Any Other Name (The Split Worlds) - By Emma Newman Page 0,18
were a dance troupe and he was their manager. Their minibus had been stolen whilst they were in the toilets, he’d said, before they’d even had a chance to change out of their costumes. The taxi driver looked them over, uninterested, and turned the meter on. Thankfully he wasn’t the chatty type.
“Front room’s first on the right,” Sam said. “I’ll put some toast on. Tea all round?”
They all nodded and staggered through the door. Sam filled the kettle, worrying about what to do next. He’d managed to persuade them to come home with him to at least try to eat and get a story together before they went to the police. They were easy to convince: starving and in shock. After dropping a couple of slices of bread into the toaster he tried to call Cathy again.
“It’s me, Sam, the one you took into Exilium. Um… I really need to meet up with you. I had to go back there and rescue those dancers we saw and I think I might’ve fucked up. Just a little bit. Call me. Please. It’s urgent.”
He made a round of tea, using, for the first time, the tray they’d been given as a wedding present, after wiping the dust off it. They were all slumped on the sofa and chairs and looked dreadful in the early-morning light. He wondered whether to call an ambulance.
All reached gratefully for the cups and cradled them, a couple starting to cry at the familiarity of it all.
Clare took a tentative sip and then spat it out. “What is this?”
“Tea.”
“It tastes… poisonous. I can’t drink this.”
Sam looked at the others. “Try yours.”
All of them were unable to keep it in their mouths, sending the weeping ones into hysterics. Sam heard the toaster pop up but didn’t hurry to the kitchen, thinking of the crisps. “Fuckington Stanley,” he whispered. Was Poppy right?
A noise in the hallway made him think the front door hadn’t been shut. He went out and bumped straight into the gargoyle.
“’Ello, Sam.”
He yelped. “What the fuck are you doing in my house?”
“Your front door was open,” Max said, stepping out from behind the gargoyle. “You’ve been in Exilium.”
“How did you know that?”
“It’s against the agreement Mr Ekstrand made with you before you left his house.”
Sam remembered promising not to tell anyone and the sting in his palm when he shook the Sorcerer’s hand. He looked at the skin there, seeing a tiny red spot, as if he’d been pricked with a pin. “Did he put something in my hand? Is that how you knew?”
“This is serious,” Max said. “You’re already a breach. How did you get back there?”
“Look, Poppy’s faerie helped me to rescue these dancers Cathy and I saw and there’s something wrong with them. I need your help.” He pointed at the front-room door.
Max poked his head round and returned to Sam. “The blondes,” he said to the gargoyle. “They were taken a while ago,” he said to Sam. “You shouldn’t have brought them back to Mundanus.”
“What was I supposed to do, leave them to starve in Exilium? Lady Rose took them and now she’s gone down no one else wants them.”
“I can’t help you,” Max said. “They’ll never be able to live in Mundanus again.”
“There must be something we can do!”
“Usually the tainted are taken to live in the Nether, but that’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“The usual treatment isn’t available anymore.”
“Can’t Ekstrand take them in?”
Max shook his head. “He’d never agree to having tainted anywhere near him.”
“Stop calling them that!” Sam moved them to the kitchen and closed the door. “They’ve been kidnapped, had their bodies controlled… they’re traumatised. You have to help them. Isn’t that your job?”
“It’s part of my job to stop innocents from being taken. They’re no longer innocent.”
“So what do I do now? Isn’t there anything Ekstrand could do to help them?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“You’re seriously telling me the only chance they have to survive is in Exilium?”
“Yes, because of unfortunate recent events. A Charm from one of the so-called Great Families could help,” Max said. “Theoretically. I’ve never had to look into it.”
“Then take me to where Cathy is.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“It’s against the rules.”
“Sod the rules,” the gargoyle said. “Those people are going to die.”
Max looked at it for a long moment. “It’s not the only reason. If I take Sam to the puppets to save those people they’ll know something is wrong with the Chapter. It would send them a message: if we don’t