“That it deserves a pyre with Mathers on it.” Elaine crouched on the other side of the desk, and I heard her working the lock on one of the drawers. She stood, her hands full of papers which she deposited on top of the desk. “Help me go through this.”
“With pleasure.” I took the small journal from the top of the pile. It seemed to document rituals of the Golden Dawn as well as the organization’s hierarchy. The last few pages contained a roster of members, and the names I read sent my eyebrows soaring. More than a dozen members of Parliament, not to mention half of the city’s richest persons. No wonder this man had come to the attention of the Knight Mages. As casually as I could, I tucked the journal into an inner pocket of my coat.
Elaine dropped her papers and stepped around the desk toward me. “Do not withhold evidence from me.”
“I’m afraid I can’t. This journal makes this investigation a matter of national security, and I can’t afford for the information within to be released.”
She stepped closer and our noses nearly met.
I gathered will.
She unsheathed her blade and growled, “Give me the book.”
If this matter caught the attention of the Shadow Council, you should allow her to assist, Vex said as Elaine drew back her arm to strike.
“Wait!” I exclaimed before she struck. I spun my gathered will into a persuasion spell to push her to trust me. “I work as an agent of the British Empire. I’ll grant you access to the contents of this book, but duty demands I keep it in my possession. Does that suit you?”
She held my gaze and, just when I thought a hex in order, she stepped away. “I can live with that. But I’ll hold you to your word, and God help you if you hold out on me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, love.”
We resumed inspecting Mathers’s papers, a wonderful amount of tension straining the silence that fell. I studied dozens of diagrams for rituals and so-called sacred tools. Nothing truly authentic, and with each one, I further doubted that magical blood flowed through Mathers’s veins.
“How odd.” Elaine handed me a few pages, each one with a drawing.
My blood ran cold.
The first sketch showed the opening of a cave. One I knew far too well. Others had maps of underground passageways. I tossed each page aside after I reviewed it. My heart raced faster. I knew these corridors. I knew this city. I still remembered the way the torchlight cast shadows on the stone.
I snatched the rest of the papers from Elaine’s hand and snarled at her when she protested. I tore through the drawings, following the paths to the very end. The last sketch showed an Egyptian sarcophagus, a relief of a man with the head of an Ibis carved upon the lid. A depiction of Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing, wisdom, and most importantly, magic.
“No,” I whispered in horror.
No one other than you could know the Nameless City this well, Vex said, real worry in his voice.
I shook my head. Only the Knight Mages. I gathered the drawings and handed them back to her with trembling fingers. I made it a condition of my joining that they guard the Nameless City against any seeking entrance.
Do you think they work with Mathers?
But why send me to investigate if they back him? It doesn’t make sense.
We require a word with the Archmage then.
“You know this place,” Elaine flapped the drawings at me. “And it scares you. Tell me why.”
“I can’t.” Elaine started to argue, but I held up a hand to silence her. “The fewer who know the truth about that place, the better. Suffice to say that what lies in this city threatens everything on Earth.”
“God save me, you’re serious,” she said, staring down at the sketches. “I’ll make some inquiries and see if I can find who made these.”
I nodded and took a scrap of paper from the desk, wrote out my address, and handed it to her. “This is where I live. If you discover anything before the ritual, please find me there.”
“What do you intend to do?” she asked.
“I have my own inquiries to make,” I said. Then I turned on my heel and left. Elaine called out to me, but I ignored her. Fear threatened to strangle me as I made my way out of Mathers’s house.
In that sarcophagus deep within the buried Nameless City of Egypt rested the Book of Thoth. The most powerful and most dangerous magical grimoire in this world, or any other.
And someone had found it.
8
The Knight Mages of the Crown
Open the goddamn door,” I shouted as I pounded upon the black door.
Across the street, a curtain moved in a window, and a face peered out into the night, illuminated by candlelight.
The door jerked open, and hands dragged me inside.
“Jesus Christ, Crowley. Do you want the entire neighborhood talking?” a gruff voice asked as the door slammed shut behind me.
“Damn the neighborhood. Take me to the Archmage. Now.” I growled, wrestling out of Henrick’s grasp.
“Stop, you bastard.” Henrick snatched my arm again.
I gathered will and kindled it with a snap of my fingers.
The sleeping spell struck him hard. He collapsed in a heap of limbs, asleep before he hit the floor. I left the rag doll of a man behind and stalked down the hall to Wells’ office in the back.
“Come in, Aleister,” called an unexpected yet familiar voice from inside.
I clenched my teeth and wrapped my hand around the knob.
Wait, Vex said. You must calm down, and approach this rationally.
Shut up, I said as I stormed inside.
Julian Baker sat behind a desk absolutely covered in papers and books. His elbow rested upon the surface, and his chin upon the back of his hand. He was clean-shaven today, and his shoulder-length hair yellow as wheat. Normally this incredible change in appearance might
