Jack tipped his head as if he thought that was a foregone conclusion.
“What do you want her trained for, Jack?”
Jack took a long draw on his cigarette, then slowly exhaled the smoke. “Can I assume Silvius passed on most of that conversation we had?”
“Probably, but you never know if he left something out.”
“Grace carries four of the kingship bands within her flesh.”
“Yes. He told me that. But I already suspected something of it, anyway.”
“Of course. Then you should know what I need Grace trained for.”
“She needs to know how to hand the bands over to you.”
“And you can be sure that was a piece of her training Stella left out. Damn it, Ariadne, why has neither Noah nor Stella, who took Grace through the Great Founding Labyrinth, not realised she has the bands within her flesh?”
“Because most people are blind when it comes to Grace. Tell me, Jack, have you told Noah about the bands?”
Jack shook his head, and put his cigarette out in an ashtray.
“My goodness,” said Ariadne. “Then she still assumes she’s going to be the one to ‘fetch’ the bands for you? Yes?” Ariadne burst out laughing. “What will Noah do when she finds out, eh?”
He shrugged. “It won’t be the end of the world for her. Besides, she has no choice.”
“I always thought you would turn out okay, Jack.”
“We don’t have long. Can you get Grace ready?”
“Yes, I like a challenge. But we need to start soon.”
“Meet me at dusk tonight.” He named a place.
“I can be there. Jack, you need to tell Grace about the kingship bands, if not Noah. Grace has to know, if she doesn’t already.”
“I’ll do it tonight,” Jack said. “There’s one other thing.”
“Yes?”
“You’ve been hanging about London creating mischief and having a fine time of it for three hundred years now. You must know the place inside and out. Can you give me the name of a good jeweller?”
“Of course,” she said. “I have just the man for you.”
FOUR
Lambeth
Thursday, 12th September 1940
GRACE SPEAKS
There was a bomb. Outside St Paul’s. A UXB. It fell in the early hours of the morning, blowing a huge crater just outside the west steps of the cathedral and then, happily, failed to detonate.
It created a nightmare for the authorities. How to get it out without blowing half of St Paul’s to smithereens? Eventually a Lieutenant Davies tied the tail fins of the bomb to the back of a lorry, dragged it fifteen feet out of the crater and into the tray of the lorry, and then drove it to a tip outside of London where it was safely detonated.
His courage and selflessness so impressed the king that shortly afterwards he announced the creation of the George Cross for acts of extreme bravery.
If only my worries could have been eased as efficiently as that bomb had eventually been disposed of. I’d spent the night worrying, sure that Jack and my mother were about to bring the shadow bearing down on us all. I kept remembering the feeling of the shadow rushing towards me, as if it were about to eat me, and knew that not only was it not a reflection of Catling’s weakness, it wasn’t the slightest bit a weakness of anything. My relief when we got through the night without the world ending was immeasurable, but I wondered what consequences would flow on from that bomb hurled at Catling’s throat.
My mother came back from that night’s excursion eyes agleaming. She told me and my father what had happened, what it felt like, blending her powers with Jack’s, and their excitement as they managed to direct the bomb down to St Paul’s.
“Of course, it missed, but only barely, and it didn’t explode,” she said, “but we managed it…and we shouldn’t have been able to! Grace, I know that you’re afraid that this strange shadowy labyrinthine puzzle is Catling’s trap, but Jack and I are now convinced it is a reflection of some inherent weakness within the Game.”
I glanced at my father as she said this, wondering how he was taking all this Jack-inspired enthusiasm.
He had his face closed over, but this was so much a part of his normal wariness I simply couldn’t read him.
“Catling hasn’t done anything,” said my mother, still looking at me. “She hasn’t reacted. Surely, sweetheart, this indicates a weakness on her part?”
I thought back to last night. I’d spent it with Matilda, Ecub and Erith, doling out cups of tea and chocolate and ladles of sympathy for people crammed into shelters in the Southwark area.
I’d seen Catling. Just once, and that briefly, but enough to send a chill down my spine. We’d pulled into the lee of a building near the entrance to a shelter. Eaving’s Sisters had all hurried to the back of the van to unload their trolleys and trays, but I’d been distracted by a run in one of my stockings, and had paused by the open van door. Standing upright I’d slammed shut the door…and found myself looking directly into Catling’s face as she stood in front of the van.
I went cold. I wanted to run, but didn’t have either the will or the strength.
Jack is doing well tonight, she’d whispered in my mind, her face a mixture of excitement and anticipation, although both of you still have a way to go.
Then she’d vanished.
What had she meant by that? I spent the rest of the night sorting through various interpretations, and liking none of them. If nothing else, it didn’t sound like a “weak” Catling.
Now, as my mother explained that she and Jack were certain this shadow was a weakness, I began to doubt myself. Maybe I had been wrong. Maybe I had misread Catling for all these years. Maybe…
“Grace,” my mother said, “surely you’re coming around to thinking it is a weakness? After Jack’s and my success last night?”
“Perhaps,” I said to my mother, mainly to stop her arguing with me, and she smiled, patently relieved.
She turned to my father then. “Soon I’ll fetch Jack’s kingship bands from the Faerie.”
“Well,” Weyland said, “Jack’s welcome to them. And the other two? The ones you sent into the Otherworld?”
Noah shrugged. “Either the Lord of the Faerie can take him through, or Jack, like as not, will be powerful enough with four in his possession to get them himself.” She smiled. “In a little while, we can start to make a move.”
She reached forward over the table, and took one of my hands in hers. She turned it over, and her thumb stroked very gently at the scars and welts on my wrist.
“Before too long, Grace, perhaps you will be free.”
I didn’t say anything, for the simple reason that I simply could not imagine freedom.
Later that day Jack telephoned.
“Grace,” he said, “can you meet me at five this afternoon?”
“Why?”
“I need your help. Can you meet me on the Surrey side of Westminster Bridge at five?”
“Yes, but—”
“Good, see you then.” He rang off.
I put the phone down and spent the rest of the afternoon wondering.
At five to five I walked across from the northern side of Westminster Bridge. I tried to slow my steps, tried to while away those five minutes so that at least I’d arrive on time and not too early, but by the time I had a clear view of the end of the bridge I could see that Jack was already there.
It was a cold, blustery day, skittering rain every five minutes, and he was well wrapped in a military greatcoat, its collar turned up, his cap pulled down over his brow, his hands thrust deep into the coat pockets. I guess I looked much the same, closely swathed in a calf-length camel coat, a scarf about my neck, but without a cap—the lack of which I’d been regretting ever since I left the Savoy as the wind snapped my curls back and forth over my face.
“Grace,” he said. His face and the collar and shoulders of his coat glistened with raindrops, but he smiled easily, and leaned forward to brush his lips against my cheek as I walked up to him.
“I’m glad to see you well,” I said, “after last night.”
“I know you were worried, Grace, but—”
“I saw Catling last night.”
Jack went very still. “And?”
“She seemed to know what you and my mother were doing, Jack, and she wasn’t worried. She said that you were doing very well, but that both of us had a way to go. She didn’t appear weak, Jack.”
Jack stood silently, looking at me.
As always, I responded to his silent scrutiny by talking too much. “I was so worried for you last night. On—” Damn it, why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut? “On the night the imps attacked me, I felt the shadow rushing towards me, as if it was going to snatch. It was so malevolent, so alive…and I thought that it might attack you and my mother.”