'The bad news is that if the Seventh Court find out it's you and not the Remembrancer that ensures the continuity of the ceremony-'
She folded her arms as if a chill had suddenly taken her, looking from Blackbird to me. 'Then I'll be next.'
SIXTEEN
Claire stood in the office, her arms held tightly around her. Despite her years of service, the reality of her role was only just hitting home.
'We have to go, Claire,' said Blackbird.
'What can I do?' she asked.
'Maybe you could stay with some friends until this blows over?'
'I can't leave the office. What about the police? What about Jerry?'
'I don't think he's coming back,' she suggested gently.
'What if they come here, after me?'
'Don't be here. They don't know you're involved and we won't tell them, but if they figure it out or if they get it from Jerry…'
'He wouldn't tell them.'
'He may not have a choice. He won't be able to lie to them.'
'I can't leave.'
'There's no one to be clerk for, Claire. Either he comes back from wherever it is he's gone to or…'
'Or what?'
'Or he doesn't. You have to make sure the ceremony happens in either case. Otherwise things will get worse, not better.'
'There are arrangements that will need to be made.'
'Then make them. We'll be in touch when we know whether the knife can be fixed. In the meantime don't take strange phone calls and spend as little time alone as you can.'
'I don't have anyone I can… That is…'
'Don't go where you're expected to go. Find somewhere else, someone else. Don't be alone.'
'I don't have anyone…'
'Then find someone.'
Blackbird's words came out harsh, but well meant. Claire's expression clearly said it wasn't as easy as Blackbird made it sound, but she simply nodded, accepting the principle.
'You need to take this with you.' Claire retrieved the dark wooden box with the knives from the side table and passed it to Blackbird who accepted it reluctantly.
'Take care of yourself,' Blackbird advised, slipping the box into her shoulder bag and zipping the bag closed so it wouldn't fall out.
'I'll try.'
Blackbird ushered me through the outer office and into the corridor.
'Will she be OK?' I asked Blackbird.
She didn't answer my question, but marched ahead, out of Claire's earshot, leading the way down the steep stairway. She was down the steps and halfway across the entrance hall towards the exit before she spoke.
'Claire will be fine until the Seventh Court work out it's the clerk that's keeping the ceremony going, at which point she won't be fine.'
We pushed through the exit gate across from the security station and stepped back through the entrance into the afternoon sunlight.
'We need to get the knife fixed before they work it out,' she said. 'At the moment they think they've won. They've eliminated the Remembrancer and they think the barrier is breaking down.'
'It is breaking down.'
'If the ceremony is performed successfully with the proper knives then it will reinforce the barrier. Meanwhile, the Council will realise that we know what they've done.'
'The Council?'
'The rulers of the courts form the High Council of the Feyre. It's where they resolve disputes between the courts and discuss issues that affect them all. It doesn't have any powers over the individual courts. But if they entered into an agreement with humanity then they did it together. No single court could speak for all of them.'
'We still don't know for sure that's what they did.'
'Yes we do.'
'We know they needed humanity to make the barrier, but we still don't know what the deal was, do we? Let's say humanity agreed to perform the ritual and carried it out for eight or nine hundred years. Why? What's in it for them? They don't even know the Feyre exist. Even Claire only knows part of it.'
'That's the point, isn't it?'
'What is?'
'That's the deal. Don't you see?'
'What are you talking about?'
'It's all around us. Humanity goes its own sweet way while the Feyre sit back and let them. That was the deal, coexistence in return for security, peace in return for maintaining the barrier.'
'You're guessing.'
'Only partly. I've sat and listened to Kareesh's tales of how it was before. I know that when they first encountered humans, the Feyre made sure they knew whose land they were in. They hunted them, kidnapped their children, terrified them and murdered them in their beds. By the time the Feyre had finished with them they were literally afraid of the dark. Something changed, though. I always thought it was because there were so many humans and the Feyre were dwindling. No matter how many humans the Feyre scared off there were always more. Now I know different. This is what changed. They made a deal and they will know we have found them out. They won't like that. We could make some very powerful enemies.'
'But if we don't fix the knife-'
'Then the barrier will fall. The Seventh Court will break through and Raffmir's sister will get her wish.'
'So we have to fix it. If we don't fix it then the Untainted will come for everyone; us, my daughter, my wife.'
'Ex-wife,' she reminded me.
'We can't let that happen, even if it means the Council turning against us. Kareesh said that if I found the thing that was lost then I would have a place in the courts, didn't she?'
'Something like that.'
'That's what she said,' I protested.
'She said it was the sight of something to secure your place in the courts. She didn't say you'd live to enjoy it.'
'It's a better option than the certain knowledge of what the Seventh Court will do if the barrier falls.'
'Perhaps.'
'Who knows, maybe the Council will be grateful and reward us?'
'I can tell that you've never had any dealings with the courts.'
That was true, but I knew from corporate experience that the gratitude of those further up the hierarchy was unreliable at best.
'Do you have a better idea?'
'I guess not,' she sighed.
'Then we have to figure out where we can hire a car.'
'A car? What do you want a car for?'
'To get to Shropshire. It's two hundred miles, near enough. How did you think we were going to get there? I don't think the Underground goes as far as Shrewsbury.'
