Now You See Me

Forty-Three: Keys

"I am currently trying to put wards around the building without giving the strong impression that I need help." Leia glanced up and down the street and then back at me with a smirk on her face. "Don't need the curtain-twitchers calling an ambulance on me, do we?"

I chuckled, crossing my arms and leaning against the doorframe. I'd come down this morning to find the front door open, and Leia moving backwards and forwards in front of it with her arms in the air. I'd been strongly tempted to do the calling myself until she'd explained what she was doing.

She picked her way through the plant pots to get to the dining room window. There was a light frost still hanging around from the early hours, glistening in patches where the shadows fell heaviest. The air was fresh this morning, dewy, which was a deal more pleasant than the gusty, freezing winds that usually blew through when I opened a window upstairs. I wanted to stretch my legs and visit a couple of familiar places to relax, but I dreaded what might happen if I took such a risk and besides, I probably wouldn't last the tube journey before needing a bath. The confinement was getting to me.

"Cabin fever?" Leia guessed, pulling some kind of dried leaf out of the pocket of her jacket and crumbling it over the windowsill.

"How did you guess?" I asked. I had been extremely pleased to regain some of my voice back – it still sounded like the world's worst cold virus, but I didn't have to constantly carry a notepad and pen around unless the pain was bothering me, and even then Leia's throat lozenges – which, she had claimed vehemently, were simply manufactured ones from the corner shop that she wouldn't dream of tampering with in a million years – were extraordinarily effective at keeping it at bay.

"Just a wild stab in the dark," Leia replied, and then glanced over the road just as a lace curtain fell back into place, "Which is what he'll be getting if he doesn't start minding his own damn business."

She moved backwards until she was leaning against the railings and examined the front of the building. I went out onto the top step and looked up, but could see no difference.

"You won't be able to see anything from outside unless you can do sorcery yourself," Leia said, "But you'll be able to see it from the inside if anyone tries to get through it who shouldn't."

"I hope I don't see it, then," I replied.

"So do I."

She came back towards me, tugging her jacket off as she went, and I stepped back into the hall to let her in and shut the door.

"You want to sit in with your boyfriend for a while?" she asked as she hung her jacket up. "I have another meeting with Lucien and you didn't look like you enjoyed it all that much last time. It might take your mind off being cooped up." She rummaged in the pocket of her dungarees and pulled out the cellar door keys. "One lock while you're inside, both when you leave, okay?"

I nodded, taking the keys. She was gone before I had the chance to change my mind, and I felt pretty bad for not checking up on him yet anyway, so even though the idea of locking myself in with him terrified me, I just trusted that Leia wouldn't send me in if she thought something could happen.

Chris was in the bath when I entered, staring at a moth crawling across the ceiling above him. He looked around at the sound of the lock as I did it up again, and smiled faintly.

"I was starting to think I did something awful last night," he said. "I was half-expecting Leia to come in and say I'd bitten your hand off."

I held up my hand and waved it at him. "It's still there."

"You can talk," he said, smiling wider.

"Talk maybe isn't the right word," I replied. It was sorely tempting to sit down on the steps right below the door so that if there were any sudden moves from Chris, all I had to do was run back up and undo the lock. But it would've been telling to do so, and I really didn't want to upset him for something that wasn't his fault.