“I might have missed it.”
“You think?”
“Well, what else … oh.”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t see an orchard because there wasn’t one.”
“Yeah.”
“It didn’t exist yet.”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, chum. Good thinking!”
“Thanks, Boss.”
“So this is the future. That’s, yeah, okay. I think I’m going to be sick.”
They both left my shoulders to give me some privacy or something, but I wasn’t actually sick.
“Boss? What about the Enclouding?”
“Good question. Uh, well, if there isn’t as much in the past, maybe there isn’t as much in the future?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
I turned around and retraced my steps to the door. This time, I didn’t hesitate; I went back inside, finding myself once more in the same hall, near the library. Loiosh didn’t say anything, but I had the feeling he was relieved.
I stepped back in and turned left.
“Food’s the other way, Boss.”
“We’re almost at the end of the hall. And waiting will make it taste better.”
“Is that the best you can do?”
“Aren’t you interested in exploring this place?”
“Stay with the ‘taste better’ argument.”
I continued down what was left of the hallway, until, after a few paces, it ended with a small door on the right-hand side. I turned back and tried to figure out if the library on the one side and the nursery on the other took up enough space for it to make sense. This was a waste of time for two reasons: because I’m not that good at judging distances, and because in this place the information wouldn’t be useful anyway. After close inspection, I decided I couldn’t tell, and opened the door. Or, rather, I tried it. It was locked.
“Oh ho,” I said.
“Boss, did you just say ‘oh ho’?”
“It’s like ah ha, but not as exciting.”
I knelt down and studied the lock. It looked to be a bit tougher than the one in the study had been, but I felt like I could probably get it if I were Kiera, or even being me if I was willing to take the time.
I considered the matter, and as I did, I studied the blank wall where the hallway ended. There was a picture there, an oil, not a psiprint. It was a study of a very tall, shiny building in a city I’d never seen: the Silver Exchange, at a guess.
“You know, Loiosh, if I were a secret passage, I’d be right there.”
“Not in the library?”
“I’d be there, too. I’d get around a lot.”
I studied the edges of the wall first and didn’t see anything. Then I peeked behind the painting. The hook in the wall looked sturdy, and seemed to be built in. I played with it a little, and it turned to the side and there came a “click.” I pushed, and the wall swung back like a door.
“Triumph!”
“Yeah, Boss. You’re so smart I almost can’t stand it.”
“Shut up.”
I was pretty sure the door would be behind me when I closed it. The question was whether I’d be able to open it. I checked, and found a lever, a straightforward mechanism, right where it should be. I also made sure there was light, and there was: faint squares, set in the ceiling, emitting pale bluish light. The passage was much narrower than the hallway had been; it felt like a secret passage ought to feel. I let the door swing closed, and pulled it until it clicked.
As predicted, it was still behind me. Was I starting to get a feel for this place? Yeah. Was I going to regret it if I started getting cocky about it? Yeah.
“No mirrors, Boss.”
I looked around. Well. Okay. Then that should mean I could just walk without ending up somewhere odd, right? Right? Well, let’s find out.
There were no doors or breaks of any kind for some distance. Then, just before the passage made a right turn, there was a door. It was locked, and looked to be the same kind of lock as the last, only the lighting here wasn’t as good so I couldn’t be sure. I kept going. It went a long way, then, eventually making another turn to the right, with yet another door before it. Again, on the right, and again, locked. And another long walk, another right turn, another door. There was something simultaneously reassuring and disturbing about the place suddenly being predictable. I told myself it wouldn’t last and continued, but it didn’t turn again.
In the end, it was three sides of a square, or maybe a rectangle, with four identical doors with identical locks. The end of the little passageway had a simple latching mechanism just like the inside of the first one had. Obviously, if I pulled it and walked through, I’d be at the end of a corridor with the wall concealed by a picture, right?
I pulled the mechanism and stepped through, and to my astonishment that’s exactly where I was, except that instead of a picture on the wall it was a small shelf with a selection of wines, liquors, and glassware on it. I was back in the ballroom.
I ducked back into the passage before the wall could close because I didn’t want to have to figure out how to open this one. I pulled it closed and turned my attention to the lock.
Like the last one, it didn’t seem to be beyond my abilities. I dug out my set. It turned out to be easier than the one on the study door had been. About half a minute later I put the picks away in an inner pocket of my cloak and opened the door.
It was a courtyard. An inner courtyard, not huge, but it certainly shouldn’t fit where it was. By now I was used to that. The breeze that came through was cool and smelled like recent rain, even with the sickening musky smell that means the worms have come up for air. Fine, then.
The courtyard was diamond-shaped, with flagstones connecting the corners. Stunted trees surrounded by ferns grew in boxes in the quadrants. In the middle was—
I frowned.
Was that…?
I approached it slowly, as if it were some species of animal with a lot of teeth and uncertain intentions. Was it what it looked like? Yes, it was. It was a fountain, and, as far as I could tell, it was an exact duplicate of the one in the Halls of Judgment that had given me such entertaining memories.
I didn’t want to suddenly lose myself in memories of the past, however interesting they might be, but I did want to know just how much this fountain was like the other. Was it actually the same fountain, appearing in two places at once through some sort of necromantic prestidigitation, or was it just built to look like it? Why, what, how, and all of that.
I needed to know. I took a breath and faced the fountain, watching the droplets, following individual streams, and—