13 Secrets (30 page)

“What are you doing in here?”

At the sound of the voice behind her, Rowan whipped around. Simultaneously, Samson froze.

“Tino!”

Tino pushed past Crooks and Sparrow, his swarthy face darker than usual. “Who else did you expect? This was my caravan last time I checked!” He slammed his keys on the table, glaring at Crooks. “Clearly no need for those when you’re around.”

Crooks stuffed the guilty keys in his pocket. “Thought that’s what you wanted me for.”

“So why are you in here?” Tino demanded.

“We thought something had happened to you,” said Samson, his beefy face reddening. Rowan wondered whether it was with embarrassment or temper. “No one’s seen you all day. If you’d told us where you were going, we wouldn’t have panicked.”

“Panicked about what?”

“We found Dawn and Cobbler,” Sparrow said.

“And?” Tino’s hand, still on the table, gripped his keys more tightly.

Sparrow opened his mouth then closed it, slowly shaking his head.

Tino’s knuckles turned white. A strangled gasp escaped his lips and he sank into a chair, raising his fist to his mouth.

Victor went to Tino’s side and rested his hand on the fey man’s shoulder. “It’s not the worst of it,” he said softly. “Cobbler… well, he’s here. We’re still trying to make sense of it.”

“He’s
here
? Where?”

“The Curiosity Cabinet. Someone arranged his body in a block of ice.”

An animal roar burst from Tino. Rowan jumped
aside as he stood up and kicked the chair he had been sitting on across the caravan. It smashed against the kitchen units, leaving one of the legs dangling by a few splinters. Tino leaned over the table, gripping the sides. His head was down and his body rigid. “This whole thing… it’s falling apart….”

He stood up straight, brushing his hair back off his face. “After finding the hex under Suki’s caravan this morning I acted on impulse. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going in case word got around that I was gone and another attack was made—”

“You think someone here was responsible?” Victor interjected.

“I think at the moment we shouldn’t rule that out,” Tino answered somberly. “Even if no one here is directly responsible, someone could have been compromised by being persuaded to grant strangers access to the camp, or even used in a glamour. We know that this Eldritch is after Rowan, but we’ve no evidence that he’s responsible for the rest—”

“But if he knows about me then he probably knows about all of us,” said Rowan. “And let’s not forget that he was involved in the changeling trade—it would make sense for him to want us out of the way.”

“Out of the way, yes,” Tino agreed. “But there are simpler ways to do things if that’s the intent.” His voice hardened. “Whoever is targeting us is sending a message with each act. I didn’t see it with Fix—the poison could just have been a convenient way to kill
her. But then Suki’s powers were blocked by a hex, and it made me start to wonder. Without knowing for sure what had happened to Cobbler and Dawn I couldn’t assume anything further, so I said nothing. With Fix dead, the only person I could think of who might be able to help undo the hex was Peg. By then, I also realized that all of us are under threat. So I went to Merchant’s, and then the two of us visited Peg and Nosebag, planning to bring them back here and wait it out.”

“Is Merchant here now?” Crooks asked.

Tino nodded. “He’s with Nosebag and Peg in one of the spare vans.”

“Thank goodness they’re safe,” said Rowan.

Tino’s gaze dropped. “They’re here, although by the time we arrived it was already too late. Someone had got to them first.”

“How was it too late?” Sparrow asked fretfully. “When you said Merchant was with them I thought you meant they were still alive!”

“They are alive,” said Tino. “But whoever got to them knew exactly what they were doing. They didn’t have to kill them to make their point. Either way, their job is done—Peg and Nosebag can’t help us.”

Oberon heralded Rowan’s return with a volley of barks the moment her key slid into the front door. Tanya and Fabian rushed to the hallway to meet her, but found that she was not alone. Sparrow and Suki had accompanied her to the manor.

“You’ve been ages,” Tanya whispered. “It’s nearly four o’clock!”

“Sorry,” Rowan muttered. She beckoned Suki and Sparrow through the door and closed it behind them. “Wipe your feet.”

“No offense,” said Fabian, “but why have you brought those two with you?”

Suki rewarded him with a cool stare. “No offense, but we wanted to make sure she got back here alive.”

“Yes, but why have you come
in
?” Fabian persisted.

Rowan brushed past him. “They’ve come in
because I need to talk to everyone in the house, right now, and I want Sparrow and Suki with me. Depending on what happens after I’ve said what I have to say, I might not be staying.”

“They’re all in the kitchen,” said Tanya, bewildered. She followed her down the hall. “What did you mean, you might not be staying? Rowan, wait, we need to talk!”

Rowan was already in the kitchen. She halted in the doorway and stood, tense, as her eyes scanned the room. “You were serious when you said
everyone
was here.” Her voice shook slightly as Tanya arrived beside her. A moment later, Fabian, Suki, and Sparrow shuffled up behind them.

Rowan’s eyes settled on Morag, seated at the table. Tanya saw her lips part as she took in the scratches and bruising around the old woman’s neck.

“What’s been going on?”

“Sit down,” said Warwick, pointing to one of the few empty chairs.

She sat between Florence and Nell, facing Rose and Morag. The others lingered in the doorway.

“I didn’t realize you’d brought guests,” said Warwick, assessing Sparrow and Suki in one quick sweep. “Will they be staying long?”

“As long as it takes,” Rowan replied, still staring at Morag. “And anything you have to say can be said in front of them. They know everything there is to know about me.” She fidgeted in the seat. “More than anyone else here, in fact.”

“Is that so?” said Warwick. “In that case, they’d better sit down as well.”

As Sparrow and Suki entered the room, Oberon rose up from the hearth, his hackles raised. He growled, long and low, then went into a flurry of barks.

“What’s got into him?” said Rowan. “Tanya, take him outside!”

Tanya went to Oberon and placed her hand on his collar. He stopped barking but continued to growl. “He doesn’t like them,” she said, frowning at Sparrow and Suki. “And he doesn’t trust them.”

“Well,
I
do,” Rowan said stiffly. “So just take him out.”

“No.” Tanya shook her head, her eyes fixed on the two newcomers. “He’s never been wrong before. He’s staying.”

Chairs scraped as Sparrow and Suki sat down, with wary eyes on Oberon.

“It might be me that’s upsetting him,” Suki said quietly. “I get afraid around dogs, at least until I know them a bit. My parents kept dogs when I was little. I was never scared at first—used to curl up with them in the shoe cupboard. Until one day… one of them just turned on me.” She pulled up her sleeve and put her arm on the table. An ugly scar puckered the flesh on the inside of her elbow. She gave a nervous smile and tugged the sleeve down. “He’s probably picking up on my fear.”

“I’m sorry.” Tanya got up and led Oberon to the
kitchen door, shooing him into the hallway. “I didn’t realize.” She sat back down to silence, half-expecting her grandmother to start bustling about making tea. But even Florence was subdued and still.

Warwick leaned across the table. “I’ll get straight to the point. Someone tried to strangle Morag this morning. Tanya and Fabian were in the woods at the time and disturbed them—whoever it was ran off. They managed to get away but Oberon chased them and came back with this.” He held up a scrap of dark material. “Until we know why, Morag’s staying here with us. Now, I’ve tried to get the truth out of Fabian and Tanya about what they were up to in the forest, but all I’m getting is a poppycock story that Oberon ran off.” He pushed the fabric into his pocket, and Fabian and Tanya shared an uncomfortable glance.

“POPPYCOCK!” the General shrilled from his perch. A bark from Oberon outside the kitchen door silenced him.

“I suspect they’ve been holding out until you got back,” Warwick continued, a challenging look in his eye. “Something tells me you haven’t been studying today. So where have you been? Because I know something’s going on with you three, and none of you are leaving this table until I get the truth.”

Rowan nodded. “I was coming to tell the truth, believe it or not.” She motioned across the table. “This is Sparrow and Suki. I’ve been with Sparrow all day, and another boy, Crooks.” She glanced at Nell. “The boy you saw me with before.”

“The shifty-looking one?” Nell queried.

“Yes. All three of them, plus nine others, are part of a group I used to… that I’ve belonged to ever since I ran away.”

“What kind of group?” Rose asked, but Warwick shook his head, and Rowan carried on talking.

“I met Sparrow first. I told some of you about him already. He was on the streets, like me, and he soon realized I had the second sight. After I told him what had happened to me he said he knew some people—people who might be able to help me get James back from the fairies. People who switched changeling children for those they were stolen for. At the time I had no idea of what I was getting into, only that I’d do whatever it took if there was a chance I’d see my… that I’d see James again.

“He took me to meet a fey man who works in a circus—the circus that’s now over at Halfpenny Field. His name is Tino.”

“What sort of a name is Tino?” said Nell. “And Sparrow? And Crooks, for that matter?”

“The sort of name that’s a bit like Red,” Rowan answered. “An alias.” She turned her gaze back to Warwick. “I repeated my story to Tino, but later I found out that Sparrow had already given him a head start. He must have seen something in me that he wanted,
needed
, for this group of his.” She cleared her throat and looked away.

“By then, I’d become good at most things I needed to be good at to survive on the streets. Lying, stealing,
sneaking about. Staying unseen—invisible—to most, anyway. But the one thing I was especially good at was finding hideouts. I never liked sleeping in parks, or in shop doorways.” She chanced a quick glance at Rose, shamefaced. “So I started to break into places. Empty shops, empty houses, even empty pubs.

“Tino was impressed. He said he wanted me in the group. Once I’d agreed I was in, he swore me to secrecy. I was to source hideouts for myself and other members, and in turn, I could learn from them. Because that was the thing about the group—each of us had something to offer. As time went on, I got more creative. I found that by listening, and even by researching places in libraries, I could learn things. Valuable things. It’s how I learned about the tunnels under this house.”

“So who are the others?” Florence asked. She looked at Suki and Sparrow. “And how did you two become involved in all this—what responsibilities do you have?”

“I first met Tino when I was five,” Suki began.

“
Five?
” Florence exclaimed. “Good lord! Surely he didn’t recruit you for this group of his then?”

“No, I…” Suki faltered, plainly struggling to speak of her past.

“Suki was one of Tino’s jobs,” said Rowan. “She’d been taken. She’s gifted—like Morag. She sees things. Tino thinks it’s why the fairies wanted her. He got her back from them. But…” she hesitated, looking to Suki for permission to recount the tale.

“It’s all right,” Suki said softly.

“A few months ago the fairy who took Suki found her again, and killed her family. Tino heard about it, remembered her, and recruited her because of her ability.”

“I can use it to find out about children who’ve been taken, among other things,” Suki mumbled, looking pale.

“And you?” Florence asked of Sparrow.

“I’d been on the streets awhile,” he said, fiddling with the tablecloth. “Met Tino by chance, really. He knew I was second-sighted straight away, but he didn’t ask me to be part of the Coven for another year or so.”

Rose looked alarmed. “The Coven?”