Gaia stopped walking abruptly, then turned to me and put a hand on my cheek. “This wasn’t your fault. You’ve helped people to improve their lives. Look at her—she’s not starving in the tunnels, or living off charity. She’s working for a living. A few days ago, it wouldn’t have been possible. And she is only the start—I’m certain of it.”
3
4th September
I walked up the steps of the perimeter wall until I reached the walk that ran all the way around the ramparts. On one side, the city of Melfall spread out, a maze of buildings huddled together around straight avenues, between an interconnecting puzzle of streets and narrow alleys. Once again, I spotted the decorations on top of the roofs all over the city, still moving ceaselessly like cogs in a machine.
I squinted at them—was it my imagination, or were the cogs moving in time to the ticking of the clock? In fact, I had to strain to hear the sound of the ticking. It seemed quieter than it had only days ago.
“Miss Rowntree?”
I turned to see Captain Walsh saluting me.
“Captain Walsh,” I replied, and he dropped his hand, though his posture was still straight and tall.
“Have you come to see our new sculpture garden?”
I blinked at him. “I beg your pardon?”
He chuckled. “Just a little joke, Miss Rowntree. Yesterday, one of the guards mentioned that they were so still; it was like they were statues. Like sculptures—though they’re no work of art, in my opinion.”
“You mean the Hearts are still here?” I exclaimed, then rushed over to the other side of the walk and looked away from the city, towards the rolling hills that stretched out toward the distant horizon. Only, now, the hills were marked by approximately one hundred Hearts standing in rows.
The Captain was right. The Hearts didn’t move. They stood erect and completely still.
“They haven’t moved since President Rowntree locked the gates. Not a single movement from any of them—and my guards have been watching them around the clock since the attack.”
I stared at the Hearts, standing in straight rows in the same formation they’d taken when they marched out of the city.
“What about the broken ones?” I asked, stretching to look directly down to the base of the wall. “I heard they were thrown over?”
“Well, there’s the mystery. The remains of the broken Hearts have disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” I looked at him. “Your guards didn’t see anything?”
Captain Walsh shook his head. “They didn’t, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t looking. The fact is that the wall is long and, even doubled, my guards cannot see everything.”
I clenched my teeth, determined to keep my mouth shut, despite the obvious questions. I looked over the Hearts again, doing a rough count.
“There seem to be more than the number of Hearts who marched out of the gate,” I commented.
Captain Walsh looked out, frowning, and I could see him surveying the Hearts, as though doing some quick calculations of his own.
“Do we know how many Hearts there were to begin with?”
“No, miss. I don’t believe anyone counted,” Captain Walsh responded. His posture straightened and tensed, and he suddenly sounded defensive. “There was quite a lot going on at that time, and most of my guards were patrolling the city streets instead of manning the towers. President’s orders, you know.”
I sighed. “I’m not blaming you or your guards,” I said, trying to sound diplomatic. “I’m just trying to work out where they came from and who sent them.”
Captain Walsh shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now, does it? The city gates are locked, and the Hearts have run out of energy. If that’s what they ran on, to begin with. They don’t seem like much of a threat to me, right now.”
I pressed my lips together. Not right now, but I’m not counting them out completely.
His words about the Hearts running out of energy struck me, though, and I stared down at them.
Captain Walsh cleared his throat. I became aware that he had asked me something.
“I beg your pardon, Miss Rowntree, but since you’re here, I wonder whether you might take a tour of the wall and barracks? All of the guards were pulled back from leave to patrol the city on the Big Night Out, and since then, they’ve been pulling double shifts to ensure the wall is properly guarded. I expect our President is very busy just at the minute, but people think of you as her representative. It would be helpful for morale if you walked among them for a short time, and thanked them for their efforts.”
I wanted to say no, but couldn’t deny that the city guards had been very helpful in patrolling the Big Night Out, then during the Heart attack, and since. I inclined my head in agreement and dutifully followed Captain Walsh to greet the guards.
“What are you doing?”
Gaia sat on the window seat underneath my bedroom window. She’d come to see me in my room after having woken from an afternoon nap. I sat at my table with little cogs and gears spread all over. I was wearing my goggles to magnify the tiny gears as I worked on the pocket watch I was making for Gaia.
“Keeping my hands busy helps me to think,” I replied without meeting her eyes.
“What are you thinking about?” Gaia asked.
“The Hearts.”
“About who is controlling them?”
I nodded. “the Hearts are robots. They have been made to look human, with card armor and helmets, but they aren’t human. They’re programmed.”
I fiddled with one of the tiny round gear wheels with teeth that wouldn’t quite fit into place. The placement had to be perfect, or it wouldn’t connect properly to the other wheels, and the escapement mechanism wouldn’t run properly or keep time. I held my breath as I used a small set of tweezers to fit the wheel into place, but it slipped from my grip. I sighed as I set the wheel down on the table, changed my grip on the tweezers and tried again.
“If they’re programmed, then somebody is in control of their responses.”
“Someone used them to attack the city,” Gaia replied. “We talked about this already.”
“Yes, but the fact that they’re outside the city, still and unresponsive, doesn’t mean they’re no longer a threat. They’re not dead—they’re just waiting for a signal to power up again. While we don’t know who’s controlling them, we don’t know when that might happen.”
“We shouldn’t wait around for an attack to come.”
I shut my eyes and focused on feeling the gear into place. I could feel the energy pulsating through my fingers where I held the tiny pieces of the watch. The parts of the watch felt like parts of myself, and I concentrated my mind on thinking them into the right place. I heard a click as the tiny gear fit into place.
My eyes flew open, and I smiled in triumph before setting the still unfinished watch back on the table. I leaned back to stretch my shoulders. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. We should be ready for it,” I replied, once again, thankful that Gaia and I seemed to be on a similar wavelength when it came to solving problems. It felt so natural to talk through problems with her—as though we’d been doing it for years, rather than less than a week.
The late afternoon light fell over Gaia’s shoulder, setting off her profile with a line of gold, as though she was some sort of goddess. The sun would soon dip beneath the horizon, and I felt a thrill of excitement shoot through me at the notion that it was almost time for me to visit Raven. Part of me scolded myself that I shouldn’t be so excited when the city and its people faced so many problems, but I couldn’t deny the way my heart pounded when I thought about him.
“You are thinking that your new friend might have the answers to this puzzle?” Gaia asked, looking at me from underneath her long eyelashes, with a smirk on her face.
I shrugged one shoulder in mock innocence. “Raven might be able to answer some of my questions. It’s worth a try.”
“I suppose that’s the only reason you’re going to see hi
m?” Gaia teased. “I’m sure it has nothing to do with his handsome face and dashing figure.”
I blushed but knew it was pointless denying it. A thought struck me. “You think Raven is handsome?”
Gaia rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what I think. You think he is handsome. As it happens, I understand the attraction to a man who looks younger than he is. After all, who can argue with the beauty of youth and the wisdom of age?”
“Is Genie much older than you?” I asked. “He’s not a vampire, too, is he?”
Gaia shook his head. “Not a vampire, but yes, he is somewhat older than me. He’s a genie—but don’t go asking him for wishes. He doesn’t have that magic anymore.” She stood up and walked to the door, giving me a wink as she left. “Don’t stay out too late.”
It was dark by the time I stepped down the ladder and into the tunnels that ran underneath the city. I’d tried the shop first, but Miss Lapin told me that Raven hadn’t been in since the attack. Then, I’d tried his house, but his butler informed me that Raven had not been seen at the residence since turning it into a halfway house. He also mentioned that Raven had not slept since the attack. The butler seemed rushed off his feet, so I hadn’t pressed him for more details, but if Raven hadn’t slept for days, I knew that meant he’d been out of the reach of the sunlight.
That meant there was only one place he could be—the network of tunnels that ran underneath Melfall.
As the lamplighter lit the street lamps, I’d retraced my steps to the place where Raven had first brought me down to the tunnels. I slid open the manhole cover and lowered myself down the ladder and into the darkness.
Somewhere, I could hear the dripping of water. It was cooler down here, but the moisture made it feel just as humid as the surface.
I followed the torchlights along the tunnel, and it wasn’t long before I bumped into the people who had made these tunnels their home. They confirmed my suspicions and led me through the maze of tunnels to find Raven.
I entered a brightly lit room with a map of Melfall pinned to the wall, alongside other papers scribbled with lists of items and names. A number of people were standing around Raven as they looked at something, and they all turned to look at me as I cleared my throat.
Raven’s face lit up with a smile. He wiped his hands on his trousers, which looked uncharacteristically rumpled, and stepped around the table.
The others mumbled something about having “things to do” and scuttled out of the room. Raven didn’t take his eyes off me as they left, and when the last of them left the room, he reached out to put a hand on my cheek.
“Ivy,” he breathed, speaking my name with such longing. He drew me to him, pressed his forehead to mine, and closed his eyes as though in prayer. I curled my fist in his shirt, and we stood like that for a moment, clutching each other, before he bent down to brush a soft kiss to my lips. “I’m sorry, I haven’t come to see you. It’s not because I didn’t want to.”
“Your butler thinks you’ve abandoned your home to make it into a halfway house. He didn’t seem particularly pleased about it.”
The edge of Raven’s mouth curled up in a smile. “The hospital was full. How could I let my house stand empty while the people of this city bled on the streets? The place is too big for me, anyway.”
“He also said you haven’t slept in days.” I raised my eyebrows in mock admonishment.
“I’m a vampire, I don’t need nearly as much sleep as a mortal.” He stroked my cheek. “I couldn’t rest while the people of this city needed help.”
I leaned my ear against his chest as I looked around the room. “What have you been doing? This looks like a base of operations.”
Raven chuckled. “I’ve built up networks over the years, especially since I’ve been working to better the lives of the hidden, and the vampires of this city. It puts me in a unique position to make sure those who suffered blood loss have access to the blood they need for a full recovery.”
“You’re supplying the hospitals now, as well as the vampires?” I looked up at him.
“Since we’ve been unable to get access to the blood banks, vampires have been building up their own stores, paying me for blood that I get from Wit’s patients. Now, they’re donating their stores to the cause.”
“Even though the blood banks are still withholding blood?”
Raven nodded. “I’ve never known my kind to be so charitable, especially toward mortals.”
“You’re the go-between, making sure the donated blood gets to where it’s needed?”
Raven shrugged, though there was a hint of a pleased smile. “Blood, supplies, medicines—I’ve got a network of people and vampires who can move things around the city. It’s useful to have in a time like this. Plus, I’ve already got a network established to find places to live for people who need one—the hidden are moving out of the tunnels and back to the surface. Now, we’re passing along offers of work to those who might be able to step in to cover for those injured in the attacks.”
“I saw an unbeautiful woman yesterday, serving in the front of a shop. Last week, she would never have been hired to serve customers. Things are changing.”
“We have to capitalize on this momentum while there is some goodwill in the city. I can’t rest while we have the opportunity to take advantage of this crisis to forge a place for the hidden to be part of society again. If we don’t, we risk Melfall going back to the way it used to be. I won’t let that happen.”
I smiled up at him, bursting with pride. “Good. Just make sure you look after yourself. I don’t want to see you collapsing from exhaustion—it won’t do anyone any good.”
Raven chuckled again and brushed a lock of hair from my face. “I’ve missed you,” he murmured as he leaned down to press a lingering kiss to my lips. I wrapped my arms around his torso, pressing myself against him, as though trying to forge our bodies into one.
When we pulled away from each other, I found myself breathless and blinking in the flickering light of the torches on the damp walls.
“As lovely as it is to see you, Ivy, I have more to do, and I don’t want you wandering around the city at night. After the attack, I worry about you.”
“Would your work allow you to walk me home?” I asked, though I didn’t want to leave. “We could talk on the way. I did actually come to see you for a reason.”
Raven arched an eyebrow. “Aside from the pleasure of my company?”
It was my turn to chuckle. “Your company is equally alluring,” I replied as Raven motioned for me to follow him out of the room and back into the darkness of the tunnels. He didn’t take a torch from the walls, and though I could barely see through the darkness around me, Raven moved with the confidence of someone who could both see and knew where he was going. He took my hand, and I wove my fingers between his, thankful for the contact as I moved blindly through the dark.
“What did you want to ask me?” Raven’s soft voice echoed off the tunnel walls like the sounds of our footsteps.
“I wanted to ask if you have found out anything more about the Hearts and who is controlling them.”
I heard Raven take a deep breath. “No more than guesses. The Hearts used to be controlled by the Queen. I told you that I think she’s back. I don’t have anything to prove it, but that’s still my hunch.”
“We need to disable those Hearts so that the Queen—or whoever is using them to attack the city—can’t use them anymore.”
“Can you do it?” Raven asked.
I bit my lip, hesitating as I remembered what Gaia said about my ‘knack’ before I answered. “I can try.”
4
5th September
“This extraordinary city hall meeting will come to order,” The town crier’s voice boomed from the front of the large city hall. I stood on my tiptoes in the crowd, stretching to see around the tall feathers on the hat of the woman who stood in front of me. On either side, my shoulders pressed against other people. The chairs had been removed so
there was standing room only in the cavernous space
I guessed that had caused some grumbles from those who had arrived first, but now it seemed as though everyone in the entire city was trying to squeeze into one of the few large meeting halls the city offered.
There wasn’t even room to fan my face, and in the warmth of the day and the crush of the room, a wave of heat swept over me.
At the front of the hall, Alice stood on a raised stage, waiting for the moment to speak. This morning, she’d left me a note that she was calling a town meeting, and that I should attend, but she hadn’t told me what it was about.
I could only guess it was about the recent attack on Melfall, but I hadn’t had the chance to speak to her.
In one corner, I noticed a group of vampires with Raven among them. They appeared through a back door and, since the meeting was being held in the middle of the day, I guessed there had to be an opening to one of the tunnels somewhere in the back of the building. I could see Raven looking over the crowd—for me—and I tried to catch his eye, but he didn’t see me before Alice stepped up to the dais.
As she did so, another man stood on the side of the stage, watching her as though she was the only person in the world. Wit put his hands together, as though he was clapping—or praying—but he didn’t make a sound. I remembered seeing them together at the Big Night Out, learning that they had been old friends. By the look in Wit’s eyes, I knew there was more than friendship between them—on his part, at least.
The muttering of the crowd fell to silence as Alice paused, waiting for their attention before she started to address everyone.
“Welcome, citizens of Melfall, and thank you for attending at such short notice. I think you will agree that the events of the last few days warrant immediate action.”
A ripple of a murmur ran through the crowd as people wondered what Alice was going to say. The pre-meeting chatter had converged on the same topic. Some thought she was going to announce special security measures. Others speculated that she knew the origins of the attack. Still others, worried that she was going to announce that she’d made a deal with the Queen of Hearts, to return the throne to the Queen in return for her life and banishment from the kingdom.
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