chimney swiftsâ leader, would be hiding out in the Twilight somewhere, but the four swifts hustled me through the dark and deserted streets and down to the bank of the river, where they shoved me into a rowboat. Two of them, the woman and the burly man, Drury, got in; the other two stayed behind on the shore. So did Pip. The cat-dragon would find me on the other side of the river. Hopefully Pip would come soon, just in case I needed to do the dazzler spell or the needle-prickler to get away from the swifts.
Drury rowed the boat across the river, past the dark and sleeping magistersâ islands. Heartsease was dark, too, except for one light shining from a window on the second floor. Hello, Nevery , I thought as the boat slipped silently past the island. He was up late, working in the study, reading a book or writing in his grimoire. If he could see me now heâd be furious, most likely, and so would Benet. So would Embre and Rowan and Kerrn, for that matter. They didnât need to worry. Sure as sure I could look after myself.
On the other side of the river, Drury and the woman, whose name was Floss, led me down the Sunrise streets and âround the back of a plain-fronted house and took me inside. They put me in a room and told me to wait, which I did for a long time. I listened to the tromping sound of feet in a room upstairs, and then I lay on the hard floor and fell asleep. Finally they came back and brought me down a long hallway and up some stairs and into a dim-dark room.
Three chimney swifts were sitting around a plain table with a lit candle on it. I looked carefully at them, just in case any of them were the men whoâd tried to kidnap me from the Heartsease courtyard, but Iâd never seen any of them before.
In the room, heavy curtains hung over the windows, and the rest of the room was empty, not even any pictures on the walls or carpets on the floor. A fireplace gaped like an empty mouth, no fire burning there. The swifts ignored us as we came in.
One of them pointed up at the ceiling. âHe coming down again, Sootle?â he asked the man sitting at the end of the table.
Sootle was tall and very thin and he had a pointy nose and long, black, stringy hair with a bald patch on the top of his head; and, like the others, he was smudged with soot. âNo, weâre done. The men he brought in will take care of the rest of it,â he said. âTake yourselves off. Looks like Iâve got some other business here.â
The other chimney swifts went out of the room, leaving me facing Sootle, with Drury and Floss standing behind me, blocking the door.
âWell?â Sootle asked. He looked me up and down with sharp, black eyes. âYouâve brought me a gutterboy, have you?â
âSays he knows about stolen wizard stones,â Floss said.
Sootleâs sharp eyes narrowed. âWhat dâyou know exactly, gutterboy?â
I shrugged.
The sooty hand flashed out and he cuffed me across the face. âI asked you a question, gutterboy. Answer it.â
Shaking off the blow, I nodded. âI figured out about the stones. And I want to come work for you.â
âDo you, now? Weâll see about that. Whatâs your name?â Sootle asked.
âPip,â I said. It was the first name I could think of that wasnât my own.
âYou afraid to go up a chimney, Pip?â asked Sootle.
âNo,â I said. I didnât think I was. âIâm a lockpick, too,â I added quickly.
âAre you, then?â Sootle drummed his long fingers on the tabletop. âWhat dâyou think, Floss? Drury?â
Floss stepped back to look me over. âHeâs too tall,â she said.
Sootle nodded. âHeâs skinny, though. He might do. I might take him on myself. I could use an intrepid lockpicker charboy like this, especially after last night.â He got to his feet, then went to the hearth, where he squatted down, leaned into the
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