“The Lycurgus Cup,” Naomi blurted out, adding to the list herself. “A fourth-century Roman glass vessel made of dichroic glass. You can see it at the British Museum. It changes color depending on how light strikes it. This feat is caused by silver and gold nanoparticles trapped within the glass.”
Duncan looked both bewildered and awed. “Like a form of ancient nanotechnology?”
Naomi nodded. “Even today, the method to manufacture such glass remains unknown.”
Laurent hovered a palm over the book. “So while some of this may seem miraculous, it’s likely just another example of technology that was lost.”
“But it’s not magic.” Naomi cast her gaze over their group. “Remember the program we’re all enrolled in. Women were burned as witches for using herbal healing techniques that defied the science of their time. Magic is just knowledge that remains inexplicable to us today.”
Sharyn pictured the placard engraved with the names of four women, forever condemned to be the Devon Witches.
Archie finally relented, waving at the book. “Enough flogging of this horse, let’s get on with opening the bloody book.”
Laurent nodded and shifted a hand to the small leather box in his hardshell case. Still, he hesitated, as if suddenly wary, maybe second-guessing himself about what he was about to reveal, a secret protected by theGardiensfor centuries.
Sharyn saved him the trouble. “You have magnets inside that box, don’t you?”
Laurent turned to her, his eyes wide, as if suddenly fearful she might indeed be a witch.
Not a witch.She unflinchingly met his gaze.Just a librarian with knowledge.
31
10:34 a.m.
How... how did you know?” Laurent asked, looking stunned.
Sharyn waved in the direction of the van outside. “You shared a detailed brief on Saint-Germain. And I fear some of your bias showed, which helped me make this leap.”
“What do you mean?”
“Back at the Tower of London, when Sir Kelly told us about Saint-Germain, he stuck to the factual versus fanciful. As did you. Most of what you gave us pertained to Saint-Germain’s scientific pursuits, concentrating along the lines of your own archaeological study, the subject of arcane knowledge lost in the past.”
“Still, you made quite the leap to reach an answer that had baffled theGardiensfor decades.”
Sharyn shrugged. “While you included a long list of scientists, physicists, mathematicians, and doctors whom Saint-Germain had consulted, I skimmed through most of them. I concentrated on the section of Saint-Germain’s dossier that pertained to his study ofastronomy.” She pointed to the shining orb. “If there was a clue to the book’s key, it had to lie in that pursuit.”
Sharyn pictured the tiny astrological symbols trapped within the crystal.
“I see,” Laurent said.
“Again, even in this regard, I think you inadvertently showed your hand by including a large volume of information ononeparticular astronomist, someone who was also a well-respected physician of his time.”
Duncan leaned closer. He had spent little time reading the supplied pages, drowsing instead, clearly exhausted from their night together. “Who are you talking about?”
“Franz Anton Mesmer,” she answered. “A German physician who spent time in Vienna and Paris and gained the attention of Saint-Germain. The two spent considerable time in each other’s company, pursuing an unusual angle of study: how the movements of the sun and moon affected the human body. Mesmer believed there were unseen gravitational forces that could shift the energies of a body.”
“What he dubbedanimal magnetism,” Laurent explained. “Later known asmesmerism.”
“Sounds more likeastrology,” Archie scoffed.
“Do not be too dismissive of Mesmer’s claims,” Laurent warned. “His belief in a flowing process through our bodies that can be influenced by outside energies is similar to qi of traditional Chinese medicine.”
“Or like Qigong practices,” Tag added, drawing on his knowledge of alternative forms of healing. “Which treats illnesses as blockages in a body’s flow.”
Sharyn nodded. “It was this pursuit that interested Saint-Germain. There is an account in Laurent’s papers from 1774. Saint-Germain attended Mesmer’s treatment of a woman. Someone suffering from what sounded like schizophrenia. The doctor gave the patient a slurry containing iron, then attached magnets to specific points on her body and shifted them around. Within hours, her delirium cleared and her symptoms disappeared.”
Duncan stared down at the crystal orb. “And that’s why you thoughtmagnetismmight be the key?”
