Page 64 of Court of Shadows
“You’re disgusting,” she muttered. “I’m going to enjoy watching you squirm.”
“As if there was any doubt of that at all,” Mr. Morningside laughed. “Do pardon the brandy on my breath; it was a tense night, you see.”
Sparrow ignored him, but she was rattled, a slight jitter in the hand that held his chin. Then she leaned down and brought her mouth close over his, and as I saw his eyes roll back and his body go slack, I felt a pang of empathy, remembering howterribly her Judgment had hurt. Was that what I looked like when she did the same thing to me? It was awful. If I did not comprehend the circumstances, I would have believed him dead. Occasionally his body jerked this way or that, the whites of his eyes flickering, the crowd reacting to each tiny twitch.
I turned and found Chijioke in the sea of faces, pressing my lips together tightly as if I could silently apologize for what he had to witness. If he only knew what I’d done, that Mr. Morningside had every possibility of passing this test. That we had rigged the game. That I was now as complicit in his devilish schemes as the Devil himself.
The silence was the hardest to bear. Sparrow’s voice must have been screaming through his head, but we heard none of it. The shepherd watched intently from his throne, leaning forward, elbows on his knees as he, too, reacted to every spasm of Mr. Morningside’s body.
The tension grew, a thick white beam of light stretching from Sparrow’s open golden mouth to his; a high, whining sound, like a bird holding a shrill note, emanated from the light. It became so loud, so piercing, that most of us held our hands over our ears. I thought my head might explode as the beam of light intensified, too bright to look at, and the sound ripped through my brain like a razor.
“Ah!” The spell was broken at last, and Mr. Morningside’s eyes rolled back into place. He gulped for air, falling to the ground and panting.
“No!” Sparrow shouted, stomping out a tight circle. “He... He must be lying! He must be! Can’t you see this is some trickery? How did you do it?” she bellowed. “HOW DID YOU DO IT?”
“Enough, Sparrow, leave him be. You have had the truth from him,” the shepherd thundered, slicing his hand through the air. He no longer looked like a dowdy old farmer, but a wise and commanding elder. “We must accept Mr. Morningside’s answer, unlikely as it may be.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and watched Henry climb to his feet. He fixed his coat and cravat, giving Sparrow a shaky but cocky bow.
“A real treat, my dear. Let’s do it again sometime.”
“Then we will depart at once for Stoke.” Finch spoke up, going to his sister and leading her back up onto the dais. “This is a great gift of knowledge. We cannot punish him for sharing it with us. He has accomplished what none of us could, and surely that establishes his competency. He did not have to share this at all but he did. That, more than anything, proves his allegiance to our ancient agreement.”
The crowd seemed largely to share Finch’s sentiments. Mr. Morningside began to swagger back toward me and I took him by the wrist, squeezing hard.
“Honor our agreement,” I whispered. “Do it now. Tell me the contracts are dissolved.”
“Not right now,” he replied with a shrug. “We should be celebrating....”
“I need to know that you’re going to keep your promise.”
But Mr. Morningside laughed me off. Perhaps he did not see how serious I had become, or maybe he did not care. “It’s in writing, Louisa, what more can I say to you?”
“You can say you won’t back out through a loophole,” I shot back.
“Clearly you do not know me as well as you think you do, to even imagine I would promise such a thing.” He was laughing again and it made my blood boil. I was lying and schemingforhim and this was how he treated me? “A bargain was struck, Louisa. I will say no more on it.”
“No,” I said. I dropped Mr. Morningside’s wrist and turned. It lacked the conviction I wanted, and nobody noticed me moving toward the stage. “No!” I shouted it this time and the clamor died down. Mr. Morningside’s smile abruptly faded and he sneered at me.
“What are you doing, Louisa?” he whispered.
“He told you the truth,” I pushed on. My hands were sweating profusely. The earth felt like it was moving underneath me, like I might be sick at any moment. My throat was closing in panic, but I went on, determined now to see my plan, not Henry’s, through. “He told you the truth, sir, but I did not.”
“Iknewit.” Sparrow was elated, springing toward me with a throaty laugh.
“Shut up,” I spat, glaring at her. “The truth is that Mr. Morningside does not know the location of the book, but I do.”
Henry’s eyes found mine and he shook his head urgently, mouthing things at me that I could not and would not obey.
“I lied to him,” I said, and that was a lie, too. He had told me to conceal the location, to keep it to myself until he asked for it. This, at least, would somewhat exonerate him. “That’s how he passed your Judgment, Sparrow. He honestly knows no other location.”
“Why would you do this?” the shepherd murmured. He didn’t sound angry, exactly, just sad.
“Because the book is gone,” I called back. The pavilion became one massive gasp. “It’s gone, forever. Only one person has its knowledge because he devoured it. It’s in him, in his mind, in his blood, and I have delivered him to you. Tonight.”
It was no longer gasps I heard but outraged shouts.Liar!was the most popular response to shout at me. I stood still, absorbing it all, letting them curse at me and fling insults. For once, Sparrow was reduced to stunned silence.
“There,” I said, turning and pointing. I had half expected Father to flee altogether once he divined my intentions. But no, he had arrived, moving to the center back of the pavilion. All eyes raced to find him, and a ripple of fear and excitement followed his discovery. He stood looming over the others, tallerand larger than them all, the ashy mist rolling off his face darker and more sinister than I remembered it. The fairy lights seemed to dim around him, as if shying away.
