Obsidian Mirror Read Online Free PDF Page B

Wharton pulled the top open and looked in. A small furry heap of limbs disentangled itself and peered up at him. The monkey’s eyes were black-pupiled. It yawned.
    He shut the bag instantly and glanced around.
    “Don’t panic.” Jake pushed the trolley away calmly.
    “Panic! What about quarantine? Rabies! Have you any idea of the absolute hoo-ha if you’d been caught.”
    “Well, I wasn’t, was I. The vet gave me something to keep him asleep. He was fine.”
    “But a monkey!”
    “He’s not a monkey. He’s a marmoset.”
    The casual arrogance was back, and it left Wharton furious.
    “I don’t care if it’s a bloody aardvark. And we’ve got to go through customs!”
    Jake shrugged. “It’ll be easy this end.” He eyed the teacher with dark amusement. “Venn can pay the fee, if they catch us.”
    Trailing behind, Wharton sweated through the longcorridors and moving walkways, and when they were waved through by a bored official, he felt as much relief as if he’d been smuggling diamonds.
    Outside the airport, Jake opened the bag and the marmoset crept sleepily out and wound its arms lovingly around his neck. Its fur was a lustrous brown. It stared at Wharton like a baby stares, with total indifference.
    “I wasn’t leaving him at that pit of a school,” Jake muttered. They stood in the taxi line, everyone staring at the animal.
    “Put it away,” Wharton hissed.
    “Him. His name is Horatio.”
    By the time they got to their taxi, the thing was wide-awake and eating grapes. The driver looked at it doubtfully. “If that beast makes a mess…”
    “Just get us to Paddington Station.” Wharton tossed the cases in, climbed after them, and sat on the warm squeaky seat, breathing in the smells and fumes of London. After Switzerland it felt like breathing fog. Glancing back, he saw the man who had been sitting opposite them in the plane was just behind in the queue; for a second their eyes met, and he was shocked at the deep scar that disfigured the man’s left cheek.
    Their car edged out into the raging traffic.
    “I can manage on my own after Paddington,” Jake said, without hope.
    Wharton shook his head. “No chance.”
    “I could bribe you.”
    “I’m incorruptible. Just keep that thing out of my pocket.”

    Under the garish Christmas lights, they crept through gridlocked London. Far behind, deep in the traffic, a taxi slowly followed them.

4
    Fear not, fear not, my lord, said she,
    the dead are dead and ever will be.
    Dear is the ransom you must pay,
    If her lost face you wish to see.
    Fear not, fear not, my lord, she said.
    For who can render to the dead?
    Dark is the journey you must take
    Her lost beauty to remake.
    Ballad of Lord Winter and Lady Summer
    W HAT STARTLED THEM both was a knock at the door.
    Venn’s gaze flickered; in that instant Sarah turned and was halfway out through the window before he lunged and grabbed her, hauling her toward him. “Piers!” he yelled. “Get in here!”
    She kicked him but he held on; he had her arms now and his grip was bruising and tight. He dragged her back and she fell hard to the floor, the breath knocked out of her.
    “Get up,” Venn said.
    She was too stunned to move. After a moment he held out his hand. She took it.
    He pulled her to her feet and stepped away. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    She shrugged. “Maybe I shouldn’t have kicked you either.”
    He was silent. Aware of a draft behind her, she saw that a very small man in a white lab coat had opened the door and was staring at them both. He had a tiny goatee and a sharp, inquisitive face. “What’s going on?” he said.
    Venn straightened. He was tense and pale. “Ask the most inept burglar in the world.”
    “I’m not a burglar.” Keeping calm, Sarah faced him.
    “So what are you doing breaking into my house? How did you get in here anyway?” He turned on Piers. “So much for your security.”
    “I had her on camera all the way from the gate.” The small man looked