Ink Blood Sister Scribe

The day after Cecily’s departure, Joanna reflects on the fact that while the insularity of her life makes her feel expert, she is actually inexpert in the sense that she didn’t know about the mirror. She wonders about what she wants, given her understanding “that if the boundaries of the wards were dropped, the boundaries of her life would drop along with them” (225). She attempts to tempt the cat inside again, but he refuses.

In Auckland, Esther is preparing to board her flight to Los Angeles when she’s pulled aside for “additional security checks” (227). A guard escorts her past the security area and into a small room with a man who looks exactly like the guard and who is wearing only socks and boxers. The guard asks if Esther recognizes him, then removes a glamour spell on the man in the corner to reveal himself as the blonde man who once tried to kill her in Spokane when she didn’t leave quickly enough on November 2. The door opens, and Esther takes her opportunity to hit him; though she isn’t able to hit him hard, he falls and she escapes. She feels an invisible hand grab her wrist, and a voice instructs her to go to the washroom and wait for her, quoting the title of the Gil novel. In the bathroom, the woman reveals herself and tells Esther her new flight to LA is in half an hour, but doesn’t provide much more detail.

Esther boards her flight, and Nicholas and Collins sit beside her. Nicholas chats, then takes out a copy of the Gil novel, explaining that Maram gave it to him, but that they don’t know who Esther is. They all confusedly ask each other questions, and Nicholas asks why magic books don’t work on her. He eventually realizes that she, like him, is “a fucking Scribe” (244).

Collins, Nicholas, and Esther stop in Boston rather than taking their tickets through to Burlington, since Esther says she doesn’t yet trust Maram. Collins, whose Boston accent has emerged, says that he has people who can get him a car. They take the subway to a house where a woman named Lisa invites them in and pulls Collins away to talk while they wait for Tansy to bring the car. Nicholas and Esther notice a rock heating the room and ask about the use of magic. They learn that the women are part of a collective related to magical books and seem to have a familial relationship with Collins. The car arrives, and they depart.

Joanna is shocked when she hears a car in the driveway and retrieves a rifle, but she recognizes Esther in the front seat. Nicholas, Collins, and Esther approach; Collins suffers due to the wards, but the other two are unaffected. Joanna realizes she is furious with Esther. She hesitates, letting them in only after Nicholas answers her question about why the wards don’t work on him and Esther promises to look at the book that killed Abe. Joanna begins asking questions, and Nicholas explains the Library and the fact that he is a Scribe. They’ll soon test to confirm that Esther is, too, by having her write the spell to break Collins’s NDA.

As Nicholas and Collins sleep, Joanna and Esther finally hug. Esther tells Joanna why she left: Abe told her that “she could stay out and put herself and her family at risk—or she could leave and spend the rest of her life running” (279). Joanna is angry that Abe hadn’t given her a choice, but also feels awe at her sister’s return.

The next day, Nicholas inspects the book that killed Abe. He tells them it’s a vampire and confirms that it was from the Library’s collection, based on the expiration date spell. He also recognizes it as the book he’d seen the draft of in Richard’s study, composed of human materials: the immortality spell.

The group makes plans to start the bloodletting ritual so that Esther can attempt to write the spell that will end Collins’s NDA. After gathering supplies, Nicholas asks Esther if there is any ritual she has a connection to, and she chooses to recite the Mourner’s Kaddish (a prayer said in honor of the deceased in the Jewish tradition) with Joanna at her side. They decide to move to Abe’s truck, and the ritual works—Esther feels and Joanna hears the magic.

After Nicholas drafts the spell for Esther to copy, Collins asks to see the book collection. Joanna, Collins, and Nicholas go for a tour and leave Esther to write. While they view the books, Collins asks to be added to the wards, and Joanna reluctantly agrees. Nicholas asks to bring the vampire book back upstairs to inspect it. Collins returns from a walk in the woods looking concerned. In spite of Joanna’s request to return the book to the basement, as it hurts her ears, Collins asks that they don’t return it until Esther’s spell is complete, but he can’t explain why. Esther finishes the book, and Collins asks Joanna to read it. She again asks to put the distracting book downstairs and becomes suspicious when Collins refuses. She then realizes he has taken the wards.

Collins tells the others that Maram has instructed him to remove the wards as soon as possible and refuses to tell them where he’s hidden them. He relays a message from Maram—“we have to find the thing Richard will use to find us” (310)—but cannot explain more. He again begs Joanna to read the spell. When he coughs in the same way Cecily often does, Joanna starts to suspect that her mother is under an NDA and wants to use the spell on her instead. Esther disagrees, and they successfully lift Collins’s NDA. He tells them that his name is Nick and that he was recruited (then extorted with threats of harm to his friends and sister) by Richard because he can hear magic. He used to do security for the Boston collective that Lisa and Tansy belong to. Collins says that Maram had a plan to end the Library and showed him a picture of her with an infant. Nicholas suddenly notes that Esther resembles Maram, and Collins tells them that the Scribe-seeking spell had located “someone else to bleed, someone else to kill. And the person he’s found was Maram’s daughter” (318).