Sally glanced over at Henri, who was picking his teeth behind the shop counter. “Are you worried…?”

“No, nothing like that.” I led them outside, where we huddled in the street near our horses. “I know you’re convinced the Raven’s gone, but I’m not. I want to be sure. He claimed he’d known Master Benedict. So let’s see if we can find more about that. And let’s see what we can discover about the Templars, too.”

“Where on earth are we going to learn about Templars?” Tom asked.

“If you want to find secrets,” I said, “where better than a secret library?”

CHAPTER 23

THE BOOKSHOP WAS TUCKED AWAY in the darker part of Saint Bennet’s Hill, a street near the Thames, just south of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. The shop had no storefront and no windows to look through. There was only a single iron-banded door, squeezed between shipping warehouses. Nailed to the door was a plate, announcing what was inside.

RARE TOMES

PROPRIETOR, ISAAC CHANDLER

ALL WHO SEEK KNOWLEDGE ARE WELCOME

Above it, carved into the stone, was a phrase in Latin: FIAT LUX. Let there be light.

I thumped on the door. Isaac, an old friend of Master Benedict’s, had become a friend of mine after my master’s murder. But I was afraid.

The last time I’d seen him had been during the plague. To ensure his own safety, and more important, the safety of the secret alchemy library beneath his shop, he’d quarantined himself down there, with no plans to return to the surface for six months.

That’s what had me scared. I wasn’t worried about Isaac’s supplies; he’d stocked up on plenty of food, and even had a well for water and a pit for waste in the hideout below. I was afraid because when I’d seen him last, he hadn’t looked so good.

He was older than Master Benedict, well into his seventies. Underground living would have been hard on him. I thumped again, to no response.

“What do we do?” Tom said, worried now, too. “Break the door down?”

The thing was oak. The iron bands wouldn’t help. We’d need a battering ram to crack it.

I stepped back, looked up. There was a chimney in the building; smoke was coming out of it. I couldn’t tell if that came from Isaac’s home, or was part of the neighboring warehouses. “Maybe we can find a place to climb up—”

“Shh!” Sally said. She had her head to the door, listening. “I hear something.”

It was hard to imagine anything could be heard through that door. But then came the clack of a lock, and another, and the door swung open.

It was Isaac. My heart leaped at the sight of him, even as I noticed he looked terrible. His face was haggard, dark circles under his eyes. He’d lost more of his wispy white hair, and he stood hunched, as if mere standing was just about too much for him.

His eyes, a little cloudy, peered out. He adjusted his spectacles and saw Sally first.