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Master
appears to have seen me before. Also, a mouse rode on his shoulder
and whispered in his ear.”
    “Ah well, things haven’t changed much.” Lord
Hollingberry walked around his desk to her. “I’m sorry, dear girl.
I know that must have frightened you a great deal.”
    She clenched her hands but didn’t speak.
    “I wish you would trust me. You must know I
would not have put you in that situation if it weren’t absolutely
necessary. Remember, there is something greater taking place.”
    Tilly sighed and rubbed her forehead with
one hand. “Why won’t you tell me what that ‘something
greater’ is?”
    Lord Hollingberry gazed upon his maid, his
tired old eyes full of compassion. “I cannot. The time is not yet
right.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled at
her. “Why don’t you go clean yourself up, hmm? Get some sleep.
You’ve earned a good rest.”
    Tilly felt her anger evaporate, leaving only
tired confusion in its place. She nodded, turning to the door.
    “And Tilly?”
    She looked around.
    “ He isn’t your enemy. Try to
understand that.”
    Tilly tried to speak but found she had no
words. With a little shake of her head, she left the study and
hastened down to her bedroom, collapsing on her bed. Something
crackled in her dress as she did so, and she pulled out the letter
she had almost forgotten about. Too tired to feel guilty about
reading a private message, Tilly slid her finger under the broken
seal and saw only two words scrawled across the page.
    Her heartbeat quickened, and she felt as
though she would faint at any moment. She read the words again,
making certain they were real. Sure enough, those letters were not
some odd illusion caused by her exhausted brain.
    The only words on the crisp piece of paper
spelled out a name:
    Tilly Higgins.

 
7
     
    Scatter squeezed himself under the back door
to follow Tilly inside the manor. He quickly scampered to a dark
corner from which he watched her charge upstairs, but he didn’t
follow. His master had told him to make sure she was safe, so he
would have to search the house and make certain.
    Starting in the basement, the little mouse
began inspecting each floor of the house quickly and silently, his
delicate nose and whiskers twitching back and forth, picking up all
manner of scents. Crumbs caught on his whiskers in the dining room,
and he sniffed spilt tea on the drawing-room carpet, but none of
these scents were hostile.
    The mouse scurried to the upper floors,
thankful that Lord Hollingberry did not keep a cat, and checked the
rooms there. Nothing.
    Scatter was about to leave when he thought
perhaps he could bring back some cheese for his Master. Oh, that
would make him so happy! And then he would pat Scatter’s little
head and tell him, “Thank you!”
    Yes. Scatter would bring back cheese. He
scuttled down to the foyer, his pointy nose telling him which
direction to go, but suddenly stopped, whiskers twitching. There
was a room he had not noticed before.
    The parlor.
    How had he missed it? The white mouse made
his way into the room . . . and immediately wanted to dart back out
again, for the room reeked of magic. Magic always stank.
    But there was another foul smell concealed
in the room. He sensed it beneath the floorboards. Scatter’s large
ears fanned out when he heard a sound, and he crept cautiously
closer. Despite the stench, he kept his nose pressed firmly to the
floor, determined to know what was causing the smell.
    Then the loyal creature’s tiny heart began
to pump harder, faster, filling with fear. He realized what was
hidden under the floorboards.
    And what was concealed beneath the
floorboards knew he was there, too.
    Scatter barely had a moment to bound
backwards and dart for the door before a hairy paw with claws twice
the size of his small body smashed up through the floorboards,
sending splinters flying through the room. The black paw slammed
down again on the wood, claws scraping horribly until they