7

“What’s wrong, Mom?”

Gia tried to hold back the tears as she looked at Vicky. She’d let a single sob escape. She had to stifle the second. She sensed that if she let it push through, it would burst the dam and she wouldn’t be able to stop.

Jack sat to her right on the couch, his arm around her back. Vicky stood to her left. Tom had secluded himself in the kitchen. A single reading lamp on the side table lit the old dark book-lined shelves of the Sutton Square house.

“It’s okay, honey.” She prayed her voice wouldn’t shatter. “I’m just very sad.”

“Why? Is it the book?”

“Yes, honey.”

She slipped her arms around her child and squeezed her.

“Is it a sad book?”

“Very sad.”

The Compendium lay on her lap. Gia stared at the illustration of the Lilitongue, hating it. Then, through tear-blurred eyes, she read the text for the fourth time, searching for a shred of hope.

Part of her balked at the possibility that anything so outrageously fanciful could be true. It was the stuff of Harry Potter novels.

But another part of her called up a vision of that black mark—the Stain—stretching across her daughter’s back and she knew it was true.

Gia felt her world crumbling around her. She couldn’t lose her little girl! It wasn’t going to happen—it couldn’t happen! Not Vicky! Please not Vicky! Take me instead!

“There’s got to be a way out, Jack.”

His arm tightened around her. “I agree. Has to be. We’ve just got to find it in time.” He reached for the book. “Tomorrow I’m going to take this—”

She clutched his arm. “Take it where?”

“To Abe’s professor friend. I already called him but he’s gone for the day. But I’ll show this to him. Maybe he’ll be able to tease something out of the text that we don’t see.”

“And what if he can’t?”

“Then we go public with the Compendium and the Lilitongue. Haul the world’s best minds here and see what they come up with.”

“But you won’t be able to find this professor till tomorrow, right?”

Jack frowned. “I’m still working on tracking him down tonight. Abe had only his office number. The museum won’t give me his home number.”

“Okay, you go looking, but leave the book with me.”

“Why?”

“To save time.” Dear God, so little left. “Have you been through the whole book?”

“No. Look at the size of it. Must be a thousand pages.”

“That’s my point. While you’re out looking for this professor, I’ll comb through every single page. There may be more about the Lilitongue hidden inside. And that way, when we bring this professor in, we’ll know where to direct his attention.”

Jack chewed his upper lip for a second or two, then shook his head.

“We’ll both do it—tag-team style. You do an hour, then I’ll do one. That way we won’t go blind.”

“But what about Abe’s professor?”

“Who better to track down his home address than Abe? I’ll put him on it.”

Relief flooded through Gia. She didn’t want to be alone here with Vicky, this ancient book, and the Stain.