“Hurt but alive.” Karas eased Silvie away from the house.

A police car with flashing lights sat in front of Sally Drake’s home. They had already taken her to the hospital in Delta, twenty minutes away.

“And the book?”

“Gone.”

“How do you know?”

“Because it’s not where we agreed she would keep it. It’s gone!” Karas yelled the last word, red faced.

“How long?”

“They came in a helicopter and were gone before anyone could talk to them. A man and a woman.”

“Johnis! How long?”

“Ten minutes.” Karas pressed her fingers against her temples. “This can’t be happening.”

“It is happening! They’ll stop at nothing! How far could they have gone in ten minutes?”

“They were flying. They’re gone.”

A man dressed in a round hat and pointed boots eyed them from the sidewalk. Karas took Silvie’s arm and led her across the street. The helicopter whirled in a field next to the church, ready for departure.

“We have to get out of here.”

Silvie walked, numb, her mind buzzing with what they now must do. “We have to use the books.”

“We only have three,” Karas groaned. “We might as well have one. All we can do is enter the simulation—you know that. They’re worthless!”

“Not to Alucard.”

“What are you saying?”

Silvie angled for the helicopter and picked up her pace. “We have to trade the books for Johnis.”

“Don’t be stupid!”

Silvie whirled, furious despite the knowledge that Karas was being perfectly logical. “I’ll tell you what was stupid!” She pointed a finger in Karas’s face. “Going into Teeleh’s lair to recover the first Book of History. Leading the Third into battle to rescue his mother. Betraying Thomas to save you from Witch! That was stupid!”

Karas’s face lightened a shade.

Silvie continued, “Yet those were all things Johnis did, following his heart. Now he’s in trouble, and you suggest I don’t follow my heart?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what?”

“Follow your heart, but don’t be stupid,” Karas said. “You can’t give Alucard all seven books! Your mission is to find them before the Dark One does, not to give the Dark One all seven to save your lover.”

“You think I don’t know the mission? I was chosen with Johnis. I was there when he went into the first lair. I was by his side when he risked his life to save you, or have you forgotten?”

“I don’t see—”

“I’m saying that Johnis didn’t follow perfect logic; he did what he believed was right in the face of terrible odds. And each time he ended up with a book.”

“Then he was lucky.”