“You’re from Dovecote Gardens,” said the blue girl.  It was the kind of sentence that sounded as if it should have a “…right?” on the end, but it didn’t.  Maybe it was just really obvious.  “And I’m guessing you got here on your own, or you wouldn’t be walking around back here.”

They were standing about four metres apart, Sally and Rube in the middle of the room and the blue girl at the back, all three of them tensed as if they were about to run away.  “Do you work for the Iridescences?” asked Rube.

The blue girl snorted.  “No.”  She said it in the exact same way that girls in Sally’s class did when you asked them if they were gong to sign up for the French workshop at half term.  “If I did, you’d all be handcuffed to the wall five times over by now.”

Rube nodded.  “Sorry.  I had to ask.”  She relaxed her arms a bit.  Probably not so much that the blue girl would be able to tell, but enough to be obvious to someone who knew her.  “My name’s Rube Warbeck.  My sister’s Sally.”

The blue girl made a “hmph” noise.  “Lor Radiance.  And just so you know, the Iridescences have no idea that I’m sneaking around in their house.”

Put like that, it did seem obvious.  But like Rube had said, they’d had to ask.

“So… why are you?” asked Rube, “Sneaking around, I mean.”

Lor made another irritated noise.  “Why do you think?  I’m trying to find out what they’re up to.”

“We’re looking for a man called Colwyn Ballantine.  Do you know where he is?”

“Sure.”  Lor pointed vaguely behind her.  “He’s up in the attic.”

Sally justrestrained herself from punching the air and yelling, I knew it!  Just.

“Brilliant!”  Rube’s face broke out into the kind of smile that made you think of rainclouds clearing.  “Can you help us get up there?”

“Well… that depends.”  Lor gnawed on her lower lip.  Sally wasn’t sure if she had a really big chin for a girl, or if it just looked like that because she kept pulling weird expressions with her mouth.  “What are you planning to do when you find him?”

“He’s our uncle,” said Rube, “We need to get him home.”

Lor let out a long, whistling breath.  “That might not be as easy as it sounds.”  She motioned over her shoulder again.  “Listen… let’s sit down for a moment,  I might be able to help you, but… well, things are complicated.”

(To be continued)