Soothsayer Read Free Page B

a table on which were placed six bronze artifacts that were absolutely meaningless to her, and another table with the remains of an alien meal on it.
    Then her light caught a slight movement in the corner of the room. She immediately turned and focused it, and found herself staring at a small blonde girl manacled to the heavy wooden leg of an immense chair.
    "Help me!” pleaded the girl.
    "Are you alone?” whispered the Mouse.
    The girl nodded.
    The mouse crossed the room and set to work on the girl's manacles.
    "What's your name?” asked the Mouse.
    "Penelope,” sniffed the girl.
    "Penelope what?"
    "Just Penelope."
    The manacles came apart and dropped to the floor, and the Mouse stood up and took her first good look at the girl.
    Penelope's blonde hair seemed to have been haphazardly cut with a knife rather than a shears, and it obviously hadn't been washed in weeks, or perhaps months. There was a large bruise on her left cheek, not terribly miscolored, obviously on the mend. She was thin, not wiry and hard like the Mouse, but almost malnourished. She was dressed in what had once been a white play outfit that was now grimy and shredded from being worn for weeks on end. Her feet were bare, and both her heels were raw.
    "Don't turn the light on,” said Penelope. “He'll be back soon."
    "What race does he belong to?"
    Penelope shrugged. “I don't know."
    The Mouse pulled a dagger out of her left boot. “If he comes back before we leave, I'll have a little surprise for him, that's for sure."
    Penelope shook her head adamantly. “You can't kill him. Please, can't we leave?"
    The Mouse reached out a hand and pulled Penelope to her feet. “Where are your parents?"
    "I don't know. Dead, I think."
    "Can you walk?"
    "Yes."
    "All right,” said the Mouse, heading toward the door. “Let's go."
    "Wait!” said Penelope suddenly. “I can't leave without Jennifer!"
    "Jennifer?” demanded the Mouse. “Who's Jennifer?"
    Penelope raced to a corner of the room and picked up a filthy rag doll. “This is Jennifer,” she said, holding it up in the beam of light. “Now we can go."
    "Give me your hand,” said the Mouse, ordering the door to slide into the wall.
    She stuck her head out into the hall, saw no movement, and quickly walked to the stairwell, practically dragging the weakened little girl behind her. Once there, they walked down to the basement level and made their way to the laundry room.
    "Now listen carefully,” whispered the Mouse. “I want you to crawl on your hands and knees, just the way I'm going to do, behind this row of laundry carts, until we reach that vent. Can you see it?"
    Penelope peered into the semi-darkness and shook her head.
    "I'll let you know when we're there. Once we reach the vent, I'm going to boost you up inside it. It's narrow and it's dark, but you won't get stuck, because that's how I came in and I'm bigger than you are."
    "I'm not afraid,” said Penelope.
    "I know you're not,” said the Mouse reassuringly. “But you have to be absolutely silent. If you make any noise, the maids who are running the washing machines on the other side of the room might hear, and if they come over to investigate, I'll have to kill them."
    "It's wrong to kill."
    "Then don't make any noise and I won't have to,” said the Mouse. “Are you ready?"
    Penelope nodded her head, and the Mouse began crawling toward the vent. When she reached it she turned to see how far Penelope had gotten, and was surprised to find the little girl almost beside her.
    The Mouse made sure that the maids were still busily loading and unloading the washers and dryers, put a finger to her lips, then lifted Penelope into the vent. The little girl writhed and wriggled, and finally made it to the right angle where the vent left the building and went beneath the street.
    The Mouse was about to follow her when she heard a plaintive whisper.
    "I can't find Jennifer!"
    "Keep going!” hissed the Mouse. “I'll find her."
    She waited for a