I hooked my arm through his. “You’re a true friend.”
His face lit up. “I am your friend, aren’t I?”
“Of course.” I squealed as he picked me up in his arms and carried me.
“To hell with this. I won’t have you sully your dress on the ground.”
“I can walk. Please put me down.” I laughed. He did, reluctantly.
Within a moment we saw the house ahead of us, lit like a beacon in the night. The boys stood at the park’s edge, all newly commended and wearing the black silk sorcerers’ cloaks. Snatching up my skirts, I ran for them. We were reunited within moments. Dee caught me up in a tearful hug. Wolff and Lambe patted my back.
“Come,” Blackwood said, looking about. “We have to move quickly. Before they—”
There was a great booming noise. The ground trembled, and overhead there came a piercing scream. Black shapes skirted the top of the dome. The Familiars had arrived, dozens of them, maybe even a hundred.
The bells began to toll. “He’s come back,” Blackwood whispered. “And he’s brought an army.”
Korozoth had made my escape far more difficult.
We ran down the steps to the servants’ entrance, seeing no one as we moved through the kitchen and toward the stairs. We had to find Rook. Blackwood and I ran to the attic.
Rook’s door was unlocked and open. Inside, we found the bed had been flipped, the pillow torn. These were signs of struggle, and Rook was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is he?” I said. My voice sounded small.
“Howel!” Dee thundered up the stairs, the floorboards trembling as he arrived in the corridor. “Lilly’s in your room. She’s crying.”
We found Lilly curled up in a corner, her cheeks marked with tears. She burst into fresh sobbing when she saw me.
“What happened?” I said.
“It’s R-Rook. Th-they snatched him.” She couldn’t get enough breath.
“Who?”
“Master Palehook and his young gentlemen. Master Agrippa let ’em in about an hour ago—”
“Master Agrippa’s here?” I said, my blood running cold. I’d hoped he’d still be at the ball.
“Yes. Soon after he came home the men arrived. He let ’em in and they went up to the servants’ rooms. Master Palehook waited in the hall while his men went inside the room. Rook fought them off. I tried to help, but it all got so strange. The room went dark. They were screaming, like they couldn’t get out of it. Then Master Palehook put a knife to me.” She began to sob, her chest heaving. “Said he’d kill me if Rook didn’t go with them. The darkness vanished, and then they knocked him senseless and took him away. I wanted to help, but they were rough with me.” She covered her face with her small hand. Her wrist bore a patterned bruise, like finger marks.
“Where were they going?” My head was buzzing.
“I don’t know,” she wailed.
“Where’s Agrippa?” God, I would make him sorry for this.
“In the library, I think.”
Dee helped Lilly off the floor and set her in a chair while the rest of us stormed downstairs. I entered the room first. We found Agrippa slumped in a chair before his fire, lost in thought. When he saw me, he leaped to his feet. We all five stood together in a half circle, blocking his exit. I pointed Porridge at his chest.
“What have you done with Rook?” I struggled to keep from shouting.
“What in God’s name are you doing here?” He didn’t seem angry so much as bewildered. “What is all this?”
“I ought to knock you straight into your own fireplace,” Magnus growled. He stood beside me.
“You don’t know what she is.”
“A magician?” Wolff scoffed. “You think we care about that?”
“She’s one of us,” Lambe said. He and Wolff went to Agrippa’s other side; we were all circling him now.
“Where is Rook?” I shouted.
“He told me it was the only way,” Agrippa muttered, the expression on his face torn between grief and terror.
“What does Palehook want with him?” Blackwood said.
Agrippa collapsed into his armchair. “I don’t know.”
“You must have some idea,” I said.
“I was trying to remedy my mistakes. Was that such a terrible crime?”
“It is if it harms the innocent,” Blackwood said.
“I’m trying to keep her innocent! That’s what’s most important!” Agrippa looked like a caged animal. The doors boomed open, and Dee strode into the library, the tips of his ears flushed pink. We all scattered before him. He loomed over Agrippa, who shrank further into his seat.
“Did you let them hurt Lilly?” Dee’s face turned crimson. I’d never seen him this angry.
Agrippa winced, his shame evident. Dee balled his fist and walloped Agrippa across the jaw, knocking the man over the arm of his chair. Lambe instinctively moved to tend to our Master, but Wolff held him back.
“Where have they taken him?” I said, tucking Porridge just beneath Agrippa’s chin. He brought his hand to the already swelling right side of his face.
“I have no idea.”
“We trusted you,” I said.
Agrippa closed his eyes. “I wanted you to trust me. I never dreamed any of this might happen.”
The sincerity of his tone nearly undid me. “This has happened. Now help us find him.”
The library doors opened and the butler entered, holding a letter. He didn’t seem to notice anything amiss as he threaded his way through one bewildered, heartbroken boy after another, nor did he seem to observe that I was in the act of threatening the master of the house. He approached Agrippa’s chair.
“This just came for you,” he said. Agrippa reached for the letter, but the butler handed it to me and left.
“What is it?” I said, bewildered. The envelope bore my name, and nothing else. Agrippa moved, and I pointed my stave at him again. “I won’t let you up until you help me,” I snapped.
“How am I supposed to tell you what I don’t know myself?”
“God save us, if he’s hurt, I’ll—”
“Er, Howel, maybe you should read your letter,” Magnus said. He reached over to take the envelope.
“In a minute. Don’t move!” I cried as Agrippa again tried to rise.
“It’s rude not to read a letter addressed to you. Here, I’ll open it.”
“Well, it’s my letter, isn’t it?” I clutched it to my chest.
“Just open the letter,” Blackwood said, struggling with a sense of urgency.
“Why is everyone so bloody interested in my letter?” I cried, half crumpling the thing in my fist. All the boys responded with gasps and pained expressions. Wolff pulled at his hair, and Lambe reached as if to snatch it from my hands. Mystified, I tore open the envelope. “This had better be something miraculous.”
I screamed as Mickelmas exploded out like a malicious jack-in-the-box. He rolled across the floor, sprang up, and hobbled close to the fire. Groaning, he rubbed his back and straightened his legs, composing a symphony of cracks and pops as he did so.
“Oh, my poor bones. Poor back. And you,” he said, whirling to face me. “The next time you get a letter, open it! Were you raised in a barn, you uncivilized snipe? It’s rude!” I cried out in joy and hugged him, which softened his anger. “Well then, there’s a good apprentice,” he said, patting my back. “I forgot how compressed one feels traveling by post.”
“That is ever so much better than coming through the front door,” Magnus said, watching our reunion with an amused expression.
“You.” Mickelmas noticed Agrippa and walked toward the sorcerer. “I want my cloak and I want my chest, and I want them now.”
“I don’t have them.” Agrippa stood and backed behind the chair.
“Come, a magician’s rune cloak and an enchanted box? Those are priceless artifacts for a collector. This room holds books and paintings and tapestries enough to put the National Gallery to shame. Now, give me my things.”
“Palehook took them when he came to collect the boy.”
“Have you hidden them in the servants’ quarters? Shall we turn each room upside down in a merry investigation?” With a few muttered words, Mickelmas exploded the armchair in splintering wood and fluff. Agrippa stumbled aside.