Seven Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page B

a
problem.’
    ‘ Because,’ he said with relish, ‘The good Baron Anserval
happens to be horribly in love with Serena.’
    ‘ He is not ,’ protested Serena, sitting abruptly upright with
bristling indignation. ‘He is in love with Lady
Fenella.’
    ‘ You’re right,’ Fabian apologised. ‘A most vital
distinction.’
    Serena nodded
gravely. ‘I can’t deny that it is a useful happenstance, but it is most tiresome. He really is the most dreadful
bore.’
    Fabian made a
soothing noise. ‘Perhaps Oliver won’t wish us to pursue
it.’
    Teyo raised his
brows. Oliver Tullen, their boss, was typically in favour of their
pursuing everything that came up in connection with the
Unspeakables; he would certainly send them after this little
mystery. Serena knew it, too, for she turned upon Fabian a
withering look and made no reply.
    ‘ Yes,
I suppose you’re right,’ Fabian said, nodding wisely. ‘You’ll just
have to steel yourself, sis, and put up with an hour or two of
fervent admiration.’
    ‘ Which hour or two?’ Egg demanded. ‘We have only a
place. No date or time, or anything to tell us what’s happening
there or when. And we haven’t got much time to figure it out.
Switching the paper won’t slow Halavere down for long. She’ll wring
the information out of somebody soon enough.’
    ‘ Stake-out,’ said Teyo.
    Egg sighed. ‘I
suppose.’
    ‘ No
matter,’ said Serena with a brilliant smile. ‘There are more of us,
now, after all! Many hands make light work, and all
that.’
    Teyo blinked.
‘What?’
    Serena beamed at
him. ‘It’s time to go and pick up our new recruit.’
     

Chapter
Three
     
    When the carriage
arrived at the site of the ill-fated holdup, Wendle slowed it to a
near-crawl, as per Serena’s instructions. She waited expectantly,
but nobody hailed the carriage, and it did not stop to collect
anybody. She unfastened the window and stuck out her head, hoping
to catch sight of a dark figure lurking in the
moonlight.
    The road was
empty.
    ‘ Has
he fled?’ said Fabian, with too evident satisfaction.
    ‘ She,’
Serena corrected. ‘And yes, it looks like she did.’ She sat back,
disappointed.
    ‘ You
mean we’re not getting an inept highway robber on the team?’ Egg
said, with awful sarcasm. ‘How shall I bear my
disappointment?’
    ‘ We’re
not getting a second shapeshifter on the team,’ Serena
corrected.
    Egg shrugged. ‘We
have Teyo.’
    ‘ Who
may appreciate some help in that area, from time to
time.’
    ‘ So?
Ask Oliver to find us someone. You can’t just pick people up off
the road.’
    ‘ I
really don’t see why not,’ Serena murmured. She glanced at Teyo,
hoping for some support, but he only gazed back at her
thoughtfully, and said nothing.
    Fabian thumped
the roof of the carriage in the signal to drive on, but at that
moment something caught Serena’s eye outside the window, and she
threw open the door. ‘Wait!’ she called, though whether to Wendle
or to her new recruit, she couldn’t say.
    Both obeyed her.
Wendle drew the carriage to a complete stop, and Serena jumped down
to find a slight, dark figure a few feet away. The person in
question looked Serena’s way, hesitated, and then turned and
ran.
    Serena swore. She
couldn’t give chase, not in her voluminous ball gown.
    ‘ I’ll
get her,’ said Teyo behind her. Serena heard the thump of his feet
as he jumped out of the carriage and he passed her, running at full
tilt. He soon caught up to the fugitive. Serena watched with a
little anxiety; she had seen that Teyo’s quarry could use a blade.
Would she attack him? She couldn’t tell, in the darkness, whether
the girl had tried, but Teyo soon reappeared, leading the girl with
her hands secured behind her back.
    ‘ Don’t
take it amiss,’ he was saying in his low, calming voice. ‘No one’s
going to hurt you.’
    ‘ Oh?
Then why am I restrained?’ growled the girl, though she made no
attempt to escape. ‘Doesn’t look like I have any