Page 87 of Crossroads Magic
But there were other tracks on the road. Others had crossed before me. Harper, at least. Olivia and Wim, and Benedict, even Trevalyan, had returned to their houses after breakfast. Their tracks were already being covered by new snow. That let me walk across the road to Benedict’s house and rap on the front door.
It took a while for Benedict to come to the door. He carried with him a perfectly normal wooden spoon covered in what looked like chocolate sauce.
“Am I interrupting anything?” I asked, eyeing the spoon. Was Harper here?
He hefted the spoon. “Just making chocolate frosting. Come in.” He held the door open.
“Frosting for what?”
“Chocolate cake, of course.”
“Sorry, but home-made chocolate cake and you don’t seem to fit together.”
“They don’t, much. So when I bring the cake to dinner tonight, you might want to pass on eating a piece.”
I grinned. “Trying to turn over a new leaf?” I teased as he led me through his front room and into an open kitchen area that included a small dining nook and a counter cluttered with bowls, pans and dirty utensils, along with a liberal coating of flour and cocoa powder.
At the end of the peninsular counter was a block of knives. One of the knives was missing.
“It’s for New Year’s Eve,” Benedict said. “We all contribute, usually. I wasn’t sure what the plan was for tonight and didn’t want to be caught flat footed if the usual arrangements went ahead.”
“Oh,” I said flatly. “I didn’t know that was the usual arrangement. Everyone comes to the inn for New Year’s Eve?”
“To see the new year in.” He put the spoon in the bowl holding the frosting and wiped off the powder on his shirt. “But don’t imagine a wild party with balloons and punchbowls. We usually have dinner, then sit around the fire in the bar, and talk.”
“Life as usual in Haigton,” I murmured.
“Except that everyone turns up. Even Frida stays up for dinner, although she’s usually yawning by the time it’s done.”
“I didn’t think New Year’s Eve was a thing for…for people like everyone here in Haigton,” I said inadequately. WhatwasI supposed to call them? People-who-aren’t-exactly-human didn’t really roll off the tongue.
“The end of the year and the start of a new one has been celebrated since before writing was invented,” Benedict said. “The dates have changed a lot since then, but the celebration has not. One of renewal, of new hope, of starting again.”
His gaze was steady. Unflinching.
I looked away for a moment to gather my thoughts. “I have a question for you.”
“Of course you do.” But he sounded amused, not irritated.
I met his eyes again, not to confront him, but because I did not want to miss even the tiniest reaction. “What, exactly,areyou?”
Benedict raised his brow. “Male?” he asked, sounding puzzled.
I shook my head. “Trevalyan asked three of you to help him last night. He destroyed the summoning token, but he needed three others to help him even though it was the Spirit Hour and even though he is far more powerful than my mother ever was. Juda, I can understand—he is…well, he’s not altogether human. Broch, either. They would have power that he could use.”
I drew in a breath, while Benedict just watched me. “You, though…you appear to be ordinary human, like Olivia. But you can’t be, if Trevalyan wanted you to help him last night. He wouldn’t risk using someone with no or little power. He didn’t want me there, because I’m still figuring things out…” I ran out of breath and words and just looked at him.
Benedict put both hands on the edge of the counter and leaned on it.
“So what are you?” I asked again.
He grimaced. “You know…I haven’t had to speak about this in a very long time.”
“Because everyone here just knows.”
He nodded.
I waited. And waited.
