“Sylvia?” Gabe clasped my shoulders. “Sylvia, are you all right? You look flushed.”
“I…I don’t know.”
“Willie, fetch a glass of water.” Gabe crouched before me. His cool fingers touched my cheek and his concerned eyes peered into mine. “Sylvia? Do you feel faint?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’ve just had a…a shock, I suppose.”
His frown deepened. “What do you mean?” He followed my gaze to the book. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “You felt the magic in it, didn’t you?”
“I think so. This is the first time I’ve held it, or any of the five books, and the moment my fingers touched it I felt something within me respond.”
“A warm sensation?”
I nodded. “It was as if the magic resonated within me. As if it awoke my…” I swallowed. I couldn’t say the word. It seemed so alien to associate it with myself.
Gabe said it for me. “Magic.” Those cool, confident fingers of his were back again, this time touching my chin, encouraging me to raise my gaze to his. His eyes were bright with his smile. “I thought you were a magician. Ever since you found the Medici Manuscript faster than anyone else, I’ve suspected. All we need to do now is find out what sort—leather, silver or paper. It has to be one of those if it responded so strongly to the book.”
“I think we can rule out silver magic once and for all. I didn’t feel this way for the silver clasps on the Medici Manuscript. Oscar Barratt was convinced they held magic, not the paper or cover.”
“True, but it was your response to that silver magic that helped you find the book quickly. That means your magic—whether it’s leather or paper—is stronger than most.” He looked around to see Willie approaching, carrying a glass of water, followed by Huon. “It’s stronger than his. Neither of you are silver magicians, yet it was you who found the Medici Manuscript first in that little experiment we conducted in the library.”
I clutched the book to my chest and blinked back at him. He smiled again. It was warm, encouraging. It helped clear my head although it didn’t quite banish my confusion. How could I go my entire life and not know I was a magician? What did it mean? Was it even relevant to me, or to anything? Did it even matter?
It was Willie who brought me the rest of the way back to earth. “Want me to throw the water in her face?”
Gabe took the glass from her and passed it to me. “It’s for drinking.”
“I reckon my way’s better at stopping fainting spells.”
“I’m not going to faint,” I told her.
“We should make sure.”
Huon muscled forward and leaned down, hands on his knees. He peered at my face as I sipped. “Do you want something stronger than water? Champagne? A cigarette? Opium?”
Willie punched his arm. “That won’t help. You can see she ain’t in pain. She just had an attack of the vapors, or whatever it is the delicate ladies suffer from these days.”
“I’m not delicate,” I said. “And it wasn’t an attack of any sort. I was…overwhelmed.” I glanced at Gabe, not sure how to explain it, or whether I should even tell Willie and Huon yet. I wanted to take my time to digest it myself first.
Huon mistook the meaning of my gaze. He smiled a smug little smile. “Well, well. I see how it is here.”
“No! That’s not… We weren’t…”
“You misunderstand,” Gabe said quickly. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”
Huon’s meaning suddenly dawned on Willie. Her jaw firmed. She jabbed her finger at Gabe then me. “It better not be that. He doesn’t need another girl fawning over him, trying to trap him into marriage before he’s ready. The next woman he’s with is going to love him for who he is, not for his mother’s magic.”
I tried not to laugh. I really did. But I couldn’t help myself, and I burst into giggles. Perhaps it was the sheer relief of finally discovering something about myself, or perhaps it was the absurdity of her suggestion that I wanted to trap Gabe because his mother was a magician, but I found her warning ridiculously amusing.
Gabe grinned, too.
Willie stamped her hands on her hips. “What’s so funny?”
Daisy suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, Alex behind her. “What’s the joke? What did I miss?”
“I don’t know, but I need another drink.” Willie stormed off to find the maid.
“I didn’t know you were invited to Huon’s party, Sylv,” Daisy said.
“We came for work.” I held up the book. “We didn’t know he was having a party.”
“I’m glad you’re all here. It’ll be fun!”
“You’re glad all of us are here?” I flicked my gaze to Alex, standing behind her. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her so far. Considering she wore a shimmering gold dress that clung to her curves, it was no wonder.
Daisy’s smile proved she was very aware of the effect her figure had on him.
The music ended and someone put Selvin’s Novelty Orchestra on the gramophone. Daisy’s eyes widened. “I love Dardanella. Come and dance with me, Sylv.”
“I don’t feel like dancing at the moment. Perhaps later.”
She turned around, coming face to chest with Alex. They stared at one another for a long moment before they walked off together to join the dancers. They hadn’t exchanged a word.
Gabe leaned closer to me. “Do you think this could be the start of something?”
“Possibly. Although I suspect tomorrow they’ll pretend they dislike each other again.”
“I don’t know why they’re not together already. They clearly want to be.”
We watched as Daisy was bumped by another dancer, losing her balance. Alex caught her by the shoulders and pulled her a little closer than necessary. They exchanged awkward smiles before he let her go. They continued to dance together.
“Daisy thinks she’s not good enough for him,” I said. “She thinks herself too silly for someone with Alex’s intelligence and seriousness.”
“He’s not always serious.”
“I do think she needs to grow up a little more before they can be equals. She lived a sheltered life until she came to London, and it shows.”
“It’s good of her parents to let her come. Many of the gentry wouldn’t allow their daughters off the leash, and certainly wouldn’t let them live independently in the city.”
“I’m not sure they had a choice. Once she inherited a little money from her grandparents, they could no longer control what she did.” I turned to look at him properly. “I suppose you know many young women like Daisy.”
“I knew a few, before the war, mostly sisters of friends from school or university. Like Daisy, they lived sheltered lives. They were from privileged backgrounds and didn’t need to work, and they weren’t given a higher education. I thought of most of them as annoying little sisters.”
They would have loathed that. No doubt the handsome, charming Gabriel Glass was a popular house guest during summer holidays. “Most?” I echoed.
His lips tilted. “Nothing gets past you.”
“That’s why I noticed you avoided answering me just now.”
He laughed softly. “And I will continue to avoid that question.” His smiled vanished. “Anyway, that was before the war. I’ve changed. They probably have too, but I haven’t seen those girls in years.”
“You don’t bump into them at dance halls and clubs?”
“I rarely go out. In fact, the girls I know the best are Alex’s sisters. I thought I knew Ivy, but…” He shook his head. “I realize now that our conversations were superficial. We rarely discussed anything that revealed ourselves to the other.” He huffed out a breath. “That seems such an odd thing to admit…we were engaged for three years yet I hardly knew her.”
“The war changed you. The man you were when you met her is different from the one sitting beside me.” Something Cyclops had once told me came to mind. “Perhaps not different. Perhaps you’ve become the man you were always meant to be.”
“You mean I’ve grown up. I’m no longer the rogue the mothers warned their daughters about.”
I could well imagine my mother warning me not to go near a man who could charm a girl at a party with a few smiles and easy conversation. Rogues, even the charming ones, were to be avoided. Even the more mature post-war Gabe would worry her. She’d be horrified to see me sitting so close to him that our arms touched.
It would seem my proximity to Gabe was a concern for another, too. Willie strode up, sherry glass in hand, and ordered us to move apart. When the gap was wide enough, she wedged herself between us.
“So what are you two talking about?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly.
She narrowed her gaze at me. “It didn’t look like nothing, the way you had your heads together. Looked to me like you were sharing a secret.”
Perhaps we ought to tell her about my magic to divert her attention from our real conversation.
Gabe had another idea. “We were discussing family. Mothers and daughters, specifically.”
She screwed up her nose. “What about them?”
Gabe’s gaze connected with mine over the top of her head. “Uh…how different they can be. Take Alex’s mother Catherine, for example. She’s a wonderful mother to all three of her daughters, even though they’re all very different.”
“True.” Willie sipped thoughtfully. “Your Aunt Beatrice has three daughters and she was a terrible mother to all of ‘em. They’re grown now,” she added for my benefit. “The eldest hates her mother and her other two sisters, and with good reason. They treated her like she was worthless. The second daughter is either mad or manipulative, I ain’t sure which. Prob’ly both. And the third…well, Hope’s a downright bi—”
“Willie,” Gabe warned. “That’s my father’s cousin you’re referring to.”
“The Glass side of the family are living reminders of why the English upper classes need to breed outside their immediate circle. Fortunately the middle daughter never married and the other two didn’t have children with their husbands.”
Gabe rolled his eyes. “Not this again.” To me, he added, “Willie thinks Hope’s child isn’t her husband’s.”
“Let’s hear what an impartial party thinks.” Willie pointed the sherry glass at me. “Her son was born ten months after her husband died.”
“It could have been a longer than average pregnancy,” I said.
“And he looks like her driver who’s been with her for years.”
“How much like him?”
“Red hair, tall and skinny. Hope’s blonde and not overly tall, and her late husband, Lord Coyle, was fat. Also, the thought of him and Hope doing what’s necessary…” She pulled a face. “It’s enough to turn me to drink.” She downed the contents of her glass in a single gulp.
Huon danced his way over to us and crooked his finger at me. “Don’t be dull and sit in the corner all night. Come and dance with me, you pretty little thing.”
I hugged the book to my chest. “I think I’ll stay here and look after this.”
“Bring it with you if you don’t want to let it go.” He grabbed my free hand and managed to haul me half-way off the sofa.
Willie pushed me from behind the rest of the way. “Go and dance with him. I’ll take care of the book.”
I hesitated, holding the book tightly. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to let it go as much as I didn’t want to dance with Huon and give him the wrong idea.
Whether Gabe could read my mind or whether he wanted to dance, too, I wasn’t sure, but he got up and plucked the book out of my grasp. “Willie will take good care of it while we dance.”
Huon didn’t seem to mind that Gabe invited himself to join us, but Willie did. “Three’s a crowd, Gabe.”
He indicated the dancers gyrating to the ragtime music. “There are a lot more than three out there.”
She scowled at his deliberate misunderstanding of her meaning.
He smiled back at her. “If you would try and dance once in a while, you could join us.”
“Then who’d look after the book?”
“Why won’t she dance?” I asked Gabe as we followed Huon into the middle of the room. The carpet had been rolled up to allow the dancers’ shoes to spin and glide frictionlessly across the floor when one of the dances called for such moves.
“She thinks she looks ridiculous.”
“And does she?”
“Like a newborn calf still getting used to her legs.”
I threw my head back and laughed.
We didn’t stay late at Huon’s party. Gabe and I had to work the following day. Willie insisted on leaving with us, but I suspected that was more to ensure we had a chaperone in the motorcar since Alex had decided to remain at the party. He claimed he wasn’t ready to leave yet, but I secretly suspected he wanted to keep an eye on Daisy. The other men were circling.
The following morning Gabe was cheerful and bright-eyed when he arrived at the library carrying the book we’d borrowed from Lady Stanhope. His two companions, on the other hand, looked like they needed more sleep. They pounced on the professor’s offer of coffee.
“You both just had coffee at breakfast,” Gabe told them.
Willie pushed past him, stifling a yawn, while Alex followed, his shoulders stooped. “It’s not enough,” he muttered.
I watched them retreat to the reading nook where both slumped into the sofa. “Why is Willie tired? We didn’t leave late.”
“She returned to the party. They both left around dawn.”
“Did Daisy stay the entire time?”
“That’s apparently why they left around dawn, even though Alex would have preferred to come home at a decent hour, considering he’s working today. Daisy didn’t want to go and he didn’t want to leave her on her own.”
“She would have been fine. Besides, Huon might be casually eccentric but I don’t think he’d let anything happen to her under his own roof. Was Daisy drunk?”
“Apparently not, despite Willie’s best efforts. She spent most of the night dancing and flirting.”
“With Alex?”
“Going by the morose look on his face, I don’t think so.”
I moved off, but he caught my hand. “How are you, Sylvia? After the revelation yesterday…I’ve been wondering what’s going through your mind.”
It felt good to be asked. To know I was in his thoughts…it was a heady feeling. “I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept turning it over in my mind, wondering whether I inherited magic from my father or mother. And wondering why she never told me.”
He squeezed my hand. “Perhaps she didn’t know. You didn’t.”
He could be right. My mother may have been many things, but she loved me. She wanted what was best for James and me. She wouldn’t keep such an important thing a secret.
And yet she did keep secrets from us. Important ones. The name of our father, for one thing, and the reason for our frequent moves.
“What are you two talking about?” Willie called out from the sofa. “Don’t exclude us.”
Gabe sighed and indicated I should walk with him into the library. “I wonder if she knows she’s turning into the spinster relative from a Jane Austen novel.”
“You read Jane Austen?”
“My mother encouraged me. I like most of them.” An impish smile touched his lips. “Pride and Prejudice should be required reading for all young men before they set out into the world to find their mate.”
“To teach them that being haughty and rude doesn’t matter as long as they’re handsome and rich?”
“Darcy wasn’t haughty and rude, he was reserved and misunderstood.”
I laughed. “You would take his side.”
“What are you two talking about?” Willie demanded.
“I think Sylvia is comparing me to Mr. Darcy.”
“Who?”
Alex grunted but kept his eyes shut and his head tipped back. “He’s more of a cross between Captain Wentworth and Darcy.”
“Who are these people?” Willie pushed herself to her feet. “Don’t bother telling me, I don’t care. I’m going to see how the coffee’s coming along.” She yawned again. “I’m getting too old for this.”
We all stared at her.
“It was a joke. I feel better than I did when I was twenty.” She turned away as she smothered another yawn.
“How old are you?” Alex asked.
She bent down and crooked her finger. He straightened and leaned closer to hear her whisper but received a smack to the side of the head instead. “Ask me that again, and next time it’ll be harder.”
He rubbed his head. “I’ll just ask my parents,” he called after her as she walked off.
“They don’t know,” she called back over her shoulder.
Alex closed his eyes again and relaxed into the sofa.
Gabe perched on the edge of the desk and crossed his arms and ankles. “I checked my parents’ catalog of magicians this morning. They listed several paper magicians around the country, but they knew of only two currently living in London. They’re a brother and sister, co-owners of a paper manufacturing business in Bethnal Green. Even if the paper in the untitled books didn’t come from their factory, they should be able to identify whether the magic in the books is paper magic or not.”
“Shall we call at the factory after coffee?”
He nodded. “Since Huon thinks the magic is most likely in the paper, not the leather or silver, we’ll start there.”
We informed Willie of our plans as we walked along Crooked Lane. At the mention of paper magic, she stopped. “What’s the name of the brother and sister?”
“Peterson,” Gabe said. “Walter and Evaline Peterson, both aged in their mid-forties according to my parents’ file. Evaline never married, but Walter has two children.”
Willie grunted and continued on.
Gabe and Alex exchanged frowns. “Do you know them?” Gabe asked.
“No.”
“Then why the interest in them?”
“I ain’t interested in them. Did India and Matt’s files mention other paper magicians?”
“It listed several, but they’re the only ones with a London address.”
She grunted again and walked through the covered exit to the adjoining street.
Alex moved around her and blocked her path to the parked motorcar. Despite her glare, he remained unmoving. “Why the interest in paper magicians?”
She sighed. “One of them tried to kill me. Tried to kill your parents, too, Gabe.”
“I read that in their files. Do you know why?”
She tapped her temple. “He was mad.”
“The file mentioned he disappeared, presumed dead.”
She shrugged. “This Walter Peterson fellow is too young for it to be him, so you’ll be fine. But if you do happen to get into an argument with a paper magician, just be sure to do it in a room where there ain’t much paper lying about.”
“Why?”
“I invented the saying ‘death by a thousand paper cuts’ after an encounter with him.”
“That phrase has been around longer than you’ve been alive,” I said. “And it’s ‘death by a thousand cuts’, not paper cuts.”
“I am talking about the paper cuts version, and I did invent it. You might have all the book learning, Sylvia, but that don’t teach you creative thinking.” She tapped her temple again as she had done when mentioning the mad paper magician. I doubted she meant to equate creativity with madness by repeating the gesture, but that’s how it appeared.
Gabe, Alex and I wanted to hear more about the paper cuts, but Willie refused to discuss it further, saying she didn’t want to think about the incident that had happened so long ago. “Anyway, I hardly remember it.”
I got the impression she remembered it rather well. Perhaps a little too well. I suspected she didn’t want to bring it to the forefront of her mind again after so much time had passed. It must have been a traumatic experience.
The Petersons were not in the factory and their assistant would not give out their home address. He recommended we return another day.
Disappointment weighed heavily as we headed back to the motorcar. I wanted to meet the Petersons very much. They could be my relatives.
I hadn’t realized my hopes had risen. Given that I wasn’t even sure I was a paper magician, it seemed foolish to entertain the hope that the Petersons were my relations, yet I couldn’t help entertain it.
I folded the book against my chest. My head might not be ready to believe that I was a paper magician, but my flesh and blood seemed sure as my body warmed in response to the book’s magic.
Gabe opened the back door of the motor for me while Willie retrieved the crank handle. He slid onto the seat beside me in thoughtful silence.
Once the engine was rumbling and Willie was seated, Alex asked where we wanted to go next.
“Hobson and Son,” Gabe said. “If we can rule out leather magic, that leaves us with only silver or paper.”
“There are other leather magicians in London,” Alex pointed out. “We can call on one of them instead.”
“Mr. Hobson’s magic is strong. It’s why his company won the contract from the military to provide the army with boots. He’ll know for certain whether the cover of that book contains magic.”
Willie clicked her tongue and shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t reckon it’s wise for you to see the Hobsons after the way they treated you.”
“I’ve spoken to Mr. Hobson since my name appeared in the newspapers defending the company.”
“But it was a tense meeting.”
“The newspapers have printed a retraction after I informed them of the mistake. It’s all behind us now.”
“Is it? And it weren’t a mistake, Gabe. It was deliberate on Hobson’s part to use the Glass name. You’re too forgiving.”
“I need to do this, Willie. If I don’t, things could remain awkward between Ivy and me, and I don’t want that. We’re going to see each other from time to time and it’s best if there’s no tension between us.”
She humphed as she turned back to face the road ahead. “You gotta stop trying to please everyone.”
Gabe stared out of the side window in silence the entire way to the Bermondsey factory of Hobson and Son. The company had taken over the premises from another boot manufacturer that had gone out of business in the 1890s. When parliament pushed through laws that allowed magicians to trade without fear of persecution, the artless either had to join them or change their business practices to compete. Those that didn’t failed as magician-made goods became highly sought after. The former bootmaker of the Bermondsey site was one of them. It must have galled him to sell the factory to a company that had directly contributed to his downfall.
Before its rise, when the company was known only as Hobson’s Boots, Ivy’s father’s one-man business had operated out of the same Jermyn Street workshop as his father and grandfather had done, keeping their magic secret for fear the Cordwainer Guild would revoke their license. Mr. Hobson took advantage of the law change and subsequent wave of interest in magician-made goods in the Nineties and quickly increased production. He outgrew his West End workshop and bought the Bermondsey factory, changing the name of the company to Hobson and Son when Ivy’s brother, Bertie, was born.
By the time war was declared, their large-scale operation meant they were well placed to manufacture the quantity of boots required by the military. The excellent reputation and proven longevity of the magic-infused leather meant no other bootmaker could compete for the contract. The Hobson family’s fortunes grew further throughout the war, and they were now one of the wealthiest families in England.
Tanning of the leather hides wasn’t done on site, so we weren’t confronted with offensive odors. However, we were confronted by a small group of protestors marching up and down the pavement outside the factory’s main entrance. Two of them carried signs calling for a government inquiry into the company’s army-issued boots. Another six were using crutches to help them get around on one foot. One man was in a wheelchair, his trouser legs pinned up so they didn’t flap in the breeze. He was missing both feet. The sign he held called for compensation for the men who lost limbs due to Hobson and Son’s negligence.
We entered the building via a door marked OFFICE. The large reception area was comfortably furnished with a rich brown leather sofa and armchairs. I breathed deeply, drawing the pleasant smell of new leather into my lungs.
A smiling young woman at the front desk greeted Gabe by name. “It’s lovely to see you again.”
“You look well, Miss Fisher.”
“I am, thank you. Are you here to see Mr. Hobson?”
“Is he in?”
She gave the closed door leading from the reception area a pained look.
“I know I don’t have an appointment, but my visit is professional, not private. There’s a matter that requires his expertise.”
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “It’s not that he isn’t available. There’s a little time before his next appointment.” She glanced at the door again. “Mrs. Hobson is in there, too, you see. I wasn’t sure you’d want to see both of them given…your recent change of circumstances.”
Gabe thanked her and eyed the door as if it were a portal to a battleground.
“Let’s leave,” Willie said with uncharacteristic gentleness. “There ain’t no need to go through this again.”
Gabe shook his head. “We’re here, now. Besides, it’s water under the bridge.” He asked Miss Fisher to announce us.
She rose and lifted a hand to knock on the office door but suddenly withdrew it when Mr. Hobson bellowed. “Enough, woman! Go home and leave me in peace!”
Miss Fisher bit her lip and glanced at Gabe. He nodded at her to continue.
She knocked.
The four of us drew in a collective breath, steeling ourselves for a meeting none of us wanted and all of us dreaded.