He lined up his tools on the kitchen counter, as he’d done before: smaller utensils first—picks, scrapers, scalpels, and such — that eventually led to the larger devices, the drill and the saw. He stopped for a minute, noting that one of the saw teeth appeared to be chipped. He contemplated changing the blade, but finally agreed with his better judgment to move on due to the constraints of time.

In a final step of preparedness, he placed a new paper mask over his mouth, a new plastic cap over his head, and new plastic gloves over his hands. He examined the gloves for any imperfections, holes, and tears, things that might allow the victim to enter his personal space, or the opposite, for a flake of his skin or a fiber of his hair to exit and incriminate him. Everything looked good. Solid.

“As soon as you can, run!” Grandma Rose said, hacking away at the remaining tape around Charlie’s ankles.

“Are you ready?” Stanley called out, exiting the kitchen. He stopped, surprised. Charlie kicked at the bonds, only making it harder for Grandma Rose to finish.

“I don’t think so,” Stanley said. He strode forward.

“Stay back!” Grandma Rose said, holding the scissors up like a dagger aimed at Stanley’s neck.

Stanley held his arms out wide. “You’re only making this harder on yourself.”

Grandma Rose didn’t know whether it was the sheer rage inside her or the powers of heaven that allowed her to do what happened next. She pulled back her arm and propelled the scissors forward like a dart, lodging the razor-sharp points squarely in the middle of Stanley’s throat.

Stanley fell to the floor and grabbed at the scissors, wrenching them from their tender position. Blood spilled through his fingers as he held his neck, clawing his way toward them with his other hand. “I’ll kill you!” he gurgled, red foam forming at the corners of his lips. “I’ll kill you all!”

Sixteen

sixteen

Xandria wasn’t worried that August had stormed off. Tearing out the illuminated page had sent him into silent shock. And then tearing out the two other illuminations sent him shouting over the edge. He needed a minute to collect his thoughts. And she needed his head to be clear in order to decode the rest of the clues. Besides, what was he going to do? Explain his dilemma to one of the flight attendants? They wouldn’t believe him. As long as they were on the plane, his world was in her hands.

She heard the phone buzz. She answered immediately, expecting the call. “You got my message?”

“Yes,” Meng said.

“Winter just called. He said that the Order took both Gutenberg Bibles from the library.”

“We got the one from the Great Hall, but it had redundant information. The one we needed got away. The girl took it.”