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difficult time tracking her. But still her disquiet grew.
As the ground below the causeway started to rise again,
MINERVA WAKES 193
the old man turned to her. Thoughtfully, he said, "Seems to
me someone don't know where she's goin' but in as much of a huny to get there
as you are must be running away from something. That wouldn't be the case,
would it?"
Minerva shook her head. "I'm running to something I
just don't know what yet. Really."
He tipped his head slowly to one side and rotated his ears up and a bit
forward. His eyes narrowed. "Wouldn't be run-
ning toward the Veil of Illusion, would you?"
Minerva was nonplussed. The what?"
He shrugged and smiled- "No, I guess not then." He seemed ready to drop the
subject.
Minerva gathered up her courage. "What is the Veil of
Illusion? If you don't mind?"
"No fit place for anyone not even critters." And that was all Lorcus would say
about it.
Minerva dropped the subject. They were coming into another village more of a
hamlet, really. A few shabby houses lined the road on both sides, and tiny,
scruffy fields spread out behind diem. She was having a hard time recon-
ciling the cheymat's wealth and technological sophistication with the apparent
poverty and backwardness of diese other parts of Eyrith.
On earth, there are places this out of touch, she thought, but not so dose to
civilization. And dien she reconsidered.
Living in a middle-class neighborhood for most of her life, how did she know
what die lives of die people around her were like? She saw the poverty and the
squalor here because it was new to her eyes, and she hadn't yet learned to
look past it.
She thought, if she made it back to her own world, she would pay more
attention to odier people. Maybe if she really were a Weaver she could do some
good diere.
"Old Stoneman," die farmer said, widi a nod of his head back to die rapidly
receding village- He Uien fell back to silence.
The duffel at Minerva's feet shifted Murp had evidendy awakened. She yawned
and stretched, hoping to cover any noises die cat might make, but die farmer
was not misled-
194 HoUy Lisle
"What yer got in the bag?" he asked.
"Clothes and my lunch," she lied.
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"Thought I smelled something fine in there live meat, I
reckoned, but didn't think yer the type to eat yer's live. 'S
how I like mine, too." He gave the bag a wistful glance, and smiled hopefully
at her. "Yer wouldn't like t'share, would yer? I've a bit of cheese and I'd
planned t' loll one of the beasts in the back, mayhaps, if they didn't have
something I
liked in Weirds' Hold, but I've never smelled die likes of that."
Minerva tried not to let her dismay show. "Ah " she said, and stared at the
bag at her feet, which was now wriggling vigorously and would at any moment,
she suspected, let out with an indignant yowl or two. "Urn " She gave the
farmer an apologetic smile. "Really not even enough there for one, and I'd
Just brought this one along as a snack. If I'd known ahead of time, I could
have grabbed another one, but. . ."
Her voice trailed off into silence, and she gave him a help-
less shrug.
His disappointment was evident. "Oh. Yes, I reckon the beast would have to be
small to fit in there. Perhaps if you could tell me where you got it. . . ?"
Minerva brushed her hair out of her face and said, "Of course. I caught this
one in the ah " What cUd TaUeos call the placed Oh. yes. "In the Preserve."
Lorcus stared at her hand. Rather, she noted, he stared at her ring. And
suddenly he smiled in a way she did not like at all. His attention snapped
back to the road, and he said, "Then that would possibly be a magical
creature, hmmm?
I'd not want to eat that, anyway. Hard on the stomach, some of those."
"I imagine so," Minerva said, and edged farther toward the passenger door. The
truck was moving awfully fast. The old man had decided to make some time, she
could tell. Where before he had pulled onto the first shoulder he came to
whenever another vehicle approached, now he just kept on driving, counting on
the other drivers to make way for him.
Finally, she dared to say, "You seem in an awfully big hurry."
MINERVA WAKES 195
"Gettin' late," he replied, "and I'm gettin' hungry."
That was as much about that topic as Minerva cared to hear.
"Minnerjean," the old man said, "we're not far out of
Weirds' Hold, Whyn't you let me buy yer a nice dinner 'fore you head on?" He
smiled at her, keeping his teeth mostly hidden. "You've been fine company and
I'd like to treat you." He frowned a bit, and his huge ears flipped back.
"They don't have real fresh meat in the big city you'n have to eat
Idued-and-cooked. But it hain't bad. I've had it a time or two."
Minerva hated to appear rude and as long as she didn't have to eat a live
animal, or watch the old man eat one, she thought she could tolerate his
company a while longer. He wasn't so terrible. He simply made her nervous. She
smiled back at him. "Why, thank you, Lorcus. That's very kind of you."
His smile grew wider, so that she could see the fangs again. "Not a 'tall," he
said. "Not a 'tall."
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By the time Darryl got home from the family ^thering after the funeral, it was
close to four PM., and he was exhausted. His mom and dad, refusing to be
denied, were going to stop by in less than an hour. That didn't give him much
time to write. He pushed open his front door and plodded toward the stairs.
The voice from the living room stopped him.
"I wish I could watch things in the mirror when you weren't here," Birkwelch
called, "I read what you wrote while I was waiting for you, and I think you've
created a rec-
ipe for disaster but I couldn't see what was going on.
There's no telling what might have happened to her by now."
"She's fine." Darryl started back toward the stairs again. "I
only caught about two glimpses of her in mirrors the whole time I was at her
folks' house. Those are people who don't believe in mirrors." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]