We Set the Dark on Fire

by Tehlor Kay Mejia

  “. . . And I told you to tell me where you’re sneaking back from at dawn!”

  When the woman’s voice joined in, Dani realized the door to the patio had been left open, and outside it, two people were arguing.

  “I’m on an errand for the little señor, as you know,” came the reply. “I’ve been asked not to divulge the nature of it.”

  José, Dani realized, when the larger of the two silhouettes moved into the light. So it had been him, the night of the Primera salon? And who would he dare to talk to in such an insolent manner?

  He outranked Mia, but what would they have to quarrel about before sunrise?

  And then the second silhouette stepped forward, and Dani had never wished so much that her grizzled driver was having an altercation with the kitchen girl.

  “As your employer,” came the unmistakably haughty voice of Mama Garcia, making Dani’s blood run cold, “I demand you tell me what you’re doing. In detail.”

  Dani shivered as the shadowed Segunda stepped closer to José. Was this who she had been meeting the night of the salon? When her husband and Primera were out of the house and her son was making a high-profile arrest?

  “I know all about that awful little Primera Flores,” Mama continued, an edge in her voice. “I know he’s planning to move her, and that the police are watching our every step. If you think I’m going to allow both of you to walk into a trap because he can’t neutralize a threat when he’s instructed to, you are sadly mistaken.”

  The shock sent buzzing waves even through Dani’s fear. The phrase, almost straight from the letter she’d found in the fire, burned her like a brand. No wonder Mama Garcia had never made a move against her. Dani had never been the threat she meant.

  It had been Jasmín all along, and here was the proof that Mateo had been the one who made her disappear. But to where? And what did he want with the sympathizers anyway? What was so sinister it couldn’t be done within the walls of Medio’s notorious prison? Every answer led to a thousand more questions.

  “I have my orders, Pilar,” José replied, and Dani almost gasped. It was against every rule of society for house staff to address a family member by their first name. It simply wasn’t done. But Pilar Garcia didn’t shout, nor did she slap José.

  She stepped closer to him.

  Suddenly, Dani realized exactly how much danger Jasmín Flores was really in.

  “You and I will go together, tonight, and save this family from destroying its future,” she said in a voice more seductive than commanding. “My son does not outrank me.”

  This time, José stepped closer, an action that—as far as Dani knew—was punishable by whipping in most households.

  “In my heart, he does not,” he said. “But . . .”

  Whatever José had been about to say, it was swallowed by Mama Garcia as she claimed his mouth in a passionate kiss. One that clearly wasn’t a first between the two.

  Dani clapped her hands over her mouth, her mind racing. She wanted to feel relieved that the threat against her had never been real. Mama Garcia didn’t suspect who she really was. But right now, she was too consumed with what was at stake.

  Mateo had Jasmín. That Dani knew for sure. It stood to reason he had the rest of the prisoners, too, and was testing out some unproven methods of interrogation on them out from under the government’s eye. But with the heat coming down and Jasmín’s disappearance noted, he was going to move her. Tomorrow.

  Dani’s head spun as she realized: Mama Garcia was willing to murder Jasmín rather than allow Mateo to pay for his crimes. The only thing standing in the way was José. And in the battle for his loyalty, the twined silhouettes against the door painted a grim picture.

  Tea long forgotten, Dani turned and fled to her room, bare feet soundless on the tile. She was going to tell Carmen everything, plot their next move, but when she opened the door, the other girl was sound asleep across her bed.

  If there had been any doubt about what needed to be done, it was gone. She needed to get to La Voz as soon as possible if there was any chance of saving Jasmín’s life. But did she dare endanger Carmen, too? It would be so easy to leave now, be the lone wolf she had always been, turn her back on the trust that had barely taken root between them. . . .

  Carmen stirred, sniffing in her sleep and turning over before burrowing back into the pillows. Dani watched her, frozen, until she went still.

  There was no clear answer. No path ahead with guaranteed success, or even survival. For either of them.

  Dani sighed too loudly and Carmen stirred again. This time, Dani felt hope rather than fear. If Carmen woke up, they’d both be in danger, but she wouldn’t have to face it alone.

  “Dani?” Carmen asked, patting the bed beside her.

  “Hey, I’m here,” Dani said, moving closer, not even the panic in her chest enough to prevent a small kindling of flame beside it.

  “What time is it? I fell asleep. . . .”

  Dani weighed her options one more time. She could tell Carmen to go back to sleep—she was still halfway under. It would be so much easier that way. But Dani wasn’t a lone wolf anymore. She had faith. In the girl next to her. In the power they had claimed together.

  “Wake up, mi amor,” she said, kissing Carmen’s cheek. “Everything has changed.”

  21

  When a Primera’s intellect fails her, when her restraint isn’t enough, she has one final weapon: her determination.

  —Medio School for Girls Handbook, 14th edition

  THE SUN ROSE IN EARNEST as Dani and Carmen made their way down the road, sticking to the shadows, not relaxing until they were in sight of the gate leading into the capital.

  “You know we’re about to break about a dozen laws and even more social codes, right?” Dani asked, looking at Carmen somberly as the morning’s first rays illuminated her face, painting gold streaks in the dark of her hair.

  “I know,” she said.

  “You know we could get arrested? Or found out? Or . . .”

  “Tortured? Killed?” Carmen asked, something steely in her eyes. “Yes, Dani, I know.”

  “So why are you coming with me?”

  A familiar-seeming shadow flitted for a moment across her eyes, too quick for Dani to truly be sure it was there. Then Carmen smiled her usual smile, and the swooping feeling in Dani’s stomach made her forget everything else.

  “Dani, I knew who I was when I was nine years old. I knew I could talk adults into or out of anything. I knew who I wanted to be and who I wanted to love. I never, ever expected to meet someone like you. To feel the way I feel about you. Even if this wasn’t what I thought was right, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, don’t you see?”

  In that moment, Dani thought she could see right through Carmen’s amber eyes, right into the goddess who lived in her soul.

  She didn’t ask again why Carmen was coming with her. She didn’t need to.

  This early in the morning, the complex was nearly deserted, and the checkpoints weren’t for people going out—only coming in. Since returning wasn’t something they could take for granted right now, Dani put it out of her mind.

  They made good time to the marketplace, which was still coming to sleepy life around them. In Medio, almost nothing was done until after a leisurely breakfast, but despite the ease of moving through the uninhabited city, Dani wished the rest of the capital’s citizens would hurry over their tortillas. She and Carmen were too easy to spot without a crowd to blend into.

  “So, what’s the actual plan, though?” Carmen asked as they skulked in still-dark aisles with wax cloth over the produce.

  “There’s a place where I’ve met them a couple of times,” she mumbled, just in case someone was listening. “I’m hoping if we go there, someone will be nearby, that they’ll be willing to hear me out.”

  “That’s your plan?” Carmen asked. “I thought there was like a rendezvous point or something. You know, something a little more concrete?”

  “Do you
want to come up with a plan then, genius?” Dani asked, but her voice was teasing, and she stepped closer.

  “I couldn’t possibly hope to compare,” Carmen said, her smile blooming in answer.

  After a furtive glance around the empty stalls, Dani was about to step recklessly into Carmen’s arms—how could she help it?—but a voice from behind stopped her cold.

  “Oh my goodness, Daniela Garcia?!” It was a sugary-sweet voice, the kind she’d come to expect over wine and appetizers and thinly veiled gossip. But not here.

  She turned slowly, ready to lie with everything in her, but the owner of the voice was much closer than she’d thought, and she found herself pressed against a wall with a forearm at her throat before she could identify a face.

  “What are you doing here?” her attacker growled. “We specifically told you to stay put.”

  Alex, Dani thought, relieved and terrified at once.

  “I . . . ,” she croaked, nails scrabbling at flesh that might as well have been iron.

  The pressure lessened, but not by much.

  “I have . . . information,” Dani spluttered. “I came to find you.” Her heart raced when Alex’s eyes narrowed and she showed no signs of stepping away.

  “Let her go,” came Carmen’s low, steady voice from behind Dani, and Alex’s predator eyes snapped up before widening in shock.

  “You?” she asked, clearly confused, finally letting Dani go in her distraction.

  She turned just in time to see Carmen shake her head frantically, purposefully.

  In an instant, the wolf-eyed girl’s demeanor changed entirely. “What are you doing here?” she asked again, her eyes back on Dani like Carmen’s head-shake had rendered her invisible.

  Dani wanted to ask a hundred questions about their strange interaction, but the murmurs of the gathering marketplace crowd were a ticking clock, and she hadn’t come all this way to run out of time.

  “Thirty seconds, new girl.”

  “I know I was supposed to lie low, and I’m sorry,” Dani began at once, words tumbling out faster than she could choose them. “You know Mateo was planning on moving Jasmín tomorrow night, but last night I overheard his father’s Segunda talking to our driver . . .”

  Dani spilled the whole story as quickly as she could, and though her thirty seconds passed less than halfway through, Alex did not interrupt her. She told her about Mama Garcia’s letter, apologizing for not telling them about it sooner, explaining that she’d believed the threat was for her, that she thought she could handle it on her own. She left out the part about questioning Carmen’s loyalty. Protecting her, even now.

  Nearly finished, she conveyed the elder Segunda’s unexpected ruthlessness, her not-so-veiled hints about her deadly plans for Jasmín Flores, the illicit kiss between her and José. Alex’s eyes darted between Dani and Carmen and the mouth of the aisle, but once or twice they widened, and Dani knew this was new information.

  “Look,” Dani said when she had reached the end. “I know Jasmín isn’t a priority for La Voz. She spoke to her señora. She put us all at risk. But I still don’t think it’s right to let her die.”

  “What?” Alex asked, clearly confused again. “Salt and sea, of course we’re gonna help her! What kind of monsters do you think we are?”

  Dani raised an eyebrow.

  “Okay, nice job, new kid. You cracked the case. Let the grown-ups handle it from here.”

  “Wait a minute,” Dani said. “We risked everything coming down here. I did everything you asked of me. Now you want me to just run home like some scared little girl? I want to help get Jasmín back! I want to be useful!”

  Alex’s eyes flashed. “You don’t get to make those kinds of choices. You go where we need you. You do what you’re told. That’s it.”

  “Wow, you know, you sound exactly like my husband right now,” Dani said, taking a step toward Alex, surprised at her own boldness.

  “Don’t push your luck,” Alex replied, not backing down. “Not today. I would love to show you just how unprepared you are to tangle with me, but right now you need to get out of here as quickly as possible, okay? You need to trust me.”

  “It’s kind of hard to trust you when you’re not telling me anything,” Dani said, still furious.

  “Look,” Alex said, the anger on her face making way for concern. “I can’t get into it. Just . . . The marketplace might not be a completely safe place today, okay?”

  “What does that mean?” Carmen asked sharply, but Alex ignored her.

  “Walk east out of this section, then north until you get to the restroom meeting place, then west toward the hospital. You can regroup there and head back to the government complex. Do it now, and don’t dawdle, do you understand?”

  “Alex, what is going on in the marketplace today?” Carmen asked, stepping closer, her arms crossed.

  “There’s no time,” she said. And to Dani: “We’ll be in touch.”

  Before either of them could protest, she had disappeared into the shadows.

  “Come on,” Carmen said, tugging at her wrist, heading east with a sense of urgency that made Dani’s heart speed up.

  When they reached the center of the marketplace, the crowd was thicker. No one here seemed aware of any danger, but something prickled at the back of Dani’s neck.

  There was a sudden influx of bodies. She whirled around, narrowly avoiding a cart piled high with melons, a squat, wide-shouldered man calling out prices into the muggy air. By the time she righted herself, she had lost Carmen.

  She searched for a few minutes, growing more helpless as the crowd filled in around her, knowing she couldn’t shout her name without drawing too much attention to herself.

  They had been heading back to the house, Dani reassured herself. If she wasn’t at the bathroom or the hospital, Dani would find her at home, wouldn’t she? This was just a simple case of losing each other in a crowd . . . nothing more. Despite everything they had shared, last night and this morning, Dani couldn’t quite believe herself. Something had changed.

  But what?

  She said you could trust her, she told herself sternly. She wouldn’t lie to you.

  Unfortunately, Dani had bigger problems than Carmen’s trustworthiness. She’d gotten turned around in the aisle looking for her, and with the crowd pressing in, she was no longer sure which direction they’d been heading.

  Dani was jostled by running children, large men with no concept of how much space they should reasonably occupy, and women with trays offering samples of fruit and wine. Her chest began to feel tight.

  East, west, north, she told herself.

  Or was it north, west, east?

  And did it even matter, if she couldn’t remember where she’d started?

  Dani closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to settle her thoughts and come up with a plan. Her maestras had always warned her that lust would distract her, and here was the proof.

  She was breaking thirty laws, at least. She was always moments away from being discovered as an active agent of La Voz. She had recently been informed by a known outer-island rebel that this marketplace was not safe.

  But the only thing concerning Daniela Vargas—wife of Mateo Garcia, star Primera of the Medio School for Girls and beyond—was whether the girl she’d just lost track of was as trustworthy as she’d thought when she’d kissed her for a whole stolen night and half the morning.

  Just when Dani decided to ask for the nearest restroom and hope it was their meeting place, evacuation sirens split the air, further complicating absolutely everything.

  The reaction was immediate. Everyone near Dani either froze, screamed, or ran futilely into a wall of other panicking people. As one of the smallest bodies in the crush, any sense of direction Dani had established was immediately lost. The only option was to find a less crowded aisle and wait out the exodus.

  Pressed in among bolts of fabric and jugs of sangria, Dani clutched herself around the ribs and breathed deeply, trying to shake
off the feeling of being at the mercy of the punishing crowd. The sirens were shrill, overpowering everything. What had Alex meant, exactly, by her parting words?

  The marketplace may not be a completely safe place today. . . .

  When the sirens cut off midscream, the silence was more ominous than the sound. It had only been a few minutes, but the aisles had emptied significantly, and with one more deep breath, Dani left the sanctuary of her abandoned stall and began to cautiously search for the way out.

  There was no hope of returning to Alex’s prescribed route. This deep in the cool labyrinth of rows and stall fronts, Dani couldn’t even see the outside light. She’d just have to pick a direction and keep going, until she could get out of the market and reorient toward the hospital.

  Aside from a few stragglers, the way ahead was clear, and Dani took turn after turn at random until finally, the light of the late-morning sun was visible through a flap in the canvas tent. She hurried toward it with a growing sense of urgency.

  Though the air in the market had been fresh enough, the first thing Dani did when she pushed out into the open was gulp down several large breaths, the sense of confinement gradually loosening its grip on her lungs.

  When she was breathing normally at last, she looked up and took stock of her surroundings. One thing was for sure: she was nowhere near the hospital. Or the La Voz meeting place. Or anywhere she remotely recognized.

  She leaned against a pillar to catch her breath, looking out on a large plaza—the kind where street performances took place. A small knot of people huddled at its center, and beyond was a wall of shifting, nervous spectators. Dani wanted to move closer, but something warned her back.

  The prickling feeling returned, this time over her whole body, goose bumps springing up in its wake. She needed to get out of here. But then people began singing, and she couldn’t turn away.

  Tucked behind the tent flap, invisible to all, Dani watched in a trance as the members of the group on the plaza began to fan out in slow, deliberate steps.

  In head-to-toe, close-fitting black, they contrasted sharply with the crumbling stones of their surroundings and the rainbow of colors worn by their audience. They couldn’t have stated more proudly that they didn’t belong.