“What does that have to do with anything?” Jakob said, consternated.
But as soon as Hel said it, Sam saw it.
“James Moriarty.”Hel had said it was a common name, and Sam had just assumed it was someone else, someone who Hel’s father was spying on. Apparently, Hel had too. “He’s haunted.”
“Why in God’s name would he allow that to happen?” Jakob demanded. “Isn’t ithisspy network?”
“Because that’s not all it is,” Hel said grimly. “With a whisper, my father can issue orders from anywhere in the world, knowing his medium will relay his orders. Knowing a man like Sam’s grandfather would never have the spine to betray him.”
Which meant the Wild Hunt had ridden for Professor Moriarty as well. But the train was like a river of iron?—proof against ghosts and the Folk alike.
“He’shere,” Hel said, holstering her revolver as she sprinted after the train, which had just begun to chug away from the station, Sam and Jakob close on her heels.
“Speak plainly,” Jakob said, frustration running through his voice. “I swear, it’s like you two have your own language sometimes.”
“My father’s on that train,” Hel bit off.
“That wasn’t the Special Branch’s office you went to on the train,” Sam explained, breathless as she hurried behind Hel. “It was Professor Moriarty’s, and you weren’t speaking to Detective Lynch?—or Brown. You were speaking to her brother, Ruari.” The man had been playing with Jakob, seeing how many faces he could wear before the Dutchman caught on. It was just his sort of trick. Sam should know; he’d nearly fooled her in Paris. “That’s why he didn’t invite me or Hel?—he knew we’d recognize him.”
Jakob swore. “We need to call in the Special Branch, the civic guard, whoever we can. Have them meet us at the next station?—”
“You do that,” Hel growled. “I’m going after him.”
The spy camera?—they still had the spy camera. They could make this work. Even if he got away, if they could only capture evidence...
“You can’t go after him alone,” Jakob said, blocking her way stubbornly. Hel looked as if she were about to throw him, stepping over his body on the way to what she wanted. “If you fail, if anything happens, you know what the Special Branch, what the Society, will think.”
That she was colluding with her father. That she had helped him get away.
“She won’t be alone,” Sam said.
“Sam, no,” Hel said. Sam could see the arguments in Hel’s eyes, that it was too dangerous, that this was her fight, that her father wanted Sam and so it didn’t matter what Hel wanted, whatSamwanted. But Jakob was blocking Hel’s passage?—not Sam’s?—and Hel wasn’t alone. Not anymore.
“I said we’d be sharks,” Sam said, and she leapt onto the train. Jakob cursed, making a grab for her, but he was too late. While Jakob was distracted, Hel sprang past him, after Sam.
Sam’s heart beat fast as a hummingbird’s wings.
“I should throw you off,” Hel murmured, so close, Sam could smell the mint on her breath.
“Tell me you don’t want me here, and I’ll go,” Sam said, searching Hel’s eyes.
Hel opened her mouth to deny her, and then cursed, leaning back against the train door. “I can’t. But you should go, all the same.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Sam insisted, looking up at Hel in challenge.
Hel looked away, her teeth gritted. “I never should have let you onto the Paris case.” And Sam felt something in her chest release; she’dwon.
Hel took a deep shuddering breath, leading the way down the train to where her father and brother waited, pushing past passengers who had no idea what was about to transpire. The cars were emptying as they drew near the end, until there was no one there but Hel and Sam.No witnesses.
“Right,” Hel said, beginning a litany of instruction. “You cannot trust anything he says, anything you see. If you thought Ruari was manipulative, he is but a shadow of my father. Whatever he does, don’t flinch, and don’t show emotion. He can sense weakness a mile away. If he offers you anything, deny it?—if he gifts you a horse, you can bet you’ll find Trojans in its belly. Like this.”
“This is a gift?” Sam ventured.
“The raven. The train car number,” Hel said shortly. “151132. It’s the same as the chapter and verses of the prodigal son. He wants us to follow him.”
“But why?” Sam said, even as her mind spilled over with answers. The prodigal daughter. The fatted calf. This had always been what he wanted.
“Shh.” Hel held up a hand for silence. There it came again. The murmur of Ruari’s voice ahead. “Wait here.” She drew her revolver and eased forward, leaving Sam alone in the empty car.
