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It took him another hour to find one of the snails that produced the slime. The royal gardeners always killed any they could find, but Jacob finally spotted two under the moss-covered ledge of a well. Their shells were already becoming visible again, and their slime worked as soon as he rubbed it under his nose.
It wasn't much, but it was enough for a couple of hours.
There was only one guard by the servants' entrance. He was leaning against the wall, and Jacob snuck past him without disturbing his snooze.
The kitchens and laundries were busy even at night, and an overtired maid gave a start as soon as Jacob's invisible elbow brushed her side. Soon he reached the stairs that led away from the servants and up to the masters. He felt his skin already go numb. He had used the slime only a few days earlier, but fortunately there was no paralysis yet.
The Chambers of Miracles were in the south wing, the newest part of the palace. They occupied six rooms in which all the walls were clad with lapis lazuli, as it was presumed the stone would weaken the magical potency of the artifacts on display. The imperial family always had a penchant for the magical objects of their world, and for generations they tried to get their hands on as many of them as they could. It was the Empress's father who had finally decreed that all objects, animals, and humans with magical powers be reported to the authorities. It was difficult to rule a world where a pauper could be turned into a lord by a gold tree or where talking animals whispered seditious ideas into the ears of forest laborers.
There were no guards by the gilded doors that the Empress's grandfather had ordered from a smith who'd learned his trade from a Witch. Branches of Witch's birch had been encased within the golden trees that spread their boughs across the door leaf, and whoever attempted to open these doors without knowing their secret would be impaled. The branches would shoot out like lances as soon as someone touched the handles, and like the birches in the HungryForest, they aimed straight for the eyes. But Jacob knew how to open the Chambers of Miracles.
He approached the doors without touching the handles. The goldsmith had hidden a woodpecker among the gilded leaves, and the moment Jacob breathed on the golden bird, its plumage became as colorful as the feathers of a living bird. The doors swung open without a sound, as if caught by a sudden gust of wind.
Austry's Chambers of Miracles.
The first hall was filled with magical animals that had fallen prey to various members of the imperial family. Their glass eyes seemed to follow Jacob as he walked past the cabinets that protected their stuffed bodies from dust and moths. A Unicorn. Winged rabbits. A Brown Wolf. Swan-men. Magic crows. Talking horses. There was also a vixen, of course. She wasn't as gracile as Fox, but Jacob still couldn't bear to look at her.
The second chamber contained Witches' artifacts. The Chambers of Miracles made no distinction between the healers and the cannibals. Knives that had separated human flesh from bone lay right next to needles that healed wounds with a single stitch and owl feathers that restored the powers of sight. There were also two of the brooms on which the healing Witches were able to fly as fast and as high as birds, as well as some gingerbread from the deadly houses of their man-eating sisters.
The cabinets of the third chamber displayed scales from Nymphs and Watermen. These scales enabled whoever put them under the tongue to dive very deep and stay underwater for a long time. There were also Dragon scales in all sizes and colors. Every part of this world had its own stories about surviving Dragons, but Jacob had only once seen a shadow in the sky that looked like the mummified body on display in the fourth chamber. The tail alone took up half a wall, and the gigantic teeth and claws made Jacob actually grateful that the imperial family had eradicated its kind.
The ball he had come for lay on a cushion of black velvet in the fifth chamber. Jacob had found it in the cave of a Waterman, next to the abducted daughter of a baker. The golden ball was barely bigger than a chicken's egg, and the inscription attached to the black velvet sounded just like the fairy tale from the other world: ORIGINALLY THE FAVORITE TOY OF THE YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF LEOPOLD THE BENIGN, WITH WHICH SHE FOUND HER BRIDEGROOM (LATER TO BECOME WENZELSLAUS THE SECOND) AND FREED HIM FROM THE FROG-CURSE.
But that was not the entire truth. The ball was a trap that sucked up anyone who caught it and would release the victim only when its golden surface was polished.
Jacob broke the lock of the cabinet with his knife. For a moment he was sorely tempted to also take some of the other objects, to replenish his chest in Chanute's tavern, but the Empress would be angry enough about the ball. Jacob had just tucked it into his coat pocket, when the gaslights in the first chamber suddenly lit up. His body was already becoming visible again, and so he quickly hid behind a cabinet displaying a well-worn seven-league boot made from the skin of a salamander. Chanute had found the boot for the father of the Empress. The matching one was in the King Albion's Miracle Chamber. Footsteps echoed through the rooms, and Jacob heard someone getting to work on the cabinets. He couldn't see who it was, and he didn't dare move, for fear that his steps would give him away. Whoever it was didn't stay long; the lights were extinguished, the heavy doors fell shut, and Jacob was again alone in the darkness.
He was nauseated from the waneslime, but he couldn't resist walking past all the cabinets to check what the other nocturnal visitor had taken. The healing Witch's needle was gone, together with two Dragon claws that supposedly protected from injury, as well as a piece of Waterman skin that was said to have similar properties. Jacob couldn't make any sense of it, but then he told himself that the Empress probably wanted to give the objects to the groom as a wedding present, to make sure he wouldn't be replaced by another Goyl less interested in bargaining for peace.
As the golden doors shut behind Jacob, he was already feeling so sick that he nearly vomited. He was cramping — the first sign of the paralysis caused by the slime — and the palace corridors seemed endless. Jacob decided to follow them back to the gardens. The walls separating them from the street were quite high, but the Rapunzel-rope again did not let him down. At least one useful thing he'd managed to keep.
Donnersmarck's man was still standing by the gate, but he didn't see Jacob sneak away. Jacob's body was still as vague as a ghost, and a night watchman doing his rounds in the dark streets dropped his lantern in fright when Jacob crossed his path.
Fortunately, he was a lot more visible by the time he reached the hotel. Every step was a struggle, and he could no longer move his fingers. He barely managed to reach the elevator, and it was only when he was standing in front of his room that he remembered Fox.
Jacob had to bang on the door so hard that two guests poked their heads out of their rooms before the soldier finally opened up. Jacob stumbled past him into the bathroom and vomited. Fox was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is she?" Jacob asked as he came out of the bathroom. He had to lean against the wall so his knees would not give out.
"I locked her in the wardrobe!" The soldier held up a hand wrapped in a bloody handkerchief like a piece of incriminating evidence. "She bit me!"
Jacob pushed him into the hall. "Tell Donnersmarck that what I promised has been done."
Exhausted, Jacob leaned against the door. One of the Elves that were still fluttering around the room dropped some silvery dust on his shoulder. Sweet dreams, Jacob.
Fox was wearing her fur, and she bared her teeth when Jacob opened the wardrobe. Whatever relief she might have felt at seeing him, she hid it quite well.
"Did the Fairy do that?" she simply asked, eyeing his bloodstained shirt. She watched impassively as he struggled to take it off. His fingers were like wood by now.
"I smell waneslime." Fox was licking her fur as if she could still feel where the soldier had tried to grab her.
Jacob sat down on the bed while he still could. His knees were also getting stiff.
"Help me, Fox. I have to go to the wedding tomorrow, and I can barely move."
She looked at him for such a long time that Jacob began to suspect she'd forgotten how to speak.
"A good bite might help," she said finally. "And it would be my pleasure to give one. But first you'll tell me what you're up to."
