Broken Veil (Harbinger #5)(34)

Her efforts were rewarded when the door swung open.

Her first instinct was to light the Leering and see her way out, but she stopped herself, knowing that Mrs. Pullman, as the keeper of the house, would sense it. She could pass the Leering in the dark, however, and its eyes would be blind to her. Gripping the penknife in her good hand, she slowly walked down the corridor, bumping into barrels along the way. Her senses screamed at her to run, lest Mrs. Pullman return, but her logical mind knew it was best to walk slowly, keeping aware of her surroundings. And so she continued to walk slowly, one foot in front of the other. At the end of the corridor was another door, but this one wasn’t locked. Sera twisted the handle and sighed with relief when it opened.

Darkness greeted her on the other side. No windows were nearby, but the lack of any glowing Leerings indicated it was nighttime. Sera carefully shut the door behind her and stepped forward until she reached a set of stairs. She climbed them swiftly, her ears keen for any sound that would reveal danger. Every muscle in her body was taut with dread.

After mounting the steps, she found herself in another storage room and continued to bump into crates and chests. She had to feel her way from wall to wall until she found the door. After turning its handle, she was greeted by moonlight pouring in through a high window. Her eyes, sharpened by the hours she’d spent in the dark, could make out the details as if it were the brightest day. There was a corridor, carpeted, which led in two different directions. Which to choose?

She paused at the doorframe, listening for sounds. Hearing none, she took a right and quickly found a dead-end and a locked door. So she reversed her path and went the other way. The gauzy curtains fluttered as she passed them, and the moonlight through the windows continued to light her path.

The corridor deposited her in another hallway. She quickly looked both ways, her heart pounding with excitement and fear. She brushed her wrist against her mouth to remove a sheen of sweat from her upper lip.

From what Cettie had told her about Gimmerton Sough, and from what she remembered from attending a ball long ago, it was not a vast estate. If Sera could find her way to the landing yard, she could steal a zephyr and be off. Or, barring that, hide until the zephyr post came.

Light.

Sera froze, watching as the yellow gleam of a lantern rounded the corner, heading her way. Mrs. Pullman held a lantern in one hand and carried a tray of food in the other.

Sera quickly backtracked, trying not to scuff her shoes on the carpet or make any sound at all. Her heartbeat, already worried, now beat frantically. She had passed a staircase going up and decided to take it. If Mrs. Pullman were heading to the cellar, she’d soon know that Sera had escaped. That meant she needed to find a place to hide, a place where the keeper could not use the Leerings’ eyes to track her down.

As she mounted the steps, she kept her eyes fixed on the approaching glow of the lantern beneath her.

Which was why she didn’t see Joanna Patchett coming down the stairs until they collided.



Joanna gasped with fear, but didn’t cry out. Neither did Sera.

“Are you hiding from Mrs. Rosings?” Joanna whispered. A band of moonlight revealed her concerned expression to Sera. She was wearing a white nightgown and shawl.

“Yes,” Sera whispered back.

Joanna nodded and gripped her shoulder, tugging her upstairs. “This way. I’ll hide you.”

Sera followed, and they turned the corner on the curving stairway just before Mrs. Pullman arrived at the bottom of the steps.

“Who’s up there?” Mrs. Pullman’s voice rang out.

They both froze on the steps. Joanna pressed a finger to her own lips, a signal to be quiet.

“You get to bed right away,” Mrs. Pullman snapped. “If I catch you in the corridors, you’ll be dismissed.”

Sera had a rush of uncomfortable intuition. If Mrs. Pullman hadn’t been carrying a tray, she would have followed them up the stairs. The light retreated.

The last time Sera had seen Joanna Patchett was at one of the balls she’d held in Lockhaven. As Lady Corinne’s popularity and influence had waned, Joanna’s had risen proportionately. She was a charming and affectionate girl, a gossip, and Sera had always liked her because she’d befriended Cettie.

But wasn’t it odd that Lady Corinne had chosen to hide Sera in Gimmerton Sough, a floating manor that she owned and had leased to the Patchett siblings? Moreover, Joanna and Rand were the children of dead admiral Patchett, who had been a close friend of Lady Corinne’s husband. Could Joanna be trusted?

“This way,” Joanna said in a low voice, guiding Sera down the hall.

Sera stopped, shaking off the other woman’s hand.

Joanna stopped and looked back at her. “Do you want to get caught?”

“Where are you taking me?”

“To my brother’s room. He’s gone right now. No one goes in there. She won’t be able to find you.”

“Why do you say that?”

Joanna drew closer. “It’s one of the Mysteries. I can’t explain it. Just trust me. She can see into almost every room in the house. Except that one.”

That meant there were no Leerings in it. If Joanna recognized her, she hadn’t indicated it. The dark may well have kept her identity secret, for the moment. Sera decided she had no choice but to trust Joanna, so she nodded. When the lady of the house turned and walked down the hall, she followed her to a closed door. Joanna opened it, revealing yet another dark room.