Chronicles of the Invaders 1: Conquest by John Connolly, Jennifer Ridyard

striking.
    “Careful, little bird,” she said, “or I may have to break your wings.”
    Even Sedulus appeared to recognize that no good was going to come from any further exchanges.
    “Well,” he said, “I believe that answers our questions for now, doesn’t it?”
    Vena didn’t look like she’d received the answers she was looking for at all, and would have very much liked to continue the questioning somewhere quieter and more private, but she took the hint.
    “If you are content, sir, then so am I,” she said.
    “Then we’ll let the governor’s lovely daughter and her equally fetching friend be about their business,” said Sedulus. “Thank you for your help, Sergeant . . . ?”
    “Rupe,” said the sergeant.
    “Rupe,” repeated Sedulus. “I shall remember that name. Such loyal service to the governor should be rewarded appropriately, and it will be, when the time comes.”
    Sedulus and Vena retreated, for the time being. Rupe let out a small, relieved breath.
    “Thank you, Sergeant,” said Syl. “I hope we haven’t gotten you into trouble,” although she suspected that they had. Sedulus had a long memory, and Vena didn’t like to be thwarted.
    “If you have, it would be worth it just to have gotten in that bitch’s face, excuse my language.”
    “Can you tell us what’s happening?” said Ani. “Nobody seems to be know, or seems willing to share it with us.”
    “All I know is that we have offworld visitors,” said Rupe. “Unexpected ones, and your father isn’t very happy about it.” He lowered his voice. “I can’t say for sure, but I hear that Grand Consul Gradus is among them.”
    This was news. Gradus had never visited Earth before, and he would usually have been expected to arrive with much pomp and ceremony, not in a small ship on a damp day in bomb-blasted Edinburgh.
    “Now,” concluded Rupe, “as I was saying earlier, if I were you, I’d find somewhere nice and quiet to wait this out. The Securitats have no love for anyone but their own kind, and I may not be here to protect you the next time. Off you go now.”
    They went, but only as far as the next corner. When they were sure that Rupe was gone, Syl stopped.
    “What is it?” said Ani.
    “Care to eavesdrop?”
    “On what?”
    “On whatever happens next.”
    Ani looked uncertain. “I think we might have had enough fun for one day, don’t you? I mean, we’ve slipped out of the castle and had to sneak back in again, we’ve nearly been blown up twice, we’ve had tea and cake with the enemy, and we’ve managed to annoy the head of the secret police and his nasty little puppet.”
    “Indulge me,” said Syl. “It’s my birthday.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “The Great Hall.”
    Ani pretended to scowl, then laughed. “All right, but we leave as soon as it gets boring. Which it will.”
    “Fine,” said Syl, but she had a suspicion that the meeting wasn’t going to be boring at all.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    P aul and Steven were in the sewers. Paul had been there before. The sewers had provided useful ways of moving arms around the city—and even a means of escape from patrols—but the Illyri had learned of what was happening, and had laid motion sensors along the routes most frequently used by the Resistance, as well as minimum-charge, infrasonic antipersonnel mines capable of killing a person without damaging the sewer system itself.
    Now the Resistance tried to avoid the sewers; they didn’t have time to sweep for sensors and mines, and it was only in the most desperate of cases that they made their way below ground. Paul had seen what happened to the insides of Resistance soldiers caught by infrasonic mines. It wasn’t pretty, and he tried to keep images of it from his mind as he and his brother tramped through the filth of the city. His only reassurance came from the knowledge that the Illyri were unlikely to plant mines in areas used by their own troops. Just as long as Knutter hadn’t simply been hearing