Our Lady of the Ice

by Cassandra Rose Clarke

  The Snow Village loomed up ahead. Behind it rose a huge white art deco structure Eliana could only assume was the Ice Palace. It seemed high enough to touch the top of the dome.

  A speck of darkness slid down the Ice Palace’s side.

  Eliana’s skin prickled. Nothing emerged from the Snow Village cottages. She slunk forward, cautious, holding her gun in front of her at an awkward angle. It occurred to her that if she was going to find someone—something—it would probably be in the Ice Palace. The speck of darkness was most likely a maintenance drone, and there might have been others with it, others that could lead her to an andie if she didn’t scare them off and if she could figure out how to ask.

  But despite all that, she shivered at the thought of going to the palace, even with her gun. The cottages, she decided. The cottages would be safer.

  She knocked on the door of the first cottage with her foot. No one answered, but the door nudged open a little, just like the door in the Fairy-Tale Village had done. She stepped inside. There was no dust and broken furniture here. The room sparkled with electronic parts, all set out on shelves and tables, lined up in neat rows like in a grocery store. Eliana fought the panic rising in her throat like bile; she fought the urge to run. Instead she slid forward, gun lifted, her finger on the trigger.

  Footsteps sounded behind her.

  Eliana screamed and whirled around. Her finger curled and there was a dazzling flash of light and a loud reverberating bang and a sharp burning pain in her ears. Her arms jerked back and slammed into her forehead. A man stepped forward and slapped the gun out of her hand, and it went clattering across the floor. Eliana stumbled backward, shaking. Half of the man’s face was missing, the skin blasted off and charred at the edges. Beneath it was dull burnished metal.

  She screamed again.

  The man picked up her gun and shoved it into the waistband of his pants, then grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up to standing. She tried to struggle against him, but his grip was too strong.

  “Come along,” he said, in an even, pleasant voice.

  A voice she recognized.

  “Luciano?” she said, suddenly struck with a painful, piercing guilt.

  He looked at her. With only half his face she could hardly see that it was him. “Yes. Hello, Miss Gomez.”

  He led her out of the cottage and through the Snow Village. Eliana pulled against him, but he didn’t let her go, and her guilt was replaced with a trickle of fear.

  “Please, Luciano—I’m sorry I shot you. I didn’t mean— I thought you were—”

  “You thought I was some other robot,” he said, still in that even, pleasant voice. His grip tightened on her arm.

  Eliana yanked against him. It didn’t work. Her vision blurred with tears, refracting the light from the floodlights and the glittering white paint. Luciano didn’t say anything more; he kept walking. Her arm felt like it was being pulled out of the socket as she ­stumbled after him, her fear now so palpable, it was a physical pain.

  Maybe Marianella wasn’t her friend at all. Maybe there was a reason cyborgs were so distrusted. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

  Maybe Eliana was going to die.

  Luciano took her to the Ice Palace, winding through fake glass glaciers covered in thick gray moss. When they came to the entrance, he pressed his hand against a sensor and the door swung open. Eliana choked back sobs.

  “Where are you taking me!” she shrieked. “What are you going to do with me?”

  He looked at her then, his eyes fierce and glittering and strangely human.

  “I really didn’t mean to shoot you,” she whispered. “I didn’t—I just want to talk to someone about— Please. Lady Lu—Marianella is my friend.” Eliana could taste the lie on her tongue.

  “Please be quiet.” Spoken in that same reasonable voice. “You’ll wait here.” He took her to a small, narrow room. A maintenance drone squatted on the floor, lights glowing red. Luciano let go of her arm. She curled herself up against the far corner, eyes damp, her arms wrapped around her chest.

  Luciano knelt down beside the maintenance drone and moved his fingers over its spine, too fast for her to see. Then he stood up and looked at her.

  “He’ll watch you,” he said. “Don’t try to leave.”

  Eliana tried to push down her fear. “Wait!” she shouted. “I just need to speak to Sofia. Just let me do that. I don’t want to—”

  “Wait here,” Luciano said, and then he left.

  Eliana slumped down the wall, drawing her knees into her chest. The maintenance drone blinked its lights at her, and she thought about watching the dismantling after the blackout. It had been the same sort of robot as this one. She remembered how cold she’d felt afterward. She wondered if the robot would feel the same way, watching her die.

  She waited in the room for almost forty minutes, shivering.

  The door opened. Eliana yelped.

  It was Luciano, his skin still missing.

  “Come,” he said, holding out his hand.

  “Are you going to kill me?”

  “No, Miss Gomez. Come along.”

  She didn’t move. He made a noise like a sigh and pulled her up by the arm again. They left the narrow room and threaded through the hallway. Luciano stared straight ahead, not speaking, not looking at her. It occurred to Eliana that perhaps he’d been reprogrammed after Marianella’s attempted murder. Cabrera, maybe? Did Cabrera have ties to the amusement park?

  Panic set in again.

  Luciano brought her into a room that looked like it had once been a dining hall. A long narrow table was pushed off to the side, and old-fashioned chairs lay in a jumbled pile in the corner. A broken chandelier hung at an angle from the ceiling. Everything was clean, though. No dust, no grime.

  He led her through the dining hall, through a pair of swinging double doors, into a kitchen.

  The kitchen was spotless. The white tile on the floor and walls gleamed. But it didn’t smell like a kitchen. It didn’t smell like food. It smelled like burning metal.

  A woman stood behind one of the counters, her hands moving in a blur over a pile of computer parts. She looked up when Eliana and Luciano came in, but her hands didn’t stop moving.

  “You shot my friend,” she said.

  Eliana’s mouth dried up. The photograph Mr. Gonzalez had given her had been a good one.

  This was Sofia.

  Sofia smiled. Even in real life she looked like a movie star, tall and voluptuous, her hair falling in a wave over one shoulder. She was so beautiful, it was difficult to look at her.

  Luciano led Eliana over to a rickety metal chair and sat her down. Then he sank into one of the corners, as if he were used to going unseen. It was exactly the way he’d been at Marianella’s party.

  “Well?” Sofia said. “Do you have anything to say to that? About shooting poor Luciano?”

  Eliana stared at the blur of Sofia’s hands. “I—I’m sorry?”

  Sofia laughed. She slowed her hands to a normal speed. A human speed. The pile of metal, Eliana realized, was a maintenance robot.

  “Is that better?” she said.

  Eliana nodded.

  “You’ve never seen anyone like me before, have you? Or like Luciano?” She pointed into his corner. “You’ve only seen the maintenance drones that run the city.”

  Eliana started to nod, then stopped herself. “No, I’ve seen—I met Luciano before.” She took a deep breath. “At Lady Luna’s house. He knows me.”

  Sofia frowned. It was as cold and insincere as her smile. She glanced at the corner where Luciano had tucked himself away.

  “It’s true,” he said. “She recovered Marianella’s documents, and Marianella invited her to a party as a reward. She’s most likely trustworthy.”

  “I see.” Sofia turned back to Eliana. “Is that why you’re here? To see Ma
rianella? Has she missed a payment for your services?”

  “Marianella’s here?” Eliana squawked. It seemed incongruous for Marianella to be at the park. Maybe Marianella felt more at home here. Or safer.

  “Perhaps.” Sofia yanked a strand of wires out of the drone, although she still stared at Eliana. Sparks scattered across the counter. “Is that why you’re here?”

  Eliana hesitated, then shook her head. “I mean, if I could see her, that would be great. I helped her out the other day, and I’ve been worried.”

  Sofia stopped, her hand hovering a few centimeters above the jumble of metal and wires. “Oh,” she said. “So you’re the one.”

  The way she said “the one” made Eliana’s blood turn to ice.

  Sofia dropped her hands to her sides. The drone lay gutted in front of her. “Why did you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Help Marianella.” Spoken with a slight condescending sneer. “Try to keep up with the conversation, sweetness.”

  “I helped her because she asked for it.”

  Sofia laughed. “Why didn’t you turn her in to the police? She’s illegal, you know.”

  “Why don’t you?” Eliana snapped back.

  Silence. Then Sofia turned to Luciano. “Go fetch Marianella, if she’s awake. I want her to verify if we can trust the girl.” She jerked her head at Eliana, and Eliana shivered.

  “Of course.” Luciano peeled himself away from the wall and stepped through the swinging doors, leaving Eliana and Sofia alone.

  They stared at each other.

  “So why are you here?” Sofia asked.

  Eliana stammered, trying to find her voice again. Although Luciano had frightened her earlier, she missed him now, as if he might do something to stop Sofia from hurting her.

  “You said it wasn’t because of Marianella, and then you tried to pretend that it was.”

  “I wasn’t trying to pretend!” Eliana said. “I really did want to know what happened to her. I was worried.”

  Sofia’s face contained no expression. Somehow, this made her seem more human, not less.

  “Then tell me,” she said.

  Eliana took a deep breath. All around her the kitchen gleamed, metal on white tile. Such cleanliness could never belong to a human.

  “A man hired me to investigate you.”

  For a long time Sofia didn’t move, only stared at Eliana’s face. Eliana burned underneath her gaze. She wished Marianella would show up at the kitchen. Things would be easier then.

  Right?

  “What man?” Sofia asked. “What was his name?”

  Eliana hesitated.

  Sofia stepped out from behind the counter. She moved with liquid grace, hips swaying beneath her thin, flowered housedress. Her legs and arms and feet were all bare, and for a moment Eliana wondered if she was cold. But then she stopped very close to Eliana, close enough to hurt Eliana if she wanted.

  “What,” Sofia said, and no soft burst of breath accompanied her question, “was his name?”

  “Gonzalez!” Eliana blurted. “Juan Gonzalez. At least, that’s what he told me it was. I’m not sure it’s his actual name.”

  Sofia stared at her. “Why did he hire you?”

  “I’m not supposed to talk about clients.”

  “You already told me his name.”

  Eliana scowled. Sofia was still leaning in close, cold and intimidating. She smelled like old-fashioned face powder and syrupy perfume and nothing else. Eliana tried to push back against the chair, but Sofia clamped her hand down on Eliana’s wrist. Eliana shrieked.

  “Tell me what you know,” Sofia said in a quiet voice.

  “If you hurt me, Marianella’s going to be angry.” Eliana jutted out her chin and tried to believe her own words.

  But Sofia lifted her hand from Eliana’s arm. Eliana grabbed it to her chest and rubbed at her sore wrist.

  “Thank you,” Eliana said.

  The doors swung open, slapping against the wall. Eliana jumped in her seat and twisted at the waist to get a better view. Marianella and Luciano walked in side by side.

  “Eliana!” Marianella cried. “What are you doing here?”

  “Spying on me,” Sofia answered.

  Marianella knelt beside Eliana’s chair and peered up at her. “Are you all right? You look so pale. Here, let me get you a drink of water.”

  “I’m fine,” Eliana said. “Just a little creeped out, is all.”

  Marianella smiled and walked over to the sink. She filled a plastic cup with tap water and brought it back to Eliana. “Here you go. Still a few remnants of a kitchen left in here. We’re part of the city, technically, so the water keeps flowing.”

  “You really are friends,” Sofia said in a flat voice.

  “I told you, she helped me after Ignacio tried to—you know.” Marianella glanced at Sofia with a strangely gentle expression. Eliana didn’t know what to make of it. “Why are you threatening her?”

  “She was spying on me.”

  “I wasn’t spying,” Eliana snapped. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  Eliana stopped. “I was just—going to ask you some questions, about what you do, and—”

  “And you think I’d answer them?” Sofia loomed over her, hands on her hips. Eliana shrank back, the water sloshing in her cup.

  “Sofia, please,” said Marianella.

  “Well, that’s what I was hoping—”

  “Did Juan Gonzalez tell you to ask them?”

  “Not exactly—”

  “Who’s Juan Gonzalez?” asked Marianella.

  Eliana dropped her head back. With Marianella here, she no longer thought she was going to die, but it was growing apparent that she was the worst private investigator in all of Hope City.

  “Her client,” Sofia said. “Supposedly he sent her here to spy on me.” When she said “spy,” she kicked at Eliana’s chair. Eliana gasped and spilled water on herself as the chair jerked backward.

  “Sofia.” Marianella grabbed Sofia’s arm and yanked her back. “She’s only doing her job.”

  Sofia fixed Marianella with a dark, inhuman look, but it didn’t seem to bother Marianella at all.

  “Her job?” Sofia said. “Her job?” She turned back to Eliana. “This man, does he work for Ignacio Cabrera?”

  “No,” Eliana said quickly.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Pretty sure.” Eliana sighed. “Look, this is all shot to hell anyway, so—I don’t know anything about the guy. He’s paying me twice my usual fee, plus a fifty-dollar retainer. When I asked if this was related to Cabrera in any way, he said no.”

  “Did you ask him that because of me?” Marianella said. She looked concerned.

  Eliana shook her head. “Not really. It’s more ’cause my boyfriend—” Her chest tightened. “Look, it doesn’t matter, okay? He said no. I don’t think he was lying. Other than that, I know nothing about him. He just wanted me to tell him anything I could find out about her.” And she pointed at Sofia.

  “Tell him I’m a robot,” Sofia snapped.

  “He already knows.”

  Sofia glared.

  Marianella stepped between them. She pressed one hand against Sofia’s shoulder. “I’ll talk with her,” she said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “He’s either lying about Cabrera,” Sofia said, “or he’s from the city.”

  “I know he works for the city,” Eliana said quickly. “He was up front about that.” She meant this as a reassurance, but it just made Sofia’s face flash with anger.

  “You said you knew nothing about him.”

  “Other than that, I don’t. But him being a city man isn’t a danger.” She looked over at Marianella. “Right? As long as it’s not Cabrera—”<
br />
  “The city is dangerous for the park,” Marianella said softly. “As dangerous as Ignacio is for me.”

  Sofia fixed Eliana with a cold stare. “Yes,” she said. “Exactly. So don’t you dare tell him what happened here.”

  “Sofia, I said I would take care of it. Come on, Eliana. We can talk outside.”

  For a moment Eliana wasn’t sure she’d be able to move out of Sofia’s line of sight. But then Sofia looked away, and Eliana stood up, her legs shaky. Marianella smiled at her and linked her arm in Eliana’s and led her past Luciano and out of the kitchen.

  “I shouldn’t have told her all that stuff,” Eliana said.

  “I assumed as much. But you mustn’t let it get to you. Sofia’s very persuasive when she wants to be.”

  Their feet echoed in the empty halls of the palace until they stepped through the main doors, out into the cold white light of the dome.

  “If you tell that man about Sofia,” Marianella said, “it could be dangerous for her.”

  “Dangerous how?” Eliana pulled away and crossed her arms over her chest, shivering. It really was colder here.

  But the cold didn’t seem to bother Marianella. “I shouldn’t say. It’s not my place.” She looked over at Eliana. “He was looking for Sofia in particular, right? He didn’t ask about me?”

  “He didn’t say a word about you.”

  Marianella sighed. “He probably isn’t from Ignacio, then. Ignacio wouldn’t have any interest in Sofia. Only me. Ignacio should still think I’m dead. I haven’t—dealt with him yet.” She gave a weak, sad smile. “But if you give information to that man, and he does have ties to Ignacio—my life could be in danger.”

  Eliana stared at her. The cold crawled over her skin. She wanted out of the amusement park. Being here was like being surrounded by the dead. She wanted to be back in her apartment in the smokestack district, in the months before Last Night, when she didn’t have uncomfortable suspicions about Diego doing violence for the man who’d raised him, when Marianella was just a woman on television, when Sofia didn’t even exist.