“Well actually, Nixie, I don’t think we’ll be needing any food after all,” I said, watching the captain.
“My father was a luthier,” the captain blurted out. “I assisted him as a boy.”
Nixie’s gaze flitted between us. “Yes, that’s what Calypstra saw in your mind …” Nixie said, confused, not realizing how intrusive the statement sounded.
The captain watched her, half in fear and half in revolt.
Nixie tried a smile to shake his weighty stare. “Okay then, I’ll just leave this right here and get out of your way.” She placed the platter on a small table.
“Lovely,” I replied. “I think we’re ready to get to work. Isn’t that right,Captain?” I needed to see for myself if he really knew how to mend a virginal. I would decipher whether he could be trusted before I attempted to discuss plans of escape with him.
Luthiers were a rarity in the foothills of the Ashen mountains, passing by Granger House only yearly, so I often did the maintenance on my virginal between their visits. I knew enough about the task to decipher if he was telling the truth or not.
“Fine,” he said reluctantly. “Call me Arlo. The whole captain thing is a little formal considering ourcurrentcircumstance.”
“Yes, siren prisoners don’t really have room for that type of formality, do they?” I said.
“My thoughts exactly.” He cut a hard glance at Nixie.
She raised both rose-colored eyebrows at me. “Well, you two are clearly cut from the same strange cloth.” She let out a breath. “Do you need anything else, Elowyn?”
“No. Thank you, Nixie.”
She tipped her head, smiled sweetly, and left us again.
“Elowyn, that’s your name?” The captain—Arlolooked me up and down.
“Yes,” I answered. My stomach tumbled; had he already put together my true identity?
But then the smell of food distracted him, pulling him by the nostrils like a ravenous dog. He grabbed a thick slice of crusty bread and wrapped it around some cooked fish, then scarfed it down in one bite.
“Are they starving you?” I asked.
“Couldn’t tell you,” he said, inhaling another bite. “I’ve mostly been in and out of some strange dream. Until I came to here.”
Lulled. While they searched his mind for details of missing sirens, they’d kept him in that spellbound state. And all they found out was … he could repair virginals.
“So, you really expect me to mend this thing … at a time like this?” He gave the instrument an accusatory look, then turned that look to me.
I nodded yes. If he could actually fix it and this wasn’t a trick, then maybe we could figure out how to get out of here. Ideally with him and his men alive.
“Seems like a tremendous waste of time, but okay. If you insist.” He dusted the crumbs from his palms and turned to the virginal, his long, slender fingers fiddling with the keys. “Besides the wood being in poor shape, I’m guessing water damage. Considering where the Infernum we are.” He pressed the keys and looked inside the instrument. “The action isn’t working here either.” He pointed inside the belly of the instrument. “The whole thing needs to be restrung; some strings are broken, most corroded.” He returned to the marble table for more food and washed it down with a glug from a pearlescent cup.
That all sounded accurate. The water damage was a given, but the rest surpassed common knowledge of the instrument.
Arlo stood to his full height and scanned the library.Then looked at me abruptly, an idea taking hold. He strode back to the instrument, his boots clacking against the polished marble flooring.
“Here, look at this.” He leaned in close to the virginal, waving me in. “Closer, right here,” he said again, and I leaned in to look with him.
Then his hand ensnared my upper arm, pulling my ear to his mouth.Cedar and salt wafted off him, driving me mad.
“My turn for questions.” His words were sharp. “Why do they trust you?” I tried to pull back, but his grip dug into my skin.
“Let go of me,” I hissed.
“Why are you here and I imprisoned? If you’re not a beast, then why do they trust you?”
“They don’t. I’m as much a prisoner as you.” It sounded as absolutely foolish coming out of my mouth as it did swimming through my mind.
