Children Without Faces, page 6
“They might not let you in,” Dani said with a grin. “You’re just a boy.”
“I don’t look like a boy. Besides, you hardly look like a woman grown, what with your chest still as flat as mine.” He barely managed to avoid her punch, but her boot found his shin, making him yelp and hop a few times.
“Serve you right,” Dani said, storming on ahead. He let her reach the door before following after her; no telling if she’d be looking to hit him again.
The inside of the inn was cleaner than the outside was. Real wooden planks made up the floor, their surfaces scratched, but clean. Tables that would be full later in the day sat around the common room, a large black-wood bar dominating the far side of the room. The whole room had a homey sort of feel to it, one that Toby wouldn’t have thought would suit an Inn’s common room, but it did.
A boy with mousy-brown curly hair looked over from where he was tending the fireplace and blinked at them. Toby blinked back. “Hello. You, uh, work here?” It was a silly question — the kid looked about Dem’s age. If there were doubts about Toby being allowed in, no way should that boy be inside.
The boy nodded and scrambled to his feet, brushing at his knees in a way that simply spread the soot around more. “I’m Shane. Papa owns the Peach. Who are you?”
“Toby, and this here is Dani.”
Shane squinted at her. “Dani’s a boy’s name.”
“No,” she said with a smile. “Dani’s my name. There’s a difference. Are your parents here?”
Shane nodded and pointed off toward where Toby figured the kitchen was. “Ma’s cooking. We’re having stew for lunch. And supper. We’re always having stew.” He made a face.
“Stew’s good for you,” Toby said automatically.
“That’s what I’m always telling him.” Toby looked over at the kitchen’s door behind the bar and blinked — a woman stood there and she was such a vision of loveliness that Toby thought that she was the Goddess Ynai, come to tempt men. Her thick golden hair was gathered back with a blue ribbon that matched her large eyes, and her smile was gentle in a way that reminded him of his own Ma’s. Even the splatters of flour on her hands and apron didn’t make her look normal.
“Idiot,” Dani muttered, her elbow catching him in the ribs. “Answer the question.”
“Wha?” Toby blinked, trying to figure out how he’d missed a question.
“I asked after your family name,” the woman said with a light laugh that made Toby flush, even though he didn’t think she was making fun of him.
“Weldon, Toby Weldon,” he said, quickly. “I’m Geol’s oldest.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Toby. My name is Gwen Fields and you’ve already met Shane. My husband Aaron is upstairs, doing some repairs. Can I get either of you anything?”
“Water, please,” Dani said.
Gwen smiled and reached over, giving Shane a gentle scoot toward the kitchen. “Go on, bring us out some. Now then, you didn’t come in here for just water. Was there something the two of you were after?”
“Dogs,” Toby said, then flushed. Where’d that come from?
Dani rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. We’d like to know if you have any guests in the Inn, or if you have since the last ship left port.”
Something about the question made Gwen pause a moment. “Neither of your fathers are here, if that’s what you’re asking.”
The reply made Dani flush, but Toby just scowled. What would Da be doing here? He had a perfectly good home. Some of the shine seemed to go out of Gwen’s hair and he suspected she was making fun of them after all.
“I don’t care about any of that,” he said, crossing his arms. “We’re lookin’ for a strange man. You got one here or not?”
“Someone call me?” another voice asked, the stairs creaking until a man stepped around the corner. He was stick thin, strangely colored clothes hanging off of his form like the scarecrows they strung up in the outer plots. A shock of brown hair stuck out at all angles, but his sea-green eyes were smiling.
“A different strange man, love,” Gwen said, crossing the room and standing on her toes to kiss his nose. “Not you at all.”
Toby glared — he wasn’t sure about that. Something about the man seemed off and just dreadful. Pity he was too tall to be the Rider.
“A simple mistake, then,” Aaron said with a grin, giving his wife a squeeze. “Are these Shane’s friends, then?”
“Yes,” Shane said, coming back into the room with a large tray that was carefully balancing four mugs and a pitcher of water. He was frowning in concentration, and from the way it was shaking, Toby expected it all to come tumbling down any moment. He stepped forward to help, but Dani caught his arm and held him back.
“We’d like to be,” she said with a smile, and Toby let out a breath when Shane got the tray onto a table. The boy beamed happily, like he’d just been given a kitten.
“Aren’t you Thatcher’s girl?” Aaron asked, his head tilting to the side.
“That’s right,” Dani said, then bit her lip. “Is that a problem?”
“Not quite. Does he know you’re here, though? Is it alright?”
Dani shrugged. “As alright as it ever is.”
“I don’t see what this has got to do with anything,” Toby said, scowling at them both. “Look, I don’t wanna be rude, but we’re in a hurry. Do you got a stranger here or not?”
“Easy, son,” Aaron said, a bit of his smile fading more. “We’ve only got free rooms and it’s been that way for a long enough time. Is there someone you’re looking for?”
Toby glared at him. “I ain’t your son. And —”
“Please excuse us,” Dani broke in, then yanked him a few steps away. “What’s your problem?” she demanded, keeping her voice low.
He yanked his arm away. “I don’t got a problem other than my time bein’ wasted. He ain’t here, Dani. We gotta look someplace else.”
“Where, Toby? Do you have an idea? I didn’t think so. They might, and besides, you’re showing the manners of a stinkrat with the way you’re scowling. It’s not such a big town that you can go being a jackass without it showing. Now you say you’re sorry, or I’ll plant my boot in your behind.”
They scowled at each other until Toby finally flinched away. Dani would do it, too. She could kick harder than anyone Toby knew, and he’d been kicked by his fair share. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But I don’t gotta like it.”
“No, you don’t. Now get.” She turned back toward the Fields, who were both poorly concealing their grins.
“I’m sorry I snapped,” Toby said, surprised to find that he was sorry. “It’s been a crappy day.”
“Oh,” Gwen said, her eyes crinkling. “You’re from that family. The Watchers came by here last night. Please, sit. I’ll be right back.” She hurried off and Aaron watched her go with a fond smile.
“Probably going to get some biscuits and jam, which will set almost anything straight. Not this, though.” He said down, gesturing for Dani and Toby to do the same. Shane stepped behind his chair, peeking out at Toby. “Now then, this stranger, do you think he’s taken your brother?”
Toby blinked. Somehow, the connection between Rider and Dem had completely escaped him. “Yeah, I think so,” he said slowly, working it out in his mind. The Rider obviously commanded some sort of creepy darkness — that Grim just wasn’t right — and Lane had said that demons could ride inside of people. Was that what he’d grabbed Dem for, another thing like Grim? The thought was so horrible he shuddered, arms wrapping around himself.
Dani stepped over, her arm slipping around his waist and he cuddled against her. That wasn’t how Dem was, it just wasn’t. It must be something else, but Rider being involved made sense, a lot more sense than he wanted to admit.
And from the way Dani looked, she’d already made the connection. Probably didn’t want to upset him, which wasn’t fair. He wasn’t a kid; he had a right to know this stuff!
“And have you told the Watchers?” Aaron asked, watching him carefully.
“Nah,” Toby said.
“They wouldn’t believe us,” Dani explained, her arm tightening around Toby in a way that suggested she wasn’t holding him just for comfort’s sake. “We need more proof before we can take it to them.”
“Well, I can ask around the other inns, if you’d like. Maybe talk to some of the sailors — they usually know all the strangers in town. Of course, so do the Watchers.” Aaron paused and smiled over Toby’s head. Gwen came up and put down a towel-covered plate, the smell of it making his stomach growl.
When she pulled the towel away, steam rose up, proving that the biscuits had been heated again, a dollop of berry jam sitting on each one.
“What’s that for?” Dani asked, pointing at a small pot sitting in the center.
“Pouring cream,” Gwen said, lifting it up and gently drizzling a stream of cream onto one of the biscuits. “See?”
“Don’t it get soggy?” Toby asked.
“That’s the best part,” Shane said, and apparently the promise of biscuits was enough to lure him out as he came and plopped into a chair.
“Huh,” Toby grunted, careful not to look like he was snatching any of the biscuits. He waited for his turn for the cream, figuring it was worth trying that way once. “I’d like that, though. Sir. If you’d ask around, that is.”
“Not a problem,” Aaron said, breathing in the steam from the food with a smile. “Anything I can do to help. That’s what I told the Watchers when they came by last night, but they didn’t seem to think I could help.”
The biscuits were good, even soggy with the cream and jam. Maybe because they were soggy like that, though it was hard to get over the texture. Usually, food wasn’t soggy unless he’d left his bread out in the rain, or needed to soften it cause it was stale.
Feeling eyes on him, he glanced up to see Gwen watching him almost fondly. Her arm was around Shane’s shoulders, her touch light and affectionate, and the boy was leaning against her. The sight of a proper family like this made him flush, a wave of sickness rising in him.
Ducking his head, he went back to eating, but the image stuck in his mind. A lot of families in Cold Harbor were like his, with only one surviving parent. Most people had lost someone, either to sickness or the forest, or something else. There was plenty around to kill folk if they weren’t careful.
That’s why it struck him as wrong that this family was here, all safe and cozy and happy. At least Dani understood — her Ma was dead too, just like his. Another reason they got along, no doubt.
His elbow caught on his mug of water when he went to shovel another bite into his mouth and Toby blinked stupidly as it fell off the table. It thudded against the floor boards, splashing water everywhere; next to him, Dani winced.
“Thorry,” he said, spraying crumbs out of his mouth. Quickly, he ducked down to retrieve it, thankful to see it in one piece underneath the table.
“I’ll get a rag,” Gwen said, hurrying toward the kitchen.
“It’s no problem,” Aaron said above, and Toby could see his feet shift. Squirming, he ducked down under the table more and strained to reach the mug where it’d rolled. Dark mud was on the floor, and it clung to Aaron’s boots. The Rider’s feet had been muddy, too. The same kind of mud, Toby would bet his life on it.
Grabbing the mug, he straightened, managing to clip his head on the table’s edge. “Don’t drop it again,” Dani said, taking the mug from him before he could.
“How’d your boots get dirty?” Toby asked Aaron, rubbing at the back of his head. It hurt, but what of it? One ache among many, by now.
Aaron sighed. “I’m trying to fix this place up more. Lots of work to be done, even after all I’ve done already. The roof, mostly, but that’s because it’s all covered with mud and thatch. How anyone expects that to stand up to this weather is beyond me.”
“So, the roof?” Toby asked, not wanting to hear more of that. If the mud came from the roof, then maybe the Rider had crawled around on other buildings.
“Oh, no. I had to go down to the cellar to get more tools and, because I didn’t want to track things through the house, I went through the back entrance. It’s a mess back there and the rain has leaked down into the cellar, too.” He shrugged. “Why do you ask?”
“Can we go down there?” It was impossible to explain that he thought that maybe the Rider had been mucking around in the Inn’s cellar, so Toby didn’t try. Dani frowned, ducking her head under the table. She looked like she understood when she straightened up again, and gave his knee a quick squeeze.
“I can take them, Papa,” Shane said eagerly, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. “I can. We won’t make a mess.”
Aaron shrugged again. “If that’s what you want to do, by all means do. Just use the back — Gwen shouldn’t have to clean the floors again.”
Gwen laughed as she came back in, carrying a cloth. “Heavens knows I clean them twice a day as is,” she said, kneeling next to Toby’s chair to wipe up the puddle of water.
Her nearness made Toby want to either hug her or run, so he settled for slipping out of his chair. “Thanks for the food, and the help,” he said with a quick nod.
“I’ll be sure to let you know what I find out about the stranger,” Aaron said, nodding back.
Shane led the way, heading out the door Toby and Dani had come in through, then wrapping around the back. Toby had been out here before — this is where that dog pack liked to hang around, looking for scraps and digging the area up. For some reason, a good amount of dirt and grass grew in a patch here and, since the Peach had swallowed up the buildings near it, there was space for a small garden. No doubt Gwen was too busy to actually plant one, Toby thought. Still, it’d be handy to have fresh food that close to the house — he’d have to mention it to her when he saw her next. Sometimes, adults didn’t think of proper stuff.
“It’s here,” Shane said, pointing at a wood door set into the ground at the base of the building. Sure enough, there was a thick patch of deep, dark mud all around the door.
Squatting down, Toby poked at the mud with his finger, then inspected it. “It’s the same color, sure enough,” Dani said, walking past him. She didn’t mind getting mud on her boots, not one bit.
“Same color as what?” Shane asked, squatting down next to Toby to peer at the mud too. “It’s always like this.”
Toby ruffled his hair and grinned. “Great. Can we go down?”
“Yeah, if Ms. Dani’ll get the door. It’s heavy.”
“Who said I can’t do it?” Toby asked, frowning.
Shane blushed and ducked his head, which made Dani laugh. “He’s too shy to say you’re as strong as a gull, Toby.”
“Am not,” he said, squelching through the mud to get to the cellar’s door first. He grabbed the handle and grunted, straining to get it open. It didn’t budge, though the wood groaned a little.
“Um, you gotta unlatch it,” Shane said, stepping nimbly through the mud. “See?” He pointed at the metal circle on the top and bottom of the door. “It twists. You can do it from below, too, though Papa has a lock he puts on that side at night. So no one can steal stuff.”
“Clever,” Dani said, unlatching the door. It was a lot easier to open this time, though it was heavy. Not that Toby would say so, and Dani didn’t offer to help, though she grinned the whole time he was doing it.
The cellar’s stairs were steep and wooden, which groaned as Toby led the way down them. It reminded him of his own cellar and he half expected to find another pool of dark blood at the stair’s base. There wasn’t, though, just rows and rows of shelves filled with food, cooking supplies, and other household things. Crates and barrels lined the walls, all the way up to the ceiling, except for a spot in the far left corner between two racks where bottles hung like ticks.
“It is sure muddy down here,” Dani commented, joining Toby at the bottom.
“Yeah. Mama complains about it a lot,” Shane said, staying back on the stairs. “I don’t like coming down here alone. It’s spooky.”
“I won’t let nothin’ bad happen to you,” Toby said, swallowing hard. “Promise.”
He was about to step into the cellar more, but Dani grabbed his arm and held him back. “Look,” she said, pointing at the floor. Sure enough, there were boot tracks all in the mud, crisscrossing the room. Some led over to the other stairs, some over to these, but Toby didn’t see anything special about them.
“We already know that folk been down here, Dani,” he said, yanking his arm away from Dani’s grip.
“Use your head, dummy. If he was down here, he’ll’ve left tracks. Don’t step in them.”
Toby rolled his eyes, but did as Dani said. The cellar was a lot larger than his own family’s and it took a lot longer to go over everything. There wasn’t anything to find, though. Light filtered in through the floorboards above his head, illuminating most of the area. He heard a door shut and the soft murmur of voices — probably guests coming in to eat at the Peach. With fare like those biscuits, he didn’t blame them, either.
He was about to give up when something caught his eye, over in the bare corner. Picking his way over, he looked a little more carefully. There, in the soft ground, was a track: the heel of a bare foot, big like a man’s, and it disappeared right into the wall. Excitedly, he pushed at the ground and the wall, but neither gave way to his fingers.
“Dani,” he started to say when a woman’s high scream cut him off.
“Mama,” Shane squeaked, darting across the room to the stairs.
His heart in his throat, Toby followed him, praying to Daivat that the Rider hadn’t struck again.
8
The stairs opened up into the kitchen. It was larger than any Toby had seen before, but then, he’d never gotten to muck around in an Inn’s back rooms before. Shane darted ahead of him and, because Gwen hadn’t struck Toby as a woman that screamed easily, and because she wasn’t screaming now which meant that whatever had made her scream had shut her up, Toby dove for him.
