“He can,” the boy, Christoph said, keeping his eyes glued to Solomon’s face. “Let him go.”
“Thanks,” Solomon said easily. “That job offer is still open if you want it.”
He nodded at Christoph, smiled at the others and walked on. Behind him were loud whispers, then Christoph’s voice.
“Hey, mister! Wait. What kind of job?”
“Easy, really.” Solomon turned and walked back to the kids. “I need to find a couple of people. The first one is a man who stole some things from me. My sword and my pack.”
“I don’t know.” Christoph hesitated. “I mean…if this guy could take things from you, then he’d be dangerous to us…”
“Oh, he is. I don’t want you, any of you, going near him. Just if you see him, tell me where, and I’ll get my stuff back.”
One of the other kids laughed. “How you gonna do that? He already took it once.”
“Yeah, well,” Solomon ran his hand over his head and grinned sheepishly. “There were three of them, and they got me while I was delirious. Plague rat bite.”
The eyes of all the kids grew large in their faces.
“You got bit by a plague rat?”
“How are you still alive?”
“Did it hurt?”
“Did you kill it?”
Solomon laughed at the flurry of questions.
“Tell you what,” he said. “Help me find my stuff, and I’ll buy you lunch. You’ll have to show me where we can do that, too. Then I’ll tell you the story. And then, I’ll pay your toll. Deal?”
“Deal.” Christoph spit on his hand and stuck it out. Solomon grinned at the gesture and did the same. “Now, look for someone carrying a sword. Chances are, it’s mine. I’m going to keep going this way, then I’ll come back along the next street and so on. Can you find me?”
“We know this place better than anyone,” Christoph boasted. “We’ll find you.”
They took off running with several backward glances at him, heads turning back to yell to each other. Solomon laughed softly and continued up the street. If this worked, he’d do as he promised, then see if he could enlist the kids to help him find Celia as well.
Chapter 41
“What happened back there?” Thaddeus asked.
“I couldn’t get into her mind. It was like there was an iron shield around her thoughts,” Melanie answered.
“That’s weird, isn’t it?”
“Very. Unique as far as I know. I’ve never encountered anything like it before.”
“Well, not much we can do about it. We told her, now it’s up to her.”
“You know she’s not going to do anything. Jocasta apparently has her own plans.”
“Mmm, but what are they?” Thaddeus mused. He turned fully to Melanie. “We seriously need to think about what we’re going to do. Even you having control of Malachi isn’t enough. He’s told us that whatever is going on, it’s already happening at Glittering Birch.”
“Do we need to go there?” Melanie said.
“Maybe. To what end, though? If we’re going on a simple reconnaissance mission, that’s one thing. If we’re going to try to stop whatever it is, that’s something else entirely.”
“We won’t know what we’re trying to stop until we see it, right? I think that’s our first step.”
“I wish you could get it from Malachi.”
“Me too, but there’s no way. The risk is too great. Whatever it is, he’s holding it deep. I don’t think anyone knows other than him, and he’ll fight against me digging it out.”
“But he can’t break free, right?” Thaddeus hated hearing Melanie talk about Malachi fighting. If he was to get free of her control, before they were ready, Thaddeus had no illusions about what would happen to the two of them.
“No,” Melanie said. “He’s actually gone pretty quiet. He fought me for a good while, but I kept pushing him down. He’s tired now but trying to probe too deep would bring him around. Maybe I could do it, but I don’t think we should take the chance.”
“You’re the expert,” Thaddeus said. “Whatever you think best.”
They walked along in silence for a few moments.
“Ahhh!” Thaddeus broke the quiet by taking a deep breath and letting loose a satisfied sigh. “Much better! I feel like I can breathe up here! If nothing else, at least we’re living better!”
Melanie slipped her arm into his. “It is nicer. I never hated the tunnels as much as you did, but yeah…this is better.”
The upper part of the House was designed so that almost every hall and room had windows that looked out onto stunning mountain vistas. Peaks towering into the sky, laden with snow. Ranges falling away into the distance and blue sky stretching away forever.
Thaddeus missed the Greenweald and the trees. He always would. But there was something to be said for this. It was truly magnificent.
The views from their room were equally grand, including from the luxurious bath, with hot water that flowed into a large tub as if by magic. Thaddeus almost chuckled at that thought. Of course, it was by magic.
He didn’t even have such quarters in the main tree of the Whispering Pines compound. For that matter, neither did Florian. Say what you would about Malachi, the man did have an eye for the finer things in life.
Thaddeus wondered where Malachi came from. Given his desire for revenge against those that held higher stations, it would seem that he came from a lesser House. Or, even lower, one of the servant classes. Whichever it was, he obviously was now indulging in every privilege he could imagine.
He smiled at Melanie, glad to be “home,” and reached for the door handle.
His first warning that something was wrong came from the creak the wooden door gave out before he even touched it. Then Melanie
