Страница 65 из 99
The song finally finished, and the Mole worked his remote control, cutting off the next number. Molly danced on for a moment, and then strode back to join us. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright and happy.
"Spoilsport!" she said cheerfully to the Mole, and actually leaned over him to kiss him on the cheek. The Mole blushed bright red. Molly looked at me.
"Are we finished here, Eddie?"
"Almost," I said. I turned back to the Mole. "What do you know about strange matter?"
"Ah," said the Mole. "Yes, yes! I heard about the elf lord’s arrow! It really punched right through your armour? Interesting…That was, well, I won’t say unprecedented—there are stories—but this is the first authenticated case I’ve ever encountered. All I can tell you for sure is that strange matter comes from another dimension of reality, where the laws of physics are subtly different. So that things which could never arise naturally here are possible there. Like strange matter, with its amazing u
"It’s inside me," I said. "Poisoning me. Killing me. Is there a cure, an antidote? Something I could use to drive it out of me?"
"I don’t know," said the Mole, and I could see it pained him to admit it. "I’d need to know exactly where it came from. Only the elf lord could tell us that, and elves don’t talk to anyone who isn’t an elf. I have some indirect contacts…Yes. Give me a few weeks, and I might have something to tell you."
"I don’t have a few weeks," I said. "And I’m starting to think that the only place which could help me, the only place with the answers I need, is the library back at the Hall."
"They won’t help you," said the Mole.
I smiled unpleasantly. It felt good. "I wasn’t pla
"Now, that’s more like it!" said Molly, clapping her hands together gleefully. "Hard core, Eddie! No one’s dared burgle the Hall in generations! Let me come too! Oh, please; I promise I’ll make a real mess of the place!"
"Edwin, no; don’t even think it," the Mole said urgently. "You know what kind of security protects the Hall. All the terrible things and forces our family rely on to protect their privacy. Any safe words you might have known will have been cancelled by now. You don’t want to end up as one of the scarecrows, do you?"
"Wait a minute; those are real?" said Molly. "I thought they were just stories to scare people off."
"They’re real," I said. "I’ve heard them screaming. My family really is just as vicious and vindictive towards uninvited visitors as all the stories say we are." I looked at the Mole. "You probably know more about the Hall’s defences than anyone else who isn’t actually an insider. If you were to come with us…"
"No! No. I couldn’t."
"Not even for a chance to strike back at the people who ruined your life?"
"You don’t understand," said the broken man who used to be Malcolm Drood. "I haven’t left this place since I first came down here. All those years ago…This is the only place where I feel safe anymore. Just the thought of leaving here…is more than I can bear. You’re the first real, in the flesh visitors I’ve allowed in here since I first shut the door behind me and sealed myself off from the world." He managed a small smile. "You should feel honoured."
"No company, ever?" said Molly. "I heard rumours, but I never really thought…How do you stand it?"
"Because the alternatives are worse," said the Mole. "I live through my screens now, and on the Net. A virtual life, but better than none."
"All those years," I said. "Gathering and collating information, but you’ve never done anything to expose the truth about our family to any of the world’s media. Why not?"
"Because I’m not ready to die yet," said the Mole.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Time and Time Again
"So," I said to the Mole, "is there by any chance a back way out of this place? I’m really not too keen on fighting my way back through tu
"Of course there’s another way out," said the Mole. "You don’t think I’d allow myself to be trapped anywhere, even in my own lair, do you? I may be paranoid, agoraphobic, and unhealthily addicted to eBay, but I’m not stupid. No. I’ve always known that one day my many enemies will track me down, and then I will have to leave my comfortable little bolthole. Probably ru
"Where on the surface?" said Molly.
"Anywhere on the surface," the Mole said smugly. "Just tell the elevator where you want to go, and it will deliver you there."
"Anywhere in London?" said Molly.
"Anywhere in the world," said the Mole. "You always did think too small, Molly."
"An elevator to anywhere in the world?" I said. "How is that even possible?"
The Mole smiled on me pityingly. "You wouldn’t understand even if I did explain it to you. Let’s just say that quantum uncertainty is a wonderful thing and leave it at that. It was nice to meet you at last, Molly. And you, Edwin. But don’t come back. You’re just too dangerous to have around. Bye-bye. Safe journey. Why are you still here?"
Molly and I took the hint, nodded good-bye, and headed for the back of the cavern. Where there was indeed a perfectly ordinary elevator door set flush into the black basalt cavern wall. The door was polished steel, and beside it was a big red button, marked UP. I looked at Molly.
"On to the next rogue, I suppose. For want of anything better to do. You do know of another rogue?"
"Of course. Sebastian Drood. He has a nice little place in Knightsbridge, just down the road from you."
I may have blinked a few times. "I never knew that."
"Lot of things you don’t know that I do," said Molly. "You’d be amazed. Sebastian’s been around for ages, though he doesn’t bother to make the scene much. Likes to be thought of as a gentleman thief, but he’s really just a professional burglar with delusions of grandeur."
"Can’t say I know the name," I said. "Probably got scrubbed from the family history, like the Mole. And me."
"Sebastian’s a lot older than you," said Molly. "And though he’s not averse to involving himself in the odd plot or intrigue, he’s always been a behind-the-scenes kind of player. A real let’s you and him fight kind of guy. Never does anything unless there’s a profit in there somewhere for him. But he might help you…just to get back at the family that dared to outlaw him. Sebastian’s always been a great one for nursing a grudge."
She hit the UP button and a
The sun was high in the sky. Half a day gone, and damn all to show for it. It was hard to think, to plan properly, under such constant pressure. I looked back at Molly and wasn’t surprised to discover that the elevator door had disappeared behind her.