“She won’t stop,” said one.
“Run while you can,” said the other.
Grabbing each other’s hands, they fled.
Emma stepped into the room, feeling for the place in her mind where she heard the fox’s voice. It was silent. Nothing smelled like a threat. Saskia was curled up under a mountain of books by the fire. The dining table looked freshly polished. And at the far end of the room, Nancy was flitting from grimy armoire to gramophone, feather duster in hand. A dreamy smile lit her face.
“Clean, clean, clean.”
The tuneless croon floated back across the room.
Saskia’s eyes glinted over her book. “No one can stop her when she gets like this. Put something down for a second, and you’ll never see it again. Gertie’s already barricaded herself into the broom closet with her tarot cards. The others ran for it.”
Emma plumped down on the other sofa. “Terrifying.”
A soapy hand landed on her shoulder. “What’s terrifying?” came Nancy’s chirpy burr. She settled herself at Emma’s feet, tossing the feather duster onto the pile of books. Saskia sneezed and scowled.
“Did you sleep, Emma?” Nancy asked. “It’ll be odd for you at first, sleeping through the day and waking for the night. It’s the way of the City.”
“Is it night, then?” Emma said. “I couldn’t tell.”
The sameness of the House of Foxes was unnerving. The enormity of a thousand years in this house, with these people, settled on her. Her sisters, Nancy had called them. And yet they were strangers. Emma had been ready to trust the tailor at the Court. And she might have lost her voice for it. The Night City was dangerous. What might these new sisters truly want of her? She would need toknow more about them to be sure. Saskia, all spikes and clever eyes, would be tricky to crack. The nightcapped maiden had refused to share a bedroom, and the twins had run as soon as they’d seen her. The others—Selina and Frances and Gertie—had also made themselves scarce. But Nancy could be open to a friendly approach.
“Would you like help cleaning? I’m not bad at it,” Emma lied.
Nancy gently took the duster from Emma’s hand and turned it right side up.
“That’s kind of you, love. But I’m all right on my own. This lot would rather live in decades of dust and crumbs—”
Saskia made an approving noise from behind her book.
“—but they put up with the cleaning, since I enjoy it. I find it calming, like. I couldn’t always have things as clean as I wanted, before.”
“Before what?”
A shutter seemed to fall on Nancy’s face.
“Before she was a fox maiden,” said Saskia.
“Now, here’s me with a right good idea. Saskia, you’ll have run out of books in an hour or two, knowing you. Why don’t you take Emma to the Library?”
The Library. Emma darted a glance at the spines on Saskia’s lap.Choromancy. The Allusions of Illusions. A History of Magickal Bargains, Part III.Those did not sound like mortal titles. The Night City must have its own books in the Library. Books of magic. A place to start looking for her escape. They might contain stories of crossings to the mortal realm. Or explain how theTurnbulls—her mind spat the word as though it were poisonous—had known about the Night City and made a bargain with it. Fury flamed into purpose. She was going to bring them down and she would findsomething in the Library to help her do it, even if she had to search every book.
“It might be nice for Emma to see the Librarian,” Nancy pushed on. “He seems right fond of her.”
Saskia glanced at the avalanche of books on her legs and opened her mouth. Whatever she saw in Emma’s face seemed to change her mind, and she snapped it shut again.
“Oh, all right. New girl, you’d need to be ready to go soon.”
“I’m ready now.” Emma jumped to her feet and promptly tripped over the boots the Sister had given her. They were far too big. As she hauled herself upright, she heard Nancy speak in an urgent undertone.
“You’ll take her the back way?”
Saskia nodded. “Down the mortal high street, to be on the safe side. The patrols’ve been seen as far as the river tunnels.”
“Patrols?” said Emma.
Two pairs of startled eyes turned to her.
