Page 5 of Skullduggery
‘I’m sure he’ll be back soon,’ Miriam reassured me.
I hoped so. ‘I’ll find him when he returns.’
‘Go for a nap. I’ll make sure someone wakes you up when he arrives.’
Sleep was incredibly tempting. I glanced towards the towering turrets of Pemberville Castle then looked away again. ‘I’ll go for a runfirst.’
Miriam’s eyes narrowed. ‘Daisy?—'
‘Only to clear my head,’ I said quickly. ‘I won’t overdo it and I won’t go far.’
She tutted. I smiled and nudged Hester and Otis awake; they’d been snoozing in a makeshift nest in my discarded hoodie. ‘Up for a run, you two?’
Hester’s face screwed up. ‘Run? Fuck off.’
‘I’ll run. You can sit on my shoulder.’
Otis flapped his iridescent wings, flew upwards and immediately made himself comfortable. Hester continued to scowl but, unwilling to be left behind, climbed onto my other shoulder. ‘Just don’t jiggle around too much,’ she yawned. ‘I need another forty winks.’ She nestled against my collar bone and started to snore.
I grinned and wished I didn’t feel envious, then I nodded at Miriam and headed off.
I hadn’t exactly liedto Miriam: Ididwant to clear my head, and enjoying some time away from the rigours of training, even if I was running, was the best way to achieve clarity.
There was another reason, too, and I had a specific destination in mind. I’d caught glimpses of it a few times on other runs during the last few weeks, albeit from a distance. This time I would head directly there and finally give in to my natural nosiness. It wasn’t far away; if I cut across the woods at the edge of Hugo’s many acres, I’d be there within the hour.
When I veered off the path, Otis started to pay attention. When the ground became more uneven as I entered the woods, Hester woke up and began to look around. ‘Where are we going?’ she asked.
Otis answered for me. ‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’
I wove in and out of the trees, taking care to avoid the low-hanging branches.
‘Lady Rose’s house?’ Hester asked, her voice hushed with awe.
‘I believe so,’ her brother replied.
She thumped the side of my neck. ‘Is that where we’re going? Daisy? Are we going to where Lady Rose lived?’
‘Yep.’ I jumped over a small bush and my feet squelched in the mud as I landed.
‘You’re going to help Gordon!’
I shook my head. ‘I’ve not made my mind up about that yet. I won’t do until I’ve spoken to Hugo.’
‘She will help Gordon,’ Hester whispered loudly to Otis. ‘She’ll look for Lady Rose.’
‘That’s not what Daisy said,’ he replied.
‘I know what she said. But I also know what shemeant,’ she added smugly.
‘All we’re doing is having a look at where Lady Rose lived, Hester,’ I said. ‘Nothing more, nothing less.’
‘Uh-huh. If you say so.’
I gave up trying to persuade her otherwise and concentrated on staying upright. There was a lot of bracken to avoid and numerous gnarly roots that I could easily trip over if I didn’t pay attention. It didn’t help that I was assailed by bouts of light-headedness when I turned my head too swiftly. I gritted my teeth, willing the sensation to go away.
Eventually I reached a dry-stone wall that marked the boundary to Hugo’s land. It was about two metres high, its solid and imposing presence adding to the suggestion that there had been bad blood between the Pembervilles and the Assigney family.
I gave a low whistle and looked around for a convenient place to scramble over before deciding the wall was too precariousto risk climbing. I steeled myself and leapt upwards, combining physical effort with a spurt of carefully directed air magic to boost me up and over. I even nailed the landing on the other side. Go me.
