Daughter of the Burning City

by Amanda Foody

  I peek through the next few rooms and make my way back to the main area of the tent, full of stands, the trapeze and the circle where the circus master reigns. Entirely empty. My memory from my night with Dalimil is cloudy. Purposely so. That isn’t something I wish to remember.

  I turn down another hallway, bracing myself to encounter a loose animal. All it contains is a cage. But instead of a chimera, or a dragon, or a unicorn, I find Luca.

  Luca.

  He’s unconscious. I kneel beside the cage where he lies. “Luca,” I hiss. “Luca, please wake up.”

  He doesn’t.

  But it doesn’t matter. If he’s an illusion, I can make him disappear now that I know where he is. I find that place in my mind with the Trunks, the place where all my illusions are locked away, safe. I pass Venera’s empty Trunk, and Blister’s, and Gill’s. And I keep walking, past the other Trunks, until I’m entirely in the dark. The air here is thick, almost like sludge, and my pace slows as I fight against the heaviness of it. It’s exhausting. As if something is trying to stop me from going here.

  But I keep pushing. It feels like I’m a magnet walking toward another one, repelled with each step. I place my hands on the wall to feel my way forward. And at last I reach a Trunk and then a handle.

  When I touch the handle, my mind fills with Luca. I see his brown eyes. I see the vest he always wears. I see everything. The images flash before me, too fast and blurry to properly make out. But they are there. The memories, though muddled, are there.

  This is his Trunk. He is an illusion.

  And he must be innocent.

  I swing it open.

  Luca, however, doesn’t disappear. He remains in the cage, though the Trunk stands waiting for him, sucking the air out of me like a vacuum. Why doesn’t Luca disappear? After a few more moments of waiting, I shut the Trunk and take three deep breaths.

  Then I notice the charms hanging inside the cage. Maybe they’re preventing Luca from leaving.

  But the only person who would think to put those in the cage would have to know that Luca is an illusion. And there are only three people who have access to Luca: my father, Chimal and Agni. The only person capable of creating Hellfire—a fire-worker—is Agni. He would’ve recognized Luca’s charms for what they were.

  My stomach fills with dread. Has it been Agni all along? He could’ve lied about the informant. He could’ve fed lies directly into my father’s ear. Villiam trusts him more than anyone.

  I need to get Luca out of here, and fast. If Agni is behind all of this, then even Villiam could be in danger. Then I think back to the incident with the horses and realize that he might have been in danger since the beginning.

  Desperate for a solution, I open the other Trunks. First, Unu and Du and Nicoleta. Unu and Du appear beside me, and they stumble as their legs hit the ground.

  “Where are we?” Unu asks.

  “Smells like shit,” Du says.

  “Language,” Nicoleta hisses. She materializes behind me. “We’re in the Menagerie tent.” Her eyes fall on Luca. “What’s going on? Why are we here with him, Sorina?”

  “I think he’s innocent.”

  “How can you—”

  “He’s an illusion, Nicoleta,” I say. “I don’t know how. My mind... I don’t remember creating him. It doesn’t make sense, I know, but he is.”

  I expect her to argue with me, to claim that I’m breaking down under too much stress. For days now, we’ve all begun to believe that Luca is the killer, that he’s the Alliance spy. That he’s dangerous.

  Nicoleta looks at me, wide-eyed, for a long moment. But she doesn’t argue.

  “I need you two to be lookouts,” Nicoleta says to Unu and Du. “We’re going to figure out how to get Luca out of this cage.”

  The four of us exchange glances. If Venera were here, this would be easy. Venera could bend through the bars and throw the charms out, and then I could make Luca disappear. But the situation isn’t entirely hopeless. Nicoleta has her strength, after all, even if her abilities come and go.

  “I need you to bend the cage bars,” I tell her. “Please.”

  “I don’t know if I can.” She holds her hands behind her back. “I... I messed up the last time. I failed you.”

  “But no one else can get him out,” I say.

  “But I’m not strong enough—”

  “Please,” I beg her. “Please try.”

  Nicoleta takes a deep breath, nods and then walks to the cage. She grabs two rungs with each hand and pulls. Nothing happens.

  “Nicoleta—”

  “Just give me a minute,” she snaps. “I’m not talented like the rest of you, I know. But I can do this. I can do this.” Her voice quiets, as if she’s only talking to herself.

  She pulls again. The bars give a little, but not much. Not enough.

  “Why is it that everyone else is special and I’m the useless one?” she says, nearly in hysterics. I’ve never seen Nicoleta like this. She always wears a mask of composure. The effort of bending the bars must be draining.

  I place my hands on her shaking shoulders. “You’re the least useless of all of us,” I say gently. “You’re the one who holds us all together. You’re the one keeping everyone sane.”

  “And who’s keeping me sane?” she snaps, tugging on the metal bars. They screech and bend some more. “Who’s taking care of me?”

  “I...” I don’t have an answer for that. This entire time, I’ve been leaning on Nicoleta for help. While I’ve been gone with Luca, searching for the killer, Nicoleta has been repairing the mess at home. Buying food, even if no one eats it. Doing the laundry. Setting up and packing up. Ensuring that our lives go on. She has managed to simultaneously run our family and, when I asked her, to help me capture Dalimil. Maybe I have been asking too much of her.

  She groans and pulls more on the bars. Slowly, they give way, barely enough for me to reach my arm through and grab the charms near the top of the cage. I reach inside and rip them off, and then I drop them to the dirt and grind them into pieces with my heel.

  “Now what?” she asks.

  “Now I make him disappear,” I say.

  I return to the Trunks in my mind and reach for that last one, the one hidden within the haze of forgotten memories. I unlatch the lock and reach out for Luca’s Strings. They’re there, taut and binding him to me. How did I never notice them? I’ve never thought to look for them before, of course, but I can’t believe that they’ve been invisible to me all this time.

  I gather the Strings in my hands and throw them into the Trunk. Luca disappears from inside the cage and enters the Trunk in my head. He’s safe.

  I throw my arms around Nicoleta. “Thank you,” I breathe. “Thank you.”

  She squeezes me until my chest hurts. “We’re going to get out of this. Even if it means leaving Gomorrah, we’re going to escape.”

  If leaving Gomorrah will keep my family safe, then so be it. But it may not come to that. If Agni is the killer, then everything would be solved. The investigations would end, and my family could stay here.

  But he might not be.

  “Well, I guess this means Luca is definitely an illusion,” Nicoleta says.

  “Yes.” It takes me several seconds to manage the word. Because yes means that something is wrong with my memory. Yes means that all of this makes less sense than it ever did. Yes means that I fell for someone I made up. Yes means I made up someone to fall for. And for him to fall for me.

  The two of us walk to the doorway out of the room, where Unu and Du sit on the ground and wait, muttering to themselves.

  “There’s been no one here,” Unu says.

  “Not a soul,” Du echoes.

  Nicoleta looks around the dressing room and then turns to me, her voice hushed.

 
; “Your mind must have been tampered with,” she says. “A mind-worker.”

  “I don’t know any mind-workers,” I say. I mean, I technically do. I know Tuyet, though her mind-working isn’t normal and might not be able to alter someone’s memories. And there are several other mind-workers in Gomorrah, but no one I associate with.

  “That doesn’t matter,” she says. “There has to be a mind-worker involved.”

  “Do you know any mind-workers? By name? Who would want to hurt us? Who would know anything about us?”

  “No, but if Agni is involved, he can’t be acting alone. He must have a mind-worker answering to him.”

  Footsteps crunch the hay somewhere in the next room. I act before thinking and shove Nicoleta and Unu and Du back into their Trunks. Unu and Du are only twelve—how could they help with an official? And Nicoleta, well, maybe I should’ve kept Nicoleta out, since she looks like an Up-Mountainer.

  The tent flap parts, and there’s a flickering light, cast by a flame. The flame dances over the outstretched hand of Agni, casting an eerie mix of glow and shadows over his angular face.

  “Sorina,” he says, a hint of surprise in his tone. Now that he’s seen me, it’s too late to use an illusion to hide myself. But maybe I could make a dummy to fool him like I did during my argument with Jiafu.

  “What are you doing here when there are officials out? You should be safe in your tent. They’re causing quite a havoc.”

  “I was out when they arrived. I came in here to hide from them,” I lie.

  He raises his eyebrows. “We both know that you could hide yourself with your illusion-work. Why come in here, alone, in the dark?” At this, he dims the light of his fire until it is no bigger than a match flame. I try not to whimper. These are just theatrics to scare me. “Were you talking to Luca? Sorina...that isn’t a good idea. Not after what he has done.”

  I am brave, I think to myself. I am brave enough. All I need to focus on is making it back to Kahina, now that I have Luca and the other illusions safe inside my head. I need to protect them.

  “I think he might be innocent,” I say.

  “Don’t let him trick you, Sorina. You can’t trust an Up-Mountainer. Look what they’re doing to the Festival just as we speak. Look what they’ve done to your family. To my son.” He shakes his head. “Don’t let your feelings for one boy ruin our crusade.”

  I have known Agni my entire life. During every meeting or dinner with Villiam, he has been present, though silent. It’s difficult to imagine him trying to hurt me.

  “I know he’s an illusion,” I say boldly.

  The sympathetic smile on his face morphs into a scowl. He takes a step toward me, the fire above his palm glowing brighter. “I didn’t expect you to figure it out.”

  My heart freezes into a hard lump of ice. I hold back a scream and force out an illusion of myself, so fast I don’t bother with the details. It’s so dark in here that all I need is a silhouette to stand here—so I can run.

  Agni is the killer.

  This entire time, he’s been watching from the background behind Villiam, learning about my abilities. Maybe he’s a mind-worker, as well. That would explain how he knew Luca could be killed with Hellfire and how I’d forgotten about creating Luca. Villiam usually helps me create my illusions, but Agni is always with him. He’d have opportunity to mess with his mind, as well.

  “I’m not trying to hurt you,” he says. “I’ve known you a long time. You’re a nice girl. But this is much bigger than you and your little family. You have seen for yourself what we are up against.”

  I inch back, deeper into the darkness, the illusion of myself only a few feet from Agni.

  “You’re not fooling anyone,” he says. He shakes his jacket, which jingles with glass and metal clacking together. “I had charms made to counteract the effects of your illusions.” He takes a step forward, and I take another back, keeping him at least ten feet away. Even if he can see through my illusions, there’s still the safety of the darkness.

  “The Up-Mountainers need to pay for what they’ve done to us. We can put an end to the way they’ve treated us for centuries. Don’t you want to help, Sorina? You were a slave once. Where would you be now if Villiam hadn’t freed you?”

  I don’t answer. I’m sad for Agni’s loss, truly, but I’m now terrified of being alone with him. Terrified of the way he looks at me, as if my past is etched on my skin. I might share pieces of Agni’s story, but I cannot feel the way he feels. Maybe I should. But however justified his ends, the means will only see more innocents murdered.

  “I’m curious,” he asks. “How did you find out about Luca?”

  I don’t answer. I don’t owe him any explanations.

  “You’re rarely this quiet. In fact, Villiam can hardly get you to stop chattering on.” He shakes his head and then the flame over his hands goes out, and we’re in nearly complete darkness. All I see is the outline of his body coming closer. “Answer me, Sorina.”

  Still, I say nothing.

  “I haven’t wanted to hurt you, but you’re forcing my hand. If you don’t make the Up-Mountain boy reappear, I’ll kill you in order to kill him.”

  Then his fire returns, all at once, but ten times as large and ten times as bright. It glows pure gold, and the entire room is illuminated as if we’re within the core of the sun.

  Hellfire.

  I dash for a tunnel and make it into the main circus room, where I trip on a balance beam. Agni sprints toward me, and I look around frantically. I need to get away, out of the reach of him and his fire.

  Hawk appears beside me before I even call to her. Just as Agni is an arm’s length away from burning me, she grabs my leg with her talons and flies me up to the high trapeze. I dangle upside-down and scream as the entire perimeter of the tent becomes engulfed in golden flames.

  All except for Agni, who must be wearing charms like Luca’s. The Hellfire parts for him as he walks.

  “We need to fly out of here,” I tell Hawk.

  “The doors are covered. I don’t think we can fly low enough to get out without getting burned,” she says.

  Agni twists the flames into something else, sculpting it like melted glass. He makes a bow and then points one long shining arrow at us. He doesn’t even need to hit us. The Hellfire will consume the entire trapeze in moments.

  But if Agni is gone, the Hellfire will disappear, too. I need something to get rid of Agni, and I need that person to be quick and sudden about it.

  I call to Tree, and he appears several yards behind Agni, already prepared to run. He lets out a growl loud enough to shake the Menagerie and then charges at him.

  Agni doesn’t have time to react. He falls under Tree’s weight and is crushed in a medley of screams and the crunching sound of breaking bones.

  Hawk grabs me and takes off, cheering for Tree as the flames disappear. I’m too disturbed at the sight of the Menagerie floor, which is a mess of blood and Agni’s broken body, to echo her enthusiasm. But I murmur my appreciation for Tree’s efforts and return him safely to his Trunk.

  We soar out of the tent and over Gomorrah. There’s a battle raging not far outside the Menagerie, to the tune of screams and swords clashing. Even from upside-down and far away, it’s easy to see that Gomorrah has the advantage because of its jynx-workers. Shadow-workers clutch the shadows of the officials and toss them dozens of yards away, and all of our weapons carry some kind of strengthening charm.

  I don’t think Hawk is thinking about where she’s flying because she’s taking us north, beyond the burning Skull Gate. “We need to find Villiam,” I tell her. The cold wind up here slaps against my skin.

  “You still haven’t told me what the hell is even going on.” Her face is pale, and obviously all of this has shaken her as much as it has me. I told Nicoleta and Unu and Du about Agn
i, but I didn’t tell her. I simply brought her out when I needed her, right in the middle of danger, which wasn’t fair. Yet she acted fast. She saved my life. And, by doing so, saved all our lives.

  I’m suddenly reminded of how very young she is.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “I just need to be in a tree somewhere. Three dead mice in my hands. And then I’ll be good.”

  But we don’t fly to a forest. We turn around and fly back to our tent, beside Villiam’s. Once we land on the ground, we rush around the path’s corner toward our home. The guards who usually protect us are gone—probably dealing with the battle at Skull Gate.

  “I’m not a jynx-worker,” someone says nearby. “I’m not. I swear.”

  “I can see your shadow twisting.”

  Hawk and I creep closer, careful to keep ourselves hidden from sight. It’s Jiafu, cornered by an official. They stand in a clearing surrounded by caravans and tents with their doors sealed and shut, including Villiam’s.

  “Who is that?” Hawk whispers. She has no idea who Jiafu is, or that I work with him. I shush her so the official doesn’t spot us.

  “Everything’s lit by bloody torches. Of course my shadow is moving,” Jiafu says. Though even as he denies his jynx-work, his shadow twists into a spiral on the grass, as if trying to give away its master.

  “If your shadow comes near me, I’ll put this sword through your gut,” the official says.

  I’m frozen. I don’t know what I could do at this point. Any illusion I could create to scare the official away would probably only make him retaliate.

  Jiafu takes a step closer to a tent, farther away from the nearest torch. His shadow dims and doesn’t twist so much. But it still flickers. He puts up his hands. “I’m just trying to get back to my home,” he says. “I know the proprietor. He personally—”

  The official stabs his sword through Jiafu’s neck.

  I bite my tongue to keep from screaming and cover Hawk’s eyes with my hand. When he pulls out the sword, spurts of blood follow. Jiafu collapses on the ground, and even from far away, I can see that he dies within moments. The official wipes off his sword on Jiafu’s shirt.