In the other aisle, Blue Mask insisted, “It wasn’t in Thadden’s office. It has to be here!”
“Regardless, it’s not,” said Delma. “For some reason, Thadden used the absolutely archaic Wainwright system here, which means that if the book were here, it would be right here. Wait, where is she?”
“Mei? Mei!”
Read more: Chapter 36: nQeanum, SolidifyMei rounded the corner and dropped her jacket onto Delma’s lantern, sealing all three of them in darkness.
“lo!”
As Delma’s blind casting showered her with splinters and bits of paper, Mei grabbed the lantern and fled along the back wall of the room. Since Blue Mask’s lantern was with Kay, Delma and Blue Mask were stuck groping in the dark, which should give Mei enough time to-
“Mei!” Thunk. Pop. “Mei!”
Blue Mask was suddenly in front of her, Mei could feel him reaching to grab her, so she closed her eyes, whipped her jacket off the lantern, and shoved the light into his face. When the thief howled in pain, Mei slashed at his knife belt, cutting through the leather and dropping the strange weapons to the floor..
“No!”
Blue Mask dove for the knives, but Mei slammed him into a bookshelf with her shoulder and stole the red-handled knife from his stunned fingers. When he tried to take it back, she elbowed him in the stomach then kicked the knife belt away from them. By the time Blue Mask recovered, Mei’s dagger was at his neck and the red-handled knife was lost to the dark.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“You’re doing it again.” The thief shook with emotion. “Getting in my way.”
“Who are you?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Part of Mei didn’t, but she’d ignored too much – Huan’s disappearances, Blue Mask’s Tuquese, Huan knowing Kay, Blue Mask’s familiarity with her rifle, Huan having been in the Gray Tower tonight – for her to stop now.
Her dagger forced Blue Mask against a bookshelf. “Who are you?”
“Look,” Blue Mask’s hands came up, “just give me back my knives and we’ll forget all about this. I mean, why are you even here? This isn’t your problem.”
She’d heard that argument before. “It is my problem. They think my brother is you and I know you’re not.”
“Because family is paramount?”
“Because my brother doesn’t hurt my friends!”
“Family is more important than friendship, Mei.” Blue Mask’s voice had turned cold. “He knows that. Why don’t you?”
Mei’s dagger pressed against Blue Mask’s neck. “Take off the mask.”
“You don’t want to know.”
Mei’s dagger drew blood. “Take off the mask!”
“Don’t do this. He’d die for you. He’d never hurt you.”
“Sky, where are you?” shouted Delma. “We have to go!”
“I’m-” Blue Mask found Mei’s dagger pressing closer. “Look, Mei, it’s over. Just-“
“Take off the mask.” The threat of Mei’s dagger became the promise of a blade ready to bleed her quarry. “Or I will.”
“Sky? Where are you?”
“Mei.” Blue Mask’s accent rounded, became the one she’d heard this morning at breakfast, this afternoon at shift change, and tonight right before she’d left for the Ball. “Just let me go and let him pretend. Besides, you know, don’t you?”
The blade flinched. “I don’t.”
“You do. On that rooftop,” Blue Mask switched to Imperial Tuquese, “when that impostor attacked, you heard me speak. Did you think that a mere band of thieves just happened to have a Tuquese speaker?”
The dagger fell back. “No, I-”
The Imperial quality fell away from Blue Mask’s words. “Who else would know where that nosy steward hid th ebest books? These fools, the same people who failed to take down a single mage, wouldn’t have gotten anything without him pointing the way.”
Mei backed away, the point of her dagger shaking. “Please, it can’t be.”
“He had no alibi for that night or the night of any of robberies or the night that poor little windsong was murdered, and so who else could it have been? But you decided not to see.” The mask didn’t hide a smile. “You believed him when he said he was satisfied with this life. You believed him when he said he’d gotten rid of me. Well,” hands reached up and removed the mask, “he lied.”
Despite the blue light and the gold eyes and the strange stripe-like bruises on his cheeks, the face the mask had hid was unmistakably that of her brother Huan Li.
“Little sister,” Huan switched back to Souran, “if you wanted to help, you should have told me, and now, it’s too late. Delma, I’m here!”
“Finally, we’re leaving!”
“Coming!” Huan collected his knives. “You know, this is all your fault. You put strangers before him and that meant that all he has is me. See you soon.” He disappeared into the shelves.
When the lights finally came on, Charlie and the guards found Mei sobbing over a blue mask she clutched in her hands.
Admaeus Speaks 