Page 50 of Last Rites

The chairs from the kitchen had been pulled up to the other side of the coffee table. Reimond’s mother sat in one with Liam, her other son, behind her and her daughter sitting on the floor at her feet. The other chairs were occupied by distantly familiar faces, people I knew were on our side but couldn't name.

I wasn’t sure whether it was fear or irritation that squeezed around my chest, but by the way Penny rose to his feet and crossed to me, I must have looked angry.

“What’s going on?” I asked, doing my best to keep my tone from sounding too sharp.

Penny stopped in front of me and reached up to undo the collar at my throat. It was a familiar gesture these days, though it was usually him tying it for me in the morning, and I let my attention narrow to just him. He looked better than he had the previous afternoon, too. Less burdened than he’d been after spending days under the scrutiny of the new smith. It was a relief to know he wouldn’t be going back there again.

“I didn’t invite them; they just showed up.” Penny tugged the collar away and looped it over his wrist as he started on the buttons of my robe. His sharp green eyes met mine. I was pleased to see the renewed confidence in his gaze when he added, “But I’m not going to send them home.”

“None of us are satisfied to sit around doing nothing,” Rosie piped up from her spot on the arm of the couch. She met my gaze over Penny’s shoulder with as much determination as he had. “We need to find some way to do something to make changes. We can’t let Merrick erase all the progress Levitt made and drive us all straight into the dark. Not without a fight.”

A few days earlier, I might have argued. There was too much to lose. Too much at stake. But the people I loved were at risk whether I did nothing, or whether I acted, and I didn’t like the idea of letting Merrick plunge us into adversity without having done everything I could to stop it.

“You’re right,” I conceded, and she wasn’t the only one who looked surprised. “I’ve been… complacent since we came back from spring planting.”

Penny’s hands stilled on the buttons of my robe and slid instead to capture mine where they hung at my sides. He squeezed, offering comfort where he could with so many people around.

I clung onto that small bit of connection while I turned us both so I could better face our gathered friends.

“Diplomatic means have been lost to us,” I pressed on. “There is no working with Merrick like there would have been with Levitt. It doesn’t leave us with many options, but we need to figure out how to delay the completion of the Vessel while we find other ways to permanently destroy the Bone Men.”

There were few avenues left to halting progress on the construct in the caverns, but Merrick had unwittingly given me one that I was only now figuring out how to exploit. He relegated me to a position where neither of us thought I could do any damage. Tucked away in a hidden part of Ashpoint with the most devout of our order, where I wasn’t likely to be able to spread effective dissent. But maybe there was more I could do than I realized.

“I know the way in and out of the caverns where they’re building the Vessel,” I said. “The only way.”

A slow grin spread across Rosie’s face as she caught my meaning.

“Tonight, while the rest of Ashpoint sleeps, I’ll take Penny and one volunteer to sneak into the Ossuary and collapse the tunnel. It won’t stop the work for long, but hopefully long enough for us to come up with something more permanent.”

Thoma raised his hand. “I’ll come.”

I nodded my thanks, and he grinned, too.

“In the meantime,” Isla chimed in quietly, “the rest of us will carry on like we were before. We’ll spread the word about Eeus’s true nature and what he would really want us to be doing. Even if someone catches us, it’s relatively harmless.” Her tone turned almost mocking as she finished with, “Surely you want everyone to know more about our beloved god, don’t you, Your Eminence? It will only make us all more devout.”

I couldn’t help but snicker at her irreverence.

With everyone in agreement, all those gathered but Thoma filtered out. The three of us shared a relaxed supper, and then it was a waiting game. The sun set, Ashpoint fell quiet, and Penny dozed off leaned against me on the couch. Once I deemed it late enough, I roused him, and we set out for the square.

We briefly parted ways so Thoma could fetch the farrier’s rasps and a lantern from the stables, and I could steal hammers and chisels from the forge while Penny kept watch.

We reconvened at the doors to the Ossuary, and found them locked. Before Penny could lament our bad luck, Thoma brushed us aside, set the lantern on the ground, and plucked a hammer and a single narrow chisel from my hands.

“They used the same hardware on the stall doors in the barn,” he said idly as he set the point of the chisel into the underside of one of the hinges. He tapped the end of the handle with the hammer until the pin popped up enough for him to pry it free. “I’ve removed them often to replace broken boards. Easy enough to get in if you know how to take them down.”

Penny stared, and I grinned as he undid all three hinges on one of the doors and pocketed the pins.

Job done, he stepped aside and gestured to me.

“Kit, I think you’re the only one here strong enough to lift this thing and move it.”

I handed the rest of the hammers and chisels to Penny, then wedged my fingertips into the narrow space between the door and the frame. It was a feat of wills to get a good enough grip to ease the door out to unseat the hinges, but from there, it was just a bit of brute strength to lift it out far enough for the three of us to squeeze through.

Once inside, we heaved the door in so it would look closed from a distance, then made our way down the hall.

The Ossuary was eerie in the dark, silent and deserted so our footsteps were the only thing that echoed back to us in the cavernous atrium. Dim shafts of blue-tinged moonlight filtered in through the high windows, but did little to actually light our way. Thoma’s lantern, small though it was, cast a bright orange glow around us as we crossed to the narrow hall on the other side leading to the ritual room.

I led the way in, up the steps of the dais, and to the wooden door set into the floor at the back.