Fear Her Wrath II: Crucible of Glass

Chapter 38

"Did you see this?"

Ellie passed me her tablet, which was open to an article on page 6 of the Marbrose Reflector. Our train had just pulled out of Clearwater station and was starting its slow underground journey towards Essing Park on the other side of Brand Hill.

"No," I said, pausing my music and taking out my earbuds. "But let me guess: Glassface again."

Ellie nodded.

"The Galt Foundation's being pretty tight-lipped, but it seems like his MO. It happened early this morning."

"Three dead security guards," I read. "And nothing about what they've taken—if they took anything. Weird."

"Maybe they wanted one of those cool mutant gorillas," Ellie suggested.

"They can get one for free at the zoo. And hey, I thought I was supposed to be taking a break from helping the bad guys."

"That was Ben's idea," said Ellie innocently. "I am just providing information. It's my job."

The subway car jostled and the lights overhead flickered a little as we took a sharp turn. I went back to the homepage of the Marbrose Reflector to see how they'd reported the fire at Chalice Records.

"'Tragic Fire Claims Historic Building.' Hmm. No mention of the fact that it was obviously arson. Or of the connection to Deadstream."

"Well, duh. The Reflector is very pro-Murray. I'm amazed they even mentioned it at all, y'know?"

"Guess they couldn't let the Evening Examiner scoop them completely," I said. "Lovejoy's article should be in the next edition. Apparently it took a lot of persuading for his editors to let him use another anonymous source."

I handed Ellie back her tablet and glanced around at my fellow passengers. Nobody was looking our way, which hopefully meant nobody was listening either. Ignoring the other passengers was a time-honored tradition on the Marbrose subway, no matter how bizarre their behavior. There was a lot of stuff you were better off not hearing in this city.

Also, you get a lot of really weird people on the subway.

"So... you gonna go see Simon now that you're un-grounded and can leave the house again?"

Crap. I'd been dreading this question.

"I... don't have time" I said, so unconvincingly that even I didn't buy it. "We need to nail Deadstream before he strikes again. I'll go visit Simon later."

"I just think it'd, like, mean a lot to him if you did," said Ellie delicately. "He asks about you a lot."

"After we deal with Deadstream," I said, turning away from Ellie to look out the window at the blur of passing darkness.

Our train pulled into Essing Park station about ten minutes later. We were some of the few people to get off at this stop, and that wasn't very surprising.

Essing Park used to be the vibrant heart of the Fen. My dad remembers spending Sunday afternoons strolling with his parents down its winding lanes, but it was already past its prime, even then. The city stopped paying to maintain it years ago, and it shows. Essing Pond burst its banks and flooded most of the north end. The bushes overgrew the pathways, and the cobbled lanes started to crack and crumble. The old statue of Martin Essing—one Fenley Island's founders—started to lean. Respectable people stopped taking their kids to play on the meadows and lawns, and soon, they were warning them to stay away altogether. The street lamps were going out one by one, and nobody thought to repair them.

This cheery place, as far as the police could work out, was where Audrey Calder—the girl Deadstream murdered—had gone missing.

"So who are we looking for?" I asked Ellie.