“I’m really glad you decided to stay,” Hallie said. And not just that, but follow her own dreams and live in a way that made her roommate light up. The bakery, and now this run-down house that she was quite sure Rosalia would turn into a beautiful home, given enough time.
“Me too. Now, let’s eat.”
A couple of hours later, Hallie was laughing along with Rosalia at the televised play her roommate had found. It was a truly ridiculous, light-hearted comedy with a group of hopelessly incompetent thieves trying to steal an object, and being foiled at every turn by their own missteps as well as the accidental intervention by the police officers trying to protect the object. Hallie had already forgotten what the thieves’ target was, and it didn’t really matter.
The shrill ring of her phone snapped her away from the nonsense on the television. She saw Girard’s name on the phone screen with some surprise and a little flutter in her stomach. She got to her feet and moved across to the kitchen to try and avoid disturbing Rosalia.
“Hi,” Hallie said, answering the phone.
“I’m sorry to disturb your evening,” Girard said.
Hallie frowned slightly. She’d had a lot of conversations with Girard over the past couple of weeks, both in person and on the phone, and was used to hearing a certain warmth in his voice when he spoke to her. It had been almost absent this time, which suggested this wasn’t a personal call. “It’s not a problem. What’s up?”
“The Conclave have asked for our help,” Girard said.
Hallie blinked in surprise, then remembered he couldn’t see her. “Really? The Conclave itself?” She remembered that when she’d spoken to Cotovatre the day before, the lady had been pulled out of a meeting. Not knowing much about the lady’s business, Hallie hadn’t given it much thought. “What’s the problem?”
“It’s an unusual assignment. We’re being asked to travel out of Daydawn at first light tomorrow, and be prepared to stay away for a few days.”
“Ah. Out of Daydawn? I don’t have papers for that,” Hallie said, moving to the dining table and planting herself on one ofthe chairs, not wanting to be distracted by her racing pulse and the sudden weakness in her legs. She’d only been out of the city itself once in her life, and never out of the country. She had a moment’s half-hysterical thought that she might need Rosalia’s fake ID-maker after all.
“Don’t worry about that. The Conclave have issued permits for us both,” Girard said. Something in his voice suggested that was highly unusual.
“Where are we going?” Hallie asked. In all likelihood, the name wouldn’t mean much to her, but she wanted to know anyway.
“Paradise,” Girard answered, naming the human-only enclave that had been founded perhaps a dozen years before and had quickly grown into a refuge of sorts.
“The Conclave wants us to go to Paradise?” Hallie asked, scepticism heavy in her voice. “Will the residents even let us on the island?” As far as she knew, only humans had been allowed to set foot on the island since it had been settled by them about two decades before.
“The Conclave thinks they will. The community there has applied for a seat on the Conclave, after all.” There was a note in Girard’s voice which suggested he shared at least some of Hallie’s doubts on that front. The residents of Paradise had made it a core principle of their island that only humans were allowed. They wouldn’t even letveondkenset foot on the land. And now the Conclave was asking twohochlento go. For all that she’d been born human and raised in low city, Hallie was nowhochlenthrough-and-through.
“That’s true. Do you know why we’re being asked to go?” Now she was getting used to the idea, Hallie’s curiosity sparked. She’d hoped that working for the Conclave would allow her to travel, but hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.
“Well, us specifically because Daydawn is the closest centre to the island. The other investigation teams are much farther out and on other assignments and the Conclave want this looked into quickly.” There was a pause, and Hallie could hear the hint of humour in Girard’s voice as he went on. “You’ll find that when the Conclave makes up their mind on something, they generally want it done quickly.”
“Got it,” Hallie answered, a smile in her own voice. It was in keeping with her limited exposure to the Conclave.
“Beyond that, as to why, there’s not much to go on. The Conclave has been negotiating with one of the islanders in particular, a man named Waller Howther. He’s not responded to any of their messages for the past ten days. They want us to go and find out what’s happening, and why they’ve lost touch.” Girard paused again. “The director also thought that your presence might help, as you’ve lived among humans for so long.”
Hallie’s brows lifted at that, even though she could understand the director’s point. Most of the Conclave Investigators she’d met came across as what she thought of as typical members of the elite - arrogant and self-assured. She had a hard time remembering that Girard washochlensometimes, but any human who didn’t know him would see him as such. But Hallie hadn’t been raised among the elite and was quite sure she didn’t come across as one of them. She’d been told as much to her face by Girard’s father. Verain Abbott had meant it as an insult. It didn’t feel like that to Hallie.
“Ah, Hallie, I hope you’re not offended?” Girard asked.
“No, not at all,” Hallie said. “I was actually thinking that makes sense. But I did wonder, can’t the Conclave send their own staff?” Hallie asked, then shook her head even though Girard couldn’t see the gesture. “I don’t mean I don’t want to go. I do. I’ve always wanted to travel. But it just seems strange that the Conclave would send an investigator?”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Girard said, a hint of laughter in his voice. “And even though the island is a human colony, it’s still under Conclave jurisdiction.”
“Huh. So, do they want to test whether the community will let us in?” Hallie asked slowly, slightly uneasy at the prospect. “If that’s the case, what about the tactical team?” She felt even more uneasy mentioning the heavily armed, highly trained unit assigned to the Conclave Investigators. They would have no difficulty in dealing with a few stubborn humans, she was quite sure.
“The message that was relayed to me is that the Conclave wanted a low key, light touch. So no show of force.” Girard paused again, and Hallie could almost see his mind turning even through the phone. “We’ve done this sort of thing before. Gone into a place to investigate, I mean. Clearly, we’ve not gone into Paradise. It is possible that the Conclave wants to test the response from the island. It’s also possible that the more conservative members of the Conclave want to find out what the investigators can actually do. We’ve had some successes lately, but we’re still a new outfit as far as they are concerned.”
“Alright,” Hallie said, her nerves settling, and anticipation running through her. “Do I need to bring anything in particular? What’s the weather like?”
“It should be a similar climate to the city,” Girard said, “but it’s coming towards the end of winter, so it’s unpredictable. And as it’s an island, I’d expect rain. Do you have some of the outer layers from the Vertiger?”
“I do, actually. Cotovatre and Alys insisted that I bring some all-weather clothing back with me,” Hallie said, a smile in her own voice as she remembered the end of the visit to Cotovatre’s country house. It had started as a murder investigation but had ended in a few days of unexpected leisure as they waited for the snow to clear enough for the train line to open back to the city.
“I’d bring that, then. Waterproofs and tough boots are always useful. I’ll pick you up,” Girard said, and named a time. She caught the sound of another voice through the other end of the line, the words indistinct. “Oh, Director Roth wants to know if you want a weapon?”
