“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t know, back at Watford. I thought it was temporary. I’m so sorry.”
“Here,” Shepard says. He’s getting a bottle out of his backpack. “Have some water.”
Philippa takes the water and swallows some.
“Philippa,” Simon says, crouching next to me, “are you okay?”
She looks up at him, her eyes still wide, but no longer fearful. “S-Simon,” she rasps. “We have to stop—stop Smith. His spell . . . is acurse.”
70
SIMON
“Pippa, that’s not true!”
“It—it is, Jamie! Smith lied to—to you.”
We’re in the kitchen again. I made them all come upstairs to sort things out. (I hate basements.) Penelope “Light as a feather”-ed the old guy to get him up here, and now she’s tying him to the radiator.
“You can’t do that,” Jamie says, genuinely distraught. “That’s Smith’sgodfather. . .”
“We don’t have time—time for this,” Philippa says. Her voice is still scratchy, like her throat isn’t used to managing it, and she trips over every word. She hasn’t calmed down at all since we untied her. She keeps pulling on my sleeve. “We have—We have to st-stop Smith!”
“We will,” Baz says, standing on her other side. I think he’d give her anything she asked for right now. “Won’t we, Snow?”
I’m not sure.
I’dliketo believe Philippa . . .
No, that’s not true. What I’d like is to know what’s really happening here. Philippa would have us believe that Smith is a villain who tied her up and locked her in a basement. ButI’vetied things up and locked them away before, andI’vealways had a good reason . . .
I mean, we’re tying up Smith’s godfather right now. Is he a villain? Rather seems that way—he did have a wand to Baz’s head. But Jamie Salisbury doesn’t think so. He’s been arguing with Philippa since she opened her mouth. (I think Baz is going to smite him if he doesn’t stop.)
Who’s good, who’s bad—it’s all about which side of the wand you’re standing on. And who you’re trying to protect.
I push Philippa’s hand off my arm as gently as I can. “The thing is, Philippa—”
“She goes by Pippa,” Baz interrupts.
“Right, sorry. The thing is, Pippa, we’veseenSmith cast the spell. We’ve seen it work.”
“It worked onme,” Jamie agrees.
Pippa tries to argue, but nothing comes out for a few seconds. Then her voice kicks in, and she yelps, “—not true, J-Jamie!”
Penelope is looking between them, her hands on her hips. “Pippa, maybe you could explain what happened, from your point of view.”
“There isn’t . . . t-time.”
“Well, we’re just wasting time, arguing.”
Baz looks like he might smite Penny, as well. “Lay off, Bunce. She was tied up in a basement.”
“That’s a good place to start,” Penelope says. “How did you end up in the basement?”
Pippa holds her throat and swallows. “I—” She swallows again. “I—”
Shepard reaches out to her. He’s holding a piece of yellow chalk. “Want to try writing it?”
