The Midnight Market

by Beth McMullen

  Jin looks at him sadly. “Sorry you had to learn the hard way,” he says quietly. “But take it from me. Next time choose better friends. It makes all the difference. And you’ll be fine—the tourists show up pretty early in the morning. Now come on, guys. There is treasure hunting that needs doing.”

  Without looking back, Jin jumps into the boat, which reverses into the water. And off we go, wrapped in magic we can’t even begin to understand.

  CHAPTER 38 LADY LIBERTY, HERE WE COME!

  IT DOES NOT TAKE LONG to reach Liberty Island, but it’s enough time for us to demolish the snacks. Zeus murmurs happily on Jin’s shoulder. Grateful for my second wind, I jump out prepared to do battle for the Helm, Jin and Hannah by my side. I’d like to ask the boat to wait for us, but I don’t want to overstep the bounds of a single princess crystal. They are sensitive, according to the Midnight Market lady with no teeth.

  We stalk the statue in total stealth mode but, apparently, we are not that good at it because we get caught before a single minute goes by.

  “Hey, you kids! What are you doing? Freeze!” Uh-oh. Paul is invisible. We, on the other hand, are not. A guard in a navy-blue uniform trundles over to us.

  “We can outrun him,” Hannah whispers. “He’s out of shape.”

  “We’re on an island,” Jin replies. “Where are we going to go?” Both are excellent points. And I have an idea. Quickly, I pull a smoke-bomb Ping-Pong ball from my backpack.

  “Follow my lead,” I say, and hurl the ball at the guard’s feet. Immediately, it engulfs him in a cloud of smoke. Yes! My smoke bomb works even when wet! The guard coughs and waves his hands around to clear the air. It’s time to run. “To the statue!”

  We bolt toward the base of Lady Liberty. The guard, coughing and cursing, stumbles after us. There’s a row of garbage cans off to the side of the path, and hunkered down behind them, we listen as the guard approaches.

  “Don’t even breathe,” I whisper.

  “You don’t need to tell us that,” Hannah shoots back.

  “I’m talking to the bird,” I reply.

  “Oh. Yeah.” But Zeus has his head tucked beneath his wing. How can he sleep at a moment like this? Muttering angrily, the guard waves his flashlight around, hoping to catch a glimpse of us. We stay very still. My leg starts to cramp and my toes tingle. Jin wiggles his elbow and gets me between the rib cage. Hannah sighs to indicate she is highly disappointed at our lack of discipline.

  Obviously convinced we were a trick of his imagination, the guard gives up and trudges away. We wait until we can no longer see his rumpled form before creeping out from behind the garbage cans.

  Along the backside of the statue’s pedestal, there is an AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY door cracked open. This must be how Paul and Ben slipped inside. Following their lead, we squeeze through, careful to keep our footsteps quiet. A narrow hall deposits us in the main lobby, where the original torch, replaced after an explosion, sits front and center. And while it is meant to be inspiring, in the dim light, everything appears ominous. Where are they? Are they watching us right now? This invisibility thing sure is a pain in the neck.

  But my brain is busy compensating, replacing sight with smell. The hint of lavender in the air promises we are on the right track. We follow our noses and climb 192 steps to the pedestal viewing area. Bathed in sweat, we squat low on the stairs and listen.

  “I want to climb out on the crown,” Paul says. “You know, like out the window. It will be so rad. Completely dangerous. The best!” He laughs. It is a frantic, high-pitched sound that has nothing to do with joy or fun. Jin cringes.

  “That’s crazy,” Ben replies. “It’s a twenty-two-story building, and I don’t think there is a ledge.”

  “I regret inviting you along already,” Paul says dismissively. There is a scuffle, and suddenly Ben appears on the landing.

  “Hey,” Ben protests. “You let me go. You can’t do that.”

  “Can and did,” replies Paul. “Something you should remember. How much trouble would you be in if they found you here in the morning? My guess is a lot.” He chuckles to himself, as if this game he is playing is just the most fun ever.

  “I’m in,” Ben says. “I told you that already. Let’s go.” Suddenly he’s gone again. There is the echo of footsteps as the invisible pair departs. Behind them, we sneak along and make our way to the stairs that lead to the crown.

  Staying back and out of sight, we begin to climb the 192 steps to the crown. The stairway is narrow, steep, and dark. I have to concentrate to keep from tripping over my own feet.

  The inside of Lady Liberty’s crown is like the inside of a skull, a web of structural metal beams keeping it from caving in. It’s a tight space, so we hide in the shadows. Up ahead, one of the oblong windows, about as wide as my shoulders, opens, and Ben appears. Paul has released him.

  “Go,” Paul commands. “Climb out. See what it’s like.” The fear on Ben’s face is obvious, even from where we crouch. Climbing out there is insane. And pointless. In this moment, I understand why the Task Force works so hard to keep magical mythical potentially dangerous treasures out of the hands of regular everyday people. It is because regular everyday people cannot handle the power. They do dumb things, dangerous things, and just like that, a kid is climbing out a window almost three hundred feet above the ground. Ben, face contorted, sweat rolling down from his temples, gives in to the bullying and wedges himself through the window.

  I don’t think we can actually sit here and watch this happen. But as I’m about to reveal myself, Hannah leaps to her feet and charges the window.

  “Don’t! Stop!” she yells. In his surprise, Ben slips and pitches headlong out the window. Hannah screams and flies through the air, catching him by the ankle. But his weight pulls her forward, and while her feet scramble to find purchase, there is none to be had. I get ahold of her shirt a split second before she disappears over the edge.

  “Lola!”

  “I’ve got you! Don’t let go! Jin, find something, a rope, anything!”

  As Jin scrambles, Paul laughs and laughs. “Look who showed up,” he cackles. “My friends. Or whatever you are. Oh, wait. I know what you are. You are no fun.”

  Hannah’s shirt tears in my hand. “Jin!”

  He’s at my side, breathing hard. “There’s nothing. I can’t find anything.”

  The shirt is not going to hold, and Jin can’t help me hold on because the window is too narrow for both of us to fit.

  Think, Lola! There is no way you let this happen.

  “Jin! In my pocket, the other princess crystal! Grab it!” Jin produces the crystal and holds it up. I can’t let go of the shirt or they fall, so I send a silent hope into the universe that this crystal likes Jin well enough to grant him his wish. “Wish for a soft landing,” I whisper, sweat pouring down my face. And in that moment, the shirt gives and Hannah and Ben plummet to the earth. Jin smashes the princess crystal and screams. I scream. Zeus screams.

  But an amazing thing happens below. The ground appears to undulate like a wave building momentum. It rises up to the falling bodies and catches them gently in a pocket of soft green grass, holding them safe and tight as it settles once again into a flat lawn. Hannah and Ben are sprawled on the grass almost three hundred feet below. Unharmed.

  “What was that?” Paul asks accusingly. “You never mentioned that, Jin.”

  “The Helm belongs to us,” I say. I pull myself back into the room, my eyes tracking his voice. “It’s not a toy. It’s dangerous.”

  “Don’t try to scare me,” Paul says. “You think you’re so special, with your fancy STEM fair projects and Jin thinking you’re amazing and all that. Really, you are just some girl.”

  I don’t like the way he says that. It makes my eyebrow twitch.

  “She is not,” Jin replies. “I mean, yes she is a girl, but Lola is my best friend.” I can’t see Paul, but I swear I can hear him stiffen. “She’s everything you aren’t. Reliable. Trustworthy. Enco
uraging. Nice. Funny. Jeez, I can’t even remember why I liked you!”

  “Shut. Up.” Paul has moved closer to Jin. “Don’t say another word.”

  “Why?” Jin demands. “Because if I do, you will throw me out a window? Who does that to their friends?” I realize that I have never seen Jin truly angry. And right now, he is raging. “You are a pathetic, sad person. And desperate, too. And lame. And…”

  Jin should have stopped at pathetic. Midsentence Zeus is knocked off his shoulder, and Jin is thrown to the floor by our invisible adversary. His head hits the ground hard. It sounds like a melon rolling off a table. I crawl toward him, but Paul shoves me back. “This is all your fault,” Paul hisses. “I think you should go out the window too, and I bet you don’t have any more of those magic crystal balls to save you.”

  He grabs my leg in an attempt to drag me toward the window, but I kick free, get to my feet, and run the only direction I can, through the barrier and up the ladder toward the torch, clutched in Lady Liberty’s eternal grip.

  CHAPTER 39 INTO THE FIRE

  LADY LIBERTY’S TORCH WAS CLOSED to visitors in 1916, after an explosion on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor in the middle of the night sent shrapnel flying into the arm and torch of the statue, damaging it. In 1986, the arm was repaired and the torch replaced, with a copper flame covered in 24K gold. Despite the repairs, it was never again reopened to tourists and I can see why. The forty-foot ladder, which workers use to maintain the floodlights that illuminate the torch, rises in the tight narrow shaft of the arm. It’s barely the width of my shoulders. Were people smaller when they built this thing?

  I can’t see Paul, but I can hear his labored breathing right at my heels. I urge my legs to go faster. But what do I do at the top? Panic? Scream? Grow wings and fly? If only I had more princess crystals!

  It’s okay, Lola. You will figure it out.

  Boy, I hope so. Remind me why I wanted to hunt for missing magical mythical potentially dangerous treasures again? Yeah. I don’t know the answer to that. At the top, I shove open the hatch to the small deck surrounding the flame. Flooded with light, it really looks like it’s on fire! It’s so beautiful I want to stop and admire it, but this is no time for a scenic tour. I slam the hatch shut behind me and scurry to the far side, putting the flame between me and Paul.

  Now what? There is no way off other than the ladder. I slide to the ground, resting my forehead on my knees. I am all alone. No one is coming to save me. Sure, my friends like me, but to follow me up here where I’m trapped with a lunatic—does our friendship go that far, that deep? I mean, even Zeus has abandoned me. And anyway, this mess is all my fault. Going rogue was my idea. Hiding Lipstick’s involvement is all on me too.

  Beside me is a bucket of water and a few dried-out sponges, probably used to clean the many floodlights, and not deep enough for me to submerge myself and disappear. I’m doomed. That’s it. Might as well accept it. I tried to be a treasure hunter, but I failed and let everyone down in the process. The hatch clatters open, and the smell of lavender wafts through the air. Oh wait. Maybe I have an idea after all.

  “You stole my bandanna,” I say, feeling Paul’s eyes on me even if I can’t see him. “And you ghosted Jin. Neither of those things is very nice.” If I can get him talking, I can follow his voice. Maybe I can tangle up his legs and knock him over long enough to take the Helm and escape down the ladder. It’s not much of a plan, but it will have to do. “Why would you do that? He was a good friend to you, and good friends are hard to come by.”

  Silence. Okay. Fine. I can keep talking, just watch.

  “But really, you weren’t worthy of him,” I continue. From what I’ve seen, Paul has a short fuse, so making him jealous might be the best way to get him to speak up. “He is way cooler than you are. I mean, the Task Force was falling all over itself trying to get him on board. He’s a natural, a gifted treasure hunter. Like, maybe the best ever. A total GOAT. A legend.”

  “He’s not the greatest of all time,” Paul says. “Give me a break.” Boom! Did it! He’s close, coming up on my left side. I slide my legs under me so I’m ready to spring at him.

  “One in a million,” I say. “Everyone is going to be doing things Jin’s way in no time at all. I, for one, am dazzled.”

  “You’re lying.” He’s so close I can feel his breath on my skin. This is it. One step closer.

  “Am I?”

  With that, I spring at him like a coiled jack-in-the-box clown. But I land flat on my face, smashing my elbow hard on the ground. Paul’s laughter fills the air. “Nice try. Can’t see me. Can’t catch me. Now, I think I’m going to leave you up here. Jam that hatch shut and see how long you last. That would be fun. And funny. And you deserve it.”

  “The Helm will make you do things you regret,” I say with a groan. I remember how possessed I felt by the Stone of Istenanya, when it whispered to me about all the power I could have, and how much in that moment, I wanted that power. Is Paul being corrupted by the Helm’s power, or is he just a jerk?

  “I regret nothing.” He smirks. Yup. Just a jerk. “Anyway, gotta run. Banks to rob and stuff.” I rub my tired eyes, and when I open them, I catch a flash of something by the hatch.

  Hannah! Quiet as a ghost, she climbs out, followed by Jin. They came to help me! Hope surges. This is not over.

  “Banks?” I say quickly, trying to keep Paul’s attention on me. “That’s your big play? How cliché! Wow. Way to waste a superpower.”

  “Huh?”

  “You heard me. Boring with a capital B.”

  “And what are you, like, an expert?” His voice keeps moving, like he’s pacing the small space, but this makes it hard to nail him down. If we make a move and fail, he can easily hop down the ladder and make his getaway with the Helm.

  “Pretty close,” I say. “I have quite a bit of experience with magical objects. More than you, anyway.” Jin and Hannah come from different directions. Suddenly, Jin yelps with pain.

  “Ow! My shin! He kicked me!”

  “Where is he?” I yell.

  “I don’t know!” Hannah shouts back. We swing our arms wildly, hoping to make contact, but Paul is nowhere. If only we could see him, this would be so much easier!

  Oh, but maybe we can. Dorothy tossed a bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West and steamed her to death, but I want to see Paul. Quickly, I grab the water bucket with two hands and heave the contents into the air. As the water rains down, like a summer cloudburst, there is the shimmery outline of Paul, crawling toward the hatch. And that is the exact moment Zeus swoops in, snatches the Helm right off his head, and flies out of the crown.

  Face scrunched with fury, Paul lunges after Zeus and tips dangerously over the edge of the torch. At the last second, Jin grabs his old friend by the waistband, pulling him back to safety. They tumble in a heap to the ground.

  “What happened?” Paul cries.

  “You lost,” Jin says.

  CHAPTER 40 ARE WATER TAXIS A THING?

  SIRENS BLARE AND POLICE BOATS fly across the water as we scramble down the ladder and the stairs and out of the Statue of Liberty. The grounds are flooded with security. Did the guard realize he wasn’t dreaming and call for help? Did he see the ground rise up to catch Hannah and Ben? There is a lot of screaming when we are spotted fleeing the landmark.

  “Zeus! The Helm!” There is a split-second pause, during which I wonder if Zeus has gone power mad too. I could see it happening. “Now, Zeus!” He deposits the mythical cap on my head and perches on my shoulder. Pulling the cap secure, I grab my friends.

  And we vanish.

  It feels weird. Tingly almost, like I’m being stung by a thousand tiny well-meaning jellyfish. And I’m lighter, too, like gravity isn’t working right. Are my feet even touching the ground? The security guards and the police pull to an abrupt stop.

  A refrain of “Where are they? Where did they go?” rings out across the lawn. Hands clutched tight, we move slowly and deliberately tow
ard the water. We have no boat and no way off this island, but if we stay invisible, we can simply sneak onto a ferry in the morning. No one has to know.

  Being invisible is wild. I get the appeal. Not that I’d rob a bank or anything. No. I’d go directly to the Louvre and lift the Mona Lisa. Just kidding. Or maybe I’m not.

  I’m busy reminding myself not to get swept up in the Helm’s power when Hannah nudges me. “Look,” she says. Rushing in our direction, almost as if he can see us, is my dad, but he’s dressed in a suit and has a badge dangling from his neck. He stops a group of uniformed cops, and they gesture and point and shrug, and he nods and pats one of them on the shoulder as if they are good friends. He then proceeds toward us, stopping about ten feet away, hands on hips, scowling and scanning the grounds.

  “Dad!”

  His head darts around, searching us out. “Where are you?” he asks. “Do you realize half the New York City Police Department is searching for you? They found a kid on Ellis Island who told quite a tale. Now, take me into your invisibility bubble because this badge is fake and I don’t want to go to jail. I’ve heard the food is wretched in the clink.”

  I pull Dad in close and breathe in the smell of him. He’s an unconventional father, to be sure, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. “Thank you for coming.”

  “I’d have been here sooner except Zeus’s chip seems to be no longer functioning. Naughty Zeus.” Zeus hangs his head but also smirks. Typical Zeus. “I had to track the police scanner, but as soon as I heard the details from the Ellis Island boy—magic crystal balls, the power of invisibility—I knew right away where to find you. I never should have left you in Grand Central, but I thought… Well, never mind what I thought. Let’s find where I left that boat and get out of here.”

  Once we are safely on board Dad’s boat and clear from the shore, I remove the cap and we let go of one another’s hands. My friends come into quick relief.