AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That was true enough. Cleb had changed so much he was like a completely different person.
“Look, even if I’m wrong about the toys, isn’t it better we’re out there looking for him?” I said. “Doing something useful? And it keeps me preoccupied.”
I smiled sheepishly. The truth was, sitting around in the house while everyone else was out there doing something useful was beginning to make me nuts.
Waev sighed and shook his head.
“I can’t argue with you on that point,” he said.
I knew he wouldn’t let me down. I grabbed one of Cleb’s socks and used it to snatch up the only toy that remained—the female spy lying prostrate on the floor. I tucked it in my pocket.
I slapped him on the back and led him out of Cleb’s room. I turned to head down the stairs, but Waev didn’t follow me.
“We need to go to the stables,” I said.
Waev still didn’t move. He might have been wearing concrete boots. He looked over at me, but his attention was somewhere else. His eyes darted back and forth, warring with an argument in his head.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
“I just…” he said.
I’d never seen him so anguished before.
“How serious are you about this plan?” he said.
“It’s a good idea,” I said. “I think it might lead to something.”
That settled the argument battling in Waev’s head. He came to a decision and turned to me.
“Ever since I came here, you’ve been very respectful of my privacy,” he said. “You never asked what I did before I came here. I never bothered to tell you either. I was good at my job and you didn’t care. But there’s something in my past that’s a little… dark.”
“You’re not a serial killer, are you?” I said.
Waev snorted.
“No,” he said. “It’s not that dark. If you’re serious about this plan of yours, and if you really do think this is how we might find them, I need to ask you a favor.”
“Of course,” I said. “What do you need?”
“I need your word that once we’re done with this, whether we find them or not, you’ll never mention what you might see me do tonight,” he said.
His eyes were intense and I could swear the temperature dropped ten degrees.
“What kind of things?” I said.
“Things that might aid us in finding Bianca and Cleb—if your idea does bear fruit,” he said. “I never want you to ask me about my past, never discuss it with any of the other servants. I like it here. I don’t want anyone to think any differently about me.”
He had to be desperate to ask for this favor. And it was my complete trust for him, my absolute and total regard for his character, that I nodded without even a second’s thought.
“You have my word,” I said.
“Then I’ll need my things,” he said.
I followed him down the hall to his room. He disappeared inside while I waited outside. He was out within five minutes. He wore a camouflage jacket, special boots, and a bag slung over one shoulder. A far cry from the prim and proper perfectly turned out servant he’d been these many years.
I admitted with some shame that although he lived and worked in my home, seen all my things, and knew better than I did how I lived my life, I knew next to nothing about him. With the promise I’d made earlier, I supposed that was never going to change.
He nodded at me and led the way. It was not the nod of someone who carried out my requests each day, but the nod of an equal.
