Chapter 10: In Which a Proposition Is SuggestedHoyle ate from yet another night’s bowl of tasteless glop.
“Hoyle? You okay?” Ada put a hand on Hoyle’s shoulder. He turned, and Ada leapt back. “Jeez, sorry!”
Hoyle shrugged. He’d be fine if everyone would just leave him alone.
It was two days since their escape, and according to Sybil, they were homing in on the location of the climactic scene in After the Bloodwood Staff. Hoyle had read the book twice now; the Hoyle who had worked in a cubicle and collected old books had kept up a running silent critique: “That was a really clumsy bit of plotting. But at least that character finally has something to do.” The new Hoyle, dark and determined, pored over it for clues. He spent the time between dinner and bedtime comparing descriptions to the
