Page 44 of The Society of Unknowable Objects
“Yes,” the man said, nodding slowly. “He knows. Don’t you, old man? You know what this is.”
Magda knew she was missing something; she was not party to some knowledge that the two men shared. “What is it?” she asked, hearing the tremor in her voice, hearing her own fear.
The man grinned. “Well, I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a map.” He paused. “Another magical item.”
Magda glanced at Frank in surprise, seeking confirmation or denial. Was this another secret, another thing he knew but had never told her?
“It’s a map that leads you to other magical items,” the man continued, his voice low and clear. “It led me to that room in Hong Kong.”
Magda remembered the piece of paper the man had been holding when he’d first entered the meeting room in Hong Kong.
Before he shot James!
She pushed that memory away, trying to concentrate, trying to resist the fear that was bubbling like water in a pot, threatening to boil over.
“It showed me that there was a magical item there before you fucked off with it,” the man continued, eyes fixed on Magda now.
“Where did you get it?” Frank asked, sitting up slightly, suddenly animated. Magda’s heart broke a little at Frank being more interested in the magical item than in the danger they were facing. “Where did you get the map?”
“I took it off a man who wouldn’t die,” the man answered, returning the map to his pocket—folding it almost lovingly, Magda noticed, before he did so. “Something tells me you’ll both be easier to kill, though. And I am fucking desperate to end you both. So why don’t you just tell me what I want to know? Or things are going to get ugly.”
Magda tried to make sense of this development, a magical map thathad led the man to the chess piece in Hong Kong. Was that how he had found them again? But it made no sense; she couldn’t connect things that seemed obviously connected.
You can’t think straight because you’re going to die here, aren’t you?
“What does it show you?” Frank croaked, tilting his head slightly at the man. “Your map, what does it show you now? Does it show you there are any magical items here?”
The man with the gun smiled, but it made him ugly. “I’m not stupid. I know it’s not as simple as that. Because when your friend here flew away in Hong Kong it didn’t show me whatever it was she was using to fly. So some of the magical items don’t show up on the map.” The man looked at Magda. “So where is it? What do you have that enables you to fly?”
Magda swallowed, suddenly very aware of the sensation of the pendant against her chest. “Natural gift,” she countered. “I’ve always been able to fly. I was a nightmare in school. Always flying away from teachers.”
What are you doing? He’s got a gun and you’re making jokes?
The man smiled in response, but his eyes remained flat and cool as he swung the gun towards Frank. “I will put a bullet in him for every joke you make. See if you’re still laughing then.”
Magda swallowed down her terror, staring at the man, waiting to see what would happen. She had never felt such helplessness, such uncertainty.
The man turned his head, scanning across the many different items on the shelves again. She saw him glance over the photographs on the far wall, and then at the items sitting on the table. She wanted his eyes to keep moving, but they stopped there, caught like a thread on a loose nail. “What’s this?” he asked. He back-stepped over to the table, keeping the gun pointed at them as he studied the box and the chess piece.
“We were going to play chess.” Frank raised his head and grimaced. “Until we were interrupted.”
Magda loved Frank for not rolling over for this awful man, even as she felt a flare of terror that this comment might push the man over the edge. She watched the intruder in alarm but he didn’t react. He simplypicked up the chess piece with his free hand, bouncing it in his palm for a few seconds. “This is magic.”
“It’s just a chess piece,” Magda tried, but she struggled to even get the words out, knowing how futile they were.
“What does it do?” he asked, directing the question to Magda. When she didn’t look at him, he shouted, “Hey! Magda! What does it do?” He pointed the gun at Frank. “A bullet in the old man every time you don’t answer me. I’ll start at the bottom and work my way up to his head. I’ve got all fucking night.”
“Don’t tell him,” Frank said, his eyes closed. “I won’t last that long. It will be over quick.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that,” the man replied, and then he chuckled, an awful sound to Magda, slow and cruel. “I can make it last.”
Magda glanced at Frank and for a brief moment she contemplated a life without him, a life without any of the family she had grown up with. She couldn’t conceive of such an existence.
“You know what,” the man said. “The old man’s right. He’s dead anyway. Nothing to lose. But you’re not, are you, Magda?” He pointed the gun at her while speaking to Frank. “Tell me what it does, or I’ll kill her.”
Frank slumped slightly next to Magda, and she could almost feel the strength leaving him. “Don’t, Frank,” Magda begged.
“I’ll tell you,” Frank said finally, his voice a whisper of defeat.
