“Fuck Crystal,” Variam said. “I don’t think you care about finding Anne at all.”
“Well, I haven’t seen you doing—”
The argument started up again, along predictable lines. Usually this was the point at which Caldera would step in, but glancing at her I saw she was still just watching. She still seemed to be waiting—
I stopped as my brain caught up with something I’d heard. “Wait,” I said to Sonder. “What did you just say?”
Sonder broke off arguing with Variam. “What?”
“About Crystal being behind it.”
“I said that if it was Sagash’s apprentices, maybe it was Crystal who got them to do it in the first place.”
“No,” I said slowly. “You said, ‘Maybe she was the one who got them to do it.’”
“Yeah, if it really was them,” Sonder said. He looked annoyed. “I don’t think it was, I’m just saying that even if that was true, it still might have been her.”
I stared at Sonder. “You didn’t say ‘if.’”
Variam was looking at me curiously. “Yes, I did,” Sonder said.
“Why did you come here in the first place?” I asked Sonder. “You’re supposed to be in charge, not Caldera. If you were really so sure that Sagash’s apprentices had nothing to do with this, you shouldn’t have been wasting time using your timesight on that flat.”
“Well—” Sonder hesitated. “I didn’t think so. You did.”
I looked at Sonder for a long moment, flicking through futures. Divination isn’t much use in normal conversations—too many ways for things to go. But if you know the right questions to ask . . .
“It was them, wasn’t it?” I said. “The ones who took Anne were Sagash’s two apprentices, Darren and Sam. You’ve known since last night. When you listened to their conversations after they’d met Luna, you found out that they were the ones who did it. You’ve been keeping it from us.”
Variam had been looking at me; now he turned to stare at Sonder. There was a silent question in his eyes.
Lying well takes practice. An amateur can pull off a lie as long as no one’s looking for it, but as soon as they get cross-questioned they go to pieces. A professional, on the other hand, can manage interrogation just fine—they submerge themselves in the lie so well that they actually believe it themselves. There are subtle signs which you can look for, but a good liar never makes it obvious.
Sonder wasn’t a good liar.
Variam’s face darkened. Orange-red light sprang up at his hands, licking outwards. “You cowardly little—” he began, his voice soft as he took a step towards Sonder. Sonder flinched back.
Then Caldera was there, putting her arm between Variam and Sonder. “Variam,” she said, and the note of command was back in her voice. “Stand down.” Her eyes stayed locked on Sonder. “Explain.”
“Uh . . .” Sonder began. He looked as though he’d rather be absolutely anywhere else.
“So that’s the truth,” I said quietly.
“I was going to tell you!”
“Shut up, Verus,” Caldera said. “Explain.”
“Look, I wasn’t sure,” Sonder began. “I mean, they said some things last night, but it could have meant anything . . .”
I shook my head in disgust. I should have seen this coming. The biggest problem with the information magic of a universal mage is that no one else can perceive it. Council trials which rely on timesight will use multiple time mages, all of whom give testimony independently. But Sonder had never lied about it before, and it just hadn’t occurred to me that he might start now.
“You want her to stay with Sagash?” Variam said. His voice was soft, but fiery light was still flickering at his hands and I wouldn’t have liked to be Sonder if Caldera weren’t there. “That what it is?”
“It’s not that!” Sonder looked angry. I didn’t think he understood just how close Variam was to snapping. “You can’t do anything about it anyway!”
Variam took a slow breath in, then out. He looked as though he was fighting to keep himself under control, and barely succeeding. “Why?” Caldera said.
“Because she’s in Sagash’s shadow realm!”
Variam went still. “So that was where that gate led,” I said quietly. “And that’s why you haven’t been telling us. Because a Keeper investigation can’t go there without some kind of link to Crystal.”
“There is one,” Sonder insisted. He looked between us. “I know there is.”
No one answered. “Variam, wait in the hall,” Caldera said. “We’re going back to the station.”
Variam left without a word. I noticed that Caldera’s eyes followed him; Sonder might have missed how close that had been, but Caldera hadn’t. “Look, this can still work,” Sonder began.
Caldera waited for Variam to disappear, then shook her head at Sonder. “Come off it.” She started to turn away. “My report’s due.”
“Wait! You could tell them—”
Caldera shot Sonder a withering look, and Sonder stopped. “Really?” Caldera said. “Really? You think I’ll tell a lie that stupid? You found out Anne’s with Sagash. That’s the truth and that’s what I’ll report. I’ll ask to follow up too, I owe you that much. But I already know what they’re going to say.” She paused. “You really fucked this up, Sonder.” Caldera walked out into the hall. I heard her footsteps merge with Variam’s and a second later the front door opened and closed.
Sonder and I were left alone in the flat and I studied him, thinking. Now that I knew what he’d really seen, everything was fitting together. “Well,” I said at last. “That could have gone better.”
Sonder glared at me through his glasses but didn’t answer. “She knew you were hiding something,” I said. “I guess you don’t get to be a Keeper without being pretty good at knowing when you’re being lied to.”
“Oh, shut up.”
I shrugged. “At least now we know where she is.”
“Yeah, that’s great! We know she’s in some impenetrable fortress we can’t find! That’s really helpful, isn’t it?”
“Variam got her out once already.”
“And then what? Sagash hasn’t done anything wrong! If we go after him we’ll be the ones breaking the Concord!”
“Gosh.” I raised my eyebrows. “Breaking the Concord. Couldn’t have that.”
Sonder glared at me. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? You think this proves you were right.”
“Do you really think I’m that petty?” I shook my head. “This isn’t about you.”
Sonder let out a breath and sagged. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, and all of a sudden he just sounded tired. “None of it.” He walked out.
I watched him go, then turned to look thoughtfully back out of the window.
“So what do we do now?” Variam said over the phone.
It was some time later—long enough for Variam’s temper to have cooled, though there was still an edge to his voice. “That’s what we’re going to decide,” I said. “You free to talk?”
“Yeah, Caldera’s in with the captain.”
“I can’t believe Sonder would pull something like this,” Luna said over the phone line. She sounded almost as pissed off as Variam. Between this and what had happened in the morning, I was pretty sure whatever slim hopes Sonder might have had in Luna’s direction were going to have to be taken out the back and shot.
I was still in the flat, Variam was at the Keeper station in Marylebone, and Luna was in Islington where she’d been unsuccessfully chasing leads. “We’re still better off than we were this morning,” I said. “At least now we know where to go.”
“Yeah, except we’re also down from five to three,” Luna said. “We’ve lost Caldera, right?”
“She told me to take off and report back to Scotland for tomorrow,” Variam said.
“I think that’s a yes,” I said. “Okay, Vari, you’re the only one who’s been into Sagash’s shadow realm. Let’s hear about it.”
“Giant freaky castle,” Variam said. “Looks like it’s on an island just off the coastline . . . not really, though, I don’t think the boundary goes that far. It’s really big. Anne tried hiding there a few times, managed to stay out of sight for a while. Problem was the shadows. They’re some kind of construct, Sagash mass-produces the things. They’re not that tough, but no matter how many you burn there’s always more.”