Free Her Majesty's Necromancer by C. J. Archer Page B

Stronger than you ever were in life."
    The muscles on his face twitched, but I couldn't determine what expression he was trying to make. He studied his hands and I worried I'd told him too much. If he'd been an unscrupulous character in life, he might try to kill us.
    I kept my distance. As long as I could speak, I could control him.
    Lincoln too moved, but not toward the resurrected Thackery. He dodged past me and around the pig carcasses and lunged for the door—the door that was closing fast.
    He didn't reach it in time. The door slammed shut and the bolt on the other side slid across.
    We were locked in!
    Lincoln pushed against the door but it didn't budge. I joined him and pounded on it. "Let us out! There are people in here. Living ones," I added weakly.
    Lincoln closed his hands over mine and held them firmly. "He intended to lock us in, Charlie. He won't set us free."
    I bit down on my lip and searched the room for another way out. But there were none. We were in a windowless basement, and the only exit was locked from the outside. The cold seeped through to my bones.
    "Did you see who did it?" I asked him.
    He nodded. "It was Jimmy. I heard his footsteps in the moment before he closed the door."
    "I heard nothing."
    He rubbed his thumbs over my knuckles then let me go. "We'll be out soon. Step aside." I expected him to try to break the door down, but he turned to Gordon instead. "Have you regained your strength?"
    The white face of Gordon folded into a frown. He tried picking up one of the pig carcasses, but dropped it. He tried again and again, each time lifting it a little higher, until the fourth try when he hefted it over his head.
    "Ready." His voice held no trace of the rasping brittleness, and his smile was controlled, certain. He almost looked alive, especially since it was rather a nice smile.
    Fitzroy and I moved away from the door. Gordon gave it a tentative push, but when it didn't budge, he ran at it and slammed his shoulder into it. If he could feel pain, it would have hurt. He laughed.
    "Will a piece of me fall off if I overdo it, do you think?"
    I pressed my lips together to stop myself smiling. It seemed inappropriate to laugh at such a joke, particularly when we were in danger of freezing to death if we didn't get out.
    Gordon ran at the door again, using his shoulder as a battering ram. The crack of wood splintering and hinges snapping announced his victory. Lincoln helped him finish the task and set the door aside.
    I fetched the candle and was about to ask Gordon to go up the stairs first, but Lincoln was already out the door. I held my breath, but heard no sounds of fighting. I followed Gordon out to the small courtyard. Our horse was missing, and so was Lincoln.
    I ran to the gate and spotted him running to the end of the lane. He stopped and signaled us to follow. Gordon lumbered ahead of me, stretching out his legs in giant leaps and once, spinning around on light feet. He grinned at me.
    "Care to dance, Miss Charlie?"
    I smiled politely. "Perhaps later. We're in rather a hurry." Thank goodness it was too dark for him to see how appalled I was by his suggestion. Dancing with a dead man wasn't my idea of a pleasant way to spend an evening.
    "This way," Lincoln said, moving off again as soon as we joined him.
    I trotted to keep up. Gordon had no such difficulty. "Where are we going?" I asked.
    "To visit Jimmy and Pete." We rounded a corner then hurried down a lane that suddenly turned left and stopped at a high wooden fence. The lane was so narrow in that part that I could stretch my arms wide and almost touch the buildings on either side. Something scurried and scratched in the pile of bottles and newspapers in the corner, but otherwise silence surrounded us as thoroughly as the darkness. The candle had blown out when I'd quickened my pace.
    Lincoln pressed his ear to a door in the end building. Gordon joined him, and I stepped closer, but both men shook their heads no. I rolled my eyes but