Part 19 (1/2)
”We're not going to give up on this, are we?” Thom asked her quietly, giving a quick glance over his shoulder for what might be lurking in the shadows.
”I'm not,” she declared firmly.
”Then I'm not, either. But we have to find a different way.”
”What if we don't find a different way?”
Thom shook his head. ”Sooner or later, we'll have our chance. We just need to be patient.” He frowned. ”You didn't hear the voice again, did you? It didn't call out to you or anything?”
She sighed. ”Not since the last time. But I think it will. Soon.”
”I do, too.” Thom's mouth tightened into a thin line. ”There has to be a way.”
As it happened, he was right, but when opportunity knocks, it doesn't always appear the way we expect. Thus, as Mistaya was walking back to her bedroom after finis.h.i.+ng her dinner, already dreading tomorrow's workday in the stables, she was surprised to find herself suddenly in the company of Edgewood Dirk. As usual, the Prism Cat appeared out of nowhere and with no warning. One moment he wasn't there, the next he was. For a moment, Mistaya just stared, not quite believing what she was seeing.
”Where have you been?” she demanded, recovering herself sufficiently to demand an explanation.
The cat's face was inscrutable as he glanced over at her. ”Here and there,” he said, showing no inclination to offer anything further by way of explanation.
”Well, you certainly were quick enough to disappear once you'd brought me here!” She was steaming and not the least bit interested in keeping it to herself. ”What about all those promises you made about keeping me safe and hiding me from discovery?”
The cat didn't even glance at her. ”If I remember correctly, I never said anything at all about keeping you safe. What I promised is that you wouldn't be discovered through use of another magic. I didn't promise that Questor Thews wouldn't figure out on his own that you might be here and come looking for you.” He paused, reflecting. ”Although such initiative is quite unlike him, I admit.”
”At least he offered to try to help me!” she snapped back. ”He listened to what I had to say and then he tried to do something about it. At least he talked talked to me. What have you done lately? Disappeared and stayed disappeared, is what!” to me. What have you done lately? Disappeared and stayed disappeared, is what!”
”I wasn't aware that I was under any obligation to do anything other than what I had promised.” The smooth, silky voice was infuriating. ”I didn't promise to help you or talk to you or do anything else. I'm a cat, in case you hadn't noticed, and cats don't do anything for people unless they choose to. I didn't so choose. Or at least I didn't before this and may not still if you don't keep a civil tongue in your head.”
She forced down the retort she wanted to make and kept quiet a moment, considering her options. They were almost to her bedroom door now, and she glanced up and down the hallway to see if anyone was watching. Rufus Pinch came to mind.
”No one but you can see me,” Dirk advised, obviously reading her mind. ”Spying is poor form, even for humans. I don't allow that sort of thing.”
She sighed. ”Of course you don't.”
They reached the door, and she opened it. The cat walked inside, jumped up on her bed, and a.s.sumed a Sphinx-like pose, forelegs extended, head raised, rear haunches tucked against his lean body. His fur glistened in the dim candlelight, as if encrusted with diamond chips or dappled with morning dew.
”Shall we start over again?” the cat asked.
She nodded. ”Please. Do you know what's happened to me since I arrived? Do you know about the voice and the darkness in the back of the Stacks?”
Edgewood Dirk closed his eyes in contentment. ”I am a cat. I know everything that happens. Did you think that because you couldn't see me, I couldn't see you?”
”I just didn't know if you would bother.”
”Oh, Princess, you cut me to the quick! I bother with anything that engages my curious nature. You do know about cats being curious creatures, don't you?”
”I believe we already established that in an earlier conversation.” She gave him a look. ”What about the old saying that curiosity killed the cat?”
”Lesser cats, perhaps. Not Prism Cats. We are not the kind to let curiosity kill us. Which is not true of young girls like you, I might point out. Especially in situations like this one.”
”Are you saying I'm in danger?” she asked quickly. ”What aren't you telling me?”
”Lots and lots,” he replied. ”But most of it does not pertain to your present circ.u.mstances, so we can skip all that. Let's start with something pertinent. For example, your efforts at exploring the darker regions of the Stacks have not met with much success to date, although they have placed you in a tenuous situation with the library's present administration. Perhaps you would like to see that change?”
She brightened instantly. ”Of course I would. Can you do something to help?”
”Perhaps. If you are serious about this.” Dirk rose, stretched, and yawned. ”I'll be back at midnight to see if you are awake.”
He hopped down off the bed and walked over to the door. ”Be alone when I come. The boy may not go with you. Do you understand?”
She understood well enough, although she didn't much like it. But what choice did she have if she wanted to learn something more about the voice? She could always tell Thom later what she had discovered.
”I understand,” she replied. ”He's not to know anything about you.”
The cat nodded, and the door opened of its own accord and then closed behind him as he strolled out. Mistaya sighed and decided she might consider coming back as a Prism Cat in her next life.
At exactly midnight, the bedroom door opened anew and there was Edgewood Dirk. She was sitting on the bed waiting for him, dressed in dark clothing and wearing soft boots to m.u.f.fle her pa.s.sage. The cat gave her a quick glance, then turned away without a word. Eyes forward, he started down the hallway toward the Stacks, not waiting to see if she would follow.
She caught up to him quickly but didn't say anything, preferring the quiet. She kept glancing around for Pinch but didn't see any sign of him. Even when they reached the Stacks, entering the cavernous room and crossing to the beginnings of the shelving, the odious little man had not appeared.
”Nor will he,” said Dirk, apparently reading her mind. ”He fell asleep in his room a while back. I believe he wore himself out earlier in the day, keeping watch over things. Now he needs to sleep. Come with me.”
They worked their way down the aisles and deeper into the Stacks. While there were no lights lit on the shelving units and they carried no glow sticks, they had no trouble finding their way because Dirk's fur radiated a pale silvery light that let them see where they were going. Mistaya kept glancing around, unable to shake the feeling that someone must be watching. The shadows surrounding them were impenetrable beyond their small light, and her imagination was working overtime as she tried to detect a presence that wasn't there. Not only was Pinch absent, there was no sign of the Throg Monkeys, either. Apparently Dirk was as good as his word.
”What are we doing?” she whispered finally.
”Exploring,” he whispered back.
”Exploring for what?”
”Whatever we find that looks interesting. Keep your eyes open. That is what cats do; humans should learn to do it, too.”
That wasn't much of an answer, but she decided to let it go for the moment. She concentrated instead on wending her way through the shadows, keeping close to the Stacks on her left as she progressed, wary of the sucking wind that sooner or later would try to draw her into the deepest part of the blackness waiting ahead. Although the Throg Monkeys were not in evidence, she kept looking for them, thinking they must be there, hiding and watching. She glanced repeatedly at Dirk for some sign that she should start worrying. But the cat seemed unconcerned, ambling down the center of the aisle, tail twitching and eyes s.h.i.+ning like bright, tiny lamps.
After they had gone a long way back, although not as far as she had gone with Thom, and there was still no sign of the black tunnel or the sucking wind, her patience gave out.
”Why aren't we encountering the tunnel or the wind that was here before?” she asked the cat. ”What's happened to them?”
”Nothing,” he said. ”They are still here. But we don't see or feel either because they are dormant.”
”How can that be?”
”The magic that sustains them is unaware of us.”
”Unaware of us?”
”I am s.h.i.+elding us. I told you I could hide us from other magic when I chose to do so.”
”Well, why didn't you s.h.i.+eld Thom and me when we came down here before? Wouldn't that have saved us both a lot of trouble?”