‘Are you sure it’s working properly?’ Kai asked.
Irene rubbed her forehead and wished for sleep. ‘Well, if it isn’t, then we’re metaphorically already ten miles down and sinking . . . with all due apologies to any dragons who like to live in oceanic trenches.’
‘The company down there’s very dull,’ Kai said, with such a straight face that he had to be joking. Probably. She thought. ‘But America makes no sense. The book’s Chinese.’
Irene nodded, considering. ‘Let’s assume that it’s working and that there’s some reason for Evariste to be here.’ She leaned in to peer at the chunk of North America that the locket was indicating, but the fine print on the map was too small and the cities were all close together. ‘You’d better get me an atlas of North America. Or America, at least. And grab any city-by-city guide books, if there are any.’
A minute later Kai was back with another atlas, and an apology for the lack of local guide books. Irene repeated her earlier use of the Language, and watched the turning pages and the swinging locket. The result was unmistakeable. ‘New York,’ she said. ‘It’s pointing to New York.’
‘Well . . .’ Kai finally shrugged, as much at a loss as she was. ‘It’s closer than China,’ he offered.
Irene checked the map in front of her. ‘It’s about, um, two hundred miles away.’
‘A plane might be fastest,’ Kai said thoughtfully. ‘But I’m not sure how frequent the flights are – and I have no idea what the security would be like. There should be a train route between Boston and New York, or would a car be faster?’
‘Hiring a car means leaving a paper trail,’ Irene said.
Kai folded himself down to join Irene on the floor. ‘But if Hu suspects we’re going to flee the city, then it would make sense for him to watch the major exit points. He could expect to catch us there. Whatever his intentions are. We’ve avoided his men enough times this evening already to know that he wants us.’
Irene chewed her lower lip. ‘Yes,’ she said slowly. ‘But Hu would have to spread his resources thin to watch air, road, rail, maybe even sea . . . which gives us more of a chance to slip through. Especially after we’ve changed our appearance.’
‘Ah, so that’s what you meant by shopping,’ Kai said. He looked around at the shadowed shelves and racks gloomily. ‘Couldn’t we at least break into somewhere more expensive?’
‘We’re trying to go unnoticed,’ Irene reminded him.
‘There is something else . . .’ he said, before she could mock his vanity. ‘Your hair.’
‘Is it loose?’ Irene’s hands went up to touch it, to see if her bun had started to unravel.
‘No, it’s long. You have noticed that women of your apparent age wear it short in this time and place, haven’t you? With those little hats?’
‘But it’s taken me years to grow it out . . .’ Irene stopped, took a deep breath and resigned herself to short hair. All the women they’d seen so far, from twenty to forty, had their hair cut and styled short. ‘Oh, all right, but it would be a great deal easier if you weren’t smirking at me. Let me guess: all young royal dragons get trained in hairstyling, along with everything else.’
‘No, but I’m always ready to learn,’ Kai replied.
They ended up in the haberdashery section on the fourth floor, dodging the security guard on the way. Irene sat down in a section of street-lamp glare while Kai fussed with the scissors. With a regretful sigh she pulled the pins and combs out of her hair and made a little pile of them on the floor. ‘Tell me,’ she said softly, trying to distract herself. ‘Dragons and royalty, major nobility, minor nobility, servants, whatever . . . I’m trying to work out what we’re dealing with here. If Hu is working for Qing Song or Jin Zhi, then how many other agents might be lurking in the shadows—’
‘Dragons do not lurk in the shadows,’ Kai interrupted firmly.
‘Even those dragons who are temporarily experimenting with a criminal lifestyle?’
‘You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?’ He moved behind her, gathering her loose hair into his hand. ‘One of these days I’m going to find out something embarrassing about your past and I’ll spend the next few decades reminding you about it.’
Irene tried not to dwell on the warm feelings conjured by the next few decades. Planning that far in the future was asking for disappointment. She’d always found it best to concentrate on what was directly ahead – the next book, the next lesson, the next job. It was Kai’s fault that he made the idea of decades of friendship sound so possible.
Then he began to saw at her hair and she bit back a yelp as he tugged at the roots. ‘Ow,’ she said, softly but with feeling.
‘This always looks so easy when they do it in the barber’s,’ Kai said, his tone perplexed. ‘Can you keep your head still?’
Having her ears accidentally cut off hadn’t been on Irene’s list of possible mission hazards. Truly the life of a Librarian was full of rich learning experiences. ‘If either Jin Zhi or Qing Song has brought agents in to search for the book, what sort of numbers might we be looking at?’ she asked through gritted teeth.
‘Well, you remember when I said that someone like myself – a very young dragon of the royal blood – could carry one or two people?’
‘I do.’
‘Normally someone of royal blood wouldn’t personally carry things or people,’ Kai explained. ‘So the servants do that, and follow in our wake. We’d only make an exception for personal favourites.’ His finger brushed the side of her neck for a moment, but the gesture was affectionate rather than seductive. Even if it succeeded quite well at both.
‘All right,’ Irene said, doing her best to ignore the touch of his skin against hers. ‘So correct me if I’m wrong. Jin Zhi and Qing Song aren’t of royal blood, but they are major nobility. They’re powerful enough to travel between worlds themselves, but are they strong enough to bring some servants behind them?’
‘Probably,’ Kai admitted. The pressure on her head eased. Cold air breathed across the back of her neck. ‘Perhaps half a dozen at most? Though more likely just two or three, if that. Someone of high birth couldn’t manage without their servants.’
‘Well, yes,’ Irene said. ‘Who else would arrange the hotel rooms, bribe the mobsters, do the research . . .’ She wanted to turn and look up at him, but he was busy with the scissors again. ‘Though you’ve never suggested that you wanted servants.’
‘I’m too young,’ Kai said calmly. The cold metal of the shears touched her skin. ‘If I were older, I’d be expected to be involved in more important matters. I’d have an aide or a bodyguard, or someone like that, just as my honoured uncle has Li Ming.’
‘That’s who Hu reminded me of.’ Irene remembered those moments with him in the car.
‘Li Ming?’