Chapter 19

I suppose it was the utter calm with which the Crew responded to the eminent threat of impinging authorities that impressed me the most. After hastily throwing the rest of whatever liquid was in the colorful vials into a nearby potted plant, the siblings and company grumblingly collected their belongings and shuffled towards a curtained window on the far wall. Justice paused as her siblings threw open the window and began clambering one by one out the window.

“Wardensan Byron, Wardensan Forsythe, a pleasure. I hope you will remember this evening as a noteworthy occurrence and hold not our words nor manners against us but our actions for us.” She winked then threw her leg over the sill before vanishing through the curtains, leaving only Trochi to tip his hat to us.

“I hope you ladies will excuse me. I need to see my siblings safely off. A pleasure, Giada. A bientot, ma bete.”

Giada stepped forward and gripped my shoulder unpleasantly tightly.

“She’s not your-“

At that moment there was a large deal of shrieking down below. Everyone else froze, and then a black hat with black plume popped up into the window. The man grinned widely.

“’Ello birdies, up past our bedtime, aren’t we?”

Now the rest of the Crew really did scatter like a flock of birds. There were already Owls at the door and coming in the window, but plenty of the young folk had dashed for the walls, slamming wood trim or wrenching certain light fixtures. Hidden doors and panels suddenly popped open all over the place. Giada grabbed my arm and dove for the nearest opening, barreling over a shorter lad on the way through.

“Stall them, Benni! Don’t worry, I’ll spring you in the morning,” she yelled at her bewildered companion.

“But Miss Giada!” Benni wailed, but was cut off by the panel slamming back in place. The tunnel was almost large enough for me to stand, but Giada and the one other boy who had made it in had to stoop. Breathing heavily, we followed it down until it forked. I had no idea where we were. Between the walls perhaps?

At the intersection the boy darted past us to the right. Giada’s arm shot out and collared him before he could get very far. He let out a wail of dismay.

“Oy, Giada! Lay off will you? If I get nabbed by the Owls, the Uni will suspend my allowance for a month!”

Giada squinted, “Alchy Torty, is that you? From Ward Nine, was it? How did you end up falling in with this lot?”

Torty flailed about, “Gaw, how else do you suppose they get their bevvies up here? It’s a scratch for scratch deal. Now let me go! I’m gonna get skinned!”

Giada yanked him roughly back again, “Not until you tell us where all this goes and how you’re getting out.”

Rolling his eyes Torty, flailed a little longer, but the elk-breaker was more than a match for him.

“Ow! Fine! Amazon! The right heads to the theater just next to the boxes. If we dash along the rows and stay low, we can slip out the side fire scape while the Owls are busy shutting down the bar.”

Giada nodded. “And the other way?”

Torty shook his head, “It just goes deeper in, the kitchens and the private bar. The Owls always make a b-line there. Even if it’s a little more exposed, the theater exit is better.”

“Right, theater it is,” Giada gave my arm a tug. “Let’s go, Loris.”

I walked a few steps then stopped. Giada looked back in exasperation.

“Loris, come on! Speed is key here!”

I grimaced the pointed at my bare feet.

“That just it. Loris…”I felt myself tearing up. I could hear Blanche and Cori in my head, laughing, “Loris isn’t speedy.”

Giada and Torty looked at my feet.

“Frack.”

“Wellp, Halvman’s luck be with you!” Torty said and suddenly sprinted away down the passage.

Giada swiped at him but just cursed and let him go. Quietly the two of us stood there and looked at my feet. They were looking a bit red. Giada suddenly nodded then grabbed my hand and pulled me the other way down the passage.

“Where?” I asked.

Giada didn’t answer.

“Where we go? Where you take Loris?” I demanded.

Giada looked back over her shoulder. “Is that really how you talk? I thought it was just an affectation Pilosa had you pick up. She was always one for theatrics.”

I growled and tried to yank my hand away, but the woman had a grip like Crane. At the next split Giada paused and listened. I could hear shouts and boots pounding around, both above and below us. Giada turned right and motioned me to be quiet. A little further down the tunnel ended in a flat wall. After searching about a bit, Giada found a knot hole and put her finger in it. With a light tug, the wall swung inwards a crack.

Giada squinted out then quietly closed it again.

“All right, Loris, here’s what we’re going to do. This opens into a Butler’s pantry then the prep kitchen. When we go through, I’m going to boost you onto the top of the cabinet. You’ll have to be careful and not knock any of the plates or glasses, but the top has a lip. Lay down in there and as soon as everything quiets down, you should be able to slip down and right out the kitchen door-“

“Wait! You’re leaving Loris?!”

Giada wasn’t my favorite, but she had said she would get me home! What if Pilosa was still looking for me? What if the Owls had gotten her? Would she be in trouble? Giada was shaking her head.

“Look, I’m not abandoning you, but we’ll slow each other down at this rate.”

“You mean Loris will slow you down. Like Benni.”

Giada blinked, “Benni? What? Benni’s my Second. It’s her job to make sure I don’t get into scrapes. Well, technically Second in training, but she’s a sight better one than Encabel who- Why am I telling you this?” She shook her head. “Look, if you can’t run, you hide, okay?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I nodded grudgingly. Yes, I should have known that.

“So you’ll hide on top of the cabinet until it quiets and the staff leave?”

“Why can’t Loris stay in the tunnel?”

“Really, with all those doors flying open in the den, every bird out for themselves? They’ll eventually be down this tunnel too. Best to make them think we cleared out and let them run past.”

I sighed. Giada was making a lot of sense.

“Okay. Loris will stay on top of the cabinet. But then what? Giada was supposed to get Loris home!”

Giada nodded,” Once you do get out, head out to the street and look for the yellow lamps. Those are elk hansoms for hire. Flag one down and give them this.” She pulled a coin out of her pocket. I thought it was a standard stamp, but I could feel a difference in the raised image. “Tell them ‘The True Free Always Wander’ then give them any address in the First Ward except your own house. They’re supposed to keep mum, but you never know who’s on the take. You’d better pull your collar up a bit too, though I suppose your eyes are a bit distinct.”

It was quiet for a moment as we stared at each other. Then a soft noise, like cloth across wood, made both of our heads whip toward the depths of the tunnels.

“Go!” Giada hissed and gave me a shove as she yanked open the panel. I slipped through and immediately looked for the cabinet. It was right in front of me and easy enough to scale the bottom surface. Carefully, I put my foot on the higher shelves, pulling myself up. A sudden boost from below sent me the rest of the way with a small squeak that I immediately suppressed. I scrambled around then peeped over the edge. Giada was looking anxiously up at me. She gave me a thumbs up, which I wryly returned. Then she slipped out the other side of the closet and into what I imagined was the kitchen. A heartbeat later the panel slipped open again. This time an Owl cautiously poked her head out. I pulled back, cramming against the wall and curling into the smallest ball I could.

Below was absolute silence. I thought perhaps the owl had left. Then a gloved hand shot over the lip and grabbed on to the top of the cabinet. The breath stuck in my chest as I watched another hand join it. The knuckles tightened as the Owl started to pull themselves up. Something fell to the floor in a tinkle of glass.

Suddenly, the door banged open.

“Owl! Halt! In the name of…-Cassidy! Seriously? What are you doing up there?”

The hands vanished.

“Oy! Sorry, Lieutenant Roberts, I thought someone was being sneaky. Someone came through here, and I thought I heard a bit of bumping on their way out.”

There was a chuckle.

“They were clever. Sorry Cassidy, she must have rattled stuff to stall you. Some of the boys saw her shoot out the back door. At her clip, no way you would have caught her in a foot race any’ow.”

There was a bit of grumbling as the two Owls abandoned the pantry. For a very, very long time I lay there with my hands over my mouth and heart.

As Giada predicted the noise did eventually quiet down. Just when I thought I was ready to try a descent, the pantry door opened again. I had to stifle a scream. I was beginning to get restless lying up here. Worse than that, I was tired. The adrenaline was wearing off. I did not want to fall asleep on top of a cabinet at the Tilted Windmill. It took me a moment, but I suddenly realized the voice I was hearing below was Uncle Passeri. Gleefully, I sat up and took a breath.

“Do you lot fancy a pint with your platters? Least I can do after all your trouble tonight.”

I ducked. Behind Uncle Passeri was a trio of Owls. A few blithely accepted his offer as he carried the plates back out into the kitchen.

“So Passeri, think you could get your sister to sign a print for me after she finishes chewing you a new one?”

I could hear Passeri chuckle.

“Oh don’t worry about it. Pilosa loves the attention. You know the saying; the only bad attention is none at all. When we re-open in a month, she’ll be all over it. Probably want to do the whole scandal all over again.”

There were clinks of glasses and ‘here here!’ all around.

“All of you laugh,” One of the Owls grumbled. “It’s not you sitting and doing the paperwork for the next four weeks and having your tail chewed by angry Wardensans who want their hidey-hole back.”

The group laughed at him, hooting and making rude comments.

Another chimed in, “For all their, ‘We must make sure to uphold the moral responsibilities our grancestors forsook’ they’re just a bunch of bubs, aren’t they?”

“Watch it Neil, those ‘bubs’ still sign our pensions,” the first Owl growled.

“Yeah! But it’s we who do all their cleaning up!” another complained.

“Ay, but the hand feeds the mouth that nourishes the body,” Passeri consoled. “Pilosa fits right in with them, and quite frankly, her flamboyancy fits just fine with my business plan. Things were getting a bit sluggish around here with the new Juke Joint just open a block away. Next month, they’ll be beatin’ down the doors, hoping to see the Swinging Siren before things shut down again.”

There was another round of toasts.

“What about that brat of hers? You think it’s legit?”

There was a long, uncomfortable stretch of silence. Glasses clinked. Someone cleared their throat. Finally, there was a sigh from Passeri,

“I dunno, Joe. The thing’s half wild and mostly incoherent. She’d fit just perfectly into Warden Forsythe’s machinations.”

A tightness I had not felt since failing the Purgatory entrance exams gripped my guts.

“But then again-have any of you caught the Loris yet?”

There was an embarrassed murmuring of ‘no’ followed by another epidemic of embarrassed coughs.

“So she’s at least got Applewite wiles, if nothing else. And her eyes do look like Pilosa’s when she was a gel.”

I decided not to hate Uncle Passeri.

For being on the job, the Owls spent a good half hour sitting with my uncle. Or whatever he was. Did Pilosa know her own brother had called the Owls on her? I sat there chewing my fist, growing sleepier by the minute. Suddenly, I heard a door shut and realized the crowd had finally, really cleared out. I sat still a few more minutes just to make sure it wasn’t a trick before peering over the edge. Slowly, I let myself down, pleased that, unlike the Owl Cassidy, I could slide past the plates and cups with no noises at all.

I took a moment to stretch. It was alarming just how many of my joints decided to pop. It was a good thing everyone was gone. They’d have thought someone was making popping corn from the strings of cracks and pops I made.

In the kitchen it was dark and silent. Even though all seemed right, I still took my time sliding down the rows and feeling my way around stools and tables. I studied the door for a moment before taking a breath and twisting it open. No one jumped out, so I slipped into the alley way.

Outside it was dark, but not as much as I thought it would be. I thought it was all the lights in Ward 3, but as I found my way to the main avenue and stood shivering in the morning mist, I realized it was because the sky was already starting to lighten with dawn.

“This is ridiculous,” I muttered out loud. I looked left and right down the street. “This is ridiculous!” I repeated louder. And how was I supposed to get home now?

There was a sudden clack of hooves and out of the mist an elk hansom appeared. It was bigger than the trap I had ridden with Pilosa but much smaller than the Forsythe carriage. A gentleman in a top hat with goggles and a strange mask over the bottom of his face pulled up and tipped his hat at me.

“’ello, luv. Where to?”

I paused and looked for the coin Giada had given me.

“Um, the wild free always wander? Could we go to the First Ward, um…-Atrium?”

The driver nodded and hopped down, pulling open the door for me.

“Of course, luv. Anything for Miss Lorus. Hop in!”

Relieved, I nodded wearily and stepped up into the car. It was only as he shut the door after me with a click, that I realized I hadn’t said anything about who I was.

“You know Loris?”

Someone moved in the shadows on the other side of the carriage. A shape leaned forward and smiled.

“Of course, bright eyes.”