Finding Jade

by Mary Jennifer Payne

  The demon recoils in surprise, and lets go of my skirt. I yank the pole out of its skull and turn to run again. Lily and Raphael are now far ahead and disappearing down a set of steps toward the water’s edge.

  They’re leaving me. Raphael wasn’t kidding. How can he do that? I’d never leave him.

  My lungs burn like hot embers in my chest, but I can’t stop running. If the demons catch me, they’ll have two captive Seers. Counting Jade, it’s actually three. And if they kill Jade and me, they’ll have the entire soul of a Seer and all the power that goes with it. I can’t allow that to happen.

  Somehow, deep inside myself, I know that something is happening that is much, much bigger than just getting Jade back. I also know that Jade and me being caught together in the Underworld would be far more catastrophic than I could ever imagine.

  I turn and see that the demon child is still chasing me. The others are not far behind him, but he is too close. Too close for me to get away with this stupid dress on.

  He seems surprised when I stop. Without hesitating, I slice the pole cleanly through his neck, screaming from the effort.

  It works. The demon’s head rolls across the cobblestones, coming to rest at the feet of a stray dog that begins to lick it enthusiastically. I turn and run to the top of the steps where I last saw Raphael and Lily.

  They’re climbing into a flat-bottomed, wooden boat. The guy in charge of the boat is using a long stick to push it away from the dock.

  “Wait!” I shout, taking the stairs two at a time. I can hear the other demon children closing in on me. My foot catches in the hem of my dress, and this time I am unable to stop from falling. I tumble down the stairs, desperately trying to protect my head from hitting the stone steps as I fall.

  I land with a thud on the dock, the pole clattering down beside me a few seconds later. My head hurts, and blood is trickling from the wounds in my hand where the demon bit me.

  “Jasmine! Hurry!” Lily shouts. The boat is pulling away. I scramble up, grab the pole, gather the skirt of the dress in my injured hand, and run to the edge of the dock.

  The demon children are rushing down the steps now, the first of them landing on the dock.

  “Jump, Jasmine!” Raphael is standing at the front of the boat, extending his arm out toward me. Closing my eyes, I leap off the dock and into his arms, both of us falling backward into the boat. The wood creaks heavily, and for a moment, I’m afraid the bottom is going to give out from beneath us. Raphael gently takes my injured hand in his. Warm sparks of energy shoot through it like electric stars. I glance up at him in surprise.

  “They should flog those little street urchins like they did back in the days of her Royal Highness, Elizabeth. God rest her soul,” says the boatman. “Get out of ’ere ye little scoundrels!” he shouts as he pushes us away from the dock and out into the river.

  “Yeah, they should do something like that,” I say in agreement. Does he not see what they really are?

  I look down at my injured hand, which Raphael is still holding. There’s not even a scratch on it. It’s as if the bite never happened. As casually as possible, I remove my hand from his. This stuff he’s doing is beginning to really creep me out. I know I have powers, but obviously he’s not your average human, either. My cards are out on the table. What’s he hiding?

  “Are we safe with this guy?” I whisper.

  He nods. “He’s just a waterman. His job is to ferry people around the Thames. Think of him as a kind of seventeenth-century taxi driver.”

  “Where are ye looking to lay your heads?” the waterman asks.

  All three of us look at each other. We still aren’t sure exactly where Cassandra is.

  “I saw a bridge,” I say. “It was huge, with buildings on it. Pretty tall buildings for being on a bridge.” I pause, biting at my bottom lip and trying to remember more. “Does that help?”

  Raphael smiles. “Good sir?” he says. “Where is the nearest bridge?”

  The waterman turns. He’s a tall man, with a face that is all sharp angles. His cheekbones are high and his nose and chin are large. His eyes sparkle under the shelter of two very furry, caterpillar-like eyebrows.

  “There’s only one bridge anywhere near here,” the waterman answers. “That’d be London Bridge.”

  “Can you take us closer?” Raphael asks. “We need to pick up a friend there, and then we’re heading to Woolwich.”

  I raise an eyebrow at him. Woolwich? That was the place the woman who grabbed me said I was supposed to be.

  “Someone who looks identical to you has been sent to Woolwich,” Raphael says, leaning in close to me. “Think about it. Who could that be, Jazz?”

  Jade. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that the woman mistook me for her. I thought she was just a confused lost soul intent on shaking me to death.

  “We’ll have to have you go on foot to get to the other side of the bridge for Woolwich, then,” the waterman says. He dips his long oar into the murky water and pushes us forward, his biceps bulging. “For London Bridge is for wise men to pass over, and for fools to pass under.”

  We continue on in silence for a few moments. A large building that looks like a church comes into view. A noisy crowd, just like the one I saw in my vision of Cassandra, is gathered on the riverbank near it.

  “What’s that?” I ask the waterman, pointing toward the crowd.

  “That’s Southwark Cathedral, that is,” he replies. “Over that way is a wild part of the city. All the thieves, actors, and unsavoury bits of the population congregate over there, they do.”

  “Take us over, please,” I say. I can’t see Cassandra, but we’re still fairly far away. The water is high though. The tide has come in. That much I can tell.

  The waterman raises his eyebrows at me, but he does what I’ve asked.

  The shouting and noise get louder as we approach. And that’s when I see what looks like a clump of fabric floating out and away from the water’s edge, the tide drawing it farther into the river.

  Lily draws in her breath. “What’s that?” she whispers, grabbing my arm.

  Raphael is already scrambling to the front of the boat. “Quickly!” he says, urging the waterman on. He glances over at Lily. “I think it’s Cassandra.”

  We’re pulling up alongside her now. Cassandra’s black hair streams out around around her head like a halo. Lily moves beside Raphael. Together they haul her into the boat. There are cries of protest from the people on the riverbank.

  “Shut up, you murderers!” Lily screams.

  Raphael is gently laying Cassandra on her side. Her face is as white as printer paper. She looks completely drained of blood.

  “You can’t put her in ’ere,” the waterman says. “She’s been done for as a witch. She floats.”

  With the agility of a cat, Lily jumps behind him, pulls out the knife, and holds the blade against his neck. “She’ll be coming in here, or you’ll be leaving us. Understand?”

  “Yes,” he says, careful not to nod, so that the skin on his throat isn’t sliced open.

  I kneel down beside Raphael. “Turn her on her back,” I say. I’ve done First Aid and CPR courses at school. I place a finger to Cassandra’s neck. She’s freezing, but there’s a pulse. It’s weak, but it’s there.

  I begin to do mouth-to-mouth. Cassandra’s lips are cold. Lily watches me, eyes narrowed, from over the waterman’s shoulder. She still hasn’t moved the blade from his neck.

  After a couple of minutes, I stop and look up. The expression on my face gives away what I’m thinking. Why isn’t Raphael stepping in and using his power to heal?

  “No, Jasmine. Keep going. Please,” Lily begs, “don’t give up yet.”

  I begin again. The only reason Lily and Cassandra are even in this mess is because of me. Well, me and Jade. Who made the decision to send us on this suicide
mission anyway? Ms. Samson? Mr. Khan? And who says we have to risk our lives to be some sort of girl army for humanity? I don’t remember signing up to be a stupid Seer.

  Coughing. At first it’s shallow and barely audible. Then Cassandra gives an enormous gasp, bolts upright, and begins to gulp at the air, trying to get oxygen back into her lungs. She leans over the edge of the boat and vomits.

  “Holy Lazarus,” the waterman says. “She is a witch come back from the dead.”

  “Call my sister a witch again,” Lily hisses, “and it’ll be the last word out of your mouth. Now take us toward Woolwich.”

  I don’t bother reminding her that he’s already dead.

  Chapter 20

  When we get to the bridge, our waterman is more than happy to get rid of us. Lily takes the blade of her knife away from his neck at the last possible moment as we disembark, but not before she makes him strip down to his undergarments, so that Cassandra can have dry clothes.

  “Good riddance, ye devils,” the man calls as soon as Lily is out of arm’s reach.

  She turns and points a finger at him. “A plague upon your house,” she growls.

  He blesses himself and pushes quickly away from the shore and back out into the swirling waters of the river.

  We’re certainly not making any friends while we’re down here.

  We cross over London Bridge on foot. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There’s practically an entire city on the bridge. Loads of people are crammed along it, and either side is framed with shops and businesses.

  After we hire another boat, the rest of our trip is pretty uneventful. We reach Woolwich toward the end of the afternoon. The air feels damper here, and it’s definitely chillier. Even though I’ve got on this massive dress, I still feel the cold. I guess Toronto’s been sweltering for so long, my body isn’t used to any temperatures below thirty degrees.

  It’s less crowded in Woolwich, and the smell isn’t as terrible here. Though we don’t say much, I get the feeling that everyone is thinking the same thing: it’s going to be dark soon. We need to find Jade quickly and get out of here — if we can figure out how.

  “What does the cross mean?” Cassandra asks as we pass a house with a red cross painted on the door. Her voice is still raspy, but the colour is back in her cheeks. I’m pretty proud of my CPR skills.

  “Plague,” Raphael replies. “Everyone in that house is quarantined for forty days and nights now. No one is allowed in and no one is allowed out. That man standing on the corner is on watch. If the people inside lower a basket from the window, he’ll fill it with water and food. More importantly, he’ll make sure no one escapes.”

  “And after forty days they let them out?” Lily asks.

  Raphael’s eyes darken. “During the plague, there usually wasn’t anyone left to let out after the forty days were up.”

  “But they’re already dead,” I say. “They can’t die of the plague, so the experience can’t be that bad, right?”

  Raphael shakes his head. “The thing is, they don’t know they’re dead, Jazz. They believe they’re sick and that their loved ones are sick and dying as well. Memory is non-existent here. The lost souls flip from one difficult time in history to another.” He pauses. “Do you know the story of Prometheus?”

  “The guy whose liver was eaten again and again as a punishment for giving fire to humans?”

  Raphael nods. “That’s the one. He was chained to a mountaintop, and every day giant birds would claw his body apart. Then he’d heal, only to have it happen again the next day. It’s much the same for these souls, though they have no memory of yesterday.”

  We walk in silence for a few moments, and I can’t help remembering the raw, red sores on the demon children’s faces. Being made to relive the plague over and over seems more like Hell than Limbo.

  “How can children be stuck down here?” I ask Raphael. “And be demonic? It doesn’t seem right. Plus, the lost souls are so much stronger this time. Look what they did to Cassandra.”

  Raphael pauses for a moment, and when he answers, his voice is low. I don’t think he wants Cassandra and Lily to hear. It’s unlikely they will, anyway; they’re deep in their own conversation, walking arm in arm ahead of us.

  “I don’t have a lot of answers, Jazz. The lost souls seem to be doing the demons’ bidding. Remember that these people’s weaknesses on Earth are the reason they ended up here in the first place. They’re vulnerable to dark influences. But, still, you’re right. Unnatural things are happening. Any child down here likely didn’t realize they’d passed. That’s how they’d become a lost soul. But demon children …” He stops and shakes his head. “There are forces at work allowing the demons to take the shape of children by possessing them on Earth first.”

  I nod. “That’s what the secretary at Beaconsfield was saying. That darker forces are at work right now. She mentioned that demons might be among us. What does that mean?”

  Raphael presses his lips together tightly. “I think you and Jade might have something to do with it, but I am not certain. It could involve something even bigger. What I do know is that we need to get your sister out of here.”

  And that’s when we hear it. Barely a whisper, but I recognize the voice right away.

  “Jasmine!”

  Raphael and I stop. My breath catches in my throat. It’s Jade. I know it is. But where is she?

  “Guys, wait a minute,” I say to Lily and Cassandra. They stop and turn.

  “Up here!”

  This time the man guarding the quarantined house has also heard. He turns and looks sharply at us. And that’s when I see something move in one of the upper windows of the house. It’s a brief flash out of the corner of my eye, like a curtain fluttering in a breeze.

  “You all right?” the guard asks. His voice is ripe with suspicion. I’m not surprised. We’re strangers. And since there’s a massive plague epidemic happening, I would be pretty suspicious of anyone I didn’t know, as well.

  “What family is in this house?” Raphael asks.

  The guard stares hard at him for a moment, deciding whether to answer or not.

  “Middleton family. Been under quarantine for twenty-five days. Basket hasn’t been lowered for a week now, though. All dead, I reckon.”

  Raphael shakes his head. “Sorry to hear that. They had a beautiful daughter, didn’t they?”

  The guard shifts uneasily from one foot to the other. He looks around. “Apparently, they did. Though she didn’t go in with them at the beginning. I swear she must’ve been brought round later.” He shakes his head. “It makes no sense.”

  “Perhaps you didn’t notice her going in with the rest of the family,” Raphael says. He catches my eye before Cassandra walks closer to the guard to distract him.

  That’s my cue.

  “I will admit, I’d had a bit too much ale down at the Queen’s Head the evening before,” I hear the guard say sheepishly as Lily and I sneak away behind the house.

  There’s a low, stone fence surrounding the back garden. The house itself is dark, and the shadows around it are lengthening. A fine mist is beginning to snake its way above the grass. It won’t be long until it’s completely dark.

  “I’ll go over first, since I’m taller,” Lily says, keeping her voice low. She’s already lifting her skirts and feeling for a foothold between the stones with her boot. “I can help you from the other side.”

  I nod. This is one of those times when being short is a total pain. I watch as Lily gracefully throws a leg over the top of the fence, then jumps down into the garden.

  I pull myself up, but the skirts of my dress are heavy, and I don’t have as much luck as Lily. This means I end up teetering unsteadily at the top of the fence, like an uncoordinated cowgirl learning how to ride a horse.

  “Just give me your hand,” Lily whispers. She reaches up to me.


  I grab her hand, close my eyes, and leap. The dress twists and tangles itself around my legs as I fall, causing me to tumble toward the ground in a heap. I put my hands out to break my fall and to try to save my face.

  My palms slam into the cold earth, the impact sending shards of pain into my wrists. I close my eyes and lay there for a few seconds, hoping nothing is broken.

  “Jazz? Are you okay?” Lily is kneeling beside me, her hand on my upper back.

  I open one eye and try to smile at her. “I’ll live,” I say. My face burns with embarrassment. Somehow it seems wrong for a Seer to be so completely klutzy.

  Ignoring the pain in my wrists, I stand and smooth down the front of the dress. No wonder there were no equal rights for women while they wore clothes like these. I don’t know how they ever got anything done.

  Lily picks up some small stones. “I think we should try to stay over there,” she says, pointing to a row of unkept rose bushes. “That way we’re not easy to spot.” I nod, and we quickly run over behind the bushes. Crouching down low, Lily throws a handful of pebbles toward one of the second-storey windows. The tiny rocks make a loud cracking sound as they hit the glass. We both immediately lean farther into the bushes. Thorns scratch at my cheeks, and the heavy smell of the roses fills my nostrils, making me feel like sneezing.

  “I’m sorry. That was so much louder than I thought it would be,” Lily whispers. She presses up beside me, and I can feel her heart beating crazy-fast, like she’s just run a marathon. “Do you think the guard heard?”

  I shrug my shoulders. I think he’d have to be pretty deaf not to have, but I’m hoping Raphael and Cassandra have him too distracted.

  We sit in silence for another couple of seconds. I practically hold my breath until I hear the low murmuring of their conversation. If anything, they seem to have moved even farther away from the house.

  Taking a chance, I throw a handful of pebbles at the next window over. They hit the panes of glass and bounce off. The noise is nearly as loud as before.