The Lost Plot Read online

  PRAISE FOR THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY NOVELS

  THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY

  #2 on the Independent’s (UK) Best Fantasy Novels of 2015 List

  On Library Journal’s Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Books of 2016 List

  “Satisfyingly complex . . . a book in which to wallow.”

  —The Guardian (UK)

  “Ms. Cogman has opened a new pathway into our vast heritage of imagined wonderlands. And yet, as her story reminds us, we yearn for still more.”

  —Tom Shippey, The Wall Street Journal

  “A dazzling bibliophilic debut.”

  —Charles Stross, Hugo Award–winning author of The Nightmare Stacks

  “Surrender to the sheer volume of fun that appears on every page . . . thoroughly entertaining.”

  —Starburst

  “Fantasy doesn’t get much better. . . . If you’re looking for a swift, clever, and witty read, look no further.”

  —Fantasy Faction

  THE MASKED CITY

  “This witty fantasy also includes a Holmesian detective, a wondrous magical train, some fascinating Fae politics, frequent funny moments, and a very limited time for Irene to rescue Kai, all making for a thrilling and deliciously atmospheric adventure.”

  —Locus

  “Series fans will be thrilled to learn more about dragon-kind and the capricious Fae, and will be eager for Cogman’s third in the series.”

  —Booklist

  “Another fantastic adventure . . . fast-paced and entertaining. The books in this series make for light, fun popcorn reads.”

  —The BiblioSanctum

  THE BURNING PAGE

  “Funny, exciting, and oh so inspiring, this is the kind of fantasy novel that will have female readers everywhere gearing up for their own adventure[s].”

  —Bustle

  “As with the previous two books, The Burning Page is action-packed from start to finish and will keep you hooked until the very last page.”

  —Nerd Much?

  “Imaginative and suspenseful with a touch of magic and science fiction, the worlds of the Invisible Library are ones I want to visit again and again. . . . What makes this series magical are the incredible scenes and creative imagination of the author. The creatures, portals, attacks, and investigation are all surrounded by a feast for your mind’s eye.”

  —Caffeinated Book Reviewer

  “So far the best yet. . . . There [are] love and betrayal; there [are] magical worlds and terrifying words, huge twists and an enormous reveal at the very end . . . and an ending that will leave you clutching your bookshelf and whispering promises of love and devotion to it. . . . It’s fast-paced and breathless, with lives on the line. And I seriously can’t wait for more.”

  —Readcommendations

  “This series is like cheese. It only gets better with age.”

  —The Life of a Mirkwood Elf

  “Libraries, Librarians, dragons, Fae, chaos, dastardly baddies, and a Sherlock Holmes–style detective all thrown into the mix equal an excellent read for me and for you, too, I think. . . . It’s packed with chaotic and dramatic adventures and is witty, to boot.”

  —The Speculative Herald

  BY GENEVIEVE COGMAN

  The Invisible Library

  The Masked City

  The Burning Page

  The Lost Plot

  ACE

  Published by Berkley

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  Copyright © 2017 by Genevieve Cogman

  Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

  ACE is a registered trademark and the A colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Cogman, Genevieve, author.

  Title: The lost plot: an invisible Library novel/Genevieve Cogman.

  Description: First Edition. | New York: Ace, 2018.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017031710 (print) | LCCN 2017037915 (ebook) | ISBN 9780399587436 (ebook) | ISBN 9780399587429 (paperback)

  Subjects: LCSH: Librarians—Fiction. | Secret societies—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION/Fantasy/Historical. | FICTION/Fantasy/Paranormal. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction. | Alternative histories (Fiction)

  Classification: LCC PR6103.O39 (ebook) | LCC PR6103.O39 L67 2018 (print) | DDC 823/.92—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017031710

  Pan trade paperback edition / December 2017

  Ace trade paperback edition / January 2018

  Cover art: border courtesy Shutterstock; wolf illustration by Adam Auerbach

  Cover design by Adam Auerbach

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Sometimes at this point in a team meeting at work, someone makes a joke along the lines of “You’re probably wondering why I’ve called you here today . . .”

  This novel is only here—and only good, if it is good—because I’ve had a lot of support from people. My agent, Lucienne Diver, and my editors, Bella Pagan and Rebecca Brewer, who are marvelous at their jobs and fantastic people. Thank you very much.

  Thank you also to all my beta readers: Beth, Jeanne, Phyllis, Anne, April, Unni, Petronia, Caroline, Iolanthe, and everyone else. Thanks to all my supportive friends at work who put up with my muttering about dragons and Prohibition and other non-clinical topics. Thanks to Charlie and Stuart and Walter and Jeanne for advice and help about such topics as traffic speed, elevator mechanics, what happens when you set fire to large amounts of alcohol, and DVDs of Wo Xin Chang Dan. Thank you to my friends and readers online who have encouraged me to keep on going.

  Thank you to my family for all their support. At some point in the future, I will manage not to freak out if you bend the spines of any books you borrow from me. (This day will probably not be anytime soon.)

  My appreciation also goes out to all the authors whom I read while doing background research for this book. If any details are incorrect, then it’s entirely my own fault.

  Thanks also to Damon Runyon, more than somewhat. Because the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.

  Unless Librarians are involved.

  CONTENTS

  PRAISE FOR THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY NOVELS

  BY GENEVIEVE COGMAN

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16


  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  TO: Kostchei, Senior Librarian

  FROM: Catherine, Senior Librarian

  CC: Gervase, Coppelia, Melusine, Ntikuma

  Kostchei,

  We have a problem. Yes, I know we always have problems, but this one may derail the peace conference before both sides have even formally agreed to meet.

  I’ve just had word (it was a “polite notification,” but you could read between the lines) that Minister Zhao’s dead. He was one of the dragon candidates for the upcoming Paris summit. I find it impossible to believe that the timing is an accident. And no, there wasn’t any information about how this happened. “Tragic loss to us,” et cetera. But this is a significant problem for them.

  The Queen of the Southern Lands is going to have to send another dragon representative. And she’s having to scramble to fill Minister Zhao’s post in her own court. He was extremely senior. It’ll be at least a few weeks before the final candidate’s settled. But let’s be honest—for high-ranking dragons, that’s unseemly haste.

  The Fae aren’t trying anything yet, but they’ll be on the situation like sharks on steak if they smell blood in the water. Any weakness amongst the dragons is an opportunity for them. Our best course of action is probably to stay well out of the whole business. We must concentrate on our side of the deal, and we absolutely have to maintain our neutrality. If either side decides we’re biased or that we’re playing both of them against the middle, then the whole plan goes out the window. And I don’t need to tell you what might happen to the Librarians in the field. Besides, we’re understaffed. We need a recruitment programme (as I’ve said before, repeatedly) and we need it now. Alberich’s actions during the recent crisis only made things worse; the problem was already in existence.

  Hopefully this current mess won’t involve any of our people, as it’s making the political situation potentially explosive. As always, it’s our duty to stop the Fae and dragons from turning a mere disagreement into a world-destroying war. Let’s try to maintain the balance where we can.

  Catherine, Librarian

  PS—Will someone please show me how to turn off the automatic signatures on this piece of software? You all know who I am.

  PPS—Kostchei, you still have that copy of T. H. White’s The Book of Mordred signed out to you. Would you kindly finish reading it and pass it back into general circulation? Some of the rest of us would like a look at it too.

  CHAPTER 1

  “My dear girl,” the woman sitting next to Irene sniffed, “if you haven’t opened your veins before, then do let Mr. Harper do it for you. He’s had a lot of experience with nervous young things like you.”

  Irene looked down at the scalpel lying in the saucer next to her cup of tea. She was trying to think of a way out of the situation—one that wouldn’t involve her fleeing the house and slamming the door behind her. She’d visited multiple alternate worlds in order to obtain books. She was capable of dealing with different customs and knew all sorts of polite manners. But she didn’t want to serve herself up as the dish of the day. “Nobody actually said there were going to be vampires attending,” she said mildly. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Bah!” another of the elderly women snorted.

  Irene was the youngest person in the crowded room, trapped in a nest of chairs and little tables that were encrusted with ornaments. The thick curtains were drawn tightly against the night outside. The tea was cold. The cakes were stale. The atmosphere was thick and heavy, and if it hadn’t been for the fragrance of the log fire, Irene had a suspicion that it would have smelled even worse.

  “I don’t wish to sound harsh, but in my day a young woman knew her duty! If this Miss—Miss . . .” The woman trailed off, trying to remember Irene’s name.

  “Miss Winters,” Mr. Harper said. His hair was a grizzled white that retreated in a pronounced widow’s peak, and his eyes were black as coal, sunken deep behind half-closed eyelids. He hunched in his chair, tilting forward like a vulture scouting for prey. And whenever he spoke he bared his fangs. The one highlight of the evening so far was that he wasn’t sitting next to Irene. He was apparently one of the minor vampires attached to the household; the more powerful ones hadn’t risen yet that evening. Small mercies. “So nice to have some young blood present at our little soirée.”

  Of course, if Irene had known that it was going to be a soirée, let alone one with vampires present, she wouldn’t have attended. Which was probably why they hadn’t told her. She’d thought this was going to be just a straight book exchange. The negotiations had all gone through smoothly, and she’d been looking forward to collecting a new book for the Library’s collection—without violence, drama, or running down corridors screaming. Apparently she’d been mistaken.

  “I had absolutely no idea I’d be mixing with such important people when I called,” she fluttered, putting on her best air of innocence. “I only wanted to exchange these books, as we agreed—”

  “The books, yes. As we discussed.” It was the first time the woman at the far end of the room had spoken. The background whispers fell silent at her voice. She touched the red leather binding of the book in her lap; her pale fingers were thin and wrinkled, given an artificial colour by the firelight. “Indeed, I think we should discuss that in private. If you will all excuse us for a moment?” She didn’t bother pausing for any possible disagreement. “Miss Winters. Do take a little stroll with me.”

  Irene put down her cup and saucer—and the scalpel—and rose to her feet in a rustle of skirts, picking up her briefcase. She’d dressed politely and soberly in response to her invitation, in a dove-grey jacket and skirt with dark green trimmings. Given the circumstances, she was wishing she’d accessorized the outfit with garlic, silver, and running shoes. “Delighted,” she murmured, and followed the other woman out of the room.

  Along the corridor and up the stairs, old-style gas lamps burned, rather than the newer ether lamps. Dark portraits gazed out from gilded ornamental frames. Irene could see the family nose and brows in many of them, mirroring the haughty face of the woman ahead of her.

  She really wished she hadn’t come here. She’d just wanted to exchange a book, rather than stealing it, for once. Her virtue was not being rewarded. Quite the opposite.

  Mrs. Walker—referred to as Lady Walker by the rest of the household, even if Irene hadn’t come across any trace of a title when she was researching the family—came to a stop in front of a particularly dramatic picture. She turned to look at Irene. Her eye-patch hid her right eye, but the left eye was considering, thoughtful, evaluating. Since Irene preferred to be underestimated and ignored, this wasn’t welcome.

  “So, you are the notorious Irene Winters,” she said. “How convenient that you’ve come to me, rather than my having to come to you.”

  “Really.” Irene decided to drop the act. It seemed she’d acquired a reputation, so she might as well throw any plans to dissemble out the window. Which was where she’d like to be right now. “Might I ask your sources?”

  “Family connections.” Mrs. Walker shrugged. The jet ornaments on her dress shivered and danced in the gaslight. “Just because I prefer to spend my time up here rather than running off to frivol in the fleshpots of London . . . But I digress. I assure you, Miss Winters, I know more about you than you might think.”

  “Oh?” Irene said, in the conciliatory tone of voice she’d had the chance to practise in the past. Do tell me more, it
implied. You’re so clever.

  “Good.” Mrs. Walker looked positively approving. “Just the sort of thing I’d have said, in your place.”

  Damn, Irene thought. “Perhaps we should skip the preliminaries and get to the point,” she suggested.

  Mrs. Walker nodded. “Very well. Here it is. I know you’re part of a power play by one of the other families. I want to know what is going on. I want to know who you’re working for. And if you hope to leave this house alive, you will tell me.”

  Irene blinked. She’d been ready for various possibilities, ranging from I know you work for a secret interdimensional Library to I have evidence of your criminal acts and plan to blackmail you, but this was unexpected. “Dear me,” she said. “This is so sudden.”

  “Your cover story was quite impressive,” Mrs. Walker granted. “Claiming to be a freelance translator and book-collector, and suggesting an exchange. A copy of Marlowe’s lost play The Massacre at Paris in return for our copy of John Webster’s Guise. Both of us would have profited by the deal. And it seemed credible enough to be genuine. But an offer that tempting seems like a fairy story, doesn’t it, Miss Winters? And we all know that fairy stories don’t happen.”

  “They happen more than you might think,” Irene said. In a high-chaos alternate world like this one, narrative tropes had an unfortunate way of coming true. Unfortunately the traditional heroine-gets-trapped-in-household-full-of-vampires story seldom had a happy ending. At least, not for the heroine. “Honestly, I don’t understand why you think I’m an—er, what do you think I am?”

  “A spy,” Mrs. Walker said.

  “A spy?” Irene said in tones of mild horror. What precisely did Mrs. Walker know? Irene was an agent of the Library, and it was her job and her duty to retrieve works of fiction from alternate worlds. Bringing them back to her interdimensional Library home created links with these places. And thus did the Library help preserve the balance between unfeeling order and uncaring chaos, across a multitude of worlds. It was a noble calling and a lifetime commitment, and it allowed her to use the Library’s special Language to command reality. It also often involved her stealing books and running away. So technically, yes, “spy” wasn’t entirely inaccurate. But it sounded as if her cover might still be in one piece.