it over. Then we can go home.”
Artemis shook his head firmly. “No,” he said. “You don’t know what happened last time. If you knew what I had done—”
“I know exactly what happened,” said Kate, stepping closer. “I know what happened to my parents. You warned them not to take the book, but they didn’t listen. The wardens found them and they died for it.”
Artemis looked up at her in shock. “How could you— ?”
“I know why you ran. You were scared and there was no way you could have helped them. But if you hide the book this time, the same thing that happened to my parents will happen to us. I know you want to keep it safe, but I would trade anything to get you out of here alive. Nothing is more important than that.”
Artemis looked down at her as if she was five years old again. “Listen to me, Kate,” he said. “These people cannot be trusted. Whatever deal you have made with them, they will turn their backs on you the moment you hand over the book. They will promise you anything to get what they want. It was not worth risking your own life to save mine. You should not have come here.”
Artemis turned away from Kate and anger blistered inside her. She grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to face her. “Which is more important?” she demanded. “Staying alive? Or protecting a book that you think is useless anyway?”
“Kate, you’re hurting me.”
“I came here because I wanted to help you. I know the veil is real. I know what the Skilled can do and I know how dangerous Wintercraft can be, but we have no other choice. No matter where you hide it, they are going to find the book eventually. At least this way we have a chance to get out of here. Why won’t you listen to me?”
Artemis said nothing, but when he looked straight into her eyes Kate was sure she saw a look of fear cross over his face. Realizing she had been holding him, she let go. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“So am I,” said Artemis, rubbing the pain from his shoulder. “I don’t know what that collector did to you, Kate, but if you want the book so much, it’s the least I can give you to help put things right.” He limped a few steps along the shelves to a waiting rail ladder. “Up there,” he said, rolling the ladder a few steps to the left and holding out the candle for her to take. “Twenty-third shelf up, fourth book to the right. There’s a knot-latch. You’ll see it.”
“How did you find it all the way up there?” asked Kate. From the look of Artemis’s ankle, he would not have been able to manage one rung, never mind however many it would have taken to climb up there.
“I didn’t,” he said. “But it’s there. When the Skilled hid it here, one of them came to see me again at the shop. She told me that it was our family’s right to know where the book was being kept at all times. She even offered to bring you and me here to see this library for ourselves, but I refused. ‘Farthest row on the right. Two hundred paces. Twenty-third shelf up. Fourth book right.’ Those directions have stayed in my memory for ten years. I would have needed a guide to find the library if I hadn’t used one of those wheels, but once I was in here, I knew exactly where it would be. Half of our family died for that book. I never want to see it again, but if you need it, it is yours. I’ll leave it to your conscience to decide what to do with it this time.”
“Thank you,” said Kate. She took the candle and climbed the ladder, taking extra care to test each rung as she went.
The knot latch was an old trick. Not many people knew the trick, but it was simple enough to spot when you knew what you were looking for. Kate found it exactly where Artemis said it would be—a secret spring-button disguised as a knot in the wood—and she pressed it.
Something clicked. Kate balanced the candle on the shelf, pulled a handful of books out, and found a thin flap of wood beneath them. She lifted the flap carefully and put her hand inside, adjusting her hold on the ladder to keep her balance as she wriggled a