Shades of Red by K. C. Dyer Page A

school,” said Kate. “We’re going to need to talk to him to find out what he knows — he had to have seen us get pulled away.”
    â€œI thought he got dragged along for sure,” said Darrell quietly. “Especially when the friar said he had found my three friends.” Delaney flopped over on his side to let her rub his tummy. “I’m just so glad you’re both okay,” she said in a low voice. “I’ve been sick with worry. Where were you all that time?”
    â€œWe stayed at the little villa where we found you,” said Brodie. “We looked everywhere for you when we arrived in Lisbon. Of course, it took us quite a while to figure out where we were at first. Kate was convinced we had to be in Spain because of what we had been learning in Professor Grampian’s class.”
    â€œWell, that’s how it worked before with Professor Tooth,” Kate said, a trifle crankily.
    â€œAnyway, we couldn’t find you anywhere. We searched a bit through the passages near the guardhouse under the castle, but then Kate thought you must have gone out into the city, so we went out to look.”
    â€œI hit my head this time,” said Darrell, ruefully rubbing the sore spot. “I must have been knocked out for quite a while. And I
was
in a passageway, near a little underground grotto.”
    â€œAnyway,” continued Brodie, “we finally figured out we were in Lisbon. We asked around in the local marketplace to see if anyone had seen you.”
    â€œI pretended you were my lost sister,” interjected Kate. “Nobody wanted to talk to us. Everyone seemed so anxious and suspicious because we were strangers.”
    â€œAfter what seemed like forever I spoke to a priest all hooded up in a red cloak who told us to go find Brother Socorro at the church — that he sometimes gave lost travellers sanctuary.”
    â€œA red robe?” said Darrell thoughtfully. “Why does that remind me of something?” She thought a moment then shook her head. “It’s gone. So his name is Brother Socorro, eh?”
    â€œYeah. Turned out he was actually looking for us, since he must have found you by then.”
    â€œHe hid me in his room in the cathedral,” Darrell explained. “But he locked me in, and I guess that’s when things started to go crazy in the city, so he left me there for what seemed like forever.”
    â€œNearly three days,” said Kate, patting Darrell on the arm.
    â€œNo wonder I was so hungry! So you were in the cottage all that time?” asked Darrell.
    â€œOnly about a day, ’cause we spent the first day figuring out where we were and the second looking for you,” Kate replied.
    Darrell leaned over and squeezed Kate by the shoulders. “That explains why Socorro thought you were my sister,” she said and peered at Brodie through bloodshot eyes. “You know, I am so tired, at one point I thought he actually referred to you as Kate’s ‘good husband.’”
    Kate and Brodie both started talking at once.
    â€œIt was the only ...”
    â€œ... not my idea ...”
    â€œ... a short time ...”
    â€œAnd nobody has to know anything about it,” they both blurted.
    Darrell dropped her head onto her arms and enjoyed the best laugh she could remember having for a long time. When she finally looked up, she saw Kate’s face was scarlet, and even Brodie’s cheeks had reddened.
    â€œThere was no other way,” he said, standing up abruptly. “There was no one else to act as chaperone, and in those days, no decent girl would be wandering around alone with a guy unless she was married to him.”
    Darrell’s face was sore from grinning. “He was saving your reputation, Kate,” she spluttered.
    Kate rolled her eyes. “Grow up, will you? It was the only thing we could think of to explain ourselves to Brother Socorro.”
    Darrell chuckled.