“I dropped my Athena Club seal into the paper bag,” said Mary. “I don’t know what Alice will make of it—after all, she doesn’t know Mina had the seals made for us. Beatrice was teaching her a little Latin, but I don’t think she ever got to Greek. Will she understand the letters or symbols on the seal? The owl, the olive branch… I don’t know. But there was no time to write a message, and I couldn’t think of anything else.”
“You did well, Miss Mulligan,” said Catherine. “Come on, let’s collect Diana before she gambles away our money. I want to check on Justine and make plans for tomorrow.”
“From my experience,” said Mary, “Diana rarely loses, at least for long. I sometimes wonder if she cheats.”
DIANA: I may lie and steal, but I never cheat at cards! That would not be honorable. Anyway, only idiots need to cheat.
Beatrice and Justine were doing well, although Justine admitted that she felt weaker than she had expected from the journey. They had evidently been discussing European politics. Mary could not imagine how they found such a topic interesting! Catherine said she would sit up with them for a while, so Mary left her fellow Athenians to it and prepared for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
She spent a sleepless night, tossing and turning, although the mattress was comfortable enough for a country inn. She was once again sharing a bed with Diana, who eventually came up from her card game and banged about the room without consideration for anyone else in it before collapsing into bed. Her feet were cold! And how could Mary have forgotten that Diana snored? Catherine, who came to bed even later, still retained some of her nocturnal habits and got up several times during the night to prowl around.
Sometime before dawn, Mary finally fell into a deep sleep in which she walked through the labyrinthine streets of London, trying to find Sherlock Holmes, who had somehow, inexplicably but with the compelling logic of dreams, turned into an orangutan. She searched for him through the streets and alleyways of Soho, knowing only that she had to find him before Big Ben struck the hour. She did not know which hour, or how long she had to find him, but she walked through that endless maze, calling and calling, while her voice echoed forlornly down the lamplit streets.
CHAPTER XIII
A Causeway Across the Sea
The next morning, Mary woke stiff and sore. It took her a moment to realize that Mrs. Poole would not be coming up to tell her it was time for breakfast or discuss the grocery bills. Where was she again? Not Vienna, not Budapest—no, a village in Cornwall. She had a terrible headache.
Catherine was already up and gone. Diana was still asleep, her head under the blanket, feet sticking out. At least she was not snoring.
Mary got up, put on her robe, and slipped out as quietly as she could—although, really, almost nothing woke Diana. She crossed the hall and knocked on the door of the room across from hers.
“Come in,” called two voices—Catherine and Beatrice, she thought. When she opened the door, she was greeted by Catherine’s “Oh good, you’re up. We didn’t want to start the confabulation without you.”
“Good morning to you too,” said Mary. “Bea, do you have anything for a headache? My head is throbbing.” All of them already seemed to be dressed. This was not like her—usually, she was one of the first up.
“I have a willow bark powder,” said Beatrice. “You can take it with water, and it should help in about half an hour. But really I think you need some breakfast. That will help you more than one of my medications. You are worried, and therefore you are clenching your jaw. That is giving you a headache. You need to chew on something, such as a piece of toast.”
“We were just talking about what to do today,” said Catherine. “The Queen makes her visit to St. Michael’s Mount tomorrow. I say we all go to Kyllion Keep and try to stop them there, before they can attempt to abduct her. There are five of us and three of them—assuming Alice is still on our side and will stay out of the action.”
“Based on what Justine has told me,” said Beatrice, “I do not believe even the five of us are strong enough to prevail against Queen Tera. She is as powerful as Ayesha, perhaps more so—we did not see Ayesha use her power at such a distance, or turn seven men to ash. We cannot simply assault the keep. It would be foolish to do so. And Justine agrees with me.”
“Justine?” said Mary. “Do you?” She wanted to hear, not just what Justine had to say, but how she sounded this morning. Had she recovered from Queen Tera’s attack? She did at least look better this morning, although still very tired.
“Yes,” said Justine. “I know too well that we cannot stand up against Queen Tera. And I do not think we can take the keep by force. If I understand correctly, a keep is—”
“The strongest part of a castle. The best fortified,” said Catherine. “Yes, I know my English, thank you. It’s Latin I have trouble with. All right, then—you’re the planner, Mary. Plan something.”
Plan something! That’s easy for her to say, thought Mary, rubbing her temples. She wished her head did not hurt so badly. “We should at least go reconnoiter around the keep. Does it have any vulnerabilities? Justine’s right, we can’t simply walk in there demanding Alice and Mr. Holmes. Cat, you didn’t see Queen Tera at the British Museum. She just pointed at those lamps, and the flames in them leaped up, engulfing seven men in some sort of fire. It didn’t even look like normal fire—it moved like snakes, and it sparkled with all sorts of colors. And then you could just see them—Professor Moriarty and the others—burning up like pieces of paper, crumbling into ash.… It was the most frightening thing I have ever witnessed. And she blasted Justine from across the room. I assume she could do the same to us. Even if we got Alice and Mr. Holmes back, how would we stop her from kidnapping the Queen? We know, or at least we’re pretty sure, that she’s going to try to kidnap Her Majesty from St. Michael’s Mount tomorrow. We can’t let that happen.”
Beatrice rummaged in a bag on the bedside table, took out a small packet wrapped in wax paper and a spoon that looked as though it were made of horn, measured some of the powder into a water glass, and added water from the matching bedside carafe. She handed the glass to Mary. “Drink this,” she said. “It will taste a little bitter, but it will help your headache.”
It tasted more than a little bitter, but Mary drank it down, then continued. “Can we perhaps get into the keep tonight and attack while they’re asleep? A scouting expedition should let us know if there are ways to get in. But we have no way of knowing if an attack on the keep will work, so we also need to take a look at St. Michael’s Mount. We need to be ready to protect the Queen tomorrow, no matter what. It’s still early—damn, I’ve forgotten to put on my wristwatch.” Of course she did not usually put it on until she got dressed and here she was, still in her nightgown. Her dream of the night before must have disturbed her a great deal. Ordinarily, she would have been dressed by now—and she would certainly not have said “damn”!
DIANA: If you said it more often, you might not be such a bore.
“Almost seven,” said Beatrice, looking at the watch pinned to her lapel. She wore it upside down, like a hospital nurse.