The Keepers by Ted Sanders Read Free Book Online Page B

was let out, all at once, it would distract him. I thought maybe he wouldn’t be able to look away.”
    â€œAnd so it was,” Mr. Meister said. “Remarkable.”
    â€œBut I don’t know why. I don’t know what a leestone is. I don’t even know who Dr. Jericho is. Or what he is.”
    â€œHe is the enemy.”
    â€œThat’s no kind of answer,” Horace replied.
    â€œOn the contrary, Horace, it is the heart of the answer. Toknow your enemy is to know where you stand.”
    â€œNo,” Horace said. “No, that’s wrong. I think you have to know where you stand before you can know your enemy. And I don’t know where I stand.” He looked down at the box in his hands. “I only know exactly one thing right now.”
    Mr. Meister stood in silence for several breaths before speaking. “Well spoken, Horace, my friend. And forgive me for the blindnesses you must endure. But for now you only need to know one thing about Dr. Jericho: stay away from him.”
    â€œThat’s the same advice Mrs. Hapsteade gave me. It didn’t turn out too well.”
    â€œFortunately, I have the solution you need.” They cut across the aisle and worked their way toward the front, stopping before a wide, shallow bin with a single item in it—a small statue of a turtle with a bird on its back. The bin was marked:
    For the Initiate
    Initiate . The word sent a tingle across Horace’s skin. The statue itself was about six inches high, very lifelike, carved from some dark stone. The turtle’s face was lifted to the sky, eyes closed. Atop it, the bird looked alertly off to the side, like it was keeping guard. It had a thick hooked beak and huge taloned feet that gripped the turtle’s shell.
    â€œIs that a crow?” Horace asked.
    â€œA raven. A formidable creature, extremely intelligent.”
    â€œAnd how is this going to help me?”
    â€œThis is a leestone, Horace. A mighty one. So mighty that I feel confident entrusting you to it.”
    Horace frowned. “I hope it works better than the last one. I think that one was defective or something.”
    â€œNot defective, no. That was a raven’s eye—not a particularly powerful kind of leestone, but it was working just fine. Indeed, it was working hard. Had it failed you utterly, Dr. Jericho might have noticed you the moment he boarded the bus. You see, Horace, a leestone is a kind of distraction. Leestones soak up unwanted attention, absorbing and draining the focus of those who would seek you out. Focus, thought, perception—the contents of the leestone absorb all these in the same way a black cloth absorbs light.”
    Horace considered this. “So that’s why destroying the raven’s eye distracted Dr. Jericho? I released what was inside, and all his attention was drawn to it.”
    â€œJust so.”
    â€œYou said the raven’s eye was working hard. And you were surprised it faded so fast. Did it fade because Dr. Jericho was thinking about me? It was absorbing his thoughts?”
    â€œCorrect again. You have a scientist’s mind indeed. Like that black cloth in the sun, the raven’s eye fades with use. Clearly your first encounter with Dr. Jericho yesterday made an impression on him.”
    â€œBut if the raven’s eye was working, how did he knowwhat bus I was on?”
    â€œI doubt that he did. Understand first that it’s the warehouse that draws him to this neighborhood, not you. He and his brethren are always searching for it, though they are unlikely to find it. As for why Dr. Jericho boarded the exact bus you were already on?” Mr. Meister waved a hand through the air. “The raven’s eye might have lost some potency, yes. Clearly Dr. Jericho can sense the . . . difference in you, when he gets close enough. But perhaps, Horace, it was not you that drew him onto the bus today at all.” His face tightened into a knot