The Finisher

In fact I was frowning.

I unpacked, found some wood out back and managed to build a decent fire using one of my two remaining matches. I opened my tin and had my meal at the small table. I shared my food with Harry Two, who gobbled his share down. Now that meals were my responsibility, I would have to work 161 harder on collecting, bartering, selling, and hoarding, espe- cially with Harry Two and John — I stopped my thought. It was just my canine and me.

There was no John in the equation.

I ran some water into a bowl for Harry Two from the set of pipes out back. At first the water came out dark, but it quickly cleared. That was good because this was the water I would drink as well. After Harry Two gulped down nearly the entire bowl, I let him out to relieve himself in the dirt behind my new lodgings.

I pulled a chair up close to the fire and stared into its flames as Harry Two settled next to me, his snout on his front paws. This place had belonged to Virgil Jane, and on his pass- ing, it had gone to his son, my father. We had abandoned it when my parents went into the Care, but I felt I had more right to it than any other Wug.

A knock on the door disrupted my thoughts. I turned to it with trepidation. Was I about to find out that our old home had been confiscated by Council? Or that because I was too young to live on my own, I would have to leave? I opened the door to see Roman Picus standing there.

“Yes?” I said as casually as I could.

“What’s got into ya, female?” he said as he rolled a lighted stick of smoke weed from one side of his mouth to the other.

“What’s got into me about what?” I asked innocently.

“Loons to here is what, o’course.

” “Loon wouldn’t take my canine, so I had no other choice.

” Roman looked down at Harry Two, who stood next to me. His hackles were up and his tiny fangs were bared. I could see he had excellent taste in Wugs.

162 “Givin’ up good digs over that beast? What rubbish.


” “Well, at least it’s my rubbish.

” “You’re too young to live on your own.

” “I’ve been living on my own ever since my parents went to the Care. Do you really think Cacus Loon looks after me? And John doesn’t live with me anymore. I can take care of myself. If Council doesn’t think so, they can take it up directly with me.

” Roman appraised me with a cunning look. “Speaking of, ya heard ’bout your brother?” “He’s living with Morrigone now.

” “Old news. Talkin’ ’bout his promotion o’course,” he added triumphantly.

“Promotion?” “Oh, ya mean you didn’t know?” he said gleefully.

I wanted to know what Roman was talking about of course, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of beg- ging for it. He ground his smoke weed stick with his boot heel into the cobblestones outside my door and made a show of pulling his pipe from his greasy coat. He packed it with more smoke weed and lit it, puffing contentedly on his stem until gray smoke curled into the night air.

“So his promotion,” Roman began. He took two more puffs while he kept me waiting. If I had possessed a morta, there was no telling how many times I would have shot him. “His promotion to be special assistant to Council o’course.

” I felt like someone had just struck me in the belly. But I swiftly regrouped. “He’s a young. He can’t hold a position with Council until he’s much older.

” 163 Roman replied in a condescending tone. “Well, now, Vega, that’s why they term it special. Parchment done and everything. Oh, it’s official all right. Thansius pushed it through with Morrigone’s blessing. Council had no choice, did they? Not with them two Wugs behind it. Up and down vote with all yeas, or so’s I heard. Even Krone went along, and that bloody Wug don’t agree with nothin’.

” “And what does a ‘special assistant’ to the Council do?” I asked, scowling. I did it because I knew he would keep talking and giving me details just so he could continue to see me upset.

“Well, you musta seen John going over plans for the Wall with the both-a them.

” “I haven’t really been involved in the Wall other than making straps.

” “Oh, is that so?” “Yes, that’s so,” I retorted.

Roman drew a bit closer but retreated slightly when Harry Two started to growl. “Right you are. Well, now they’ve enlisted him to oversee the whole blasted thing, haven’t they?” he said offhandedly.

I looked askance at him. “I thought Thansius was doing that.

” Roman shrugged. “Dunno. I hear it’s a right puzzle, lotta obstacles, so they say. My head’s too thick to quite unner- stand, but there you are.

” “So what is John going to do about it?” I asked.

He pointed his stick bowl at me. “Well, now, that’s the question, ain’t it? I hear he’s thinking ’bout the Wall and such.

A great mind, so’s I’ve been told. Good thing one of the Janes 164 ended up with something up here.

” He tapped his forehead with his pipe.

“You’re saying Virgil Jane didn’t have a strong mind?” “That’s in the past, Vega. Just down to you and John now.

You make a honest living at Stacks, but no more’n that.

Reached your limits, haven’t you? Now, John, well, he’s got possibilities, ain’t he? A future, you see. And after this special assistant job, with a bitta spiffin’ up, I could see him one light sitting on Council, I could.

” “Why would he want to do that?” Now Roman looked stunned. “Sitting on Council? Why would he want to do that? Are ya out of your bleedin’ mind? And you and your brother, the last of the Janes. Sad business.

Sad business indeed.

” “My mother and father are still alive!” I said through clenched teeth.

He dumped the dottle from his stick bowl onto the cob- blestone and stamped out the spark and smoke with the heel of his garm-skin boots, then dipped a thumb into his belt and said, “Show me the difference ’twixt them and the dead.

Corpse under sheets I call ’em.

” I didn’t have to touch Destin to know that it felt like a flame. But it couldn’t be any hotter than I was. I could tell that Roman wanted me to take a swing. He had put his thumb in his belt because in doing so, he had drawn back his long coat to reveal a short morta in a leather holder riding on his belt.

I decided not to take the bait. Well, that’s not entirely true.

“You know, it might be a good idea for John to sit on Council,” I said abruptly.

“Glad you seen the good sense in that. Mebbe you have 165 a bitta brain after all, though I doubt it.

” He laughed heartily until he very nearly choked.

I continued, ignoring this. “He told me he thinks Council should run all lodging because there are some Wugs who take advantage and charge too much. I’m sure he’ll share that idea with Morrigone and she with Thansius.

” Roman stopped coughing and his jaw fell nearly to his short morta.

John had never said any of this. This was my idea, but since I was female, it never would be taken seriously.

“You have a good night, Roman,” I said, closing the door in his face. I smiled for the first time in a long while. But that wouldn’t last. I could taste it in my spit, as they said in Wormwood.

I put another small log on the fire and then gazed around my new, old home. My eyes went again to the stack of odds and ends in the corner. I ventured there. The fire lit the room poorly, so I grabbed a small lantern from my bundle, lit its wick using the fire flames and carried it over to the corner.

Harry Two sat next to me on his haunches and watched as time went by while I methodically dug through what amounted to a history of my family. There were colored images of my grandparents, Virgil and his mate, Calliope.

They were a handsome couple, I thought. My grandfather’s features were vividly distinctive. There was a lot going on behind those eyes. Calliope was kind and bright and seemed to take great pleasure in seeing her family happy. I was quite her pet. And I would do anything for her. Yet her time was to be cut short, as it turned out. Calliope had succumbed to the sick a session before Virgil suffered his Event.

166 I finally put all of these things away and stared into the dying embers of my meager fire. I envisioned John, now firmly part of Council and with it the hierarchy of Wormwood, reading contentedly in front of a blazing fire in Morrigone’s beautiful library after having had a sumptuous meal.

“Don’t feel sorry for yourself, Vega,” I said out loud, caus- ing Harry Two to peak his ears. “Fancy meals and fancier titles do not really matter.

” But for the first time, for the very first time, I was seri- ously contemplating leaving this place. No, escaping this place.

It had been my home. Now I didn’t know what it was. Or what was keeping me here.

Later, unable to sleep, I rose and put on my cloak. Harry Two rose obediently and stood beside me.

I did have something left in Wormwood, something of great importance to me.

I was going to see my parents.

167 U N D E V I G I N T I Truly Alone I stared up at the hulking doors to the Care. It was long after visiting time, but I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to be with the family I had left.


I had already looked around for Non but hadn’t seen him anywhere. The git was probably off patrolling as part of the Carbineers. I drew my tools from my cloak pocket, inserted them in the lock of the huge door, and I was soon on my way down the corridor.

The light was dimmer in my parents’ room at night it seemed, though I could still make them out. Each of course was lying in their cot. They couldn’t move. They couldn’t speak. That was okay. I planned on doing the talking.

I stood between the cots because I wanted to address them at the same time. I didn’t know where the words came from, I really didn’t. But I was soon pouring out my heart to them, complaining of wretched injustice, poor Quentin, fiend- ish jabbits, walls of blood, lost brothers, insufferable Council members like Jurik Krone, vile Outliers, and Wormwood simply going mad on me. I told them I wanted them back. No, I needed them to come back to me. I was all alone. Then I ran completely out of words and just stood there, tears running down my cheeks as I stared at the two Wugs who had brought me into Wormwood and who had not uttered a word or moved a muscle for over two sessions.

A sliver later I was rubbing my eyes because I could not believe what I was seeing. My father’s cot was vibrating. No, my father was vibrating. In fact, he was shaking so hard that I was afraid he would simply fly apart. When I looked at my mother, the exact same thing was occurring to her. I rushed forward to seize them, to stop whatever was happening to them.

I had to leap back to avoid being killed.

Towers of fire had sprouted from both cots at the same time. They rose together to the ceiling and then started to swirl in a circular motion, like a fierce, fiery funnel of wind trying to escape the narrow confines of whatever was trap- ping it.

I leapt farther back as the flames threatened to engulf the room, and slammed against the hard wall. My eyes were so wide I felt as if there was no space left on my face to contain them. I screamed. The flames leapt higher. I looked around the room for something to put out the fire. There was a pitcher of water on a stand against the wall. I grabbed it and hurled the liquid against the inferno. It splashed back in my face, repelled by the flames, though I couldn’t imagine how.

I screamed, “Mum! Dad!” They had to be burned to nothing by now, the heat was so intense. But still, I desperately looked around for some- thing, anything, to use to defeat the flames. There was a stack of sheets on another table. I wrapped them in my arms, bent to the floor and soaked them in the spilled water from the pitcher.

169 I charged the twin maelstroms of fire, whirling the cloths that were now heavy with water. I was going to beat the fire out and save my parents. Or what was left of them.

I got no closer than a foot and a half when I was again thrown back toward the wall. I put out my hands to cushion the collision and they took most of the brunt of it, although my shoulder slammed into the hard wall an instant later. I slid down, dazed and sick to my stomach. As I staggered back up, it happened.

And all I could do was watch.

From out of the flames rose my parents. Into the air, up to the ceiling. They were not burned. They were not hurt in any way that I could see. As I looked at their faces, I fell back stunned. Their eyes were open. They seemed to be awake even as the flames devoured them.

I screamed at them again, trying to get them to notice me, but they never looked at me. It was as though I didn’t even exist to them.

And then came a blast of wind and a shriek that was so loud I covered my ringing ears. In a blink of my eyes, they were gone. So were the flames.

I sat there slumped against the wall and stared at two empty cots that were not damaged in any way.

And yet my parents were gone.

I rose on legs that did not feel strong enough to hold my weight. I braced myself with a hand against the wall. My shoulder ached from where I had hit it. My hands were cut and bruised and my face and hair were wet with the water from the pitcher. The doused sheets lay on the floor. All of that had happened. But it was as though the fire had never 170 occurred. I would have doubted that any of it had taken place, except for the fact that I was now alone in the room.

I looked to the ceiling, expecting to see a hole there where my parents had escaped. But it was still simply a ceiling and completely intact.

I bent over and sucked in long breaths. The room did not even smell of smoke. The fresh air quickly replenished my lungs. I kept a hand on the wall as I staggered over to the door, pulled it open, and raced down the hall with renewed energy.

I thought I might see my parents soaring through the air and, with the aid of Destin, I could fly with them to wherever they were going.

I reached the double front doors, wrenched one open and hurtled outside. I looked to the sky, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of them. Then something grabbed me and slammed me down to the ground.

I had no idea how long I had been in my parents’ room, but first light was weakly managing to break through the clouds and the rain. Its dim illumination reflected off the rain- drops, making them seem dirty, misshapen.

Then I saw that hulking idiot Non standing there. He was the one who had grabbed me, pushed me down, cost me any chance of following my parents. Waves of rage swept over me, even as Non looked down at me, a malicious grin spreading over his face.

He glittered in the rain for he was wearing a metal breastplate. Over his shoulder was a long morta. In his belt was a short morta and a dagger. He must have been on patrol.

171 “Caught you, didn’t I? Breaking into the Care. Valhall for you, female. That’ll teach you not to break rules.

” I tried to get up and he pushed me back down.

“You’ll stand when I say you can and not before.

” He touched the barrel of his morta. “Official Council business, I’m on. Lucky for me I came round here to see that things were okay. What, were you stealing from the sick Wugs in there?” “You idiot,” I screamed. “Get out of my way.

” I jumped to my feet and he tried to slam me back down.

That was a mistake. An enormous one on his part.

When I hit him with my fist, I felt the breastplate bend and then crack under my blow. The next instant, Non toppled to the dirt. I looked down at my hand. It was swollen and bleeding. The impact had carried all the way up my arm to my shoulder and borne with it searing pain. But it was worth it, to unleash my rage, because I couldn’t contain it any longer.

Yet there was Non lying on the ground. He was injured, perhaps dead even. I turned and ran. And then I took a few steps and my feet lifted off the ground and I was flying. I did not really intend this, it just happened. The winds buffeted me but I kept on my straight course through sheer will.

I searched the skies for my parents but they were not there. Where they had gone after leaving their room at the Care in a vortex of fire, I knew not. I just understood that I had lost them, probably forever. What I had seen was not something a Wug would return from. I sobbed even as I flew.

Slivers later I landed on the outskirts of Wormwood. I didn’t want to add flying to my assault against Non. Surely 172 Council would have me in Valhall for a long enough time as it was.

Yet I was still thinking of my parents. How could two Wugs be engulfed in fire and not die? How could the fire transport them from where they were to somewhere else? And do so through a solid ceiling of stone? I could not think of a single answer to those questions. I just knew that my parents were gone and there was nothing I could do about it.


I set out for Wormwood proper and soon reached the cobblestones. I was not looking where I was going. In truth, I was so wonky that I was unsure whether all I had just wit- nessed was simply a nightmare.

When I heard a low growl, I froze on the spot. Though first light was breaking, the clouds and rain made it still seem dark and the gloom was thick upon Wormwood. The growl came again and then I heard a sharp voice.

“Who is there? Speak now or suffer the consequences of your silence!” I stepped forward and saw him. Or rather them.

Nida and his black shuck, from whence the growl had come.

Nida was one of the few Wugs belonging to what are known as the Pech race. He was thus short and thick with heavily muscled arm and legs. For sessions I had thought Duf Delphia was a Pech, but he wasn’t. Nida was dressed in cor- duroy trousers, a leather coat, a wide-brimmed hat to keep both sun and rain away, and a pair of amaroc-skin boots. It was said that before he was hired to guard Valhall, he and his shuck had killed an amaroc on the edge of the Quag. If so, I did not want to tangle with either of them, for amarocs are 173 fierce beasts with many ways to kill. Some say they can even shoot poison from their eyes.

“It’s me, Vega Jane.

” I had apparently wandered near the prison in the village center. Nida gazed up at me while his shuck sat next to him, as tall as Nida. He clenched a wooden club in one thick hand. “Leave here, female, now.

” He turned and marched off, his shuck, a canine as large as a calf, obediently following.

When I emerged from the gloom, I could see that only four prisoners were currently being held at Valhall, which had a wooden roof, and bars all around and a dirt floor. Having the prison open to the elements was deemed to make it even more depressing. And being in public, one’s shame was complete.

As I passed by the bars, a Wug slid forward on his belly and spoke to me.

“Cuppa water, female. Mouth’s so dry, feels like sand, don’ it? Please, female, please. Cuppa water. It can be from the rain. Just a cuppa, luv.

” A crash came and I jumped back as something shot past my head. Nida had smashed his club against the bars with such force, part of the wood had splintered off and nearly impaled me.

“You’ll nae speak to lawful Wugs, McCready,” he screeched.

“Silence or the next blow will be to your head.

” McCready retreated to a far corner of the cage like a wounded beast.

Nida looked at me. “On your way, female. I will not say again.

” The shuck barked and snapped its jaws. I ran for it.

174 And something was running after me. I turned and looked back, prepared to run faster or even take flight. But it wasn’t the shuck. It was Harry Two.

I stopped and bent over, panting. Harry Two caught up to me and jumped around my legs, his tongue hanging out.

He must have gotten out of my digs somehow and come looking for me. I knelt down and hugged him, and Harry Two calmed as quickly as I did. He licked my face once and then sat on his haunches, gazing up at me.

“You must be hungry,” I said.

We walked back to my home and I fed Harry Two with the last bit of food I had. As he ate by the fireplace, where the flames had long since expired, I sat drenching wet on the floor, my knees to my chest, and gazed around the room.

This was all I had now. John was gone. And now our parents were gone too. And with a sickening feeling, I realized that I would have to tell John about our parents. How would he take it? Not well, I thought.

And what would happen when Non told what I had done? Would I end up in Valhall, like McCready? Begging for a cuppa water? “Vega Jane!” the voice called out from the other side of my door.

I turned at the sound of my name. I also recognized the voice. It was Jurik Krone.

175 V I G I N T I An Unlikely Ally I opened the door, revealing Krone standing there. I could see that he was armed with a long-barreled morta and a sword.

“Yes?” “You were at the Care this light?” he barked, the anger clear on his features.

“Was I?” I said dully.

He drew closer. I felt Destin tighten and turn hotter around my middle.

“You were,” he said firmly.

“So what if I was?” “Non has accused you of attacking him.

” “Why would I attack Non? He’s three times my size.

” Krone looked me up and down. “But that is not all.

” I knew what was coming. I waited for him to say it.

“Your parents are gone from the Care.

” He leaned in closer so his face was nearer to mine. “What did you see, Vega? You need to tell me. What did you see there?” I felt my fingers curl into a fist. I squeezed it so hard I felt the blood stop flowing to my fingers.

“I don’t have to tell you anything.

” “That answer is not good enough,” he snapped.

“Go to Hel!” “Do you want to go to Valhall for this?” he asked with maddening calm. “Or worse?” He put a hand on his sword. I felt Destin turn ice-cold against my skin.

“Krone,” a voice said.

We both turned at the same time.

It was Morrigone.

I looked around for the carriage but did not see it. It was as though she had materialized in our midst on the Low Road.

Krone looked perplexed by her appearance.

“Madame Morrigone,” he said stiffly. “I was just about to arrest this female for criminal acts against other Wugmorts.

” Morrigone drew closer, her gaze fully on Krone.

“What criminal acts?” “She has attacked Non outside the Care. He has given evidence of this. And Hector and Helen Jane have disap- peared from the Care. These are serious matters that must be brought before Council.

” “Have you spoken to Thansius about this?” she asked.

“I have only just been made aware —” She interrupted him. “What does Non claim she has done?” “He caught her leaving the Care. He was about to arrest her for that when she attacked him for no reason.

” “Attacked him? How?” “Non says that she struck him a terrific blow and knocked him out.

” 177 “A Wug as large as Non was knocked out by a fourteen- session-old female,” she said skeptically. “I find that very, very difficult to believe, Krone. And you simply accept Non’s word for this?” “You say that Non is lying?” “You’re saying that Vega is a criminal based only on Non’s statement.

” “Did you know she has taken up residence here, in her old home? A Wug under the age of fifteen cannot live by herself, but she does not care for rules, do you, Vega?” He glanced menacingly at me.

I didn’t answer Krone because I was unsure how to. I looked at Morrigone, whose gaze held steady on Krone.

“I am aware of it, Krone. As is Thansius,” said Morrigone in a low, even voice that still managed to carry more menace than his louder words. She stared at Krone for a few moments longer. “Unless there is anything else, Krone, I think you may safely leave us.

” Krone stared at me and then Morrigone. He bowed curtly. “As you wish, Madame Morrigone. But I trust this will be followed up appropriately.

” Then he turned and marched swiftly away.

Morrigone waited until he was out of sight before turn- ing to me.

I started to say something, but she held up her hand. “No, Vega, I do not need to hear anything. I will speak to Non. He will not refer charges.

” Her gaze dipped to my hand. I looked down and saw that it was swollen and cut from where I had struck Non. I hastily slipped it into my pocket.


178 “I am sure you had good reason,” said Morrigone quietly.

Then she added, in a more heated tone, “For Non is a git.

” I was about to smile when I found her piercing gaze upon me. Neither of us spoke for at least a sliver.

She finally said, “I know there has been much change in your life, and that this change has been difficult.

” “Do you know what could have happened to my par- ents?” I blurted out.

“I could not possibly know, Vega, since I, unlike you, was not there.

” This statement split us like a wall of blood.

“What exactly did you see, Vega?” “I saw nothing,” I lied. “I went to visit my parents.

” “At night?” she said sharply.

“Yes. I wanted to see them. I . . . I was . . . sad.

” “And?” she said expectantly.

“And when I got there the room was empty. I ran outside and that’s where Non grabbed me and pushed me down. I struck him to defend myself.

” She considered all this and then said, “I ask you not to tell your brother about your parents, Vega.

” “What?” I said, gaping at her. “He has to know.

” “His knowing of their disappearance cannot help in any way. And it will distract him from his duties on the Wall.

” “His duties on the Wall?” I cried out. “So we keep him ignorant of his mother and father being gone?” “I can assure you that he is indispensible. I have given instructions to Krone and others on Council to say nothing.

And all Wugs involved at the Care have been similarly 179 cautioned. I would ask that you keep this information to your- self as well. Please.

” Something struck me. “But if you’ve done all that, you knew that they had disappeared before Krone told you.

” She looked a bit chagrined that I had deduced this, which boosted my spirits just a bit.

“It is my job to know such things, Vega. Will you not tell him?” I couldn’t say anything for a sliver while she and I stared at each other over the width of my doorway.

Finally, I nodded my head. “I won’t tell him.

” Her next words truly astonished me.

“I admire you, Vega. I really do. I can even say that I envy you.

” “What?” I said. “Envy me? But you have so much. And I have nothing.

” She said wistfully, “I have things, possessions only. You have nerve and courage and you accept and take risks like no other Wug I know. All these things come from within you, which is the most important place of all.

” I stared at her blankly. She was both looking at me and not looking at me. As though her words were directed at a distant place that only she could see.

Then her gaze settled squarely on me. “You are sure your parents were gone when you arrived at the Care?” I nodded my head, not confident of my tongue to deliver another lie in a convincing way.

She nodded, sighed and looked away. “I see.

” And I could tell that she did see, quite a lot, actually.

180 She said, “I hope, after all this darkness, that good for- tune shines on you, Vega, indeed I do.

” Then she turned and walked away.

I watched her until she disappeared from view. Then I looked to the sky. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe to find answers I could never hope to discover down here.

181 V I G I N T I U N O Eon and the Hole I continued on to Stacks, walking, not flying. I didn’t care if I was one or even ten slivers late. If Morrigone was right, it seemed that I would stay out of Valhall. But I didn’t really care about that. My parents were gone. They had left wrapped in a ball of flames. I had never seen anything like that in all my sessions. I was now really questioning who I was. And who they were. And what really was this place I called home. I suddenly felt that nothing about anything around me was true.

I had promised Morrigone that I would not tell John, that I would not tell anyone. Thus I had no one to help me with the grief and the confusion I was feeling.

At my table I took up the first strap that I would work on this light. It was many feet in length, very rough, and its edges would slice through bark, leather and certainly skin. My job was to smooth out the roughness. Then I would work in holes toward the ends of the metal. That would allow tethers to be used to hold both ends together after the straps were wrapped around a stack of planed timbers. It was difficult, tedious work and I found that even with my thick gloves on, my hands became cut and scarred as the strap’s edges on more than one occasion tore through the glove’s leather and reached my skin.

Roman Picus’s taunting words came back to me. How I would never amount to much. How Stacks was all I would ever have in the way of accomplishments. How John had so much more potential than I. It seemed a trivial, even absurd grievance on my part after what had happened last night with my parents. But I apparently could not will my mind to focus solely on that. Emotions were difficult things to corral, like a herd of cretas with a fierce desire for freedom.

I sanded down the strap’s edges and smoothed out the surfaces. I created holes near the two ends of the strap, using my drill punch, hammer and other tools. I knew tethers would be inserted in the holes to tie the ends together for stability.

How it would all come together to complete the Wall, though, I didn’t know. I was sure no Wugs knew except for a very few like Thansius and Morrigone. And now John.

During my meal break, I went outside and fetched a bowl of water for Harry Two from a nearby stream and then gave him a bit more food I had managed to scavenge, which he wolfed down. I sat on the ground next to him and stared up at Stacks. It was a colossal building and I had only seen a small part of it in my two sessions here. Yet I wagered I had probably also seen more of it than any other Wug who had ever labored here. I counted off the turrets and towers and floors and it suddenly struck me that it was far taller than simply two stories. This was puzzling because when I had headed up the stairs that night, they ended at the second floor. There were no other stairs. But that wasn’t exactly right.

There were no other stairs that I could see.

As I passed back through the double doors, Domitar barred my way. He did not smell of flame water this light. His 183 cloak was reasonably clean and his eyes were clear, with not a hint of the redness the foul drink inspired.

“Just feeding Harry Two. Don’t worry. I’ll make my work this light. In some ways, the straps are easier than the pretty things.

” “Well, there will be many of them,” he said. “Very, very many, in fact.

” “Perhaps you need to hire another Finisher, then,” I said.

“To replace Herms.

” “There will be no other Finishers,” he snarled.

“Well, if that’s true, a raise in pay would be nice.

” “This work is for all of Wormwood. You should be willing to do it for free.

” “So are you forfeiting your wages, Domitar?” “You will learn your place one light, female.

” “I hope so,” I said. Under my breath I muttered, “So long as it’s not this place.

” “You were nearly late this light,” he noted harshly.

“I had a good reason,” I said.

“I can hardly wonder what would be a good enough rea- son to be late to your job, particularly in times such as this.

” I hesitated. Ordinarily, I would not convey personal information to Domitar. “My parents seemed to have taken a turn for the worse at the Care,” I replied.