“By every blessed saint,” Miss Nell said in a hoarse whisper. She walked over to the shelves, peering at the jars. “Are these dead animals? Is this a rat or a toad?”
Minox went to examine what she was looking at. In all honesty, the dead creature floating in the jar could be either one, or neither, or both at the same time.
“Some wicked business has been done here, that is certain,” he said.
“Magical experiments?” she offered. “They were the ones who had commissioned the rope and the cloak in the first place, and it was for some ceremony to create a creature of pure magic.”
That was interesting. “How so?”
“I don’t know, exactly, but—that was the bit with Lord Sirath wearing the dead rabbit on his head. Veranix stopped it and . . . well, they’re all gone now.”
“All except for Ithaniel Senek,” Minox said. On one of the tables he found a stack of journals, all of them with “I. Senek” emblazoned in gold lettering on the spine. Opening the top book, he found pages filled with notes and sketches and symbols.
“Who is he?” Miss Nell asked.
“He is why we came,” Minox said. He thumbed through the notebook, and on immediate inspection, most of what was written was beyond his understanding. “My partner rescued a group of kidnapped children who were to be delivered to him. You said you’ve read some Magic Theory, yes?”
“I’ve gleaned a little,” she said, looking over his shoulder. She stopped him from turning a page, mouthing out the complicated words on the page. “But this is nothing I’m familiar with.”
“Do you know anyone who would be able to make sense of this?”
“Professor Alimen?” she offered. Minox remembered that man screaming at him on campus last month.
“Not my preference.”
“Delmin, maybe,” she said. “I know a couple others who could really break it down, but they’re no longer in Maradaine.” She turned a few more pages, revealing anatomical sketches, drawings of human bodies with lines, circles, and equations highlighting specific points. Each drawing was more and more grotesque.
Minox glanced around the room in disgust. “Everything in here is evidence of some sinister action. I hadn’t thought this through. I . . .” He paced about, emotions churning in his gut. “I am a fool, clearly, thinking I had the tools, the knowledge, to investigate this on my own, outside the bounds of the law.”
“Inspector!” she said sharply. He turned to her, and she gestured to his hand.
It was glowing bright blue. He hadn’t been paying attention to his magic, letting it churn and embroil in him, bleeding out his hand.
“Sorry,” he said.
“No, don’t apologize,” she said. She pointed over to the tarp-covered shelves. There was a similar blue glow coming from underneath the tarp, and a scratchy, rattling sound came from underneath.
“That is decidedly unsettling,” Minox said, approaching the shelf. Miss Nell raised the sword as he pulled down the tarp.
Cages—five of them—occupied by monstrous creatures that were neither cat nor rabbit. All of them glowing blue. All of them were shuddering, like they were having some sort of seizure.
“Blessed Saints!” Miss Nell exclaimed. “What . . . what are they?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, noticing that his hand was glowing stronger, despite his attempts to pull in the magic flowing into it. “I think I’m affecting them. Or they’re affecting me.”
All five started smashing their heads against their cages. Minox jumped back, away from the shelf.
“Should we do something?” Miss Nell asked, daring to move closer. “They’re suffering.”
“They could be dangerous,” Minox said. “Or even diseased.”
She glanced at the tarp. “The dust on that, it’s covered the shelf for weeks. How are they even alive?”
“A disturbing mystery,” Minox said as the smashing of the cages grew louder. The doors of the cages were about to snap. “Miss Nell, move away.”
She stepped away, but only to grab a leather glove off one of the tables and put it on.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Something foolish,” she said.
One of the creatures broke out of its cage and leaped to the floor. She snatched it out of the air with her gloved hand. It shrieked and squealed, and attempted to bite her hand with its wild, misshapen teeth. Its blue glow grew more intense.
“What are you hoping to accomplish?” he asked.
She held it up, far enough from her face that its paws couldn’t reach her. “I’ve seen a lot of animals, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
He moved a bit closer, cautiously, and looked back to the dead creatures in the jar. The beast, whatever it was, seemed decidedly unnatural. Its left legs did not match its right. One ear was definitely lapin, while the other was feline. “It’s like two different animals were shoved into each other.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what it is,” she offered.
“Dark, twisted magic,” Minox said. “I wonder if we can safely bring this creature, and some of this other material, to the examinarian at my stationhouse.”
“I thought this couldn’t be used as evidence,” she said. “We’re outside the law.”
“We are, but Mister Leppin is the sort who would allow his curiosity to trump the statute. He might have insights we—”
The other cages all broke open, and the creatures bounded to the floor. Minox braced himself for an attack, but none came. Instead, all of the beasts scrambled to the same spot on the floor, and worked furiously at clawing and scratching the boards there.
“That’s very curious,” Miss Nell said. Belting the sword, she glanced around until she spotted a broom. “Get ready to check it out.”
With the one creature still in her gloved hand, she pounced at the others, broom at the ready, and swept them from the spot on the floor. She kept them away from the spot with well-placed bats, and Minox moved in quickly to the area of the floor that had their interest. A quick inspection revealed what was interesting about it: a trapdoor, almost imperceptible. Minox opened it up, revealing a dark stairwell going deep into a stone corridor.
The
