Rebel Magisters (Rebel Mechanics #2)(15)

“I’ll let the others know. Now, let’s see how your illusion work is going.”

On Saturday night, I took a magical cab downtown and made the driver let me off a couple of blocks before the boardinghouse, where I’d arranged to meet Henry and his friends. I almost wouldn’t have recognized them, they’d done such a good job of dressing down for the occasion. No one was likely to suspect they were wealthy, titled magisters. They did get quite a few looks from any girls who passed by, though, because Philip was terribly handsome, even without his fine clothes. Viscount Hayes and Henry looked more ordinary, but I was surprised by how very young they looked without the trappings of their rank.

*

“Do we pass muster?” Henry asked me.

“I think you’ll do.”

I was rather nervous as I knocked on the boardinghouse door. I wasn’t sure how Lizzie would react to having three magisters on her doorstep. She seemed friendly enough when she opened the door, until she noticed the young men standing behind me. “What is this?” she asked.

“They’re the people you’re asking for a great deal of money,” I said. “I thought it would be easier for everyone to speak directly to each other than for me to smuggle messages back and forth.”

“You’d better come inside,” she said, stepping back from the doorway to allow us to pass. “But the men can’t go beyond the foyer.”

Once we were inside, I made hasty introductions. “Lizzie, you’ve met Henry, and this is Philip and Viscount Hayes.”

“Geoffrey,” he corrected.

“And this is Lizzie. She’s one of my contacts in the organization.”

Before the men could greet her formally, she caught me by the arm and dragged me off toward the parlor. “If you gentlemen will excuse us for a moment, I need to talk to Verity,” she said. When we were in the parlor, she hissed, “Some warning would have been nice.”

“I told Colin that my friend was interested in discussing a business proposal. That generally implies that the friend will be present for the discussion.”

“But three of them?”

“What you want is more than any one person, even a very wealthy person, can provide. These three helped get the machines out of the city, so they already know most of your secrets. They’ve seen the machines, they know about the subway, and they even know where the headquarters was. If they want to betray you, they already have everything they need. You have a lot more to gain than to lose by talking to them.”

She furrowed her brow, and the spots of color on her cheeks gradually faded, giving me hope that she was calming down as she considered. “It’s not entirely up to me, but I’ll take you there,” she said at last. “Wait with them.”

We returned to the foyer and she ran up the stairs. “What is it?” Henry asked me.

“It’s not easy for them to trust magisters,” I said. “But she’ll take you to the others. Maybe they’ll talk. I don’t know.” Unable to hold back a sigh, I added, “I’m sorry. I should have better prepared them or been more specific about arranging a meeting. I hope I haven’t wasted your time.”

Philip’s gaze tracked up the stairs to where Lizzie had appeared with another girl. “It hasn’t been wasted time at all,” he said, grinning. The other girl was rather pretty, with dark hair, porcelain skin, and a figure to envy. She blushed prettily when she noticed Philip’s gaze upon her.

“This is Emma,” Lizzie announced when they reached the bottom of the stairs. She then made introductions all around. “Now, we’re going to go out for a night on the town, an ordinary group of young men and their girls.”

Philip wasted no time in extending his arm to Emma, who smiled shyly as she took it. Lizzie gave me a long look, her lips twitching slightly, before turning to Geoffrey and saying, “It looks like you’ve got me. I hope you don’t have a problem with gingers.”

“I’m far more interested in what lies under the hair,” he said, to which she raised an eyebrow.

I got the feeling that Lizzie had chosen to leave me with Henry, but I wasn’t sure of her motive. I didn’t think I’d shown any particular interest in him that would have made her think I would prefer to be his partner for the evening. Perhaps she merely assumed I’d be more comfortable with him, since I knew him best.

Lizzie, on Geoffrey’s arm, led us through the crowded streets full of young working people out for a Saturday night. I was rather surprised when we ended up at the old theater where the Rebel Mechanics’ headquarters used to be. There were posters up for a theatrical review, and the ticket window was doing a brisk business. We bypassed the window and were waved inside by the boy who was taking tickets. I had to look twice to recognize Nat, a newsboy who sold the underground newspaper. He looked like an entirely different person with his face washed, bareheaded, and with his hair neatly combed. “Enjoy the show, Verity,” he said with a grin.

As we made our way to our seats, I leaned over to Lizzie and whispered, “Just what is going on here?”

“If we’re to convince the authorities that this was always nothing more than a dramatic society, then we need to put on some shows. It’s all entirely above reproach.” She winced slightly. “Though not very good. It is quite amusing, however. Have you considered branching out into theater criticism?”