The morning after we’d found the instruments of torture, Madame Calvé, Gaspard, Sebastian, and I descended into the castle’s basement one level below the old kitchen. We were looking for an entry to the strange stone room I’d drawn. It was the only sketch that didn’t offer a clue to where it was. But judging from the amount of rock, the consensus was it had to be subterranean.
The cool air smelled of earth and age, dust and dirt. The ceilings were low and the spiderwebs profuse. Using lanterns, we proceeded to examine the deepest level of the castle.
There was nothing there. Just an emptied-out, hollow space that ran the length of the castle and led to an underground exit. An escape route created by the castle’s builders, we surmised.
Slowly, we made our way through the tunnel, tapping on walls and shining our lights on the ground, looking for trapdoors, thinking that perhaps there was yet another level that no one had ever discovered.
Shortly after noon, Madame called a halt to our efforts so we could break for lunch.
As he had the day before, Gaspard went home to eat with his son, and my brother and I and Madame dined together.
Gaspard joined us two hours later.
“I have something for you,” he said to me, before we descended into the depths of the castle. He held out a sheet of paper.
I looked down at a very well-articulated drawing of a butterfly, wings spread, filled in with delphinium-blue and black designs—some color inside the lines, some extending beyond.
In handwriting that was not as sophisticated as the sketch were the words For Mademoiselle Delphine. A friend for you to fly with.—Nicky.
“This is beautiful,” I said to Gaspard. “I’m moved that he thought to do this for me.”
“He was quite taken with you. He’s been talking incessantly about coming here to visit you for an art lesson. The only way I could leave the house just now was to promise that I would ask you.”
“Of course, tomorrow. I’d be delighted. He’s a very special little boy.”
Gaspard gave me an enigmatic look, as if he were trying to decide if my words held a deeper meaning.
“You can talk about your plans later, both of you,” Madame interrupted. “We need to get downstairs. I have guests coming this weekend and need to make preparations.”
For the next two hours, we continued our exploration of the damp, dingy lower level.
“There could be any number of false walls down here,” Madame said, as five o’clock approached. “We just can’t tell for sure by all this tapping and prodding.”
I knew she was disappointed. But I hoped she was going to accept defeat and Sebastian and I would be able to leave. I wasn’t ignoring my brother’s financial crisis, but I had thought up another solution. I owned a spectacular string of fire opals my great-grandmother had given me. When we got home, I would pawn it so Sebastian could start to pay down his debt, and in the meantime, I’d go to my parents and ask for help. I was satisfied that I’d come up with a way out that would allow me to leave the castle without feeling I’d failed my twin.
“But I’m convinced that the book is here, Delphine,” Madame said emphatically. “I have no doubt of it. Monsieur Flamel would not have told me to look if he didn’t think I could find it.” She turned around slowly, her lamp like a lighthouse searchlight, dust motes dancing in its beams. “Let’s go upstairs and have a cocktail. I have an idea. Gaspard, I want you to stay, please.”
I still hadn’t quite grasped the relationship between him and Madame. They didn’t treat each other like employee and employer. Nor like friends or equals. I sensed she tried his patience but that he found her entertaining—as we all did. And she seemed to rely on him and certainly trusted him.
Despite our dirty clothes, she led us to the sitting room, called for champagne and canapés, and then proceeded to mix us aperitifs by adding a layer of crème de cassis to each flute before pouring the sparkling wine.
“Delphine, I would like you to return to drawing and try to see something else about the room with the strange stones. I have a feeling that if you just look deeper, you may find a clue.”
I took a sip of the champagne laced with citrusy-sweet black currant liqueur. It was delicious but didn’t quell my mounting anxiety about staying, especially if it meant into the weekend.
I wanted to ask Madame about Mathieu. It would ease my mind to know that she hadn’t invited him. But even to say his name out loud was too tempting.
I felt Gaspard’s eyes on me and looked over at him. He offered me a caring, thoughtful smile that took the edge off my anxiety almost instantly. A sense of peace came over me, confusing me even as it soothed.
“You can try to look deeper into the room, past the stone walls, can’t you?” Madame pressed further.
Reluctantly, I nodded. “Yes, I can try.”
“Tonight?”
I looked at my half-empty glass of champagne.
“I’ll try, but I’m afraid it might not work. Sometimes alcohol interferes. If I can’t do it tonight, I’ll try again tomorrow morning.”
Sebastian was looking at me from across the table, his perfect smile beaming. I felt the sudden urge to stick my tongue out at him.
Instead, I looked back at Gaspard. “And please tell Nicky I’d be happy to come over tomorrow during lunchtime, if that is convenient, and give him a lesson.”
“We’d both be delighted.” He gave me another smile, the light catching his eyes, the fire in them softening into an amber glow. “But if it’s a nice day, why don’t you meet us at the little folly just past the garden by the pond? I’ll bring a picnic.”
It was such a pleasant invitation that it didn’t strike me until later that evening that it was the second time Gaspard had kept me away from his house.
Chapter 34
As I’d promised, I spent the early part of that evening, Thursday, by myself in the studio, wearing the blindfold and sketching. Despite the champagne, I did six more drawings of the mysterious grotto with its cold, wet stone walls etched with curious letter forms. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find anything in the room to suggest where it was. There were no windows. And the only door remained shut, even as I pushed and pulled at it in my mind.