by Tim Susman
Then the muzzle was hidden again, and perhaps he hadn’t seen Ash, because his steps slowed. He appeared to be heading for Dierenpark, but then diverted down a different street and across a canal. In this open area, Ash and Kip wanted to remain cautious, so he held her back, and indeed, on the other side of the bridge Farley turned again to scan the sky suspiciously. Then he continued forward, directly into a small, shadowy street.
Go, Kip urged, and Ash took off, gliding across the canal and to the roof of the house on the corner. She looked up and down the small, relatively quiet street, but the hooded figure was nowhere to be seen.
“He must have gone into one of the houses,” Kip muttered to himself. “One of the ones near the canal; he didn’t have time to go far.”
Ash, disappointed that the hunt was over, tried to peer into the windows of the houses, but Kip stopped her and called her back. Years ago, when they were children, Farley had been very good at setting ambushes, and that worry prickled the back of Kip’s neck. At this distance, if Farley caught Ash in a spell again and tried to kill her by smashing her into the ground, Kip couldn’t stop him.
“Let’s remember that street,” he told himself and Ash as she flew back to him.
A raven appeared in front of him, and he thought for a moment that it was Ash before realizing that he could still see through her eyes, several streets away. The other raven alit near him and spoke in Malcolm’s voice. “Good heavens, man, whyever are you all the way up here? Is it the smell? I know the crowds are thick.”
“No,” Kip said. “Farley’s here. I was following him.”
The raven croaked, indignant, probably feeling some of Malcolm’s emotion. “Ah well, where the master walks, the hound stays close behind, me da used to say,” it said. “All right, come down to the Salon when you’ve finished. I’m going to bring Corvi back because I can’t see a thing down here and people keep elbowing me.”
“I’ll bring him down when Ash gets back,” Kip said.
“You’re a gentlemen and a true friend.” Corvi squawked and then hopped onto Kip’s shoulder.
This lasted only until Ash returned, when she flew at the other raven and drove him from the shoulder she considered hers with a flurry of wings. “Careful!” Kip called, averting his muzzle, but in a moment Corvi had flown away and Ash had taken his place. She rubbed her beak against Kip’s cheek and then nipped his ear.
“All right, all right,” he said as Corvi landed on the other shoulder and he prepared to descend. “Let’s all get along, shall we?”
It was nice, he reflected as he stepped into the muted murmur of the exposition hall, to walk around with fewer suspicious looks than normal, and as tiring as it was to have to tell the story of the Road over and over, it was better than walking around Philadelphia and being told he wasn’t allowed in certain places (when he wasn’t completely ignored).
The moment he stepped into the Salon, before he’d spotted his wife and friends, Corvi took off from his shoulder and flew directly to Malcolm. Kip followed the raven’s flight and took the last seat at the table, between Alice and Malcolm and across from Emily. “Everybody ready for supper?” he asked.
“Quite.” Alice smiled at Emily. “It’s been a trying day.”
“Tomorrow will be no better, I’m afraid.” Emily reached out and squeezed Alice’s paw. “You did wonderfully, though. As for supper, please make my apologies. I’m rather weary of talking to people and I think I will make my own way tonight.”
“Would you like company?” Malcolm asked.
“No, no.” She gave him a wide smile. “You go on to the dinner, eat the lovely food, make the acquaintance of this Dutch healer. I would prefer to be alone tonight. Well, me and Sleek.” She reached up to the raven, who took her finger gently in her beak.
It would be nice to have Emily there to meet the sorcerer, but Kip couldn’t deny that she’d earned a respite if she wanted one. “All right,” he said, and then rubbed his fingers along the wood grain of the table and looked toward Malcolm. “Did you tell them?”
“About Farley? No, I thought I’d leave it to you to cast such a pall over their day.”
“Farley’s here?” Emily’s brow lowered. “You should’ve let him drown.”
“You should’ve sent him farther away,” Kip replied mildly.
“What was he doing?” Alice perked her ears.
“Watching the water elemental exhibition, and then running away when I spotted him.”
“If he’s here and Victor’s here, we need to be doubly careful,” Emily said.
“Four times as careful, for either one of them is bad news and together they multiply rather than add.” Malcolm kept facing Alice, but Corvi turned around on his shoulder, surveying the room. “Where are the students?”
Kip’s fur prickled again. “I haven’t seen them since Jorey was with you at the exhibition.”
“I sent them in here while Corvi went to find you.”
“I sent them back to our hotel,” Emily said. “We know Farley hasn’t taken them, because you were following him, but it’s worth sending one of the ravens along to keep an eye, I suppose.”
With Emily not accompanying them to dinner and Malcolm needing Corvi to get around, that left only one option. “I’ll send Ash.” Kip stood as he said the words. “Shall we go?”
Once outside, Ash took off from his shoulder and soared over the streets leading back to their hotel. She knew what Jorey looked like, so Kip didn’t have to watch through her eyes, but he did check in from time to time.
“She’s found them,” he reported to Alice and Malcolm when Ash spotted Jorey’s bushy tail beside the other two students. “They’re fine, walking back to the hotel.”
“Good,” Malcolm said. “Sets my heart at ease to know that, it does. Would you mind keeping Ash on them until they arrive safely?”
“Of course not.” Kip told Ash this and promised to save her some morsels from the dinner they were about to attend.
Because Ash was curious, she remained close enough to the students for her, and therefore Kip, to hear their conversation. Richard spoke about the sorcerers he’d talked to and how nice everyone was. He had also somehow, in the midst of taking notes for his homework, found the time to talk to a Dutch girl he was going to meet later. Jorey filled in his experiences with the European sorcerers when Richard had to pause for breath, also asking Charity what her day had been like.
“I talked to a few people,” she said. “Most of them were very pleasant, although some were surprised that a woman was studying sorcery, and a woman of my race at that.”
“Was that up on the second floor?” Richard asked. “I don’t know if the Chinese have any women sorcerers, or the Egyptians.”
“No; they were all very nice to me,” Charity said. “Well, not the Chinese, but they were very busy. One Persian translocation master talked to me for quite a while and told me he believes I have the makings of an excellent sorcerer.”
“You do,” Jorey said. “You’ll be translocating people in no time.”
“He told me the same thing.” Charity sighed. “But no, the rude ones were more the Europeans.”
“You would think they would be more enlightened.”
“Same with me,” Jorey said. “Until Master Penfold took me around.”
“Most of them were fine,” Charity amended. “Just some of the British and Prussian ones. And even they were far nicer than I’m used to in America.”
“Oh, well, them.” Richard waved a hand.
That was when Charity happened to look back and catch sight of Ash. She stopped for a moment, then hurried forward and whispered in Jorey’s ear, then Richard’s, and from then on they kept their conversation quiet.
Kip chuckled to himself and then told Alice, to whom he’d been relaying the conversation. “I’m glad they’re at least somewhat vigilant,” she said, and pulled his muzzle to hers for a kiss. “And now I’m glad you can talk to me for one minute until we arrive at dinner.�
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At the front door of the Athæneum, an apprentice directed them to the dining hall, staring at the three of them with wide eyes. Headmaster Janssen greeted them and showed them to one of several round tables laid with white linen tablecloths and silver candlesticks. The candles filled the air with a waxy floral scent that almost covered the scents of the several dozen people in the room.
By the number of empty seats, more were expected. But the table where Kip, Alice, and Malcolm sat down was full save for one seat that Janssen said was saved for Emily. Kip made apologies on her behalf and Janssen said he completely understood.
He introduced them to Master de Koning, a young man with straw-blond hair, plump red cheeks, and an enthusiastic manner. The others at the table, all older, were professors at the Spanish school and their English, though functional, was limited.
Janssen had told de Koning of Kip’s request, and the cheerful young man at least put up a good show of being excited at the prospect of traveling to America. Once Kip had asked all his questions and received very satisfactory answers, de Koning asked a number of questions about the college that Kip tried to answer honestly, though he worried that he was making it sound like a backwater town compared to the metropolis de Koning was used to.
Alice helped him quite a bit, jumping in to offer the benefits of Peachtree: clean air, fewer people, fresh produce, and lovely weather. After a little while, Kip let Alice do most of the talking because de Koning responded much better to her words than to his. He focused his ears toward the Spanish sorcerers, but his Spanish wasn’t good enough to make out more than a few words.
They noticed his attention, though, and toward the end of the meal the youngest of them leaned forward and said, in accented English, “Would you be Master Penfold?”
“Yes.” Kip knew what was coming.
“My others and I speak not so good English but we would be most grateful to hear your story,” the sorcerer said. “My name is Galena, and my other Iglesias,” here he gestured to one of the older sorcerers, who nodded at the mention of his name, “can cast a spell from mind to mind to understand you. If you will permit.”
Allow a Spanish sorcerer to link to his mind? As recently as a year ago, the idea would have been unthinkable. Half a year ago, though, he’d met an ambassador from Spain in Philadelphia; they were there to negotiate a relationship with the newly-formed country. America was already on good terms with the Dutch and French, and the Spanish did not want to be left out of any alliance.
Kip’s main worry was that he didn’t have a spiritual sorcerer to monitor the spell from his side. The only one he knew well enough, Peter Cadno, was a spirit trapped in stone who currently resided in the walls of the Lutris School.
“You hesitate.” Galena—Master Galena?—nodded. “I understand. How if we have one of the sorcerers of this country assist us?”
“Aye,” Malcolm said. “That’d put us all more at ease for sure.”
So one of the Dutch spiritual sorcerers was found, and agreed to serve as the conduit between Kip and the Spaniards. Through his spell, Kip told his story once again, and the Spanish sorcerer relayed it in Spanish to his comrades.
After the story, Kip left his table for a time and mingled with their hosts. He wanted to get to know them better, but he also wanted to find out if any of them had an idea of what Victor might be planning at this Exposition. Farley’s presence meant that there might be a hidden motive, but Kip had no idea what it might be.
Unfortunately, none of the Dutch masters did either. The one who had the most knowledge said that Headmaster Cross of King’s College had vouched for Victor’s presentation and had assured the Dutch school that there would be no dangerous sorcery practiced.
“No sorcery at all, more like,” Kip muttered, and returned to his table with his curiosity and unease intact.
6
On Demons
While Kip had been meeting Dutch sorcerers, Malcolm had befriended Master Galena and Alice had de Koning ready to pack his bags that very night. On the walk back to their hotel, Kip was inclined to say that he’d had the least productive night of any of them—“all I found out was that Headmaster Cross knows about Victor’s research, and we could have guessed that.”
Their rooms were empty when they returned, and none of them knew where Emily could have gone. The students, at least, were all safe in their rooms, watched over by Ash. The raven returned to Kip’s shoulder when he opened the window in his room and fluffed herself up importantly. “Good job,” Kip said, and fed her several morsels of cheese he’d taken from the dinner.
All three of them were too exhausted to stay awake waiting for Emily, so after Malcolm checked in with their students, all of them fell soundly asleep. And in the morning, Emily had returned and told them about her evening over breakfast.
“There’s a pub in London whose food I was missing, and since it’s dinnertime here and there both, I thought I would pop over,” she said. “And then being so close, I went over to the Isle to talk to some of the Calatians about the disappearances.”
Kip’s ears shot straight up, and Alice’s did too. Emily had that satisfied smile—smug, Malcolm called it—that she got when she’d done something she was proud of. “Who did you talk to?” Kip asked.
“Whom,” she corrected him. “I talked to Wilton Blaeda in his home. Poor fellow can’t get around well anymore. And I talked to Dotta Lutris, and Ella, and some of their friends. Not Grinda,” she added to Kip. “It isn’t just you she distrusts.”
“I know.” Kip sighed. “What did you learn?”
“Not a great deal. But everyone seemed very grateful that anyone was interested. They’ve complained to the constables once, and they laughed and said Calatians must fall in the Thames every day. It seems as though none of the calyxes have been taken, at least.”
“So it’s someone who doesn’t want to anger the sorcerers,” Alice said.
“I rather think that points to a sorcerer.” Emily sipped her tea. “How else would they know who the calyxes are? Anyway, Dotta took me to see an old polecat named Chesser who doesn’t sleep well and walks around at night. He swears he saw one of the vanished Calatians being carried across the Thames by a hooded figure. Of course, he reasoned that it was Death come to take them away and wouldn’t hear any other explanation, but I suppose we four can think of one or two.”
“If it was Farley, I don’t know that he’s that far off,” Malcolm said grimly.
Kip had been thinking the same thing. “Surely the others don’t believe it was actually Death?”
“No,” Emily said. “In fact, before I talked to him, Dotta said, ‘Now don’t you mind his talk of Death and all,’ and said that when he first told people, it was just a hooded figure, but since then he’s added a scythe, and she wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a pale horse in the story soon enough.”
“Did he mention the scythe to you?”
“He did.” Emily rolled her eyes. “But it was useful to hear. At least someone saw one of the missing Calatians actually abducted, so that’s something.”
“We figured that’s what was happening.” Kip couldn’t put his finger on why this annoyed him. Emily had gone and gathered information on a problem facing his people. Was it that she’d put herself in danger? Or was it that she’d gone without him?
“There’s a difference between figuring and knowing,” Emily said, “and that difference might mean getting some more powerful people to look into it.”
“Who’s going to look into it if the headmaster of King’s condones it?”
“I suppose we’ll have to find that out.” She returned to her tea.
“We have to do something. All of us.” Alice looked around the table.
“Of course.” Emily brightened at Alice’s determination, which made Kip feel even worse about his own behavior.
“Thank you for going,” he said. “And yes, we’ll do something. But if it is Farley, at least we know they won’t be kidnapping anyone e
lse while he and Victor are here.”
“Don’t be sure about that,” Malcolm said. “They could pop back as easily as Em here did. Well, perhaps not as easily, but easily enough.”
“Could they, though? Farley never learned translocation. If he had, he wouldn’t bother flying Calatians across the river, or running down streets to get away from us.”
“If the headmaster is indeed approving their research, he’ll have given them a sorcerer for that.” Emily rested her elbows on the table. “But you’re right. And besides that we still need to worry about the survival of our school.”
“And the safety of our students,” Malcolm said.
Alice’s ears lay back. “Do you think we should send them back right now?”
All three of them looked at Malcolm, while Corvi returned their gazes. “No,” Malcolm said at last. “We’ll keep an eye on them, sure, and if the four of us can’t keep them safe here, then how much safer will they be back in Peachtree with fewer sorcerers, all told? No, this will be a good experience for them and we’ll warn them to be on their guard.”
“They’re already looking out.” Kip told them about Charity spotting his raven the previous night. Ash made a clacking noise on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault,” he assured her. “It’s hard for ravens to hide.”
“It would be nice if we could have a raven trail Victor. Or Farley,” Emily mused. “Not that I think they’ll be stupid enough to try anything here, but I’d feel better if I knew someone was keeping an eye on them.”
“We’d have to be very careful,” Kip said. “Farley tried to kill Ash and would have succeeded if I hadn’t been nearby.”
“Ah, of course.” Emily shook her head. “Foolish of me. All right, we’ll do the best we can without putting anyone in danger.”
“What about a demon?” Alice asked.
“They’ve demons at the entrance to the Exposition,” Kip said. “Probably checking to make sure no other demons get in.”