بخش 39

CHAPTER 76

MCGUINN

MOLLY AND PETER reached the top of the stone staircase and found themselves in front of a heavy oak door. Molly tried the iron handle; the door was locked. She knocked, waited, then knocked again; no answer. She pounded the door with her fist, hard, for a full fifteen seconds. Still nothing.

She was about to pound again, when they heard footsteps inside. A few seconds later a two-inch-square panel in the door slid open.

“Who is it?” It was a man’s voice, high-pitched, suspicious.

“It’s Molly Aster,” said Molly. “Leonard Aster’s daughter.”

A lantern appeared in the panel opening.

“Let me see your face,” said the voice.

Molly moved close to the opening so her face was illuminated by the lantern light.

“Well, well,” said the voice, suddenly warm. “It is you. Hello, Molly.”

“Is that…Mister McGuinn?” said Molly.

“It is indeed,” said the voice. “Hold on a moment.”

The panel closed.

There was a sound of heavy metal bolts sliding, and the door swung open, revealing a portly man, barely taller than Molly but as big as a barrel around his middle. He wore a gray nightshirt, his white hair tufting in all directions, his feet stuck into unbuckled shoes; clearly he’d been sleeping.

The man waddled forward and gave Molly a hug, stiffening when he caught sight of Peter over her shoulder.

“Who’s this?” he said, stepping away from Molly and raising the lantern to Peter’s face. His eyes widened when he caught sight of Tink sitting in Peter’s hair. “And what’s that!”

“That’s Peter,” said Molly, “and that’s Tinker Bell.”

McGuinn frowned. “Hold on,” he said. “You’re the boy from the island!”

“Yes,” said Peter.

“Well then,” said McGuinn. “Come in, come in.”

He ushered them inside, closing and bolting the door behind them. They found themselves in a vast, echoing room. In the shifting lantern light, Peter could just make out distant walls and pillars rising to a high ceiling.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” said Molly. To Peter, she said, “Mister McGuinn is an old friend—our families have known each other for, well, centuries. But the McGuinns live in York.”

“Oh,” said McGuinn, “I’m here quite often. There’s always a senior Starcatcher on duty. But what are you doing here, Molly?”

“I’m trying to find my father,” said Molly.

“He’s not here,” said McGuinn.

“I know that,” said Molly. “But this is the only place I could think of to look.”

“But your father is—”

“I know,” said Molly. “He’s taking the starstuff to the Return. But something urgent has come up. Men came to my house yesterday and took my mother.”

“No!” said McGuinn, putting his hand on Molly’s arm.

“Yes,” she said. “They want to exchange her for the starstuff.”

“The Others,” McGuinn said grimly.

Molly nodded.

“But your father left guards,” said McGuinn.

“He did,” said Molly. “And they’re helping the Others.”

“That can’t be!” said McGuinn. “Those men are—”

Molly cut him off. “The Others changed them somehow,” she said. “One of the ones who came, he…he calls himself Lord Ombra, I don’t think he’s even a man. He seems to be able to take control of people. I know this sounds impossible, but somehow he seems to…to take their shadows.”

“Oh, my,” said McGuinn, running a hand through his unkempt mass of hair. “It’s true, then. We’d received a message about that from Egypt.”

“Yes,” said Molly. “Mother told me.”

“When we heard about the shadow business,” said McGuinn, “and that the Others had come to that island…” He looked at Peter again, frowning. “But how did you get here from the island?”

“I hid on their ship,” said Peter.

McGuinn nodded. “Molly’s father said you were a brave lad.”

Peter blushed.

“So,” continued McGuinn, “when we got word of this shadow business, and the ship heading to London, we decided to move the starstuff away from here in preparation for the Return. Your father insisted on doing it himself, Molly.”

“I know,” she said. “I figured out that it must have been kept here. I know Father came to the Tower at night; sometimes he brought me. But he never let me go inside with him.”

“No, he couldn’t,” said McGuinn. “Only senior Starcatchers are permitted in the Keep.”

“What’s the Keep?” said Peter.

McGuinn hesitated, then said, “Well, I suppose since you already know there’s something here, I can tell you this much: the Keep is a Starcatcher sanctuary, here in the Tower. It’s been here for centuries.”

“Here?” said Peter. “But aren’t there lots of visitors here?”

“Oh, yes,” said McGuinn, smiling. “But they don’t know the Keep exists. In fact, most of the Tower workers have no idea it’s here. It can’t be entered—it can’t even be seen—except by those who know how.”

“Well,” said Molly, “we don’t need to see it. We need to find my father, or get a message to him, and quickly. Ombra’s letter says we have seven—no, six—nights to make the exchange.”

McGuinn’s expression became somber, his voice softer.

“I’m afraid that’s a bit of a problem, Molly.”

Molly frowned and said, “What do you mean?”

“Your father left strict instructions. Nobody is to be told where he has taken the starstuff. Not even you.”

“But this is an emergency,” pleaded Molly. “Surely if he knew that my mother—”

“No,” interrupted McGuinn. “He still wouldn’t want me to tell. He knew very well what the risks were when he gave the instructions. You must understand the stakes: we’re safeguarding the largest quantity of starstuff to fall in centuries—in human memory, really. That’s why the Others have gone to such extremes to get it back. We cannot allow it to fall into their hands. To do so would be to give up everything the Starcatchers have spent generations achieving. It would be a terrible tragedy for humankind. Nothing is more important than getting the starstuff safely to the Return, Molly—not even our families. As Starcatchers, we must accept the risks involved. Your father understands that. You must try to understand it, too.”

Molly hung her head. A tear dropped from her eye and splashed on the stone floor. McGuinn reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

Molly shook it off.

“No,” she said, looking up at McGuinn, her eyes red but defiant. “I don’t understand. And I don’t believe that Father would want to let my mother die at the hands of that…that creature.”

“Molly, please,” said McGuinn. “You must—”

He was interrupted by a sudden burst of sound from Tinker Bell.

“What is it?” said Molly.

“Men are here,” said Peter. “A lot of men.”

“I don’t hear anyone,” said McGuinn.

“If Tink says men are here,” said Peter, “they are.” CHAPTER 77

WOLVES ON THE STEPS

AS OMBRA ROUNDED the corner of the Bloody Tower, the ravens again fell silent. The dark form drifted up the gently rising cobblestone pathway to the White Tower. Nerezza, Slank, and the men followed, their shadows shifting by the light of the swaying lanterns.

Ombra stopped at the base of the stone steps leading up to the tower. When the men had gathered round, he spoke in a low groan, his words barely audible.

“We enter here,” he said. “Captain, you will post two men at the door to prevent any escape.”

Nerezza said, “Begging your pardon, my lord. But if we want to prevent escape, shouldn’t we surround the Tower?”

“I am…informed by the guard,” said Ombra, “that this is the only door to the White Tower.”

“But, my lord,” said Nerezza, remembering Ombra’s wrath when the children escaped the Aster house, “what if they fly?”

“The windows are barred,” replied Ombra. “There will be no escape that way.”

Nerezza nodded.

“When we enter,” continued Ombra, addressing the men, “you will spread out and search the tower. You will find Aster’s daughter, and you will bring her to me unharmed.”

“And the boy?” said Slank.

Ombra paused for a moment, then said, “I shall need him only for a moment, Mister Slank. Then you may have him.”

Slank smiled. Ombra turned toward the waiting men, the faceless hood scanning their faces. Each man felt the cold stare as it swept across.

“The girl is most important to me. She must be brought to me unharmed. Unharmed. Is that understood?”

The men nodded.

“Good,” said Ombra. “There will be ten gold sovereigns to the man who finds her.”

The men nodded, eager now to get inside.

Ombra raised his right arm and pointed to the door. “Go,” he said.

With a roar, the men charged up the steps, as hungry for gold coins as wolves for meat.