Live and Let Drood: A Secret Histories Novel by Simon R. Green Page A

stand cautiously. Molly stuck close behind, all but treading on my heels. The book looked as though it had been deliberately set out and arranged. (I was reminded of Alice in Wonderland, and wondered if I should look for a sign saying READ ME . As a kid, I never liked Alice. Far too spooky.) I leaned in close to study the open pages, careful not to touch anything. I read for some time, fascinated. I could feel Molly hovering impatiently behind me.
    “What? What?” said Molly, when she couldn’t stand the suspense one moment longer. “What the hell is it?”
    “It’s about the Maze,” I said. “This is a history of the Drood family hedge Maze.”
    “Maze?” said Molly. “What bloody Maze?”
    I finished reading, shuddered briefly and then made myself smile condescendingly as I turned back to Molly. Partly so she wouldn’t get too upset, and also because I knew that particular smile drove her crazy.
    “This book tells you all you need to know, and some things you’d be better off not knowing, about the massive hedge Maze standing in the Drood grounds,” I said with exaggerated patience. “It covers half an acre. You must have noticed it.…”
    “Don’t you get snotty with me, Eddie. I know where you’re ticklish. All right, you’ve got a Maze! Big deal! Whoop-de-do! What makes it so special?”
    “The hedge Maze is one of the great mysteries of the Drood family,” I said, carefully not looking back at the open book. I still hadn’t decided whether it was a gift or a trap. “One of those disturbing bits of family history that just fell between the cracks and disappeared. The hedge Maze was put in place a long time ago, so long ago that no one now remembers who had it designed and constructed. Or why. There are indications the knowledge was deliberately suppressed at some point. All we know for sure is that the Maze was constructed to contain something really nasty. Too powerful for us to destroy, something so bad it could only be imprisoned…”
    “What could be so powerful that even your family couldn’t destroy it?” said Molly.
    “Good question,” I said. “No one alive today knows the answer.”
    “And you think this…evil thing is still trapped inside the Maze?”
    “Oh, I’m pretty sure it’s still in there. Every now and again the family takes someone they really don’t like and throws them in the Maze to see what happens. None of them ever come out again. And don’t look at me like that. If you knew the kind of people I’m talking about, you’d be first in line to kick their arses through the Maze entrance. And…when I had my near-death experience just recently…When I was wandering inside the Winter Hall, I looked out the top-floor window and saw something moving inside the Maze, raging back and forth, still trying to break out, after all this time.…”
    “I am being very patient,” said Molly. “Look! This is me being very patient! But if you don’t tell me why this is suddenly so important…”
    “Relax,” I said. “It’s the book. It describes exactly what we put inside the Maze and why. And I think…it’s something we can use.” I looked around the rows of silent stacks, holding dark shadows between them, and at the greater gloom that surrounded them, beyond the reach of Molly’s witchlight. Was Pook out there, perhaps? Being helpful? “But it’s not something I feel comfortable talking about in a place like this.”
    “But what is it?” said Molly. “What are we talking about?”
    “Moxton’s Mistake,” I said.
    Something moved out beyond the light. A cold breeze blew suddenly through the Old Library, disturbing air that hadn’t been breathed in centuries. Molly shuddered despite herself.
    “Okay, I can take a hint,” she said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
    There was the sound of something moving out in the dark. Something large and heavy.
    “Try the Merlin Glass,” Molly said quickly. “We’ve got to give it a trial run sometime,