Page 86 of Destroyer

welcome you into their loving arms

It was an advertisement of sorts, although Ru thought it odd that a spiritual group would lower themselves to putting out leaflets as if they were a barber shop or a butcher. She read the leaflet in a few minutes, front to back. Most of it was pure rhetoric, convincing ordinary people that their lives were incomplete or deficient in some way, that the Children could help them begin the journey to a new life, some kind of spiritual “paradise.” There was a list of services they offered, meditations in various parks and public areas throughout Mirith. Ru imagined Inda, Ranto, and Nell sitting in a park having conversations with the workers and commoners of Mirith, and the image was too absurd.

The only part of the leaflet that was even vaguely interesting to Ru was a small illustration on the back, a night sky lit by the moon, and a strange pattern at the bottom that looked like trees, or mountains. Underneath it was a string of words in a language Ru didn’t recognize; she would have to ask one of the linguistics academics to translate it for her.

With growing frustration, Ru read the leaflet again, searching for clues — there was nothing. No hint of an answer to the questions that plagued her. The leaflet was as useless as the Children were somber. Sometimes Simon could be so hopeless. Why hadn’t he just answered her clearly? Why be so vague and deflective? Surely whatever “goings-on” he’d mentioned weren’t so dangerous that he feared for his life — the regent had declared the traitors dealt with. But what if the regent hadn’t been entirely truthful? What if the threat continued? What if some new danger had sprung up in the past weeks?

She grit her teeth, folding the letter and leaflet with shaking fingers.

A knock at the door startled her, and the letter fell from her hands, fluttering to settle on the velvet settee. Before she could answer or hide the letter, the door opened a crack and Ranto’s bland face appeared around it.

Ru’s mouth went dry in an instant as she held her breath, waiting for him to speak.

“Miss Delara,” he said in his monotonous tone, “we ask that you please return to your research presently. Lord D’Luc will be expecting results upon his arrival in two days’ time.”

She let out her breath slowly, shakily. Simon’s letter had put her edge, set her nerves on fire. She forced a smile.

“Thank you, Ranto. I’ll be down in a minute.”

“I will wait here,” he said, closing her door with a click.

Wait here, outside her door? Ru grimaced, feeling suddenly like a child being punished for disobeying some rule she hadn’t been aware of. Filled with dread that she couldn’t shake and a burning resentment toward the Children, Ru stood. Smoothed her skirts. Willed her hands to stop shaking. And, taking a deep breath, she went to join Ranto in the hallway.

He walked her back down to the dungeons as if herding a wayward sheep. By the time they were descending the stairs, Ru had at least managed to get her heart to slow its pace, her hands to steady. But a knot of dread still sat heavy in her stomach.

The dungeon was just as she’d left it — buzzing silently with nervous energy and a distinct air of discontent. But as she returned to her workspace, Gwyneth caught her eye and smiled, and her expression said everything: they had all read Ru’s note without interference, and they would be ready to meet at the specified time.

CHAPTER30

The rest of the day passed without incident. Gwyneth made a detailed and arresting diagram of the artifact reacting to one of her experiments — dripping water, blowing sand, and producing minor electric shocks all around it to simulate the natural elements — which the Children were very taken by.

“Lord D’Luc will be greatly stimulated by this depiction,” Inda had said, leaning over the diagram.

“I hope not,” Archie muttered.

When it was time to pack up for the day, Ru expected the Children to begin filing out of the dungeon along with the rest of them, as they had always done. Instead, they made their way to the stairs and stood in a cluster, waiting.

Gwyneth was ready to leave first, but when she made to leave, Inda blocked her path at the foot of the stairs.

“Please wait until all are ready to depart,” droned Inda.

“Why?” asked Gwyneth, adjusting her satchel with a glare.

“Lord D’Luc would like every precaution to be taken,” said Nell in her small, inflection-less voice.

“That explains nothing,” Archie said, joining Gwyneth at the stairs.

Ru glanced at Fen. He had paused in gathering his things, listening.

“Precautions for what?” asked Ru, joining the others to face the Children.

“The safety of your team and of the artifact,” said Inda. “It is unsafe for any one of you to be alone with the artifact. It is unsafe for any of you to traverse the Tower alone, without supervision.”

Gwyneth, Archie, and Ru all stared at each other, grasping for meaning.

“That’s a bit much,” said Archie at last.

“No, it’s perfectly sensible,” Ru cut in, realizing that she ought to play along with this new rule as loudly as possible if she was planning to break it at every opportunity. “We’re understanding the artifact more and more every day. With that comes a level of risk. Especially if we know that there have been traitors who might kidnap or murder in order to attain the artifact. Who knows what word might be spreading in Mirith?”

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