by Juman Malouf
“Sonja!” yelped Charlotte. She had to do something. Maybe her Talent had returned, too. She snatched up her accordion and threw the straps over her shoulders. She pulled open the bellows . . . but nothing happened. Just squeals and whines and whimpers.
Only her sister’s Talent had come back.
“Run, Kats!” commanded the Contessa. “I want the Pathways into the Seven Edens!”
Kats von Stralen yanked Edgar off the stage, and they raced through the mayhem. They ran to a Lifter and disappeared into the floor.
Sonja tried to reach for her pennywhistle, but the Contessa pressed the blade into her skin.
Charlotte held in her breath and pressed her eyes shut. Please, she begged the sky and the earth and all the creatures that inhabited it, do not let her sister die. She needed years to make up to Sonja for how she had treated her.
The Contessa held tight. “They’re freaks like you, aren’t they? I guess it’s genetic. Your grandmother had powers, too.”
Charlotte straightened. What did she mean by genetic? How were they related to Alexandria?
Alexandria shoved Georgie, smashing him into one of the broken cages. She turned to the Contessa. “Let her go or, I promise you, without fail, you’re going to die.”
“I told you to never keep anything from me, Alex.” The Contessa held on to Sonja as she took a step toward the backstage door. “I always find out in the end.”
A flash of black fur flew across the stage. Everyone turned to look. Suddenly, the Contessa and Sonja were lying flat on their backs on the floor as the stiletto scuttled away into the shadows. Green eyes stared down at them.
“Wolf Boy!” Sonja breathed.
Wolf Boy growled and plunged his teeth deep into the Contessa’s neck. Sonja leapt to her feet and ran to Charlotte. The Contessa gasped and gurgled as Wolf Boy’s jaws closed on her windpipe. Alexandria looked away. The Contessa kicked frantically. One of her high heels flew off her foot and shot into the air.
“The wolfie’s killin’ our mother!” squealed Georgie.
The Scrummagers charged.
“Look out, Wolf Boy!” warned Sonja. “Behind you!”
Wolf Boy let go of the Contessa and wheeled on his attackers. He slipped between Dirgert’s legs and dashed across the stage as more Enforcers stormed toward them through the auditorium.
Alexandria yelled to the twins, “Let’s go!” Charlotte held her sister’s hand and they sprinted across the room. Wolf Boy ran alongside them. They reached Moritz. He huffed, spraying Wolf Boy in a mist of snot.
“Glad to see you, too, old friend.” Wolf Boy grinned, wiping his face.
“I thought a Changeling only had two lives!” Sonja shouted.
“It’s a long story,” Wolf Boy mumbled. “I’ll tell you some other time.”
Alexandria jumped on Moritz’s back and pulled the twins up behind her. “I looked everywhere in the building. Tatty’s not here.”
“Kats von Stralen said she’s on his boat!” burst out Charlotte.
Alexandria’s eyes widened. “Hurry, Moritz! Before we lose them!”
Moritz raced through pandemonium. Enforcers fired at them as they jumped over a dead gorilla and swerved among the injured people and the ruins of the barricade. The twins crouched as bullets crisscrossed over their heads. An Enforcer leapt onto Moritz’s rear, trying to grab at Sonja. She screamed. Charlotte tore off her accordion and slammed it over his head. He dropped away along with the broken, smashed instrument. At least it had come to some use in the end, Charlotte thought sadly.
Moritz bashed open a steel door. Alexandria yelled, “Wolf Boy, tell the animals to follow us!”
Wolf Boy howled. The gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees scampered after them into a narrow stairwell.
“This way!” Alexandria cried, already two flights up. The twins clung to her. Charlotte pressed her head against her back. There was a faint smell of salt on Alexandria’s clothes. She could hear a murmur in her chest after every heartbeat. Something about it all seemed familiar.
They galloped up five more stories, burst through another heavy door, and hurried into a vast gallery filled with stuffed and mounted animals displayed in rows of large glass cases. There were windows on every side of the room from floor to ceiling. The silhouettes of tall buildings showed faintly through the smog. Blinking lights flashed from rooftops like twinkling stars.
The apes spilled in behind them. Alexandria slammed the door shut and bolted it. For a moment, everyone fell silent. They stared at the vast collection of taxidermied animals. A tear rolled down Charlotte’s cheek. The world was so cruel sometimes. She looked at Alexandria. She was staring out the window at a black dot in the horizon heading east.
“I know exactly where he’s going,” Alexandria murmured.
Charlotte was taken aback. She had never really looked at Alexandria properly. In a flash, everything was familiar: her hair, her eyes, her skin. She understood what the Contessa meant. She understood what the secret was. Charlotte wanted to scream—and she was about to—but then she said to herself, I’ll scream later.
If we get out alive.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The Colossal Birds
THE BOLTED DOOR BEGAN TO SHAKE. SPARKS CRACKLED off its surface. The hinges glowed orange. The door frame snapped apart with a bang and flew open. Georgie jolted into the gallery holding a blowtorch. The rest of the Scrummagers flooded in after him with a troop of Enforcers. Flashlights shone across the rows of display cases.
The twins peeked out from behind a taxidermied bear. Sonja was not scared. She had her Talent back—and her sister, Alexandria, Moritz. Even Wolf Boy. She looked at him, crouched under a stuffed roaring lion next to Moritz. They had both transformed back into boys.
He was kind of okay. He had saved her from the Contessa, after all.
“Hellos again, ducklin’s!” yelled a voice. It was Georgie. “I’s a-promisin’ Mother to pulls out your hearts and feed ’em to the hyenas! Especiallys you, Wolf Boy!”
Alexandria gave a signal at the window.
Sonja gasped as a flock of fifty Gobos burst out of the smog and crashed through the glass. They opened their hooked beaks and let out deafening caws. A whirl of feathers and shards sprayed everywhere. Enforcers fired wildly. Arrows flew. The birds swooped onto the Contessa’s minions like a dark, ancient storm.
The twins and the Changelings leapt from their hiding places and joined Alexandria. “The Gobos caught us before we hit the ground,” she explained. “Dottie had led them from the Crooked Peaks just in time.”
Moritz showed the marks on his shoulders. “Stuck their talons right into me.” He grinned. “I didn’t care. They saved me from the graveyard.”
“Comes on, troops!” wailed Georgie. “Fires ’em!”
No bullets were shot. No arrows flew. Half the Enforcers were lying motionless on the ground, and the rest had scattered. The other boys were cowering in corners and trembling behind glass cases. Georgie turned to run, but a Gobo plucked him back by his shirt.
“Gets off me!” he wailed, batting his hands frantically. Sonja could not help but smile. Georgie deserved a little of his own medicine.
“What about you, Wolf Boy?” asked Sonja. “Aren’t you going to tell us how you’re still alive?”
Wolf Boy fidgeted with his cape.
“The truth is,” he said reluctantly, “I never died before. That was a lie. Moritz knew. He let me pretend I had lost a life like he had so I would seem—so people would think—so everyone would believe I was—tough.”
Moritz put his arm around Wolf Boy’s shoulder. “You’re as tough as anybody I’ve ever met.”
“That’s all well and good,” Sonja huffed, “but it would have been nice not to make us all think you were dead.”
Wolf Boy looked up at her with a smile. “You got your Tale
nt back, didn’t you?”
A propeller rattled and whined as it approached. A rickety Flyer hurtled through broken glass. The words Maintenance Vehicle were spelled across its side. Hester sat in the pilot’s seat, smiling broadly as the aircraft skidded the slick floor to a stop. She popped her head out. A black crow was perched on her shoulder. “Need a ride?”
Dottie hovered next to her. “She shouldn’t be driving this thing! She’s nearly crashed a hundred times!”
Hester put the shell into her ear. “What did the bird say?”
Alexandria climbed up front with her. The children piled into the back beside a firebox and a heap of coal. “Kats von Stralen’s going to the Dried-Up Sea,” said Alexandria. “We have to inform the other Protectors. He’s got an Amulet.”
Hester cawed. The crow took off like a black veil in a gust of wind and disappeared into the smog.
The Gobos abandoned the writhing and moaning boys piled across the floor and began to fly around the room picking up gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees.
“Helps me!” Georgie screamed, hanging from a window ledge.
Maybe it was because he was an orphan and had never been lucky enough to find someone like Tatty? Maybe it was because she understood suffering a little more after everything she had been through? For whatever reason, Sonja forgave poor Georgie for every terrible thing he had ever done.
The Changelings shoveled coal into the firebox, igniting the waning fire. The pistons pumped back and forth, popping and wheezing. The motor rumbled to life. The propeller groaned and kicked into a fast spin. Hester pushed back a lever and turned the wheel. The aircraft swerved out of the building, swung around, and lurched forward through the air. The Gobos flew alongside it with their animal cargo dangling in the air beneath their feet.
A fleet of Flyers swooped down from above and hovered in front of them.
With a swift, sharp chop, Alexandria sliced her hand through the air. Nothing happened. Her magic was still blocked. This was her chance, thought Sonja. She jumped to her feet and pressed the pennywhistle to her lips. A single, powerful, piercing note shot into the sky like a scream.
The row of spinning propellers snapped off, and the aircrafts dropped out of the sky.
“Yahoo!” howled Moritz.
She looked at her friends’ surprised faces and grinned. She had gotten pretty good.
“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet!” yelled Charlotte. She pointed. A skinny black wind-up missile was spiraling up at them through the smog. Its winding key unraveled furiously.
“It’s coming fast!” shouted Alexandria.
Sonja took a deep breath and threw all her powers at the angry object. The missile jolted to a complete stop. Watch this, she thought, and blew another string of notes. Screws sprang, popping sideways out of the rocket. The metal casing began to fall apart. The entire weapon disassembled right in front of their eyes, dropping away toward the ground in a hundred pieces.
“Incredible,” murmured Wolf Boy. “You really are a musician.”
Alexandria stared into the emptiness, shocked.
Hester nodded. “Your powers are strong for your age.”
“More on the way!” warned Moritz.
“You got them?” Alexandria asked.
Sonja nodded with a smile. She destroyed one missile after the next, until there were no more. Exhausted, Sonja let her arms fall to her sides.
“That’s it for now.” Alexandria paused, thoughtful. “Until we get to the Dried-Up Sea.”
Sonja collapsed into her seat. Charlotte laid her head on her shoulder. Sonja knew that even though her sister was happy for her, she was worried about where her own Talent was.
Moritz opened the lid of an old tin box he found under his seat. “Cracker?” he said, offering Sonja one.
She took it and bit into the gray square. “A little stale,” she said, chewing, “but good.” She watched Wolf Boy wolf down three crackers at the same time. His neck was painted with blood. “I think you’re still hurt,” she said, her voice faltering.
Wolf Boy pulled down his fur cape and turned. His entire back was wet and red.
“The bullet’s still in you,” cautioned Alexandria. She leaned between the seats and spilled a drop of the clear liquid from her little vial onto his wound. The tail of the little corkscrew peeked up backward and poked out through the skin.
“What is it?” asked Sonja.
“The Great Tiffin’s saliva,” said Alexandria. “It’s a panacea.”
Sonja looked horrified as Alexandria poured another splash. The bullet was tugged one inch farther and fell out. Sonja took it between her fingers. The Contessa’s insignia was stamped into its shaft. She looked up at Alexandria. “She’s your mother?”
“Yes,” Alexandria replied softly.
“Is that why the Swifters don’t like you?”
Alexandria nodded. “I’m not only the Contessa’s daughter, the Seven Edens’ biggest threat in centuries, but the reason she knows about them.” She shook her head sadly. “My letters to Kats. She never gave them to him.”
“What about Arthur?” Sonja asked. “Did he really tell them about Tatty and the Amulets?”
“I’m afraid so,” sighed Alexandria. “He’s blinded by his work. One day, when he realizes what he’s done, he’ll regret it all.”
Charlotte burst out all of a sudden: “Isn’t that perfect? We have a snitch for a father, and a mother who abandoned us. Exactly what I was hoping my parents would be.” Monkey stuck his head out of her jacket and blinked.
Alexandria looked at Charlotte uneasily.
“Charlotte?” Sonja said hesitantly. “What are you talking about?” Her sister had been acting funny ever since they had found out Edgar was a traitor.
“You were there! Didn’t you hear the Contessa?”
“I wasn’t listening. She had a knife to my throat.”
Charlotte grabbed Alexandria’s arm. “Is it true? Tell us!”
Alexandria searched her pockets and pulled out a cigarette.
“You said you quit,” said Charlotte, trembling.
Alexandria frowned, but instead of putting the cigarette to her mouth, she crumpled it up and flicked it into the air.
“Well?” pressed Charlotte.
Alexandria looked at the floor, then at her hands, then at the twins. Her eyes were brimming with tears. “I’m your mother. Arthur’s your father.”
Sonja stared, speechless. How was it possible? They had known Alexandria and Arthur their whole lives, and never once had she thought they were her parents. They hardly visited the twins, and when they did, they were not the least bit affectionate. To tell the truth, when you got right down to it, Alexandria and Arthur had never seemed to care much about them.
“That means Kats von Stralen’s our uncle,” continued Charlotte, “and the dear, delightful Contessa is our grandmother!”
Sonja looked at Alexandria. There were so many questions she wanted answered. Had they ever loved them? Had they regretted leaving them? There was one question more pressing than the rest: “Why did you give us up?” Sonja asked quietly.
Alexandria buried her face in her hands. “To save your lives.” Her voice was faint and weak. “The Protectors told me that the Contessa would kill you if she knew about you. I had no other choice. Hieronymus suggested Tatty.”
“She’s our mother!” Charlotte’s face was almost white. She shook all over. “She’s our real mother! Not you.”
The aircraft lurched and jolted. Everyone looked out at once. The propeller was sputtering and slowing. The Changelings threw three shovelsful of coal into the firebox. The propeller spun back to speed, and the aircraft stabilized.
Arthur and Alexandria were not the parents Sonja had pictured. She had dreamed of other parents; different parents altogether. Parents who would not have left the
m no matter what the danger was. Sonja unclasped the locket from around her neck and handed it to Alexandria. “I guess this is yours.”
Alexandria hesitated.
“We don’t need it anymore.”
Alexandria took the locket and turned around in her seat. She stared straight ahead. Tears ran down her cheeks as she pushed the locket between her thumb and forefinger.
“You should get some sleep now,” Hester urged the children. “It’s a long way to the Dried-Up Sea.”
The Changelings lay across the floor. Charlotte and Sonja slid down next to each other on the seats. Monkey snuggled in between them and immediately fell asleep. His heavy breathing reminded Sonja of home.
“They all lied,” Charlotte whispered through muffled tears. “Edgar, Alexandria, Uncle Tell, Tatty. I don’t know who to believe in anymore.”
“How about us?” Sonja said softly. “Let’s just believe in us.”
Charlotte wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry I deserted you for Edgar.”
Sonja smiled. “Lucky for me he turned out to be a traitor.”
Charlotte laughed. She thought for a moment and then said, “Do you think I’ll get my Talent back?”
“It will come to you. Like it did to me. You’ll see.”
“What if it doesn’t? What if I remain as I am, and you go on without me?”
“Me go on without you?” Sonja raised her eyebrows. “There isn’t a me without you.”
Charlotte took her hand into hers and squeezed it.
“Maybe she really was trying to protect us,” said Sonja.
Charlotte shrugged. “I guess. It doesn’t mean we have to love her or anything, just because she gave birth to us.”
“No, perhaps not.”
“It does explain where our magic is from.” Charlotte paused. “You remember the nightmare I had about the Contessa?” Sonja nodded. “That same night I dreamed about the Lost Desert and the Swifters. They told me I was a Swifter from my father’s blood—and that you were different. You had your mother’s blood.”