Нора Робертс - Key of Knowledge

“Writers tools,” Jordan said.

“Yeah, and youre damn good with them.”

“Excuse me?” Mildly annoyed with the interruption, she glanced up to see him staring at her with a kind of narrowed intensity that brought heat to her face. “I said you were good. So what?”

“So… theres a first time for everything. Need another drink,” he said and walked out of the room.

Dana shifted, then huffed out a breath. “Short break,” she announced, and followed Jordan to the kitchen.

“Whats the deal?”

He pulled a soda out of the refrigerator. “No deal.” he popped the top, then shrugged. “You never—well; since I moved to New York, youve never had a good word to say about my work.”

“I was pissed at you.”

“Yeah, I get that.” He started to take a swig, then set it down. Truth, he thought again. No matter how it exposed him, there had to be truth between them.

“The thing is, Dana, it mattered. Theres nobodys opinion I respect or value more when it comes to books than yours. So it mattered what you thought of my work.”

“You want to know what I think of your work? My honest opinion?”

“Yeah, lets be honest.”

“Well, you did buy me this really terrific ring, so I guess I should come clean.” She took the soda, sipped, handed it back. “You have such an amazing talent. You have a gift, and its obvious that you nurture and appreciate it. Every time Ive read one of your books Ive been astonished by your range, your scope, your skill with the language. Even when I hated you, Jordan, I was proud of you.”

“How about that,” he managed.

“Im not sorry I swiped at it before. Maybe it made you work harder.”

He had to grin at her. “Maybe it did.”

“Are we okay now?”

“Were a lot better than okay.”

“Then lets go back, because I havent finished. And Im going to be very interested in what you think of what I have to say next.”

She walked back out to the living room, settled down on the floor again. “Okay,” she said, raising her voice over the conversations. “Breaks over. The point I was trying to make was that however skilled Jordan might be, this is more than a writers point of view. Its more than a series of events entertainingly woven together in story form. When you read it, you start to see how often hes linked to one of those events, or is to one of the people involved in the event. In fact, he was the first, years ago, to see or feel anything, well, otherworldly about the Peak, He once thought he saw a ghost there.”

She stopped, amused to see Malory pick up a highlighter from the crate and begin to mark the sections under discussion on Flynns copy.

“Jordan was the first of us to see, and own, one of Rowenas paintings,” Dana continued. “Flynns my brother, Brads my friend, but Jordan stepped up from being a kind of brother, from being a friend, to being my lover.”

“He broke your heart.” Malory meticulously coated typed words with bright yellow. “A shattering of innocence. Sorry,” she said to Jordan, “but theres a very strong kind of magic in that.”

“And it was Jordans blood that Kane shed.” Nodding at Malory, Dana smiled. “Hes the one who left home— orphaned, alone, young, on a quest. And came back,” she concluded, meeting Jordans eyes, “to finish it.”

“You think I have the key.” Fascinated, Jordan sat back. “I follow the logic, and the traditional elements of your theory, Dane, but where? How? When?”

“I cant know everything. But it makes sense. It just plays through. I havent hammered it all out yet. Theres still that business about goddesses walking and waiting. Walking where? Waiting for what? Then theres that image I saw when I was trying to put myself into a trance.”

Something started to click in his head, then shut off again at her last statement. “When you did what?”

“An experiment. Like meditation. Blank out the mind, that sort of thing, and see what formed. I saw the key, just sort of floating on this blue-green field. Probably my wall at Indulgence, as thats what Id been staring at.-It was like I could reach out and touch it. But I couldnt.”

Frowning, she looked back, imagined it all again. “Then the field changed. White with these blurry black lines running across it. And I heard these words in my head.”

“You heard voices?” Brad asked her. “Not exactly. But I heard the words. Wait a minute, let me think, get it right. „She walks the night, and is the night with all its… all its shadows and secrets. And when she weeps, she weeps for day.

“So, doesnt it make sense that shes the goddess— whoever the hell she is? Thats got to be one of the last pieces to put into place.”

“I can put it in place,” Jordan told her. “Its mine. I wrote that. Phantom Watch.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, then everyone began talking at once.

“Hold it!” Brad got to his feet, held up his hands. “I said hold it! Lets not lose the thread. First, lets eliminate any coincidence. Dana, did you read the book?”

“Yes, but—”

“You did?”

She rolled her eyes at Jordan. “Im not going into another round of pumping your creative ego. Yeah, I read it, but it was years ago. Even I dont remember every line of every book Ive ever read. I didnt recognize it when I heard it.”

“I read it, too.”Zoe raised her hand like a girl in a schoolroom, then, mortified, immediately lowered it. “It was great,” she said to Jordan. “But the woman, the one you wrote about walking at night, wasnt a goddess. She was a ghost.”

“Good point,” Brad put in. “But its an interesting touch that Jordan wrote that book about Warriors Peak, that he created that ghost because he thought he saw her one night.”

“You did?”Zoe asked. “Thats so cool!”

“We went up there to camp. Brad and Flynn and I. Brad managed to… liberate some beer and cigarettes.”

NowZoe turned to Brad. “Is that so?”

“We were sixteen,” he muttered.

“As if that makes it better.”

“Scold him later,” Dana demanded. “Lets pull this thread through.”

“I saw her walking on the parapet,” Jordan continued. “In the moonlight. Washed in light and shadows with her cloak streaming in a wind that wasnt there. I thought she was a ghost, and when I wrote her I drew her as one. Lonely, trapped in the night and weeping for the day. But she wasnt a ghost.”

Dana laid a hand on his knee. “She was a goddess.”

“She was Rowena. I understood that today, when I went to see them at the Peak. I didnt know what it meant until now.“

“You were the first to see her,” Dana said softly. “And you wrote of her, in whatever form. You gave her another kind of substance, another kind of world. She, the key holder. The keys in the book.”

Her hand trembled as it slid into place for her. “The white field with black lines across. Words on a page. And the key melted into it. Into the page. The book.” She sprang to her feet. “Flynn, youve got a copy.”

“Yeah.” He looked around the room. “Im not exactly sure where. I havent unpacked everything yet.”

“Why should you? Youve only lived here nearly two years. Well, find it,” Dana demanded.

He gave her a weary look, then rose. “Ill go upstairs and look.”

“Ive got a copy at home,”Zoe put in. “A paperback. Ive got all your books, but my budget doesnt run tohardcovers ,” she said in apology.

Jordan reached over, yanked her hand to his lips, “You are the sweetest thing.”

“I could go get it. I might be able to bring it back before Flynn finds his.”

“Give him a little time.” Malory glanced at the ceiling, imagining Flynn upstairs rummaging through boxes. “Ive got a copy, too, and my place is closer if it comes to that.” Then she stopped, lifted the index fingers on both hands. “What do you want to bet we all have copies of Phantom Watch?”

“Well, I certainly do,” Jordan confirmed.

“And me,” Brad agreed.

“Yeah. Clink, clink, clink,” Dana said. “Thats the sound of links fusing on the chain. Come on, Flynn, how hard can it be to find a book?”

“Whens the last time youve been up in one of those spare rooms?” Malory asked.

“Good point.” She began to pace. “Its in there. Its in there. I know it. Ill go up and find it myself.”

She spun toward the doorway just as Flynn came jogging down the stairs.

“Got it. Hah. It was in a box labeled „Books. I didnt know I had a box labeled „Books.” He handed the book to Dana.

She ran her hand over it, hoping for some sort of sign, and studied the silhouette of Warriors Peak brooding under a full moon. She opened it, fanned the pages, and smelled paper and dust. “Wheres the line, Jordan?”

“Its the end of the prologue.”

She turned the first few pages, read the words in her head, spoke them out loud. Waited.

“I dont feel anything. I should feel something. Malory?”

“There was an awareness, a kind of knowing. Its hard to explain.”

“But Id know it if I felt it,” Dana finished. “And I dont. Maybe I have to read it, get the whole picture. The way you had to paint the whole portrait before you could reach the key.”

“I wonder…”Zoe hesitated. “Well, I just wonder if maybe its not in that book, because that books not yours. Jordan wrote it, so all the copies are his in a way. But only one is yours. And youre the key, so wouldnt it make more sense for it to have to be your own book?”

Dana stared at her, then grinned. “Zoe, thats absolutely brilliant. Okay, troops, saddle up. Lets move this to my place.”

“Ill be right behind you.”Zoe picked up her purse. “Ill just run Simon home and see if my neighbor will sit with him.”

“Let me just get rid of these boxes.Zoe , Im going to wrap up some of this leftover pizza for Simon.”

Life, Dana decided, didnt stop. Not even for magic keys and wicked sorcerers. And wasnt that why it was life?

“Meet us there after youre done the domestic stuff.” She grabbed Jordans hand, headed for the door. “And you could wrap up some slices for me while youre at it.“

“Did you read the book, or did you just say you read the book?” Jordan asked as they drove back to her apartment.

“Why would I just say I read it?”

“Beats me. But you said just the other day that youd never been in a book before. So I figured youd never read Phantom Watch”

“You lost me.”

“Did you read the book?” “Yes, damn it. I hated that book. It was so good, and I wanted it to suck. I wanted to be able to say, See, hes no big deal. But I couldnt. I was going to toss it out, even fantasized briefly about

burning it.”

“Jesus, you were pissed.”

“Oh, brother, let me tell you. Of course, I couldnt burn a book. My librarians soul would wither and die. I couldnt toss it out, either, for much the same reason. And I could never bring myself to turn it in at the used bookstore or just give it away.“

“I havent seen any of my books in your apartment.”

“You wouldnt. Theyre camouflaged.”

He took his eyes off the road to laugh at her. “Get out.”

“I didnt want people seeing I had your books. I didnt want to see I had your books. But I had to have them.”

“So you read Phantom Watch, but you didnt recognize Kate.”

“Kate?” She reached back in her memory. “The heroine? Ah… good brain, a little arrogant about it. Strong-willed, self-reliant, content in her own company—which is why she took all those long walks and ended up with that fascination for the Peak—or the Watch, I should say.”

She dug back a little deeper, let the image form. “Had a mouth on her. I admired that. A tendency toward crankiness, especially toward the hero, but you couldnt blame her. He asked for it. A small-town girl, and happy to stay that way. Worked in, what was it, this little antiquarian bookshop, which is what put her in the villains crosshairs.”

“Thats our girl.”

“She had a healthy outlook toward sex, which I appreciated. Too many women in fiction are painted as either virgin or slut. She used her head, which was a good one, but it was that and a stubborn streak that got her in a jam.”

“No bells ringing?” Jordan said after a moment.

“What bells? I dont…” A ripple of shock had her gaping at him. “Are you saying you based her on me?”

“Bits and pieces. A lot of bits and pieces. Jesus, Dana, she even had your eyes.”

“My eyes are brown. Hers were… something poetic.” “ „The color of chocolate, both rich and bitter. Or something like that.”