Rise of the Darklings (16 page)

The Queen fell silent once again, gazing sadly around the small circle of trees. She turned to Emily. “But such is no concern of yours. You have already done more than enough to aid us, and we thank you for that. It is time for you to return to your own life. Corrigan will take you home.”

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M
uch of the trek back up to London passed in a daze. Emily did her best to ignore Corrigan, who was perched on her shoulder imperiously issuing directions. She kept going over the information volunteered by the Queen, turning it over and over in her mind until it stopped making any sense at all.

After all that had happened to her, she was looking forward to the familiarity that awaited her at home. She had to figure out what she was going to do for William’s supper tonight, not worry about a magic key that could open a doorway to Faerie. Even repeating the words in her head made her feel faintly ridiculous.

They eventually emerged from the tenement building,
Alfrig slamming the door behind them. Emily blinked up at the gray afternoon sky. It was raining cold, windblown shards that prickled like icy fingers against her skin. She shivered and pulled her coat tight.

Corrigan flicked her ear. “What’s wrong with you? You haven’t said a word the whole way back.”

Emily frowned. She reached up and plucked the piskie from her shoulder and unceremoniously dropped him into a dirty puddle. He looked up at her in amazement.

“Did you just throw me into a
puddle?”

“Why did you tell the Queen I led the Invisible Order to Merrian’s shop?” snapped Emily.

“But … you
did.”

“I was bringing you the parchment! And you said it like you wanted me to get into trouble or something.”

Corrigan waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, don’t mind that. It’s just my way.”

“Just your way? What does that mean? That you lie about those who save your life?”

“Well … I wouldn’t go
that
far.” Corrigan pushed himself to his feet and tried to squeeze the water from his jerkin.

“I certainly would.”

Corrigan frowned. “Fine. Think what you want to think. Who cares? Once I’ve taken you home, we never need to see each other again. How does that sound?”

“Fine by me. And I don’t need you to walk me home. I know the way.”

“The Queen told me to see you to your door,” said Corrigan. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Do what you want,” said Emily, and stalked off down the street. After a few steps Corrigan called to her.

“Emily, wait!”

“Why should I?” she shouted over her shoulder.

“Because there’s something I need to say. It’s important.”

Emily rolled her eyes in exasperation. She turned, folding her arms tightly across her chest. “What is it?”

Corrigan held out his arms. “Can you give me a lift?” he asked with a wicked grin. “I’m a bit tired.”

As soon as Emily turned onto her street, she knew something was wrong. She stared at the small crowd of people gathered outside her tenement. Mrs. Hobbs was waving her arms about angrily.

“It’s not even as if I’m heavy,” complained Corrigan, struggling to keep up. “You could easily carry—” He bumped into her legs. “What are you doing?”

“Something’s happened,” whispered Emily, feeling the dread rising up inside her.

William
. Something had happened to William. But how?
He was supposed to be working at Mrs. Derry’s shop. That was the only reason she hadn’t been worrying about him all day. He was supposed to be safe. She started to run. The crowd of women stopped talking when they saw her coming. Emily recognized most of them as neighbors from surrounding tenements.

She tried to run inside but Mrs. Hobbs grabbed her before she made it into the building.

“There’s nothing to see, Emily. Will’s gone.”

Emily stared wildly at Mrs. Hobbs. “What was he doing here? He was supposed to be at the shop!”

“Mrs. Derry came over a bit sickly and sent Will home early. First I knew of any trouble was when I heard him screaming. A godawful racket, it was. By the time I got downstairs there was no one there.”

“Did you see who did it?”

Mrs. Hobbs shook her head. “As I said, there was no one here when I came downstairs. We’ve called the bobbies. Best to wait—”

Emily shook off Mrs. Hobbs’s hand and ran into the darkened passageway.

“Who’s going to pay for the damage?” called Mrs. Hobbs. “That’s what I want to know.”

Their door was hanging from its hinges. The room looked as if a fierce wind had surged through, catching
everything in its grasp and flinging it against the walls until almost nothing was left intact. Only the heavy bed was still in one piece. The rocking chair was destroyed, the splintered arms embedded in the walls as if thrown there with fearsome strength.

“William?” she called. But she knew there would be no answer. William was not here. He had been taken.

Ravenhill? It had to have been him. He must have waited for Emily to return but settled for her brother instead.

She felt a deep, abiding anger rise up within her. How dare he? Ravenhill had violated her home, her family. She wasn’t even meant to be involved in this. It had all been an accident. And now her brother was missing, taken by some stupid secret society for who knew what reason.

Corrigan had entered the room and was standing with his back to her, staring at something on the wall. She followed his gaze and saw a black mark painted onto the torn wallpaper close to the floor. It was a circle with a strange, twisted rune inside.

“What’s that?”

“It is the mark of the Unseelie,” Corrigan said.

“The Unseelie?” said Emily, her thoughts struggling to keep up with the events. “Why would Ravenhill draw that on the wall?”

Corrigan turned to face her. “It wasn’t Ravenhill, Emily.
This was the work of the Black Sidhe, the Dagda’s servants.”

“Those piskies you were fighting? But why? Why would they take—?”

“It’s because you helped me. They think you’ve chosen your side in the war.”

Emily stared helplessly at Corrigan. “War?” she said angrily. “I’m not
involved
in your war. All I did was help you, and now look where it’s got me! They’ve taken my brother, Corrigan. What am I supposed to do about that?”

Corrigan stared at her for a moment, a strange expression on his face. “There … might be a way,” he said eventually.

“A way? A way for what?”

“To get your brother back. Or, at least, to find out where he is being held.”

Emily dropped to her knees before Corrigan.

“How? Tell me, Corrigan. Tell me how I can rescue William.”

There was reluctance on Corrigan’s face.

“It is dangerous, Emily Snow. Very dangerous.”

“I don’t care. I’ll do anything!”

Corrigan stared at her, then wryly shook his head. “Do you know how old I am?”

Emily frowned, taken aback. “What? No, of course not.”

“I’m two thousand four hundred and twenty-three years old.”

Emily stopped, surprised. “Really?”

“Really.”

“That’s old.”

“Emily Snow, you have no idea.”

“But what has that got to do with William?”

Corrigan smiled. “Nothing much. It’s just that over the years, I’ve heard many people say they would do anything if only they could attain this or get hold of that. Rarely do they mean it.”

Emily stared fiercely at the piskie. “Well, I do,” she said firmly.

“I know,” said Corrigan, smiling.

“Good. Now what do I have to do?”

Corrigan straightened up. “The way to get your brother back is to retrieve the Stone of True Seeing. As the Queen said, it can see through untruths, but it can also find lost objects, as long as they are known to you.”

“But didn’t the Queen say the Invisible Order had it?”

“Buried somewhere beneath the Royal Society in an iron vault with walls ten feet thick, yes.”

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“You’ll have to break into Ravenhill’s office, steal the key to the vault, then get the stone,” said Corrigan simply.

Emily stared at Corrigan, aghast. “I can’t do that! I’m not a thief.”

“They stole it from us in the first place,” Corrigan reminded her.

“I don’t mean that. I mean, I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to go about it.”

But Jack would
, she thought. Maybe she should have taken him up on his offer of help.

“I’m sure we’ll come up with something,” said Corrigan. “But that doesn’t matter yet. We have to make preparations first.”

Emily blinked. “What kind of preparations?”

“We have to pay a visit to the Sisters,” said Corrigan mysteriously.

Across the street from the tenement in which Emily lived, hidden from view in a dirty alley, Black Annis and Jenny Greenteeth watched Emily and Corrigan hurry away.

“I’m hungry, Miss Annis,” whined Jenny.

“Hush, now. You’ve only just eaten.”

“There was nothing on him. Just skin and gristle. I want a fat one.”

“Then you’ll have to wait till our path takes us through the West End, won’t you?”

“Can’t I have her? She looks tasty.”

“No,” said Black Annis, watching Emily disappear around
a corner. “The Dagda wants that one all to himself. And we owe him, so we do as he says.” A rat poked its head out of a pile of rubbish. Jenny Greenteeth let out a squeal of delight and pounced on the startled creature.

Black Annis closed her eyes and tried to think, which was difficult to do with the crunching sounds coming from behind her.

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