Jonathan Stroud - The Creeping Shadow

“And it is paramount,” Farnaby was saying, “that when you go back up, you proceed with the utmost caution. If Miss Carlyle is dead, which is more than possible, she will only have herself to blame. Keep close, and watch each other’s backs. Remember, Emma Marchment poisoned her stepson and attempted to kill her husband! If she was so cruel and vengeful in life, her restless spirit will be worse by far.”

“I think we should hurry, sir,” Dave Eason said. “Lucy has been gone for ages. We ought—”

“To follow regulations, Eason, which are there for your protection. You have earned two demerits for interrupting.” Mr. Farnaby put soft, plump hands together and cracked a knuckle; he reached for a sandwich. “The girl chose to rush off on her own instead of reporting back to me. This is the problem with freelancers. They haven’t been properly trained, have they, Johnson?”

“No, indeed,” said Johnson.

I called down from the balcony. “Hello, Mr. Farnaby.” I took a bleak satisfaction from seeing them all jump.

Farnaby dropped his sandwich in his lap; his little eyes glinted as he gazed up at me. “Ah, Miss Carlyle has elected to join us. I heard about your reckless behavior! At Rotwell’s, we work in teams! You cannot be a maverick here.”

I tapped my fingers slowly on the parapet. Below me, Farnaby’s lank black hair glistened in the lantern light; his stomach cast a shadow like a lunar eclipse. Sacks of iron and salt littered the floor at his feet. Officially he was guarding our supplies; unofficially, they were guarding him . “I’m all for teamwork,” I said, “provided it’s the right kind. Field agents need to be left alone to use our psychic Talents.”

Farnaby pursed his lips. “I hired you this evening for your admirable Listening skills, Miss Carlyle, not because I need your shrill opinions. Now, you will do what I asked for an hour ago, and that is to give me a proper report on your actions, which—”

There was a stirring in my backpack. “This guy’s a drag.”

I spoke under my breath. “He sure is.”

“Know what I suggest?”

“Yep. And the answer’s no. I’m not going to kill him.”

“Oh, you’re no fun. There’s a plant pot over there—you could drop it on his head.”

“Hush.”

Farnaby looked up at me. “Sorry, Miss Carlyle—did you speak?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I was just saying that I’ve got the Source. I’ll bring it down to you now. Save me a sandwich; I’ll be with you shortly.”

I limped off, found the stairs, and descended to the foyer. Ignoring my fellow agents, who were all gazing at me blankly, I strolled across the lobby, the silver bundle under my arm. When I got to Farnaby, I dumped it on the table with a flourish. It made a satisfying thud .

The supervisor drew back. “This is the Source? What is it?”

“Take a look, sir. You might want to move your snacks back a little.”

Farnaby lifted a corner of the net. He gave a cry and sprang away, bowling over his chair. “Fetch a silver-glass box, quickly! And put that thing on the floor! Don’t bring it anywhere near me!”

A box was found, and the head placed inside. Sweating, dabbing at his pate, Farnaby returned to his seat. He inspected the box from a distance. “What a hideous thing! You think this was Emma Marchment?”

“It’s not her head,” I said. “But it most definitely belonged to her. I got a flash of what the secret room was like, back in her day. Lots of pots and herbs, weird books and charms. She was into some kind of nonsense sorcery, that’s for certain. This old head was one of her prized possessions, which is why her ghost is so attached to it.”

“Fascinating.” Bland-faced Mr. Johnson made a note on his clipboard. “Well done, Carlyle.”

“Thank you, sir. It was a joint effort. Everyone played their part.”

Farnaby grunted sourly. “It’s certainly an unusual specimen. The sort of thing your boys at the institute would like, eh, Johnson? Want to take it home?”

Mr. Johnson smiled thinly. “Sadly, that’s no longer possible under the new DEPRAC regulations. It will have to be destroyed. I’ll make a report that the premises are now clear. A notable success for your team, Farnaby, despite your lack of personal control.” He patted the supervisor on the shoulder, stepped out of the circle, and drifted off toward the doors.

Mr. Farnaby sat in silence for a moment, brooding. When he spoke, it was to Ted, who was nervously standing near. “I blame you for this, Daley,” he said. “You were in charge of the team. You should have kept Miss Carlyle on a tighter leash. It’ll be five demerits for you.”

Annoyance flared within me. I could sense Ted shrinking away. “Excuse me, sir,” I said. “The team achieved its objectives. Our actions were entirely correct.”

“Not according to me,” Farnaby said. “And that’s all there is to it. We will begin packing up now.” He waved me away and made to take up his hip flask, but I stood my ground.

“There was no time for me to consult you,” I went on. “I had to pinpoint the exact location of the Source before the Specter disappeared. It was the most efficient thing to do. And the team worked very effectively in the initial confrontation. They helped me locate the secret room, and Dave helped drive away the Specter. You were an agent once, sir; you remember how you have to make certain decisions on the ground. It’s good practice to trust your fellow operatives. Isn’t that right, Ted?”

I looked around to find Ted some ways off, busily lugging a sack of iron toward the door in preparation for departure. I blinked at him. “Tina?” I asked. “Dave…?”

But Tina was packing away some unused salt-bombs, Dave folding away the iron chains. They were silent, disconnected, intent on their work. They paid me no attention.

I found myself suddenly cast into shadow. Farnaby’s stomach blocked the lantern light; with ponderous finality he was rising from his chair. His eyes were burned raisins at the best of times; now they had shrunk even more to become fragments of glass, black, malevolent, and glittering. I stepped back, my hand instinctively moving to my rapier.

“I know where you worked before, Miss Carlyle,” Farnaby said. “I know why you act the way you do. It is a mystery to me why DEPRAC has never moved to shut down that ramshackle, disreputable little outfit. An agency run by children? The idea is absurd! It will end in disaster soon enough, mark my words. But, Miss Carlyle, you are not at Lockwood and Company anymore. Whenever you work at Rotwell, you will find it a real agency, where child agents know their place. And if you wish to be hired again, you will keep silent and in future do as you’re told. Do I make myself clear?”

My lips were a tight white line. “Yes, sir.”

“In the meantime, since you’re so keen to improve our efficiency, you can finish tonight’s job for me. As Mr. Johnson said, new DEPRAC rules demand that all Type Two Sources be destroyed immediately. There is a black market for precisely this kind of vile object, and we cannot take any chances.” He nudged the silver-glass box with his boot. “Here is the mummified head. Take it to Fittes furnaces and see that it is burned.”

I gazed at him. “You want me to go to Clerkenwell? Now? It’s four o’clock in the morning.”

“All the better—the furnaces will be roaring. When you send me their stamped certificate tomorrow, I will pay you for tonight’s work, and not a moment before. You others”—he glanced at the industrious trio—“I was going to give you the rest of the night off. But since Miss Carlyle has such a high opinion of your energies, we will see whether we can’t fit in a second job. I believe there is a Changer in Highgate Cemetery that needs tackling. I shall drive you there. So, hop to it and finish your tidying!”