“I think you’d better discuss that with Mina first,” Heathcliff said, a hint of warning in his voice.
“Obviously she’s down for it, or she wouldn’t have begged all three of us to be in bed with her.” Morrie’s fingers stroked my ass cheek. “I’ve beendyingto be inside her arse ever since she sashayed that pretty thing into the shop.”
Oh no, he didn’t.
Quoth’s arms tightened around me. “Don’t let Morrie push you,” he whispered.
“Don’t worry. Morrie won’t be not pushing me into anything, or puttinganythinginside me, the way he’s acting right now.” I scrambled up in the bed to face Morrie. Quoth’s arms still held me tight. “As the owner of said arse, I’m weighing in. You don’t get to—”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
A sharp voice broke through the darkness. Heathcliff sprung off me. Quoth’s arms tightened around me, pressing me into himself as though his body would shield me. Morrie, of course, rolled over as though he had all the time in the world.
“I sleep in that bed,” the voice snapped. A match flickered in the gloom. A moment later, a candle revealed a stern woman with a face like boiled cabbage. Behind her, Heathcliff lunged for his sword.
“Heathcliff, don’t!” I cried, just as his hand slid around the hilt and he swung the weapon at her head. The woman ducked under the blow, grabbed Heathcliff’s arm and twisted it around herself, applying pressure to his elbow until his fingers unlocked and he dropped the sword. Quoth yelped in fright. Feathers exploded across the bed as he shifted, swooping up to perch above the door.
“I learned that particular trick from Algernon Blackwood,” she said, a note of triumph in her voice.
Morrie clapped. “Brava!”
The woman straightened up, dropping Heathcliff to the floor, where he landed with aTHUD. She picked up the weapon and swung it through the air. “This is a fine blade. Under the circumstances, I think I shall keep it. If he had told me you would use my boudoir for bacchanalian rituals and try to cut my head off, I wouldn’t have delayed my trip to Paris to meet you.”
Paris trip?I gasped as I made the connection. “You’re Victoria Bainbridge, the occult bookseller.”
She swept the candle over the bed, no doubt taking in our state of undress. “I am adealer, thank you very much. A dealer who shall now have to burn her bedsheets and hire my dear friend Mr. Crowley to cleanse this space,” she declared. “I’ve half a mind to send you a bill to replace the sheets. What on earth possessed you to carry on in such a manner, given the gravity of the situation?”
“What situation? Who told you to come back for us?” Heathcliff demanded. “Who knew we would be here?”
“Is your friendAleisterCrowley? Did he tell you we’d be here?” Morrie said. “I’ve always been interested in meeting him.”
“Heavens no. Aleister would never get mixed up in this. He’d not wish to risk leaving his disciples in another century. I cannot tell you who forewarned me of your visit. The names of my clients are strictly confidential. You will not learn the time-traveler’s name from me. You are the girl Wilhelmina, correct?”
“How do you know my name?” I scrambled around for my Snoopy top and pulled it on.
Victoria went over to the desk. I heard her slide out a drawer and pop something open.
“Heathcliff, you missed a hidden drawer,” Morrie said. “I wouldn’t have missed the hidden drawer.”
“Go to hell, Morrie.”
Victoria leaned across the bed and waved something in front of my face. A small, white envelope. “Take it. He left it for you.”
“Who?” I demanded.
“Your father, of course.”
Chapter Three
Isnorted. “I think you have me mixed up with someone else. My father was a useless waste-of-space petty criminal inmycentury who walked out on my mum right after I was born. He left me nothing except bitterness and deteriorating retinas.”
“You believe I have mistaken you for some other time-traveling girl named Wilhelmina with two rude men and a raven as companions?” Victoria smirked. “Take the letter. Perhaps there is more to your past then you have been led to believe.”
The paper slid between my fingers.Am I really holding something from my father?This didn’t make any sense. We’d entered this room looking for answers, but I never anticipatedthis.
“Now.” Victoria smoothed down the front of her corset. “Since I see you’ve ransacked my desk and upended my bath, I can assure you there are no further clues to be found in my boudoir. If you could vacate my home at the earliest opportunity, I’d be most grateful. My client explained to me something called the ontological paradox. I’d hate for you to accidentally squash a spider and start the great spider/human war of your time.”
“Just in case, I’d like my sword back.” Heathcliff held out his hand, but Victoria dangled the blade out of his reach.
