just for being in his way and seemed to have forgotten about them the moment they had breathed their last breaths, but Kate could not take her eyes off the dead lantern carrier. If she leaned far enough, she could reach his hand: the same hand that had held his useless knife, which was now sinking to the bottom of the river.
Silas dipped the tip of his sword in the water, letting the ripples reveal the current’s direction, and when he looked away, Kate got rid of one last sack and reached out to touch the dead man’s hand, hoping it would be enough.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, feeling the energy of the veil rushing to her fingers and leaping out like lightning through her skin. The man had not been dead for very long and she did not feel the same pull into the veil as she had felt with Kalen. She was not even completely certain that anything would happen, and so she jumped when the man’s neck cracked suddenly back into place and his hand moved slightly in the water. The lantern carrier’s eyes snapped open, his pale face caught in sheer surprise as life flooded back into his body.
“Sit down,” ordered Silas, taking his place at the oars.
Kate looked back as the little boat headed out into the middle of the river and there, in the very edges of the lantern light, she saw the man’s chest heave in a sudden, living breath. He sat up, one hand going immediately to his neck, watching the stolen boat float away.
With a few powerful strokes the boat soon left the lantern carrier behind and Kate sat on her narrow seat, hugging her knees and resting her head upon them, wondering if he was going to be all right.
“That piece of filth would have sold you to the wardens for a pitiful price,” said Silas, looking up at her from beneath his eyebrows, letting her know he knew exactly what she had done. “Your compassion was undeserved. Do not waste your time on his kind again.”
The Thieves’ Way was a sluggish river, its current too weak to carry the boat very far. Silas had to work for every foot they traveled, and the boat cut slowly through the tunnels, the silence broken only by the slap of the oars and the squeak of rats scuttling away from the light. Kate wrapped herself in a blanket to keep warm and, if she concentrated hard upon the sound of the water, it was almost possible to forget that Silas had just killed two men, that Artemis was still trapped, and that Edgar was missing. But when she closed her eyes all she saw was the fear on the lantern carrier’s face—the same look that Artemis had given her in the library. The last thing she had done was betray him. She had left him behind and now she might never see him again.
“It will take some time to find our way out of here,” said Silas. “I know some of these tunnels, but there are many paths in which to get lost. I will need to get my bearings, and there is no use in your just sitting there wasting time.”
Silas took Wintercraft out of his coat. The leather pouch was damp, but it had protected the book inside from the worst of the river water.
“Read it,” he said. “There is a lot in there for you to understand.”
Kate did not want to read anything. She wanted to throw the book into the river, tear it, or burn it, but she knew Silas would stop her.
“Greater minds than yours have hunted for that book for centuries,” said Silas, noticing the look of rebellion on her face. “Many would kill to possess it.”
“Just like you,” said Kate coldly.
“Exactly like me. And you are here to make sure those people did not die for nothing.”
Kate heard the darkness in his voice. He was in no mood to be challenged and she was too cold to argue with him.
“You should appreciate this opportunity,” said Silas, his oars splashing across the water as they passed beneath the dark shape of a ceiling lantern that had flickered out. “Wintercraft is unique, and as a book alone it should be of interest to you. The people who wrote it had their own ways of dealing with the veil. They did not see the point in being able to glimpse one of the greatest mysteries of the world and