He hoped the folly of his plan did not appear as fragile to Julia and Letitia as it did within his head. He regretted now that he hadn't thought this out before, that he hadn't asked the crew of Coldies, for most of them had lived or died nearby.
“We can't be sure there won't be Hooters and Hatters in the next place too,” Julia said. “Quite often, religions aren't confined to one town.”
“She's right about that,” Letitia said.
“We don't even know where the next town is.”
“We don't know if there is a next town.”
“If there is, it could be worse than this one, how do we know?”
“What if there's no one but Foxers there?”
“What if there's Vampies? Vampies with brooms? Why, I could've been squashed completely flat!”
“All right, that's quite enough, both of you.”
Finn stood, leaving a wet spot on the bed. He'd slipped off his shirt, but kept the damp trousers on.
“I don't know what we'll face out there, I don't know what we'll find to eat. I know that we're going, all right? We don't have a choice. If someone has a better idea, I'd be pleased to hear it now.”
“It's not that we don't approve, dear. It's just-frightening, is all. The thought of having no idea where we're going, what we'll find there …”
“And that's exactly what's kept us here, what's blinded us up to now.”
Finn shook his head, frowned at the grim, peeling paper on the walls, at the spiderwebbed ceiling, at the threadbare carpet on the floor.
“We'll leave an hour before sundown. Tonight. That gives us time to see where we're going before it gets dark. By the time night falls, we'll be safely out of sight. I doubt anyone will bother to track us down. If they do, we'll be ready for them, you can count on that.”
“I know we can, dear.”
“Well, you can. We'll-get out of this …”
He was wet, hungry, ready to drop for lack of sleep. Letitia reached for him and drew him back to the bed.
“Finn, I really think you should sit. It won't do any good to keep talking about this. What we all need to do is get some rest.”
“Good idea,” Finn said, pulling gently from her grasp, “I appreciate the thought, but there's much I have to do right now. This room is a ruin, but there are items here we can turn to good purpose for our trip. These drapes, which are filthy, could serve as a tent. The bedposts will serve as poles. If we break up the chair-”
“Finn,” Letitia said, as gently as her nature would allow, “I'm going to strike you, dear. I have never done that before, but I will surely do it now.”
Finn blinked, startled. There was something in those black, enormous Mycer eyes, something close to anger, something close to fire. Something new in this bold, defiant beauty, something haughty, something naughty, something wild.
Bones and Stones, he thought, whatever that is, it is terribly attractive, though I do hope she can't find anything to throw …
And, in that instant, she did. Reached out and clutched at an object, reached out unaware, lifted up Julia, ready to hurl her through the air.
“Letitia, don't!”
Letitia didn't hear. Letitia was hungry, Letitia was beat. Weary, strung out, tired of the same shabby dress. She yearned to wash her hair, soak in a tub, yearned to be anywhere but here. Something was squirming, squawking in her hand. She didn't know what and didn't care …
The door swung open and struck the wall hard, raising a veil of dust. Letitia froze. Finn reached for his blade, then remembered he'd left it in a chair across the room.
Sabatino slouched in the doorway, dressed in resplendent lilac hues, watching with a vain and arrogant grin.
“Oh dear, a family quarrel. What a nice surprise. Do go on, pay no attention to me. When you're finished, you'll find fresh linens, clothing, lotions and such. A tub and hot water, all right here, just outside the door.
“And-I nearly forgot-luncheon is served very shortly in the dining salon. I think you'll find it quite a treat. Squeen is maimed for the moment, so the meal should be a real delight.”
Sabatino paused, inspected Letitia up and down, then down and up again. It imparted such lewd and open desire that Letitia felt a rush of color to her face.
“There is nothing so arousing as a woman full of ire,” he said. “You are fortunate indeed, Master Finn.”
Finn went for him, unarmed or not, but the fellow was gone in a lavender blur before he could stalk across the room …
32
“This is another of that dandy's despicable jokes,” Finn said. “Fraud, chicanery and lies have stained the man's soul. Treachery's the only skill he knows. He must be a fool to think we'll fall for something so utterly transparent as this.”
“I'm certain you're right, dear. He's cunning, devious and sly.”
“And we're not taken in, not by a whit.”
“If you'd like, I'll scrub your back, Finn. Then, if you please, you may do mine.”
“I'd be delighted, for sure.”
The tub was made of staves, held in shape by hammered copper bands, rolled in with steamy water buckets from the hall. It was clearly not a tub for two, but once Letitia let her dress slip to the floor, dipped a tiny toe, and immersed her lovely self, Finn was not far behind. He backed up against her, so close that her legs had to wrap around his front. A rather tight squeeze, but wasn't that the idea, after all?
“I'll bet that feels good,” Letitia said, scrubbing him with a brush. “It's been some time.”
“It has indeed,” Finn said, scarcely aware of any brush at all.
“I'd give a silver penny to know what he's up to,” he said, watching Letitia's wiggly toes.
“Well, whatever it is, this wonderful tub and real soap and-clean clothes! That's no trickery, Finn, that's real!”
“Oh, it's trickery all right, make no mistake in that.” He leaned back against her, resting his head in the hollow of her shoulder, whispering in her ear.
“It's a cruel hoax, my dear, playing on our needs. All this is meant to distract us from some other purpose hatching in his devious mind.”
“What, though? I can't imagine what it might be.”
“Nor I, and it doesn't greatly matter, since it plays right into our plans to make our way out of here tonight.”
He kissed the steamy droplets on her cheek, and nibbled at her ear.
Letitia leaned away and gave him a wary look. “He said there'd be real food. I don't intend to miss that.”
“We won't, we won't. I can't imagine he knows what decent food is, but we'll gladly play along. The bath, the clothes, the food-it all bends in our favor instead of his. We'll be much better prepared to make our move. Cleaner, clothed and fed. The fellow doesn't know he's filling all our needs.”
“Oh, I know it's going to work. It's a good plan, Finn. And we are going to eat first, right? I feel it's essential that we do.”
“Well, yes. I think he might grow suspicious if we don't.”
“Come here, please. Turn around, love.”
Finn felt his heart leap. “I-think I can. If I stand up first. I don't want to flood the place. We might go right through the floor.”
Letitia watched his clumsy gyrations, hiding a laugh behind her hands.
“Take your time,” she said, with a glow, with a glimmer, with a shine, with a very saucy hint in her great enormous eyes.
“I'll be right here, love …”
And Julia Jessica Slagg, aware there were times when she shouldn't be around, took a lizard nap beneath the chair.
Sometimes she felt Finn had built in a toggle or a spring, a tiny little switch that said forget you're even here. She couldn't say for sure, and could never quite remember to ask …