“I can’t say I truly believed her until I saw Johnis and Silvie on the Net, speaking of the books in the exact same way Darsal did. Needless to say, I was shocked. I left immediately.”

“Where is it?” Karas demanded.

Miranda stared at the younger woman, dropped her smoke stick on the marble, and ground it out with a high-heeled black shoe.

“Darsal made me promise two things before she died. That I would never so much as show the book she left to any person without first confirming they had the others. And that I was to give the book to Johnis only and offer to help.”

The curator from Turkey slid one leg over the other and waited for them to react.

Karas crossed her legs in similar fashion. “Then give Johnis the blue book. It’s the only help we need.”

Miranda smiled at her for a few long beats, then stood and crossed behind the couch. “Listen to you, refusing help from a friend who owes a debt. If Darsal was right, you already have your share of enemies, lurking out there in the night.”

She ran her hand along the back cushion. A finger over Johnis’s shoulder. “So beautiful and innocent, yet so naive.”

“Bold for a woman standing in my house,” Karas said.

“Take your hand off of him!” Silvie shouted.

Miranda continued, drawing her hand along his shoulder as she walked past. “She was very specific,” she said. “According to Darsal, the presence of four books in this reality makes the final three visible. I’m assuming that to now be the case. But she also said that if the four books are brought, they can open a gateway back into the other reality. Now, you understand my reluctance to just hand over that kind of power to anyone.”

“We are Johnis, Silvie, and Karas!” Johnis said. “What else do you need?”

“The books,” Miranda said. “Show me the other three books, and convince me you have a plan to recover the final three, and I’ll give you the fourth. I assure you it’s only a matter of precaution.”

Miranda might have stumbled onto Darsal’s book, but she was still a seductive tramp, and the faster they satisfied her curiosity and got rid of her, the better, Silvie thought.

“Fine. Show her the books, Karas.”

Johnis nodded.

Karas eyed the woman cautiously, then retreated into her mansion, to the vault that she’d shown them earlier.

Miranda leaned up against the railing and smoked another cigarette. She stared at the mansion, ignoring them as if they didn’t exist.

“I don’t trust her,” Silvie whispered.

“Think about it; she’s playing her cards right.”

“What do you mean, ‘right’? She’s a tramp!”

“Please, Silvie, she’s sitting on what she now knows is a very powerful book. She’s testing us, playing the tramp, throwing us off center.”

“To what end? That’s ridiculous.”