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“One word from you to Frank and I fire,” said Gideon.
Lucy was staring at him, wide-eyed, but she didn’t seem frightened. Unlike Paul, who appeared to think that Gideon meant it seriously.
“Do as he says,” he told Stillman, and the butler left his post in the doorway and sat down at the table, giving us a nasty look.
“You’ve already met him, haven’t you?” Lucy was looking Gideon straight in the eye. “You’ve met Count Saint-Germain.”
“Three times,” said Gideon. “And he knows exactly what you two are planning. Turn around.” He put the barrel of the pistol against the back of Lucy’s head. “Now move forward.”
“Princess…”
“It’s all right, Paul.”
“For God’s sake, they’ve given him a Smith & Wesson automatic. I thought that was against the golden rules.”
“We’ll let her go once we’re out in the street,” said Gideon. “But if anyone up here moves before then, she’s dead. Come on, Gwyneth. They’ll have to try to get at your blood some other time.”
I hesitated. “Maybe they really do just want to talk,” I said. I felt enormously interested in what Lucy and Paul had to say. On the other hand, if they were really as harmless as they made out, why those bodyguards posted in the rooms? With guns? I remembered the men in the park.
“I’m certain they don’t just want to talk,” said Gideon.
“There’s no point,” said Paul. “They’ve brainwashed him.”
“It’s the count,” said Lucy. “He can be very convincing, as you know.”
“We’ll be seeing each other again,” said Gideon. We had now reached the top of the stairs.
“Is that meant to be a threat?” asked Paul. “We’ll be ‘seeing’ each other again? We most certainly will!”
Gideon kept the pistol aimed at the back of Lucy’s head until we had reached the front door.
I expected Frank to race out of the other room, but nothing stirred. There was no sign of my great-great-grandmother either.
“You can’t allow the Circle to be closed,” said Lucy urgently. “And you must never visit the count in the past again. Gwyneth in particular must never meet him!”
“Don’t listen to her!” Gideon had to let go of me to open the front door with one hand while still keeping the pistol aimed at Lucy with the other. He looked out into the street. I could hear voices on the floor above. Anxiously, I looked up the stairs. There were three men and a pistol up there, and up there was where we wanted them to stay.
“I’ve met him already,” I told Lucy. “Yesterday—”
“Oh, no!” Lucy’s face turned a shade paler. “Does he know your magic?”
“What magic?”
“The magic of the raven,” said Lucy.
“The magic of the raven is just a myth.” Gideon took my arm and led me down the steps and out into the street. There was no sign of our cab.
“That’s not true, and the count knows it.”
Gideon was still pointing the pistol at Lucy’s head, but now he looked back up to the first floor. Very likely Frank was standing there with his pistol. We were still under cover of the porch roof.
“Wait,” I told Gideon. I looked at Lucy. There were tears in her large blue eyes, and for some reason I found it hard not to believe her.
“What makes you so sure she’s not telling the truth, Gideon?” I asked quietly.
He looked at me for a moment, taken off balance. His eyes flickered. “I just am,” he whispered.
“That doesn’t sound so sure,” said Lucy. Her voice was gentle. “You two can trust us.”
