(After this chapter, there will be a month-long break from the Warbeck Sisters, so that I can figure out exactly how I want the rest of the story to go. Part eighteen will go up on Saturday the 27th of November. Until then, there’ll be other stuff.)

*

The cells were underground, slightly better-lit than the house itself, and carved out of rough, yellowish stone.  Rube wondered if there had been a system of caves under the house when High Priest Tavin had moved there, or if he’d had to carve them out to make them.  And if it was the second, then exactly how many people had he expected to lock up under his house?

It seemed to be empty at the moment, other than them.  The soldiers had shoved them into the cell, locked the iron gates behind them, and then left them behind without so much as a, “Now sit here and think about what you’ve done.”

As soon as the soldiers were out of earshot, Kai piped up.  Rube had almost forgotten he was there.  “I could fly out and tell Sleet what’s happened.  They might be able to help.”

Rube tried to look him in the eye, but couldn’t quite work out where his face was.  “I thought you said Sleet couldn’t move between the different worlds, though?”

“They can’t.  But they might have some ideas about how we can escape.”

It was funny that Kai had said “we,” when all he needed to do to escape was fly through the nearest window and take to the air.  Rube looked at her sisters.  “What do you think?”

Jeanette shrugged.  “Sounds like a plan.”

Sally held out a hand, and Kai fluttered up to perch on it.  “You’ll definitely be OK?” she asked, “I saw how hurt you were last night…”

“Well, I won’t have the Iridescences shooting arrows at me this time,” he replied, “I should be fine.  By the time I get to neutral ground, I’ll be able to call a piper.  Til then, I’ll just try not to strain myself.”

Sally’s forehead creased. 

“I’ll be fine,” Kai promised.

Sally made a little uneasy noise.  “Well… OK.  But make sure you look after yourself.”

He nodded, and fluttered up to the barred window near the ceiling.  “Be back before you know it,” he promised, and then he was gone.

That left Rube and her sisters alone in the cell, with nothing to do and no sound other than the breeze through the window and the rustling of their clothes when they shifted on the bench.  Rube stared at the hallway beyond the railings, and wondered if she could avoid yelling out in shock when somebody eventually came to speak to them.

After a while, Sally asked, “You know that phone call you got from Dad?”

Rube briefly glanced at Jeanette, but then realised how little luck they were going to have trying to keep secrets in a cell eight feet across.  So she just sighed and said, “Yes?”

“What was it about?”

“He was…”  Rube wasn’t going to use the word ‘threatening,’ even if it was the only one that fit.  “He said he was going to come here and take us back to his.”  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Rube cursed herself.  Sally had wanted to go home since this whole trip started!  She’d probably think that was a great idea!

But instead, she said, “Why didn’t you just tell him we had to go and rescue Colwyn?”

Jeanette answered before Rube could think of a reply.  “He wouldn’t have believed us.  And he wouldn’t have listened even if he had.”  She shifted on the bench.  “Remember when we were little, and Mum used to tell us, ‘I wants don’t get’?  Well, I don’t think anyone ever said that to Dad.”

Rube didn’t have anything else to add.  Jeanette had summed it up a lot better than she could have.

There had been a time, about five years ago, when they’d all been in Curry’s, looking for a new TV.  Rube remembered it being a hot day, with giant fans whirring in every corner of the shop, and maybe that was why Dad had lost his temper so quickly.  Because it had been quick- one moment, Mum and Dad had been calmly comparing one model to another, and the next, Dad had been bellowing like a howler monkey and accusing Mum of wanting to spend all his money on junk.  Shop assistants had come by to tell him to calm down and stop scaring the other customers, but that hadn’t made any difference.  In the end, Mum had quietly snuck out with Rube and the others while Dad had been distracted by the manager trying to stop him throwing something expensive,

Not long after that, Dad had moved out.  Rube often wondered how Mum had managed to convince him that it was his idea.

There was a sound in the hallway, and they turned to see a person step into the hallway.  (Rube didn’t make a noise.  She was a little proud of herself for that.)  It was a woman in the same sort of black dress as the one who’d answered the door- Rube wondered if it was some kind of staff uniform.  The woman eyed the three of them as if they were a bunch of unpleasant bugs stuck to the window, and said, “The Lady Sameander has a job for you.”

“The Lady Sameander can kiss my arse,” snapped Jeanette, before Rube could say anything, “We’re having a conversation here.”

The woman’s eyes went wide, and she disappeared back down the corridor.

Rube looked at Jeanette and sighed.

“What?” asked Jeanette.

Honestly, Rube wasn’t sure what.  If they’d kept the woman talking, they might have found out some information about this place that could have helped them come up with an escape plan, but, at the sane time, Jeanette hadn’t been wrong to say what she had.  The Lady Sameander, whoever she was, could kiss their arses.

Still, she felt she had to say something.  “Next time someone comes by, let me do the talking, alright?”

(To be continued, a month from now)