“I don’t suppose that I do. I could probably manage a bit of fish, though.” I set the glass tube down in the sink where he probably couldn’t knock it onto the floor. I suspected we’d come to the end of the discussion, but maybe I could get one more question in. “Do you have any idea why someone would be feeding mirror-food to a human child?”
Grayling inspected his paw again.
I put my hands on my hips.
The cat cocked his head in my direction and gave a small, piteous mew. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I seem to be faint with hunger.”
“Answer the question and I’ll fix that.”
“Ugh.” He flicked his tail in annoyance. “I am not a dog performing for a treat.”
“No, you’re a heartless monster being bribed.”
This seemed to please him, as I’d rather suspected it would. “You’re certain that there’s no cream?”
“The cook will make rugs out of both of our hides if I come asking for more.” I reached out a hand toward him. He shoved his head nonchalantly under my fingers, and I scratched at the base of his ears, feeling the small round skull vibrate with a purr. Strange that a brain that size could hold something that talked and thought as well as a human. I really hoped that it was because he was a mirror-cat and that all cats weren’t like this. It’s one thing to know that your pets are judging you, but it’s quite another to know that they’re doing it on the same level a human might.
(I wondered if Grayling, being a mirror-cat, was made of the gray mirror-stuff himself. But the only way that I could test that would be to cut him, and I didn’t see any way that would end well for either of us.)
“So why would someone feed mirror-food to Snow?”
The purr stuttered briefly. “Those who eat mirror-food gain some… abilities. You’ve seen them yourself.”
“The ability to go in and out of the mirror?”
“Among others.”
Others? I racked my brain, trying to think of another ability.
Grayling pulled back from my fingers. “So hungry…” he said, and gave another piteous mew.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Wait here.”
I took myself off to the kitchen, where the cook parted cheerfully enough with a bit of fish. It was brought in from the coast in a light brine to keep it fresh for three days of travel. I watched her quick hands slice off a piece, remembering the strangely empty kitchen on the other side of the mirror, imagining what I’d see if I were standing there now. The fish, first whole, then sliced into bits. If I moved a piece of it, it would stay moved on the other side. She used the side of her knife to sweep the cut pieces onto a small plate.Now, if I had turned one of the pieces sideways, say, but it was still in the path of the knife, would it go onto the plate?I suspectedthat it would, but I wasn’t sure. If I returned the potato that Javier had eaten part of, it wouldn’t just hover in midair as the rest of the potatoes were taken away around it.
An idea struck me, as I pictured the potato.Those who eat mirror-food gain some abilities. You’ve seen it yourself.
And I had told him about the book, how it had fallen to dust in my hands…
“Grayling!” I called, bursting into the workroom. “Is one of the powers taking thingsoutof the mirror-world?”
“Hmmm,” said the cat. “For a human, you’re notcompletelyhopeless.” He eyed the saucer full of fish. “If you expect me to stand up and beg, though, I shall revise my opinion.”
“No, no.” I set the dish down on the table, and he sniffed haughtily at the fish, as if he weren’t going to fall on it and devour it. “But that doesn’t make sense! If you can get into the mirror and get mirror-food, why not just bring things out yourself? Why use Snow?”
“Why, indeed,” muttered the cat, face-first in the fish.
I leaned against the table, thinking. “It must be something that Snow could get at that they can’t. Like… um…” I racked my brain. “Maybe they want Snow to steal something for them? The crown jewels?”
Grayling snorted into his fish.
“Okay, probably not the crown jewels. Do we evenhavecrown jewels? But maybe something like that?” I tried to picture a situation where Snow specifically being able to bring something out of the mirror would be important. All I could think of was Javier talking about assassins. If she pulled a dagger out of a mirror at a critical moment…
I listened to the tinny rasp of the cat’s tongue against the saucer. “Could they be hoping to use Snow tokillsomeone?”
The rasp paused for a moment.
“It’s somethinglikethat, isn’t it?”
