I am sure you can knock boys out left and right. And I am sure you are perfectly proficient on stage. But playing a boy for a few hours each term is quite different from playing one twenty-four hours a day, day after day, to an audience of agents.
I beg your pardon?
There are agents of Atlantis at my school, he said. I am watched.
She gripped the armrests of her chair. You live under Atlantiss surveillance?
Somehow shed thought he must be exempt from it.
I am better off at school than at homethe castle is riddled with the Inquisitors informantsbut that is no help to us now.
She could not imagine the life he led.
You are safer here, he continued. The vestibule is accessible by the hotel staffthat is where we vaulted inbut the rest of the suite is protected by anti-intrusion spells.
Anti-intrusion spells were no guarantee of safetyher house in Little Grind had had its share of those.
You are entirely anonymous, he further reassured her. Atlantis, great as it is, cannot hope to locate you so easily in a city of millions. And should anything alarm you, go into the laboratory and wait. You already know the password; the countersign is the first paragraph on page ten of the book on the demilune table.
She would prefer that he quit school to stand guard beside her. If he should be wrong, if Atlantis proved quicker and cleverer than he believed, she would be all too easy a target. He had to stay with her. Shed reason with himbeg him, if she must. Bar the door with her person.
She opened her mouth and out came, All right.
Her life hung in the balance and here she was, trying to appear brave and stalwart before this boy.
Thank you, he said, and briefly touched her on the arm.
He was impressed. The bright happiness that flared inside her was almost enough to dispel her fear of his absence.
He disappeared a moment inside the laboratory and returned with the
brown valise shed seen earlier and a round-crowned hat. I will be back after lights-out at school. In the meanwhile, eat and rest. It has been a great deal of trouble finding you; I do not intend to lose you any time soon.
He had been searching for her? She longed to know more, but that would have to wait until his return.
May Fortune walk with you, Your Highness. She dipped into a small curtsy.
He shook his head. No need to curtsy. And may Fortune abide with you, Miss Seabourne.
He set the hat on his head and made for the door.
If she hadnt been staring so intently at him, she wouldnt have noticed the small, flat disk on his sleeve. She hesitated. Perhaps it was the fashion in England to have such decorations on ones jacket.
But what had Master Haywood said? You cannot be careful enough.
One moment, Your Highness. There is something on your left sleeve.
His expression instantly sobered. He looked down at his arm. Where?
She turned her own arm to show him. It was placed at a spot above his elbow where it would be difficult for both he himself and someone else to see it, unless that person was looking squarely at him when he had his arm elevated.
He found the disk by touch, ripped it off, and stared at it, his eyes shadowed.
Closing his fist, he said, We are in trouble.
CHAPTER 
6
What kind of trouble are we in? asked Miss Seabourne behind him. Her voice was unsteady, but to her credit, she showed no signs of falling apart.
I have been tracked.
Lady Callista. He remembered now: she had put her hand on his arm before she took leave of him. And he had been in too much of a hurry to notice.
If they were luckyand they had been quite lucky so far this daythen Lady Callistas lackeys would have a frustrating time following the disk as it traveled through Londons sewers.
But they had run out of luck. Murmurs rose outside the front door and outside the French doors that opened to a narrow balcony.
He beckoned Miss Seabourne to come to him. She did not hesitate. To her further credit, she already had in hand not only her own satchel, but also the valise he had dropped in his haste to get rid of the disk.
He pulled her into the laboratory, closed the door, and listened. All too soon, there were footsteps in the suite.
What of your anti-intrusion spells? she whispered.
They were to keep nonmages away. The suites anonymity had been his best defense against Atlantis.
Agents of Atlantis would not find anything belonging to him in the suitehe had always been excruciatingly careful about that. And they would not so easily discover a folded space. All the same, the suites safety had been hopelessly compromised.
Exstinguatur ostium, he said, destroying the connection that anchored the laboratory to the suite.
They were safe, for now. But what would have happened to her had he already left? Yes, she was alert. She would have had escaped into the laboratory. She would not, however, have been able to sever the connection. By the time he returned, after lights-out at school, Atlantiss agents might very well have broken through.
I apologize. The words burned his throat. I should have . . .