Page 39
I had a lot of thoughts in the immediate aftermath. Not while people were screaming and running, because even the magically gifted are afraid when a whole bunch of people drop dead in front of them. But soon after that. When the Japanese contingent decided to retaliate.
After that the room became the site of a terrible free-for-all.
The Polish girl died immediately. She was closest to a cluster of the Japanese who’d been assembling for their turn in the spotlight.
Then a paralyzing spell intended for my sister hit the man behind her, and he toppled over without any means of stopping his fall.
Felicia, quick and light on her feet, dodged through the crowd headed for the cluster.
The Japanese began shouting in rage and alarm.
They spread out so they wouldn’t make as easy a target and they began shooting invisible bolts at her, like little lightning strikes, I guess.
Eli fell during those few seconds. I still had my arms around him, and when he collapsed, I went down with him. That saved my life. But it changed his forever.
I screamed his name, but his face was blank. I could feel his heart beating, but it was slow and sluggish. I never felt so torn in two. I needed to stay with him. He should not be alone if he died. I also needed to find my sister and either kill her or help her get away.
Clayton Dashwood knelt by me. “Did you know about this?” he said, and somehow I heard him clearly.
“Good God, of course not,” I said. “This is so wrong.”
“I believe you, but a lot of people won’t. I advise you very strongly to get the hell out of here.”
I couldn’t seem to think at all. “But Eli is dying,” I said. “I can’t leave him.” I looked down at Eli’s blank face, and he blinked.
“It’s the Japanese paralyzing thing, their favorite spell,” Clayton said. “I believe he’ll come around. More or less.”
“Eli, what should I do?” I tried to pat his face, but my hands were shaking too badly. “I don’t usually have any problem knowing,” I said to Clayton. “Dammit!”
Eli blinked furiously.
“He’s telling you to get out of here,” Clayton said.
Eli blinked again.
“Okay, that’s a yes.” I knew Eli so well, I even knew what his blinks meant. Clayton was right.
“You got some money?” Clayton asked.
“No.”
“Here.” He dug out his wallet and handed me everything in it. “Go get on a train. Go somewhere. Anywhere. Get out of San Diego.”
“That’s like saying I knew what she was going to do before she did it. I did not.”
“I believe you, but no one else will.”
Good point. In the wake of this massacre, everyone would want to hold me responsible. And Eli. But if he was out of it, they would leave him alone.
“You just keep being paralyzed,” I told him. “They won’t blame you if you got hurt.”
He blinked.
“Divorce me, if you live,” I said. “You’ve got to. We were headed that way anyhow.”
He did not blink. But he would see the wisdom of it. This might have queered his chances of ever going back to his former life, but he’d be alive to make a new one.
“Thank you, Clayton,” I said, and took the money. “Can you get more to go home on?”
“I can go by a bank tomorrow,” he said. “And Camilla is going home with her Canadian to meet his family.”
“Thank you,” I said again. “I’ll see you, maybe.” That was just one of those things you say.
“Yes,” Clayton said. “You will.”
“And I’ll pay you back,” I said, because that had sounded very personal, and in front of Eli.
“Of course you will,” Clayton said easily. “What’s Eli’s family’s address?”
I gave it to him and rose, looking around. People were still dying, and my sister was still not to be seen. I couldn’t run in this dress. I had to go back to the Savarov house.
“Come on,” Felicia said, appearing out of nowhere. She was wearing pants and a jacket.
I didn’t know what to say to her.
“That can all wait,” my sister said. “We got to get out of here. Now!”
“Go,” Clayton said.
I looked down. Eli blinked.
“Okay,” I said, and we ran for the exit. We joined the throng of people making for the ferry. For the first time, I realized Felicia was in disguise. The change of clothes included a coat and hat that covered her upswept hair, and she was wearing glasses. Veronika’s reading glasses.
We pushed our way onto the ferry. It was chaos. This was the very thing all those guards were supposed to prevent, and they hadn’t prevented it. I guess they were rushing to the ballroom to make some order there.
We were packed in with frightened people, and I was terrified someone would recognize my sister and throw her overboard. I stood right in front of her, blocking any view of her. When the ferry docked at the parking lot, I began walking as fast as I could.
“Hold up,” Felicia said, the first time she’d spoken since the ballroom. “We have to stop by the car.”
“I don’t have the key,” I said. I felt numb.
“I do.” She held it up. “I picked Eli’s pocket earlier. There’s another key back at the house. They can come get the car later. We’ve got to open the trunk.”
“Why?”
I found out why pretty quickly. She’d packed our bags and put them in there. “When did you do this?” I said, almost unable to get the words out.
“When did I put the bags in the trunk? While you and Eli were waiting for me to come down. Since you’d already packed, it was a cinch.”
“No! When did you plan this massacre?”
“We’ve been working on it since Hans left. Fenolla and Jason were gung-ho, and Agnieszka, too. There were a few more who joined in when they saw what we were doing. Hitler’s going to hit Poland probably tomorrow, and then England will be next.”
There were a few cabs waiting for guests who didn’t have their own car, and after a short wait we were able to get one.
“The train station,” Felicia told the driver.
It wasn’t a long ride. I couldn’t even begin to think of what to say to my sister. I don’t think I was really myself.
I did realize there was no one else at the station in evening clothes, after I caught a few startled glances.
“Go change,” Felicia said, handing me my bag.
I went into the ladies’ room and shut myself in a stall.
My breathing was very uneven, and I couldn’t decide whether to cry or not.
I felt very odd. It wasn’t easy getting out of the beautiful dress in a little space, and even more, trying to put on my jeans, my shirt, and a jacket.
And my boots. What a pleasure to put my feet into something they were used to.
I stuffed the evening clothes in the bag. Better not to leave them here.
Then I sat staring at the stall door.
I’d lost my husband and seen my sister start a war all in the same day.
The bathroom door opened. “Lizbeth! Are you going to spend all night in there? The train is leaving in thirty minutes!” Felicia sounded aggravated. Like everything was as usual. Like an impatient sixteen-year-old.
I’d only understood the first few layers of my sister. Today I’d seen the core.
She’d paid for the tickets herself. Where had she gotten the money? I didn’t even want to ask, at least not now. I was pretty sure I knew. Fucking Isabella.
“Where is this train going?” I asked her, but only after we’d climbed on board and sunk into our seats. There wasn’t anyone sitting right around us.
“To Tulsa,” she said. “There you can catch a train for Dallas, and then to Sweetwater.” That was the closest train station to Segundo Mexia.
“You don’t think they’ll be able to follow us?”
“Who’s going to do that?”
“The HRE police,” I said.
“Why? It was a grigori crime.”
“Okay, then the grigoris.”
“I don’t think so, not after the prophecy they heard.”
I thought Felicia was being pretty naive.
They would have to be seen to be doing something, if they wanted to keep on speaking terms with the Germans until war broke out.
There had also been considerable side damage to other people who’d just been attending the ball because they’d gotten engaged.
And the Japanese! What a retaliation, so quick!
Those people were organized. The Japanese had already tried to kill Felicia at least once.
The target on her back had just grown enormous.
“I won’t change trains at Tulsa,” Felicia said, after we’d been quiet for a while.
For the first time I looked at her directly. “Where will you go?”
“To New York. To wait for Hans to return.”
“How will you live in New York?”
“Isabella gave me money.”
Fucking Isabella . “I should have known.”
“Don’t blame her. She didn’t know about this. Until right before, when I warned her, so she and her new man could get out of there.”
“You told her but not me. And now Eli is paralyzed.”
“Hey, I…”
“Don’t speak.” I closed my eyes and pretended she wasn’t there. That Eli was up and walking. That my sister had plotted all this behind my back because she knew I would try to stop her. You bet your ass I would have tried.
“Not because I wanted to save the Germans,” I said out loud.
“But because you ruined your life.” I kept my eyes closed, struggling with myself, struggling to not lay into her with my fists.
A wonderful life had stretched before Felicia, and all she’d had to do was reach out and take it.
Not now. After everything many people had done to offer her this chance…
Veronika, Ford, Eli, me, Madame Semyonova, Felix…
I had never been so angry in my life. She hadn’t wanted what we’d worked to offer her, but why hadn’t she told us that?
Why? I finally calmed down, at least just enough to fall asleep.
When I opened my eyes an hour later, Felicia was gone.
I could have searched for her on the train, but I didn’t. She’d probably left at an earlier stop and then caught the next train, because I didn’t catch a glimpse of her when I went to the restaurant car or the bathroom, or just walked.
After the multiple shocks wore off, I had an unexpected feeling.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39 (Reading here)
- Page 40
- Page 41