Agents of the Glass by Michael D. Beil Page A

clearest, brightest, most perfectly defined
lumen
that anyone has observed since Abeniz Caiotte in the fourteenth century.”
    “But…is that…Does that really prove that she’s, you know, evil? Maybe it was—”
    Martin cut him off. “No offense, kid, but this is eight hundred years of experience talking. I know a
lumen
when I see one, and I know what it means.”
    “There is other evidence,” added Mr. Nakahara softly.
    “That’s right,” added Reza. “The dogs.”
    Bewildered, Andy could only shake his head and ask, “Dogs?”
    “I’ll bring her in,” said Billy, opening the door to another room. “Penny! Come on, girl.”
    Penny, white with copper-colored speckles and spots, ambled into the room, her tail wagging wildly.
    “Andy, meet Penny, your new best friend,” said Silas. “As promised.”
    Andy kneeled, laughing as she licked his face. “She’s beautiful. She’s really…mine?”
    “Absolutely. She’s no ordinary dog,” said Mrs. Cardigan. “She may be a mutt, but she has a pedigree of a different and more important kind, one that goes back to the days of Brother Lucian himself.”
    “There were always stray dogs hanging around the church,” Silas explained, “hoping for scraps of food. One day, Lucian noticed that whenever the first Syngian, Leveraux, was around, all the dogs would scatter—all but one, that is. That dog, named Argos, got very agitated every time he saw Leveraux, but he wouldn’t leave. The hair on his back went up, and he bared his teeth, snarling viciously.”
    “Lucian was fascinated by the coincidence,” said Mrs. Cardigan. “Over the years, he learned that Argos acted the same way around
anyone
with the
lumen.
Argos became an important tool in identifying Syngians, but the problem was—and
is
—that only a few dogs in a million have this gift. They are even rarer than people who can see the
lumen
with the glass. Adding to the problem, they’re
always
mutts, which makes them even harder to locate. We have people constantly checking shelters for spaniel-setter mixes, because many of their bloodlines go back to England and France, and the dogs with the gift tend to look a lot like Penny. For all we know, she may be a direct descendant of Argos.”
    “But…if she’s so valuable, why are you…” Andy’s bewilderment seemed to have multiplied. “What am I…”
    “For the moment, you are going to take excellent care of her. Get to know each other. In a few days, Silas will instruct you to take her for a walk in Central Park; someone will meet you there and go over the training with you. Penny isn’t fully trained yet, but she’s ready to start work out in the field. There will be times when you can’t use the glass—that’s where Penny comes in. She can pick Syngians out of a crowd, and there will be times when that is going to be extremely helpful. For now, though, the most important thing is for you two to get to know each other.”
    With a sigh, Mrs. Cardigan stuffed her knitting back into the tote. “I think that’s enough for today. It’s a lot to digest in one morning.”
    Andy pushed his chair back from the table. “What about Winter? What am I supposed to do about her?”
    “Pretty much the same thing you’re doing with Penny,” said Reza. “Get to know her. Get her to trust you. Hang around as much as you can, without being obvious.”
    “Just don’t trust her,” said Martin. “And for God’s sake, don’t fall in love with her.”
    “I’m not going to…Jeez! It’s like I’m on trial or something.”
    Martin’s dark eyes bored into poor Andy. “There’s no something about it. You
are
on trial.”
    “To be honest, we don’t know what NTRP has in store for Winter,” said Reza. “We’ve had our eyes on her for a long time, and we know there’s been contact with NTRP. They’re being very careful, but they must think that she’s ready to…Well, that’s what we need to find out.”
    “For now your job is simply to