The Keeper's Curse (20 page)

***

The trip
to Ministrial went along smoothly. Ministrial, along with thirty
nine others of the fifty seven orbs (according to Breckin) had
portals from Methelwood in a small room on the top floor of the
main living complex. Spheres on golden rods lined the wall, all of
them with moving scenery inside like the one in Alex’s old room.
The sensation of falling when Emmy gripped Ministrial was just as
strong as the first time she traveled this way, but less unpleasant
now that she knew what was coming.

It was
late afternoon when they arrived. The sun was a semicircle on the
horizon now, the sky filled with the colors of sunset. They showed
their identification when they walked out of the House of Law, a
building with primly dressed women clacking away on their
typewriters, and men in fur trimmed cloaks. Breckin guided her out
into the street.

Emmy
expected to walk into a forest like she had in Methelwood, but
instead walked out into the middle of a metropolis with tall stoned
buildings dressed in brambles. Breckin had to pull her away from
the center of the street several times, and for good reason. In the
center of the road was a silver band with poppy-red automobiles
levitating several inches above it, zooming by with crafters inside
them. Seeing a city with skyscrapers and cars again caused a pang
of longing in her.

They
passed a street corner where a squared platform was located, with
several people on it. Every few seconds another one of the
automobiles would whiz up, stop, and the door would swing open for
them.

“
I didn’t know you guys had cars,” Emmy said.

Breckin
tilted his head. “Sorry?”

“
Um, these things that take us places. We have something
similar back home.”

Breckin
nodded. “They’re called pods, but that makes sense. Ministrial has
a knack for trying to copy the real world. Once in a while some of
technology and ideas even trickle down into the rest of the orbs.
Since most Ministrialians have gotten to see the real world, they
do their best and try to live like them.”

This piqued Emmy’s interest. “So you
can
live in the real
world?”

“
Live? Oh, no.
I
couldn’t even do that. But there are some jobs that require
you to travel there, like ambassadors, research writers, and
trackers, which are people that hunt down people like ...” He
trailed off awkwardly, mid gesture.

“
Like my mom?”

His face
flushed and he lowered his head. “Sorry.”

She was
almost frustrated with how sensitive he was. “Don’t worry about it.
So, are these jobs pretty competitive?”

Breckin
laughed. “‘Kind of competitive’? They’re nearly impossible to get
because everyone wants them so badly. To get to experience human
culture, see their superiority and bring it back .... I can’t wait
to see more. I’ve only been to Italy once and America a couple of
times.”

Emmy
shifted and didn’t respond. The reverence of non-crafters made her
very uncomfortable.

She
figured they would step on a platform to take them to the
Governor’s Living Complex, but when Emmy suggested this, Breckin
shook his head.

“
Wouldn’t you rather walk?”

She
didn’t argue, mostly because it was true. She almost felt like she
was in the real world again.

Because
of Breckin’s status, when they reached the complex, Circlet
accepted the visit without any prior notice. She met them in the
lobby, similar to the one in Methelwood, and escorted them up to
her apartment.

She sat
them in her elaborately decorated living room. Emmy and Breckin
took a seat on one couch, and Circlet sat on the other couch,
across the glass coffee table, so they could see each
other.

Formalities took place for the first few minutes as they
sipped offered tea, or rather, Breckin and Circlet exchanged
formalities. For such a fidgety person, Breckin knew how to be
polite and cordial when necessary, probably through years of
training.

Finally,
Circlet put her cup down. “Now, I suspect you two are here over
what you have found yesterday?”

Emmy was
surprised, but Breckin wasn’t. “Yes. Circlet, as you probably
remember, I visited you a while ago, about Cyrus Crow.”

“
I remember.” Her fox-face was amused.

“
Well, we found the portal while following Cyrus into the
woods during our peacekeeping lesson,” Breckin continued. “It was
at the Morrison’s Spot, and he was snooping around it for a long
time. I have reason to suspect that he knew it was
there.”

Her
blonde eyebrows raised into her bangs. “Do you, now? Do you have
any proof?”

“
I was there too, Ms. Circlet,” Emmy spoke up. “We both saw
him. It was really suspicious. He only left because someone called
him away.”

Circlet
sat back in her couch, a distant look in her eye. She had heard
Emmy, but chose not to listen. “Well, I was curious to where this
portal led to, and when we arrived, it was abandoned.”

There was
a long pause of anticipation.

“
It wasn’t one of the fifty seven orbs,” Circlet said. “And it
was really, really small. There was one mansion, several cottages
surrounding it, and an extensive backyard, and that was it. The
wall circumventing the orb was right around it. There were a few
animals, but no people. Isn’t that peculiar?”

“
Very,” Breckin said through gritted teeth. “Cyrus is here
just a few days and finds this thing?”

“
But that’s just the thing, Mr Crawford. Orbs take months to
make – how could Cyrus have possibly known about it?”

Stars burst in front of Breckin’s eyes. “Oh, I don’t know,
maybe it was the orb he was
living
with Thoreoux in
?”

“
Or maybe he was solving the scavenger hunt with the rest of
the class. Crawford, you’re expecting me to arrest the boy on two
eye witnesses of someone simply circling the Morrison’s
Spot?”

Breckin’s
breathing became shallower and shallower, and Emmy figured it was
time to step in. “Ms. Circlet, no disrespect, but that’s not all.
You know where Cyrus Crow has been, and who he’s working for. It’s
pretty obvious.”

Circlet blinked in surprise; she had forgotten Emmy was
there. “Where he
probably
was. I have no proof Mr. Crow has done anything
wrong.”

“
So that’s it? You’re going to risk all of Methelwood because
you don’t have clear evidence?”

“
I would love to discuss it with you if you have something
viable,” Circle replied calmly. “But then, and only then.” She
turned to Emmy. “So, how are you studies going, Miss Rathers? Are
you preparing for you upcoming admission exam?”

“
I’m getting there,” Emmy said, determined to keep her
control.

“
Good. The trial is going very well, as you’ll be interested
to know. I’ve been able to find a panel of sympathizers for a jury,
which will hopefully help Annie’s case. You’re lucky to have a
governor as a friend, bending the system for you.”

Emmy
glared at her, hating that she needed her so much.

“
Well, if that’s all, I guess we’ll be going,” Breckin said,
formalities gone. His voice lowered Emmy back down to reality.
“Let’s go, Lana.”

Emmy
followed him out the door without a goodbye, trying to maintain a
balance between respect and disrespect for the governor. She didn’t
want to upset Circlet, but she was too angry to be
polite.

Breckin
exploded when they reached the sidewalk.

“
It’s like she’s defending him! Ever since I got here she did
her best to protect me and now the only threat that has ever showed
up since I arrived is here, and she won’t do a thing.”

She knew
she should probably tell him to calm down, but it would have been
hypocritical of her. She wanted Cyrus gone too; she still had no
idea how he knew about how she could hear Breckin telepathically.
“It is weird. Especially what they found in the orb – to me that
sounds like more evidence against Cyrus than less.”

“
I know,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry I dragged you out
here.”

“
Hey, don’t worry about it. We aren’t giving up, okay? We
don’t need her.” She hesitated before saying what she said next.
“Cyrus came to see me today. And he threatened me.”

This did not help Breckin’s blood pressure. “He
what?
”

I’m going to kill him.

“
I know you’re telling the truth. We know he’s out to hurt us.
All we have to do is prove it, which won’t be too hard considering
we know he’s going to try and do it.”

Why would he want to hurt her, of all people?

“
You’re right. Hey, if he ever threatens you again, let me
know. I’ll deal with him.”

She tried
not to be touched. What she should have told him was that she was a
strong modern woman who could protect herself. But the alternative
was having him around more.

“
Okay,” she said.

Neither
of them spoke the rest of the trip home. She couldn’t help but
notice the silences were never awkward with him.

Chapter 13

Break
In

“
So, what do you think?” It was Persephone, twirling the keys
to the school around her index finger.

The three
girls – Emmy, Jade and Persephone – had spent almost every waking
moment outside of school together that week. The library had become
their main base point to talk, pretty much because no one ever came
in there.

“
It’s a good plan,” Emmy said, only half listening. Since the
plan was so simple, not much could go wrong. There was only one
part left. “But you know that we still need some identification to
get into the room with the downloader.”

Persephone groaned beside her. “Yes, that. Well, I guess if
we have to we can make a sub-plan and steal someone’s
ID.”

Impatience began simmering inside Emmy; she needed to know
what was buried inside her subconscious
now
. “Is there a quicker way? Isn’t
there some kind of skeleton key that opens every room in
Urquhart?”

“
Well, dignitaries have them,” Jade said. At Emmy’s puzzled
expression, she continued on. “Important people, like the governors
for example, would have identification that would open every outlet
to every door. They all have the same security system.”

“
Okay, so, dignitaries are just another word for political
people?”

“
Not just political people,” Jade said. “Anyone really
important. You know, business owners, old money families, sometimes
famous people – that sort of thing.”

Cranks
began turning in Emmy’s head, faster and faster. She barely took
note of the second thing Jade had said; she had Emmy at political
figures.

Maybe it
was because she had been thinking about him non-stop all week, but
he flitted across her mind regardless.

“
But also political people,” Emmy said out loud, turning to
Jade. “Do you think you could invite Breckin over for dinner
tonight?”

***

The rest
of the afternoon went by both incredibly quick and agonizingly slow
for Emmy. Both she and Jade had a shift at The Noir Beanery in the
evening, so Persephone left it to them to deal with this part of
the plan.

He came,
just as he always did, at six o’ clock in the evening on the mark,
after his lesson with Oka (whom Emmy wasn’t entirely sure what part
he played in Breckin’s life, but he appeared to be a specialty
teacher of some sort). His presence was immediately apparent to
her, and almost involuntarily she jerked up and looked at the
doorway where he was, a halo of light from the lanterns hanging
over his head.

“
He’s here,” Emmy said to Jade. “You ask him,
okay?”

She left
to go help a customer before Jade could say no.

All
afternoon Emmy had a skip in her step at the idea of spending the
evening with him, but now that he was here, a knot had formed in
her stomach. Emmy was annoyed with herself; for the first time,
seeing Breckin had made her go shy. It was revolting.

Inevitably he ended up at the front of the line on Jade’s
side, Rozelyn beside him.

“
Hey Breckin – yes, I know, don’t tell me,” Jade said, almost
bored. “And Roz! What are you doing down here?”

“
To see my favourite cousin, of course.”

Jade
waved the compliment away, but she was glowing. “Well, it’s good to
see you too. I know you hate coffee, but do you want something
else?”

“
A cinnamon bun, if that’s okay,” Rozelyn said.

“
Great.” Jade turned to Emmy, who gave her an urgent gesture.
“Oh, and um, hey – while you two are here ... since we haven’t
talked in a while, do you want to have dinner with us upstairs
later?”