Lina just shrugged. Keely’s questions were not ones she cared to answer. The girl might have persisted, but Teddy came into the dining room at that moment, and headed for a chair across the table from Lina’s, calling out greetings to everyone.
“I hope there’s still some food left,” he said, gazing at the depleted but not yet emptied platters. “I was afraid I’d missed breakfast altogether.”
“Not quite, but almost,” Lina said with a smile, relieved that he’d interrupted the questioning. He steadied the platter with the stump of his arm while using his hand to scoop food onto his plate from the platters shoved toward him. Good. He was learning how to cope with having only one hand. Lina relaxed and finished her breakfast while the children’s attention turned away from her and onto Teddy.
“Can you really change into a coyote?” Conlin asked. “Is that how you got into the mine yesterday? That’s what Torby told us, but I don’t believe it.”
“You don’t think a peacekeeper would lie to you, do you?” Teddy asked. Even spoken around a mouthful of toast, his words carried a teasing tone.
It was Petrus who responded with a bitter, “Hah! They do it all the time.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Keely put in. “We couldn’t never count on ’em for help.”
“Well, Torby’s been helping us,” Erle declared, his face reddening with indignation until it nearly matched his red hair. “He took good care of Melusine and got her out of that old mine alive.”
Erle was the same age as Melusine, Lina recalled. The boy might well have a crush on her.
“Just with Teddy’s help though.” Conlin defended his hero, clearly determined not to let Teddy’s part in the rescue be minimized. Lina laughed inwardly at the pugnacious tilt of his jaw. Small for his twelve years, with a narrow face and sharp features. Conlin reminded Lina of a fox, but if he’d been a shape-changer, she would have sensed it.
Lina cleaned her plate, stood, and gathered the empty plates to carry into the kitchen. The sound of a motor outside stopped her. A car door slammed and. moments later, Peace Officer Kirsky strode into the room. Lina turned toward him, frowning. “I didn’t hear you knock,” she said.
“I didn’t,” came his curt response. “Where’s Officer Shuer?”
“Torby’s out on guard duty,” she said. “Is there a problem?”
“Chief Bateman wants to see him,” he told her. “I’m to get him and drive him back right away.”
“He’s needed here,” Lina objected.
“He’s needed wherever the chief assigns him.”
“Well, he’s been a great help here. And he hasn’t taken much time off. I—”
“He answers to the chief, not to anyone here,” Kirsky snapped. “I’ll find him.” He spun around and left before Lina could object further.
Petrus gave a low whistle. “That guy’s bad news.”
“Sounds like Torby’s in trouble,” Keely put in.
“There’s no reason he should be,” Lina said. Though she agreed with the girl, she didn’t want to alarm the younger children. “It’s probably just a routine check-in.”
“They’ll let him come back, won’t they?” Fedrek asked.
“They better!” Erle declared, hands clenched into fists.
“Let’s not worry about something that hasn’t happened.” Lina picked up the stacked dishes and headed kitchenward. “Don’t jump to conclusions. Better go brush your teeth, and make your beds.” She reminded herself of her days as a student at the school for the Magically Gifted, days that seemed long past, though she’d graduated scarcely more than a year ago.
Most of the children scurried off to follow her instructions, but Gretta collected more of the empty plates and platters and followed Lina into the kitchen. “I’ll help wash the dishes,” she offered.
The girl clearly wanted an opportunity to talk more, but Lina had had enough conversation. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll leave you to it then. I’m going outside. If Officer Kirsky takes Torby back to town, someone has to take his place on guard duty.” Suiting action to words, she set down her armload of dishes and hurried out the back door, deliberately taking no note of Gretta’s reaction.
On waking, Bryte went immediately to see how Melusine was doing, and was relieved to see the girl sitting up in bed, propped up by pillows, with Nia seated beside the bed, giving her spoonfuls of broth.
Nia smiled broadly on seeing Bryte. “Good morning,” she called, waving her inside. “See how much better Melusine is doing this morning? Melusine, Bryte is one of the people who helped rescue you.”
Melusine managed a weak smile and a murmured, “Thank you.”
“I’m glad to see you looking so much better than you looked in the cave,” Bryte said, coming to stand by Nia.
“Nia is taking good care of me,” Melusine said, her voice still quite weak. “I don’t remember much about being in the cave. Just being alone, and cold, and scared. I was sure I was going to die.”
“Well, Bryte and Lina and Torby went in and found you and took care of you until they could get you out and back here,” Nia informed her.
“Who’s Torby?”
“He’s a young, handsome Peace Officer,” Bryte said with a grin. “He worked extra hard to keep you alive.”
“I need to thank him,” Melusine said as Nia raised another spoonful of soup to her mouth.
“I’ll send him in when I see him. He’ll be delighted to see how well you’re doing.”
Bryte left Melusine in Nia’s capable hands and went to find something for her breakfast. The children had all finished eating and the dining room was empty. She’d have to see what was left in the kitchen.
The fruit bowl held an apple and a few chirberries. The eggs were gone, but she found slices of bread as well as butter and jam. Coffee too. The thought that her small breakfast was far better than one of Mother Cooper’s allowed her to sit at the kitchen worktable and savor every bite.
Mistress Wilcom bustled in and flopped into a chair beside her. “The children asked for chocolate pie for dessert tonight,” she said. “I think we have the ingredients, but I never expected to spend my vacation cooking for about twenty people. I’m not complaining though.” She shook her head. “Rescuing these orphans has been the most exciting and worthwhile thing I’ve ever done. Nevertheless, Herrol and I can’t stay much longer. Herrol has a job to get back to. You and Lina were on your way somewhere else too, as I understand it. What will happen to these children? They need a real home.”
Bryte had no answer for her. She could only say, “We’ll stay a lot longer, I guess. It’s up to Lina, but she hasn’t said anything about leaving.”
“Neither have the Methenys. I hope they’ll stay a long time. Well, I’d better start making pies.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TORBY’S TROUBLES
Learning that Lina had gone outside on guard duty, Teddy decided to go out and find her. It could be his chance to have a private talk with her about Cara. Master Wilcom was also serving guard duty, but he and Lina would not be together; they would be on opposite sides of the sprawling ranch house.
Teddy spotted Master Wilcom as soon as he rounded the east side of the house. Unfortunately, Master Wilcom also spotted him. “Ho, Teddy! Come to relieve me? I could use a break.”
“Uh, actually I was looking for Lina. I wanted to talk to her”
“Well you’ll probably cross paths with her from time to time as you do your rounds. But I doubt you’ll get much conversation out of her. I think she’s shifted to her panther form. She says she can cover more ground and sense danger better that way.”
Master Wilcom seemed still unaware of Teddy’s shape-shifting ability. But he was right about not having much chance for conversation. Resigned to postponing again the opportunity to divulge what he knew about Cara, Teddy said, “I’ll wait till later to talk to her, then. You go on inside, and I’ll guard out here. Oh, and find out whether Petrus is scheduled for guard duty. He’s sup
posed to help out with it, but I don’t know when he last did a turn.”
Master Wilcom shook his head. “He’s not scheduled soon, I know. He did a long turn while all the rest of us were tearing through that rock fall yesterday. Thrn he stayed on duty most of the night.”
While you were sleeping, he might have added. Teddy thrust the guilty thought away. He’d needed a good night’s rest, and they’d let him have it. Now he should do his part to keep the others safe. He waited until Master Wilcom disappeared around the corner of the house before shifting into his coyote form. He, too, could range farther and sense more in that form. If he did, as Master Wilcom put it, cross paths with Lina-panther, he could shift back and perhaps persuade her to do so long enough to have the talk he wanted. But that was unlikely to happen unless Lina let herself be seen. In her panther form she knew too well how to conceal herself.
Bryte kept busy throughout the morning helping in the kitchen and also delegating tasks to the oldest orphans and devising games for the younger children, whose arduous work in the mine had robbed them for so long of the joy of play. While Conlin, Erle, Oni, and Gretta made no complaint about having to share in carrying out household tasks, and Petrus insisted in sharing in guard duty, Bryte resolved that after lunch she would see that the older group had time for some sort of recreation. Melusine too, if she felt up to it.
Bryte was well aware that she and Teddy, no older than the oldest of the orphans, had taken on responsibilities equal to those of the adults, as had Nia, who at sixteen was three years older than Bryte. But unlike Teddy and Bryte, Nia was not gifted, had no special abilities, no power to draw on in times of need. Those special abilities gave Teddy and Bryte greater responsibility. Bryte readily accepted that, and Teddy saw it too, though he still struggled with the idea from time to time. As for Nia, her need to care for her little sister had forced her to mature well beyond her actual years. So circumstances elevated the three of them into the ranks of the adults. Bryte was quite certain that for the three of them there would never be any turning back.
Bryte intended to see that the older orphans, even Petrus, would get time to be children. She expressed this thought to Nia as they ate lunch together in the kitchen after serving the others.
Nia agreed enthusiastically. “Maybe we can organize some kind of contest, something fun. Like a treasure hunt! Plant clues around the house.”
“It will have to be inside the house only,” Bryte cautioned. “We don’t want the children running around every which way outside where the miners could snatch them one at a time.”
“Oh, I agree. We can’t let them play outside except in a small area out front where we can keep watch over them. I meant that we’d plant clues all through the house.”
“But what do we have that can be the treasure they’d hunt?” Bryte asked, unable to think of anything they had that could serve as treasure.
“Hmm. I don’t know. But it does occur to me that while we’ve gone through Mother Cooper’s closets and her son’s too, we were mostly looking for bedding and things we could use for bandages. We haven’t really done a thorough search. Dr. Metheny and I did find some money in Vee Cooper’s room—not a lot. We added it to the grocery money, figuring it was only fair to use it for food, given how they starved us. But they may have more money or maybe gems stashed away somewhere. We should do a thorough search.” She paused, then added, “Vee Cooper had a stack of dirty magazines in his room. Dr. Metheny took them and burned them up. He told me not to say anything about that. But that’s the sort of thing I wouldn’t want any of the children to find. So maybe the treasure hunt wouldn’t be a good idea after all.”
“No,” Bryte said. “Given the kind of people the Coopers were, we should be careful who searches those rooms. And they should be searched. I guess we’ve been too busy to think about that. No telling what might turn up.”
A door slammed, interrupting their conversation. A few moments later Gretta came into the kitchen. “Torby’s back,” she told them. “He’s real upset. You better go talk to him.”
Not clear which of them she’d addressed that to, Bryte rose, and so did Nia. They both followed Gretta back through the dining room and into the sitting room. Torby stood in the middle of the room, eyes red-rimmed, cracking his knuckles.
“Officer Shuer, what’s wrong?” Nia asked, wide-eyed with alarm.
He looked at Nia, then at Bryte, his eyes filling with unshed tears. “I’ve been put off the force,” he blurted. “They’re accusing me of dereliction of duty.”
“What? How can they?” Bryte thought of his bravery throughout the search for Melusine and his care for the girl on finding her so near death. “They should give you a medal for saving Melusine’s life.”
“They say I acted against orders. I should have checked in after the other orphans were rescued. I wasn’t supposed to still be on duty after that.”
“But how can they blame you? You went with us to hunt for Melusine and the miners caused an explosion and we were trapped in that cave and it was late when we got out. Your squad leader, Officer Kirsky, should understand that.”
“Huh! Kirsky’s the one who filed the complaint, saying I went against orders. He’s in the pay of the miners. I’m sure of it. He could have stopped the miners from getting away the night before. He ordered me not to shoot, and his shots all missed. That must have been deliberate. Then he sent me back to the house. He let those miners get away.” His face darkened with fury as he reached that conclusion, perhaps for the first time.
“What about Beck and Bo?” Bryte asked. “Can they be trusted?”
“Bo can. I’m sure of it. I’m not that certain about Beck Sagist.” He sank down into a chair, his shoulders slumped. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he moaned. “I was so proud of being a peacekeeper. It’s what I trained for. It’s all I know.”
“Well, as corrupt as the peacekeepers in this town are, you’re better off not being a part of them,” Bryte declared.
Nia nudged Bryte and motioned for her to look around. That look revealed several of the orphans gathered in the doorway between the sitting room and the dining room, taking in the scene with great interest. Not sure how to handle the situation, Bryte picked out Conlin and said, “Conlin, go out back and call for Lina. She’s on guard duty, but we’ll find someone to take her place. She’s needed in here.”
Conlin scampered off, looking proud to have a job to do. Master Wilcom stepped forward from in back of the gathered children. “I’ll take her place. She’s been out there long enough anyway.” He followed Conlin to the rear of the house.
Torby looked up. “I didn’t mean to worry everybody,” he said. “I shouldn’t have come here. But I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I’ve even been denied my week’s pay. I can’t pay my room rent without it.”
“That’s absolutely unfair,” Bryte said, hands on her hips. “You were right to come here. You need to be with friends, and we care about you.”
At that tears did spill from his eyes. “I care about you,” he said. “All of you. I know I didn’t do anything wrong. I was right where I should have been yesterday and all last night. How can they accuse me of dereliction of duty? I did what I was trained to do.”
Nia went to stand beside his chair. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Yes, and you did it well. You saved Melusine’s life. She’s been wanting to see you to thank you. She’s staying in bed today, but Dr. Metheny said she should be strong enough to get up tomorrow.”
He smiled at that. “I’d like to see her,” he said.
Cara bounced into the room and went to him. “We love you, Torby,” she said, patting his knotted hands. “You should stay right here with us.”
“That’s right, Torby,” someone called out, Sabah, Bryte thought. She was beginning to recognize their voices.
Several of the others echoed her. Blushing, Torby wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand and smiled at the orphans. Bryte guessed he hadn’t looked up to
see what an audience he had.
Nia returned to Bryte’s side and leaned close to whisper, “Torby is just who we need to do the search we were talking about.”
Bryte grinned and whispered back, “Yes, that’s a great idea. I’ll tell Lina when she comes.”
§
Hearing Conlin’s loud call, Lina left off prowling and resumed her human form. She headed back toward the house. Conlin ran up to her as she neared. He burst out, “Officer Shuer’s back and all upset because they kicked him off the force for somethin’ like ‘direction of duty,’ and Bryte sent me to call you to talk to him.”
“Direction of duty? What are you talking about?”
Master Wilcom came up then. “He means ‘dereliction of duty’,” he clarified. “Torby came here quite distraught. Seems Kirsky claimed he should have reported back to headquarters after the orphans were brought out of the mine. That’s despite the fact that Officer Kirsky knows he stayed and helped rescue the girl who got left behind. Torby thinks Kirsky’s a traitor and deliberately let the miners escape.”
“Well, that explains a lot,” Lina said. “But why send for me?”
“I think Bryte didn’t know what to do and hoped that you would,” Master Wilcom said.
“So now I’m in charge of everything?” Lina snapped. “Aren’t the Methenys there? And what about you? And your wife?”
He looked so taken aback that Lina saw her outburst had been badly taken. But why should she be consulted on everything? Was she expected to mother Torby too now?
“I came out to take your place at guard duty,” Master Wilcom said, backing away as though he feared she might bite. “It was time for a guard change anyway.”
She’d been in no hurry for her shift to end. It had felt so good running about in her panther form, enjoying the freedom from dealing with people and their demands. She’d stayed alert, watching carefully for any sign of danger, any movement. That she could handle. In the house it was “Miss Lina this” and “Miss Lina that,” everyone wanting something of her, wanting more than she had to give. She shouldn’t have growled at Master Wilcom, but she offered no apology, just let him head off to watch for danger while she went into the house to face the latest crisis.
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