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CHAPTER ONE

Irene passed the mop across the stone floor in sstones in the lantern-light Her back was co’s work cleaning The cleaning was certainly necessary The pupils at Prince Mordred’s Private Acadeet just as ers would Clean indoor studies in the dark arts, military history and alcheic coby

The clock in the study struck the quarter-hour That gave her forty-five ht orisons and chants She knew from weeks of experience – and, to be honest, her own etting up a ing the to the chapel with hastily thrown-on clothes and barely brushed hair So that gave her thirty

Thirty minutes to steal a book and to escape

She propped the htened, and took a moment to rub her knuckles into the small of her back So as a rich socialite, and the Librarian in question got to stay at expensive hotels and country houses All while wearing appropriately high fashion and dining off haute cuisine, probably on gold-edged plates At other ti an identity as a hardworking rey woollen dress, and eating the sane for breakfast

Two doors down along the corridor was Irene’s destination: the House Trophy Room It was full of silver cups, all embossed with variations on Turquine House, as well as trophy pieces of art and presentation manuscripts

One of those oal

Irene had been sent by the Library to this alternate world to obtain Midnight Requiems, the famous necromancer Balan Pestifer’s first published book It was by all accounts a fascinating, deeply infor She’d spent afor a copy of it – as the Library didn’t actually require an original version of the text, just an accurate one Unfortunately, not only had she been unable to track down a copy, but her enquiries had caught the interest of other people (necrohouls) She’d had to burn that cover identity and go on the run before they caught up with her

It had been pure chance (or, as she liked to think of it, finely honed instinct) that had prompted her to notice a casual reference in some correspondence to ‘Sire Pestifer’s fond memories of his old school’ and more, ‘his donations to the school’ Now at the time that Pestifer had written this early piece, he’d still been young and unrecognized It was not beyond the bounds of possibility that in his desperation for attention, or si, he’d donated a copy of his writings to the school (And she’d exhausted all her other leads It orth a try)

Irene had taken a feeeks to establish a new identity as a young woround, suitable for skivvying, then found herself a job as a cleaning ht Requie the necro house Beyond all expectation, she’d been lucky

She abandoned her cleaning equipment, and opened theat the end of the hall The leaded glass swung easily under her hand: she’d taken care to oil it earlier A cool breeze drifted in, with a hint of onco rain Hopefully this bit of misdirection wouldn’t be necessary, but one of the Library’s reat y ever survived contact with the ene Be Prepared

She quickly trotted back down the corridor to the trophy roolealass display cabinets Without bothering to kindle the room’s central lantern, she crossed to the second cupboard on the right She could still s its door, she withdrew the pile of books stacked at the back, and pulled out a battered volume in dark purple leather

(When Pestifer sent the book to the school, had he fretted and paced the floor, hoping to get so his research, wishing him future success? Or had they sent him a bare form letter to say that they’d received it – and then dropped his work into a pile of other self-published vanity books sent by ex-pupils and forgotten all about it?)

Fortunately it was a fairly small volume She tucked it into a hidden pocket, returned the other books to cover her tracks, and then hesitated

This was, after all, a school that taught e that nobody else had – not necroons, ordinary hue Only Librarians could read it Only Librarians could use it It could affect certain aspects of reality It was extremely useful, even if the vocabulary needed constant revision Unfortunately, it didn’t work on pure ic If the masters at the school had set so the cups, and if that worked on anything that was taken out of the rooht be in for a nasty surprise And it would be hideously eers ER ONE