The Book of Doors
by Gareth Brown
Contents
The Plan, Part Three—Drummond and Cassie in the Shadows
Overview
Drummond and Cassie carry out the plan’s most harrowing reconnaissance by slipping into the shadows and following the gray-mist woman back into the past. They relive the auction massacre from concealment, then trail the woman to a remote house where she kills two men with horrifying ease. Before leaving, the woman reveals a crucial lead by storing multiple books in a basement safe, giving Cassie and Drummond a target—at a steep emotional cost to Cassie.
Summary
Drummond wrestles with dread as the team prepares for the most unsettling part of their plan: secretly following the gray-mist woman to learn what she has and where she keeps it. Cassie comes to his room before their meeting time, and they admit they are both afraid but agree to begin before they lose their nerve.
In the hotel bar, Izzy, Lund, and Azaki wait anxiously. Izzy hugs Cassie and warns both Cassie and Drummond to keep Cassie safe. Cassie then opens a door with the Book of Doors to a point in time just before the auction attack, far enough from the ballroom to hide. Drummond explains that to bring Cassie into the shadows, she must hold his hand and not let go, or she will fall back into the real world.
Hand in hand, Cassie and Drummond step into the past and Drummond pulls them into the shadows, where everything becomes gray and muffled. From the side of the ballroom they watch the massacre replay: people die, the Bookseller flees, Okoro is destroyed, Diego is killed with a gun, and Izzy’s illusion leads to Cassie’s past self panicking and escaping. Drummond watches his earlier self dissolve into his own shadows.
Cassie spots the woman leaving, and Drummond follows by gripping the woman’s shoulder from within the shadows so they are carried along with her. They trail her through the night as she drives for hours, silent except for the engine and the woman’s occasional glance in the rearview mirror. The woman arrives at a house surrounded by woods, brings two men inside, and leads them into the basement while Cassie urges action and Drummond insists they can only observe to learn what they need.
In the basement, Drummond and Cassie witness the woman murder both men: one is swallowed by the concrete floor and suffocates, and the other melts into a foamy liquid on a mattress. Cassie panics and tries to break away from Drummond’s grip, and at the peak of the struggle the woman suddenly turns and looks directly toward them, making Drummond fear she senses their presence. The moment passes, and Cassie—crying and shaken—watches as the woman opens a safe containing three books and adds more books from her purse before locking it again; Drummond asks if this is enough information, and Cassie numbly agrees that they have seen more than enough.
Who Appears
- Drummond FoxLeads Cassie into the shadows, tails the woman, forces himself to watch killings to learn her secrets.
- CassieUses the Book of Doors to reach the past, holds Drummond’s hand in the shadows, is traumatized by what she sees.
- The gray-mist womanTarget of surveillance; revisits the ballroom aftermath, drives to a woods house, kills two men, stores books in a safe.
- IzzySees Cassie and Drummond off, warns them to keep Cassie safe, jokes about them holding hands.
- AzakiWaits with the group at the hotel bar as Cassie and Drummond depart on their shadow mission.
- LundPresent at the bar with Izzy and Azaki, anxiously awaiting Cassie and Drummond’s move.
- OkoroSeen again in the shadow replay of the ballroom, being destroyed by the woman.
- DiegoSeen in the ballroom replay as a victim, killed with a gun during the chaos.
- The BooksellerSeen fleeing during the shadow replay of the ballroom attack.