I really just wanted to say that I miss you. And actually, I think I already feel better for it.
Your friend, always,
Z
I read the journal entry again, then a third time, eyes burning with the beginnings of tears. I flipped it over, hoping to find more, butthere was nothing, only a couple of scrawled dates. Maybe Zennia had intended to write more, but she’d never gotten around to it or she’d been interrupted…and then the accident had happened. A shiver passed through me.“Everyone on this island knows something I don’t.”
Abruptly, footfalls sounded outside, and I shoved the paper deep into my pocket. Mawre, coming past my room. Time for chores.
On my way down the steps, I paused to stare out a window that faced west, to the castle. The curtain wall had countless towers; there was no way to tell which one Zennia had meant. And maybe shehadbeen seeing things: the gleam of gold-tinged moonslight on glass…
But whoever had invited me to the meeting at the Veil seemed certain there was something I ought to know. And now, after reading Zennia’s letter, I was more sure than ever that I needed to be there.
—
Miss Haney had a small office on the western side of the inner ward. From there, it seemed, she helmed the running of the entire household and oversaw all the servants, including us Orha.
As I’d sped through the gardens, I’d seen Tigo, bent backed, furrowing ditches for autumn seedlings. He’d been walking slowly alongside the beds, speaking quietly, the earth churning gently. A little way off, great stones stood piled by the circular foundations of a folly he was building.
Mawre had vanished before I could greet her, no doubt to blast more laundry on a clifftop somewhere. Rhianne was likely down in the kitchens, getting an earful from Cook for being late. So I turned up at Miss Haney’s door alone, adrenaline still pumping from discovering Zennia’s letter.
“There’ll be little for you to do out in the bay until pallwater,” saidthe housekeeper, leading me on a brisk tour through the labyrinthine corridors. “Has anyone explained the tides to you yet?”
“Briefly,” I said, trying to remember Tigo’s “lesson.”
“Pallwater is the period of the month when the sea comes in and settles in the bay. The family take boats sometimes, and they’ll need you to propel them. Or clear part of the causeway if the sea’s shallow enough.”
I swallowed and nodded.If it ever decides to listen to me…
“No one takes boats out at archwater, of course. But our Floodmouth always accompanies the family on crossings, in case anything happens to their horses on the way.” She pursed her lips. “Well, the siblings aresupposedto take you, anyway…”
Sweat broke out across my shoulders. “And if that does happen,” I said breathlessly, hurrying to keep up with her, “what exactly am I expected to do?”
She turned to me, looked down her long nose through her spectacles. “Why,” she said, “keep them alive, of course.”
I blinked rapidly as she turned down another passage. Was that why Zennia had died out there? She’d put her all into saving Emment and had nothing left to save herself?
“This is one of the libraries,” said Miss Haney, beckoning me past a series of doors. “And the Master’s study…”
I paused, glancing in. Rexim wasn’t there, but I glimpsed ceiling-high bookshelves, a vast, shining desk, a leather-covered chair. Pamphlets and parchments were strewn across the desktop. Letters. Accounts. Perhaps a diary.
I knew one son was a profligate gambler. What else might I learn from that desk, from those papers? Something more about Zennia, perhaps? I was certain Tigo and Rhianne had been hidingsomething…
“Do keep up,” Miss Haney prompted, and I started, then trailed her to another door. “Until pallwater,” she continued, “nearly all your duties will be here in the castle or out on the grounds.” We exited into a wide, muddy courtyard, overlooked by four stories of mullioned windows. There was a well at its center, a huge wooden vat, barrels and buckets stacked in wonky piles.
“Tigo will need your help with irrigation. We need water from the well at all hours of the day. The latrines, of course…” She broke off, looking apologetic. “Then there’s the laundry, and a lot of it, I’m afraid.” She seemed harried, a few strands of hair coming loose. “You Orha…well, you’re gods-sent, in my eyes. We’re allverypleased to have a Floodmouth again.”
I looked at her. Of all the people on Bower Island, here was the one it was perhaps most vital to please. Miss Haney would no doubt report back to Rexim. If I was going to impress enough to see out this week—to be able to get to my meeting in Port Rhorstin—I would need the housekeeper’s trust above anyone’s.
I drew myself up, surveying the courtyard. “I’ll get started right away. A barrel of water to last the morning. And I’ll fetch the breakfast dishes for washing, and speak to the maids and valets about the family’s clothes.”
She looked at me, relief softening her stiff shoulders. “Very good,” she said. “And…thank you, Corith. The work is long and tiring here, but I’m sure you’ll find it as rewarding as the others do.”
I forced as genuine a smile as I could. “I’m so grateful for this opportunity. It’s a placement my classmates could only dream of.” Parroting Instructor Caerig was galling, but it was worth it to see the approval in Miss Haney’s eyes.
She hesitated, flicking her gaze to the windows. “The Master of the House has asked me to pay special attention to your performance these first few weeks.”
“I won’t disappoint you,” I said firmly. “Nor him.”
