Chapter 26: Moonlight Plotting I

“I don’t like this.”

Spade glanced up from where she sat leaning against the wall and raised a scarred eyebrow.

“What part?”

“All of it.” Leo frowned. The room Irving had led them to was fairly small, holding a single bed, window, and a plain wooden desk and some extra chairs. Stacked boxes sat in the corner, and the rectangular bookshelf held a few children’s books and toys covered in a layer of dust.

Irving had given them new sheets, blankets, and pillows, and a crisp breeze blew in through the open window. An old, dusty smell had filled the space when they’d entered, and they’d opened the window in an attempt to counteract it. This room clearly hadn’t been used in a long time.

The window faced the lake in the back, and Leo could see a few old boats in the backyard. Tall grasses swayed in the wind, and even now, a few Hounds remained closer to the shore, loitering around and standing guard.

Leo spoke in a low voice, not wanting to be overheard.

“No matter how stubborn Irving is, he’s probably gonna end up telling the Hounds the directions.” He refused to believe the man would actually sacrifice the rest of the village just to hold onto the routes.

“And then they’ll find the fragment first,” Allan finished Leo’s thought. The [Fragmentholder] nodded. He’d taken a seat at the desk while Allan sat on the windowsill, all three of their bags tossed onto the bed.

The [Healer] frowned. “Does the fragmentholder database show you where it is?”

“It’s too vague. The map just highlights the whole lake.” Leo bit his lip. “If we could convince Irving to tell us the directions, we might be able to get past the guards and search ourselves. We could take a boat.” He huffed, rubbing his head in frustration. “But I seriously doubt he’d tell us.”

They’d gone back to the living room once for a brief, stilted dinner. Irving hadn’t seemed particularly keen on talking to them—understandably so considering they were unwanted guests—before he’d retreated down the hall to his own room with a few brief words.

“Don’t touch anything,” the man had said. “And I’m guessing I don’t need to warn you not to leave the house. The Hounds keep guards around at all times.”

After that, he’d shut the door. They hadn’t heard from the man since. He’d seemed more friendly at first, but after their conversation, it seemed Irving had taken it upon himself to try and put more distance between himself and his guests. It would be difficult to get the man to open up again.

“Could we take it from the Hounds after they find it?” Allan suggested. “Then we wouldn’t need to search the lake at all.”

Leo crossed his arms in thought. “Maybe, but it’s risky. We wouldn’t stand a chance against all of them, and I’m not sure we could steal it without them noticing. Our best bet is still trying to get it first.”

The question, then, was how? Maybe they could try and get directions from other fishermen? They only had incomplete routes, but they might be able to piece something together.

No, that wouldn’t work, Leo thought. From the sounds of it no one in Clearside ventured close to the center of the lake, which was where most of the islands were. Leo’s eyebrows wrinkled.

Speaking of the islands, from what he’d heard the Glass Lake had hundreds of islands scattered across its vast surface. The fragment being on one of them wasn’t much of a lead; it’d take ages to find it even if they did find a way to navigate the warped waters.

The Hounds had to know that too. The [Fragmentholder] frowned. It was likely that the prophetic vision had contained a few more details that they hadn’t told Irving, something that would let them narrow things down. Though, he supposed with the number of Hounds, searching that many islands would be easier for them than it would be if he, Allan, and Spade tried to do the same.

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Outside, the sun finished its descent below the horizon. The wall of light glowed even more brightly in the night sky, illuminating a portion of the darkness with a hazy golden glow that merged with the silver moonlight and softened the edges of the landscape below. The surface of the Glass Lake continued to shine like a mirror, its uncanny stillness more apparent than ever in the quiet of the night.

“We can think on it more tomorrow.” Spade nodded to the window. “Might as well sleep now and plan in the morning.”

Leo nodded slowly, still unsatisfied. “I guess.” He eyed the bed, their bags lying haphazardly on the blankets, and frowned. “Did anyone want the bed?”

“I was going to sleep on the floor,” Allan said.

“I was as well.”

Leo, as it turned out, had also been planning on doing the same thing. He was too used to it by now; a soft mattress wouldn’t be comfortable. It did feel weird though, for none of them to actually use the bed.

“We can use it as a table,” Allan suggested when Leo voiced the thought, and he snorted.

“I guess that’s one way to do it.” His eyes lingered on the open window, tracing the distant Hound guard still outside by the shore and the dark shadows of the boats resting in various backyards.

“Hey, do any of you mind if I leave the window open? The wind’s nice.”

“I’ve got no problem with it,” Spade said. She raised an eyebrow. “No watch tonight?”

Leo jerked his head at the Hound outside. “We’re already being watched anyway. If the Silence shows up again that’s their problem.” He eyed the [Executioner] carefully, speaking slowly. “And by now I doubt you’re trying to kill us, not that you could with the party system anyway.”

The woman chuckled. “That’s true,” she remarked. “This would be a poor place to attack regardless. There’s not much space for a fight.”

“It’s like you’re trying to sound suspicious,” Leo muttered. He rose and settled down on the floor on one side of the bed, Spade on the other. Allan took up a spot in the middle, all three spread out nearly equally distant from each other. The breeze whistled past, the curtains billowing slightly.

Leo rolled over and used the wooden desk to provide a bit of shelter. It helped block some of the light from the wall.

“Night,” he muttered. He heard a muffled response from Allan, and then the room fell silent.

Leo kept his eyes open. He lay there, perfectly still, listening to Allan and Spade’s breaths and the occasional squeaks of wood as they shifted positions. Silver and golden light continued to filter in through the open window.

Allan’s breathing evened out first, the [Healer] falling into a deep sleep. Spade took a lot longer, but Leo kept waiting, patient, as time ticked by. With the bed obscuring the [Executioner] from view, he needed to make sure.

Finally, after what felt like hours had passed, Spade’s quiet breaths also seemed to even out. Leo waited a little longer, listening just in case.

And then, very carefully, he activated [Fade into Background], equipped his [Stealth] passive skill, and rose to a crouch.

He waited, unmoving, for any sounds or shifts in breathing. There were none.

Allan had always been a heavy sleeper, Leo knew. It was a rare trait for someone from the slums, but according to Allan he’d become like that after a childhood head injury. When they lived together it didn’t matter much since Leo would wake up if anything happened.

At times like this, though, it made it easy to sneak away without inevitably worrying the man, who definitely wouldn’t approve of what Leo was doing.

The [Fragmentholder] slowly straightened enough to peer over the bed and out the window. Spade was facing the wall, and he frowned. He didn’t know how heavy of a sleeper she was, or if the [Executioner] would even care if she did notice him. It was hard to know what she was thinking, but he figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

Outside, two Hounds remained by the shore occasionally pacing back and forth. The dark silhouette of a tied up boat sat directly in front of the window, and Leo carefully shifted position, muscles tensing.

When the closest Hound turned to begin pacing in the other direction, he jumped out the window in a smooth motion with the aid of [Acrobatics].

His feet hit the grassy ground, and he shrunk in on himself, using the boat to hide himself from view.

The house remained silent. The Hounds kept pacing.

Leo exhaled, mind churning as he recalled the positions of the guards from earlier that day and the streets they’d passed on the way here.

Taking one more moment to steady himself, the [Fragmentholder] leapt forward the next time the guards turned, weaving around the home and into the alleyway like a silent shadow.