John soon finished reading all the books that Morrigone had lent him. He piled them under his cot, and then the most astonishing thing happened. More books appeared. John had to stack them against the wall next to his cot, the column rising higher than I was tall.
‘Morrigone,’ he said simply when I asked him where the additional books had come from. We were up in our room after last meal.
‘How did she know which ones to send?’
‘I told her it didn’t matter.’
‘You told her?’
He nodded. ‘She came to Learning two lights ago, to talk to the youngs about the Outliers and the Wall.’
‘How did the youngs react?’ I asked.
‘They were scared, but they understood the part they had to play.’
‘Which is?’ I was feeling more and more left out.
‘To do what Council expects us to do.’
‘OK, what does Morrigone want you to do? Come up with more brilliant ideas?’
‘She just wants me to read, for now. And go to her home,’ John added quietly.
I gaped at him. ‘Go to her home? When?’
‘Next light.’
‘When were you going to tell me?’
‘Morrigone said she was going to talk to you about it.’
‘Well, she hasn’t. Although having another meal there would be very welcome.’
Right then I heard the creak of the wheels. I raced to the window that looked out on to the cobblestones. Morrigone was already getting out of the blue carriage as the beautiful sleps came to a full stop and tossed their noble heads. I heard chairs scraping the floor, hurried footsteps, the front door opening.
Cletus Loon was rushing up the narrow, rickety stairs as I was coming down them.
Breathless, he said, ‘Morrigone is—’
‘I know,’ I said as I pushed past him.
Morrigone stood in the front room and the look in her eye was all business.
‘Vega,’ she said briskly. ‘I require a word with you about John.’
She walked back outside and I quickly followed.
Bogle was up in the driver’s box of the carriage, but Morrigone continued past him and motioned for me to follow. We walked down the mostly deserted high street.
‘I trust you have been given your proper parchment to move about Wormwood?’ she asked.
I nodded and pulled the sheaf from my cloak. It had many official signatures and seals on it. ‘Domitar handed these out to all Stackers. I am right glad to have it, with the likes of Roman Picus and his Carbineer lot patrolling and asking stupid questions of Wugs they know well.’
‘They are merely doing their job, Vega.’
‘That may be. But mortas in the hands of Ran Digby and Cletus Loon is a recipe for a mistake on a grand scale.’
She looked at me curiously. ‘I’ll speak to Council about the proper hiring, training and deployment of authorized Carbineers.’ She stopped and added, ‘But now we need to speak about John.’
‘All right,’ I said.
‘At times of crisis like this, we must take advantage of everyone’s special gifts.’
‘And what is John’s special gift?’
She looked at me in surprise. ‘His intellect, Vega. I thought it obvious. You heard the ideas he came up with for the Wall.’
‘So, what about John?’
‘I want him to come and live with me.’
I stopped walking. It felt like the blood had ceased moving inside me.
‘Come and live with you?’ I said slowly. I looked back at the Loons, and my heart soared. Trading that pit for Morrigone’s home was a dream that I had never even dreamed. Plenty of food to eat, towers of books to read, proper fires, and hot water in pipes that one did not have to go outside to enjoy. And then there was Morrigone to show us how to be more clean and proper and smart and just . . . better than we currently were.
‘Your brother has a great many special talents, Vega – talents that need to be cultivated for the good of all Wormwood. That was why I sent him the books. That was why I invited the both of you to my home for a meal. I wanted to observe John for myself.’
‘When will the move take place?’ I said, not really believing our good fortune.
‘John can come at first light. I will send Bogle for him.’
I was so excited, imagining all the possibilities of such an arrangement, that I, at first, did not quite comprehend her emphasis on the name John and word him. The smile slowly slid off my face. ‘So only John will be coming to live with you?’ I said, as my high spirits crashed back down like my first flight on Destin.
‘I will take especially good care of him. I will teach him many things. He will truly blossom under my tutelage, I can assure you, Vega. He will rise to great heights.’
I wanted to say, What about me? Can I not blossom? Can I not rise to great heights under your fine tutelage? But I could read the answer in her eyes and I suddenly did not want to give Morrigone the satisfaction of seeing even more evidence of my misinterpretation of her offer.
‘My brother has never been away from me. That may not be good for him.’
‘I can assure you that it will be very good for him. For one thing, he can stop living in that slop house that Roman Picus calls a lodging. And the Loons are not exactly the ideal role models in Wugmorts, are they?’
‘I am a good role model for my brother,’ I blurted out.
‘Yes, of course you are, Vega. And you can come and visit him.’
‘Have you told John that I won’t be going?’ I asked dumbly. I hoped that she would say no, because John had not seemed overly disturbed about the move. Perhaps he’d assumed I would be joining him?
‘Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first.’ She gave me a benign smile and added, ‘May I tell John I have your good wishes for this arrangement?’
I nodded, my mind largely blank as a lump formed in my throat and a profound ache gripped my chest.
‘Thank you, Vega. And Wormwood thanks you too.’
She turned and walked back to the Loons, which was apparently too awful for John to live at but perfectly fine for me to while away my sessions.
I watched her tall form glide back to where John was with his books. A chill so deep that I felt I had been dropped into freezing water settled into my skin when I realized fully that I had just lost my brother.