I still feel terrible: cold and wet, even though I’m perfectly dry and wearing some of Pacey’s clothes. (I woke up in ladies’ trackie bottoms.) And even though I couldn’t feel that weird dragon tail when I had it, now that it’s gone, it kind of aches. My Weetabix keep lurching up my throat, and I swallow them down hard.
I’m trying not to worry or think about what I should do next. Penny’s right—we’ll go to the Mage. The Mage will tell us.
When someone knocks at the door, I think it must be him. Priya goes for it, and Penny stops her. I stand up and summon my blade, just to be safe.
It’s Baz.
Standing on Penny’s doorstep, wearing that greenish black suit again and smelling faintly of smoke. His hand is in his pocket, and his eyes are narrow. He tilts up his chin. “Let me in, Bunce. There’s no time for pleasantries.”
“Don’t you have to be invited in?” she says.
He sneers, and she waves him in. “Come on.”
Baz shoves past her and looks around the living room. “Where’s your dad’s office?”
“My dad isn’t here—he’s at your house. And what makes you think I’d let you in his office? Why are you even here?”
“I’m here,” Baz says, looking over at me, then looking me up and down, “because we have an agreement.”
Penelope steps between us. “If you make a single move towards Simon—even a gesture—in my house, I will slaughter your whole family, Basilton. I’ll kill them so hard, they won’t even be able to find the Veil. Simon didn’t do this.”
He sneers at her some more. “That’s where you’re wrong—show me your father’s office. Are there maps? I’m assuming there are maps.”
We both stare at him. Me, because I can’t help it. Penny, in shock.
“Truce!” he says. “Come on, we’re still on truce. Make haste!”
I nod. “Come on, Penny. Take us up.”
She sighs and unfolds her arms. “Fine, but you can’t touch anything up there. Either of you.”
We follow her up the stairs. Baz knocks against me with his shoulder and elbow. “All right, Snow?” he asks softly.
“Yeah. You?”
“Fine,” he says.
“Your magic?” I whisper.
“Fine.”
He touches my back so lightly, I’m not sure it’s not an accident.
We take the last step up into the attic, where Penny’s dad works. I’ve never been up here before—the whole room is maps. Maps on the walls, covered with string and pins. Maps spread out on high tables, held in place by empty tea mugs. One entire wall is a blackboard, filled with numbers and sentence fragments.
“Lovely,” Baz says. “You come by it honestly, Bunce.”
He walks around the room until he finds what he’s looking for. “There,” he says. “Already labelled.” I step up behind him. It’s a map of the South East with a red string around Hampshire. The flag on the pin says, CHRISTMAS EVE 2015.
“Last night, the Humdrum attacked Simon—and the biggest hole in Britain opened up.” He glances back at us. “When did the dragon attack Watford? What day?”
I shrug.
“It was after our Magic Words exam,” Penny says. “The middle of November.”
“Right…” Baz walks around the room, reading the flags. He stops in front of a map of Scotland. “There,” he says. “November fifteenth. The Isle of Skye.”
“Are you saying that the Humdrum is linked to the holes?” Penny asks. “Because we already knew that.”
“I’m getting there, Bunce.… Now, when did the holes first appear?”
“Do we really have to do this by Socratic method?”
Baz frowns at her.
Penny sighs. “Nobody really knows. We didn’t start documenting the holes until 1998, but there were small ones all over the country by then—”
He nods quickly, cutting her off. “And when were you born, Simon? You’d think I’d know, but I can’t remember you ever celebrating your birthday.”
I shrug again. Then clear my throat. “I don’t know. I mean … Nobody knows. They just guessed when they found me.”