Book of the Blind - Part LXXIX

“You better.” Tina pulled a file, opened it, and handed it to Gibson. “Here he is. Lester Andrews. According to records, he’s been in and out of several rescue missions around the city. Perpetually homeless.”

Gibson scanned the file. “Well, the homeless make good cult fodder, especially when you need sacrifices.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXXVIII

“My, my. You’re certainly in a rush.” Tina crossed over to one of the banks of filing cabinets in the morgue, tossing the unused gloves in a trash bin. “Lucky you I pulled an all-nighter tracking down that guy’s prints.”

“I appreciate you, Tina. More than you know,” Gibson said, smiling faintly.

Book of the Blind - Part LXXVII

“Afternoon,” Tina Stantz replied, pulling a sheet over the cadaver she had been inspecting. “You caught me at just the right time. I was about to start the autopsy on this one. Would’ve kept me busy a few hours. What do you need?” Her rubber gloves snapped off, one after another.

“Just looking for any word on the pier vic.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXXVI

* * *

Gibson stepped into the morgue, hands in his coat pockets.

The city medical examiner looked up at him, eyes shielded behind goggles and glasses. She was an older woman, with blond hair and green eyes.

“Afternoon, Tina,” Gibson said.

Book of the Blind - Part LXXV

Morgan smirked at Rhiannon. “You can keep your moldy gods. It’s gonna be all me in there come tonight.”

“Holy shit, tonight? Okay, I gotta go get started on that countercharm.” Rhiannon started down the steps to street level. “Swing by my place around nine, nine thirty. I ought to have it by then!”

Book of the Blind - Part LXXIV

“…Right. Between the countercharm and my incomparable skill, I expect there will be little trouble getting in and out.” Morgan breathed in, ignoring the tinge of pollution in the outside air. “Easy payoff, I think.”

“I’d be careful about saying that, if I were you,” Rhiannon said. “You never know what gods might be listening.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXXIII

“I’d like to thank all of you for coming,” the guide finally said. “The gift shop is on the left as you leave the museum, and I hope you enjoyed the exhibit.”

“So,” Rhiannon asked as they filtered back out on to the streets of the city. “Did you get what you needed?”

“Oh yes. Between your promised countercharm—”

“Which I can totally do, no problem.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXXII

Then there were the armed guards. She didn’t know for sure if those posts were manned around the clock, but it wouldn’t hurt to assume they would be. Throw in all the magical defenses Rhiannon was talking about, and things were definitely going to be Interesting.

Morgan grinned. She liked interesting.

Book of the Blind - Part LXXI

Cameras were mounted in all of the room’s corners. Easy enough, she’d dealt with those before. Loop the feed and you’re golden.

Yes, the display case was going to be the real problem, especially taking into account the fact that the two doorways out of the room were clearly rigged to drop steel blast doors if the alarm was set off.

Book of the Blind - Part LXX

After a few more moments of expounding on the part of the tour guide, Morgan tuned out and focused on the interior of the room, letting long practice settle her mind into mundane security assessment.

The glass was going to be bound to an alarm, without a doubt. The book itself probably rested atop a pressure plate, making things doubly difficult.

Book of the Blind - Part LXIX

“Because you’re about to steal a book that’s all about a goddess of justice?”

“Say that louder, why don’t you.”

The guide gestured to the backlit woodcut print featuring the masked figures and their supplicants. “These individuals are priestesses of She Who Goes Veiled, and wear ceremonial, eyeless masks in homage to their goddess’s blindness.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXVIII

“Translations are sketchy at best, but we believe that this figure…” The guide gestured to the woman with the masked face. “…Represents a primeval deity known as ‘She Who Goes Veiled’. Most scholars agree that she is the earliest known personification of the concept of justice in human history.”

“Heh.” Morgan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “There’s irony for you.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXVII

At the group’s feet were a crowd of women, heavily armed with swords and spears, but supplicant.

Another image showed a woman, swathed in cloth, an opaque veil over her eyes and nose, leaving only her lips visible.

The last Morgan was able to digest before the guide began talking again was a rendering of a magnificent city, spires reaching up toward a burning sun.

Book of the Blind - Part LXVI

Hidden panels in the walls slid open, revealing almost twenty photographs secreted away, contained in recessed, lit shadowboxes.

The book's cover looked to be leather, etched with a stylized image of a sexless face with no eyes.

A woodcut showed a group of cloaked figures on a dais, their faces hidden behind eyeless masks.

Book of the Blind - Part LXV

“No,” Rhiannon said. “Your brain straight up shuts down. Packs its bags and goes home.”

“Oh.” Morgan considered the tome behind the frosted glass.

The guide carried on. “To make up for the lack of direct line of sight, however, we have a collection of photographs, prints taken of the book’s cover and of woodcuts within.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXIV

“What?” Morgan asked.

“The psychohazard scale only goes up to four. Five is a theoretical thing.” Rhiannon gestured, trying to find words. “Uh…one will offer a brief psychotic break with reality. Four will put you in the bughouse permanently. Five would drive you so crazy you die.”

“From what, you just kill yourself?”

Book of the Blind - Part LXIII

“I apologize for the low visibility,” the tour guide said. “But many long hours of study by scientists and magicians alike have concluded that it is the only safe way for the public to view the artifact. After all…” The guide leaned in, as though sharing a terrible secret. “It’s a grade five psychohazard.”

“Bullshit,” Rhiannon muttered.

Book of the Blind - Part LXII

“Well, this is nonsense,” Morgan whispered to Rhiannon. “The glass is frosted. I can barely make out the shape of the damn thing.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Rhiannon said, gesturing for her companion to be quiet.

“What is it?”

“Just listen.”

Book of the Blind - Part LXI

“This volume, named the Book of the Blind by anthropological historians, was found in a watertight metal case in the Mulian ruins,” the tour guide said, smiling the smile of a person who has finally gotten a crowd’s attention after a long hour of trying. “The case itself was infused with powerful enchantments that kept it from decaying, even at the bottom of the sea.”

Book of the Blind - Part LX

In the last room of the tour, which was heavily guarded with both mundane means (armed guards) and magical (wards and creative curses, which Rhiannon pointed out in hushed tones), there was only one item.

In a glass case on a pedestal in the middle of the room, with velvet rope offering a good ten feet of clearance on all sides, was the Book of the Blind.