Page 52 of Unbroken
“You know my name,” she said, sounding impossibly far away to his ringing ears. “Then you know what I must do.”
She grabbed him with both hands, human and wood, and then he was flying up at a great speed, until darkness closed in around him and he knew nothing more.
CHAPTER 24
Ves’s mouth went dry with fear, though he was careful to let none of it show on his face. Mother was here, and he was trapped in a cage. She could kill Bonnie and Clara long before he could break free, so above all else, he needed to keep her attention on him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
She stepped over the fallen body. Rather than her usual simple dress, she wore a cycling costume to allow more freedom of movement. Her dark hair was twisted into a crown of braids, shot through with silver.
“I appear to be saving your life,” she said, bending over to study Bonnie’s sleeping face.
“How did you know it needed saving? And are you going to let me out?”
She straightened and moved away from Bonnie, as he’d hoped. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you and Nocturn, you know that. Mrs. Adams, as she styled herself, had a startling number of visitors late at night, when women her age are usually fast asleep. Clearly she was into something, but who in this town isn’t? Far be it from me to interfere with another sorceress, so long as she doesn’t interfere with me.”
He didn’t believe for a moment that she hadn’t known Mrs. Adams was the Chancellor all along. He’d bet all the coin in Widdershins she’d captured, interrogated, and killed at least one of those late-night visitors. She’d been waiting for this moment like a spider in her web, and it didn’t matter whose life she put at risk in the meantime.
“So why act now?” he asked, as she picked up the key to the padlock from where the Chancellor had left it on the mantlepiece.
“Because this afternoon, a cart appeared at her house, loaded up a good number of interesting crates, and departed.” Mother knelt and unlocked the padlock before tossing it aside. “It couldn’t have been more clear that she planned to abandon the house at the right moment, and to do so with both haste and efficiency. It wasn’t difficult to guess she’d done something you might need my help to undo.”
She swung open the door, and Ves crawled out, careful not to touch the silver bars. His clothing lay in a careless pile, and he began to dress quickly. “The Chancellor said something about using poppets to send Bonnie and Clara to sleep.”
“We need to find and burn them, then.”
“She’s taken Sebastian.” He pulled up his trousers. “We have to stop her from getting the Books.”
“And leave these two sleeping, helpless?” Mother asked, and trailed one fingernail lightly over Bonnie’s cheek.
Damn it. They might be fine…or the Chancellor might send another of her men with a message to kill everyone in the house. Even though he wanted nothing more than to run to Sebastian, he couldn’t take the risk.
He couldn’t believe he was asking Mother for help…but her expertise as a sorceress was unmatched. “Where would such poppets be hidden?”
“Somewhere unlikely to be disturbed. Did the Chancellor hide them herself?”
Poor Helen. Thank the trees the rest of the children were away for the night. “No, it was a member of the household.”
“The girl child with the dark hair? I saw her go in and out of the Chancellor’s house more than once.” Mother tapped a long nail against her bottom lip in thought. “Somewhere not too high up, then.”
“Under a bed?”
“That’s where I would put it, especially if I were a small child who could fit underneath easily.” She took a step toward the door. “I’ll help you search.”
He wanted her out of the house…but Sebastian’s life was still in danger, and the sooner they finished here, the better. “Thank you,” he forced himself to say.
They passed the bathroom on the way up; the other guard lay dead in the tub. “I thought it would be easier for poor Mrs. Rath to clean up later,” Mother said, following his gaze. “The sitting room will need quite the scrubbing, though.”
“That was thoughtful of you,” he said, a bit surprised.
“Children do make such a mess, I’m sure she has quite enough to do as it is.”
Ves generally stayed out of Bonnie’s bedroom, except when helping clean. It was comfortable but crowded, especially with the baby’s crib. While Mother investigated the crib, he tore the bed clothes away and threw them in a pile, then heaved up the mattress to expose the box spring.
There—tied with red thread to one of the springs was a doll made from knotted yarn, with human hair woven in. He ripped it off and held it up. “I found one.”
Mother had pulled the small mattress off the crib and flipped it over. A clumsy repair showed underneath; she took her knife and sliced it open to reveal another, smaller poppet tucked inside.
