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“He is so weak, and yet, I can’t risk taking him on with the magical tricks he seems to have up his sleeves.” Theo’s voice was infused with frustration. “They are right here. Right behind this wall.” He hit it lightly with his fist.

“We should check out his house,” Melodie said. “If we can take him unawares, using the net or the confusion dust I still have in my pocket, we could contain him.”

“I’d prefer to have the children safe before then,” Theo said. “But if that’s the only way, so be it.”

CHAPTER 27

A rock camethrough the window.

It cracked the glass so loudly, Viviane jumped.

Her focus had been on Ric, who was slumped against the wall, looking as gray as he had the first day he’d woken up, and the rock had been a shock of sound—completely unexpected.

It hit one of the bars of their prison cell and spun back to the wall, and Ivan reached out and plucked it from the air.

He ripped a piece of paper off it, read it, and passed the scrap to Gallain.

“Theo.” Gallain grinned.

Ivan snatched the paper back and began to write on it with a pencil that she saw now had been tied to the rock, and then he swore as it disappeared in his hand.

“Melodie,” Caro breathed. “She painted it.”

“The paper’s real,” Jacinta said, and Viviane saw it was the only thing that was still visible. Even the rock had disappeared.

“Can you reach the door?” Caro asked Gallain, who was closest to it. “Slip the paper under it?”

“Maybe.” He glanced at Ivan and they both got to their feet, shuffling as close to the door as they could. Eventually they laydown, and Gallain stretched out an arm. The paper fit under the door, and it was jerked out of his fingers.

“Gallain?”

Vivi heard Theo’s voice coming in a whisper from under the gap in door, and for the first time allowed herself to believe he was really there.

“Lieutenant. We’re in here with the children.”

“All four of you?”

She saw Gallain wince at the question, and realized he must feel foolish that they had all been so easily taken. “Yes.”

“I’m glad you’re safe. What’s the layout in there?” Theo asked.

“We’re chained to the wall under the window. The children are in a room with a wall of bars enclosing them, directly opposite us.”

“We’ll see if we can break open the door. Melodie will draw a crowbar.”

Viviane tried to understand what he meant, and there was sudden silence, and she guessed he had slipped away.

Having gone outside earlier, she knew the building that was most likely Marchant’s house faced the door, so every moment he crouched beside it opened him up to discovery.

“Who’s Melodie?” Genevieve asked. “And what does he mean, ‘draw a crowbar’?”

The four soldiers said nothing in response, and Viviane guessed they were probably under orders not to talk about Melodie’s gifts.

The rock had disappeared, the pencil had done the same. Maybe this Melodie could draw things into being for a short time.

A moment later, there was a scratching sound, and then a crack of wood as Theo levered a crowbar against the door.

After only a few minutes, the noise stopped and she guessed the crowbar had disappeared, but almost immediately, he started again. Maybe Melodie was making more as he worked, so he would have a never-ending supply of them.