“One guess,” Left Ned said.
“Me?” I said.
He nodded. “You’re still uncontracted. That means you can be claimed. With and without your consent.”
“He could have claimed me?”
Both Neds nodded.
“Hell. Should we go back?” I asked.
“No. He told us where he expected us to be: at the Jangle. And that we should make it short,” Right Ned said. “I say we do just that, so as not to kick up any more attention.”
“Is he friends with House Gray?”
Left Ned shook his head slightly, and Right Ned answered, “Hard to keep up. And with the gathering in just a few days, loyalties are bound to shift. But I think he and Gray are on speaking terms.”
“Might be Gray noticed us missing, called in a favor, and asked him to put eyes on you,” Left Ned said.
A woman wasn’t watching where she was going, and ran into me.
“Careful, now,” I said, reaching out for her arms while she clutched at my coat to keep from falling.
“Watch it,” Neds said.
“Sorry, sorry,” she mumbled. She pushed past me, but not before slipping a piece of paper in my palm.
I glanced down at the paper, then back at her. She was hurrying away from me, but extended two fingers and tapped them twice to her ear.
Two fingers, two taps: House Brown.
“Keep walking,” I said.
We blended back into the press of people, and I turned over the paper.
Fesslers safe and accounted for. Pocket of Rubies.
I grinned and stuffed the note into my coat.
“What was that about?” Neds asked, not looking at me.
“Brown.”
“News?”
“Fesslers made it.”
“Good,” Right Ned said. “That’s one thing going our way. Café’s up here.”
The red burn of neon twisted into the word JANGLE cut through the darkness. It was about a block ahead.
“You have any idea why the head of a House would come to look for me and not just send an employee?” I asked.
“Welton’s never played by the rules,” Left Ned said. “He’s too young—real years—to be a head of a House, but he’s an off-the-charts genius. Him talking to us was a statement of his intent. Don’t think other Houses didn’t see what he did. Tracked you down in seconds, and stood right in front of you. Could have taken you if he wanted with that mountainous clunk, Foster First, at his side. But he didn’t.”
“And?” I asked.
“And,” Right Ned said, “that means he honors House Gray’s claim to you and your choice in the matter. Yellow is backing Gray’s right to protect you and your property.”
