Page 62 of Heir of Uncertain Magic

“The spider caught something.”

She paused. “Oh, Merritt, I thought it was over. I’m so—”

“No.” He shook his head, a smile lifting his mouth. “No, this time I listened for it.”

She sank into the chair by the bed. “Perhaps you don’t need a tutor at all. You’re a natural.”

He snorted. “I’m sure when I get a good look at the outdoors tomorrow, I’ll beg to differ.”

She bit her bottom lip.

Merritt sighed. “There is the matter with Baillie and Walker.”

Hulda had not forgotten about the lawyer’s startling confession.

“The stones—”

“We got them all,” she said. “Mr.Babineaux threw them into the ocean.”

Merritt relaxed. “You seemed to believe him. Baillie, that is.”

She nodded. “That is ... perhaps his story would not seem so feasible to me had I not divined for him when we collided in the hallway at BIKER. He wasafraid, Merritt.” She shook her head. “But Mr.Walker ...”

“He seems like a good man.”

She frowned. “So did Silas Hogwood.”

That gave Merritt pause. “Have you seen anything?Couldyou see anything, in the future, that might give us a hint as to how to proceed?”

She deflated. “I can certainly try, but you know my abilities aren’t dependable.” She considered a moment. “I could see myself in his shoes. And yes, I felt sympathetic toward him. Then again, I don’t know how much of that sympathy was mine and how much might have been his doing. Still, it’s my understanding that hysterians—today’s hysterians—can only work with existing emotions.” She shrugged. “Everyone says he’s weak in his magic, himself included, and it could be true. Certainly most of us are weak these days. And yet the way he made me feel at BIKER says otherwise. Even if Mr.Walker was forcing him to do it, the magic is still there.”

Merritt frowned. “Is it possible Mr.Walker could have enough of a hold on him to have forced him to break into Whimbrel House? The distance is considerable.”

She shook her head. “You’ve caught me in nescience. I don’t know.” She bunched a fistful of her skirt in her hand. “Myra would know.”

“No luck there.”

“No luck there,” she repeated.

“Where did he sail? When he left.”

Hulda shifted. “North, back to Boston.”

Merritt’s jaw clenched for a moment. “If Mr.Walker is truly controlling him, why did he go back?”

They sat there, considering, for several seconds.

“If it’s luck we need,” he tried, “perhaps we could enlist MissRichards.”

Hulda shook her head. “I’m not sure if sharing with her is the best course of action. MissRichards is with LIKER. She has no loyalty toward us. And if Mr.Baillie is correct in regard to Mr.Walker, then she might be under his spell, too.” An idea wriggled to the front of her mind, making her perk up. “But thereisMissSteverus.”

“Sadie?” Merritt asked.

She did not comment on his lackadaisical use of an acquaintance’s first name. “MissSteverus studied magic in geology—she’s the one who turned me on to the theory that the wardship magic in Whimbrel House might be from tourmaline.”

“Which proved incorrect.”

She waved away the comment. “Regardless ... I believe azurite is the stone connected to psychometry. Perhaps there’s a way to utilize it to test if Mr.Walker is, indeed, as Baillie claimed. I’ll check with MissSteverus, but I’ll need to be discreet.”

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