Page 98 of Thief of Night
A big, red-bearded man came into the room and turned immediately toward Red, throwing his arms open for an embrace.
Red stood and made a performance of hugging him and slapping the man on the back with feigned enthusiasm. The diners turned toward the commotion, but the man didn’t seem to care. He was in the same dark jeans, brown cashmere sweater, and Allbirds as several of the more casually dressed men in the room, but on him the clothes looked rumpled and a little sloppy.
He seemed familiar, but Charlie couldn’t place him.
“It’s been what? A decade—no, not quite that, but nearly,” the man was saying.
“Archie,” Red said, a little stiffly. This was the first time since they came to Solaluna that she saw his performance falter.
The man didn’t seem to notice. “I can’t believe it’s you!” he said. “After all this time. And with what you’ve been through. I mean, I read what they’ve written in the paper.”
Then, Charlie realized that she knew him from the TikTok he’d made with Rooster.
Charlie took a step closer to Red. Archie seemed to take note of her for the first time.
“Lena,” she said, before he could ask.
“You sitting down to dinner?” Archie asked, then gestured toward theirplates. Some kind of panna cotta, accompanied by a dessert wine. “Oh, you’ve nearly finished. Well, shit.” He gave a big laugh. “Not like you want me on your date. But y’all have to be here for the retreat. At least let me introduce you to the guest of honor.”
The guest of honor? Wasn’t that supposed to be Rooster?
She thought of the key in her pocket, but nothing they could have found in a random guest’s room could compare to what they could get from Archie. He was the key to all the information they wanted, so long as they played this right.
“I thought that Rooster was…” Charlie began.
“Yes, a tragedy, what happened to him,” Archie said. “But we’re lucky that the guy leading the puppeteers agreed to come in his place. Quite a coup to have him, since he’s very private, even paranoid.”
“The head of the puppeteers,” Charlie repeated slowly.
“Here Mr. Punch comes now,” Archie said, gesturing toward a young man walking into the dining room. “Hopefully ready to give away all those Cabal secrets.”
Madurai Malhar Iyer stopped in his tracks, Posey Hall on his arm. He wore the same suit she’d seen hanging in his closet. Posey was in a white flowy dress that Charlie had never seen before.
After a momentary pause, they walked to the table.
There was a ringing in Charlie’s ears as she realized that Posey had found a way to make it into Solaluna after all, and done it in a way that put them all in even more danger than before.
“Nice to meet you,” Malhar said, in a voice that cracked only a little.
Posey was smiling like a cat sitting in front of a bowl of cream. “Yes, it’s so nice to make new friends.”
29Cold Night Air
As it turned out, Archie was the force behind the Umbral Elevation Retreat. The organizer and the one coordinating with both the Cabals and the wealthy seekers, he was well on his way to making a fortune with conferences and was thrilled to tell his old pal Remy Carver all about it. He’d pulled up chairs and insisted Charlie and Red linger over after-dinner drinks while he, Malhar, and Posey worked through their meal.
“We’ll sort you out with a new shadow,” he was saying to Red. Then he turned to Malhar with an expansive grin. “You Cabal people have resources to spare, don’t you?”
With one disturbingly casual reference, Archie made it clear that he could lead Charlie to the shadows. He’d confirmed that distributing them to the wealthy was the real purpose of this event and that Archie was expecting his new Cabal pal to supply them.
Malhar smiled ambiguously, clearly having no idea what Archie was suggesting.
This was going to be so bad.
Charlie looked across the table, narrowing her eyes at her sister.
She should put an end to this. Reveal who Posey and Malhar were, get them kicked out, even if she got kicked out with them. Of course, if she did that, the chances of Mr. Punch finding out he’d been impersonated went up exponentially. Assuming that he wasn’t already here, in which case, he would know either way.
Archie cleared his throat. “So, I have a question for you, Mr. Punch. The Cabals started out small-time and secretive, right? Mysterious. But as the Cabals grow, they need protection. And we all know it’s not voters that determine the direction of this country, not politicians who control the government. It’s those with the money to influence voters and to fund campaigns.” Garrulous to begin with, the more Archie drank, the looser his tongue and the louderhis voice became. At least Charlie had the satisfaction of seeing several other attendees look mournfully at their table, clearly wanting to come over, yet realizing that unless invited, they were unlikely to be welcome. “So, what does the future look like? How do you get them on board without ceding control?”
