The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2
The Angel's Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Contents
Act Three - The Angel’s Game — Chapter 15
Overview
David leaves Valera’s house and follows a lead to the Pueblo Nuevo cemetery workshops. In Sanabre & Sons he discovers a towering angel matching the emblem he has seen before and, at its feet, his own gravestone. A black-suited boy summons him to meet a mysterious lady in the Somorrostro shantytown. The discovery and summons escalate the conspiracy closing in on David’s life.
Summary
Leaving the Valera mansion in darkness, David Martín rides a near-empty tram toward the Pueblo Nuevo Cemetery, retracing routes from his youth. He disembarks early and skirts the graveyard walls, fending off stray dogs as he heads down a narrow alley lined with stonemasons’ workshops.
At Sanabre & Sons, David blasts open the chained grille and enters a shadowed nave filled with half-finished marble figures. Behind a draped tableau he finds a monumental angel, its smiling face matching the emblem he has previously seen. At the statue’s feet lies a gravestone carved with his name and dates: “DAVID MARTÍN 1900–1930,” a chilling premonition of his death.
A familiar black-suited boy—who had tailed David weeks earlier—appears and calmly tells him “the lady will see you now.” David, unafraid, follows the boy out toward the beach and through the desolate Somorrostro settlement, observed warily by its impoverished inhabitants.
The boy leads David to a shabby shack as the moon vanishes behind clouds. With the sea’s darkness pressing in and the camp’s smoke thick in the air, David steps inside to meet the unnamed lady, the next turn in the tightening web around him.
Who Appears
- David MartínProtagonist; breaks into Sanabre & Sons, discovers a giant angel and his own gravestone, then follows a summons to Somorrostro.
- Black-suited boySilent messenger who previously tailed David; appears to summon him to meet a mysterious lady and guides him through Somorrostro.