by Juman Malouf
Someone else was falling, too. Charlotte reached out to catch her. She had to catch her. She had to catch her sister before they both hit the earth.
A siren rang.
Charlotte woke up in a sweat.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The Rescue Begins
A CRY LIKE A FOGHORN SHOOK THE CARAVAN. SONJA opened her eyes, anxious. Today was the day they were going to save Tatty. Charlotte’s side of the bed was empty. Sonja yanked back the covers and jumped to her feet. Her sister was at the window. Her back was turned toward her. Sonja slunk up beside Charlotte without saying a word. She did not know how things stood between them after what had happened the previous night.
The sun was rising, and a pink mist hung over the meadow. A crowd of Tiffins was gathering outside. They whispered and chattered.
Sonja leaned out the window. “What’s going on?” she asked an old Tiffin with knotted horns.
“Visitors,” he rasped. “Come to take the Mother of All Geese and Fowl to the Crooked Peaks. The Foreteller’s already gone.”
Sonja slumped back in. “Uncle Tell left without saying goodbye.”
“I know.” Charlotte shuffled through a small pile of clothing. “We’d better get dressed before Alexandria barges in here.”
Sonja wriggled out of her pajamas and into the dress she had worn the night before. Her arms and legs were covered with bumps and bruises from fighting Charlotte. She watched her sister put on a checked yellow dress, brush her hair, and place the crown on her head. The flowers had wilted, and their glow was gone.
Sonja gritted her teeth in an attempt to hold back from saying anything mean, but it did not work. “That looks ridiculous,” she blurted.
Charlotte smiled. “Thank you.”
A picture flashed into Sonja’s mind: Wolf Boy holding her tight in the Ancient Gardens.
She blushed. She rummaged through the drawers in Mr. Fortune Teller’s desk and pulled out a pair of scissors.
“What are you doing?” Charlotte asked.
Sonja grabbed a hunk of her hair and snipped it in half.
“Don’t!” pleaded Charlotte.
“Why not? I’ve always wanted short hair. Besides, we’ve looked identical our whole lives. Isn’t it time we became individuals? That’s what you’ve always wanted.”
Sonja clipped away at her hair. From time to time, she glanced at her sister. Charlotte looked horrified. For some reason, it made Sonja happy. After five minutes straight, Sonja clamped the scissors down onto the desktop. Strands and strings of hair lay scattered all around her feet.
“How do I look?” Sonja’s hair was as short as a boy’s. It was uneven in every direction and stuck out all over the place.
Charlotte swallowed. “Terrible.”
Sonja shrugged. “Well, I never wanted to look good anyway.” She hung her pennywhistle around her neck. It clinked against the locket. It was Charlotte’s turn to wear it, but Sonja was not going to mention it.
“What’s going to happen?” Charlotte asked. “In the City of Steel and Smoke.”
“There’ll be a battle, I suppose. Alexandria will probably hide us somewhere safe until it’s over, when Tatty is freed.”
Charlotte sighed. “Something tells me it’s not going to be that easy.” She buttoned up her jacket. “We’d better go. Edgar’s probably waiting for me.”
Sonja bristled. “Well, we can’t keep the little prince of the Golden Underground waiting, now, can we?”
Charlotte’s eyes turned steely. She slung the accordion over her shoulder and walked out the door. The sound of laughter drifted into the caravan. More and more Tiffins had gathered outside.
Sonja groaned. She wished she could just hold her tongue. She looked around the room. It was peaceful.
“I wonder if I’ll ever see you again,” she muttered into the empty room.
Sonja glimpsed the broken marionette propped up on the table. It made her sad to think of it alone in the caravan. She slipped on one of Mr. Fortune Teller’s suit jackets and stuffed the marionette inside the front pocket. This way, they could keep each other company.
Sonja walked into a sea of Tiffins.
Two giant birds were perched on the long limb of a blossoming tree. They rocked back and forth. Their brown wings were wrapped around them like ragged cloaks. Feathers stuck out around their heads like crowns, and their broad, calloused beaks dominated their faces.
“Gobos,” said a Tiffin woman with rosy cheeks. “Ancient birds. Fierce as fire.”
Sonja remembered them from Tatty’s thighs. They stared out with beady little eyes from their perches on the tops of two rocky peaks. The tattoos of the Gobos were almost as scary as the ones of the boars of the Golden Underground. In person, there was something gentle about the ancient birds.
Alexandria and Hester walked arm in arm through the crowd. Dottie hovered over them.
Sonja watched as Hester fastened her cane to her belt and strapped her shell over her shoulder. “I hate saying goodbye, so I won’t.”
Hester whistled. One of the giant birds jumped into the air. The Tiffins stepped back as its massive wings swooped, and its black talons spread open. It clasped the old woman’s shoulders and lifted her up into the air. The second bird took off after them, and together they disappeared into the horizon with Hester dangling in the air.
Alexandria turned to Sonja. “What happened to your hair?”
“I thought it would be easier to tell us apart.”
“But I had just figured it out,” said Alexandria, disappointed. “Where’s Charlotte?”
Dottie landed on Alexandria’s shoulder. “I saw her by the carriage.”
“Come on, then,” said Alexandria. “Our ride’s ready.”
They walked to the middle of the meadow. A group of Tiffins was waiting next to a roofless, wooden carriage. Some of them were attaching themselves to the front of it with leather harnesses. Alexandria walked over to speak to them.
Sonja could not see Charlotte anywhere. Had she run off with Edgar?
She touched the marionette in her pocket and whispered, “At least I have you.”
“Talking to yourself?” interrupted a voice. Wolf Boy approached with Moritz.
Sonja fidgeted with the ends of her jacket. Why did she feel so nervous?
“It’s the first sign of insanity, you know,” Moritz teased.
Wolf Boy made a face. “What’d you do to your hair?”
“This? Nothing. Just a new style.” Sonja ruffled it up a bit.
Wolf Boy looked confused, then slightly hurt. She understood why: he had told her to grow her hair long. He walked off sulkily.
“I kind of like it,” Moritz said. “And the jacket. Makes you seem . . . different.”
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
Charlotte came running toward them. “I can’t find Edgar anywhere!”
“I guess you don’t know,” Moritz said hesitantly. “He left in the middle of the night.”
“He’s—he’s gone?” stammered Charlotte.
“I’m afraid so,” confirmed Alexandria. She sat in a seat at the front of the carriage. The Changelings slid in beside her. “We looked everywhere for him.”
“He was probably scared,” grunted Wolf Boy. “He did kind of seem like the lily-livered type.”
“All that matters is that the Golden Knot is safe,” interrupted Alexandria. “He completed his duty by bringing it here.”
Charlotte stood helplessly muttering, “But—I—he—”
For a moment, the news was like sweet music to Sonja’s ears, but seeing her sister so lost and confused immediately dampened her joy. “Come on, Charlotte,” she said, taking her hand.
Charlotte shrugged Sonja away. “This is your fault!” she burst out. “You always do this to me!”
“I didn’t do anything,” Sonja said, confused.
“I only stayed because of you. He wanted me to go with him.”
“Go with him where?”
“I don’t know!” Charlotte started crying. “Somewhere!”
“You two!” yelled Alexandria. “Get in or we’re leaving without you!”
Charlotte stomped into the carriage and sat in the backseat. Sonja slid in beside her.
“I’m Max,” announced one of the harnessed Tiffins. He had a square jaw and a dimple in his chin. He gestured to the others. “That’s Axl, Pip, Bo, and Gull.” They each waved as their name was called out.
“Strap yourselves in,” Max advised as he faced forward. “Takeoff can get a little bumpy.”
Sonja fumbled with a seat belt made of rope. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Charlotte glared at her. “Don’t talk to me. Don’t touch me. From now on you’re not my sister!”
The Tiffins flapped their wings vigorously and rose into the air. The carriage flew up with a hard jolt. Sonja gritted her teeth and grabbed Charlotte. “Please, Charlotte! I’m scared.”
“I told you to stay away from me!” barked Charlotte. She pushed Sonja off and slid to the opposite end of the bench.
Sonja bit her lip. She shoved her hand into her pocket and held on to the little marionette. She pressed her eyes shut and muttered a prayer.
The rest of the Tiffins whooshed into the air behind the carriage, waving and shouting. It ascended into a layer of clouds, bouncing in the turbulence, jostling from side to side in the shadowy mist. Soon, the air cooled, and the carriage popped up out of the clouds and into the sunlight. The ride became smooth and quiet. Dottie flew beside the Tiffins, directing the way.
Sonja’s eyes snapped open. She glanced over the side of the carriage. The gray landscape rolled by below. “I can’t see the Land Where the Plants Reign,” she said in a shaky voice. She was terrified, but not as terrified as she would have expected. Maybe everything she had been through the past few days—was making her braver?
“The Edens disguise themselves,” explained Alexandria, “even from above. There’s a Pathway into them through the clouds. It’s practically impossible to find, except for experts like Dottie.”
“What’s the plan when we reach the City of Steel and Smoke?” asked Wolf Boy.
“We’ll land in the Outskirts and wait until evening, then walk from there. I know a secret way into the city. If Tatty’s there, she’ll be at the Contessa’s tower. Once we locate her, Dottie will send word to the Protectors to come.”
The nose of a large sliver balloon burst through the clouds. It was a zeppelin filled with passengers. They pressed their surprised faces against the windows and pointed at the Tiffins as they flew past. Black smoke trailed across the sky behind them.
Charlotte was crouched over her accordion, rocking back and forth. Sonja started to say something but stopped herself. Instead, she turned away and stared at a girl licking an ice cream cone in one of the zeppelin’s windows. Her parents sat beside her, reading the newspaper. The girl did not know how lucky she was, thought Sonja. She was probably going on vacation. Sonja waved to her. The girl stopped licking her ice cream and waved back.
In the distance, a city spread out as far as the eye could see. Million-Mile-High buildings stood in wide rows, poking up through a thick white haze. A faint hum filled the air. “Is that it?” Sonja asked.
“That’s it,” murmured Alexandria. She gazed into the horizon. “I haven’t been back since my grandmother died. We lived in the old Garden Quarter. The last beautiful place left in the city. The Contessa eventually destroyed it. Along with everything else.”
Thick smog rolled over the carriage. All at once, they were inside a cloud and could not see more than five feet in front of them. They coughed. The carriage rattled.
One of the Tiffins let out a shrill shriek. “Something bit me!” he shouted. Blood dripped from his toes.
They slowed down and treaded water in the milky sky. The carriage hovered in midair.
“I can’t see a thing,” said Max as he waved away the smog.
“We should press on,” urged Alexandria.
Something banged into the carriage from underneath. The twins screamed.
“What was that?” yelped Wolf Boy. Moritz looked around uneasily.
“Dottie, check below,” ordered Alexandria.
Dottie flew under the carriage. A second later, she burst out, cawing. “A—a—”
White feathers exploded from beneath the carriage and shot up into the air.
“A swan!” cried Sonja, terrified. She knew how vicious and bloodthirsty these birds were—she had seen them tear apart their caravan.
The swan circled above, its outstretched wings shadowing the carriage.
“Go, go, go!” Alexandria yelled.
The Tiffins dove. The swan torpedoed after them headfirst and slammed into the carriage with a smash. It lunged at the Tiffins over and over, jabbing its beak at their faces.
Max caught the creature by its neck and squeezed. One of its eyes popped out of its socket and hung from an electric wire. When Max let go, the swan spiraled toward the earth, its wings fluttering aimlessly in the wind.
“That’s no ordinary swan,” he said breathlessly. “Where did it come from?”
“It’s one of the Contessa’s,” said Alexandria. “Manufactured. It must have spotted us flying over the city.” Alexandria gestured to the ground. “We should hide until nightfall.”
They began to descend into the Outskirts.
Sonja looked warily over the edge of the carriage. There was a sudden rippling movement within a patch of clouds ahead. “Something moved up there!” she shouted, pointing.
A hundred orange beaks and black faces emerged at once out of the clouds. The vast flock of white swans flew toward them in rows of ten abreast. They were perfectly synchronized. Their powerful wings slapped the air and filled the sky with a sound like a single, thunderous heartbeat.
Kats von Stralen was building the Contessa an army, just like Alexandria had said. Sonja tore off her seat belt and hid under the seats. Charlotte scrambled in after her. She trembled all over. “The Contessa visited my dreams last night!” she sputtered. “She knows we’re coming!” Sonja threw her arms around her sister. Charlotte had shouted at her, pushed her away, rejected her in every way, but now they might die at any moment. Sonja had no choice: she forgave her.
Alexandria yelled to Dottie: “Fly to the Crooked Peaks! Tell Hester we need help!” Without losing another moment, the parrot shot straight down and disappeared into the smog.
The first row of swans were closing in fast, just a few feet away. They stuck out their long, muscular necks, narrowed their beady eyes, and hissed.
Alexandria whipped out a leather pouch and shook ten small metal stars into the palm of her hand. She threw them up in the air. They mingled, whirling above her head. She made a fist and flicked her hand open with a snap. The stars hurtled toward the flock and slammed like bullets into their targets. Bits and pieces of wire mesh scattered. Swans dropped like bombs. The rest of the flock scrambled out of formation in a panic as they watched their comrades fall one after the other.
The stars boomeranged back to Alexandria’s hand. “That should slow them down.”
“Incoming!” warned one of the Tiffins.
Another flock of swans rocketed up from below. They wore black leather hoods with crests of feathers over their heads and steel claws strapped to their feet. Sonja could see them through the gaps in the wooden planks. They were bigger and scarier.
“Hold on to your seats!” cautioned Max. The Tiffins flew straight toward the hooded swans. Just before they met head-on, they shot upward and made an arc through the sky. The swans were quick. They swooped in a circle, spun around, and landed smack in front o
f the Tiffins. They squawked a wild war cry. Small, ragged teeth stuck out of their gums. The Tiffins brandished their long knives, terrified.
The hooded swans swept over them like a tidal wave, and they were soon buried in a cloud of white feathers.
“The Tiffins!” yelled Wolf Boy. “They’re going to get killed!”
Alexandria flung her stars into the frenzied mob, but the swans dodged and bobbed around them. One swan caught a star in the air with its beak and snapped it in two. Alexandria watched, ashen.
The Tiffins swung their knives left and right, stabbing and jabbing. Each time a swan fell, a new one flew in. They were overwhelmed. Wings smacked their faces. Beaks nipped their flesh. The knives fell from their hands.
All of a sudden, the carriage went into a steep dive.
The twins screamed as they flew out from under the seat. The Changelings caught them, and the carriage dropped a thousand feet like a stone. Sonja closed her eyes. If they died, she would never see Tatty again; she would never know her real parents; she would never make up with her sister; she would never get her Talent back; she would never be somebody. She thought of the last line of the last letter she had written to Kanazi Kooks:
If I don’t succeed, I’ll die.
Well, it looked like she was right.
Ten feet above the ground, the carriage jerked to a stop. It floated in midair. The Tiffins hung dangling from their harnesses. Sonja looked around in a daze, shocked. Alexandria’s eyes were pressed shut in concentration. She had saved them. Sonja heard shouting and howling below. She looked over the edge of the carriage and saw a troop of Enforcers pointing Gatsploders up at them.
“Land or we’ll shoot!” announced a voice into a loudspeaker.
“It’s too heavy for me to lift up!” Alexandria said, struggling. “We’ve got to lose the Tiffins.”
Wolf Boy grabbed a knife off the floor, lunged forward, and began to saw at the leather straps.