Any Other Name (The Split Worlds) - By Emma Newman Page 0,94

nowhere. Now you need to tell us the truth and this is the only way we can be sure.”

“That’s not true, I gave you loads on the Agency,” she said, her voice higher pitched. “I bugged that man, didn’t that lead anywhere?”

“It did, but, as we said before, that’s only one part of the investigation. We need to make some serious progress and your games are getting in the way.”

“I’m not playing games.” She stared at the mask and its rivets gleaming in the lantern light.

“We need to speak to the Rosas still in Londinium. We can’t hunt them so you need to tell us how to find them quickly. Tell us where your husband has stashed away his pet Rosas.”

“I can’t.”

“Then tell us how you hid from your family.”

“I can’t do that either.”

“Right.” Max picked the Mask up and made a show of checking the straps, giving her a good look at the metal face with a shaped nose and nostril holes. There were no holes for the eyes and a metal grill that would fit over her mouth.

“I really can’t!” she yelled. “Look, someone took a huge risk helping me, I don’t want to put him in any danger.”

“Not my problem.” Max got up.

“I swore I’d never tell anyone how it was done,” she said, palms flat against the wall as she tried to keep as much distance between herself and the mask as possible. “I can’t break that promise.”

“How many promises have you already broken?” the gargoyle asked, ending its prowling to stand in front of her, poised like he was about to pounce on a mouse.

She slid sideways, fumbling along the wall, looking for the doorknob that was no longer there. “There’s no way to leave this room without my say-so,” Max said. “There’s nowhere to go, puppet.”

She reached the corner. “I haven’t done anything wrong. Don’t do this, please.” Her pleading eyes fell on the gargoyle. “I told you as much as I could, I led you to the Agency. That was the deal: Agency for Miss Rainer’s details. Not this.”

“We got the file on her,” the gargoyle said. “All you have to do is tell us how or where the Rosas are hiding and you can have it.”

“Hold her still.” Max was close enough to see the sweat sheen on her face.

The gargoyle grabbed a wrist and pulled her towards it roughly. As she moved away from the wall it stepped behind her, raised itself on its haunches again and wrapped its stone arms around her in a bear hug.

“You see the studs on the inside?” Max asked, the puppet’s eyes huge with terror. “Apparently they hurt but don’t leave any permanent marks.”

“Wait!”

He took a step closer.

“Wait!” she yelled. “If you put that thing on me, I’ll never help you again. You said yourself this is just the start. How far can you get without me on the inside? It’s obvious you can’t act in London, or Londinium for that matter – what’re you going to do when you need to bring these people in?”

Max stopped. “You need us more.”

“Do I?”

She seemed bolder, as if a switch inside her had flicked from terror to absolute calm. The gargoyle was frowning. It had looked less happy from the moment it had grabbed her.

“Who else can help you?” Max asked. “You need a Sorcerer.”

“There must be other Sorcerers,” she replied, now staring him in the eye. “I’ll find one. I’d rather get you the information without screwing over the one who helped me. I will, I swear it, on my blood if you need me to, or whatever way you people do it. All I need is twenty-four hours. Then I want the information on Rainer.”

“Why didn’t you offer this before?” the gargoyle asked, eyes narrow, its teeth brushing against her ear as it spoke.

“I didn’t think of it. I haven’t been planning this out like a game of chess, you know. And this isn’t the only shit-storm in my life right now, OK?”

“If I let you go now, without using this, we’re back to square one and there’s no guarantee you’ll see it through,” Max said. “The way I see it, we use the mask, we get what we need before dinner.”

“And be left without an insider,” she reminded him. “And I reckon if you put that thing on me, and it hurts me, Lord Iris would know and kick up a stink. Then my uncle would find out and that would make things awkward