The west hall is already burning before I make the stairs Smoke packed low steel ringing somewhere above I hit the archive door shoulder first Locked Again Wood splits Heat rolls out hard enough to make me turn my face Shelves are going fast Then I see one page lying clean in the middle of the floor Not curled Not black Not even warm I grab it Bad idea The ink moves Not across the page Away from my hand Burn the words break the seal Leave them nothing they can steal Let the pages turn to smoke let the names disappear But one line keeps crawling where the fire can't reach Like something learned long ago how not to be seen Boots hit the corridor Too many Page inside my coat table on its side steel in my hand First man through loses his grip Second hits the wall Third one doesn't have a face Just black cloth stretched over something moving underneath Great One of those I duck the blade drive mine under the ribs The cloth splits A mouth opens in its chest And starts speaking words against my skin Words I haven't read yet The page turns hot Letters crawl beneath my coat It knows I'm carrying it So do they BACK THROUGH THE FIRE MOVE DON'T LET THEM TOUCH ME CUT LEFT STAIR'S GONE WINDOW NOW SMOKE IN MY LUNGS BLOOD IN MY EYES KEEP MOVING LET THE ROOM BURN LET THEM DIG THROUGH ASH I hit the courtyard hard Roll Come up limping Something catches my coat Paper tears Half stays with me Half in his hand We both look down Mine twists into circles angles numbers His goes black Then starts bleeding through his glove He screams I don't wait to see why Steel through the throat Keep moving Burn the words break the seal Leave them nothing they can steal Let the pages turn to smoke let the names disappear But one line keeps crawling where the fire can't reach Like something learned long ago how not to be seen At dawn the page won't hold still The letters bend then disappear A number sits where a word had been Then that changes too I look up Nobody seems surprised The old man folds it once Then twice "Remember what you saw." "Which part?" He smiles. "Exactly." Burn the words break the seal Let the fire take what looks real Leave a mark then hide the hand Let one meaning wear another skin I hold the page against the light Nothing there Then tilt it And something moves along the edge Ash on my hands One black line still clean right in the margin.
