The book warned her not to do it. She is your enemy, not I.”
“I know what she is,” growled Silas.
“What Da’ru told you about the link between you . . . it wasn’t true,” said Kate. She was not sure if it was a good idea to tell Silas the truth, but decided that he deserved to hear it anyway. “If she had died, you would have lived on. You would have been free of her. She had to lie to you. She had to protect herself. She knew you would kill her if you knew the truth.”
Silas’s jaw twitched and he turned on Edgar, who was still staring up at the ceiling, shocked by what he had just seen.
“Give me my sword, boy.” His voice was cold and black with hidden anger.
Edgar did not dare to disobey, and he scrambled quickly over to where the blue sword lay. It was a lot heavier than he expected, and he needed both hands to pick it up. “What are you going to do with it?” he asked.
“Nothing that you need care about.” Silas took his sword before Edgar even realized he had moved. “Now get out of my sight. Both of you. Go.”
Silas grabbed his coat and pulled it on, heading past the unconscious wardens and out of the museum’s front door. “That’s it?” said Edgar, gladly watching him leave.
“No,” said Kate. “It’s not.”
“What? Where are you going?”
Kate ran across the hall, following Silas, and Edgar raced after her, not wanting to be left alone. But he was not on his own.
Hundreds of shades filled the rooms and corridors of the old museum. Attracted by the energy of an active listening circle, they had drifted in from the streets of Fume and witnessed what Kate had done in that place. Severing a bond created by the knowledge written in Wintercraft required a level of Skill not seen since the book was first written, so when Edgar left the museum’s hall he had more company than he could have imagined. The shades were with him, hidden safely within the thinnest level of the half-life. Hundreds of souls all moving as one, following Edgar and Kate out into the night.
Chapter 19
The Night of Souls
Edgar caught up with Silas and Kate on the front steps and the three of them stood there together, looking out across a city that was completely transformed.
Celebrations for the Night of Souls had begun.
Hundreds of people filled the streets, singing, dancing, and celebrating the lives of their ancestors, unaware of what had just taken place inside the old museum. Carriages hung with long colored ribbons trundled through the streets, winding between groups of women in fine dresses and men in hats and brightly striped cloaks.
There were storytellers on horseback, walking proudly along, with troops of listeners trailing behind them like a living cloak. Dancers weaved expertly through the crowd, and blue banners had been hung from the towers high above them, reflecting the light of the moon and imbuing the city with a strange, eerie glow. Some of the banners had been painted with large black eyes, as people wanted to believe that their ancestors were watching over them. Kate doubted any of them would really be ready to know the truth.
At ground level the streets flickered with moving candlelight. Many people were carrying candles to remember the lives of the dead, and they all wore feathered masks over their eyes, decorated with tiny crystals that sparkled in the flames. They moved together in one long procession, snaking their way toward the center of the city, where small bonfires were casting smoke and heat across the cold night sky.
Bright music filled the air and Kate spotted a group of musicians at the base of the museum steps, playing fiddles and flutes and thumping out a beat on a huge, deep drum. Three of them had painted their faces deathly white, were wearing tattered clothes, and had blackened their teeth; and other people in the crowd had dressed the same way to represent the dead rising up from their graves to join in the celebration.
Kate had always respected the Night of Souls, but standing there in a graveyard city overtaken by the rich and their slaves, it felt gruesome and ghoulish. The sound of other instruments echoed loudly from the towers and she could not help staring at the spectacle below her as the color and noise brought the ancient city to life.
Silas kept to the shadows and looked up