“It won’t.”
“—Valek’s going to kill me.”
“I’ll kill you if I have to stay inside one more moment.”
“Sorry, but Valek scares me more.”
“That’s ’cause you’ve never seen me cranky.” I stood.
“All right, but we’ll need disguises. And if Valek asks, you forced me at knife point.”
“Chicken.”
“Damn right.”
* * *
Our disguises turned out to be a family. Fisk played the father, I took the role of mother and the bodyguards, Lyle and Natalie, were dressed as our children. The irony was not lost on me. With blond curls and chubby cheeks, Lyle was so adorable, I had to resist picking him up and hugging him.
As Fisk and I strolled hand in hand, I asked, “Are they even armed?”
“To the teeth.”
“Must take after my side of the family.”
Fisk chuckled. “They’ve been bugging Valek for lessons, and he’s been kind enough to work with them when he has time.” He squeezed my hand. “He’s going to make a wonderful father.”
I squeezed back in agreement. We walked for a while in silence. I enjoyed the fresh air and the afternoon sunshine warming my black hair. One of the guild members had pinned it into a sedate bun and used makeup to age my face. My future had stared back at me in the mirror.
Fisk navigated the maze of streets and buildings that comprised the northwest quadrant of the Citadel. Constructed from a variety of building materials, the once-organized grid of residences was now a labyrinth of homes, apartments and shacks.
“Tweet said he’d meet us near there,” Fisk said. “It’s a bit tricky to find.”
“Good. Is anyone following us?”
“No one has taken the least bit of interest in us.”
I considered the speed of his reply. “You have more people shadowing us, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“How many?” Or rather, just how scared of Valek was he?
“Two scouts and two sweepers.”
“Sweepers?”
“They follow behind and ensure no one is trailing after us.”
“Ah.”
When we drew closer to our destination, Tweet appeared as if from nowhere. He took my other hand and smiled shyly. We strolled another couple blocks in silence.
“Go with Tweet,” Fisk said. “He’ll show you and Lyle where the glass roof is, and the rest of us will meet you on the flip side.”
“All right.”
Fisk released my hand, and I allowed Tweet to lead me. Lyle, the chubby-cheeked blond, trotted at my heels like a lost puppy. We cut through a narrow alley, climbed a rickety series of steps and cat-walked between buildings until we reached a roof. Tweet stopped and pointed to an adjoining roof that was made of glass. Sunlight reflected off the surface, so I was unable to see inside.
Tweet put a finger to his lips and mimed tiptoeing. Understanding the need to be quiet, I crept toward the glass roof. My pulse raced as I drew closer and spotted green shapes. But when I reached the edge, disappointment deflated my excitement.
Algae coated the inside of the glass. All the plants Bavol had been interested in would need sunlight to grow. I peered through a couple clear spots, but dead plants and shriveled leaves occupied most of the room. It appeared nothing but mold and fungus grew inside.
I returned to Tweet, who shrugged as if to say it was worth a shot.
Not about to give up, I crouched down and described the glass hothouse to Tweet. “In order to build it, they would have needed large sheets of glass. Maybe you or one of your friends saw a glassmaker delivering them?”
He met my gaze and nodded. Lyle and I followed him off the roof and joined Fisk. I shook my head at his questioning expression.
“Back to HQ?” he asked.
Tweet piped up with a series of hoots.
Fisk groaned. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“What did he say?” I asked.
“There’s a glassmaker with a factory in the fourth ring of the Citadel who has been specializing in sheet glass for windows.”
“Great. Let’s go talk to him,” I said.
“I don’t know,” Fisk hedged. “The bounty hunters have been watching the market. And you said Valek only approved a short trip.”
“We’ll avoid the market. Besides, with these snazzy disguises, no one will suspect a thing.”
“You’re killing me, and not with your humor,” Fisk muttered. But he led the way, once again taking up his fatherly role.
We stayed away from the popular routes and avoided the deserted streets. Half the time I didn’t know where we were, but I trusted my guides. I smelled the sweet odor of burning white coal before I spotted the small factory tucked between two warehouses. The sign above the door read Keegan Glass.
A chime announced our arrival. Glass wine goblets, vases and pitchers decorated the display shelves. I gathered the “kids” close and told them not to touch anything.
A middle-aged man glided from a back room. He gave the kids a stern glare, as if daring them to misbehave, before asking if he could help us.
“I hope so,” Fisk said. “We are building onto our house, and my wife wanted to put in big windows in the new kitchen. She loves her plants and would really love just a wall of glass, but that’s impossible. What’s the biggest size you can make?”
Well done. Fisk was flawless.
“Actually, sir, I can make you a wall of glass, if you’d like.”
Fisk and I acted shocked. “But Crystal Glass said—”
“It’s impossible?”
Fisk nodded.
“It is. For them. Not for Keegan Glass. I’ve made an entire house out of glass.”
Yes! Keeping up the act, I furrowed my brow in suspicion. “Surely you jest.”
“It’s quite simple, actually.” Keegan then proceeded to explain how he made sheets of special glass that were used to build a structure. “Mind you, it wasn’t very big, but with enough support, it could have been bigger.”
“Was it part of a house?” I asked.
“No. It was the size of a large shed, but I can make yours to attach to an existing structure.”
Excited, I turned to Fisk. “With all that sunlight, I could grow all my own herbs!”
“You could,” the glassmaker assured me. “In fact, the guy who ordered it mentioned something about vines.”
Fisk pressed his lips together. “I’d like to see it first. Is it in the Citadel?”
“No. We delivered it to a farm south of the Citadel.”
Fisk glanced at me. “Doesn’t your cousin own a farm? She’s also a plant nut. Maybe...”
But Keegan didn’t fall for it. “Not likely. My client prefers that I don’t discuss the specifics of his order.”
Backing off, Fisk inquired about prices. Keegan wrote down the estimated measurements of the wall and returned