بخش 21

CHAPTER 40

THE FEAR IN HER EYES

MOLLY AWOKE TO A tapping on her door. She had finally fallen asleep just before dawn, and wanted nothing more than to snuggle deeper beneath her warm comforter. But the tapping persisted.

“Miss Aster!” called an unwelcome voice. “Miss Aster!”

Molly groaned and, throwing off the comforter, rose from her bed and padded in bare feet across the cold floor. She opened the door to find herself looking into the piercing eyes of Jenna.

“Lady Aster says she wants you down to breakfast,” said Jenna.

Molly stared back for a moment, remembering Jenna’s odd visit to her room just a few hours earlier. She wondered if Jenna—who looked wide awake—had slept at all.

“Tell her I’ll be right down,” Molly said curtly, closing the door.

She dressed quickly and went downstairs to the breakfast room, where she found her mother seated at the table, a half-finished breakfast in front of her, a reproving look on her face.

“I’m sorry, Mother,” Molly said, sitting down. “I couldn’t get to sleep last night. There was the strangest…”

She stopped in midsentence as Jenna entered the room, carrying a plate of eggs, which she set in front of Molly. Molly remained silent as Jenna bowed slightly and left the room. Louise Aster looked at her daughter expectantly.

“Yes?” she prompted. “The strangest what?”

Molly looked toward the doorway through which Jenna had just departed. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she said, “Last night—”

She was interrupted by an outburst of furious barking from the rear of the house, soon joined by loud shouts. Molly and her mother looked at each other, then jumped up and hurried out of the breakfast room and down the hall. Following the noise, they passed by the kitchen and into the staff dining room.

Inside they found a frantic scene:

Homblower, normally a placid dog, was in a raging fury, his huge teeth bared in a fierce snarl as he barked furiously and lunged at Mr. Jarvis and Mr. Cadigan. The two men stood near the far wall, eyeing the dog, their faces pale in the bright gaslight; Molly thought their expressions were oddly impassive, almost vacant, considering how close they were to the snapping jaws. The third guard, Mr. Hodge, was desperately trying to hold Homblower back, gripping his collar with both hands. Hodge was a large man, but Homblower was a large dog, and Hodge was just barely able to restrain him.

Finally, with great effort, Hodge was able to get a leash on Homblower and drag him outside, where he tied the leash to a tree. He returned to the dining room, red-faced and panting, and sat at the table. Jarvis and Cadigan remained standing by the wall, neither having moved. Several servants, including Jenna, had come to see what the fuss was about.

Louise Aster addressed the three guards. “What on earth was that about?” she said.

Hodge shot a look at the other two men—an odd look, Molly thought—then spoke.

“I don’t know, ma’am,” he said. “I had Homblower in the room with me last night—it was my night off—and when we came downstairs, as soon as he saw Mister Jarvis and Mister Cadigan, why, he just went mad. I don’t understand it.” Again, he looked at Jarvis and Cadigan. “He’s never done anything like that before. He knows them well as he knows me.”

“I see,” said Mrs. Aster. “Mister Jarvis? Mister Cadigan? Have you an idea what’s gotten into the dog?”

The two men shook their heads, but neither spoke. This was odd, Molly thought: both Jarvis and Cadigan were usually talkative.

“I see,” said Mrs. Aster, and Molly noticed that she, too, seemed a bit puzzled by the reticence of the two men. “Well then,” she went on, “I suppose it’s best to keep Hornblower outside until he calms down.”

Hodge nodded. Jarvis and Cadigan remained motionless.

“Well then,” repeated Mrs. Aster as the silence became awkward. “Molly, let’s finish our breakfast.”

She left the room. Molly followed, feeling Jenna’s eyes on her as she walked past the servants. Molly felt tired and confused. Everything seemed wrong: Jenna’s behavior; the strange events she’d seen by the gaslight last night; Hornblower’s sudden hostility to Jarvis and Cadigan; and their uncharacteristic passivity. There was something else about them as well—Molly frowned, thinking of the two of them against the wall—yes, there had definitely been something strange about the way they looked, though at the moment she couldn’t quite identify it.

Molly followed her mother to the breakfast room, determined to voice her concerns.

“Mother,” she said as they sat down. “There’s something wrong.”

“I know,” said her mother quietly.

“You do?” said Molly.

“Yes,” said her mother. “But we can’t talk about it now.” She tilted her head slightly toward the doorway; as she did, Jenna glided past.

“Mother,” whispered Molly, “I’m scared.”

“It’s all right,” her mother said, putting her hand on Molly’s. “We’ll be all right.”

The words were reassuring, but Molly was not persuaded by them. She heard the strain in her mother’s voice. And she saw the fear in her eyes. CHAPTER 41

PLAY IT SAFE

CAPTAIN NEREZZA SIPPED warm tea from a battered mug, staring at Slank over the rising steam. They sat at the large table in the center of the captain’s oversized cabin. The wan light of dawn flowed through the row of windows at the stern. A small cannon, useful as a stern chaser during combat at sea, was strapped to the wall, its brass gleaming.

Outside on the quay, weary sailors, awakened too early, rolled barrels, while others cursed and shouted as they struggled to maneuver nets filled with heavy cargo. Some sailors, having overdone the grog, slept against the wall of the Jolly Tar; one was passed out in a wheelbarrow. A typical morning on St. Katherine’s dock.

“I don’t like it,” Slank said. “We were so close.”

Nerezza said, “We have two of the three guards now. He knows what he’s doing.”

“We should have finished it,” Slank complained. “We should have charged in there. Who was going to stop us?”

“That’s just it,” said Nerezza. “We don’t know, do we?”

“There were five of us! And with the two guards taken—”

“—and a third guard, we don’t know where,” Nerezza added calmly. “There’re the other servants in the house that need taking care of. Ombra’s got plans for that. And time’s running short, and dawn coming. And that ain’t all.”

“What d’you mean?”

“You’ve had a small taste of what them Starcatchers can do,” Nerezza said.

Slank winced at the memory of how he had been bested by the flying boy back on the island.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you,” continued Nerezza, “what even a boy can do if he has hold of the starstuff. Now, inside that house you have a mother and daughter, true enough. But not a normal mother and daughter, eh, Mister Slank? Not considering the father. No, them is Starcatchers. Maybe they can fly, like the boy. If they can, what good is storming in on them if they take off out the window like a pair of birds? Maybe they got powers we ain’t seen yet, eh? That’s what Ombra’s thinking, I tell you. He don’t intend to come all this way to lose them by rushing things. No, he wants to deal with that third guard, put the odds in our favor, give us the advantage when we go after Mrs. Aster and the girl, y’see? So I’d be patient if I was you, Mister Slank, unless, of course, you fancy to be the first one he sends through that door and into that house.”

Slank nodded, seeing Nerezza’s point. He looked out the window, pondering. Mention of the Starcatchers and the flying boy reminded him of the bone he’d found in the sail, and his suspicions. He wondered if now wasn’t the time to tell Nerezza that there might be still another Starcatcher in London, maybe inside the Aster house. The thought dangled there on the tip of Slank’s tongue, but he could not spit it out, for fear Nerezza would think him a fool.

Nerezza saw the worry on Slank’s face. “What is it?” he said.

There it was: an invitation for Slank to reveal his suspicions.

But instead, Slank said, “I don’t want to be the first one into that house. You’re right about that.”

“You and me both,” Nerezza said.

“So we wait for tonight,” Slank said.

“Right,” said Nerezza. “We play it safe. And by the time the woman and the girl know we’re there, it’ll be too late.” He took another sip of tea, heavily sugared, the way he liked it. He savored its sweetness as he swallowed.

“Too late,” he said again.