“Let’s go,” Eclipse said, and touched his heels to Sparker’s sides.
Mirage stared at his back, then belatedly cued Mist forward. They rode in silence for a moment before she cast a sidelong look at him. “That was easier than I expected.”
Eclipse shrugged without looking at her. “The first reason didn’t outweigh the benefit of questioning the guard, but all three together did.”
“Not good enough,” she said, deliberately mimicking his tone from a moment before.
That made him grin, and his stiff back relaxed. “All right. I also trust your instinct. There was a look in your eye when you said Miest, one that said some part of your mind had made a connection I hadn’t. Once you had a few decent reasons, I couldn’t argue anymore.”
“Connection?” Mirage said, and shook her head. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Probably not. But you made one, I’m sure of it. We’ll figure out what it is eventually.”
Mirage shrugged and let him get slightly ahead of her on the road, so that he could not see her face. A connection? No. But some instinct, yes. She wanted to go west, and she didn’t know why.
Except that something that way drew her. And she had no idea what it was.
That night Eclipse brought out the enchanted sheet of rice paper that was their link to their contact. Before he could begin to write on it, though, Mirage put a hand on his wrist.
“I have a different idea,” she said.
He leaned back and eyed her. “Yes?”
“The house where we met the first witch, in Corberth—that wasn’t her house. I’m fairly sure of it. The way she stood—she was a stranger there, and it showed.”
“But…”
“But the second witch was different. That place fit her, shabby as it was. She lives there. Which, come to think of it, suggests she might be Water Ray, serving the people of Ravelle. It’s a big enough town to merit its own witch, though just barely. But anyway, my point is, I think that if we go back to that house, we’ll find her there.”
“Go back unannounced, you mean.”
Mirage nodded. “If she was wearing an illusion, this is how we can find out. If we don’t warn her we’re coming, we should be able to see who she really is.”
The look Eclipse gave her was equal parts amusement and wariness. “You do remember the wards, yes? How neither of the Cousins was surprised to see us at the door? I’m betting that warning systems are the least of their defenses. If we show up without an invitation, we may get fried.”
“I doubt it. Especially with a Water witch; they have sick people coming to them at all hours of the night. I don’t think she’d have a ward that hits people with lightning bolts just because they didn’t announce their visit in advance.”
“That still doesn’t mean she won’t do something herself, when she sees us. Unannounced sick people are one thing; unannounced Hunters are another.”
Mirage shook her head. “Gut instinct says she’s not that kind of person. She won’t kill us.” Then she grinned, a swift, wild expression. “Besides, where’s your sense of fun?”
Mirage’s heart beat at an accelerated pace as they approached the house. Beneath her mask, she was grinning again. Reckless as this plan was, it was also fun. And they would come out of it okay. Probably.
I’m just lucky Eclipse is as stupid as I am, to go along with this.
She half expected lightning to strike them down on the way there, but nothing of the sort happened. They crossed into the garden without any trouble. The back door was locked, but that didn’t stop them for more than a moment. Then they were into the house, moving fast, looking for the witch before the alarm ward that surrounded the place could summon anyone to stop them.
They were in the hallway, on their way to the parlor, when a creak and a singing voice behind them brought the two Hunters spinning around.
Their muscles froze in mid-movement, but by then they had turned far enough to see the witch who had cast the spell.
As Mirage had expected, she looked nothing like the woman they had met in Corberth and, supposedly, here as well. Her hair was much lighter, and shorter; she looked younger as well, with a weak chin and a thick scattering of freckles. The way she moved, though, identified her as the second witch.
“What are you doing here?” she blurted out, looking shocked to find them in the hallway.
Shocked and—relieved? I think she really is. As if she’s not happy to see us, but we’re not as bad as whoever she was expecting.
“Among other things,” Eclipse said, indistinctly, since the spell had his face nearly immobilized, “we wanted to ask why you disguised yourself the last time we were here.”
The witch blinked and tried to pull herself together. “I don’t know what you mean. I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“Give us some credit,” Mirage said, putting as much bite in her tone as she could given the constriction on bet jaw. “You can recognize a person by more than her face. You’re the witch we met here less than a week ago. Why were you spelled to look like the witch we met in Corberth? Was that even her real face?”
“Of course it was,” the witch said, but Mirage strongly suspected she was lying. “I’m sorry we misled you, but your original contact couldn’t travel out here to meet you in person, the way you wanted. We thought you’d be more comfortable if you thought you were meeting the same witch.”
“Would you mind releasing us?” Eclipse asked mildly. “Oh—sorry.” She whisper-sang a soft phrase, and they could move again. Mirage’s skin shuddered all over in relief as the spell vanished. “Um. Come into the parlor and we’ll talk.”
Watching her go past to lead them into the parlor, Mirage became more certain than ever that their appearance—or rather, its unexpectedness—had given the witch quite a scare. Whom had she expected to find in the hallway?
“So,” the witch said with false brightness when they were seated, “do you have more information for us?”
Eclipse related everything they knew about the Wolf-star. The witch didn’t recognize the description, but they hadn’t expected her to. It was simple courtesy, and proof that they were making progress.
“If you don’t mind, Katsu,” he said suddenly, in the middle of his description, “may we know your Ray? I would prefer to be able to address you properly.” Not as good as knowing her name, but they had figured she probably wouldn’t tell them that.
She opened her mouth, paused, reconsidered, and finally nodded. “I am a witch of the Water Ray.”
“Thank you, Mai,” Eclipse went on, and Mirage brooded. A Fire witch assassinated, and women from the Void, Earth, and Water Rays are involved. Why?
“Now,” Eclipse said when that matter was done, “have you gotten in touch with Tari-nakana’s successor, Kekkai-nakana? It would greatly help our investigation if we could talk to her. In person, preferably. I know she can’t leave Starfall for long, but is there a spell she could use to bring herself out here? Or to take us to her?”
“No,” the witch said curtly. “Living things cannot be moved like that.”
“Then if we could just talk to her, even at a distance. We do need to question her.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible” the witch said, even more curtly.
Mirage’s eyebrows rose. “It’s necessary, Mai.”
“You’ll have to do without it. You will not question Kekkai-nakana.”
“Why not?”
Beside her she felt Eclipse twitch at the utter lack of deference in her tone. Mirage had come to some conclusions about this Water witch, though. She lacked the self-assurance of the Earth witch they had met in Corberth; she could, Mirage was sure, be put off-balance enough to reveal more than she wanted to. She might resort to using magic on them if they pushed too far, but Mirage felt it was worth the risk. After all, they’d already broken into the house. Hanged for a fleece…