“I don’t know how to dance,” I said, laughing.
“You seem to be managing it,” he said.
He moved with easy grace, taking the lead withconfidence—which was just as well, as I had none. I had worried about embarrassing myself with my lack of ability, but my feet seemed to know how to move without any conscious interference from my mind as he drew me through the dance. I caught sight of Mieka for a moment and thought I saw the ghost of a wink through her mask.
My partner pulled me closer. Briefly, I wondered whether I would need to stamp on his foot if his hands started to wander—or perhaps stab him with one of the porcupine’s quills—but he had merely come closer in order to speak into my ear, above the noise of the crowd.
“Are you having a good time, Netta?” he asked.
Netta.He knew my name.
For a moment, my mind went blank. The shock felt like cold, like white, like the terrible blankness when I had woken in the Tower … for just a flash, and then it was gone, and my lips were numb and tingling, and my Hair prickled on my scalp. Mieka and Zlata were nowhere to be seen.
I tried to pull my hands away, but my partner held them fast. The bird skull was expressionless, its eye sockets dark and empty. It had to be another one ofthem, the Temple guards. Surely.
“How do you know who I am?” I whispered.
“You are not in danger,” he said quickly, seeing my panic. “Well, not from me, at any rate.”
“Thenwho are you?” I demanded, trying to pull away again.
In the shadow of the mask, I saw the flash of a smile. “Someone who sees you.”
“Don’t play games,” I said sharply.
“But I’m so good at them. By the way, where’s your raven friend?”
I finally managed to pull my hands free and reached for his mask. He caught me by the wrists and tutted. I felt his grip, firm against the pounding of my pulse.
“Don’t you know it’s bad luck to take off your mask before it’s dark?” he said. “Keep dancing with me. You will stand out more if you are still.”
His voice was light and cool—slightly mocking.
“You’re the voice I heard,” I said slowly. “When I arrived in Quell. And then again, yesterday, when the Temple guard …”
I did not finish my sentence. He did not reply. Somehow we were still moving through the dance.
“You are. I know you are,” I said. “Who are you?Tell me, or I swear I will run now.”
“Patrick,” he said.
Another flash of white.
Patrick.The traveling magician from the river, with the clever face and patchwork coat.
But that meant he had followed me to Quell. Had seen me running from the Temple guard. Had been a hair’s breadth from me yesterday, hissing a warning in my ear. How was that possible? Whowashe? My head spun.
“What are you doing here?” I gasped. “How did you …” I looked around again for Mieka and Zlata, but they were still lost in the crowd. I pulled my hands away.
“I am a friend, Netta. I promise.”
“You followed me here. Why?”
I did not know why he had been so close to the Tower that day, nor why he had guided me in Quell, but I did know it could be no coincidence.Silly. Soft. Slow.I hadn’t even questioned his presence at the river, at the precise moment I was crossing.
Something else occurred to me. “You wereinvisible,” I said.
“An affinity,” he said, waving his hand casually. “They can be very useful. I am able to move in shadow, when I choose.”
