“You mean you left him alive?”

“Julian shot him,” Matthew said, and whether this was true or not it didn’t matter because he didn’t want Julian gutted by a sword or blown apart by a cannon. “At the moment we were both … um … a bit busy securing the doctor and the book to follow Black into the woods past the burning barn and—” He stopped, because Fell’s eyebrows had gone up and an expression of amusement had settled upon his face. “It was freezing cold out there,” Matthew continued. “Black was shot and probably froze to death.” As soon as he said it, he thought that a burning barn could keep even a badly-wounded man from freezing for quite some time. Before Fell could speak, Matthew said, “I know all about Ciro Valeriani’s mirror. Are you really serious? That you believe in such a thing?”

“Huh?” Hudson’s ears had perked up. “What’s this about?”

“Oh, this should be interesting!” said Julian, with a pained grin. “Professor, my bottom half forbids it but my top half demands that I sit down.” Without waiting for permission he sank into the second leather chair, which was the nearer.

Matthew walked to the bookshelves and began searching. Where was it? Either his vision was impaired, or—

“I believe you’re looking for this.” Fell opened the middle drawer of his desk and brought out the copy of The Lesser Key of Solomon. “Take it, Hudson. Page through it, while Matthew explains the reason you are still among the living.”

Hudson took the book and opened it. “What the hell … ?” he said almost at once.

“The professor—who I think at one time in his life was sane—is searching for a mirror that he believes can raise a demon from the underworld,” Matthew said, coming back to the center of the room. “Cardinal Black was after that book as well, since the professor seems to have bought up every existing copy. It’s a catalogue of … well, you can see for yourself. The professor—correct me if I’m wrong—has yet to decide on which denizen of the depths he will—”

And then Matthew stopped, because he had a revelation.

The jars of marine specimens. The etchings of the frightful monsters of the sea on the walls. The huge and deadly octopus that had eaten the head of Jonathan Gentry. The professor’s interest in biologics and especially marine life.

All those creatures, brought up from the depths. And in that book of demons, the descriptions of creatures even more bizarre, and dwelling at deeper depths. Matthew remembered Fell saying he had an interest in ‘the creature from another world’.

“My God,” said Matthew. “You’re a fisherman. And now … you want to catch the most bizarre and deadliest creature you can bring up. Is that what it is? Just to see what you can land, using that mirror as a hook?”