Page 9 of The Curious Incident of the Great Cookie Snackcident of 979
“It was the day of our ritual,” she whispered. “I don’t dare assume the Lady was answering us, but—oh Sig, this could be exactly what we’ve been waiting for!”
Hands shaking in front of her face, Sirin turned to pace along the bank. “Don’t get too excited, we don’t want to draw any spurious conclusions,” she said, quite to herself.
“It was during the ritual, now that you mention it ...” Abi observed. Sirin’s arm shot out, silencing her.
“Please, I can’t afford to hope. I need facts. Though, I suppose that is, in fact, a fact. I’m sorry, I’m just so flustered.” Sirin’s face softened. “Have either of you ever seen such a thing before?”
Senka’s features twisted in confusion as their eyes roamed across Abi’s face. Abi nodded, ever so slightly and squeezed their hand. They were still holding hands, and the thought made Abi feel like she was swooping through the sky as her owl.
“Maybe? This is the first time I have ever had anyone near me at the time, and all of the other times, well, I had convinced myself that I was making it up. Now, I’m not so sure,” Senka said, shoulders hunched, their hand wrapped tightly around Abi’s.
“I see,” Sirin said, nodding, “it can be easy to doubt yourself in such circumstances. It seems to me we need some method ofobtaining proof. Before we can begin to explorewhyshe might be rousing, we need to establish that it is, in fact, happening.”
Abi snuck a glance at Senka’s face, trying to gauge their reaction to Sirin inserting herself in the situation. They looked ... lighter. Their wisps swayed slower, serene and possibly curious. Their tendrils followed Sirin’s pacing and reached toward her when she neared. Traitors.
“All right, I like it,” Abi agreed, pleased when a few tendrils wrapped themselves around her arm. “Do you have any ideas?”
“I do have one idea ... though I am unsure if I will be able to get the materials, or if I correctly remember the process.” Sirin slowed her pacing because Sigfinn snorted. “What?”
“I’ve yet to know you to ‘not remember something correctly,’” he observed with a shrug. “If you’ve read it, I have confidence that you will remember.2 What would we need?”
“A plate of copper, silver, mercury, probably some sort of twine to put around each of her digits—” she said, ticking things off on her fingers.
“Twine for her digits?” Abi squealed, aghast. “You can’t possibly mean to tie twine around her fingers and toes! She’s, she’s, she’s theLady!”
“Well, I know—Iknow,” Sirin allowed, her shoulders bunching. “But we can’t wait for her to move around the clock. It does feel less than reverent, but it would be the easiest way to know ...”
Senka, who had just started to look excited and hopeful, shrank in on themself again. Abi’s stomach clenched at the sight. She hated seeing Senka like this, she was desperate to get them proof, but the idea of tying strings to their Lady was out of the question, and Senka well knew it. Only those guards with the proper training were permitted to touch her, and the twine would be immediately visible. Further, Abi just didn’t see howa bunch of metals and twine were going to provide them the evidence they needed.
“And those things will somehow prove she’s moving?” Abi asked, shaking her head.
Sirin opened her mouth to speak, but Sigfinn excitedly talked over her. “Actually, they will! It’s for this machine Sirin’s told me about, it can capture an image and fix it onto a bit of metal. So, when the Lady moves, it will capture a picture of either the ripples originating from her,orbetter yet, show that she’s changed positions! So, you can see why we need the twine, we need to trigger the capture the second she moves!”
Sigfinn was waving his webbed hands about, gesturing wildly as he continued to talk, going into the details of how it worked. He was still in that gangly stage, where his torso hadn’t grown into his limbs, and if the situation weren’t so serious, Abi thought she might have giggled. His arm movements wafted air at her, and Abi was reminded of the ripples she and Senka had seen on the water. Then, that reminded her of when she fished, the ripples disturbed her bobber and would make her think she had a fish on the line, when perhaps it was just the wind.
“What about some sort of float? Like a fishing bobber, if it movedthatcould trigger the capture, couldn’t it?” she blurted, likely in the middle of Sigfinn’s continuing explanation. Everyone turned to her, Senka’s face was open and curious, Sigfinn’s was a little confused, but she watched Sirin’s face transform from pursed-lip consideration to open-mouthed joy.
“That could work wonderfully!” Sirin said, clasping her hands over her heart and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “And you are an owl shifter, right? So, you could fly them over without disturbing her? Wonderful, so, Sig, we are going to need ...” Sirin turned abruptly to walk away, apparently done talking to them now that they had a viable plan. As they walked away, Sirinwaved over her shoulder and called that they would return as soon as they had the supplies.
Turning to her friend, Abi could see that Senka was just as overwhelmed by the experience as she was. They smiled at her, and her stomach did its now-familiar impression of housing butterflies. Senka looked down to their still linked hands, their tendrils almost disappearing as they sunk into Abi’s skin. Now that she’d realized, Abi couldfeelthem, almost as a memory of movement. They waved slightly faster than what she was used to, almost matching her quickened pulse. Sucking in a quick breath, Abi looked up to see Senka standingsoclose, their glowing eyes inches from her, the tickle of their tendrils caressing her all over.
A delicious pressure built between her thighs, and she could feel wetness begin to pool there. Senka obviously had little control or knowledge of what their wisps were up to, because Abi felt one brush against her core, so faint she almost missed it. Abi swayed toward her friend, abjectly mortified but unable to move away. Senka’s tendrils, with their not-quite-solid pressure, held her in place, perhaps even pulled her closer. The corner of Senka’s deep mouth quirked up, the glint of one of their sharp canines peeking out.
“I was thinking,” they said, their multitude of appendages releasing her, unwinding carefully to make sure Abi was stable. “That it might actually be more instructive if we cooked together, instead of me just bringing you lunch. What do you think? Would you want to come by after work tomorrow and cook with me?”
“Yes.”
Abi didn’t even think about it, didn’t even have the chance. Parts of her that were not her conscious self were in control at the moment, and they clearly knew what they wanted. They wanted to spend as much time with Senka as possible. Laughingwith Senka, touching Senka, and having those tempting tendrils sink into her wherever they pleased.
1. Mama Ospak’s Lemon-Lavender Shortbread 1 cup all-purpose flour1/4 tsp. salt1/3 cup granulated sugar1 1/2 tsp. culinary lavender1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest1/2 cup unsalted butter softened1/2 tsp. vanilla extractpure cane sugar for sprinkling, if desiredGrind lavender, lemon zest, and granulated sugar in a mortar with pestle until fully infused. Mix butter and sugar mixture until fluffy. Add flour, form into a puck, and chill, covered in the icebox until firm. Roll out, sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake for 12 minutes at 325*F or until golden brown.
2. Luckily Sigfinn no longer holds the delusion of my infallibility. While I remembered the required components for this, there are a great many things that I have forgotten over the years, especially appointments that Berne told me about but didn’t tell my assistant to remind me of. Truly, the man is a gem.
Chapter five
Abi
IN WHICH A COVERT MECHANISM IS PLACED, SUPPER IS STARTED AND THEN PROMPTLY DERAILED