The Darkness Dwellers

by Kirsten Miller

  “Mission accomplished. What shall we do next?” Etienne asked Kiki. “Any ideas?”

  Kiki took a sip of her café au lait. “I don’t know.”

  Even by Kiki Strike’s standards, March and April had been busy months. There were countless royalty-hunting reporters to evade. Hundreds of bones to return to the ossuary. Dozens of Les Frères Corbeaux customers to capture and escort to the Paris police.

  And of course, there was the trial of Livia Galatzina to attend in Pokrovia. The evidence against the former queen proved so overwhelming that arguments lasted less than a week. Kiki was in the courtroom every single day—with her handsome French boyfriend by her side and her mother’s pink diamond ring on her finger. When the guilty verdict was read, the victims’ only daughter was allowed to address the court and the heavily veiled defendant. As cameras flashed, Kiki thanked the jurors and the people of Pokrovia, but she had no parting words for her aunt. Instead, she shocked the whole world by publicly requesting that mercy be shown to her cousin Sidonia. The girl deserved a chance to change.

  Later that afternoon, Kiki was spotted delivering a mysterious gift to the reform school where her furry cousin was being trained for a life as an ordinary (if extraordinarily hairy) girl. The brightly wrapped box held a tube of an ointment called Morlock’s Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.

  “You have ONE chance, Sidonia,” read the card inside.

  “What do you mean, you don’t know what’s next?” Etienne scoffed. “There must be another adventure for us here in Paris. France is filled with villains!”

  “You’re right,” Kiki said, her eyes skimming across page C-4 of the New York Times.

  Sometime around the middle of April, Kiki had taken to purchasing a copy of the American newspaper each morning. When asked, she claimed she was keeping up to date on the scandal surrounding Fem-Tex Pharmaceuticals, but Etienne could see there was far more to the story. Kiki missed Verushka Kozlova and her fellow Irregulars. After three months in Paris, it was time for her to go home.

  Something on page C-4 had grabbed Kiki’s eye. She pinned the paper to the table and traced a headline with one finger. Etienne’s heart sank when he saw the excitement in her eyes. Adventure was beckoning Kiki from across the Atlantic.

  “I’ll miss you,” he said.

  “Miss me?” Kiki looked up and arched an eyebrow. “Your school lets out in a month. Have you ever smelled New York in the summer?”

  “I can’t say that I have,” Etienne replied with a laugh.

  “Then you’re in for quite a treat.”

  Footnotes

  1 This church does not exist. The Darkness Dwellers do not believe in taking credit for their works, and they have requested I change key elements of my story. I didn’t bother to argue. After all, you probably think this is a work of fiction, anyway.

  2 You’re taking liberties with the story, Miss Fishbein. —KS

  3 At Kiki’s rather annoying request, I have given her “friend” a new name and title.

  4 Annoying? How do you think I feel about all this “innuendo.” Stick to the story, Fishbein. —KS

  5 The card was in French, of course, but I think we can trust Betty’s translation.

  Also by Kirsten Miller

  Kiki Strike

  Inside the Shadow City The Empress’s Tomb

  Copyright © 2013 by Kirsten Miller

  All rights reserved

  You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  First published in the United States of America in January 2013

  by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers

  E-book edition published in January 2013

  www.bloomsbury.com

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to

  Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

  Miller, Kirsten.

  Kiki Strike : the darkness dwellers / by Kirsten Miller. — 1st U.S. ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: While Kiki Strike is in Paris trying to stop her evil cousin, the princess Sidonia, from all sorts of terrible deeds, it is up to Ananka and the other Irregulars to help Kiki find the cure for baldness, foil the evil plans of Oona’s twin, and keep Ananka herself from falling in love with the wrong young man.

  [1. Crime—Fiction. 2. Identity—Fiction. 3. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 4. Paris (France)—Fiction. 5. France—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Title:

  Darkness dwellers.

  PZ7.M6223Kip 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2012023303

  ISBN 978-1-5999-0956-1 (e-book)