The Wire Hanger

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning I awoke to a clatter in the kitchen, gentler than the night before but no less insistent. Adah was gone, with the only evidence of her having been there the pile of blankets on the chair, which were now better folded than they had been before. I stopped in the bathroom, quickly, to freshen up; there were a lot of strangers in the house now, after all. One of those strangers had left pee on the floor around the toilet. Marking their territory, I thought with an eye roll. Or just bad aim.

Obadiah was sitting at the kitchen table scarfing down a croissant spread with jam. Jezebel leaned against the fridge and started when she saw me come in. “Coby! It’s so nice to see you.”

“Yeah,” I said, still a little hurt from her lack of attention the night before. It was petulant but I couldn’t help it; she was the closest thing I had to an old friend in this house. Well, and Noah, but he didn’t count.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

I walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a box of cereal. “We’ve been here for a few days,” I pointed out. “I know where everything is.”

Her smile became somewhat more fixed. “Of course. Well, I’m going to go join the strategy session out there, wouldn’t want them to make a plan without me.” This last comment she directed to Obadiah, who seemed unconcerned by the prospect, but when she turned around, he watched her leave.

“Um,” I said, discomfited, “is it okay if I sit down?”

He spread a hand out genially, palm up. So I ate my cereal in uncomfortable silence across the table. Obadiah seemed not to notice, casting his gaze about the kitchen in a way that seemed casual, but I was pretty sure that if I asked him to recite its contents later, he could do so item by item. It was something about the intensity of his gaze: purposeful, and calm, and terrifying.

When he left – presumably to join the meeting Jezebel mentioned, whose voices I could only barely hear filter down the hall, despite the heavy lead door being left open – I saw no reason I shouldn’t do the same. This did not mean I announced my presence, exactly, but when I slipped in the back of the room the Professor gave me an acknowledging nod, and nobody else seemed to care. Noah was sitting on the couch in pajama pants, arms crossed.

“It’s an unnecessary risk,” said Felix. He was one of the Bears, younger and less beardy than the other Bear, Jethro. His voice was soft but determined, and although he wasn’t exactly handsome, something about his face had the suggestion of handsomeness. I wondered what he would look like without a beard. And in normal clothes.

David scoffed. “Maybe if you’re a coward.”

Colour rushed to Felix’s cheeks. “I, I didn’t m-mean –“

“David,” said Obadiah. “We’re here to discuss. All options are open.”

David cast Obadiah one quick, furious look, then leaned against the wall with one foot up.

“It’s risky,” said Delilah, “I agree with Felix there.” She cast him a small smile. “I just don’t think it’s unnecessary. It’s necessary. Given what we’re dealing with, the scale of this operation, nothing short of a full rush will accomplish what we want. We can’t set out half-heartedly. We can’t pull the punch, not at this stage.”

Felix nodded heartily, and even David looked somewhat mollified.

“The question is how to manage the risks,” said Jethro. “There’s no cause to be foolish.”

“Nobody is suggesting foolishness,” said Jezebel. “Well, except David. I can show you the route I’ve got mapped out right now – it’s partly both your territories, so some of it will be familiar to each of you. That’s the benefit of the combined expertise.” She spread out a roll of paper on the coffee table, and everyone crowded around. I hung back, knowing I wouldn’t recognize anything anyway.