“Oh look!” Jerome pointed up. “We haven’t shown you the amazing terrace up on the fourth level. Views of the entire jungle, the ocean.” He gasped. “We can have afternoon tea up there. The furniture just needs a little dusting.”
“Yes!” Wesley snapped his fingers, and this was the most excitement I’d seen from the pixie yet.
“Why do you keep staring over there?” Leoni asked me with a low voice while Wesley and Jerome chattered on about the terrace.
“There’s something he’s hiding. I need to find out what it is, and I need to do it while he’s asleep.”
Leoni took a deep breath, shooting a glance at Jerome and Wesley out the side of her eye. “The terrace sounds lovely,” she said. “Do you have wine?”
“Oooh, yes!” Driscoll said. “Wine. Lots of wine.”
Jerome’s face brightened, and Wesley’s eyes gleamed. “We do happen to have quite a few bottles in our cellar.”
“Sold,” Driscoll said.
Leoni leaned over. “I have a plan,” she whispered. “Just play along.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
BELLAMY
“Atoast!” Jerome said.
The pixies held up their crystal glasses of dark wine.
Wesley took a sip from his glass. “Yes, a toast!”
The wine had loosened him up considerably. While everyone else had been drinking, I’d been pouring mine into the potted plant next to me.
They hadn’t lied about the view. The jungle spread out down below, and from here we could see the sprawling canopies of palm trees, rubber trees, ipe trees with their beautiful pale blossoms. The ocean water lapped against the black-sand shores, everything so peaceful and calm. From up here, you wouldn’t even know of the shadows lurking under the canopies, of the powerful objects littering the jungle, waiting to be used. I wondered where my brothers were right now, what they were doing. Hopefully they’d found a nice pond to rest.
“Are you going to give an actual toast?” Wesley snapped at Jerome, who had been waxing on about how delicious the wine was.
“Ah, yes.” Jerome rose higher in the air. “Right.”
Driscoll, Leoni, and I raised our glasses dutifully.
“A toast to new beginnings.”
Wesley wrinkled his nose. “What new beginning? How drunk are you?”
“Very,” Jerome slurred, pinching the end of his mustache. “But maybe this is the start of guests and parties and finally repopulating this court and the castle.”
“You are drunker than I realized.” Wesley rolled his eyes. “That’s never going to happen. Not unless Master Kairoth finally gets all those—” He yelped, clapping a hand over his mouth.
Leoni gasped. “The sunset!” She stood. “Let’s take our wine over there. I want to hear about these different places in the shadow court. Where do most of the pixies live?”
Wesley was already flying over to the side terrace, Jerome following him while trying to carry his large glass of wine.
Leoni shot a look back at me, widening her eyes meaningfully. Now would be my chance. The pixies were drunk and distracted, and like she’d said, the sun was setting. Kairoth would be awake soon.
When all their backs were turned, I snuck away and toward the door that led into a tower.
It didn’t take long to navigate my way down the tower and toward the curtained off part of the castle. I stopped in front of the curtain, not sure what I’d find when I drew it aside. I reached out a shaky hand and pushed it open, then stepped inside to complete darkness. I felt my way along the wall, hard, rough stone meeting my hands. I made my way along the dark corridor slowly.
It was quiet, so quiet I could hear my own heart beating, my slow breaths. This wasn’t going to work. If I couldn’t see anything, this entire plan would be for no reason. I should’ve come more prepared, but I didn’t dare go back to find a candle orlantern. Not when I might run into a suspicious pixie. I had no idea how many of them were working in this castle.
And we wouldn’t be able to trick Jerome and Wesley like this a second time. I couldn’t waste this opportunity, so I forged on in complete darkness, not even sure what I was looking for. What could Kairoth be hiding in this part of the castle?
