The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [49]
“The blond girl …,” the doctor quavered, but Alexi shut him up with a poisonous look.
“My dear Alexi,” said Madam Vega, emerging from behind some of the shelves. “I have been looking for you.”
Alexi stalked over to her. “This one is impossibly stupid. I have enough idiocy to endure without your bringing me another fool. Why did you bring her here?”
“I already told you what happened. And she is here now because Stephen wanted to see her,” Madam Vega said in a soft but steely voice, nodding toward the doctor.
It was all I could do to stop myself from gaping at the doctor, who hovered nearby, smiling too much and wringing his hands anxiously as he watched his so-called assistant rage. For Stephen Seraphim was the name of the current Master of Obernewtyn. But how could this ineffectual young man be legal master of anything?
“Does it not occur to you that stupidity is easily feigned?” Madame Vega was saying to Alexi now. “The one we seek would be clever enough to pretend stupidity or that she is no more than a dreamer and a defective. Have a care, someday you will make a fatal error in your impatience.”
“Are you trying to tell me this creature is the one we are looking for?” Alexi snapped.
“Of course not. I have told you this one was a mistake, but there are others that might seem no less foolish,” she added calmly.
“This last fiasco—” Alexi began, but Vega soothed him.
“We will speak of that matter later,” she said, her eyes sliding pointedly to where I sat. She moved closer to me, her expression vaguely threatening. She studied me speculatively for a moment, and then crooked a finger at me. She waited until I had risen, then grasped my chin in hard, cold fingers.
“It is not wise to speak of this visit to the doctor, Elspeth. You will be most regretful if I hear that you have gossiped of this visit. Indeed, it would be better if you forgot altogether.” She stared hard into my eyes, and for a moment her mind seemed to brush against mine. I was shocked to realize that she was not just sensitive to Misfit powers like mine—she possessed a small ability herself. Though probably unaware of her power, it was what made her such a good hunter of Misfits.
I managed to keep my face bland. Finally, she released my chin and said, “In the meantime, remember what I have said about your friends.” I felt a chill at the underlying menace of her tone and did not doubt for one moment that she would carry out the implied threat.
Returning with Sly Willie to work in the kitchens for the remainder of the day, I understood the reason that people were prevented from speaking about their visits to the doctor. It wasn’t to hide the truth about his treatments. It was to ensure no one knew that control of Obernewtyn had fallen to Madam Vega and Alexi.
16
THE NEXT MORNING dawned warm and fair, but I woke with the memory of the previous day lodged inside my mind like an icicle radiating coldness. I dressed hastily and went to the kitchen, but before I could begin to tell Matthew anything of what had happened with the doctor, he told me Ariel had returned.
“Selmar?” I asked, thinking of what Louis had said.
He shook his head, saying there was still no sign of her. I noticed several people seated close were listening avidly to us, and I decided to save my own news until midmeal on the farms, where we could ensure that we would not be overheard. It had occurred to me the night before that I was unlikely to be the only person Madam Vega had set to spy.
In the fields that morning, we all toiled hard, bringing in the harvest. Every spare Misfit was on the farms now, and each of the sections was alive with activity. To my delight, later in the morning Matthew and I were among those sent out to bale a field of hay. Baling was a two-person job, and whenever we were at the end of our row, we were far enough from the other teams to be able to talk.
“Where is Dameon?” I asked, for although he had come to the farms with us, I had not seen him