The Fire Chronicle (25 page)

“But it doesn’t make sense. You’re human too! You’re no different. Just, you can do magic.”

The boy laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You don’t think that’s enough? They hate us ’cause we can do things they can’t. Makes ’em jealous and afraid.” The boy began flexing one of the chopsticks between his fingers. “There’ve been riots in other cities. Mobs burning down magic quarters, chasing folk out, killing them. That’s the whole point a’ the Separation, a way to protect ourselves. Then, even if we’re still living among ’em,
they won’t know it. I guess it’s the right thing.” The chopstick snapped, and he laid the pieces down.

Neither spoke for a moment, then Kate said:

“Was that you playing the violin this morning?”

The boy looked at her.

“I was in the hall,” she said. “I couldn’t help but hear.”

Rafe nodded. “It was something my mother taught me. From her old village. She always had me play it to her, said it reminded her of home.”

“Oh. Is she—”

“She’s dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

They were both silent again, which seemed fine, as the restaurant was so loud around them.

“Hey, you guys done yet?” Beetles and Jake were behind them.

“Abigail’s outside already,” Jake said. “She says we gotta hurry and get the rest of the stuff. She’s kinda bossy.”

“I’ll be right there,” Kate said.

The boys hurried out through the crowd. Kate looked at Rafe.

“Thank you for lunch.”

Rafe nodded and then, abruptly, as if he’d made up his mind and feared that if he hesitated he might not follow through, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, fat purse.

“Here. Take it.”

Kate glanced at the purse, then at him. The boy wasn’t looking at her.

“What is it?”

“Money. Enough to get you to that place up north. Or wherever.”

“I don’t understand. Miss Burke said it would be a few days.”

“This has got nothing to do with Miss B.”

“I don’t understand—”

“There’s nothing to understand.” The boy was keeping his voice low, but he was getting frustrated and when he looked at her Kate saw something like desperation in his eyes. “I’m telling you to go. I’m asking you.”

“But why’re you doing this now? Now, all of a sudden?”

“I got my reasons. Just take it. All right?”

He grabbed her hand and curled her fingers around the purse. Kate felt utterly confused. On some level, she sensed that the boy was trying to protect her; but she also knew there was much he wasn’t saying.

“And you won’t tell me why?”

“I can’t—”

“Or how you know me? Because I know you do. There’s no point in lying.”

The boy said nothing. Kate pulled her hand away from his. She felt the heaviness of the purse, the shapes of the coins under the old leather. She could go up to Cambridge Falls, find a way back home, be reunited with her brother and sister; but then she would never learn the boy’s secret. And she thought of what Scruggs had said, that the
Atlas
had brought her here for a reason. Was it possible that this boy was the reason? If so, who was he?

She set the purse on the bar.

“Then I’m staying.”

And she walked out.

Abigail and the boys were in high spirits after lunch. They went to the firework maker, picked up Scruggs’s order, and then headed back toward the church, laden with their purchases. Kate glanced behind them several times, but could not see Rafe following. She felt deeply confused.

And then something happened that confused things even more.

They were walking down a narrow cross street, and as they passed a small house, they saw a dwarf couple—it was the first time Kate had ever seen a female dwarf; mostly, she looked just like a male dwarf without the beard—carrying out furniture to load into a donkey cart.

“See that,” Jake said. “They’re getting out before the Separation. Probably going to one a’ them big places upstate. What they calling them? Reserves?”

“Once the Separation happens,” Beetles explained to Kate, “there’re gonna be a few streets downtown that’re only for magic folk. Normal humans won’t even know they’re there. But dwarves and gnomes and stuff, all them that can’t pass for human, or that can’t afford glamours to disguise themselves, lots a’ them are getting outta the city for good.”

Suddenly, something struck the dwarf in the head, exploding all over his face and shoulders. It was a snowball, Kate realized, and then another struck the dwarf’s wife, hitting her square in
the back. A few more snowballs smashed against the cart. Kate saw three surly-looking teenagers across the street, packing snowballs and jeering.

“Go on!”

“Get outta here!”

“We don’t want you!”

They threw another volley of snowballs, striking both dwarves and knocking a small figurine off the pile of goods in the cart. The figurine hit the curb and shattered. Kate started forward, furious, not sure what she was going to do, certain only that she was going to do something, when Abigail grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“Let me go! Don’t you see what they’re doing?”

“Better not make trouble,” Abigail said quietly. “Rafe says we’re supposed to keep clear when things turn bad. They’re okay. See?”

Leaving the pieces of the figurine on the sidewalk, the dwarf and his wife had climbed into their cart and were driving down the street, pursued by the taunts and snowballs of the teenagers.

“Come on,” Abigail said, and pulled Kate away.

Kate was deeply troubled by the incident. So was everything Rafe had told her true? The teenagers seemed to hate the dwarves for no reason but that they were different. She felt sick to her stomach.

“So it’s really always like this?”

Abigail laughed. “That ain’t nothing.”

“It’s worse?”

“Worse? You heard what happened to Rafe’s ma?”

“What’re you talking about? She’s dead.”

“Yeah, and how’d she die? Some human without a drop a’ magic in him killed her.”

“What?” Kate stopped in her tracks.

“No one talks about it, but we all know. Why you think Rafe hates them so much? And he’s gonna be real powerful someday. I heard Scruggs telling Miss B—”

Kate grabbed the girl’s arm and wrenched her around. “What did you hear? Tell me.”

Abigail seemed surprised at Kate’s vehemence. “Nothing, really. Just I’d gone up to the belfry—they didn’t know I was there, see—and I heard ’em talking about Rafe.”

“And what did Scruggs say? Please, Abigail, this is important.”

“Just what I told you, that Rafe is gonna be a real powerful wizard. Why?”

Kate had no answer. All she had was her deep conviction that Rafe was connected to her, and not just to her but to Michael and Emma, to the search for the Books. But how? And was he their friend or enemy? She needed to know.

Just then there was a pounding of feet, and they turned to see Beetles and Jake running toward them, red-faced and grinning.

“We gotta go!” Beetles said.

“Why?” Kate said. “What happened?”

“Remember how we weren’t supposed to do nothing?” Jake said. “Well, we didn’t do that.”

“We threw some snowballs,” Beetles explained. “We didn’t think they’d be magic or nothing, but after we threw ’em, the
snowballs started changing colors on their own and getting all goopy and—”

“There they are!”

The cry had come from down the block, and Kate turned and saw the three thuggish teenagers, led by a tall, angry, pinch-faced youth who looked to be covered in a greenish sludge, sprinting toward them.

“Get the freaks!”

“Run!” Kate cried.

The children needed no encouragement. They bolted down the street, the teenagers hard behind them, howling with fury.

“Can’t you—do something?” Kate panted. “Some—magic?”

“You gotta be calm to do magic,” Beetles said. “It don’t work if you’re scared.” And he added, “Not that I’m scared!”

“Me neither!” Jake said.

Kate’s mind was racing; she knew they couldn’t outrun the teenagers. But then she saw, past the end of the block, an avenue crowded with pedestrians, carriages, carts. On a packed street, there would be places to hide. That would work, she knew, as long as someone led their pursuers away.

“Listen, when we turn the corner, you three are going to hide. I’ll make them follow me.”

“Uh-uh!” Jake said. “Rafe said we’re supposed to watch out for you!”

“Stupid!” Beetles said. “You’re not supposed to tell her that!”

“There’s no time to argue! You look after Abigail. I’ll meet you back at the church!”

“I don’t need anyone lookin’—” Abigail began, but they were already rounding the corner, and Kate spied a set of steps leading to a basement below a grocer’s. She pushed the children toward it.

“There! Go now!”

Jake and Beetles grabbed Abigail and dragged her down the stairs and out of sight. Kate leapt into the midst of traffic. She heard cursing and the neighing of horses, the sound of reins being snapped tight, but she plowed ahead, her feet sliding in the slush, looking neither left nor right, till she reached the far sidewalk. Once there, she turned. The three teenagers had reached the corner and were searching for their quarry.

“Hey! Here I am! Come catch me!” she taunted.

Shouting with rage, they charged after her.

That’s right, Kate thought, come on.

Then she turned and ran for her life.

But she hadn’t gone more than thirty yards when she realized the boys were going to catch her. They were too big, too fast, and too angry. She could hear the pounding of their footsteps growing louder and louder. Then she spotted the ladder of a fire escape hanging down. She thought if she could climb up and pull the ladder after her, she could get away. Kate put on a final burst of speed and, five yards from the ladder, crashed into a man stepping out of a shop.

It was like colliding with a brick wall. Her head snapped back, and her entire body seemed to rebound and slam against the sidewalk. She was dizzy and her vision blurred. Her hat had
fallen off, and she had to push back her hair to make out the man standing above her, a mountain of a man in a long fur jacket and fur hat. He hadn’t moved.

“You all right there, lass? You should be looking where you’re going. Running pell-mell like that through the streets.”

She heard the boys skidding to a halt behind her. She looked back, still too unsteady to get to her feet, and saw the tall, pinch-faced boy, backed on either side by his thuggish friends, pointing his finger at the man in the fur coat.

“Get away from her! She’s ours!”

Kate knew she had to run, but she also knew if she stood now, she’d just fall over.

“And what would you be wanting with a sweet, innocent girl like this?” the man asked. “Sure, she’s done nothing wrong. Face of an angel, she has.”

“She’s a freak! She—”

And Kate, who was still looking at the boys, watched as their expressions changed. Something they’d seen had given them pause.

“What’s that you’re saying about freaks?” the man asked.

The tall boy looked angrier than ever.

“You’ll get yours too one day! All a’ you!”

“Begone,” the man said, “before I find myself losing patience.”

The tall boy spat on the ground, then they all three sulked off. Feeling steadier, Kate slowly stood and turned to thank the man. She froze. He was flanked on either side by bowler-hatted Imps, their small eyes fixed upon her.

“It’s her,” one of the creatures said. “I remember.”

“Sure, isn’t it herself,” the man purred. “Can’t I see it written on her face?” He placed a large hand on Kate’s arm. “Would you mind coming with us for a wee bit? There’s someone who would very much like to speak with you. Oh, but where’re me manners?” He removed his fur hat, revealing the great bald stone of his head. “The name is Rourke.”

Twice, Gabriel lifted Michael to his feet, and twice, the boy’s knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground.

“If you fall again,” Gabriel said, pulling him up once more, “I will have to leave you here.”

“That—thing took Emma!”

“I know.”

“But it took her!”

“Yes, and I cannot both pursue it and carry you; so either stand or you will be left behind.”

They were in the clearing. Emma and the creature had disappeared moments before. In the starlight, Michael could see the thick vein of Gabriel’s scar pulsing on the side of his jaw. Michael knew that Gabriel was restraining himself from going after Emma alone. He knew he needed to pull himself together.

Gabriel released his shoulders, and Michael swayed, but kept his balance.

“That thing,” Michael said. “Did you see—”

“Yes.”

“And was it a—I mean, was it actually—”

“Yes.”

It seemed that neither man nor boy wanted to name the creature aloud; but for Michael, it was enough that Gabriel had seen what he had—the great, leathery, bat-like wings, the long serpent’s body, the jagged line of spines ridged along the creature’s back, the enormous talons that had snatched Emma off the ground.…

He hadn’t imagined it; his sister had been taken by a dragon.

“But”—and, for a second, he felt so weak and lost that he was sure he would topple over and be left there by Gabriel—“what’re we gonna do?”