Sixty-One Nails Part 18

"I'm not lying! I'm not! Please listen to me." She had to listen.

"You must be lying. Tell me how." Her voice had a harsh edge to it. I knew at any moment she would push the knife home.

"Just wait a moment. Wait, please." I closed my eyes but tears still ran unbidden down my face. I didn't want to die like this, not by her hand. Why was she doing this? "Please, Blackbird, don't kill me. I'm not lying, I'm not. I can't. You know I can't."

My every nerve tensed, waiting for the searing pain I knew would accompany the knife. The waiting extended from seconds into minutes. The moment came, and pa.s.sed.

I couldn't keep up that level of tension indefinitely. I hesitantly opened my eyes, still pressed against the wall.

"Blackbird?"

"Shut up!"

"There must be a way I can-"

"I said quiet! I'm trying to think."

The knife-point stayed pressed into the back of my skull and the pressure of her knee into my back increased. My knees were painfully jammed against the wall on the bare floor. It was intensely uncomfortable. "Blackbird, can I move just a little?"

An exasperated sigh came from behind me. "It would be easier for us both if I just killed you and had done with it."

I took that as a No and kept still. It would be a shame if she killed me now just for irritating her. She hadn't killed me yet, though. There was hope.

"Answer me more questions. What did you say to offend Gramawl?"

"I didn't do anything to offend him. It was him who used his magic on me." There was a further pause. "Was that the right answer? "

"Which stone did Kareesh like best?"

"I don't know, ask her! No, wait a minute, the red one. It was dark red. It felt odd, wrong somehow. "

"Tell me about your daughter. I want her full name and date of birth, where she goes to school, everything. "

"You said I wasn't to tell anyone. You said I had to stay away from her and not lead anyone to her. "

"I changed my mind. Tell me."

"What for? You said it was dangerous." I still wasn't exactly sure who I was dealing with. Maybe this wasn't Blackbird after all? Now that I thought about it, she didn't even act like Blackbird and telling her the details might enable whoever it was to find Alex. "Just tell me or we end this now!"

I took a deep breath. "No. I can't tell you that. Ask me something else."

"Tell me!"

"No."

It sounded such a small word to end a life, but I wouldn't give away my daughter. I scrunched my eyes together tight and waited for the knife. Instead the pressure of the point was removed and she stopped pus.h.i.+ng me against the wall. "You believe me? "

"Just don't move!"

"I'd really like to sit back now, if you could just refrain from stabbing me?" I was feeling a little more confident, now the knife had been withdrawn.

"You may sit back, but keep your hands on the wall where I can see them." She still sounded angry, or maybe just scared. I kept my hands pressed onto the cold surface but sat back on my heels, sighing at the relief as I was able to take some of my weight off my knees. "Tell me about last night," she demanded, "after I left you at the tube station. Tell me all of it and try not to leave anything out. Don't make any sudden moves. I've still got the knife."

I didn't need reminding. A sticky trickle was running down my spine.

I started with the tube ride home and told her as much as I could remember. I told her about trying to blend in with the commuters, about clearing out the flat and putting my life into three padded envelopes. When I explained about waking in the night and discovering my glow and how excited I was, she laughed, but it was hollow.

I got ahead of myself about the thing in the hall and had to go back and explain about the squeaky stair that had brought me back to wakefulness. I explained how I had sealed the door to keep the creature from entering my bedroom. When I explained about the black spots, she hissed between her teeth, but then told me to continue.

I told her about climbing over the balcony and running away with my rucksack, then getting arrested and being taken back to the flat by the police. "You went back? Willingly?"

"They weren't going to accept no for an answer. Besides, there wasn't much I could do."

"You wouldn't have got me back in there," she said. "They went first. They checked every room with me coming after."

"That wouldn't bother her. She could have been in the flat all the time and they'd never have seen her until it was too late."

"Her?"

"The Fey that came after you was female, though the body she inhabited may just as easily have been male. A door wouldn't stop her normally but she was using a human body."

"Why wouldn't the door stop her? I sealed it with magic. It worked."

"You sealed the door shut, which was well done, but a shade isn't entirely corporeal. They can dissolve into things, entering through the tiniest crack. They're almost impossible to kill because you can't touch them. In darkness they can lurk in any shadow. She could have been in your flat all the time you were there and you'd never have known."

"She called me 'brother'. She said, 'Brother, open the door.' It was really creepy."

"You didn't tell me that before."

"I didn't remember. I was trying to climb out of a first floor window at the time. Why did she call me that? "

"I'll explain in a moment. So you went back inside? "

"The officers went in first. There was no sign of her in the flat but the walls and ceiling were covered in mould. The police wanted me to explain it, but what could I tell them? "

"It was darkspore. "

"The mould?"

"That's how I knew the Fey that came for you was female. She used darkspore to weaken the door so she could go through it after you sealed it shut. That's a gift that only a shade can use."