Page 6 of The Society of Unknowable Objects
Secondly, unknowable objects within the Society collection should be kept secret from the world.
Thirdly, unknowable objects within the Society collection should not be used, except by members of the Society for the purpose of securing other unknowable objects.
Fourthly, decisions about unknowable objects held by the Society must be made by the Society as a whole.
As Magda absorbed the revelation, Frank removed his glasses to wipe them with a handkerchief from his pocket. “Don’t worry, it was neither of you.”
“Then who?” Magda asked.
Frank pointed his glasses towards Will as he cleaned them. “Will’s father,” he said. “Ellery Pinn.”
Magda had met Will’s father—Dr. Ellery Pinn—on a couple of occasions, each time only briefly and before she had really known anything about the Society. She remembered a man who was a lot like Will: slight,short, with floppy blond hair, and reserved to the point of being socially awkward.
“My father?” Will asked. What little colour there was in his cheeks appeared to drain away. In that moment, he made Magda think of the perfect schoolboy who had been caught by the head teacher doing something he shouldn’t.
“Your father visited Hong Kong a lot, didn’t he?” Frank asked. “Wasn’t he attached to a teaching hospital out there for a few years?”
Will considered the question for a moment, and Magda thought he seemed reluctant to answer. “Yes, I believe so.”
“Did he make any friends when he was out there?” Frank wondered. “Anyone he spoke about?”
Will pursed his lips, his eyes resting on the tabletop. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter. “My father didn’t speak about much; not to me, at least.”
A silence followed that answer and Magda fidgeted, suddenly uncomfortable in the face of Will’s rare openness. She looked to Frank, but the old man continued wiping his glasses, saying nothing.
“What’s going on, Frank?” she pressed, trying to get to the point.
“A young man contacted me,” Frank explained, slipping his glasses back on. “A man from Hong Kong. A Mr.James Wei. He claims to be the son of a friend of Ellery Pinn. He seemed to know that Ellery had died several years ago, and that’s why he contacted me. Somehow, he knows about the Society and what we do. And he thinks he’s found a magical item.”
Frank shrugged loosely and then said nothing more, glancing back and forth between Magda and Will as if waiting for one of them to speak. Magda slumped back in her chair, still holding her mug. She could tell that Frank was unhappy about their secrets being known, and she could feel his unhappiness hanging in the air and souring the atmosphere.
“It’s not Will’s fault, though, is it?” she said eventually. “He didn’t reveal the secrets.”
“Dr. Dennis Wei,” Frank continued, looking at Will. “That’s the father’s name. Does it mean anything to you?”
Will shook his head slowly. “I wouldn’t know anything about my father’s friends.”
Frank harrumphed unhappily, keeping his eyes on Will. Magda waited, frowning, flicking her eyes back and forth between the two men. It was like they were talking around something that Magda knew nothing about, as if they were excluding her from the conversation even though she was right there. It was infuriating.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Frank,” Will complained finally. “I didn’t tell this man about us. It was my father. Go dig up his bones and scowl at him if you want to make yourself feel better.”
Frank rubbed his face, nudging his glasses up his nose. Then he got up and walked over to the small fridge and Magda watched Will sag in his seat. Frank picked up a biscuit and munched on it as he returned to the table, crumbs landing on his sweater, and Magda saw a bottle of lemonade in his other hand. Frank had always loved sugary drinks; Magda was sure it was a big part of the reason why she had always enjoyed visiting him with her mother when she was younger, because there were always bottles of fizzy lemonade or cherryade or Coca-Cola in his fridge. “These are not cheap biscuits, by the way,” he said to Will. “I get them from Waitrose. Especially for the Society.” He opened the lemonade with acrack-hissand then glugged from the bottle.
“Is he credible?” Magda asked Frank, as he swallowed the lemonade. “This James Wei?”
Frank nodded. “As far as I can tell. I’ve done some checking. He said Ellery and his father were friends years ago. He even sent me a photo of the two of them together.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and played with it for a moment, passing it to Will. “See?”
Will squinted at the phone. “Yes, that’s my father.”
Frank turned the phone to Magda, and she saw two men in suits standing together and smiling for the camera, Will’s father and a taller, distinguished-looking Chinese man. To Magda’s eye the two men looked happy, like old friends reunited after a long separation.
Frank burped noisily and Magda smelled lemon in the air. Across the table she saw Will’s face twist briefly with displeasure. “It would seem Ellery told his friend all about us,” Frank continued. “Breachingthe second rule of the Society. Ellery told this man to let him know if he ever came across an unusual item. And then Dr. Dennis Wei told his son before he died. It’s not a crazy story. Could have happened.”
“Why would my dad tell this man?” Will asked the room. He turned his attention to Frank. “You probably knew my father better than me. Don’tyouknow?”
“I have no idea,” Frank said, his voice quiet, his eyes staring at the wall straight ahead of him.
Will frowned, his fingers tapping his lips nervously.
