So let’s start this again. This time, do me the favor of at least pretending to be surprised. Maybe hit yourself on the head with the book a few times to daze yourself. That’ll make it easier for you to exclaim in surprise when she shows up. (Remember, you should be acting this all out.)
Ahem.
‘Mother?’ I asked, shocked.
‘Hello, Alcatraz,’ the woman said, sighing. Shasta Smedry – also known as ‘Ms. Fletcher’ or many other aliases – wore a sharp black business suit and had her hair in a bun. She wore thin, horn-rimmed spectacles, though she wasn’t an Oculator. Her face had a kind of pinched look to it, as if she were perpetually smelling something unpleasant.
‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded, stepping up to the Mokian guards, who stood in a ring around the Librarians. I didn’t get too close. My mother isn’t the safest person to be around.
‘Really, Alcatraz, I would have thought you’d be more observant. What am I doing? Obviously, I’m helping to conquer this meaningless, insignificant city.’
I eyed her, and her image wavered slightly. I was shocked by that, but I was currently wearing my Oculator’s Lenses. They read auras of things with Oculatory power, but they could do other, strange things. Things like give me a nudge to notice something I should have seen.
In this case, I realized what I should do. I took the Oculator’s Lenses off and tucked them away. Then I got out my single Truthfinder’s Lens, which was suspended in a set of spectacles that was missing the other Lens. I slipped this on, smiling at my mother.
She shut her mouth, looking dissatisfied. She knew what that Lens was. She wouldn’t be able to lie, at least not without me spotting it.
‘Let me repeat the question,’ I said. ‘What are you doing here?’
My mother folded her arms. Unfortunately, there was an easy way to defeat the Truthfinder’s Lens: by not talking. But fortunately, keeping my mother from saying snide remarks is like keeping me from saying stoopid ones: theoretically possible, but never observed in the wild.
‘You’re a fool,’ Shasta finally said. Puffs of white smoke came from her mouth, visible only to my single Truthfinder-covered eye. She was telling the truth – or, at least, what she saw as the truth. ‘This city is doomed.’ More white. ‘Why did you come here, Alcatraz? You should have stayed safe in Nalhalla.’
‘Safe? In a city where you kidnapped me and nearly let your Librarian allies slaughter my friends?’
‘That was unfortunate,’ Shasta said. ‘I didn’t wish for it to happen.’ All true, surprisingly.
‘You let it happen anyway. And now you’ve followed me here. Why?’
‘I didn’t follow you here,’ she snapped. ‘I—’ She cut off, as if realizing she’d said too much.
She stopped as I smiled. The first statement had been true. She wasn’t there because of me. She’d come for other reasons. But why? I doubted it was because she simply wanted to see Tuki Tuki captured. When my mother was involved, things were always a whole lot deeper than they seemed.
‘Have you seen my father?’ I asked.
She looked away, obviously determined not to say anything. Above, the rocks kept beating against the dome. A chunk of glass broke free, tumbling down to the city a short distance away. I could hear it shatter, like a thousand icicles falling off a rooftop at once.
There wasn’t time to chat with my mother right now. ‘Throw them in my dungeons,’ I said to Aluki. ‘I . . . er, I do have dungeons, don’t I?’
‘Not really,’ Aluki said. ‘We’ve been keeping prisoners in the university catacombs. They have Expander’s Glass reinforcing the walls, which would make it almost impossible for the Librarians to tunnel in and rescue them.’
‘Very well. Throw them in the university basement and lock them away,’ I said. I pointed at my mother. ‘Except her. Lock her someplace extra safe. And search her. She stole a book from Nalhalla that we will want to recover.’
‘I don’t have that anymore,’ Shasta said. Unfortunately, the Lens said she was telling the truth. She was also smiling slyly, as if she knew something important.
She couldn’t have read it, I thought. Not without a pair of Translator’s Lenses. And she didn’t come here to get my pair; she didn’t know I would be here.
The soldiers led Shasta and the other Librarians away. As they did, I noticed one of them watching me. He was an older man and didn’t look anything like a soldier. He wore a tuxedolike suit with a cravat at the neck, and he had a short, graying beard flecked with black. He had keen, sagacious eyes.
‘Search that one too,’ I said, grabbing Aluki’s arm and pointing the man out. ‘I don’t like how he looks at me.’
‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ Aluki said.
‘You don’t like how he “looked” at you?’ Bastille asked, walking up to me.
‘There’s something about him,’ I said. ‘He’s odd. I mean, the only reason to wear a cravat is to look distinguished and intriguing. It’s kind of like using sagacious in a sentence; it’s less about what it actually means, and more about making you look smart.’
Bastille frowned, but Kaz nodded, as if understanding. Aydee had run over to the bears and was gleefully counting them out into piles of ten. She gave each one a hug and a name before setting it aside. It was kind of cute, if you ignored the fact that each and every one of those bears was a live grenade.