I wandered through the Hall, not going anywhere in particular, just thinking. If I couldn’t trust the advisors in my own Inner Circle anymore, then I’d just have to get some new advisors. Preferably ones who understood more about the realities of fighting a war. And I had a really great idea on where to find them, made even more fun by the certain knowledge that this was one idea the Inner Circle definitely wouldn’t approve of. I was still grinning at the thought when my left jacket pocket started jumping around like a wild thing. I grabbed at it with both hands, wrestled it still, and finally pulled out Merlin’s Glass, shaking and shuddering like a vibrator in heat. It jerked itself out of my hands, grew rapidly in size, and then hung there on the air before me, a gateway though which I could see the old library. Shelves and shelves of books, in a warm golden glow, accompanied by the definite sound of someone muttering to himself. William Drood appeared suddenly in the frame and nodded brusquely to me.

“Don’t panic, it’s only me. I needed to talk to you privately, so I activated the Glass from a distance.”

“I didn’t know you could do that,” I said.

He snorted loudly. “Lot of things you don’t know about the Merlin Glass, boy, and I haven’t enough time to warn you about all of them. Suffice to say that this is a device constructed by the infamous Merlin Satanspawn. The clue is in the name.”

“Next time, ring a little bell or something,” I said. “Scared the hell out of me.”

“You’re lucky I was able to improvise a vibrate mode,” said William. “The original version called for a really loud gong sound. Now pay attention, Edwin. I need to talk to you. Here, in the old library, where we won’t be overheard. Come on, just step through the doorway. I haven’t got all day.”

I sighed inwardly. It didn’t seem all that long ago when I was the one giving orders around here. I stepped through the opening, into the old library, and the Glass immediately shrank down to normal size again and tucked itself back into my pocket. I didn’t know it could do that, either. I resolved to spend more time reading the instruction manual, first chance I got.

William heaved an oversized leather-bound book onto a brass reading lectern and leafed through the pages rather more quickly than was probably safe for such ancient paper. He soon found the right page and began reading it to himself in a fast murmur, following the line of words with a fingertip. I waited for him to fill me in on whatever was so important that he’d had to summon me so urgently, but he seemed to have forgotten I was even there. I found a chair and sat down to wait.