Midnight Dolls

by Kiki Sullivan

  But the seconds tick by, and the cemetery remains still. I wait for what seems like forever before pulling my cell phone out of my pocket to check the time. It’s 12:04 a.m., which isn’t really late yet. Still, I can’t fight the uneasy feeling brewing in the pit of my stomach.

  By 12:15, I’ve realized he’s not coming. I text Caleb—Gerdeaux not here. Headed back to car.

  I make it back over the wall and find Caleb’s Jeep idling by the curb. I climb into the passenger seat and glance at Caleb. He looks as concerned as I feel. “What happened to him?” he asks.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Maybe he changed his mind.”

  “I guess. But after the talk we had a couple of nights ago, that doesn’t seem right. Besides, if he changed his mind, that’s a bad thing too. Does that mean he’s decided not to work with us anymore?”

  “I don’t know,” Caleb says, but I can tell that he’s nervous. “You want to head back to Carrefour?”

  “I’m not sure what else we can do at this point,” I say.

  He nods and puts the car into drive, pulling a U-turn on Basin.

  We’ve just gotten on the interstate when my cell phone rings. I glance at my phone and look up at Caleb. “It’s Liv,” I say.

  “Liv? In the middle of the night?”

  I nod and answer the phone. Immediately, I hear screaming in the background and a loud whooshing sound that I can’t quite place. “Liv?”

  “Eveny, can you hear me?” she yells.

  “Liv? Where are you? Are you okay?”

  The whooshing gets louder, and I hear a woman screaming somewhere near Liv. “Eveny, you have to get back here!” Liv cries. “There’s a fire. A huge fire. I think there was an explosion or something! Downtown is burning!”

  “Wait, what?”

  Caleb whips his head to look at me.

  “Eveny, if what you said about magic is true,” Liv says, her voice breaking, “you have to do something. People are dying. Where are you?”

  And that’s when the call cuts out.

  “What’s going on?” Caleb demands.

  I feel like I can’t breathe. “There’s a huge fire in Carrefour.”

  “A fire?” Caleb says as I try to call Liv back. It goes straight to voice mail.

  “It has to be related to Main de Lumière. Caleb, what if the Gerdeaux thing was all a trap to lure me out of town tonight? What if this was his plan all along?” I feel sick to my stomach. My grandfather was right; I was foolish, and people were going to die because of it.

  “You don’t know that,” Caleb says.

  I wipe tears from my eyes. “How fast can you drive? We need to get home as soon as possible.”

  I can’t reach anyone.

  All of my calls are going straight to voice mail. As the Jeep bumps along at almost ninety miles per hour, Caleb and I are mostly silent, except for the occasional, “It’s not your fault” from him.

  My phone rings as we’re approaching Carrefour’s gate. It’s Liv again, and I answer just as Caleb throws the Jeep into park and leaps out to insert his key.

  “Please tell me everything’s okay,” I say.

  But she’s sobbing. “They have Peregrine and Chloe. Two men in dark suits, Eveny. They look identical. They’ve tied them up to stakes on the main square.”

  “Oh my God,” I breathe as Caleb gets back into the car and begins to drive through the opening gate. “What about the others? My aunt Bea? My dad? Bram?”

  She’s crying harder now on the other end of the line. “I . . . I haven’t seen Bram. Your dad and your aunt, they’re okay. They’re here, in the clearing. Margaux and Arelia are dead, Eveny. The men stabbed them right in front of everyone. I watched them die right there!”

  “Liv, I’m so sorry,” I say, and now I’m crying too, because as much as I disliked Margaux and Arelia, I never wanted this to happen. I can’t imagine what other carnage awaits. “We’re almost there.”

  The phone goes dead again, and I look at Caleb. We’re almost through the Périphérie, and up ahead, I can see a huge, billowing cloud of black smoke.

  “Margaux and Arelia are dead,” I say, my voice shaking. “Peregrine and Chloe are being held by two identical men in suits.”

  “Les Jumeaux Noir,” Caleb says.

  I stare out the window in horror as we make our way through central Carrefour. My town has been destroyed. The houses that used to line the streets are burned to the ground. “It looks like there was a war fought here,” I say as the broken world rolls by my window.

  The smoke is so thick and dark as we turn onto Main Street that I can no longer see the sky overhead. Caleb screeches to a halt outside Aunt Bea’s bakery, and after we get out of the car and begin running toward the flames, he grabs my hand. “I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he says. “If it’s the last thing I ever do, I’ll protect you.”

  My father, Boniface, and Aunt Bea are standing on the edge of the town’s main square, streaked with soot, when we arrive. In front of them is a chilling sight: the plaza is surrounded on all sides by a ring of fire, but it doesn’t appear to be moving inward or outward. The only explanation is that it’s being controlled by magic. That’s when I know that what Gerdeaux said is true: Les Jumeaux Noir are working with a king or queen from another sosyete.

  “Oh, Eveny!” Aunt Bea says, folding me into a hug so tight that I can’t breathe. When she finally lets go, I find myself in my father’s arms, and then in Boniface’s.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay, Eveny,” Boniface says, his eyes red. “We thought they had you.”

  “I’m so sorry I left,” I say. “I was in New Orleans, trying to meet with Gerdeaux. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was saving all of you.”

  “The important thing is that you’re safe,” Boniface says, and my father nods.

  “What about Bram? Where is he?”

  My father’s jaw twitches. “I don’t know, Eveny. He and my father are both missing.” He glances at Caleb and says, “Your mother’s okay. We checked on her earlier. She’s been moved to a shelter in the Périphérie.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Caleb says.

  “They killed Margaux and Arelia,” my father says.

  “Liv told me,” I say. “Do you know where she is now?”

  My father looks confused. “Your friend who saw our ceremony last night? No, why?”

  “Because,” I say, “if we’re going to face off against Main de Lumière, I’m going to need two females to cast with. I know Liv isn’t in our sosyete, but I trust her, and she’s the best I can do right now with Margaux and Arelia dead and Peregrine and Chloe out of commission.”

  “I don’t understand,” my father says.

  “In the absence of three queens or three sosyete members,” I say quickly, “one queen and two other women are the next best thing. I’ll need all the power I can get.”

  “Who’s your third?” Aunt Bea asks.

  “You are, if you’ll join me.” I speak quickly. “I know you’ve turned your back on zandara, and I understand why. But there’s magic in your blood—you’re my mother’s sister. Aunt Bea, I need you. If you ever loved this town, please help me.”

  Aunt Bea places a hand on my cheek. “My feelings about Carrefour have always been complicated. But my feelings for you, Eveny, have never been. I love you, and I’ll do whatever you ask.”

  I hug her, but there’s no time for an outpouring of emotion. “Caleb, can you go find Liv?” I ask.

  He looks up. “No need. She’s already here.”

  I follow his eyes to the edge of the town square, where Liv is emerging from the other side of the billowing smoke. She’s running straight toward us, wearing dirt-streaked jeans, an old gray T-shirt, and a look of determination. “You want to explain what the hell’s going on here?” she asks when she reaches us.

  “Are Max and Justin okay?” I ask instead of replying. “Your dad and your brother too?”

  She nods. “They’re
all helping out at the shelter in the Périphérie. They’re fine.”

  “Then what are you doing here?”

  “I assumed this whole thing was connected to you,” she says. “And the magical shit you’re into.”

  “I thought you wanted nothing to do with me,” I say.

  “Just answer me this,” she says. “Those creepy twins, were they involved in Drew’s death?”

  “They’re the ones who recruited him, I think. The ones who sent him to kill me.”

  “Then I’m on your side, no matter what,” she says. “I don’t trust any of this. But I trust you. Okay?”

  A wave of gratitude washes over me. “Thank you,” I say. “Because I really need you right now.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Will you go in there with me?” I ask, nodding toward the flames. “Into the square? Where Peregrine and Chloe are?”

  “Will more people die if I don’t?” she asks.

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Then the answer is yes,” she says without hesitation. “But you have to tell me what to do.”

  “I need you to trust me and try to visualize the survival of Carrefour,” I say quickly. “Just focus on those two things—trust and the town’s survival—as hard as you can, and I can channel that.”

  “I don’t understand,” Liv says. “How will what I’m thinking help you?”

  It’s Aunt Bea who replies. “Zandara uses the power of the collective consciousness to call the spirits. Eveny will basically be using you and me as conduits to strengthen her own ability to communicate.”

  “It will make you feel weakened,” I add. “But it won’t hurt. Look, this could be dangerous. So if this isn’t something you want to do—”

  “I’m in,” Liv says, cutting me off. “It’s my town too.”

  “Thank you.” I grab her hand and Aunt Bea’s, and together, we walk toward the flames. There’s a small gap in the wall of fire near the town theater, and I have the feeling it’s been left open for us and that I’m doing exactly what Les Jumeaux Noir want. I’m walking into a trap, and I know it, but I don’t see any other way out for my sister queens.

  My father, Boniface, and Caleb all follow us into the square, our own little ill-prepared army of six. The moment we’re through the smoke and inside the ring of fire, I see my sister queens. They’re both tied to tall wooden stakes, strung up like scarecrows. Their clothes are drenched in blood, and their heads are hanging limply.

  “Are they dead?” I ask in a panic, turning to the others.

  “No,” Aunt Bea says.

  “How do you know?” I say.

  “Because you’d feel it if they were,” she says. “They’re your sister queens, and you’re more connected to them than you are to anybody else in the world.”

  “Then I have to help them,” I say, and before anyone can stop me, I break away from the group and run toward them.

  Behind me, I can hear my father calling out to me, fear in his voice, but I can’t stop. I reach Chloe first and shake her, trying to wake her up, but she won’t move. I reach for her wrist and am relieved to feel her pulse thudding steadily. I run to Peregrine and do the same. Her pulse feels slower, weaker, but at least they’re both alive, just like Aunt Bea said. “Wake up!” I cry, for as much as I hope Aunt Bea and Liv will be able to help me, nothing can compare to the power that would come from casting with my fellow queens. I know that they’re our only real hope of survival. “You have to wake up!”

  “What do we do?” Liv asks, running up beside me and putting a hand on my arm. I turn to find Aunt Bea a few steps away, with Caleb there too, looking toward the edge of the flames with his eyes narrowed. My father stands several paces back, staring in the direction we came.

  “Eveny—” he begins, but he’s cut off by a booming voice.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the elusive Eveny Cheval.” The voice is smooth with a French accent, and I’m not surprised when I turn and see two very tall men with jet-black hair and alabaster skin walking toward us across the clearing.

  “Allow me to introduce myself,” the one on the right says, stopping several feet from where Aunt Bea, Liv, Caleb, my father, Boniface, and I stand protectively in front of my sister queens. “I am Bruno Sauvage, one of the leaders of Main de Lumière. And this is my twin brother, Gustave. We meet at last.”

  I think of my mother’s Rose of Life petals against my heart and try to summon some of her courage. This is it. The source of the evil I’ve been standing up against. “Don’t you mean you’re the leader of Les Jumeaux Noir?” I ask, trying to sound calm. “Because the rest of Main de Lumière really isn’t with you, are they? You’re out on your own, trying to ally with people more powerful than you, people who practice the magic you claim to hate.”

  His dark eyes flash angrily, but then he smiles, his expression suddenly deadly calm. “Let’s not get embroiled in a discussion of what you think you know. You’re a mere child, and you have no idea how the world works.”

  “Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea. You’re terrified of those of us who have powers. So you try to wipe us from the face of the earth. You’re cowards, all of you.”

  “We’re no cowards,” he snaps. “We stand for balance in the universe.”

  “Bullshit,” I say, and his face darkens. “You stand for power—your own selfish, bloodthirsty need for power. It’s pathetic.”

  He chuckles. “You’re so self-righteous, Eveny. Can you really say that your sister queens are not the same? Do they not strive selfishly for power too?” He gestures toward Peregrine and Chloe, and that’s when I realize Chloe is stirring a little. She looks up and meets my eye with a horrified expression. I force my gaze back to Bruno. Clearly, he’s the spokesperson; his twin is standing there mute, glaring at us.

  “They’re not the same as you at all,” I say. “You’ve used your power to hurt, to destroy, to kill. Here in Carrefour, we may have been irresponsible with our magic, but we never used it maliciously. And that’s what makes us different from you.”

  He stares at me, his eyes cold and beady. “At the end of the day, though, there’s little distinction, is there?” He nods at Caleb. “After all, who could forget what happened to Drew Grady? Are you telling me you didn’t kill him?”

  I glance at Caleb and see guilt written across his face. Liv surprises me by speaking up in our defense. “Whatever Eveny and Caleb did to Drew, they did in self-defense,” she tells Bruno, her voice shaking. She grabs my hand, which makes me feel so relieved that my knees go weak. “That’s not the same thing as killing people for personal gain,” Liv adds. “And the way I see it, it’s your fault he’s dead.”

  Bruno just stares at her. “And who exactly are you?”

  Liv glances at me and then fixes Bruno with the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen. “I’m Eveny’s sister, you scumbag. Just like Peregrine and Chloe are. And no one messes with my family.”

  Bruno and his brother begin moving toward us, snarling like wild animals, their eyes crazed and angry. I grab Aunt Bea so we’re all connected, then I use zandara to create a protective shield around us, just like the one I used to save Caleb from Drew’s knife in New Orleans a few weeks ago.

  I know I can’t hold the protection for long, so I’m relieved but surprised when the twins suddenly stop their advance. Bruno visibly gathers himself and smiles coolly. “On second thought, I think I’ll kill your sister queens first, so you can watch the life drain out of them. And then you can follow them to the grave.”

  “You can’t hurt us,” I say. “We have magic on our side.”

  Bruno laughs, and his creepy twin follows suit. “Oh, you foolish, foolish girl,” he says. “Do you really think we’d come after you like this without magic on our side too?”

  “But the gate has been fixed,” I say. “You can’t lay a hand on us here.”

  “Yes, I admit, you’ve restored your gate’s protective abilities,” Bruno says. “Too bad it wasn’t before we kille
d your friends’ mothers. The hanging was a creative touch, don’t you think?”

  “Go to hell,” I say.

  He ignores me. “Still, you’ve failed to consider something important. We may not be able to kill you using our own hands, but the charm that protects Carrefour doesn’t prevent me from killing you using a natural force. Say, for example, fire.”

  I realize in a flash that he’s right. The gate was set up to keep people who wished us harm—especially Main de Lumière—away. But the founders of the town hadn’t counted on the fact that Main de Lumière would be working with someone magical who could summon a ring of fire—and use it as a weapon.

  “You won’t kill us with fire,” I say, trying to project confidence. “You kill people who practice magic by stabbing them through the heart. If you burn us to death instead, there’s a chance we can resurface as spirits in the nether. You know that as well as I do.”

  He waves off my comment. “That won’t matter after we wipe out this town. Your sister queens won’t be able to communicate from the spiritual plane if there’s no triumvirate here to reach out to them. And after today, I assure you there won’t be. Zandara will die forever.”

  “Then why lure me back?” I say, buying time. “You don’t need to kill me too if you have them.”

  He chuckles. “Can’t it be enough that I want you to watch them die? That I want you to always remember our power?”

  I draw myself up to my full height and say, “Leave them alone. I’m the one you want, and you know very well that if you kill me, the future of zandara dies just the same.” If the Sauvages go after me instead, we’ll have a fighting chance of surviving. They’ll be expecting me to fight back with zandara. But they don’t know that I’ve been training in andaba too. I can harness both forms of magic at the same time.

  “No, Eveny!” Caleb cries, his eyes filled with tears. He begins moving toward me, but I hold up a hand to stop him.

  “Caleb, you have to trust me to do this on my own,” I say.

  He slows down but doesn’t stop. “No, Eveny. I can’t let you do that. I can’t let you sacrifice yourself.”