Brothers to Dragons by Charles Sheffield Read Free Book Online Page A

came to it had black shuttered windows and looked deserted. He knocked on the red door. In less than thirty seconds it opened a crack and a black face peeked out. "Mmm?" The voice was a tenor hum, rising in pitch.
    "Supplies for the professor." Job resisted the urge to say anything else.
    "Yeah." The face vanished, and reappeared a few moments later. "Here." A skinny black arm passed a square brown package about four inches square and one inch deep to Job. "Stash that. You're new, uh? What happened to Poppy?"
    Job shrugged. He stuck the packet inside his shirt and did not speak. Man, or woman? The sex of the person on the other side of the door was still not clear to him. The face wore makeup, but the arm looked like a man's arm.
    The door closed, and Job turned to retrace his steps.
    He felt good. He had no doubt that he could find his way back, even without the map. He had done what the professor asked him to do. He had not answered questions at the red door, or talked—the temptation was still there—to anyone on the streets. Maybe he would soon be on the street himself, with nowhere to go. But before that, he would eat breakfast.
    Professor Buckler had moved into the kitchen. He had in front of him another full glass of brown fluid, and he looked quite different; pinker, younger, and mysteriously fuller-faced (in his years at Cloak House, Job had never known anyone with dentures). The professor took the brown packet and dropped it casually onto the table. He made no move to open it, but waved his hand toward the serving line. "Help yourself."
    Job didn't recognize most of the food. He took bread and milk, and after burning his mouth on a hot, lumpy yellow solid he piled a plate with it and went back to the table.
    "The strong appetites of childhood," said the professor. "Where do they go? Mais où sont les neiges d'anian? "
    Job did not understand him, but he knew that he was hearing a new language, somehow like Spanish and Italian but different from them. How many were there in the world?
    "You know what that means, Job Napoleon Salk?" went on the professor. And when Job shook his head, his mouth full of scrambled egg, " 'But where are the snows of yesteryear?' Where indeed?" He leaned forward, elbows on the table and chin supported in his hands. His voice changed, became harsh. "You were not honest with me last night, were you?"
    Job put down his fork and gazed up at him, too afraid to eat. Father Bonifant had reserved his harshest punishment for lying. "I don't know, sir."
    "You know what happened at Cloak House."
    "The kids got sick. Some of them died. Laga died. I was scared, and I ran away."
    "And that's all you know?"
    "Yes, sir."
    Professor Buckler was staring at him, seeing right inside him just as Mister Bones had done. "You didn't know that nearly two hundred children died of food poisoning, and only seven survived?"
    Job could not speak. Not just Laga, but all his friends, the only people he knew in all the world. He shook his head.
    The professor studied Job's face. After a moment he reached out to grip his hand. "I believe you. Cloak House will probably be closed. No one will make you go back there. Eat your breakfast."
    But Job could not. He sat staring at the table. Across from him, Professor Buckler sat sipping bourbon.
    "You are too young to remember it," the professor said at last, "but there was a time when everyone in this city, and everyone in this country, believed that the future—"
    He was interrupted by a clatter of footsteps on the tiled floor behind him. Miss Magnolia swept in, hair perfectly groomed, makeup flawless. She was wearing a fuzzy peach-colored robe, a light green scarf at her neck, and open-toed heeled sandals.
    "Gabbing again," she said, addressing the professor and ignoring Job. "All talk, and we've got a busy day. Two receptions this afternoon, and three tonight. We have to get the stuff in." Her eye caught the brown package on the table. "You already did it?"
    Buckler shook