“I did,” said Effie. But that was ages ago. Just before the Sterran Guandré. That must be what brought the Diberi here from Europe. They’d been frozen somehow since the worldquake. When I went into the library yesterday to take the book out again I didn’t realize I had another book in my bag. The poem ‘Galloglass’—but a different translation than Jupiter Peacock’s. The library took it.”

“Are you seriously saying that you put a copy of Galloglass in the actual Great Library?” said Pelham. “Why hasn’t anyone told me about this? Cosmo must be furious.”

“Wait,” said Effie. “Listen to me. I think you’ll understand. Leander? You listen too. You’ll know what I mean, I’m sure. The translation I put in was different from Jupiter Peacock’s. In the original version there’s a mention of the Flow—whatever it is. The reference is removed from Jupiter Peacock’s version.”

“What would the Flow have to do with galloglasses?” said Leander.

“I don’t know,” said Effie. “Maybe if someone told me what the Flow actually is . . . ?”

While Effie and the others had been talking, Wolf had been fiddling with his lapis lazuli ring. Being in this chapel was like returning home after a long journey. Everything about it made him feel calm and powerful—and not at all like listening to words or sentences about earthly things. The smell of incense, the candles . . . He wondered what would happen if he lit a candle and tried to meditate. Raven had told him the basics the night before. It didn’t sound difficult. You just shut your eyes—or even kept them open, if you were a Zen Buddhist—and focused on your breath and tried to clear your mind. How hard could it be? And then cleric’s prayers, when you got to wish for things that would come true. You were supposed to start with small things, but what if . . . ?

Pelham now seemed to be telling Effie that he shouldn’t be able to talk about the Flow to someone who didn’t understand it. Was she absolutely sure she didn’t know what it was? But their voices faded as Wolf slipped easily into a meditative state, a state from which all magic is possible and . . .

And he took the piece of string from around his neck and . . .

Before he knew what was happening, the ring was on.

Bells. Beautiful light. The smell of sandalwood and silence.

Wolf passed out again.

The yeti looked at this new human with interest. She was completely different from the other one, although the yeti wasn’t experienced enough in dealing with humans to understand what the difference might be.

His arm still hurt from the trap he’d been caught in. He started rubbing it, and making a sort of mewling sound. And his right leg was bleeding, quite badly.