Read Online Angel Arias by Marianne de Pierres - Free Book Online Page B

tentacle around Naif’s wrist tightened and she was propelled through a narrow opening in the wall so quickly that she banged her head and her hip on the rough edges of it.
    Markes followed after her, giving an involuntary gasp of pain. He was much broader and taller than her and could barely fit.
    When he’d squeezed through the gap, the tentacle unwound from her wrist and she heard a scuffling on the floor. Wood clunked softly against wood and left them in an even deeper darkness.
    ‘Hush!’ said the boy.
    Naif felt his tentacle caress her again. This time, though, he was holding something as well. It was rough hessian and the smell from it was putrid, like something dead a few days. She tried to push him away but his tentacle was strong and persistent, not withdrawing until he’d wiped the cloth over her.
    When he finished, she heard a rustling movement next to her and guessed the boy was doing the same thing to Markes.
    ‘Fish bag trick hounds. Wait now,’ the boy whispered when he finished.
    The three sat motionless and listened as the hounds yelped their way up the stairs to the loft, growling and snuffling along the wall.
    ‘Bring the lamp,’ shouted a warden.
    Footsteps on the stairs. Only two men this time, Naif thought. Where were the others?
    ‘Something’s been up here. Look at the marks in the dust,’ said one.
    ‘That’s from the hounds.’ The second warden had a calmer, less agitated voice.
    ‘No. These marks are too wide. Like bodies.’
    ‘You’re imagining things, brother.’
    ‘The airship brought trouble with it. And the trouble has been here. In this loft.’
    ‘If you’re right then I say the trouble has moved on and we keep looking. There’s nothing here now but dust.’ He pounded the wall with his fist, sending a vibration through the floor. ‘See.’
    ‘I tell you, brother,’ said the other one. ‘The hounds can sense something behind here. Feel the wall, it’s uneven.’
    They seemed so close that Naif could smell the hounds’ musty scent. She feared they would burst through the old planks at any moment.
    Perspiration chilled on her skin.
    The wardens tapped their fists against the wood again. Naif pictured them kneeling in their long coats and heavy boots, puzzling.
    The boy slid his arm right past Naif’s cheek and pressed the fish bag to the wall.
    ‘Put your nose here, Danno. Here’s what’s got the hounds excited. Something’s died here not long before.’
    ‘Surely smells of it, Lukas. Maybe you’re right. I’ve seen rats in the Old Harbour as big as the hounds themselves.’
    ‘All the more reason not to spend too long in the godforsaken place. Let’s search along the sea wall again.’
    Their footsteps and the growling receded to the stairs, and then gradually faded altogether.
    The boy lifted the loose board out. Daylight brightened the dark of their cubbyhole enough that Naif could see vague outlines of him and Markes.
    Suddenly he burst into rattling laughter. ‘Big rats like hounds. Hah, hah.’
    Naif wet her lips. ‘Why do you laugh?’
    ‘They see me. And mine. Think we big rats.’
    ‘ And mine? There are more of . . . you?’
    ‘We are some. Lenoir says we must watch all-time. See you come. I follow.’
    ‘Lenoir?’ Naif gasped. As she spoke his name, a sharp, engulfing vision of the Riper’s dark hair and pale, beautiful face came to her. Her mouth went dry. Lenoir.
    ‘Follow now.’ The boy’s command dispelled her vision.
    He squeezed out through the hole and scurried across the loft.
    ‘Naif.’ Markes tugged her arm. ‘Come on. Before we lose him.’
    She crawled forward and turned herself sideways to fit through the gap. Markes followed her, legs first this time, twisting sideways to make his body as narrow as possible.
    The boy was already climbing swiftly down the stairs. Naif concentrated on following him – not staring at his deformed hand or puzzling how Lenoir knew him.
    Time enough for that. First they must get to