A Matter of Magic by Patricia Wrede Read Free Book Online Page B

could think of no answer. Finally she slid down the drainpipe and started back toward the City. Her mood was thoughtful, and she made sure she took a circuitous route. Whatever the reason for Dan’s renewed interest in her, she was sure she wouldn’t like it when she found out what it was. She was glad she’d accepted Mairelon’s offer. With any luck at all, she’d be out of London long before Dan could find her.

5
    It was near midnight when Kim arrived back at Mairelon’s wagon and rapped softly at the door. To her surprise, it swung open instantly. Mairelon stood just inside, dressed in evening clothes fine enough for gentry. His right eye seemed puffy, but showed no signs of discoloration. Kim looked more closely and saw streaks of stage makeup, all but invisible in the dim light. “It’s me,” she said to cover her sudden, irrational feeling of guilt.
    “Ah, Kim,” Mairelon said with no perceptible change in his worried expression. “I’m glad you’re back.”
    “Not so’s you’d notice,” Kim muttered as she entered the wagon. “I got rid of them flash togs, right enough.”
    “Good,” Mairelon said absently, still frowning at the door.
    Kim looked around for some hint as to the cause of Mairelon’s abstraction. She saw no sign of the droopy assistant, and on impulse asked, “Where’s Hunch?”
    Mairelon picked up a top hat from the grey tile that topped the row of cabinets by the door. “I was just going to find that out.”
    “You mean he’s run missing?”
    “I sent him on an . . . errand. He should have been back an hour ago.”
    Kim sighed. “It’s your lay. Where do we start lookin’?”
    “
We
don’t start anywhere. You’re going to stay here and keep an eye on things, in case he gets back before I do.”
    “I ain’t fond of sittin’ and waitin’,” Kim objected. “And if you’re that nattered about it, maybe you ought to take along some help.”
    “I’m afraid you’d be rather out of place where I’m—” Mairelon broke off in mid-sentence, and his head turned toward the door. A momentlater it swung open and Hunch climbed into the wagon. He looked at Mairelon, and a disapproving frown settled over his face. Mairelon grinned like a schoolboy caught in a prank and tossed his top hat back onto the shelf.
    Hunch snorted. “You ain’t queering me none, Master Richard. You was a-going to go looking for me.”
    “It seemed like a good idea.”
    “You ’adn’t ought to of done it,” Hunch said severely.
    “Yes, well, I didn’t. What took so long?”
    Hunch looked at Mairelon sharply, but allowed himself to be drawn away from his scolding. “Couple of sharpers tried to follow me, and I ’ad to lose ’em afore I come back.”
    “What?” Mairelon looked up in the act of seating himself on top of the chest that had caused Kim so much trouble. “How many?”
    “Two as I noticed.”
    “Anyone we know?”
    Hunch shook his head. “I ’adn’t seen neither of ’em afore.”
    “Mmm-hm. I suppose they could have been some of Shoreham’s.”
    “That’s as may be,” Hunch said. He sounded both skeptical and disapproving. Mairelon looked up. Hunch gave a warning jerk of his head in Kim’s direction.
    “What? Oh, yes, of course,” Mairelon said. “Did you get what you went for?”
    “Aye.”
    “Well, let’s have it, man!”
    Hunch shot another look in Kim’s direction, then reached stiffly into one of his pockets. He pulled out a folded paper sealed with a great blob of crimson wax and handed it to Mairelon.
    Mairelon held it up to the light, edgewise. “The seal hasn’t been tampered—oh, Lord.”
    “What is it?” Hunch said anxiously.
    “Shoreham’s done it again,” Mairelon replied in annoyance. He turned slightly, so that his back was to Kim, and muttered something under his breath.
    There was a bright flash of blue-white light that left Kim’s eyes momentarily dazzled. When her sight cleared. Mairelon was squinting at a fine dust of ashes