by Juman Malouf
Edgar joined the Contessa. He stared down at the prisoners through the bars. Charlotte straightened. “You might find this interesting,” he said, withdrawing something from inside his coat pocket. He let it drop, catching it by the end of its chain. It dangled in the air.
Sonja gasped. “The Golden Knot! But you gave it to the Tiffins.”
“That was a phony.” Edgar beamed with pride. “This one’s real.” His eyes glazed over like two frozen lakes. He rubbed the pendant’s smooth gold surface between his fingers. “The Protectors never respected the Longwalkers. Well, now they will.”
“This is a joke, isn’t it, Edgar?” Charlotte said softly. She stuck her fingers between the bars. “In a minute, you’re going to break us out of here, aren’t you?”
Sonja grabbed Charlotte. “Don’t you get it? He’s bad! Edgar’s a traitor!” There was no question. He had told the Contessa they were coming. That was why the swans were waiting for them. Thanks to Edgar, Alexandria and Moritz were dead, and the Contessa had an Amulet. Soon, the Seven Edens would be destroyed. Edgar was to blame for everything. Sonja’s eyes narrowed. She had always known she was right to hate him.
Edgar shrugged. “Traitor? I’m a Longwalker. I was never one of you. That’s your mistake.”
“Don’t you care about the Albans?” Sonja returned, fuming. “The Golden Underground will be destroyed.”
“They never helped my people. They let them die. I have a new family now.”
Edgar handed the Contessa the Golden Knot. She cupped it in her hands. Its glow flickered in her eyes. Her scarlet lips spread into a tight smile. She turned to the audience. “This little trinket will lead us to the Seven Edens, to the source of the magic! Our armies will grow faster. Our dreams will be realized sooner.” Her eyes widened. “If magic can bring life to the dead, it must be able to bring immortality to the living. With more coins from you, and more determination from us, we can test this theory.” Her voice brewed into a dark rumble. “If we succeed, not only will we control the world, but we’ll rule it forever!”
The room erupted. Men and women jumped to their feet, chanting, “Ignatia! Ignatia!”
In the middle of the mayhem, a man in a bright pink velvet suit leapt onto a chair. He had spiky hair and large, black-framed round glasses.
Sonja squinted. Could it be? She covered her mouth with her hand.
It was her idol, Kanazi Kooks.
The audience went wild.
A piccolo slipped out of his sleeve. He pursed his thin lips against the mouthpiece. A shrill, airy, metallic sound fluttered out of the instrument. He wiggled and wriggled his thin, wiry body like a snake.
Sonja pressed her face to the bars and watched, hypnotized. She had heard him on the radio, but he was even better live. The funny thing was that his music sounded almost exactly like her own.
Kanazi Kooks jumped to the floor and marched up the aisle. His head jiggled up and down. His elbows knitted back and forth. He leapt onto the stage, blew the final notes, and bowed deeply.
For a second, Sonja forgot where she was. She burst into cheers, yelling and clapping. Kanazi Kooks turned to face her. He blinked.
Sonja always thought that Kanazi Kooks would one day help them. She picked up her courage and yelled, “It’s us! From the auditions! Charlotte and Sonja Tatters!”
Kanazi Kooks twirled the piccolo like a miniature baton and slipped it back up his sleeve. “Ah, yes. The twin musicians. Delightful. You know, I was once an Outskirts boy.”
“I know! I’ve read all about you. You’re my inspiration.”
Kanazi Kooks saluted her with a flourish of his hand.
Sonja gripped the bars and cried, “You’ve got to help us, Kanazi!” She pointed at the Contessa. “She’ll kill us!”
The Contessa raised a pencil-thin eyebrow. “I most certainly will.”
Kanazi Kooks hesitated. “I would like to be of service, but unfortunately, I can’t. It would be a case of conflicting interests.” He took off his glasses and tucked them into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a comb and smoothed back his black hair flat. He changed into someone else right before her eyes. “You see, that woman is my mother.”
Sonja’s jaw dropped. It was Kats von Stralen. “Where’s—where’s the real Kanazi Kooks?” she shouted.
Kats von Stralen smiled deliriously. “Right here! Right in front of you! I invented Kanazi Kooks!”
Sonja slowly got the idea. She buried her head in her hands. Kanazi Kooks was nothing but an illusion. She was as big a fool as her sister.
“Stop clowning around, Kats!” snapped the Contessa. “Tell me where you’ve hidden that tattooed freak.”
Kats von Stralen kissed the Contessa’s white cheek. “Nice to see you too, Mother.”
The Contessa frowned a creaseless frown. “Where is she?”
“On my boat. Chestnut Sabine’s watching her. I got your message. I’m here to collect the Amulet.”
Sonja hesitated. What boat? Where was there even an ocean or a sea? This world was dry.
Kats von Stralen reached for the Golden Knot, but Edgar snatched it first.
“It’s mine until I get what you promised,” interjected Edgar.
“Of course, darling.” The Contessa kissed a blotch of thick, red lipstick onto Edgar’s mouth. “You’ll have your Jagged Rock as soon as we finish with this little trifle.” She turned to Kats von Stralen. “Now be a good boy and take Edgar with you.”
Wolf Boy jumped to his feet with a gasp. He threw Dirgert on the floor and looked around wildly. “Nobody’s going anywhere!”
“Wolf Boy!” howled Sonja. She shook the bars of the cage. “Get us out of here!”
The Contessa put a fresh cigarette between her lips. The tip crackled. “Who’s that?”
“He’s a wolfie, Mother,” Dirgert faltered. “Well, he’s a boy thats was a wolfie that’s now a boy.”
“You really are an idiot, aren’t you, Dirgert?” Smoke puffed through the gaps of her bleached teeth. “How about we make a deal, wolf? You transform into an animal, and I won’t kill you.”
“How about you let the girls go and I won’t kill you?” Wolf Boy snatched up Dirgert’s club from the floor and brandished it.
“Oh, come now,” crooned the Contessa. “I’m sure our guests would be thrilled to see a metamorphosis.”
The men and women chanted, “Wolf! Wolf!”
“Sorry. I’ve got stage fright.” Wolf Boy charged into the throng of Scrummagers. He slapped the club across a row of knees. Three boys toppled over, groaning. Dickie Larue and Bennie surrounded him. Wolf Boy ducked and dodged left and right, then leapt up and smacked them in their faces. They hopped up and down, cursing and yelling. Georgie stood alone, cowering. Sonja watched in admiration. She had to admit: Wolf Boy had a wonderful wild animal spirit. She hoped one day he would teach her to have a little of her own.
“You’d better move, Georgie,” warned Wolf Boy. “I always was stronger than you back in Rain City.”
Georgie shook his head. “I’s won’t!” He held up his baton, trembling.
Wolf Boy was about to charge when there was a loud crack and a thwack against his back. His body buckled. His limbs hung limp. Sonja watched in horror as Wolf Boy collapsed to the floor with a thump.
The Contessa stood with a smoking Gatsploder. “Goodbye, wolf.”
“And good riddance,” said Edgar, flicking back his hair.
“Mother!” moaned Kats von Stralen. “You never let me have any fun. I wanted to see him change into a wolf.”
Sonja screamed, “He only had one life left!” She pounded and kicked the walls of the cage. Wolf Boy was dead. The terrible words ran through her mind over and over.
The Contessa barked, “Shut her up, Georgie! Before I feed your dinner to the hyenas.”
Georgie stuck his club throug
h the bars and jabbed Sonja in the stomach. “Be quiet, ducklin’, or we’lls be clobberin’ you senseless!”
Sonja’s cheeks were burning. Her body shook all over. Wolf Boy was dead.
She grabbed the club with both hands and shoved it into Georgie’s belly. He gulped and fell onto the floor. The other boys whooped with laughter.
“Beatens by a lil’ ducklin’!” hooted Dirgert.
The Contessa pushed the Scrummagers aside. She aimed her weapon at the twins. “You girls are trying my patience.”
Monkey hid under Charlotte’s jacket. Charlotte grabbed Sonja’s arm and whispered, “Stop.”
Sonja was not listening. A powerful rage was running through her blood like poison. She despised the Contessa and Kats von Stralen and Kanazi Kooks. They had taken everything and everybody from her. Her ears rang. Her head throbbed. Her fingers twitched wildly.
Sonja snatched up her pennywhistle and blasted into the little instrument with all her might. Out of the skinny, little tin sliver exploded a spectacular screech.
The room grew quiet. Everybody stared at the little girl inside the cage with the pennywhistle sticking out of her mouth. The Contessa stood still, her eyes wide. “I beg your pardon?”
Electricity surged into Sonja’s heart, her brain, her lungs, her fingers, and her lips. It was as if each organ or limb had been woken up after a long, deep sleep. She blew into the mouthpiece of the pennywhistle with confident breath. Her fingers tip-tapped speedily up and down the instrument. Sonja could not believe her ears. She was playing music! Real music!
Suddenly, the entire cage lifted six inches into the air and floated.
Edgar gasped. The Contessa’s mouth fell open. Kats von Stralen stared.
Sonja looked down past her feet, through the hovering metal lattice floor of the cage, as she played. Her Talent was back. So was the magic. And finally, her twitch was gone.
Charlotte gripped the bars of the cage and shouted to her sister, “The Protectors were right! It’s still in us!”
Sonja’s cheeks rose and fell with every breath. Her elbows flailed and bounced. She imagined the cage breaking, and soon, the bars began to bend and twist. She pressed her eyes shut and concentrated. A trickle of blood ran down her nose, and with one final blow, the cage slammed back down to the floor and burst apart. Bits and pieces of metal flew across the stage.
The audience sat flabbergasted.
Sonja leapt to her feet with wide, glittering eyes. Not only had her Talent returned, but she could now control it. Sonja kicked away the rubble and wiped the blood off her nose with the back of her sleeve. She glowered at the Contessa and said, “You’re an old, ugly witch!”
The veins bulged from the Contessa’s temples. “I’m not old!” She cocked her Gatsploder. “I’m not old!” she thundered.
The Scrummagers circled the twins, brandishing clubs and pointing arrows. They started closing in.
“You really think you’re going to waltz right out of here? Alive?” wheezed the Contessa. “Oh, no. I’m going to kill you first. Then you can waltz wherever you want.”
A voice boomed from the other end of the room: “I don’t think so, Ignatia.” Sonja’s heart fluttered. She turned, beaming.
Alexandria sat defiantly on Moritz’s back. Her hair cascaded to the floor.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
A Resurrection
THE ENFORCERS YELLED, “ATTACK!” AND A PACK OF HYENAS bounded, snarling, toward Alexandria and Moritz. Charlotte peered out from behind Sonja, her head spinning. Was it really them? How were they alive? She did not trust her judgment anymore. She could not after what had happened with Edgar.
Alexandria pointed to a chandelier dangling from the ceiling and swished her hands in the air. There was a loud crack. A chain snapped. The chandelier dropped to the floor with a crash, pinning the hyenas under a tangle of metal, crystals, and wire. They whimpered and squirmed, trapped.
Moritz swerved around the chandelier and galloped straight toward the stage. Georgie kicked the boy holding back two more hyenas. “Lets ’em go, fool!” he ordered. The boy released the creatures, and they smacked their rubbery lips and charged through the audience. The Richers shouted and screamed, scrambling out of the way.
Alexandria flicked one hand and then the other. Chairs lifted off the floor and floated ten feet in the air.
A woman in a pink fur coat screamed from a hovering seat. A man with a vulture mask rasped, “Get me down from here!”
“Your wish is my command!” returned Alexandria. She snapped her fingers, and the chairs and the Richers came crashing to the floor. They landed on top of the two hyenas, flattening them with a crunch.
“How thrilling!” squealed Kats von Stralen. He took a snort from his snuffbox.
“Don’t just stand there!” the Contessa screamed at the Enforcers. “Shoot them!”
Charlotte glimpsed Edgar cowering behind the Contessa. Sonja had been right. He was a criminal. He was also a coward. Edgar had chosen the easy way out of his troubles. She promised herself that she would never do the same, no matter what happened.
Alexandria and Moritz ducked and dove as bullets flew from every direction. A bullet whistled through the air and sank into Moritz’s thigh. He stumbled to the floor, taking Alexandria down with him. Charlotte watched anxiously as Alexandria slipped the Great Tiffin’s vial of clear liquid out of her sleeve and splashed a drop onto Moritz’s leg. The blood dried up and the hole healed instantly.
Moritz jumped back onto his hooves, but the Enforcers had surrounded them, pointing weapons. “Surrender! Or we’ll shoot!” ordered the leader.
With one quick sweep of Alexandria’s hands, the cages on either side of the proscenium burst open. One after the other, gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees burst out, jumping and screeching. The largest gorilla pounded his chest and roared.
The Enforcers scattered, firing haphazardly as the wild animals charged.
The Contessa screeched, “Send reinforcements! Secure the area!”
Alexandria strode through the mayhem and climbed the steps to the stage. She stood face-to-face with the Contessa and said fiercely, “I’m taking the girls.”
Charlotte stared at Alexandria. It was strange to admit, but she had never been happier to see anyone in her life.
“Why do you want them, Alex?” said the Contessa, genuinely curious. “Is there something you haven’t told me?”
Alexandria gritted her teeth and squeezed her fists. The pistol jerked out of the Contessa’s hand and flew into her own. She cocked it.
The Contessa jumped back, startled. She took a deep breath and stared at Alexandria. “There’s no point, Alex. You’ve already lost. We have an Amulet. Soon, I’ll know the way into the Seven Edens.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true!” Charlotte burst out. She pointed at Edgar. He looked away sheepishly. “He’s a traitor. He gave the Tiffins a fake Golden Knot.”
Alexandria’s eyes darkened. She stared at Edgar. “I always knew there was something wrong with you. Even when you were a little boy.”
Edgar hesitated. He looked like he was about to run when Kats von Stralen popped up next to Alexandria. “A little present,” he said, beaming. “My own invention. I used it to subdue our more aggressive creations. Blocks magic temporarily.”
A hypodermic syringe stuck out of Alexandria’s arm. She yanked out the needle and flicked it away. She waved one hand, and then the other. Nothing happened.
“It works!” Kats von Stralen clapped enthusiastically. “You’re my first human guinea pig!”
Alexandria grimaced and pointed the Gatsploder at the Contessa.
Kats von Stralen pulled out another. He pointed it at Alexandria and grinned. “Just like old times. Right, Alex?”
The Contessa opened her cigarette case and offered one to Ale
xandria. “They always made you feel better when you were little.”
Alexandria squinted, furious. “I quit.”
The Contessa put a cigarette to her lips. A ribbon of smoke spooled out of her mouth. “I never wanted a girl. When you were a month old, I put you in an orphanage. It was your grandmother who brought you home again.”
Charlotte looked back and forth between the two women in disbelief. Was it possible that the Contessa was Alexandria’s mother?
“And then she leaves her fortune to a sniveling brat like you? I couldn’t allow it. Look what Kats and I accomplished. We’ve built an empire.”
“You twisted his heart.” Alexandria wiped her eyes. “You made him into a monster.”
Kats von Stralen feigned shock. “A monster?” He laughed. “I’m afraid not, sis. Wasn’t it you who abandoned me?”
“I was coming back for you, Kats!” cried Alexandria. “She never showed you my letters.”
Kats von Stralen grunted. “I find that very difficult to believe.”
“In the end, Kats chose me.” The Contessa smiled vacantly. “Men always do. Even your pathetic husband. He squealed about the Key and the Amulets in exchange for a few little scientific trinkets and some . . . promises, shall we say?”
Charlotte gasped. Arthur was the informant.
Alexandria shook her head. “He didn’t. He wouldn’t.”
“Oh, he did. He also told me another secret, Alex.” The Contessa glanced at the twins. “I didn’t quite follow him at the time, but now I see, he was talking about these two little darlings.”
“Don’t, Mother!”
Charlotte watched, confused. What did Arthur know? What had he told the Contessa?
The Contessa looked surprised. She snorted out a laugh. “They don’t know, do they? Wow! You can’t do anything right.” She gave Georgie a look. He lunged forward and grabbed the pistol in Alexandria’s hand. He twisted her fingers. They cracked, and Alexandria screamed. As they tangled with each other, the Contessa flicked away her cigarette and whipped out a long, slender stiletto from her garter. She pounced on Sonja and held the knife to her throat.