Wraith(39)

The wraith sprang away, elongating his form and sliding out of the bars to flit down the corridor. I flung my own shadow backwards, merging it with my body.

‘Becky’s fine,’ I hissed at Ange. ‘She’s safe.’

She let out a half-strangled sob before opening her mouth to ask me more. There wasn’t time and I jumped in before she could speak. ‘Why have you been arrested, Ange? I need to know.’

‘They think I know something about this Stone. I don’t know anything! They keep mentioning my family but…’

I held up my palm in warning and she fell silent. A heartbeat later, five swarthy goblins appeared at the far end of the corridor. I fell to my knees in a gesture of submission and pasted on a terrified expression. I was getting pretty adept at playing the role of scared little girl.

‘A wraith,’ I babbled. ‘There was a wraith here.’

The first two goblins pulled out guns before I finished my sentence. ‘Where did it go?’ snarled a third one, her thick accent bellowing across the expanse of corridor.

‘I don’t know! It vanished into thin air. It grabbed me and pulled me down here. It was right in front of me and holding my arm then…’ I swung my eyes around wildly as if expecting the wraith to reappear. As far as I knew he was still cowering in one of the dark and empty cells; as far as I was concerned, he was on his own. I didn’t doubt that he’d been here to end Ange’s life; the question was why. Clearly it had something to do with this damned Stone that everyone kept talking about. Maybe it was some kind of jewel.

The nearest goblin grabbed one of the torches from the wall and thrust it in the direction of the first cell while his buddy waved his gun. I could have told them that shooting a wraith’s shadow wouldn’t do them any good; they’d need something along the lines of the magic that Gabriel de Florinville had employed. Funnily enough, I didn’t feel a great desire to point this out. All that was in my mind was to get out of here before someone like Ghrashbreg decided to show up. He couldn’t be far away.

‘The Gneiss bastards must have sent it,’ spat one of the female goblins from the rear of the group. They jumped to the next cell and frantically waved the torch around. ‘They know.’

‘They can’t know.’

‘They can if someone’s told them. If one of us has betrayed the cause.’

What the hell was going on? Part of me felt as if an abyss of secrets had just opened up at my feet and I was teetering on the edge. Whatever the Filits were up to, they appeared to be close to achieving it. Perhaps that was why they were all so suddenly loose-lipped. I’d seen the proximity of success cause that kind of problem many times before. But whatever this Stone was that they were after, they didn’t have it yet.

I reached out, curling my fingers round one of the rusty bars in front of Ange’s cell ostensibly to help me stand up. The goblins continued their slow search towards me while, unseen by their eyes, Ange reached out and gripped my hand tightly, understanding reflected in her touch.

‘Thank you,’ she breathed in a barely audible whisper.

I nodded and stood up just as the first goblin reached the cell I’d seen the other wraith dart into. A flicker of a shadow caught my eye and, while the goblin jerked his hand into the cell and waved around the torch to search the darkness, the wraith’s form danced across the ceiling and out over the goblins’ heads. I hesitated for a moment, debating what to do. Then I lurched forward, making the goblins stop in alarm and start yelling.

‘Cease! Stay where you are!’

‘With that thing running around?’ I gave a high-pitched shriek. ‘No way! It’s obviously after that prisoner. I want to get as far away from her as possible!’

While the wraith paused in the doorway leading up to the staircase as if watching me, I jogged forward to make it clear that I’d rather be beaten by the goblins than be caught by a wraith. The guards exchanged glances and the wraith disappeared, taking his chance while he could.

‘We need to move the prisoner,’ one muttered. ‘Ghrashbreg will have our heads if anything happens to her before—’

‘I don’t care what you do with her!’ I screeched. ‘Just let me get out of here! I only came to visit my brother and I’ve been accosted by a freaking wraith!’

The lead goblin winced and pointed at me. ‘She’s making my ears bleed. Get her out of here and then get the other woman. We’ll take her up to the ground floor where there’s plenty of light.’

The other goblins blanched; as a simultaneous action, it was quite impressive. ‘But the wraith—’

‘Do it!’ he snarled. I noted that he was staying well back.

Rather than wait to be escorted out, I pushed past the goblins and made for the stairs. They seemed happy enough to let me go. By the time I reached the doorway, satisfied that I’d done enough to have Ange transferred somewhere the wraith couldn’t get to her, they were moving warily in her direction.

I darted up and away before any of them thought to interrogate me further. I might still have more questions than answers but I was getting close to something. Whatever the hell it was.





Chapter Ten


I’d barely stepped out of the Tolbooth when a plan began to form in my mind. It was as risky as a teenage boy in a garden shed with his dad’s old magazines but I was starting to feel virtually untouchable. I only needed to make enough of a diversion and there was a good chance could free Ange.