Sea of Ghosts - Alan Campbell [40]
A magic pendant, ring or pin?
Was Ianthe hiding it somewhere on her body even now?
He jumped out of bed, threw on his galoshes and stormed downstairs.
Ianthe was already asleep, curled up on her pallet, but Hana lifted her head, looked up at him and smiled. That smile disarmed him now, as it had all those years ago. She became the same young woman he’d known in Weaverbrook, and for an awful moment he didn’t know if he could do what he’d come down here to do. But then he understood the purpose behind her smile. She was tricking him, making a fool of a brine-rotten old jailer. His anger stirred again.
‘Wake her,’ he said.
Hana frowned.
‘I said, wake her.’
For a moment Hana looked uncertain, but then she shook her daughter awake.
‘Where is it?’ Granger asked the girl.
‘Where is what?’ Hana replied.
‘I’m not going to play any more games with you. Show it to me.’
Mother and daughter looked at each other. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Hana said.
‘All right.’ Granger let out a sigh. ‘Strip.’
‘What?’ Hana said. Ianthe looked suddenly fearful.
‘Strip,’ Granger repeated to Ianthe. ‘Take off your clothes and hand them over.’
Hana moved between Granger and their daughter. ‘Why are you doing this?’
Granger felt his face fill with blood. ‘I’m not going to harm you,’ he said through a clenched jaw. ‘But if you don’t give me the artefact right now, I’ll find it myself. Even if that means stripping you naked here and now.’
Ianthe let out a sob. ‘I told you what he’s like,’ she cried. ‘He’s no better than the others.’
‘Don’t do this, Tom. Please.’
‘Then tell her to do as I say.’
Hana shook her head incredulously. ‘You think she stole something?’
He said nothing.
‘I have no idea what you think she’s taken, but you are not laying one finger on her.’
Granger grabbed Hana by the arm and dragged her away from the girl. Ianthe gasped and scrambled away from him, her eyes wide with fear. He reached for her, but she shrieked and kicked out wildly. Her boot caught his shoulder, causing his old wound to flare in pain. He grunted and surged forward, grabbing her arms to pin her up against the wall. She spat in his face.
‘Stop it,’ Hana yelled.
Granger was shaking the girl. ‘What is it?’ he said. ‘A ring? A pendant? Show it to me.’
Hana seized him by the neck and head. She was clinging to his back, trying to pull him away, her fingers scrabbling across his sweating face. Ianthe screamed. Granger turned and slammed himself, and Hana, against the wall, again and again until he felt her grip relax. His chest tightened with pain, but he ignored it. He tore her arms loose and pushed her away from him.
Now he was furious. ‘Where is it?’
‘She doesn’t have anything like that,’ Hana sobbed.
‘Then what is it? How does she know the things she does?’
‘She can see through the eyes of others.’
Granger stopped. He was breathing heavily, his lungs straining to suck in air. His shoulder throbbed where the girl had kicked it.
Hana was sobbing. ‘She knew about your money because you saw it,’ she said, ‘and she knew what your friend said because you heard him say it. Inny was born with a . . .’ For a moment she seemed to struggle to find the right word. ‘I suppose it’s a gift,’ she said at last. ‘She can only see and hear things that other people see and hear. It’s the same with smell and touch – she tunes into their senses. But she can’t read their thoughts any more than you or I can.’
A brine mutation? Granger considered this. She didn’t see me fill the jug with poison because it was dark?
‘What about the trove?’ he demanded
‘The Drowned have eyes too,’ Hana retorted, ‘and their vision is attuned to the gloom. They can see better than any human can. You never notice them, but they’re down there. Thousands