The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #1)(23)

Mg. Hughes hovered over Mg. Thane for some time, prodding his neck and chest with rubber gloves. Ceony knew he was a Siper, and she wondered, briefly, if the gloves were enchanted, especially since he tucked the pair into his coat pocket instead of tossing them in the trash. “It’s Excision work all right,” he said in low tones, “and powerful at that. I thought the wards would keep them from coming here, Lira especially.”

“Wards?” Ceony asked, heart thumping. “What wards? Why would she hurt Magician Thane? Who is she?”

Mg. Hughes frowned and stroked his short, white beard. Mg. Aviosky put a hand on Ceony’s shoulder and said, “Perhaps you should go to bed, Miss Twill. You’ve had a hard day.”

“No!” Ceony cried. “You have to let me stay here with him. You have to let me help!”

Mg. Aviosky frowned, and in the dim lighting it made her look much older, and much taller. “You may no longer be a pupil at Tagis Praff, Miss Twill, but you are still under the board’s jurisdiction. Go upstairs and get some rest. It is not a request. I will discuss matters further with you in the morning.”

Ceony’s skeleton slumped within her skin. She stepped away from Mg. Hughes so she could see Mg. Thane on the floor. His eyes were closed and his breathing sounded even, albeit faint. Mg. Katter scribbled something in a notepad beside him.

Clutching her hands over her breast, Ceony stepped past Mg. Thane, watching him, and took to the stairs. Mg. Hughes shut the door behind her, but she knew he didn’t lock it, since he wouldn’t have the key to do so.

Hesitating for a moment, Ceony tromped up the stairs and to her bedroom door, where she then slipped off her shoes and carefully, very carefully, snuck her way back downstairs, skipping the squeaky ninth step.

She squatted on the first stair, shying away from the thin light filtering through the door’s keyhole, and listened.

“. . . getting close,” Mg. Hughes’s voice said quietly. “Emery’s the one who tipped us off for the Lillith capture, if you remember. That was less than two months ago.”

“But have there been attempts on the other members?” Mg. Aviosky said, sounding very worried. More worried than Ceony had ever heard her sound.

“Magician Karl Tode was killed yesterday morning in a similar manner,” Mg. Hughes replied. “A hunter, like Emery. But it wasn’t Lira’s handiwork. She’s . . . much cleaner than her accomplices.”

Mg. Katter said, “But that’s it. Nothing else since they took out Piper last year. Don’t you remember what Gabon Suter said when we arrested him? Reeling around in his chair like a madman . . . ‘We’ll get the rest. Hunt us down like animals, but we’ll turn on you . . .’?”

“It could just be a personal vendetta in this case,” Mg. Aviosky said. “Unless my information on their relationship isn’t accurate.”

“?‘I’m leaving,’?” Mg. Hughes said, repeating the words Ceony had related to him, “?‘and I’m taking you with me.’ That’s all she said. No letters, no ceremony. I know this woman, Patrice. She wouldn’t just do the deed for revenge and not make a show of it, unless she did so outside of Miss Twill’s witness.”

“Perhaps,” Mg. Katter cut in, “she’s finally gotten smart. In and out, job done.”

Mg. Hughes said, “No. Not her.” He paused. “She knows Emery is critical to the syndicate, they all do. He’s personally invested in it. That, and she’s always kept a . . . keen . . . interest in him.”

Syndicate? Ceony thought. Her legs began to cramp, but she dared not move, not yet. Excisioners, and a syndicate?

Was Mg. Thane personally policing the dark-magic ring? And what “keen interest” did Mg. Hughes refer to?

The floorboards shifted again, and someone blocked the light coming through the keyhole. Ceony held her breath, but the door didn’t open. Instead someone leaned against it, which made the talk in the dining room that much fainter.

“Sounds like she plans on leaving England,” Mg. Katter said, so muffled Ceony could barely tell one word from the next. “Perhaps Europe altogether.”

“So what do we do?” asked Mg. Aviosky, the one against the door.

“Document it,” Mg. Hughes said slowly. “Gather what evidence we can, sketches and the like. Find any blood on the floor that Lira might have used.”

“Go after her?” asked Mg. Katter.

“It has to go through the Cabinet,” Mg. Hughes replied, sounding exasperated. “We have to get approval, sanction off this house, assign a force.”

Ceony clutched her skirt in her fists. Approval? Lira would be long gone by then!

“She’ll be out of reach by then,” said Mg. Aviosky, as if she had heard Ceony’s thoughts and agreed with them.

“You must understand, Patrice, that Excisioners are a tricky matter,” Mg. Hughes explained. “They are wildly dangerous, and if they touch you, they can pull magic through your body. It is a killing magic. One cannot merely race in and capture them. And if she disappeared in a blood cloud as Miss Twill stated, she could be anywhere within a thirty-mile radius by now.”

A moment of silence made Ceony aware of her pulse drumming in her ears. Her face felt hot, and her eyes stung. Would they really let this woman get away?