Grath.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she fished out her key and opened the door to her and Emery’s temporary abode. Nothing had changed from that morning. Fennel looked up expectantly from the couch, where it appeared he had been sleeping.
“You keep quiet about this, boy,” Ceony said just above a whisper. She tugged Delilah inside, locked the door behind her, and led the way to the vanity room.
The room had remained untouched since Ceony had tucked the pieces of shattered glass into the three blind boxes. She left the door open and knelt by the first blind box, handling it with care.
“So, none of these are big enough for someone to pass through, right?” she said.
Delilah nodded. “Yes, he can’t come through anymore. At least not using this mirror.”
Ceony nodded. Opening the lid of the blind box, she carefully lifted one piece of the mirror out, an oblong triangle with sharp edges and one chipped corner. It measured just larger than her hand. She shut the blind box and handed the piece to Delilah.
Delilah turned it over in her hands, then set it on the floor. “I’ll do the spells, Ceony, but I don’t want him to see me.”
“He did, once. At the bistro.”
Delilah shuddered. “Well, I don’t want him to see me again.”
Ceony nodded. Delilah pressed her fingers to the glass, then scooted away so that the shard of mirror didn’t reflect her face. Ceony hovered over it instead, staring into her own reflection, shadowed and blue from the filtered light passing through the room’s window.
“Reflect, past,” Delilah ordered, and Ceony’s reflection changed to a wide view of the vanity room.
Ceony licked her lips. “It can show you what happened in this room before?”
Delilah nodded and whispered, “It’s handy for detective work. Magician Aviosky used to serve on the police force before transferring to Tagis Praff.”
“Really?”
Delilah nodded, then returned her focus to the work at hand. “Search, Ceony Small,” she said. To Ceony, she whispered, “Your compact. I named it so we could chat long distance.”
She smiled. “That’s sweet.”
“Reverse,” Delilah commanded the mirror, in a voice as bold as a mouse’s.
The image in the glass changed, and in it Ceony could see the foot of a bed and a wardrobe—the same room where Grath had stood before. Her makeup mirror must have been sitting in the middle of the mattress. She heard voices coming from the part of the room she couldn’t see and leaned in closer to the mirror so she could hear them better.
“Hold,” Delilah whispered.
“—can’t keep going behind my back!” Grath hissed. Ceony recognized his voice immediately.
She didn’t recognize the voice that responded, smooth as chocolate and with a strange accent that clipped most of his vowels and swallowed half his consonants: “How long have we been in England?” he asked, his voice quieter than Grath’s, more practiced. Ceony had to press her ear to the glass to hear, and her drumming heart only made it that much harder to listen. “We were supposed to sail for Gibraltar three months ago. Your plan, if you remember.”
“I’ve talked to wild dogs that make me repeat myself less than you do, Saraj.”
Ceony stiffened and glanced to Delilah, whose eyes widened until they shined more white than brown.
In her stupor, Ceony missed the first few words of Saraj’s response. “—lost interest now. You promised me a good game, but there’s no excitement here.” He paused. “Let’s get the bird gone and sail. I hear African blood makes for a strong aphrodisiac.”
She could sense the Excisioner’s smile. Her every limb shivered.
“I don’t want her dead!” Grath shouted. Ceony jerked back from the mirror shard, and Delilah nearly released it. “Not yet. We still—”
“Find yourself some new meat,” Saraj replied, tone darkening. “You’re on your own. I’m—”
“Shhh,” Grath hissed.
Saraj said nothing, and a moment later the view in the mirror changed, shifting to show the front of the wardrobe and the hinges on the room’s door. Grath had picked it up.
Ceony shouted into the mirror, hoping it would make Grath think she’d only just tapped into it. “Grath! Are you there?” she called. “I’ve got your magic. Let’s talk!”
To her relief, he chuckled. Gooseflesh instantly tickled her arms and legs. The image in the mirror shifted and darkened, revealing Grath’s face. His burn had completely healed. Had Saraj done that?
Delilah cowered, but kept her hands on the mirror. Grath blocked off the rest of the room behind him, including all signs of Saraj.
“And the little bird returns,” Grath said. His eyes shifted left and right, as though he were trying to peer past Ceony. “What Gaffer have you gotten to help you, hmm? Brave man.”
“It’s none of your concern,” Ceony snapped, talking louder than necessary to keep her voice from shaking. “I’m ready to negotiate.”
Grath laughed again. Ceony kept her face smooth, though she couldn’t help but purse her lips. She knew negotiating with a killer was worthless—she wasn’t completely dim-witted. Still, it could only be to her benefit if he thought her naïve. Naïveté seemed the strongest card Ceony had to play, and she knew how to cheat at cards.
“I admit I wasn’t expecting cooperation,” Grath said, pitching his voice low.
“I’m only cooperating if you leave Saraj Prendi out of the picture,” Ceony said. “This is between you and me.”
Grath frowned. A vein in his forehead popped and pulsed, and Ceony thought she heard the closing of a door behind him. Had the Excisioner left?
“That man is a real tosser,” Grath said, grinning wide enough to reveal his sharp canines, but that vein still throbbed in his forehead. His ears had turned red as well. “I’ll take care of him, pet. Don’t you worry. I don’t want you dead, not yet. Not when you still have information I need.”
Delilah whimpered. Ceony gestured for her to stay quiet.
“Good. I’m glad we’re already in agreement,” she said.
The vein on Grath’s forehead smoothed. “I’m listening. Talk.”
“Not that easy,” Ceony said. “I want a guarantee that Saraj leaves us alone. In fact, the farther away he goes, the better.” Gibraltar, Africa, I don’t care. Just get him away.
“Us?” Grath repeated. “You and Thane?”
“Us, as in everyone who lives here,” Ceony snapped. “Think outside the frame, Grath.”
He chuckled. “I get Saraj out, and you tell me your little secrets.”
“And I want you out, too,” Ceony said. “I’ll give you what you want, but I want you—and Lira—gone for good.” Preferably in a jail cell, if I can swing this right.
Grath hesitated for a moment, but said, “Done.”
Ceony tried to hide her surprise. Grath sounded sincere; would he and Saraj really leave if Ceony restored Lira? No, she didn’t even need to restore her, only tell Grath how she froze her in the first place. She didn’t think that information could be used for ill, at least not by a Gaffer.
What are you thinking? she chided herself. You can’t actually give that information away. Just make him beg for it long enough to expose his weakness.
At least it sounded like Saraj wanted to leave anyway. A small relief, albeit an uneasy one. Who would the Excisioner hurt next?
She turned the bargain over in her mind, kneading it like bread dough. Could she get Grath’s defenses down long enough to do him in?
“Having second thoughts?” Grath asked. “Too late to back out, dearie. We do this now, or I’ll have Saraj hurt you bad, you hear? You’ve got a family in town? Parents? A cute sister, maybe?”
Ceony’s heart hammered. Her chest felt cold. She swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to hide her frayed nerves, her panic. “Wh-Where is Lira?”
“I can take you there,” the Gaffer said. He backed off from the mirror by a few inches. “Tell me wh
ere you are.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Ceony countered. She pulled up Emery’s schedule from her memory—he had a meeting with Parliament again tomorrow, at one o’clock. Another meeting Ceony couldn’t attend. The timing was perfect.
“Tomorrow, after lunch,” she said. “I don’t like cooperating on an empty stomach. One thirty.”
Delilah’s eyes bugged. She tried to gesture something to Ceony without taking her hands off the mirror, but Ceony ignored her.
Grath chuckled. “There’s an abandoned barn outside of the city, south. If you take Hangman’s Road to the fork, and the dirt street west, you’ll see it. Off the road, at the base of the hills. Come by yourself, because if I so much as see a driver with you, I’ll find that blond piece from the restaurant and have some fun with her. Understand?”
Delilah paled, but thankfully didn’t break the spell.
Ceony cleared her throat before answering. “Clear as Gaffer’s glass. Same to you.”
Grath laughed again. “And what will a Folder do to me, hmm?”
“I’m more than a Folder, remember?” Ceony lied. She made a sharp gesture to Delilah, who whispered, “Cease.” Grath’s image vanished, and the mirror reflected only Ceony’s face.
Ceony scooped the shard of mirror off the floor and shoved it into the blind box, breathing like she had just run up ten flights of stairs.
“You can’t!” Delilah cried, tears on her eyelashes. “You can’t possibly meet with him! You have to tell the magicians!”
“And let you get hurt? Or my family?” Ceony shot back. “Do you think he was kidding about Saraj? I told you, Delilah, this is my fight now.” She wrung her hands together, trying to ignore the feeling of dripping oil inside her stomach. “I just have to be prepared.”
Delilah nodded. “Prepared, okay. We . . . we can do this.”
Ceony sat back, propping herself up with her hands, and thought for a long moment. “We need to outsmart him, and form a plan for if things don’t go well,” she said. “But if I can get rid of them, I’ll do it. I have to.”
“Can you set a trap?” Delilah asked. “Something . . . papery?”
Ceony perked up. “Can you take me to the cottage, Delilah? To Magician Thane’s house?”
Wrinkles creased her forehead. “What do you need there?”
“A giant glider,” Ceony said. “And a paper doll.”
CHAPTER 10
AFTER SPENDING THE NEXT hour mirror-hopping, Ceony and Delilah rushed back into the Parliament lobby, receiving several quizzical looks from the red-clad foot guards monitoring the hallways. Immense relief washed over Ceony at the sight of the closed doors. Mg. Hughes was speaking loudly on the other side. She sank into her red velvet chair to keep from getting dizzy.
Delilah scuttled to the other chair like a crab, moving sideways as she stared at the doors. They didn’t open, and Delilah sat without consequence.
Ceony leaned forward, seized Delilah’s wrist, and said, “Promise me you won’t say a word.”
“But—”
“Not a word!” she hissed, glancing back to the doors herself. Had she heard a chair scooting back, or was she imagining things? It didn’t matter. They would have no way of knowing what she and Delilah had been doing.
She took a deep breath. Knowing Emery, he’d pick up on something if she didn’t act completely calm. She could play up her frustration at being excluded from the meeting if need be.
Pinning her gaze on Delilah again, Ceony said, “Promise me.”
Delilah wilted. “I promise,” she mumbled. “Oh, Ceony, had I known you better at Praff, I never would have passed my final exam!” She hiccupped. “Now I have heartburn.”
The right door to the meeting room opened from within, and a man Ceony only knew as a Polymaker—a plastics magician—stepped out, his attention still on the room within. Empty chairs now surrounded the oval table, but magicians and several uniformed policemen clustered about it in twos and threes, mumbling to one another.
Scooting closer to Delilah, Ceony whispered, “Don’t forget tomorrow.”
Delilah rubbed her palms up and down her arms. “But where will we do it?”
“The lavatory,” Ceony said, glancing at the conference room. The clusters of people were beginning to break up and inch toward the door. “There’s a lock on the door in the lavatory, from the inside.”
Magicians began to filter into the lobby. Ceony snapped back from Delilah and smoothed her hair, noting that her braid looked a little tousled. A person didn’t get a tousled braid from sitting idly in a chair all morning long.
Would Emery notice? Ceony couldn’t help but wonder how much Emery noticed about her at all. Their conversation in the flat’s living room still sat uneasily with her.
She kept her eyes on the conference room doors, watching as Mg. Hughes stepped out into the foyer and started talking with another man she didn’t know. Mg. Cantrell—the Smelter who had interrogated Emery after the buggy crashed into the river—followed behind.
Delilah popped up from her chair like a spring, clutching her bag as if she had stolen it as Mg. Aviosky and Emery made their way over. Ceony resisted reaction—she prayed Delilah wouldn’t give them away with her body language alone.
“I apologize for the delay,” Mg. Aviosky said, glancing behind her shoulder to Mg. Hughes. “Some of us are especially long-winded.”
Ceony faked a yawn and covered it with a hand. “It was long, and those books are tiresome. I assume I’ll hear nothing of what you decided without me?”
Emery frowned—it only showed in his eyes—but before he could respond, Mg. Aviosky answered, “Correct, Miss Twill. The less you know, the safer you are. I’ll be sure to have you debriefed once things have been settled.”
Emery picked up Ceony’s stack of books and cradled them in the crook of one arm, then rested his other hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go back. We have some things to review.”
Mg. Aviosky cleared her throat, and Ceony noticed that her spectacles-framed gaze rested solidly on Emery’s hand. It quickly moved up to Emery’s face.
“If you don’t mind, Magician Thane, I’d like to speak to Ceony privately for a moment,” she said. “Only a moment.”
Ceony’s stomach dropped about half an inch. She feared she knew what Mg. Aviosky wanted to discuss and took great effort not to make eye contact with Emery.
Delilah looked worried.
“Very well,” Emery said, removing his hand. To Ceony he said, “I’ll be outside.”
“Delilah, if you’ll wait here,” Mg. Aviosky said as Emery left. “Miss Twill, this way.”
Ceony, stomach dropping a little more, followed two paces behind Mg. Aviosky. Ironically enough, they ended up in the women’s lavatory where Delilah had worked her magic just moments before.
Ceony made a point of not looking at the mirror. Mg. Aviosky gestured to the chair they’d used to scramble up the dresser. Ceony sat without word.
“When I assigned you to be a Folder,” Mg. Aviosky began, her hands clasped behind her back as she paced back and forth, “I debriefed you on the proper apprenticely conduct and what was expected of you once you began your employment under Magician Thane.”
Trying to keep her brow smooth, Ceony nodded.
“Perhaps there are a few things I forgot to mention,” Mg. Aviosky said, taking a moment to push her round-framed spectacles up higher on her nose. “Such as referring to a magician by his first name.”
Ceony flushed. “I . . . I didn’t mean to do it, it’s just—”
“I’ll tell you now that I do not like mixed sexes in magician-apprentice relationships,” Mg. Aviosky went on, “and I do not assign them unless I deem it necessary, which in your case, it was. Eleven of our twelve Folders are male, and the only female already has an apprentice.”
Ceony touched a hand to her cheek in a feeble attempt to cool it. In all her daydreams regarding Emery, nothing quite this humiliating had ever happened.
“I
believe you and Magician Thane are entirely too familiar with each other,” Mg. Aviosky continued, glancing at Ceony briefly before switching her focus to one of the lavatory’s ferns. “Which I do not credit entirely to you, Miss Twill. I’m not here to scold you, only to warn and protect you.”
Ceony slid forward on her chair. “Protect me? What exactly do you suspect Magician Thane would do?” She paled. “Mercy in heaven, have you spoken to him about this?”
“No, I have not,” the Gaffer clarified. “I wanted to speak with you first.”
Ceony released a long breath of air, offering silent thanks that she had been saved that embarrassment, at least.
She slumped in her chair, gaze dropping to the floor.
“Why do you do all of this for me, Ceony?”
“You know why.”
She swallowed hard, feeling like a stroke of paint on a canvas far too large for her to comprehend.
Mg. Aviosky said, “I think it’s in your best interest—and Magician Thane’s—if I transfer you.”
Ceony’s stomach sunk to her ankles.
“I’ve seen to the arrangements,” Mg. Aviosky continued. “Magician Howard’s apprentice isn’t expected to advance until the end of the summer, but she’s agreed to take on a second apprentice in order to boost our Folder numbers. I think you’ll find her to be very amicable, and—”
“I don’t want to transfer,” Ceony interrupted, her brow thoroughly knit now. “I told you before that I want to continue learning from Magician Thane.”
Mg. Aviosky frowned. “And as I’ve said, you two are far too familiar with each other. I see things you don’t think I see—”
“Like what?” Ceony blurted, standing.
“And as the administrator of apprenticeships,” she continued, “I am making the decision to transfer you, once I finalize the arrangements and speak to—”
“Of course I’m familiar with him!” Ceony said, raising her voice and cutting off Mg. Aviosky’s words clean at the preposition. “I live with him! I learn from him! I’ve walked through his heart, Aviosky! You know that!”
The Glass Magician Page 10
