I had one last large gulp. He hadn’t noticed back at the river. Crap. I should have mentioned it to him, but I was so worried about escaping, I hadn’t even thought about it. “I took it off.”
“Well, you better hide it in the hole. I don’t want to be looking for it when the Libratiers get here.”
I didn’t want to tell him but I had to. “It isn’t here.”
His brows became heavy, and he closed his eyes. “Where is it?”
“I lost it in the river.”
Greer’s hands shot into his hair, and he snorted in disbelief. “We are running from the most powerful people in the world, and you are leaving clothes like a trail straight to you. Do you want them to find you?” He paused his whispered rant. I heard nothing at first, but then I caught the light crunching and crinkling of leaves being trampled. People were walking on the ground above us.
We were at the shelf at the same time. I slid my body into the tunnel feet first, Greer next to me, and the shelf closed. My foot tapped on a glass. Greer must have thrown in our empties before we went in. I held my breath.
Through a small crack in the wood of the shelves, I saw a soldier crawl down into the cellar. I flipped my sunglasses into my hair so I could get a better look. It was Hincho. My heart fell as my teacher said, “They won’t be in here. Whoever kidnapped Waverly knew a thing or two. Medford is too close to the city. Why in the world would they go to Medford?”
“She’s probably dead in the river. Either that or they’ll ransom her off, one finger at a time,” a man said as he entered the cellar behind him.
Hincho grabbed the man by his collar. “Watch your mouth before I knock your teeth out. That girl you’re talking about isn’t just some Merric to me.”
“Settle down, boys.” A woman entered the cellar. “No one’s dumb enough to ransom off a Merric to the Merrics. Everyone knows what they can do. Only a person with a death wish would do that.”
“Death wish?” the other man replied. “You know they won’t be lucky enough to die.”
So I’ll see you in Hell, in Hell if we’re lucky enough to die. My body shook. I felt like a fool. Everyone knew more about the Merrics than me.
“Hey, grab a jar of that pickled herring. Old man Epps said it was the best in the county,” the man replied.
The woman went to pilfer a jar, and Hincho grabbed her wrist. “There’s a full meal back at L’Autre Bête. They have a chef back at the palace making dinner for the crew.”
Dinner at the castle had to be better than any pickled fish. She shook her head at him. “Let’s see who is still alive when we get back. Considering you were so close to her, you aren’t exactly off the list, Hincho.”
Through cackled laughs, the other man added, “Shows you. All those years of bragging about taking care of the long-lost princess and here you are, same as the rest of us, checking out every stinkin’ cellar, every attic. Royal guard. Well, look at you now. You’ll be lucky if they shoot you.”
Lucky enough to die. Naugle, Hincho, Wilbur, Doc, Manon, and Enzo. They were in danger from something worse than death. I felt horrible but could I sacrifice myself to protect them? Because that was what would happen. If I jumped out from behind the shelf, I’d save them all, but then what? They were, to some extent, in cahoots with Bollard. If Hincho found me, he’d take me back to Bollard, and I’d never escape again. They would kill the man for helping me. I didn’t know how much of Bollard’s plan the people at L’Autre Bête were privy to, but I had to assume they knew about Bollard's powers and his plans to use mine, whatever they were.
Still, the thoughts of what would happen to them haunted me. Bollard was a terrible person. Would Claudette finally be able to attack Manon? I hoped Manon had at least been able to get far enough away from Rudolf so that Bollard wouldn’t find out. Because poor Rudolf would be the fruit fly in the kitchen. And Enzo. Would Enzo be tortured for making the plans to meet with the king? Would his intestines be liquefied? I couldn’t stand thinking of him suffering like that.
Doc? What would they do to him? Doc worked with the Merrics, but I was sure he didn’t want whatever Bollard had planned to happen. He said I needed a hero, and I hoped I had one.
All of this because one stupid dinner with a man I thought was my uncle. I rolled my ring around my finger. Grandma, what have you gotten me into?
The man pushed past Hincho and shuffled three jars into his arms. “I say we grab the fish just in case. We’ll finish them off before we get back. No need to share.”
A beep went off and Hincho spoke. “Yeah, what do you want, Naugle?”
Static, and then Naugle answered, “We have a positive hit in the river.”
“What was that?”
Oh crap!
“Found her robe floating downstream.”
Hincho’s face was a sickly mess. I worried him; I wasn’t just a job. He solemnly nodded to the other soldiers.
Sadness washed over me. He was sincerely concerned I was dead.
A real part of me wanted to reach out to Hincho and tell him I was all right. Let everyone know I was all right, and to just take me home to Barton where we could get life back on track, but Bollard would never let that happen.
Boots scrambled up the ladder, and the door shut. To be safe, we stayed in the hole in case they came back.
“I was drowning in my robe.”
“You need to tell me things like that and not as an afterthought. Is there anything else I should know?” Greer’s voice
