Cogling (45 page)

“You better be right,” Edna said. So far they hadn’t passed anyone. She shoved her doubts aside. For now she had to trust him.

They reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hallway. It resembled the others, with gilded molding on the white walls and hanging portraits. Ike paused at the fifth door on the right.

“This should be it.” He crouch to pick the lock and stood to hold the brass doorknob. “Unless someone made it into something else. I’m sure they got rid of my mother’s chamber by now.”

Edna rubbed his arm.

“We haven’t got time for this,” Hilda hissed.

Ike nodded to Edna and turned the knob. The door opened to a foyer with a table and mirror. Ike hurried inside, with Hilda close behind; Edna followed and shut the door. The foyer led into a sitting area with windows opening to a balcony, and three doors in the walls. Ike had grown up here, while Edna shared a bedroom with Harrison, listening to soot demons scamper through the walls.

He could have returned after his mother’s death, but he’d chosen to brave life alone, an outcast of humans and hags. Yet he wanted to help the humans when the hags threatened. Edna slipped her arms around his waist and leaned her forehead against his back.

“After so many years, my father never changed it,” Ike breathed.

“Hilda, first you need to ensure that all of the humans leave the palace so they don’t get hurt.” Edna tugged on her curl.

Hilda met her gaze without flinching. “You give me an impossible task.”

“You can do it.”

Hilda straightened her hat as her lips curled into a smile.

“You’ll need this.” Ike jogged to his desk and pulled out drawers, searching through the cluttered contents.

Edna studied the room. Model blimps hung from the ceiling to match the mural on the wall depicting an airship race. Ike’s domain. He’d probably chosen the indigo curtains and brocade loveseats. A delicious thrill coursed through her body. It was so naughty to be in a male’s room before marriage, yet here she stood, and she ached to push him onto the plush carpet in the center of the room. They could kiss for hours—if they had time.

“Here it is.” Ike lifted a black cord with a knot on the end. “I just need….” He opened one of the doors to reveal a closet and pulled out a black hat, complete with goggles and chin strap. He attached the cord to the side. “Take off yours and put this one on.” Ike held it out to Hilda.

“Why?”

“I have two.” He helped her fasten the hat beneath her chin. “Sometimes my mother and I would play with them. If you talk into the cord, the person wearing the other hat can hear you. Let us know when everyone is out. In the meantime, no one should look here. Sambucus won’t know where my room is, so Edna and I will be safe.” He ran back to his desk.

Hilda adjusted the hat’s strap. “How do I get everyone out?”

“Tell them a poison got loose in the air,” Edna said. “Even hags have to fear that. They might be able to conjure potions from nature and dreams, but that doesn’t make them immortal. Everyone has to evacuate.”

“Not everyone will believe me.”

“But they’ll evacuate to make sure no one is hurt.” Edna shut her eyes. “Sometimes in Moser City entire blocks turned into infernos from lack of water. Many people died, since there were so many crowded into the tenements. Say Mother Sambucus told you to tell them about the fire. Then the hags will stay. They’ll think it’s one of her plans. How many hags know you’re a rebel?”

Hilda frowned. “Only the ogres who took us, and they’re dead.”

“After you get the humans out, do you think you can enchant the meeting room?” Edna wrung her hands. “If not, maybe Ike can.”

“I can, but what kind of enchantment?” Hilda leaned against the wall with her arms folded. The stance reminded Edna of Ike, and her heart fluttered.

“An enchantment against fire. Even if the rest of the palace burned, that room wouldn’t.”

Hilda narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I can do that enchantment.”

“I read it in your diary on the train.”

“I figured as much.” Hilda pushed off from the wall. “Glad I gave it to you and your brother to read. Didn’t realize you’d find it so helpful.”

Edna stepped back. “Are you mad?”

“Yes! How are we supposed to know your plan will work? I have no idea where Charles is. Many of us could die—”

“Charles knew the risks.” Ike wore a hat identical to his cousin’s. “Hilda, after you enchant the room, get out of the palace and stay out. Keep everyone away.”

“And keep the exits locked,” Edna added. “We can’t allow anyone to leave.”

“Push this button,” Ike indictated a hole on the left side of the helmet, “when you want to speak. It will make a beep and then I push my button to hear you.”

Hilda clasped Ike’s hand. “Be safe.” She nodded to Edna before she departed. Ike shut the door.

“We’ll be fine.” Edna stroked the warm cameo, hating how numb the words felt on her tongue, yet she couldn’t believe otherwise, lest she crumble.

He crossed the floor to cup her face in his palms. “Some hags will escape, even if your plan works.”

“But we’ll take out Mother Sambucus. She’s the head of this.” Edna rubbed his hand. “The humans will be safe.
Your father
will be safe.”

“
You’ll
be safe.” Ike pressed his mouth over hers. The cord bumped her cheek, but Edna didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

Ike eased his lips away. “It’s strange how little everything changed in a few years,” Ike whispered against her forehead. “I always thought I couldn’t go back, but here I am, and almost everything is the same.”

“Does it hurt?” She leaned her cheek against his arm.

“No.” He turned to face her. “Hilda will do her job. We can’t help her now. All we can do is listen for her call. Edna, for now, will you be with me?”

“I am with you.” She traced the dark circles beneath his eyes before she yanked his head down and nipped his lower lip.

“Hurry, get out!” Hilda grabbed a maid’s arm.

The startled woman dropped her feather duster. “Why?”

“The palace is on fire. You must get out now. Make sure everyone else gets out too.” Hilda pushed the woman toward the entrance to the library.

A hag emerged from behind a bookcase. Hilda recognized her copper hair and tiny nose—they’d gone to boarding school together. “Seven Saints.” At least at boarding school, Hilda had been courteous and studious. Hopefully the hag wouldn’t think her capable of rebellion.

“
Hilda
?” The hag frowned. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Hello, Simone. Mother Sambucus wants all of the humans out.” Hilda lowered her voice to seem conspiratorial. “Tell them the palace is on fire.”

“Mother Sambucus,” Simone repeated, her green eyes wide.

Hilda nodded. “This is of grave importance.”

Simone wrinkled her nose. “Very grave indeed.”

Edna leaned against the doorway of Ike’s bedroom. “Your room is so unlike mine. Mine’s always been small and cramped with Harrison’s things.”

Ike trailed his finger over her neck. As he opened his mouth to speak, the cord on his hat bleeped. “Hello?”

“All set,” came Hilda’s voice through the cord. “The humans are out and I even got this other girl to help me enchant the room. She believes Mother Sambucus wants it done.” Hilda chuckled.

“Good job.” Ike glanced at Edna in the doorway.

“Tell her to wait outside,” Edna whispered. “This is our turn.”

You say you see fear, but you are mistaken.

dna stood at the top of the stairs. She straightened her clothes, smoothing wrinkles and jarring dirt. A few stains remained from her journey since leaving Moser City, but she’d removed most of the spots in Ike’s water closet. She could become a graceful young lady again, one who knew her place in the kingdom, one who could control her own fate.

“This will work.” Ike brushed his hand over her back. Her lips still tingled from his kisses and warmth from his embrace lingered on her skin.

She tried to smile, but her numb lips wouldn’t turn up. The future loomed too large. Before, it had seemed distant. Now she had to face it. She couldn’t hide in Ike’s old bedroom. Ike pressed his finger to her mouth. “Let us descend on our party.”

They held hands as they walked down the palace’s grand stairway. She watched him from the corner of her eye, imagining what he had looked like as a young prince. Regal stubbornness shone from the strong set of his jaw. His eyes glittered with confidence and his skin seemed to glow with magic.

The king’s subjects had treated Ike and his mother with condescension. Hags were less important than humans, even a half-hag who was the king’s son and a hag who was his lover; even a hag like Mother Sambucus, renowned for her healing and blessings. She’d crawled into the palace and created a plague. Once she’d exchanged the king and his nobles for coglings, it must’ve been easy for her to station her hags throughout the palace. His mother had been scorned, but Mother Sambucus had reigned.

As they neared the bottom of the grand staircase, a hag stepped into view. Yellow ringlets bounced around her face, trapped beneath a wide-brimmed blue hat. She wore a frilly dress of pink silk, a strand of pearls about her neck. If Edna saw the woman on the streets, she would’ve guessed her to be a noblewoman, not a hag, yet a green glow framed her stout body. Edna silently thanked the cameo for helping boost her inner magic, providing her with enchanted sight. The hags wouldn’t make her a fool.