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“Come here, and I’ll first show you how to bind a book.”

As he’d said, the process took just enough concentration to leave her mind blank, save for the thoughts his hands on hers brought about as he guided her in certain steps.

“Do you think Gibbs is through yet?” They’d re-bound an old, tattered copy ofJane Eyreand Atta was feeling quite a lot more grounded. “We need to get that faerie back to begin studying it.” The footwell of the car was probably not the best place to keep a mythical creature.

They’d only been outside Achilles House for a few moments when Gibbs came rushing toward the car, looking over his shoulder anxiously as if something were chasing him.

“We need to go,” he whispered harshly, fumbling with the door to close it. “Atta, get down.”

She wasted no time ducking in the backseat, and Sonder wasted no time kicking up gravel as they sped off.

“What’s happened?” he questioned when they were out on the main road and Atta popped back upright.

Gibbs took off his glasses to wipe them on his shirt. “You need to get to Achilles as soon as you can. Your absence has been noticed, and Lynch is on a warpath. Word is already spreading about the death this afternoon. They sent Vasilios to speak with the widow and field any news crews that decide to show up, but they’re on the lookout for who’s fucking with Agamemnon’s precious reputation.”

“I’ll drop the pair of you off at the manor and head straight in,” Sonder said diplomatically.

Atta bit her lip, thinking through everything being said. The risks still seemed as if they were outweighing the rewards, but in her heart of hearts, she knew that wasn’t true.

The prize, the prize, that fairytale voice hummed,always comes with sacrifice.

Sonder

“You need to get your House in order, Murdoch!” Spittle flew from Lynch’s mouth as he paced Sonder’s lab in Achilles. “You can’t possibly believe I don’t know these charlatans have originated here, under your eye.”

“Who’s truly upset here, Lynch? The Agamemnon Council, or your pride?”

Lynch crossed the room and stood toe to toe with Sonder, only he was shorter by a few inches. He had to look up at him just enough to cause one side of Sonder’s mouth to lift smugly.

“I ought to shut this place down immediately,” Lynch threatened.

“Aw,” Sonder mocked. “But then how will you get all the glory for the eradication of the Plague, hm?” He took a step forward and Lynch took one backwards. “How is your Trinity Cemetary going? Seeing any growth in your specimens?”

Lynch ground his teeth together. “You do what this House is funded to do, and that isit.”

Sonder slipped his hands into his pockets and quirked his mouth to one side. “See, I thought Achilles was funded to cure the Plague, but now I’m standing here thinking you just wanted me to feed you data for your own gain.” Hetisked. “For shame, Finneas.”

The dean’s face was turning a mottled red. “The moment I find proof it’s you under that mask, you’re finished.”

Sonder closed the distance between them and bent over to make them eye-level. “I’m shaking in my trousers.”

Lynch stormed into the corridor and Sonder let out a breath. Sinking into his desk chair, he ran a hand through his hair. His lab phone rang and he answered it on the first ring. He loathed the sound of telephones ringing.

“Murdoch.”

“Someone here to see you, prof,” Walsh’s nasally voice came over the line.

“Send them up.”

Marguerite rushed into his lab a moment later and shut the door behind her.

Sonder rose and moved to stand near his wall of chemicals and instruments. “What is it?”

“I redirected as best I could.” She looked haggard. “The woman, Mrs Byrne, was so distraught about her husband’s death that she was inconsolable, and no one could understand a word she said. I acted as her therapist, turned all reporters away.”

“Was the Garda phoned?”

Marguerite shook her head. “No, thank god. Only the Society coroner. All the widow said about the two of you is that you did all you could. I followed it up with ‘he was too far gone to the Plague,’ and that was the official statement that went out to the media. They were still camped outside her house when I left.”