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But there was no one else, not in front or in back or on the roof or in any immediately adjacent planes of existence, not that he could detect Maybe it really was alone

“I take it this is that bird,” Eliot said “The one who hired you”

“It’s that bird What are you doing here?”

“I have no icians, but without Lionel it went poorly”

“No icians,” Quentin said “Those are the breaks I think you should leave now”

“I did not want Lionel to kill Pushkar! I did not tell him to I don’t knohy he did I was afraid of him!”

It already seemed incredible that they’d been so scared of the blackbird It wasn’t very frightening now Ittheir job, and without Lionel and its hired hands it was just a talking bird, nothing more

It didn’t appear to want to leave

“You have to help me”

“No,” Plu up at it “We really don’t”

“The birds here despise e”

“I don’t care what you’ve eaten,” Quentin said “We’ve got s to worry about Leave or we’ll throw you out”

Though he wasn’t exactly sure yet how they were going to catch and expel the thing He wasn’t looking forward to that chase scene

“Please,” it said again “He will kill me!”

“Who?”

The blackbird didn’t answer, just stared around the room anxiously, from one to the other of thehtest bit sorry for it

“It’s talking about Ember”

Even the bird jumped, as if it hadn’t realized Alice could talk Her expression didn’t change She wanted everybody to know that her emotional investment in this drama was nil

“What did you say?”

“That’s Eedto bed”

On her way out she nearly walked into a wall out of habit—as a niffin she would have gone right through it She left an uncomfortable silence behind her Fro slowly down the narrow street Quentin waited for it to pass by

“Is that true? Ember sent you?”

“Please” It had lost all of its avian loftiness now It trembled “He will kill me”

“He won’t,” Plum said, “because we’ll kill you first”

“He sent et the suitcase I do not knohy He would have sent a bigger anietically, “but He needed one capable of flight To go through the ave ot here”

“Why did He want the case? Was it the knife, or the book? Or both?”

“I don’t know!” the blackbird wailed “I don’t know! I didn’t knoas in it! Truly!”

And it began to cry Quentin thought he had never heard a more pathetic sound The bird fluttered down from its perch on the chandelier like a pheasant creased by a bullet It landed on the coffee table and squatted there, sobbing

So in Quentin’s exhausted brain, like a crystal for, he barely reht he saw at least a fragment of one

“Hang on,” he said slowly “Let’s think this through Rupert stole the stuff in the case, Ember wants it back He sends a bird to Earth to recover it for Him The bird hires us to find it”

Plum picked up the thread “The stuff in the case was Uuess they’re brothers so it’s all in the family But so ould Ember want it?”

“Why wouldn’t he? Cool knife? Spell for ic land? Who wouldn’t want that?”

“A god?” Eliot said “Who already has a whole ic world?”

“Except He doesn’t” All the lights cah Fillory is dying, and Eo He wants the spell so he can use it to ive up on Fillory—abandon it and start over!”

It came out in a rush, which was followed by a pause Plum made a skeptical face

“But it fits!” Quentin said “He’s not even trying to save Fillory! He’s a rat on’t go doith his ship!”

“That,” Eliot said, “is a ot no reason to love Ember, but that seems a little cowardly”

“Yes, because He’s a coward!”

“Plus you know the spell doesn’t ht?” Plum said “Just like a land?”

“Maybe that’s just us Maybe a god could do more with it”

She looked up at the ceiling, considering The blackbird watched all three of them desperately

“Even if that’s true,” Eliot said, “ould we do about it? It’s kind of depressing me actually Just more proof that there’s no way out of this”

Quentin sat down Maybe he was getting ahead of himself

“We still have the spell,” he said

“Destroy it,” Eliot said

“No” He couldn’t do that

“We have the bird,” Eliot said “We could turn the tables Take it hostage”

“Oh, coive a crap about the bird, the bird’s expendable” The bird didn’t object to this; it would’ve been hard to argue with “We should go to Fillory, confront Hiod of it And we’ve got the spell God, what a bastard!”

“Or,” Eliot said, cautiously, “ht idea Maybe we should give Him the spell and tell Him to make a neorld and take us with Him”

“Eliot,” Quentin said