“I can—”
“You should be here with me,” Chesh said. The words dropped like stones in the pond. I was staring at Chesh, open-mouthed as the words registered slowly in my consciousness. Suddenly I became aware that everyone in the restaurant was listening. Behind Chesh, Pearl covered her mouth with her hand, and her eyes filled with tears. “I love you, Ivy. There’s never been anyone for me but you. I should have told you earlier—before he brainwashed you to believe—”
“No!” Pearl’s shriek filled the air.
I glanced over at my sister as Pearl covered her face with her hands. With a sob, she turned and ran out of the restaurant, knocking into a table on her way, overturning it so that the wine glasses smashed into a million tiny shards of glass that scattered all over the floor.
I stared after Pearl, frozen to the spot, as the restaurant seemed to spin into motion again. Exclamations of shock and surprise filled my ears, and waiters rushed around to clean up the mess.
Slowly, I turned my attention back to my table, where both Chesh and Raven were staring at me.
“Go after her,” I said, with an edge to my voice.
“Ivy, I—”
I held up my hand to stop him, then was silent for a moment as I struggled to keep my emotions in check. Then I curled my hand into a fist. “Go.”
“Come with me,” Chesh said, holding out a hand to me. “Please, I don’t want to leave you,” Chesh’s eyes flickered towards where Raven was now standing. “You’ll be safer with me.”
“I would never hurt Ivy,” Raven replied, his voice like steel. Then he glanced at me and inclined his head. “It is your choice.”
“I’ll stay,” I replied.
Chesh reached out for me, but I stepped back. “Leave.”
He paused, as though trying to decide what to do, then he sighed and hung his head.
“Good night, Ivy,” he said, reluctantly moving away. Every person in the restaurant stared at him as he left, then turned to stare at us.
I swallowed, suddenly flushing at being, yet again, the center of attention. I looked at Raven, who ran a finger down the bridge of his nose, an action I knew meant he was deep in thought.
I knelt to pick up the napkin that had fallen to the floor when I’d leaped out of my chair. As I stood, Raven moved around the table to put a hand on my elbow.
“Perhaps we should leave?” he whispered, his breath tickling my earlobe.
I felt the lightness of relief and nodded. I tossed the napkin onto the table and tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow.
The waiters fetched our coats and hats before we stepped out of the restaurant door into the warm evening breeze.
Along the street, tables and chairs overflowed from the restaurants and cafes onto the footpaths, as couples and groups enjoyed the balmy night. With the hundreds of extra people who had stepped out for the Big Night Out, the streets were full of people, spilling out of the establishments, or just taking a walk along the avenues.
I saw a guard on patrol on the corner, but there was a smile on his face that indicated that he was enjoying the evening just as much as everyone else.
Mr. Thackery was sitting at an outdoor table with his wife and children. He held his wife’s hand and smiled as one of his children wolfed down the meal, barely pausing between bites.
“The night has been a success for some, at least,” Raven murmured.
I felt tight all over, wound tight like the mechanism in one of my pocket watches. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red and spun around, coming to crouch into a fighting pose.
A woman with three bright red feathers curving in a plume over her head walked past, arm in arm with a girlfriend. They were engaged in conversation and didn’t notice my behavior.
“Ivy?” Raven said softly before laying a hand gently on my shoulder. “What is it?”
I straightened, feeling foolish. “Nothing,” I replied, though I stared both ways down the street, just to be sure. “I think I saw… Never mind, just my eyes playing tricks on me.”
“You weren’t expecting the level of animosity that we received at the restaurant?” Raven asked. He tucked his hands in his trouser pockets as he stood in front of me, waiting for me to answer him.
I looked up at his expression, seeing the straight set of his mouth and the hint of sadness in his eyes. I shook my head. “But you were,” I said.
He nodded. “It wasn’t the evening that I’d hoped for—I wanted to show you a night out that we’d both remember. Well, I suppose we’ll remember it, but not for the right reasons. Still, you got a taste of what the unbeautiful people of this city—including vampires—experience all the time.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t expect to feel so…vulnerable.” I swallowed, remembering the way everyone in the restaurant had looked at me. As though they found me disgusting. “I didn’t expect to feel so disliked.”
“I’m sorry too.” Raven reached out to take my hand.
“Do you think it will ever change?”
Raven tipped his head, the edge of his mouth curling into a smile. “Of course,” he replied. “I have to believe that this is the beginning of something new. Look around—” He spread his hand as though surveying the street.
People sat at tables and chairs, the fashionable seated next to those who were not beautiful or fashionable by any measure. Mr. Thackery’s family appeared to be enjoying themselves—or at least the food—as they sat at a wrought iron table and chairs on the footpath. As I watched, though, the beautiful woman seated next to Mr. Thackery’s family glanced over her shoulder before shifting her chair a little further away. As though she wanted to put some distance between them. As though somehow a lack of beauty might be catching.
I looked farther and noticed the looks being exchanged by the beautiful people and those who were not.
“Do you really think so?” I murmured uncertainly.
“Believe me, Ivy, this is progress.” Raven put a finger under my chin and turned my face up towards his as he leaned down so that his nose was almost touching mine. He paused a moment, looking into my eyes, before brushing his lips to mine in a kiss so brief that I wondered if it had even happened. He smiled at me. “The evening is still young. Perhaps we could walk a little and enjoy the beauty of this night?”
He held out an arm. I grinned at him as I looped my arm through his. We stepped away from the people seated on the footpath and walked slowly along the avenue underneath the lamps. In this part of the city, they were shaped like dragons, rearing up on their hind legs, copper scales gleaming while they hissed fire into the night sky.
We left the crowd behind, and with every few steps, we walked in and out of the pools of light created by the street lamps. We fell into silence. I tightened my hold on Raven, moving closer to him, then leaned the side of my cheek against his shoulder.
After a while, Raven cleared his throat, putting his hand over where mine was tucked into the crook of his elbow. “Ivy, did you want to come to dinner with me tonight?”
My mouth went dry, and a lump formed in my throat. “Yes,” I whispered.
“You seemed…unsure,” he said. “Afraid, even.”
I glanced up at him. “When?”
“When I came to pick you up tonight.”
I stopped walking, and he took another step forward. With our arms entwined, he half-turned to me as he came to a stop. “Why are you asking me this?”
The lump in Raven’s throat bobbed as he swallowed before he spoke. “Your friend, Mr. Cheshire said some things to you tonight—”
“He was speaking out of turn,” I interrupted. “It was rude.”
“Yes, it was,” Raven agreed. “That doesn’t mean he was wrong.”
“I don’t understand.”
Raven turned to face me, taking both of my hands in his. He ran the pad of his thumbs lightly over my knuckles, looking down. Refusing to meet my eyes.
“You and Mr. Cheshire are good friends. Perha
ps you are more than good friends. If that is so…” He started to pull his hands away from mine.
“Yes, Mr. Cheshire and I are good friends.” I tightened my grip on Raven’s hands, pulling him towards me. “That’s all we are.”
“Are you sure?” Raven looked up at me, frowning. I saw concern in his eyes. I started to nod my head, but Raven stopped me. “He’s right, you know—this relationship, between us, would not be easy. Certainly not for you. Change takes time, especially when trying to change people’s minds. Many of your friends wouldn’t want to be seen with you any longer if you were linked romantically with me. You saw how it was in the restaurant tonight. That’s how it might always be. Can you live with that?”
His words fell like stones in my stomach. I let my gaze drift from his face, falling until I was staring at his shoes.
“What about you?” I asked, my voice so small that I wasn’t sure he would hear me. “Can you just walk away so easily?”
A moment elapsed. Then Raven exhaled his answer: “No.” He swallowed. “But I will—if you ask me to.”
Could I?
The ticking of the Pinnacle clock filled my mind, obscuring my thoughts. I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking about all of the times we’d spent together—in truth, it was hardly any time at all. We’d snatched a few hours together, here and there. He’d occupied more space in my thoughts than he’d spent next to me. Nevertheless, next to me, or away from me, he made my heart race. More than that, since the first conversation we’d had, he’d challenged my views, showed me things I’d never imagined, revealed a side of the world I’d never seen. I’d always had an inkling that our city wasn’t quite right, and Raven had shown me the truth. He’d given me a purpose—more purpose than I’d ever had. He’d given me a reason to fight for change.
I thought about Chesh and the love he’d declared for me tonight. On a certain level, I’d always known our friendship was unequal. While I kept him at arm's length, he would have taken more if I’d given him an opportunity. I’d been jealous of Pearl when he’d shown interest in her, but not because Chesh made my heart race. It was because Chesh was mine—my safe harbor. Someone I’d believed would always be there for me if I ever decided I wanted him.
In the dancing lamplight of the dragon’s fire, I knew what I had with Chesh was different to what I had with Raven. It would never be the same.
And I didn’t want it to be.
I looked up at Raven and tightened my grip on his hands. “I can’t walk away from you so easily, either.” I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck, pulling his face down towards mine. “And I don’t want to,” I whispered.
It was the sound of an upbeat tune wafting through the air that brought us back to the moment. Raven pulled away, cocking his head to the side.
“I do believe that’s the sound of dancing,” he said. He turned and scanned the avenue. He pointed in the direction of the wide paved circle in the city center, but I couldn’t see anything but the row of lamplights in the dark.
Raven held out his hand. “Will you grant me the honor of the first dance, my lady?” He smiled, the gleaming white of his teeth flashing against the darkness.
My smile spread so wide that my cheeks hurt. I bobbed a curtsy, then took his hand. “I believe I shall, sir,” I replied.
He laughed and started tugging me towards the music. I shrieked as I stumbled forwards, and the sound bounced off the stone buildings lining each side of the avenue. I kept my feet, then somehow, we were both running down the street, skirts and tailcoats flying as we made for the music.
When we arrived at the city center, a crowd of people had gathered under the spire of the Pinnacle. As we moved closer, I saw a band of four or five musicians playing lively tunes and people dancing under the face of the Pinnacle clock, which glowed as though it was the moon. We didn’t pause at the edge of the dance to take any notice of the details—instead, we flung ourselves into the swarm of partners. The music was lively, and dance partners smiled, with eyes only for each other, as they swirled around and around. Raven took one hand in mine, and wrapped the other around the small of my back, holding me close to him as he led me into the dance.
His feet moved like the music flowed through them, and I struggled to keep up, but it didn’t matter. One song merged into another, becoming louder and louder, as the night wore on and the throng of dancers grew. As though there was some sort of magic in the air, more and more people were drawn to the crowd and joined in the dancing. It was almost as though the impromptu dancing had drawn the revelers—beautiful and unbeautiful alike—out of the restaurants and bars of the city and to the paved cobblestones of the city center.
In the dance, the distinctions between the beautiful and unbeautiful fell away. None of it mattered. As we moved in time to the beat of the music—and to the rhythm of each other—Raven stared down at me like there was nobody else in the world, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his.
It was as though everything else in the world ceased to exist, except for Raven and I in this moment. This perfect moment.
Then the music drew into a crescendo, and the bells of the Pinnacle clock started to strike twelve.
Dong.
The music stopped in an instant.
Raven swirled me around one more time before taking my face in both hands and kissing me. Around me, people crashed into each other as they looked around to see why the music had stopped. Someone laughed.
Dong.
Raven pulled away, then looked away to the side. He frowned. I glanced around, breathing heavily, suddenly clammy in the evening air. I pushed a stray hair away from my face and looked up at the Pinnacle clock.
Dong.
Raven straightened, suddenly tense. He was looking away from the Pinnacle clock, to the outer edge of the city center. Everyone else stared up, mesmerized by the chiming sound and the glowing face of the clock.
Dong.
I tugged on Raven’s shirt and stretched up onto my toes to whisper in his ear. “What is it?”
Raven’s mouth was pressed into a thin line. “Can you hear that?” he asked.
I listened. Then I heard it, too—the sound I’d mistaken for the ticking of the clock. The sound of hundreds of footsteps marching exactly in time.
Dong.
“That’s the same sound we heard last night, wasn’t it?” I asked.
Raven nodded. “The Hearts,” he said, and at the very moment the words left his mouth, the first Hearts appeared out of the darkness.
Dong.
Someone screamed, and I jumped. The Hearts didn’t advance, but with every tick of the clock, more Hearts appeared, spreading around so that they made a perimeter around the circular edge of the city center.
Dong.
I spun around to run in the opposite direction but froze. “They’re surrounding us,” I hissed. A frisson of adrenalin surged through me as I understood what they were doing. I took a step forward, lifting my skirts as I got ready to run towards the last remaining gaps in the perimeter. “We’ve got to get out of here,” I said and raised my voice so that the people around me could hear.
Dong.
The dancers started to scatter, as they came to the same conclusion as I had. Everyone was moving in different directions. Raven grabbed my hand, pulling me towards one of the gaps in the circle.
Dong.
A Heart marched into the gap that Raven and I had been heading for. It stopped, turning to face us, with its broad card-body almost touching the cards on each side of it—like a wall. We couldn’t fit through the gap. I spun around again, searching frantically for a way out.
Dong.
What had Alice said about the Hearts? They used to kill. I spun around again, looking for another gap. I ran straight into Gaia and Genie.
“We’ve got to...” I yelled out to them, trying to warn them about the Hearts. Then I saw Alice, hand-in-hand with Wit. She was staring at the Hearts, her face white with fear.
Dong.
&n
bsp; There was another scream, but this time I recognized it. Pearl. I spun around, trying to locate her in the frenzy of the crowd. People were running to and fro, but there was nowhere to go. The Hearts had penned us in, like cattle.
“Ivy!” Raven yelled.
At the sound of his voice, I spun around to face outward the circle of Hearts. They’d made a solid wall with their square card-bodies and were holding their spears at the ready. The pointed tips of the spears glinted in the luminescent light of the Pinnacle clock.
Dong.
As the final chime brought in the new day, the Hearts all marched forward as one.
Finish the story in Goddess of Hearts
Goddess of Hearts
1
2nd September
The marching Hearts pounded the cobblestones, deafening as they surged forward, the sharp edges of their spears pointing toward the crowd. Screams pierced the night, as people surged backward, crushing each other. Raven pushed me behind him. He grabbed the cane he’d been carrying and brandished its metal tip at the advancing Hearts like a sword.
I patted myself down. Did I have anything to use as a weapon?
“Go to the middle of the crowd. You’ll be safer there,” Raven ordered. Then he yelled out: “Vampires to the front!” I saw a number of pale-faced, well-dressed men and women appear to make a wall, taking the brunt of the initial attack.
I looked behind me. People were screaming and pushing each other, trying to get away.
The Hearts surrounded us in a circle. The vampires might hold them back for a short period, but there were too many of them. In the open central marketplace, there was nowhere to hide.
Beside me, several other men were brandishing their canes, too. A woman swung her folded parasol, and another held a high-heeled shoe in front of her so that the spike pointed out. Another lady swung a long necklace, with a large jewel pendant, like a ball and chain. As I watched her, I had an idea. I took out the pocket watch and swung it around in front of me—it was better than nothing.
Ivy: Daughter of Alice Page 26