Page 29 of The Society of Unknowable Objects
Henrietta shrugged as she chewed the rest of the biscuit. “Maybe,” she allowed. “But you have to know the Society is built on a lie. What good comes from anything built on lies? And that’s just the first lie.”
“So what else, then, what’s the other lie?”
“The Society is predicated on the idea that these things should be locked away and kept safe,” Henry said, rubbing crumbs from her fingers onto the counter. “That if magic items are out in the world they will be misused. But that issowrong, Magda. Think of the things we could do to help mankind, the planet, if we just used what we have.”
Magda nodded slowly. This was more like the Henrietta of old. This was the argument she’d made during many meetings of the Society. Henrietta had always wanted to use the items; Frank had never permitted it. Magda had always sided with Frank, and Will had sided with the status quo. Henrietta had always been outvoted.
“I had some hope for you,” Henrietta reflected, taking another square of shortbread. “Imelda was a bit of a free spirit. I thought you might be the same, maybe receptive to the idea of using the items. But you were always so loyal to Frank. Always so serious and dutiful.”
Magda felt attacked and went on the offensive. “That’s not a lie, Henry. What you’re describing is a policy disagreement. You want to use the artefacts, Frank doesn’t want to. He’s never hidden that. He’s never lied.”
“I accepted I was in a minority,” Henry continued, not respondingdirectly to Magda’s argument. “So I kept playing along, thinking that one day something might change, or eventually Frank would die and I would take over and someone else would join. But then Frank, bless him, he just kept on living, didn’t he?”
“That’s not a bad thing,” Magda said, her words a sigh. She rubbed her tired eyes with the finger and thumb of one hand.
Need to go sleep or you’re going tofall downwhere you stand.
“No, Magda, of course not,” Henry agreed quickly. “I love Frank. But I got tired of waiting. So, at one of the meetings, I arrived early, and I used my ghost ring to take a peek inside the Clockwork Cabinet. I meant to borrow one or two items to experiment with. I thought that maybe if I could find a good example, something to stop wars or cure cancer or something—you know, modest aims—I could persuade you or Will to overturn Frank’s position.”
“You broke into the Clockwork Cabinet?” Magda asked, astonished.
“I didn’t break in... Ighostedin. Just like how Ighostedinto your lovely home this evening. It’s what I call it when I go intangible. I just walked through the wall. Well done on such a beautiful house, by the way.”
“It was my mother’s,” Magda admitted. “She inherited it from her father.”
“Oh I know. I just mean the interior décor is lovely. But I do wonder where your grandfather got the money to buy such a place?”
“What happened?” Magda said, ignoring the dig. “When you ghosted into the Clockwork Cabinet?”
“That’s when I discovered it’s empty, Magda. All of the drawers—there’s nothing inside.”
Magda shook her head again. “But... that can’t be true,” she complained. “The first meeting I attended, I picked a drawer and Frank pulled out the Yes/No Dice.”
Henrietta nodded. “But when you picked a drawer, maybe he was just palming the dice in his hand?”
Magda thought about that, replaying her memories of that firstmeeting she had attended. Had Frank tricked her? Could she have been fooled?
Why would he do that? It’s Frank. Why would he deceive you?
“But why would it be empty?” Magda said, not understanding. “Why would he lie? What’s the point? Does that mean we don’t have any magical items, just the dice?”
Henrietta shrugged. “All good questions. And I put them to Frank after that meeting, when I discovered the truth. He didn’t like me asking. He became very uncomfortable, very unhappy. He told me there were things that only he knew that he couldn’t tell me. That it was better if I didn’t know.”
It sounded just like the sort of thing Frank would say, and that hurt Magda’s heart, because it meant Henry was probably telling the truth.
“That’s all just paternalistic bullshit, of course,” Henrietta continued, waving a hand to dismiss Frank’s words. “I told him I couldn’t be a member until he told me the truth. He didn’t say anything. He just stared at the table. So I left. I can’t be a member of something if I am not treated as an equal. Life’s too short for that. So I went off and lived my life and I haven’t looked back. Well, not until I saw you all over social media flying through Hong Kong. I was in the south of France last night. I’d just robbed some horrible Albanian men of their money.”
Magda blinked as Henry took another sip of her tea. She was beginning to feel that she wasn’t really keeping up with Henrietta’s many revelations. “You’re a burglar now?”
Henrietta laughed. “Darling, that’s like saying Freddie Mercury could hold a tune. I am anastonishingburglar. Unparalleled, if I do say so myself. But don’t worry, I only steal from awful people. My hobby is ruining the lives of people who deserve to have their lives ruined.”
“Oh well... I suppose that’s okay, then,” Magda murmured, eyes narrowed.
“It’s a fun life,” Henry said, ignoring the sarcasm. “What else would I do with my time? And I’m not looking for your approval. I just came to visit because I thought things had maybe changed, and I thought you deserved to know the truth now, after all this time.” She shrugged. “It’sup to you what you do with it. But it seems like you have a lot on your plate right now with the Hong Kong thing.”
“There’s nothing in the Clockwork Cabinet?” Magda asked again, her mind still chewing on that fact. “And Frank didn’t deny that?”
Henrietta shook her head. “No.” She downed the last mouthful of her tea and then her eyes fell onto the shortbread, lingering there for a moment as if contemplating taking a third one. “If you think about it, it’s all a bit of fairy-tale nonsense, isn’t it?” she said. “Magical items in a clockwork cabinet hidden behind a bookshelf.”
