Free Requiem (The Penny Dreadfuls Book 1) by Skye Knizley Page B

softened. “Don’t be pouring no tears on me, lass. I can’t let ye rent the place, but if you pay half ‘is back rent I’ll give him another day to pay the rest. Can’t say fairer than that.”
    Chastity smiled and reached for her purse. “Thank you, thank you so much! What does he owe you?”
    The man rubbed his scruffy beard with a sound like a brush on old metal. “Call it three shillings and be done with it.”
    Chastity presented the coins and the man bit into the first one to satisfy himself it was real. The fact it was already covered in old bite marks didn’t seem to mean anything.
    “Right. I’ll leave the door open for him, but if he doesn’t pay the rest he’s out on ‘is ear and so’s your story.”
    “Thank you, truly,” Chastity said.
    She watched the man leave, then turned back to the wall, but the sound she’d heard was gone with not even a hint it had ever existed.
     
     
    THE RAIN CONTINUED unabated, muddying the streets and turning the afternoon slop into a stinking mess that slid along the gutters like rotten molasses. Chastity stepped over a particularly noisome puddle and splashed down the walkway to the entrance to the church. A handful of the faithful looked up when she stepped into the sacristy, but lost interest when she vanished through the door at the back. Few knew what was really within; most knew not to ask, it was understood whatever was beyond that door was “church business”.
    She reached the bottom of the stairs a moment later and walked straight into Malachi who was carrying a bundle of scrolls that spilled around him like snowflakes.
    “Oh! Malachi I am so sorry,” Chastity exclaimed.
    She extended a hand and Malachi stared at it blankly before looking up at her.
    “What is the hurry, sister?”
    Chastity paused. She wasn’t sure she was ready to tell anyone about the phantom sound. Not until she knew what she was talking about.
    “I’m soaking wet,” she said. “I just want to get out of these wet clothes and into a hot lavender bath. Can I help you up?”
    Malachi took her hand and she hauled him to his feet. He then began to gather up his scrolls, holding them in a precarious armload he would no doubt drop again as soon as he moved.
    “Thank you. I was just on my way back to the library, Father William has me researching the incident outside Darmstadt fifty years ago and he isn’t taking no for an answer.”
    “Darmstadt?” Chastity asked.
    Malachi waved his hands vaguely. “Animate dead, grave robbing and so on. He received a communiqué that has him in a foul mood. I think we’re chasing a wild goose, but his will be done.”
    “It sounds interesting, he didn’t tell you what was in the communiqué?”
    Malachi held his scrolls close to his chest and shook his head. “He wouldn’t say.”
    He turned and walked toward the library, scrolls flapping.
    Chastity frowned. “Hmm…”
    Malachi turned back. “Do not get any crazy ideas, Chastity. If Father William wants us to know what he is doing, he will tell us. Don’t you go bothering him. Or worse.”
    Chastity grinned and leaned up against the wall, rain-chilled limbs forgotten. “Perish the thought, dear brother. I wouldn’t dare enter his office without good reason.”
    Malachi blinked at her and Chastity could tell he was unconvinced. But he shook his head and toddled off to the library where he closed the door with a slam that echoed throughout the Sanctuary and made Chastity flinch. She clucked her tongue at him and turned toward her chamber to disrobe, bathe, and ready herself for the evening. She was nude and standing beside her bath waiting for the water to warm, when she noticed the envelope on her side table. It was fastened with the Order’s seal.
    Chastity slit the end of the envelope and removed the contents. Inside was another envelope and a note from Father William:
     

     
    The envelope was old and marked by water, but the Edinburgh stamp was still clear. It looked as if it