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"Do not fear I keep news myself to Vancha and me old friends He knows I can a secret keep" She lowered the pair of scissors and looked at ?" she asked

"That’s a strange question," I replied warily

"He here was, o Came see Hibernius"

"Oh?" That must have been before his trip to Vampire Mountain

"Hibernius was troubled after visit He told ht be wanting to think of going hoht be safer there"

"Did he say anything about-" I lowered my voice "-the Lord of the Vampaneze or a Master of Shadows?"

She shook her head "He said only that as all in for rough nights, and that therewould be before it becaain, and after that shehard about our conversation when I left Truska’s van and went in search of Mr Crepsley It ht be that, prompted by my concerns, my feet led me on purpose to Mr Tall’s van, oroutside a fewthe situation and whether I should ask hi, the door opened and Mr Tall and Evanna eed The witch was clad in a black cloak, alht

"I wish you would not do this," Mr Tall said "The vaood friends to us We should help them"

"We cannot take sides, Hibernius," Evanna replied "It is not our place to decide the twists of fate"

"Still," heface creased, "to embrace these others and parlay with them I don’t like it"

"We must remain neutral," she insisted "We have neither allies nor foes aht If you or I took sides, we could destroy everything As far as we’re concerned, both ood nor bad"

"You are correct," he sighed "I have spent too long with Larten I’e with befriending these beings," Evanna said "But we et personally involved, not until the future unravels and we have to"

With that, she kissed Mr Tall on the cheek - I don’t kno one so short reached all the way up to one so tall, but she did - and slipped away out of cao, an unhappy look on his face, then closed the door and went about his business

I ree conversation I wasn’t entirely sure as going on, but I gathered that Evanna was about to do so that seemed to bode ill for vampires

As a Prince, I should have waited for Evanna to coed her openly about the conversation It wasn’t proper for one ofto eavesdrop, and it would be positively rude to sneak out of caood h on my list of priorities I’d rather have Evanna think less of me - even punish me for my insolence - and knohat she was up to, than let her slip away and face a nasty surprise further down the line

Kicking off my shoes, I hurried out of ca behind a tree in the distance - she wasfast - and set off after her as quickly and quietly as I could

It was hard keeping up with Evanna She ift and surefooted, leaving ale If the chase had endured, I’d have lost her, but she drew to a halt after three or four kilo in the air a moment, then walked to a small copse of trees, whistled loudly, and entered

I waited a few e When she didn’t, I followed her to the edge of the copse and stood listening When I heard nothing I slipped between the trees and advanced cautiously The ground was damp and masked the sounds of my footsteps, but I took no chances: Evanna’s sense of hearing was at least as sharp as a vah to alert her to ressed, the sound of soft talking reachedin hushed tones and I was too far away to hear what they were saying With an increasing sense of unease I crept forward, and finally I was near enough to identify a group of shadowy figures at the heart of the copse

I didn’t ive myself away, but squatted, watched and listened Their voices were muffled and only the occasional disconnected word or half-sentence cahed, but even then they were careful not to laugh too loud

My eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and I was able to make some sense of the shapes Apart from Evanna - whose shadoas i, squatting or lying down Seven were large and ht, dressed in a hood and robes, serving drinks and food to the others They all appeared to be iven the distance and darkness Either I’d have to get a lot closer to learnup at the cloudy sky through the dense branches of the trees, I figured there wasn’tsilently, I started to back away

That’s when the servant in the robes lit a candle

"Put that out, fool!" one of the others barked, and a strong hand knocked the candle to the floor, where a foot roughly quenched it

"Sorry," the servant squeaked "I thought ere safe with Lady Evanna"

"We’re never safe," the burly man snapped "Reain"

The men fell back into conversation with Evanna, their voices low and ier interested in what they had to say During the few seconds of candlelight, I’d glimpsed purple skin, red eyes and hair, and kneho and what the men were, and why Evanna had been so secretive - she’d coroup of vampaneze!