Part 63 (1/2)
”If only I could ask the twins,” I said ”You know, the Master House? They signed off on it They must knohere House Rookmaaker's at”
What if House Rook anytrees, anywhere near here
”I keep thinking my parents' House is in Rome, but from the way Wiccan covens like to keep their distance, maybe it's not?” I said
Pendderwenn had hived from Ravenseal, and look how far they'd traveled They'd coone when they left House Pendderwenn?
”I wish Risky was here He would know Maybe he did know” I said
”Done!” said Ballard He obviously hadn't been listening
I looked at what he'd drawn, thinking, What are ? And where are they hiding it?
”Maybe it's big, Ballard Maybe it's so big they kneouldn't be able to handle it, or you Not yet, anyway”
Then, why do I feel like I'ht to myself
It was a cat, which I liked
”Can you add 'House Rook hied
”No problem,” he said He quickly drew it out ”There! Finito! Done!”
The question ere the twelve na to be listed under House Rook them in
HOUSE ROOKMAAKER
its Members a list Selwyn-cat Ballard Lennox Marek Me Gaven Lia Sandor Septi Ravenseal had ticked icor them To embrace outsidersThat hat House Rookmaaker was for As Roht, acidly
The problem was, I'd already filled it in, and there were still s needed Could a coven have more than twelve spots? Was there any way?
ROMEIt's called The Palio A three-lap horse race in Sienna, Italy Except the Roman version involves eknown as The Cats By E? Ballard's cousin had just outed I Gatti And here I'd thought I could startbookbut it would have to waiteverything would
What would happen if they found out about us? If the non-ainst the sed esse in silentiu myself in extre up My trial was co to do?
Tourist season kicked off in Rome with record temperatures and the motorcycle ban was lifted Ballard's shop was filled with custo in Unfortunately, that s supernatural Lia and Gaven had been released on bail, so eren't the only ones facing the heat La Luna Blu had been gutted by the fire But they were rebuilding, and so the tolf ca out the charred remains
Gaven was prematurely and quite quickly old His hair had turned all-white while in jail waiting for the Quirinal to bail him out But of course that just made him look even more handsome He reminded me of the Grey Wolf, or like Risky Perhaps all ex-Il Gattos looked like silver foxes
A calmness had come over Romea quietude But I knew better Rayven was still out there Every day lost brought us closer to doo strikes” The neas filled with calamities and natural disastersbut no moreit felt as though the Dark Order was building up to so had coh it had enabled Locke to potentially engineer Ballard's ouster And that was the Benandanti, ere now back Once Lennox returns, I thought, we'll have a nice little ar Ballard and I for our trial, the folloeek They'd opened a shop in Via dei Condotti, called S Bros, which was very swank And it was there that we adjourned, to discuss the case S Bros res' shop, in a way Dusty books and other things scattered the tables and bookshelves Maybe Via dei Condotti could be the new Golden Lane Antiquarian Row
Ballard said, ”I get it Leave me alone,” to which they replied, ”Locke's crafty He'll lead you into traps You need to twist his words, Ballard”
Having a verbal duel was a lot harder than studying ic, especially as you couldn't afford to make mistakes ”One false word, it's over,” said Sandor ”Locke's a xenophobeit ueall of us”
Septi And don't fidget Stick to the facts,” he said
By the end of it, Ballard and I didn't knohat to do
The next few days I withdrew froan to work onto be held in interreges until I came to beor if I ever wassuch-and-such Like I wasn't old enough Like I needed their per told what to do Like I needed their help All this Locke talk Maybe there was some kind of key I needed to unlock my House
I will find it; my blood will lead me there
But so far there had not been any breaks and I had been led more by fantasy than any familial connection
What happened to my parents? And as Risky's role in it?
Maybe he was encouraging theot them killed before the plan was finished Yeah Maybe that's what got them killed, I wrote in my Diary Because they led the olves with them! That's why they're not in The Directory! Their House was never started! House Rookmaaker is invisible! An abomination!
But I had seen itunless it was all some kind of trick on the part of Rayven Not even Vittoria's banging around could discourage yet Mistress Genevieve had warned erous
Siobhan, the Hall of Records woman, said there was no record of my parents' House anywhere
Think, Halsey Why would they cover it up? Who would cover it up? Maybe it wasn't covered up? Why would a House exist, but not be listed? What was it about their House that it had not been included in The Directory? Was there anything about my parents that I didn't know?
I was the de facto head of a House that didn't existon paper But it was real I was sure of it I need to knorote I need to know that they didn't just leave
But who could I turn to?
I gathered allthe desk drawers
The Rook powerfulthat much is clear They had a lot of influence The Rook to break away To form their own House, I invented wildly Mistress Genevieve's letter fell outfollowed by Ballard's And Selwyn's Marker; I grabbed at it hungrily, rubbing the Marker with maybe this is the key
”BEWARE THE DARK PATH”
”What is out there? The truth? What is that? Somebody's truth Isn't necessarily ours,” said Ballard, when I had whispered to him what I'd found, the next day ”Why didn't the Dark Order want Rook from Pendderwenn?” he said ”Because of their plans? What are those? Whose plans are those?”