Taken (29 page)

“You’ve heard, then.” Talisid sounded troubled.

“No, I just like making lucky guesses. Of course I’ve heard.” I reached an intersection and stopped to think. The Keepers would have taken over a room for interrogation. It wouldn’t be in the bedroom wing, it would be somewhere quieter . . . I picked a direction and started walking again. “What the hell are they thinking?”

“I’ve been on the phone to the department. Apparently they’ve received some new information linking Anne Walker to the disappearances.”

“That’s ridiculous. Anne’s one of the ones helping me.
What
information?”

“There was a tip-off from an apprentice—”

“Natasha. Jesus.” I covered my eyes. “She doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about. They’re arresting her over apprentice gossip!”

“That wasn’t all. How much do you know about this girl?”

“Why does it matter?” I took a glance down an empty corridor, searching through the immediate futures of opening the doors. Nothing was there and I kept going, navigating by the distant murmur of sound from the duelling hall.

“After they received the tip-off they did some investigation. And they found that Anne Walker knew or was in contact with all four missing apprentices.”

“
Every
apprentice knows every other apprentice. It’s not that big a community.”

“There’s more.” Talisid didn’t sound happy. “They found that in each case Anne had been in a position to learn where that apprentice would be just a day or two before their disappearance. And with the first victim, Caroline Montroyd, Anne seems to have been the
only
one who was told.”

I stopped. “How?”

“We always knew there was someone feeding information from the inside. We may have found that someone.”

I started walking again and quickened my pace. “It’s circumstantial.”

“Maybe it is. But I’m looking over the report right now and I assure you it’s very suspicious. Especially concerning a subject who was a Dark apprentice.”

“She wasn’t a Dark apprentice,” I said in frustration. “Her or Variam. They got kidnapped into it.”

“How do you know?” Talisid asked.

“They told me.”

“Has anyone else confirmed that story?”

“No . . .”

“I see.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” I said. “Someone’s been trying to kill Anne. She’s the
target
.”

“Didn’t you say you thought there were two groups doing this?” Talisid said. I started to answer but he carried on, cutting me off. “Look, it’s not yet established that she’s a willing accomplice. She could be being used as an information source without her knowledge.”

I thought of how Anne always seemed to know what was going on amongst the apprentices. Luna’s words:
The younger apprentices really like Anne. They tell her everything.
Something uneasy twisted inside me.

I heard the sound of raised voices ahead. One of the voices was Variam’s, and as I heard it something fell into place. “I’ve found them,” I said. “I’ll call you back.”

Talisid sighed. “Please try not to do anything stupid.”

“When have I ever done that?”

“I’ll let you fill in the response to that yourself,” Talisid said. “Good luck.”

I switched off the phone and looked down the corridor. A mage was standing in front of a closed door, arms folded, and Variam was shouting at him. One or two heads were peeking out of doors to see what the noise was about, but the tournament was still running and most of the mansion’s population was in the duelling hall.

I walked out around the corner. “You can’t do this!” Variam was shouting. “You have to—”

“Variam,” I said. “We need to talk.”

Variam and the mage both turned to me. The mage was lean and tough-looking, his eyes impassive. “This one yours?” he asked me.

“Variam,” I said again.

Variam shot the mage a glare, then stalked down the corridor towards me. “They’ve got Anne in that room,” he said as we turned the corner. “They won’t let me in—”

I opened a door to the left. It led into a small boxroom. Variam walked in and I closed the door behind us as Variam kept talking. “Look, you’ve got to do something. They think she—”

“Shut up,” I said.

Variam stopped, turning to stare in surprise.

“I just got off the phone with Talisid,” I said. “Remember Talisid? The guy who got me to investigate these disappearances?”

“Yeah.” Variam still looked taken aback. “So wh—”

“How did you know that?”

“What?”

“How did you know I was working for Talisid?”

“Uh—you were talking about it, last—”

“Last night in the woods, yeah. But you knew before. You told me at the motorway services while Anne was having that chat with Hobson.”

Variam hesitated. “You must have—”

“After I got home from that duelling class four days ago I got a message pointing me towards Fountain Reach,” I said. “You know what really bothered me about that message? How
fast
it was. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I started to think that the one who’d sent it must have been at the duelling class too. But even then there was a problem. Talisid hadn’t shown himself to you or Lyle or Charles or Natasha or anyone else. All you guys saw was me and Luna leaving the room and then coming back. But that doesn’t matter to Anne, does it? She can pick out a living person through a wall with no trouble at all. She would have known we were talking to Talisid. And she trusts you. She would have told you.”

Variam didn’t move. “So you sent me that message,” I said. “And I think I know why. Talisid just told me that all four missing apprentices had a connection to Anne. I think you’ve known that for a long time and you’ve been terrified someone else will find out. That was why you sent me to Fountain Reach. You were trying to get me looking there instead of at her.”

“I—” Variam stopped. “No, I didn’t.”

“You probably sent the same message to Onyx too,” I said. “And nearly got me killed as a result, not that you seem to care. For all I know you spammed a dozen mages and we’re just the ones who happened to pay attention. What I want to know is
why
. You didn’t pick Fountain Reach out of a hat. What did you know about this place that made you send us here?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?”

Variam hesitated. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit! Tell me what you know,
now
.”

“Screw you,” Variam said. He was starting to get angry again. “Why should I trust you?”

I stared at Variam for a second, then turned on my heel. “You’re on your own.”

“Hey!” Variam shouted.

I looked back at him. “Hey,
what
?”

“You’re supposed to be helping Anne!”

“Helping Anne?” I let go of the doorknob and stalked towards Variam, looming over him to stare into his eyes. Variam drew back, startled. “You ungrateful little shit. Since we met I have done everything I possibly can to protect you and Anne and you have given me nothing but grief for it. It’s because of me those assassins didn’t kill Anne four days ago and it’s because of me those constructs didn’t kill
both
of you last night. I’ve risked my life to help you and I haven’t asked for a thing in return except your cooperation. Now I find you’ve been trying to manipulate me from the start and you have the nerve to ask why
you
should trust
me
? You can’t even do something as simple as watch over Luna while she’s asleep and helpless. You’ve been right on the fence between asset and liability for a while now and you just took a dive down the liability side.” I shook my head and turned back towards the door. “I’m done wasting time on you.”

Variam caught my shoulder. “Wait!”

“For what? For you to spin me more bullshit?”

“I need your help,” Variam said. It sounded like it was difficult for him to get the words out, but he managed. “To help Anne.”

“I’ve been doing nothing
but
helping Anne.”

“All right,” Variam said. He looked nervous. “I’ll tell you.”

“The truth this time?”

Variam nodded.

“Fine,” I said. “But listen closely, because I’m only going to say this once. If I catch you lying to me one more time I’m going to cut you loose for good. And Variam?” I leant in close. “I’m
very good
at knowing when people are lying to me.”

Variam flinched slightly and I pulled back. “Why Fountain Reach?”

“Look, I wanted to tell you,” Variam began. “I just couldn’t see how it was any use.”

“Where did you get the name?”

“Jagadev,” Variam said. “I went to him, after Vanessa. He told me the disappearances were connected to Fountain Reach but he wouldn’t say why.”

“Did he say anything about how or who?”

Variam shook his head.

“How long have you known that it was something to do with Anne?”

“It’s not! She’s not doing anything, none of us are! It’s just . . . I thought it was just a coincidence. I mean, there aren’t
that
many apprentices. But when every one of them seemed to . . . I knew what they’d think. Everyone always thinks we’re some kind of monsters. I knew they wouldn’t listen to us.”

“So you tried to push everyone away.” I shook my head. “If you’d told me earlier I could have gone looking for an explanation. Now she’s already been arrested and we’re up against the clock. You’ve made this a hell of a lot more difficult.”

“I’m sorry,” Variam said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

I sighed and put a hand to my head, tapping my fingers against my forehead. “All right,” I said. “All right. The Council can be assholes, but they’re not incompetent. If those Keepers have arrested Anne it probably means there’s real evidence against her. Do you think Anne’s been helping kidnap these apprentices?”

“Of course not!”

“Neither do I. That means someone must be using Anne as an information source. We need to talk to her and find out all the people she’s been speaking to. Then we can narrow down who it might be.”

Variam perked up. “Yeah. Okay.”

I started for the door and paused. “Oh, and it’s about time you dropped the rebellious teenager act. We’re about to talk to Keepers. Be polite.”

Variam looked indignant. “But they—”

“I know what they did and I know how you feel about it. But all it’ll do is make them more likely to say no. You’re an adult; time to start acting like it.”

Variam gave a reluctant nod.

*  *  *

I
was rehearsing speeches in my head as we came back around the corner, but as we came out into the corridor I frowned. The door that had been blocked by the Keeper was hanging open. Variam and I exchanged glances and walked in.

The guest room was small, with a single faded bed, and had no windows or doors except for the one we’d just come through. One of the Council Keepers was standing in a corner with his back to us talking into his mobile phone: “. . . hair black, eyes red-brown, early twenties, wearing a green skirt and jumper. Last seen fifteen minutes ago and . . .”

The other Keeper, the hard-looking one who’d been blocking the door, turned towards us with a frown. “Where’s Anne?” I asked before he could get a word out.

“What are you doing here?”

“Looking for Anne. Where is she?”

“This is a restricted area,” the Keeper began.

“I’m looking for the apprentice you were holding here,” I said, keeping my voice even. “Given that she was in your custody, that makes you responsible for her under Council law. I am making a formal request to speak with her. Please.”

The Keeper looked from me to Variam and hesitated. “You’re going to have to come back—”

The second Keeper snapped his phone shut and turned towards us. “Verus,” he said. He was older than his partner, with greying hair and sharp eyes. “What do you know about this?”

“At the moment, nothing,” I said. I had to force myself to stay calm. “Would you happen to know where Anne Walker is?”

The Keeper studied me. “She appears to have fled.”

I looked at him, then around at the bare room with its complete absence of other exits. Then I looked back at him. “You left her alone?”

“She used a gate spell,” the older Keeper said.

“That’s impossible.”

“Apparently not.”

“Anne can’t use gate magic!” Variam burst out.

“What about the wards?” I said.

The Keeper looked at me with raised eyebrows. “That is an extremely good question.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” I said. It took all I had to keep my voice level. “I couldn’t get through these gate wards, and neither could you. Are you seriously telling me that you believe an apprentice found a way through a gate ward when two Council Keepers couldn’t?”

“I know what a gate spell feels like, all right?” the younger Keeper said irritably. “And that’s what I felt through that door. Crystal and her ‘impenetrable’ wards, my—”

“Look, Verus,” the older Keeper said. “We’re a little busy. Can you tell us where Anne Walker is?”

I was silent. “I don’t know,” I said at last.

“Then I’m sorry but we’ve got work to do.” The Keeper walked past, taking out his phone again as he vanished into the corridor. The other followed, shooting me a suspicious look.

“Where is she?” Variam demanded. He was looking around the room as if he expected Anne to pop out of hiding.

“Give me a second,” I said quietly. My head was whirling.

“She couldn’t have gated out of here,” Variam said. “She can’t even use gate magic!”

“I know,” I said. I felt as though I were on the verge of getting it. I just needed one more piece . . .

“Those Keepers must have taken her,” Variam said.

“They didn’t,” I said absently.

“There couldn’t have been a gate spell.”

“That Keeper said there was.”

“Then he was lying!”

“Maybe—” I began, and stopped.

“You can’t get a gate spell through these wards,” Variam repeated. “If she’s not here it means—”

“Variam?” I said. “Why are these wards still working?”

“Huh?”

“Remember what Sonder said last night?” I said. “Wards like this take a lot of maintenance. Why haven’t they run down?”