blood out of Nicholas, he’ll probably die.”

Nicholas made a grudging noise of affirmation.

“So you want to take it out of me, instead?” said Esther, but it was a show of protest. She wanted to know. She did. She just wasn’t certain which answer she was more frightened of.

“Yes,” Nicholas said, and stood from the couch. He staggered once, then caught both his balance and her concerned eye on him. “Don’tworry,” he said, “you’ll only be bleeding enough for a single book, you won’t even feel it. By the way, Joanna, do you have any candles? And if so, how many?”

The question of candles was a simple one, with a simple answer: many. Nicholas’s next question, however, was far more complicated. He wanted to know if there were any symbolic traditions Esther had a strong connection to—specifically with regards to sharing secrets, or breaking silence.

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