“Y-yes, Associate High Priest,” the man said.
“High Priest Aaron,” corrected one of the guards.
The Necessary nodded, saying nothing.
“Well,” Aaron said, impatient, “do you understand? Do you have any questions?”
The man was so flustered he didn’t say a word.
“No?” Aaron continued. “Fine, then. You’ll work until it’s dark.” He didn’t wait for the man to respond. Instead Aaron gathered his cloak, whipping it around with a flourish, and stomped away to the palace.
“Secretary!” he yelled, even before he’d fully made it inside. “Secretary!”
There was a scuffle of shoes on echoing steps. A moment later, Eva Fathom rounded the corner and nearly bumped into Aaron.
“Yes?” she said, a bit breathless.
“Where did you find these workers?”
“Well, logically, I went to the Ancients Sector. The workers there have shovels and other tools, and they’re accustomed to that sort of hard work. Is there a problem?”
Aaron narrowed his eyes at the woman, never quite sure if he could trust her. “And did you not ask them their names?”
“I spoke only to the one in charge. He rounded up the others.” She held her chin steady and didn’t look away.
Aaron studied her face for a long moment. Then he nodded his acceptance of her story. “That’s all for now,” he said. He pushed past her and went to his office, closing the door firmly, leaving Eva Fathom tapping her lips.
Aaron hung up his cloak and went to the window once more, looking out over the driveway at the men, who stood measuring and marking off a doorway on the wall using spit and dust, and then taking their tools and whacking them against the wall.
The one man in particular seemed to be pounding especially hard. He reached down to the pile of tools and found a thin piece of metal. Shoving it into the crack between two blocks of cement, he picked up a mallet, pulled back, and pounded the piece of metal with all his might, over and over until the block began to move.
The others, including the leader of the party, watched for a moment and then followed his example. Aaron frowned, and hollered once again, “Secretary!”
But this time there was no answer. Instead he saw Eva Fathom climb into the backseat of a Quillitary vehicle, which choked and slowly chugged its way down the hill, belching black smoke at the men, who had managed to remove a few blocks.
Aaron’s attention turned to the beautiful view of the water through the hole in the wall, and he wondered once again how in the world Justine could have wanted to hide Quill from that. A prick of fear gnawed at him. There had to be a reason.
Eva Fathom, in the backseat of the rusty old vehicle, bounced along with a hint of a smile on her wrinkled lips, having quite possibly heard the high priest’s last bellow but dodging it all the same. She had better jobs to do than run around chasing after things for a teenage boy.
The driver soon pulled up to the Haluki house, and the smile left Eva’s face. She got out of the vehicle, went to the door, and opened it without knocking. She went inside.
“Good morning, Bethesda. Liam.” She spoke more loudly than she needed to. “How are the prisoners today? Not trying anything tricky, I hope.” She rounded the corner to Haluki’s old office. “Is Claire Morning giving you any trouble in the pantry?” she called out.
Bethesda frowned in Liam’s direction.
“I’ll go quiet her down,” Liam said, standing up. “She’s old. Must be getting deaf,” he whispered. He caught up to Eva in the short hallway. “No,” he said to Eva. “She’s fine.”
“Too weak by now to try anything,” Eva said, almost as a question.
“I suppose so.”
“Tsk.” Eva shook her head and leaned toward Liam, lowering her voice. “I can’t say I understand why we’re keeping them trapped like this. We should either kill them or let them go.” She looked at the man. “Don’t you agree?”
“I—” He shrugged non-committal.
“Do you think we should kill them, then?” Eva looked at him for a long moment, trying to gauge his loyalties. If anyone were going to cave in, it would be him.
He shifted his weight uncomfortably and looked away, and Eva had her answer.
Finding the Dots
The clue from Mr. Today became a song in Alex’s head, and even though music was still new and wonderful to Alex, this clue became the kind of annoying song that sometimes got stuck in his brain and left him wishing he could forget it. Trying to get some sleep on the hard ground, Alex couldn’t get the words out of his head, so at last he got up, picked his way to Florence, and climbed up to the roof.
Sean Ranger was there already.
“Hey,” Alex said.
Sean offered a bleak smile. “You okay?” He’d heard about Carina Holiday leaving them.
Alex was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “Sometimes I don’t know if we’re going to make it.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sean said. “Carina will be back, though.”
Deep down, Alex thought that Carina would probably not be back at all. “Does she have any other . . . family? Out there?” he asked, meaning Quill.
“No.” Sean pulled a thin, whittled stick from his pocket and began to clean his teeth. “You knew her husband, Seth, was killed in the first battle, didn’t you? Before the baby was born. He’s named for his father.”