He didn’t stick around longer. That inspector had stared at him a bit too long for his comfort. As curious as he was, he didn’t want to get wrapped up with the constables.
So he went back to the Gadgeterium and closed things up. He checked in on Essin—sleeping fitfully—and focused his energy on preparing dinner. Raych came home from the bakery, carrying little Corsi, and he kissed them both and ate quietly. Raych told him about her day, but his attention was on the empty chair and plate where Asti should be sitting.
They finished and cleaned up, and the sun had definitely set into night. He played with Corsi and then settled the boy down to sleep.
Asti still hadn’t returned.
He had waited enough.
“What do you intend to do?” Raych asked him when he started getting dressed.
“Don’t try to tell me not to go,” he said.
“I’m not,” she said. “But I am going to say, don’t go stupidly.” She got up from the bed, pulling her dress on.
“You’re not coming.”
“Don’t you tell me what I’m not doing,” she said. “But whatever we do, we’re going to do it smart.” She pointed to the statue, sitting in the corner of the room. “You think that’s a part of all this, right?”
“Right,” he said.
“So, whatever we do, keeping that secure has to be a part of it. Right?”
She was spot on about that. “Right. Plus we need to remember that Essin is sleeping in the next apartment.”
“You don’t trust him, right?”
“Not a bit, but I believe his story. And I doubt he’ll live to Terrentin.”
“All right, let’s think about his story. He went to . . . who was it?”
“Ren Poller.”
“Someone he trusted. But he was mixed up in this business, too. So we need to think. What are we going to do? Are you planning on going into the tunnels alone?”
He actually had, but she was right. “No, of course not.”
“So who are you going to ask to help you?”
Names rattled through his head. Plenty of people he could call on. Helene and Julien. Helene had made herself scarce of late, spending her nights with Lieutenant Covrane, and Verci wouldn’t take Julien on something like this alone. Jared Scall had been walking around with his mace, hungry for a chance to use it. Jhoqull and her cousins. Going into the tunnels with a small army of Ch’omik warriors definitely had its appeal. He could even go over to campus, get Mila.
But did he trust them? Trust them not to be . . . compromised, like Poller was? He wanted to. He thought he ought to be able to. But Essin’s story gave him pause.
The shop bell rang below.
“Who is at the door?” Raych asked.
“That’s a very good question.” No one should be ringing the shop at this hour, though Verci had to think about what might happen if things went wrong underground. What if the Thorn or his scrawny friend were the only ones who got out? Wouldn’t they come, and ring the bell?
Raych went over to the peek mirror he had set up in the apartment and had a look. “Well, that’s odd.”
“What?”
“It’s a cloistress.”
“For real?” Verci asked.
“Well, that’s how she’s dressed.”
Verci grabbed three darts and palmed them. “Stay here, lock behind me.”
“For a cloistress?”
“Just be safe.”
He went down the stairs to the front door, leaving the floor bolt in place as he opened it. Unless she was as strong as Julie, she wouldn’t be able to force the door open more than the crack he was allowing.
As Raych said, a cloistress—young blond girl. She was staring at him with intense, disturbing eyes.
“Can I help you?”
“Blessed Saint Terrence! Builder and toymaker! Savior of children!”
“I, er . . . well, I make toys, but, I don’t know about . . .”
“You do, blessed saint. And that is such vital important work. I know—I know right now you want to turn your eye to other work, but it is not yet time.”
“I . . . what do you mean?”
“Terrentin is coming, dear saint,” she said, tears coming to her eyes. “And soon you will bless the world with your toys. But right now, no, it is not the time. Now you need to be here, doing this work.”
Verci had no idea what to say to that. Who was this girl?
“But—”
“Trust in God, good saint. Wait for the time, it will be clear.”
She nodded and walked off. Verci shut the door and latched it, then went back up.
“What did she want?” Raych asked.
“To spook the blazes out of me, I think,” Verci said. “And . . . it worked.” He took his boots off. “I . . . I think I need to wait here for now.”
Somehow, that made him feel calm, at least for a moment. That he was making the right choice.
He just hoped Asti could wait.
Chapter 15
ASTI WAS OUT OF CHOICES. Big magic machine, the gears and gimbals spinning. Mage so powerful, it was terrifying this kid out of his mind. No less than ten creatures, misshapen horrors that might have once been men. Asti remembered what Tarvis had said. Skin his knives couldn’t get through. Was that what these were? Unkillable monsters.
“All right,” Asti told Delmin. “You’re a mage, right?”
“I mean, yes, but—”
“I don’t want to hear you saying ‘but.’ You are, yes?”
“Not a good one.”
“Kid,” Asti said. “You’re good in school, right?”
“Top marks.”
“Well, this is your exam.” Asti snuck a peek back at the machine chamber. Fortunately, the beasts and the mage had their attention on the machine. “We’re going to slip our way out here, behind the machine to the tunnel we came in, and you’re going to get us up there fast. Got it?”
“And what if they see us?”
“Then I’m going to start taking those bastards down, and you’re going to get us
