“And the captain won’t like that you were messing about with his things,” he added darkly. “He’s very particular about them.”
I looked down in the direction of his gaze and realized I still held the candlestick in my hand.
“Oh,” I said, again, embarrassed that I’d been caught arming myself against someone who, back in my world, would have been a fifth-grader. I turned and set the candlestick on a small marble table nearby. Then I turned back to him and said, because he was so small, and the silver tray so large and heavy-looking, “Here, why don’t you let me help you with —”
This was a mistake.
“No,” he said, and took off again. “Captain Hayden told me to do it.”
Captain Hayden?
“Do you mean John?” I asked, following him.
“Yes, of course,” the boy said scornfully, as if my ignorance made me the crazy one. “Who else?”
Who was this little boy? And what was this “captain” business? John might be over a hundred and eighty years old in earth years, but physically he was only eighteen or nineteen. I didn’t know much about things that had to do with the sea, but I did know that rank, even in olden times, was a matter of seniority.
“Can you take me to, er, Captain Hayden?” I asked the boy. “Because I need to see him, right away.” I had to ask him about what I’d seen on my cell phone … and now I needed to ask him who else lived in this castle besides us.
“How can I take you to see him,” the boy demanded, with a scowl, “when he said I’m not even supposed to be talking to you? That would be disobeying a direct order, and I never disobey orders.”
I’d never strangled a child before — I’d never spent much time with young children, actually — but I seriously considered it at that moment.
“Yes,” I said, from between gritted teeth. “But this is an emergency, so I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He gave me this necklace, see?” I pulled the diamond from the bodice of my dress. “It warns me whenever there’s a Fury around. And it just told me there was one around a minute ago.” This was a slight exaggeration of the truth, but I figured the kid didn’t have to know this.
The boy glanced at the diamond, unimpressed. “I’ve seen that necklace before. I was ship’s boy on the Liberty.”
The name rang a bell. Then I remembered why. I’d seen it before on the side of a bell. Liberty, 1845 had been written on the brass bell on one of John’s shelves.
Only what was a ship’s boy? And what was the Liberty?
I didn’t think exposing my ignorance to this child would be the smartest choice, however.
“That’s very nice,” I said instead, smiling in what I hoped looked like a friendly, and not completely fake, manner. “I’m Pierce Oliviera. What’s your name?”
“Henry Day,” he said. “And I know who you are. We all remember you from the last time you were here. It’s not like we could forget, could we? Nothing was ever the same again. You know that necklace is cursed?”
“Yes,” I said, keeping the smile frozen on my face. What did he mean, We all remember you from the last time you were here? “It’s the Persephone Diamond. It’s supposed to bring misfortune to all who touch it … unless they happen to be the chosen consort of the lord of the Underworld. As you can see,” I assured him, forcing my smile to be even brighter, “I’m all right.”
It felt odd to say the words chosen consort of the lord of the Underworld out loud. Odd and a bit pretentious. Especially since I still wasn’t convinced that’s who or what I actually was.
Neither, obviously, was this boy, judging by his response.
“Except you’re not all right, are you, miss?” Henry’s gaze never wavered from mine. “You’re here.”
That wiped the smile clean off my face.
“Can I go now, miss?” the boy asked. “This tray is heavy. And he said we weren’t supposed to talk to you.”
“Of … of course,” I stammered. What had I been thinking? Had I really believed I could pull this off? Even this little boy didn’t believe I was anyone but Pierce Oliviera, recent high-school dropout and NDE: survivor of a near-death experience. I was no queen, of the Underworld or any world. “But I really do need to see your, er, captain. So if you’ll just tell me where I can find him —”
“He’s down at the beach,” Henry said unhelpfully. Then he turned around and used his hip to open a door to his left … a door I’d found locked the night before. “He’s working. I wouldn’t bother him if I were you … not even for a Fury you think you saw. Besides, you’re not supposed to leave this part of the castle. It isn’t safe.”
Then he disappeared into the passageway.
I slipped my foot in the jamb before the door could sway all the way shut behind him. He didn’t seem to notice that the lock had failed to catch.
There was a now-familiar flutter overhead. I looked up. Hope had alighted atop one of the carved stone figures affixed to the hallway wall. Like all birds in the pigeon family, she seemed to have an affinity for statues. The bird was bobbing up and down, as if bursting with a message.
“Forget it,” I whispered to her. “You stay here.”
I didn’t regret my decision. Except the part where I didn’t stay where it was safe, the way Henry had warned me to. And that I’d left my candlestick behind.