The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [35]
He shrugged, hardly seeming to hear the question. I decided to try another tack. “Do you know Ariel? And Selmar?” I asked.
He nodded, but his eyes had grown wary, and I wondered which name had produced the change. “Oh, aye. I know them all, an’ more. Selmar’s a poor sad thing now. Ye’d nowt know her if ye could see how she were when she first came. An’ she were th’ hope of Obernewtyn …,” he said bitterly.
I frowned in puzzlement, for the girl that had hammered at my door that first day seemed utterly defective. Apparently she had not been born that way. I was about to ask Louis what had happened to her when he suddenly stood up, knocked his pipe out, and ordered me tersely to get on with the milking and take myself back to the maze gate when I was finished. He stamped on the glowing ashes and walked away.
When I had finished the milking and washed the buckets, I came out of the barn forlornly, thinking I had a bad habit of annoying the wrong people. I had sat down outside the barn to rest for a moment when I heard a soft footfall.
“Don’t tell me you are tired!” came Rushton’s mocking voice. I looked up to find the overseer looking down at me, and suddenly anger surged through me.
“People like you are the worst sort,” I said in a low voice that seemed to surprise him with its intensity. “You make everything so much worse with your sneering and snide comments. I do my work. Why don’t you just leave me alone?”
For a moment, he actually seemed taken aback; then he shrugged. “I hardly think the opinions of one Misfit will trouble me too much,” he said. “Now get up. It is time for you to return to the house.”
I got to my feet, knowing I had been stupid to speak up as I had, for an overseer would certainly have power enough to make me regret my outburst. The weariness in my body had somehow crept into my spirit, and I said nothing as we made our way to the maze gate, collecting others along the way. Rushton left us with an older girl who unlocked the gate and led us through the maze.
I did not see Matthew or Dameon, and guessed they had gone back with an earlier group. I felt isolated and dispirited.
I thought of Enoch’s warm recommendation of Rushton, wondering how they had become friends. Certainly it was impossible to imagine the cold, stern Rushton as anyone’s friend.
Thinking of Enoch made me think of Maruman and wonder again where the story of a cat searching for a funaga had originated. If only he were safe with the friendly old coachman. Surely it must be so. The coach horses could easily have told one of the animals on the farm about Maruman when Enoch came to Obernewtyn. But again I remembered that I’d seen no new faces recently. And what other reason would Enoch have for coming to Obernewtyn save to deliver a new Misfit?
13
I WAS IN one of the tower rooms at Obernewtyn, a room I had not seen before. It was very small and round. There was a tiny window and a door leading to a balcony.
I was about to go outside when I heard voices and realized I had no right to be there. I cringed against a wall, seeking a place to hide. Then I heard a strange keening noise, a grinding sound like metal against metal, only more musical. There was a note in the noise not unlike a scream.
As I drifted out of the dream, the noise seemed to carry on into my waking state. It was a tantalizingly familiar sound, I realized, not something that I had ever heard in my life, but a sound that oft came to me in dreams.
Thunder rolled in the air.
I opened my eyes to see Cameo hasten into my room. I usually woke to the sound of the bedroom door being unlocked in the morning, but I knew I had overslept when I saw the other beds were empty.
“Are you all right?” Cameo said. “You yelled out, and I was passing.…” She faltered, unsure of her welcome.
I forced a smile. “I was having a nightmare that a horse was about to trample me,” I said lightly as I climbed out of bed.
Uninvited, Cameo sat and watched me dress. She was very pale. “I have dreams that frighten me, too,” she said in a grave tone. I stared at her curiously,