“I want the Lazarus Stone,” said the Voice. “You’re going to find it for me, and bring it to me. Without alerting anyone else in the Drood family. If you talk to anyone, I’ll know, and I’ll kill Charles and Emily. I will know when you have the Stone, and then I’ll contact you and tell you where and how to make the delivery. Let’s hope you’re as good as your reputations, Eddie Drood and Molly Metcalf.”
The Voice fell silent. Molly and I looked at each other.
“What the hell is the Lazarus Stone?” I said. “I’ve never even heard of it, and I’ve at least heard of most things.”
“Same here,” said Molly. “Especially if they’re valuable. But that name doesn’t mean a thing to me.”
“There’s bound to be a reference to it somewhere in the Drood Library,” I said. “But we can’t talk to the Librarian . . . Can’t talk to any of the family. I may be on the outs with them just now, but they’d still insist on getting involved. And I won’t put my parents’ lives at risk.”
“Eddie,” Molly said carefully, “they gambled away your soul at Casino Infernale!”
“I know!” I said. “But I can’t let them down too.”
I didn’t look at the body of my grandfather. I didn’t have to.
“All right,” said Molly. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going back to Drood Hall,” I said. “We’re going to break in, without anyone knowing that we’re there, and then we’re going to talk to the one Drood that no one outside the family even knows exists. The Drood in Cell 13.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“All right,” said Molly, in her I am being very patient here but you’d better believe I am going to take a lot of convincing voice, “how are we going to get back into Drood Hall without being noticed? How are we going to sneak into the best-protected and -defended location possibly in the entire world? I mean, yes, we did do it once, all those years ago, but we had all kinds of help then that we don’t have now. And your family are bound to have filled in all those loopholes anyway.”
“No problem,” I said cheerfully, and perhaps a little more confidently than I actually felt. “After all the trouble we had breaking in last time, I decided to make life easier for myself in the future. So I could come and go as I pleased without having to bother anyone.”
“And because you don’t trust your family,” said Molly.
“Exactly!” I said. “So I had the Merlin Glass set up an emergency back door. A very subtle hidden entrance, built around the Glass itself, completely undetectable by any of the Hall’s shields and protections. Just in case I ever felt the need to come visiting without an invitation. The Door doesn’t exist until the Glass decides it does, and then we step through into any part of the Hall, without anyone knowing. Theoretically.”
“What?” said Molly.
“Well,” I said, “I’ve never actually needed to try it until now.”
“I like it!” Molly said approvingly. “Very sneaky. And you never told me about this before because . . . ?”
“Because I never needed to try it before,” I said.
“Also very sneaky,” said Molly. “Well done. Hanging around with me has clearly widened your moral horizons. But . . . why do we have to go visit this person in Cell 13? Why can’t we just drop straight into the Old Library? There’s bound to be something in there about the Lazarus Stone.”
“It’s not that simple,” I said. “Nothing happens in the Old Library that William doesn’t know about. He’s a lot sharper these days. The Voice said no help from my family. We have to assume that whoever’s behind the Voice is still watching.”
“But isn’t the Drood in Cell 13 . . .”
“Technically, no. Because he isn’t a member of the family any longer. The Voice shouldn’t be able to observe us once we’re safely inside the Hall’s many shields and protections, but I don’t feel like taking the chance. It’s bad enough we’re going to the Hall at all; I’m not prepared to put my parents’ lives at risk by talking to anyone we don’t have to.”
“I could always ask my sisters for help,” said Molly. “They’re not Droods.”
“You’ve got a point there,” I said. “There are all kinds of really powerful people who you or I could go to for help. Why did the Voice specifically rule out just my family?”
“Because the Voice has a specific reason to be scared of Droods?” said Molly.
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” I said. “A lot of people have good reason to be scared of my family. Though that would seem to imply that . . . whoever the Voice is, he knows my family. And they know him. Interesting . . . Doesn’t get us anywhere, but it is interesting . . .”
“I could have Isabella and Louisa here in minutes,” said Molly.
“No,” I said. “I think we need to do this ourselves. The more people we bring in, the more complicated the situation becomes. Who knows what other people might do, to get their hands on the Lazarus Stone? It must be pretty damned powerful, or valuable, if the Voice was prepared to wipe out the whole Department of Uncanny, just on the chance they might have it. No, we do this on our own, Molly. Because we know we can trust each other.”
“All right, then,” said Molly. “Let’s get this show on the road. Where are we going, exactly?”
“To the one part of Drood Hall where no one ever goes,” I said. “If they’ve got any sense.”
I took out the Merlin Glass, held the hand mirror close to my lips, and murmured the special set of spatial coordinates I’d programmed into it. Keeping my voice down, not because I didn’t trust Molly but because I wasn’t sure whether the Voice might still be listening. The Merlin Glass jumped out of my hand and hung on the air before me. It spun round rapidly several times, and then grew quickly in size to form a Door. I couldn’t keep from smiling. My uncle Jack isn’t the only one who can do marvellous things with useful items. I may not be the engineering genius he is, but I have always paid careful attention when he speaks. Even if he doesn’t always think so. Where the reflection in the Glass should have been, I could now see a dark and gloomy stone corridor. Molly squeezed in close beside me, and studied the opening dubiously.
“Is that it? I thought there’d be more . . . special effects, or something.”
“It’s a Door,” I said. “And the essence here, as you have already pointed out, is sneakiness.”
“But is that really it? The way to Cell 13?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never been there before. Now follow me, stick close, and keep your voice down.”
“Oh please,” said Molly. “Like I’ve never burgled anywhere before.”
I stopped to take one last look round the Regent’s office, and at the Regent himself, still sitting in his chair, behind his desk.
“Good-bye, Grandfather,” I said. “I wish I could have . . .” And then I stopped, because there were so many things I wished we could have. “If you’re still listening, Voice,” I said, “I will do whatever it takes to save my parents. And then I will hunt you down. Even if I have to go to the ends of the Earth and beyond.”
I waited, but there was no response. So I just nodded to Molly, and we stepped through the Merlin Glass and into the depths of Drood Hall.
• • •
A long stone corridor fell away before us, just dull grey walls and a floor of bare flag-stones. Sparse illumination came from a line of naked light bulbs, hanging far apart so that there were long stretches of dark shadow between the pools of light. The air was cold, and still, and dusty. Not a place where people came unless they absolutely had to. Unless they were driven to it. The slightest sound seemed to echo on and on, hanging on the air. Drood Hall doesn’t have dungeons; we have something worse.
I turned back to retrieve the Merlin Glass, but the Door hung back, avoiding my reaching hand. Instead it turned edge on in the narrow space, so that for a moment it seemed to disappear, and then it floated smoothly down the corridor ahead of us, like a guide or a guard in dangerous territory. It stopped when it realised I wasn’t immediately following, and hovered on the air. There was a sense of impatience to it, as though it knew best what was needed here. I studied the Merlin Glass thoughtfully.