Page 30 of The House of Quiet

Chapter Twenty-Three

A Bird Spotted

“Wait.” Minnow— Arrow , Birdie reminds herself for what feels like the fortieth time that day—holds out an arm to block Birdie from leaving the kitchen.

As usual, they crept down in the middle of the night, unable to sleep.

But tonight they talked alone, debating various plans.

Now it’s time to unlock Forest and bring him up to speed.

Arrow argued against involving Forest further.

“It’s not like he can contribute much,” she said.

But Birdie feels better when he’s around.

She doesn’t let herself think about what will happen when she knows where to look for Magpie next.

If she’ll have to leave him behind and break her heart again, just like when she had to leave her friend forever locked behind that door in the minister’s house.

But what else can she do? Ask Forest to come with her?

“What is it?” Birdie whispers, trying to peer past Arrow’s outstretched arm.

“Air’s different. The front door’s been opened.”

Birdie didn’t notice. Arrow is more in tune with this landscape than the rest of them.

Birdie burns with a flush of shame, thinking of the term they use for northerners.

Boggers. A hateful name, thrown around without care.

She knows nothing about the north, other than that it provides coal and other resources and requires a constant military presence.

She had no idea how bad things were. But even Nimbus never had a geography or history lesson that covered what’s been done to their neighbors.

“Someone’s here?” Birdie asks.

“Or someone got out.” Arrow rushes forward, Birdie hot on her heels. If Nimbus is out there alone…

Raised voices pull them up short. One of the voices is new. But the other is all too familiar.

“Who is that?” Arrow whispers.

“The minister of finance.” All Birdie’s hopes at last drain away.

He’s here. He must have recovered the letters she stole for leverage.

It was selfish and stupid of her to leave them hidden in the neighborhood junk pile.

Birdie will never forgive herself if he hurt Mare, who never had food or coin long because she always passed it to whatever child needed it most. But Birdie will never have the chance for forgiveness anyway, because now he has no reason not to make her disappear forever.

The other man sounds upset. “When you told me you had a way to fix him, I thought you meant restore him to who he used to be!”

“Your son screamed every time someone touched him. He collapsed into fits at the slightest contact. And don’t pretend he wasn’t a horrid little cretin before that.

We all remember what hedid to that girl at the minister of reform’s ball.

He’s a perfect heir now. Pliable and placid and, most importantly, quiet. Isn’t that right, Sky?”

“Yes, sir.” Sky’s voice drifts down the hallway, so soft they barely hear it.

“But he’s—they—they changed him. I’m going to the council; they’ll hear about this. They’ll hear about everything .”

The minister’s voice remains calm and cold.

“How long have we been friends? Decades, isn’t it?

I know exactly how many times you’ve visited this house.

And you’re still benefiting from it, with your son healed.

Improved, even. But by all means, tell the council.

Explain why Sky was in the House of Quiet.

See if the stain ever washes off, if anyone ever considers him a worthy match. He is your only heir, is he not?”

“Think of your own son! How would you feel if our positions were reversed?”

At this, the minister’s voice finally shifts. He sounds confused and angry. “My son? Now you’re speaking nonsense. If you’re unhappy with my discreet solution to your embarrassing problem, perhaps you’d like to observe as Sky receives one last treatment .”

“No! No, you’re right. This is better. I was just surprised, is all. I’m happy. My boy’s happy. Aren’t you, son?”

Sky doesn’t answer.

“Good,” says the minister. “Beetle, fetch the maid.”

Birdie grasps Arrow’s hand and drags her back to the kitchen. “Please,” she whispers. “Please, promise me you’ll find my sister.”

“What?”

“Swear it! Swear you’ll find Magpie. Tell her I tried.”

Arrow looks terrified, but she nods. “I swear.”

Birdie takes a deep breath, then steps free of the kitchen to meet her fate.

She doesn’t want Arrow tainted by association.

The minister is visible now, waiting in the foyer.

The last time she saw him, he was sitting at his desk, staring impassively as she revealed her treachery and made her demands.

He’d smiled and said the House of Quiet seemed like a good place for her.

She understands now. He knew she’d be stuck until he had everything in place to come and get her. She never actually tricked him into anything. He always had the power. He even looks more powerful. Younger. Stronger. His face less lined, his skin flushed with health.

He glances over at her movement, eyes flicking across her and then away.

“Here,” a new voice says. It’s the driver from the carriage.

Birdie should run. She should hide. But she’s rooted to the spot.

Because Beetle—the driver—isn’t looking for her.

He’s got another maid in his arms. Rabbit is completely limp, her skin a dull, lifeless color.

Even her copper curls seem tarnished. And… she’s not breathing.

The change from the bubbly, nervous, kind Rabbit she met in the carriage to the maid they all knew here was drastic, but Birdie was so focused on finding her sister that she thought of Rabbit only as an obstacle. Rabbit needed her help, and Birdie failed her.

“Dump her in the bog with the rest of them,” the minister says, as matter-of-factly as if he were informing his butler to plan for guests.

Then he turns away from Beetle and talks to someone else.

“It’s long past time to streamline this entire operation.

Moving to the coastal facility will make everything easier, especially with the shipments from the north.

I can still count on you to push the plans forward, right? ”

“Yes, of course,” the other man says. “Come along, Sky. We’ll wait in the coach.” An older man in a pristine suit more expensive than the procedure Birdie’s entire family spent a lifetime saving for escorts Sky out. They don’t even glance at Rabbit’s body.

Birdie wants to scream. To attack the minister. To hit him until he tells her what happened to Rabbit, what he meant by the rest of them, what happened to Magpie. But she’s frozen with fear. He wanted her to see Rabbit’s body and know what’s coming.

The House Wife’s singsong voice floats through the hallways. “Hurry,” she calls. “There’s so much noise, and we need to quiet it. If we can’t quiet the noise…”

“You weren’t supposed to kill the maid,” the minister says in a mildly irritated tone, as though the House Wife has misplaced his slippers. “She was for practice.”

“We need more,” the House Wife says. “It used to be easier.”

“Well, you’ve got that other one to tide you over now. And try to be subtler with the rest of them than you were with Sky. The four of them have parents who will be vital to your continuing survival. Do you understand?”

“We understand everything,” the House Wife says.

“Doubtful,” the minister mutters. “I’ll be back soon.” He turns on his heel and steps out of Birdie’s line of sight. The door opens. It closes. He’s gone.

He saw Birdie. She’s sure he did. But maybe this was what he wanted her to understand. He can come and go as he pleases; she’s only leaving here the same way Rabbit did.

Oh, Rabbit. Birdie’s heart aches, and her eyes burn with tears. Rabbit needed her help, and Birdie never saw it. She was too fixated on finding her sister. Who is the House Wife? What is she doing back there? And did it happen—

Did it happen to Magpie?

Arrow puts a hand on Birdie’s shoulder. They dart down the hallway to the safety of the dark stairs. Once they get to their stairwell, Birdie’s shaking so hard she has to sit down. Arrow sits next to her.

“Is Rabbit—”

Birdie nods, unable to speak.

Arrow puts her arm around Birdie, holding her close. Her voice is fierce and assured when she talks again, like she’s trying to be certain enough for both of them. “Magpie’s not dead.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he said Rabbit wasn’t supposed to die. Which means that’s not how it usually goes. It was an accident. She was supposed to practice on Rabbit. They must be doing something new. With the residents, or to prepare for this move to the coast, and it went wrong.”

Birdie wants to believe Arrow. She wants to believe that she’d know if Magpie was dead. She pretends that’s the truth. Both because she needs to, and because she knows Arrow also needs to believe that there aren’t dozens, if not hundreds, of northern children’s bodies out there in the bog.

“ Five ,” Arrow says, snapping her fingers. “There are five residents left.”

“What do you mean?” Birdie asks.

“I mean there are five residents. He said that four of them have parents who matter. Which means one of them…”

“One of them isn’t a real resident. One of them isn’t here for treatment at all.”

One of them is a traitor.

After a few agonizing minutes, Arrow squeezes Birdie’s hand.

“I’m going back to the kitchen, in case there’s anything else to hear.

You go up to the top floor and send out one of my pigeons.

You aren’t the threat, which means we still have to figure out who is.

Write minister of finance and Beetle . Then hide on the tower stairs. The minister might not really be gone.”

Birdie does as she’s told, like a coward.

She scribbles the names, releases the pigeon, and then sits in the dark, terrified, certain at any moment the driver will appear and drag her to join Rabbit in the bog.

But no one comes. After what feels like an eternity but was probably only an hour, she goes to her room.

She’ll wash the tears off her face, and then she’ll go through Rabbit’s things.

She needs to find something to lead her to Rabbit’s family.

She owes them the truth of what happened to Rabbit. She owes them so much more than that.

When Birdie walks into her room, there’s a drawing on the floor, as if someone slipped it beneath the door. A bird, hiding beneath a branch, peering out. But the bird is on high alert. The danger hasn’t passed. The bird still needs to stay hidden.

Birdie sets it next to the drawing on her washstand. It’s a companion piece, done in the exact same style. A style she’d know anywhere, because she has a whole satchel of drawings just like it. Which means not only was the minister here, but her friend was, too.

That…or her friend has been here the whole time.