strange deserted feeling hung around that building. The same quiet stillness that settled over cemeteries, as if the dead were standing on those steps, still watching the living.
The carriage door swung open before Kate had a chance to move. Silas stepped out and pushed Edgar up the steps, heading for a door at the top while Kate unhooked her foot and dropped down from the luggage rack. Her left leg stung as the carriage rolled away, and she carefully ducked into the museum through an unlocked side door once Silas and Edgar had walked in through the front.
The door led to a short corridor and through to a narrow room lined with glass cases. There was no one around. From the look of the cobwebs hanging thickly from the ceiling, the museum had been abandoned for a very long time. Every case was empty, each one lined with faded fabric that bore the dark shadows of necklaces, rings, and gemstones that had once been held inside.
There were six doors leading out of the room, not including the one she had come in through, and all of them were shut tight. The first one she tried opened to an odd chemical smell. It was dark and there was no sign of Edgar, so she tried the second, which opened to a staircase leading down to a lower floor. Kate thought she heard noises echoing below: sharp footsteps heading the opposite way, but her experiences with cellars were bad enough to make her hesitate on the top step.
“Silas.” A woman’s voice carried from behind a door to Kate’s right, taking her by surprise.
The voice was strong and commanding, and Kate matched a face to it at once. It was the woman she had seen in her vision at the boardinghouse. The one Silas had gone to meet there. The woman called Da’ru.
Kate risked opening the third door as silently as she could. She peered through the gap, hearing Silas’s voice on the other side. “Be careful, my lady. Remember where you are. Your voice is loud enough to call the dead.”
Da’ru was standing beneath enormous skeletons of long-dead creatures that were hanging down from the ceiling. Silas walked toward her, his expression caught somewhere between obedience and hate. Kate could see most of the hall from where she stood, but Edgar was not there. The chain was no longer in Silas’s hand. There was no sign of him anywhere.
“You have had long enough,” said Da’ru. “Where is the girl? My officers informed me that you kept one prisoner separate from the rest on the Night Train, and yet she has not been delivered to the High Council. Why?”
“There was a commotion at the station,” said Silas. “A boy was causing trouble and I had to deal with him.”
“And the prisoner?” said Da’ru. “Where is she now?”
Silas hesitated, his eyes narrowing as he chose whether to lie to her or not. “Secure,” he said at last.
“Then you do have her?”
Silas nodded firmly, but his jaw twitched with anger.
“I should not have to come looking for you,” she said. “Your first duty is to me. The only reason you are not locked away beneath the council chambers is because you have proved yourself useful. My name is feared for good reason, Silas. And you above all others should fear me the most.”
Silas took another step toward her. “I fear nothing,” he said.
“Then I suggest you pay closer attention to your work, or that will soon change.” Da’ru locked eyes with Silas without a hint of fear, and Kate did not doubt the seriousness of her threat.
“Boy!” Da’ru’s voice echoed around the hall.
Footsteps rattled along the upper level of the building and a young boy’s face appeared on a gallery encircling the main hall. “I haven’t found anyone yet, my lady,” he said, bowing as he spoke. “I’ll keep looking.”
Da’ru turned back to Silas. “Where is she?”
Silas glared and said nothing.
“You would not be here if the girl was not close by,” said Da’ru. “You will hand her over immediately, or I will have you thrown into a cell and charged with treachery.”
“Your presence here threatens everything I have set in place,” said Silas. “Leave. Now.”
Da’ru smiled, raising her chin to expose her bare neck, and Kate saw something cruel and terrifying behind the beauty of her face. “Do not test me,” she said. “You are nothing but a dog on a leash to me, Silas. The rest of the council may still trust you,