smell, you know? I close my eyes, and he’s standing next to me. I can’t even wash the sheets, because I’m afraid I’ll forget.”
“Me too,” I said, twisting the cloth in my hands.
She blinked rapidly and picked up the basket. “Any progress with the Free Walkers?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m sorry it didn’t work out like you’d hoped.”
I took the laundry basket, over her protests, and followed her upstairs. “Do you want me to put on tea?”
“Please,” she said, and left to put away the towels. I filled the kettle, the surface as mirrorlike as the Bean had been today. When she returned, she arranged cups and saucers on a tray, and added a plate of shortbread. “The Free Walkers must seem exciting to you, and a better alternative than the Consort, but it’s not an easy life. The longer you live with a deception, the more real it becomes.”
“Like Monty?” I carried the tray to the table in front of the couch.
“Your grandfather’s a special case,” she said. “He was never as passionate about the Free Walkers as your grandmother. She believed in the cause, and he believed in her.”
“Why did the Free Walkers abandon him?”
“I cut ties with the Free Walkers after Gil was taken, so I don’t know what happened. But I can tell you, they’re not a sentimental group. They can’t afford to be, considering who they’re up against. Reaching out to Monty would have made them vulnerable.”
“And my grandmother would have been okay with that?”
“That part surprises me,” she admitted. “I can’t imagine Rose not getting a message to him somehow, even if it was only to say she was safe.”
“Unless she couldn’t.”
Amelia looked down at her cup again and said nothing.
But the Free Walkers had contacted me. They’d sent Ms. Powell after Simon; they thought I could be valuable.
“I think she left a message for me,” I said. “Not me, specifically. But someone. Monty, maybe.”
Amelia set her cup down with a clatter. “What kind of message?”
“A puzzle. When I solved it, I found a frequency.”
“Oh?”
“The frequency’s not complete; I’m guessing Monty has the other part.”
She twisted her wedding band absently, lost in thought.
“Lattimer thinks the Free Walkers hid a weapon. Maybe the frequency tells where it’s hidden.”
She frowned. “Gil always said the truth was the only weapon they needed.”
“Not according to Lattimer. They hid something in the Echoes, and I need to find it before the Consort does.”
“Stop looking,” she said sharply.
I must have looked shocked, but she touched her ring again and stared into her tea.
“The Free Walkers will get you killed, Del, just like they do everyone else. I am begging you—forget about this frequency and anything else having to do with them. Let their secrets stay hidden so you can stay alive.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Days until Tacet: 21
FEELING BETTER?” LATTIMER GREETED ME the next morning.
“Like a new person,” I lied, trying to appear nonchalant as the guards escorted us downstairs. Addie handled people better than I did, and I channeled her now, down to the way I tucked my hair behind my ears and folded my hands. Clearly they hadn’t tied me to the incident on the train. Yet.
“How many people do you keep down here?” I asked as we approached Monty’s cell. Ms. Powell had been stunned, not shot. She might be locked behind one of these doors. If she was alive, would she give me up?
I quashed the thought. That kind of thinking would lead me to the same place as the Consort; taking lives for my own preservation.
“The number varies. Your grandfather is our most recent arrival. We have the capacity to take more prisoners, but that hasn’t been necessary for quite some time.”
Assuming he was telling the truth, Ms. Powell wasn’t here. Which meant she was probably dead. Fighting to keep my voice level, I said, “What am I supposed to ask him about today?”
“Our first priority is this weapon. What it’s capable of, where it might be hidden. How to defend against it. Barring that, information about the Free Walkers he worked with during the anomaly would be helpful.”
I’d have better luck asking him where to find the local unicorn herd. “I’ll do my best.”
Lattimer handed me the earpiece. For an instant I saw myself as he must—young and foolish and pathetic—and my hands curled into fists as he opened the door.
“I didn’t think you’d come back,” Monty said as I crossed the floor, my boots squeaking on the tile.