“You don’tknow?”
“Mother didn’t like to talk about it,” I said.
“Well, did you never take a peek?” Mieka demanded. “I don’t believe that.”
I had taken a peek, more than once, but of course I had no idea what I was seeing.
“I can’t read,” I admitted. “I don’t know what the spells were for.”
Mieka blew out a long breath. “Well, that makes things a little more difficult. You can describe it, at least?”
“Oh yes. And I have these.” I rummaged in my pack and brought out the stack of letters, the ones with the Q scrawled on the outside. “I knew I had to come to Quell, and I think these are from people here …”
“May I?” Mieka extended her hand. I relinquished the letters and watched as she shuffled through them. “Some of these are from Quell, yes. All from the same person, it looks like.”
She opened one and read the signature. “The Book Man.”
“The Book Man?” I repeated. “No name?”
“Like I said, those of us in … less reputable lines of work keep our names close to the chest, usually. I’ve heard of him.”
“Wait … less reputable? What does he do?”
“He’s in the black market. Famous for it, in fact. Spellbooks.”
“There’s a black market for spellbooks?”
Mieka laughed at my expression. “Of course.”
“But I thought all spellbooks had to be examined and passed by the Temple. Except …” I paused.
“Except the illegal ones. Looks like your mother might be one of us, eh?”
I had never thought of Mother as dabbling in any sort of black market, but it made sense. She worked on her books safe from the Temple’s prying eyes. She corresponded with bookmakers, mages, and suppliers in secret, usually writing in code, she had told me.
“What does he say to her?”
“It’s just bills. Receipts. Lists. Looks like she was ordering supplies from him. He doesn’t even use her name.”
Still. This was the only lead I had.
“All right,” I said. “Where do I find this Book Man?”
“It’s not like you can just look up his address and walk right in,” said Mieka. “Dealing in illegal spellbooks is a dangerous business. But I think I know where we can find him, or at least find someone who knows where he is.”
“Where is it?” I started to get up.
“Settle down! We can’t go right now. I’ll take you tomorrow, all right? Look, for the time being, you can stay here. Your Hair may prove useful. We don’t have any mages here. Perhaps that is what Patrick was thinking when he …”
“You still don’t,” I said flatly. “I can’t use my magic, because I can’t read.”
“That’s not always necessary,” said Mieka.
“I don’t mean …”What was the word the young Follower had used?“Affinities. I meanrealmagic.”
Mieka gave me a quizzical look. “Well, if you feel that way about affinities, and you want to use your magic, we can teach you to read.”
“You don’t understand. Ican’tread. It doesn’t matter what I try. I can’t even see the letters properly. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
