Heart of a Dragon (41 page)

Salvatore glanced up, as if he knew they were talking about him, and smiled.
 
Donovan shook his hand as well, and then he showed the two of them out.
 
When the door had closed behind them, he went to his desk and pulled out a metal tube.
 
He tucked the painting into it carefully, then sealed the end with a black cap.
 
Once it was secure, he breathed on the cap and repeated the incantation he'd used on the ribbon.

He walked to the left hand shelf of the center cabinet of his library and gripped the fourth book from the right on the bottom shelf.
 
The entire unit slid out.
 
Behind it was a safe door.
 
He carefully worked the combinations on the three locks securing it, and the door swung open.
 
Inside was a solid block of black stone – obsidian – with round holes drilled into it.
 
He tucked the tube into one of the slots.
 
About half of them were already filled with similar tubes.
 
The painting slid in easily.
 
Donovan closed and sealed the door and swung the shelf back into place.

With a sigh, he turned away.
 
The image of the city and it's colored spheres pulsed in the back of his mind.
 
He shook his head to clear it, walked to his bar, and poured two fingers of strong brandy, which he carried back to his desk.
 
Cleo jumped up beside the pile of documents he'd been cataloguing.

Donovan ruffled the cats fur and gazed into her eyes.

"You know, don't you?" he asked.
 
"You know what he would paint, and what he would see."

Cleo didn't answer.
 
She sat back on her haunches and began washing her forepaw as if bored.

Donovan chuckled and went back to work.
 
He knew he'd have to start researching soon.
 
He had to gather all the references on
Worldwalkers
he could find and get them to Martinez.
 
Something told him he had not heard the last of Salvatore Domingo Sanchez.

He wondered what it would be like to talk to a dragon.