Obsidian Mirror

Начало книги

I have discovered something totally impossible. I will be rich. Celebrated. A hero of science.

And yet in truth I am so bewildered that I can only sit for hours in this room and gaze out at the rain.

What can I do with such terrifying knowledge? How can I ever dare use it?

Journal of John Harcourt Symmes, December 1846

THE BOY PUT on the mask outside the door. It was a heavy black fencing mask and inside its mesh he felt different.

It made him dark, supple, dangerous.

An actor.

An assassin.

He was wearing the costume for Hamlet, Act 5, the duel with Laertes, and he had the fencing sword ready in his hand. He had to be very careful. This could all go badly wrong, and not just in the way he wanted. He took a deep breath and peered in through the glass panel. The rehearsal seemed to have paused; people were sitting around and Mr. Wharton was explaining something, waving an arm expressively to Mark Patten, who was playing Laertes.

Читать дальше →