But today was going to be different. For the first time ever, he put real effort into his attempts to master numbers. If he was going to have a position with Bazie’s gang, he didn’t want the authorities looking for him to clap him back into lessons. There was always a chance that they would catch him. If that happened, his uncle would know exactly where to find him.

No, the moment that Bazie had a place for him, he wanted to be able to pass his test and get released from school. Then he could disappear, and Uncle Londer could fume all he wanted. At the moment, he couldn’t see how hanging with Bazie’s gang could be anything but an improvement over the Hollybush.

His determination communicated itself to his tutor, and the younger boy put more enthusiasm into the lesson than Skif had expected. By the end of it, he’d made more progress in that single morning than he had in the four years he’d been taking lessons.

When lessons were over and the bell rang, he got ready to shoot out the door with the rest, but before he could, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, holding him in his seat.

Beel. He must have noticed something was different. Skif’s stomach knotted, and his heart sank. He was in trouble, he must be—and for once, he didn’t know why, or for what reason. And that made it worse.

“You can all go—” said Beel, whose hand, indeed, it was—but Beel’s hand kept Skif pinned where he was.

Only when the room had emptied did Beel remove his hand from Skif’s shoulder, and the young priest came around in front of him to stand looking down at him soberly.

“Skif—do you do work at the tavern in the afternoons?” Beel asked, a peculiarly strained expression on his face.

What?

Skif hesitated. If he told the truth, surely Beel would tell his father that Skif was a regular at playing truant from the Hollybush, and he would be in trouble. But if he didn’t—Beel was a priest, and might be able to tell, and he would be in worse trouble.

But Beel didn’t wait for him to make up his mind about his answer. “I want you to do something for me, Skif,” he said urgently, his eyes full of some emotion Skif couldn’t recognize. “I want you to promise me that today you won’t go near the tavern from the time lessons let out until the time darkness falls.”