Ark was proud of his detective work. “This outflow is composed of nothing but the finest royal produce!”

Mucum sniffed. “Yeah. Well, it smells the same.”

“I’ll follow the pipework and take myself straight into his private residence, explain what’s going on. The King will have Grasp arrested and —”

“You make it sound dead easy,” Mucum grumbled. “But I don’t see why I can’t do the bodyguard thing.”

Ark was desperate not to get his friend into any more trouble. “Mucum, if it goes wrong, if I get caught, who’s going to get the word out? We need a Plan B.”

“You’ve got a point, I suppose. What is Plan B, by the way?”

“No idea. I’ll see you later. Go home.”

Mucum folded his arms. “No way. I’m not havin’ that. Find Quercus. Sort it out. But I promise I ain’t going nowhere ’til I know you’re all right. I’ll give you an hour and then I’m comin’ in after you!” He stood there as if he was putting down roots. “And leave the rest of those sausages behind. A man’s gotta eat.”

Ark mostly kept to himself at work. He wasn’t the sort to have a best bud. He felt tears bubbling at the edge of his eyes and turned away, not wanting Mucum to see his face. “Thanks … for everything.”

Five minutes later, Ark was sure he was right under the royal chamber. He quickly located a maintenance hatch off a side tunnel. He climbed the ladder and pressed his ear up against the floor hatch, listening for footsteps. All clear. He undid the double-sided latch and swung it open.

The corridor he tiptoed into easily outdid Grasp’s house in opulence and finery. All the walls were painted with murals cunningly hiding the door frames in archways of golden leaves. The gas lamps were polished silver, their flames giving off perfumed scents, and the floorboards were covered in silk rugs.

Hope flared like a gas lamp in his heart for the first time since it all began. Was it really only the day before? One day ago, he was Arktorious Malikum, tired, broke, and hungry. And now, he was still tired, poor, and hungry, but somehow at the center of unfolding events. He would find the King and warn him.

It’s going to be all right! he thought as he walked right into the armed guards outside the King’s rooms.

The soldiers’ eyes went wide. Who the holly was this blood-spattered runt of a boy with crazed eyes? Even worse, how had he managed to break through all security and get within feet of the King?