Land of Verne (19 page)

Grim shook his head, wondering the same thing himself. But he was determined to find out.

Later that evening, Grim strode into the kitchens rather late and found Orlanda Kennelworth waiting. She tapped her fat foot on the floor and her face was puckered.

“Where’s Veerasin?” Grim asked, surprised to see the Madam of the Kitchens. At this hour, she usually took a nap. And at this hour the grumpy old woman, with the bags under her eyes, looked like she needed it.

“Humph,” she muttered. “She didn’ show up. I’ll be speakin’ to Madam Malkim about dis.” She poked her head out the door as if expecting Veerasin at any moment. Grim didn’t mention that the frail woman might be sleeping somewhere under the city.

“Here ya go,” said the Madam of the Kitchens, and handed him a brush. “Back in a bit.”

After spending two hours elbow-deep in suds, Grim stepped out into the moonlight, almost full and round, for a breath of fresh air and made his way back to his room. He found Quinn waiting for him, swilling the last of his green elixir. Yet before he could mutter a word, Helia dropped by their room to inform them of bad news.

What now?

“Treena has taken ill,” screeched the Pixie in her airy little voice. “She’s in the Infirmary with the others. Madam Malkim is calling a meeting right now. The orphanage has been infected with some form of plague.”

“Plague?”

Helia gave a swift shake of her head, from which faint particles of dust sprinkled the ground. “The Infirmary is now off limits. You might get infected.” Grim said nothing and let the Pixie keep squealing. “The orphanage and even the Academy is sealed shut. No one is allowed to leave. We are quarantined, and the Anniversary has been cancelled.”

Grim’s heart dropped to the cold floor. He would not see his dads now. And he would not be able to get out of this blasted, tilted, good-for-nothing, heat-forsaken orphanage any time soon. He was stuck. He wanted to scream.

Helia left them and Grim slammed the door closed.

What else could possibly go wrong?

“Convenient that Festrel left when he did,” muttered Quinn. “Just in time, it would seem.”

Grim nodded, and rubbed his hands together for warmth. He paced, wondering if the boy had any connection to Eevenellin or Dorian. Although he had been an alleged witness to Dorian’s attack on Valeria.

Had Festrel actually been telling the truth?

Something was not right about any of this, and it sat in Grim’s stomach like bad octopus.

He headed to the kitchens with Quinn in tow. They parked themselves at a table with Rudy and the twins. Hushed voices and murmurs filled the space and the students looked completely unsettled. Gorkin and Jackmeister blubbered in the corner. They all glared at the orphans as if it was their fault that this was happening. And Grim quickly learned that two of the students were sick ― Halriette and Oslo.

Typical, the nice ones.

Madam Malkim waited for the onlookers to settle.

“Things have taken a grave turn,” she said. She spoke through a silk scarf that was wrapped about her entire face. “A plague has afflicted a number of our servants, err … I mean orphans and a few of our students. So far, we do not know the cause. What we do know is that it is contagious, and we are taking precautions to ensure that it does not spread. The City of Harkness does not want anyone slipping out and infecting the residents of the city. They have ordered that you must now be confined to the Library where we can keep an eye on all of you. That includes the serv — … err, orphans.”

All of the students screamed and protested. They accused the orphans of starting the plague, that they were all of bad blood and lower birth, and that it could only be commoners who could have started this.

Gorkin stood up and shouted. “At least keep the orphans separate!”

Madam Malkim waved down the crowd with her gloved hands. “The conditions of the …err… orphanage are such that one might slip out too easily. It is being sealed as we speak.”

There were further complaints.

Again, she waved them down. “The City Magistrates have made their decision to seal the Academy until this passes. Food, clothing and bedding will be made available for all. Further instructions will come as required. That is all.”

She departed the Dining Hall, nearly running out as some of the students chased after her, insisting they be kept in separate quarters. Grim shuffled back to his own room, but found the corridors had already been sealed.

They then made their way through the halls of the Academy towards the Library as curses and insults were spat at them.  

Chapter 20

The Library had never been so busy, and Madam Tyne had never had her hands so full scowling at all the children running about, orphans and students alike. It was never impeccable, but now it was littered with makeshift beds and blankets. The woman’s usually neat hair appeared as if a windstorm had blown through it, and she ran through the aisles shooing children hither and thither.

Grim didn’t know what to do with himself as the hours passed. He thumbed through some books about the Southlands to distract himself. And as the days passed, people were taken one by one to the Infirmary. All had the brown splotches that his siblings had, except much larger and the children were collapsing at points with no warning. There was still no word of Sam and eventually Benny was taken which devastated his twin.

Grim found Quinn searching through books of antidotes and healing. “Looking for a cure?”

Quinn nodded and focused on his reading. Ninnipence and two others glided by them as they sat.

“We’re all going to die because of you filthy orphans,” she sneered.

Grim just ignored her, resisting the overwhelming urge to put out his foot and trip her. Instead he grabbed a dusty book from the pile, examining countless cures for things like bites, stings, and other minor ailments. A number of pages were ripped from the books, and although there was mention of some plagues and diseases, there was nothing about this one. He closed the book in front of him. So did Quinn.

They pored over seven more, all covering the same types of cures and elixirs. Still nothing. Grim gazed about the Library. Some of the nobles huddled together and murmured in whispered voices. At first, they snickered at the outfits and paltry belongings of the orphans, or argued over who wore the better suit and hat, but as the days passed they grew quiet. Everyone was afraid, but none of the students, who were actually trained to read and write, were searching through the books to find a cure.

Grim looked at the page in front of him. It was from an aged, worn book titled:
Simple Solutions
. There was no author listed, only the initials
M.N
. One line on the page jumped out at him:

The cause determines the cure.

That’s it!

Grim slammed the book closed and Quinn leapt from his seat.

“We’re looking at this from the wrong angle,” Grim said. “We should be looking at how to create a sickness instead. Once we know how it started, we can figure out how to cure it.”

Quinn rubbed his eyes and yawned. He’d been reading for hours on end. “Interesting idea. We’ll have to look for those.”

They inched through the shelves, searching. Books were not ordered like on Earth, so it took them some time to sort through the endless maze of shelves. Eventually they found a spiraled stairwell leading downwards. They took it and found a lower room with even more dust and fewer shelves. But these were filled.

They edged into the dim room, cautious of what might be awaiting them. It was dry like parched earth, and cold. It was as if they had stepped into a crypt. Grim’s skin turned to gooseflesh and he rubbed his arms. Quinn did the same.

“All right, let’s do this quickly,” said Grim. “I don’t want to be in here any longer than I have to.”

“Where do we start?”

“Let’s start here and work our way back,” he said and turned his attention to the rows of ancient books that lined the shelves. These had all been hand-written, unlike the printed books from the room above.

They scanned for anything to do with curses and hexes, and found too many to count. Everything in the room was centered on things dark. Finally, after searching through a number of titles, Grim came upon a book about half-way through the room that caught his attention. 

“Here,” he said, and grabbed it. “
Plagues
.”

They rifled through the pages, and found what they were looking for. Grim read it aloud.

“The
Scourge: a deadly and painful plague of brown sores that will extract the life from its victim. One who is afflicted with the blood of a Changeling makes an ideal carrier. They will pass the Scourge to all they touch. The disease can be easily brought about by mixing Marmorite Blue with the hair of a Changeling.
”

Quinn looked rather pale. “I don’t want to be in here any longer.”

Grim nodded and tucked the book under his armpit. “It was good that Aunt Patrice didn’t let me touch Sam. Otherwise I might be sick as well.”

They shuffled back up the staircase and made their way to a remote corner.

“Where would anyone get the hair of a Changeling?” wondered Grim.

He had not heard of any rumors of Changelings.

“Veerasin,” Quinn said, quite matter-of-factly. “She changes under the full moon. Although she’s probably a half-breed. They don’t have full control over it.”

“Veerasin? How do you know that?”

He paused. “Ugh,… Treena told me. Her father used to capture them, you know.”

The answer suddenly seemed so simple. “Wait a minute. Around the time of the full moon, Veerasin always rushed me out the door early. She’d let me off without doing much work. Then she would take off.”

Quinn crossed his arms in front of him and harrumphed.

“Well, it makes sense,” continued Grim. “But who knows she’s a Changeling, and who would make such a thing? Who would want to kill everyone here? Wait a minute,” he said, thinking. “Remember those books Festrel had? He had one on Changelings.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “If he knows who we are, maybe he tried to have us killed. He couldn’t do it openly, but would have to find a more subtle way to do it. And Veerasin hasn’t been well lately. Maybe he infected her with the elixir and is using her as the carrier.”

Quinn shook his head. “Then why aren’t you sick?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a matter of time.”

Quinn twisted his lips, unsure of what to say.

“What about Eevenellin?” he asked. “The book she signed out said that Marmorite Blue could be used for turning people to stone.”

Grim nodded. “And causing plague.”

“All right,” Quinn said, pacing in the aisle. “So we think we know the cause, but the question is, who did it, and how do we undo it?”

Grim scoured the book and found another section.

“Listen to this:
Marmorite Blue is a rare elixir that is extracted from the Marmorite Tree. Its uses include the Scourge when mixed with the hair of a Changeling, The Elixir of Stone when mixed with Gargoyle’s hair, and poison when mixed with fish liver. It is also known to heal breathing ailments among the Unseen. To create an antidote, mix these with Jinn’s blood
.”

Grim grunted. “Well, that won’t help us. The blood Treena found is long washed away by the rain.”

“So what do we do?”

There was only one thing he could do.

“I have to find a Jinn. They’ve been seen in the city recently.”

Quinn’s mouth dropped open. “Are you mad?! Have you lost your mind?! What do you think you’re going to do, summon one and ask: ‘Excuse me, Master Jinn, sir, but may I extract some blood from your beastly body?’ You’ll be killed!” His voice was shrieking.

Grim shushed him. “Quiet or everyone is going to know. What other choice do we have?”

“But you can’t summon them. Only the Darksworn can.”

“Unless you have a sinth device that can summon one.”

Quinn looked doubtful. “Only devices that have a circular symbol on the bottom of it can summon a Jinn. The only ones left in existence are owned by Hyperia DeLay.”

“A symbol?” Grim asked. That reminded him of something. He yanked the little figurine out of his pocket and flipped it over. “You mean like this?” he asked. Two circles with symbols along the edges were stamped on the bottom.

“Where did you get that?” Quinn asked.

“My dads gave it to me,” he said. “Up until now I thought it was just some dumb figurine. I don’t know how to use it.”

“You have to know the name of the Jinn it summons.”

“How am I going to find that out?” he asked.

Quinn looked closer at the woman, flipping it around in his hands. “Sometimes there’s a clue how to summon it.” As he opened the umbrella, a click sounded. The little stand opened and a slip of paper fell out.

On it was written words that Grim read aloud.

“
In the City of Harkness, the words you shall find,

To summon the Jinns from across the divide.

At the Green Fairy on Absolution Street,

Ask for Arabus — a friend you shall meet.
”