The Masked City (The Invisible Library #2)(54)
Zayanna nodded, letting herself slide back down. Together the two of them swam quietly up the canal, keeping low in the water, their heads barely above the surface.
A couple of hundred yards later, they’d crossed two more canals and nearly been run over by a passing cargo boat, and Irene was feeling far more tired than was normal after a quick swim. ‘Stop a moment,’ she wheezed, trying but failing to make a question of it. She’d lost her shoes somewhere way back in the water, and she wished she was wearing a bikini like Zayanna. It’d make swimming so much easier.
‘Just a teensy bit further and we can get up onto the side of the street here,’ Zayanna called back. She easily swung herself up onto the paving stones, sitting on the canalside with her legs dangling in the water, her skin like liquid gold in the lamplight. Her eyes were normal again. ‘You’re not much of a swimmer, are you?’
‘It’s more of an emergency thing,’ Irene panted. ‘At least I don’t drown.’
‘Is that your only criterion?’ Zayanna kicked at the water, splashing it into the fog in glittering droplets.
‘You’d be astonished how many girls back at my old school almost drowned.’ Irene leaned her elbows on the paving stones, not quite ready to pull herself out yet. She was bone-tired. She wasn’t sure whether to blame the exercise, the use of the Language or the stressful circumstances. Possibly all of the above. She needed to sleep. Just for a little while. She couldn’t save Kai if she was collapsing midrescue from lack of sleep. Even the cold water wasn’t being much help. ‘There was someone every summer term who thought she could swim and then found out she couldn’t. Not to mention the ones who fell through the ice. Swimming well enough not to drown was useful.’
Zayanna tilted her head. ‘It sounds too, too dramatic, darling. Did they train heroes there?’
‘Heroines mostly.’ The language teaching had been world-class too. Literally. ‘I wasn’t one of them.’
‘So what’s actually going on?’ Zayanna raised her hands behind her head to wring some of the water out of her hair. ‘And how did you break the boat?’
This was probably not going to end well. ‘You probably heard what those men in black said,’ Irene said cautiously. ‘It’s true that I was trying to get away before Lord and Lady Guantes noticed me. When you passed out, I took the excuse to leave. I admit it.’
Zayanna considered, then shrugged. ‘Well, you were going to take me back to my hotel. I do remember that much. That was sweet of you. It would have been even nicer if you’d gone back for me after dropping us both in the canal - how did you do that again, by the way?’
‘Trade secret,’ Irene said firmly. ‘Sorry.’
Zayanna laughed. ‘I didn’t seriously expect you to tell me! Don’t be so silly. Clarice, this has been a wonderful evening, and as long as I don’t actually get into any trouble for it from the Guantes or anyone else, I think it is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’
The heat of exercise was wearing off, and Irene could feel the chill of the canal water settling into her bones. It made everything feel cold and distant, from her body to Zayanna’s smile. Aftershock, she diagnosed herself. Don’t let it get to you.
‘I wouldn’t mind that,’ she said, pulling herself together. And perhaps it could be true, after this whole business was settled and Kai was safe and everything was sorted out. Perhaps they could find a way to be friends, in spite of everything. But she’s Fae, her common sense hissed at her, as she tried to pull herself together. ‘But here and now we just need to get to the Gritti Palace.’ She heaved herself out onto the side of the canal. She was far less graceful about it than Zayanna had been and she knew that she looked far less attractive too. Her business suit had never been made for this.
‘Do look on the bright side, darling!’ Zayanna squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. ‘We got away! Now all we need to do is break into one of these houses and convince the inhabitants they should escort us to the Gritti Palace. Maybe they’ll even lend us some clothing, while they’re at it.’
All right, Irene thought, I have officially met someone who makes even more reckless plans than I do.
‘This could indeed be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,’ she agreed, and she couldn’t help smiling.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
In the end, sheer exhaustion forced Irene to spend what was left of the night in one of the Gritti Palace’s linen-cupboards. She’d had to curl up on a pile of blankets, in a stolen dress, smelling of canal water. It was not the most uncomfortable night she’d ever spent, but it was still far from being an ideal Venice vacation.
The sound of bells woke her. The noise came through the walls of the hotel, even penetrating into the tiny cupboard, and she woke up with a start, banging her head against the lowest shelf and blinking in the darkness. It took a moment for her to orient herself. And the bells were still ringing, settling into their own patterns of speed and tone, somehow harmonic in spite of their lack of unity. She tried to count the strokes, in the hope of guessing what time it was, but there was no way of telling how long she had till midnight and the auction.
By the time she and Zayanna had reached the Gritti Palace, after a couple of minor incidents involving the theft of a pair of dresses, she had been so exhausted that it was difficult not to collapse on the spot. The time had been two or three in the morning, but the hotel was still full of lights and people running to and fro down passages. It had only taken a few screams of ‘Dear God, my husband!’ and ‘Quick, hide behind the curtains!’ for Irene to recognize all the ingredients of bedroom farce. Possibly several bedroom farces, all going on simultaneously. She hadn’t wanted to go anywhere near Silver’s bedroom under those conditions.