I strained my ears. Nothing. Then I tilted my head to the side.
“Yes,” I said. “What is that?”
Muffled sounds grew louder as we moved further through the darkness. Then Raven came to a stop. A door swung open with a shriek of metal grinding on metal.
I blinked, blinded by the bright light within.
A fire blazed from a hearth at the far side of what looked like the living room of an ordinary house. I squinted into the dim light.
Gathered in small groups were far more people than the space should accommodate. Some were sleeping; others huddled together under tattered blankets. Still others shared drinks or food, many sharing plates, cups, and utensils. A few small children ran around the corner of the room, playing a game known only to themselves.
They were dirty, malnourished, and dressed in rags. They noticed us, and it was only a moment before everyone in the room was staring at us. Their eyes bulged from faces with skin pulled tight over their bones.
I gasped.
A man, his shoulders wrapped in a worn blanket, stepped forward. “Mr. Cappello?” he asked. He smiled, his mouth was half-full of rotten, blackened teeth, the others missing. He limped with a lopsided gait, and I noticed one of his legs was bent at an odd angle.
I swallowed, forcing myself to stand my ground as he came toward us. Raven tightened his grasp on my hand.
“Mr. Burke,” Raven gave him a bow. “Please allow me to introduce an acquaintance of mine, Miss. Rowntree.”
Mr. Burke nodded his head at me, curiosity deepening the lines that creased his forehead. “A pleasure, Miss. Rowntree.”
“Mr. Burke,” I replied, but my voice cracked and wavered. I searched around for something else to say, but Raven saved me.
“How do you all fare, Mr. Burke?” Raven asked.
Mr. Burke bobbed his head, pulling his blanket tighter around his shoulders. “Well enough.” He jerked his head towards the corner. “Got another family in yesterday. Inspector shut the shop. They ran out of money, couldn’t pay the rent. Ended up on the streets.”
I looked over in the direction where Mr. Burke was pointing to see Mr. Thackery, from Thackery’s Fine Antiques, which I’d closed for code violations last week. I remembered how he’d kneeled on the floor of his shop and pleaded with me to spare his livelihood, so he could feed his family.
A sudden weight pressed down on me. I shrank back as though trying to hide from sight, but Mr. Thackery saw me, and recognition flickered over his face. He wrinkled his nose, as though he’d smelled something unpleasant, then turned his back, putting an arm around a thin woman, nursing a young child.
“Do you have spare food and blankets?” Raven asked.
Mr. Burke nodded again. “We’ll manage,” he said. “There’s always something to share.”
I looked around at the malnourished people, and I understood the lie in his words. These people had nothing, yet they shared what little they had to make sure that the others wouldn’t starve.
I noticed a young girl marked down one side of her face with scars, evidence that she’d once suffered the pox—a disease that sometimes ran through the more crowded sections of the city. Sitting next to her, a young boy had a stump in place of a hand. I wondered whether it was punishment for theft.
Everywhere I looked, I saw scars, missing limbs, signs of sickness, or of old age. They were all ragged, dirty, and their shoulders and backs slumped, as though they bore great weights on their shoulders. I couldn’t help but stare. I had never seen so many unbeautiful people. How were they all living beneath Melfall?
Raven touched my elbow. I blinked, noticing that Mr. Burke had wandered away. “Are you ready to leave?”
I nodded; my throat so tight that I could not form words to answer him.
Raven pushed open the manhole, and, once he’d climbed out to street level, he bent down to take my hand and pull me out. I took a deep breath of the clear air, pleased to be free of the dark tunnels, and the strange feeling of being enclosed in a small space, as though there wasn’t enough air to breathe.
I brushed the dirt from my skirts and petticoats, shaking them out as I avoided Raven’s eye.
“Miss. Rowntree?” There was an uncertain quality to Raven’s tone. “Are you all right?”
Clasping my hands in front of me, I said, “The new family down there,”— I struggled to keep my voice steady—“I recognized them. Last week, I closed their shop.”
I pressed my lips together as my throat closed, and tears prickled at my eyes. “It is my fault,” I whispered, then covered my mouth to stop the sobs from escaping.
Raven stepped forward, taking my hands in his. I couldn’t meet his eye until he put a finger underneath my chin and turned my face up to his. “I didn’t know that. I didn’t take you down there to upset you. Only to show you that these people exist, hidden away beneath a city that accepts only the beautiful and perfect. You may not see them on your streets, but they exist.”
I nodded, unable to speak as the weight of regret filled me from the inside. I took a gasping breath.
“I’ll walk you home,” Raven said as he tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow.
I pulled away and turned to face him. “Why did you take me down there if not to show me what I’d done?”
“We cannot change the past,” Raven said. “But, we choose our future.”
Tears prickled my eyes. “Can we? Can they?”
“They choose to make the best of what they have,” Raven replied, then he took a deep breath. “I choose to help them. You can choose to help them, too.”
I stood still. “How?”
“You asked me why I left you that card. Those people are the reason.”
“I don’t understand.”
Raven hesitated, studying my face. “I need someone close to the President.”
“You said I wasn’t to tell anyone. Not even Mother.”
Raven tapped a finger on his leg. “I need to know about the President’s movements.”
My throat went dry. “You want me to betray my mother?”
“I want you to help those people who are powerless because of your mother’s laws,” Raven replied, his voice quiet.
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but no words came out. After a long silence, Raven reached out to take my hand, tucking it into the crook of his elbow, then guided me through the streets.
We walked most of the way in silence. He placed his hand over mine as I rested my hand on his elbow. The light touch of his fingers gave me some measure of comfort, but they also reminded me of my failures. Part of me wanted to cling to him, another part wanted to turn my face away in shame, and yet another wanted to rage at him for putting me in this terrible position.
As the ring of our footsteps echoed on the cobblestones in the night, I thought of the gaunt faces of the unbeautiful people, living underground with no place in their own city, cast out because of things they could not change. I wondered how many people I had rendered homeless because of my callous application of the law.
My eyes trailed the ground as I walked, unaware of my surroundings, absorbed by my own thoughts, so I didn’t even notice where we were. I’d forgotten my fear of Raven the vampire and put my faith in Raven, the man. But was he a friend? Or was he using me to get to Alice?
When Raven coughed, I blinked and looked around, surprised to be standing in front of the Pinnacle. Raven was staring up at it, his mouth set into a line.
“You have some skill at clockwork,” Raven said. “What do you make of the clock?”
I blinked at him, surprised by his question. I’d been so distracted I hadn’t considered that Raven’s might have taken a different path.
“It… is a beautiful example of craftsmanship, from what I can see,” I replied. “Though I haven’t been able to get a closer look. It’s also a puzzle—the way it stopped working, then started again. I don’t know how that has happened. Though I think the Tweedles might have something to do with it
.”
Raven frowned. “Why?”
“They usually have a part in any mischief regarding the late Queen.”
Raven tightened his grip on my hand. “I have little acquaintance with the Tweedle brothers, I’ll admit, but I don’t see how they could have any connection with the strange happenings around this clock.”
“Why do you say that?”
Raven looked up at the clock again. “Do you know much about the history of the Pinnacle?”
I nodded. “I’ve been researching it, and I have found that the late Queen liked to use the Pinnacle clock as a platform for her addresses to her people.”
A smile flitted across Raven’s face before he became serious again. “Yes, she did,” he said. “She commissioned that clock. It was a symbol of her power.”
I frowned. “She can’t have. That clock is old—it must have been around for a hundred years.”
Raven nodded.
I blinked. “You mean, the late Queen’s mother built it?”
Raven shook his head. “The Queen of Hearts commissioned the building of this clock, to celebrate the start of her reign over The Forge.”
“That isn’t possible,” I murmured, noticing a tightness in my chest as I looked at him.
“She was also called the Red Queen.”
“Red is the color of hearts,” I said.
“Red is the color of blood.” Raven raised his eyebrows just a little.
Vampires drink blood, I thought.
Raven said nothing, though I wondered again whether he could read minds since he seemed to know what I’d been thinking.
After a pause, Raven spoke again. “One reason vampires were so despised after the Queen’s reign is that my kind had always allied with her. We sided with her because she allowed us to hunt—it added to the sense of fear among her subjects, a fear that she exploited for her gain. We also supported her because she was one of us.”
I thought about all the photos I’d ever seen of the late Queen. She’d always looked beautiful. And the same, I realized. Beautiful.
Ageless.
“Our President has done a lot for my kind, by setting up the blood banks, by trying to break down the barriers between my kind and yours. My kind hear the clock, and we fear it too.”
“Why does your kind fear the Pinnacle clock? You exist outside of time!”
Raven laughed—a surprised bark that seemed louder in the city's silence. “I’ve never heard it described that way. You’re right, we don’t age, but we experience the passage of time, all the same.”
“You haven’t answered my question,” I pointed out.
I saw the lump in Raven’s throat bob as he swallowed. “That clock was linked to the Queen’s power. It stopped when her reign ended. Now it has begun again… Not just that, my kind hears all the city’s cogs starting to move once more. All the signs point in the same direction.”
“Signs of what?”
“That The Queen of Hearts is returning.”
I was shaking my head. “The late Queen is dead.”
“She is a vampire. A vampire can die, but not easily. Trust me, the Queen was defeated, but she is not dead.”
My mouth fell open as I gawked at Raven. Then I turned my face towards the Pinnacle again, and the relentless ticking filled my mind as I watched it.
“Let me take you home,” Raven said, covering my hand on his elbow. “It has been a long night for you, I think.”
We’d barely stepped off the square and onto Sixth Avenue, and were approaching the President’s Palace when I saw a small painting of the white rabbit on a corner. It was sitting, watching me, as though waiting for me to notice it.
“What about the white rabbit?” I asked.
Raven raised one eyebrow. “You are more astute than I thought,” he said.
He took my hand from his elbow and held it to his lips to kiss me farewell.
“This is where I leave you tonight,” he said, looking at the guards who were opening the small door in the side gate to let me through. He pressed his lips together, as though debating whether to say anything more.
“Aren’t you going to answer my astute question?” I said, gripping his fingers so he could not drop my hand.
“Not tonight,” Raven replied.
“I heard the white rabbit is gathering the late Queen’s supporters. You say she is back. Is he?”
“I can’t tell you about the white rabbit,” Raven said.
“Yet you use his symbol on your card? Why should I believe you?”
“I can’t say any more,” Raven insisted. He held up a hand to put a stop to my protests. “If you come to see me again, I might reconsider.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why can’t you tell me now?”
Raven tapped his fingers on his leg again, staring off into the distance, thinking. I held my breath, wondering if he was about to relent. He met my eye, but the friendly twinkle was absent. “I’ll tell you more about the white rabbit, if you bring me information on our President’s movements.”
I glared at Raven. He stepped back, tipped his hat to me, then disappeared into the night.
3
21st August
Alice glared at the face of the pocket watch that I’d made for her, while she listened to a petitioner in the great hall of the President’s Palace.
“It should never have received a permit,” the petitioner grumbled. “His shop is only three doors from mine. It’s undercutting my business.”
“Rubbish. Our patronage overlaps. You can’t handle a little competition,” a woman stepped up to stand next to him, glaring at the petitioner, before she turned to Alice.
“My President,” she started. “He’s trying to shut me down because I make better cakes. I can’t help it if customers want to eat my cakes and not his.”
Alice rubbed at her forehead as she snapped the lid of the pocket watch shut. “There are rules around this kind of thing,” she said, turning to Jack. “Aren’t there?”
Jack hesitated, looking nervous. Alice’s expression was thunderous.
“I’ll consider your complaint and provide my ruling in due course,” Alice said, her tone sharper than usual. She turned to Jack again. “Make a note of that. Find out what the laws say. Next!”
A small man stepped up, wringing his hands.
“You may speak,” Alice said.
“My President, I know you are very busy. I wouldn’t come to you if I didn’t think—”
“Yes, yes,” Alice said. “Get on with it.”
“Yesterday, I saw a Heart marching in Diamonds Quarter. I was just going about my business—everyone was—when the Heart attacked someone. In broad daylight. I knew him—a young apprentice in the Guild. He fought it off, but…” the small man’s mouth turned down at the corners. He clasped his hands in front of his chest, as though in prayer. “Something must be done. They’ll kill someone if they’re not stopped. My President, where are they coming from?”
Alice shifted in her seat, surprised by the direct question. She tucked her hair behind her ears—the gesture of a small girl—and a mannerism I knew showed her stress. “I’m aware of the Hearts,” she raised her voice to address everyone in the hall. “I am taking every measure to get them under control.”
“Why are they here? Where did they come from? Is the Queen coming back?” The questions spilled out of the petitioner’s mouth, and a ripple of murmurs spread around the hall.
Alice smoothed her hair behind her ears again. She raised her voice over the chatter. “Do not panic. I’m taking every measure to ensure the safety of everyone in this city.”
The chatter only increased in volume. Alice turned to Jack; her lips pressed into a thin line.
I stood near the entrance to the great hall, hoping to get a few minutes of Alice’s time. I’d promised not to tell her about the people living in the tunnels—and I didn’t want to get them into any further trouble—but it troubled me that Raven wanted to know about Alice’s movements. For
what purpose? I was still sure he had links to the white rabbit who was gathering supporters. If that was true, then his interest in Alice was a threat. What else could it be?
As Alice spoke to Jack, she noticed me across the room and beckoned me with a wave of her hand.
“Dismiss everyone,” Alice ordered Jack, who was nodding his head. “Fetch the Head of Security. I want a strategy to deal with these Hearts. They cannot roam the city. Tell him—” Alice looked up as I approached. “Ivy. I hope you’re feeling better?”
“Much better,” I assured her. “Mother, I was wondering whether I might talk to you about something.”
Alice closed her eyes, exhaling. “I am very busy with the menace of these Hearts.” Alice’s voice contained a note of caution. “I will give any proposal you have due attention. Another time.”
“But Mother, I think—”
“I don’t have time right now.” Alice snapped, glaring at me.
Jack shuffled his feet, then moved away to give us some privacy. Alice rubbed her forehead.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sure whatever you wish to bring to my attention is very important. I will consider it. At. Another. Time.”
I bit back my protest, then nodded my acquiescence. I was about to leave when Alice reached out to take my hand.
“Be careful. The Hearts used to be dangerous. Until we bring them under control, I’d prefer it if you didn’t wander the city at night.”
My eyes widened, remembering Raven’s promise to reveal the secret of the white rabbit—if I visited him again. Although I had no intention of giving him any information about Alice.
“But—”
“You’re a grown woman, but you are still my daughter,” Alice said, giving me a stern glare. “Please, be careful.”
I signed again before nodding.
Alice turned back to Jack, leaving me feeling both shackled and empty-handed.
The midday sunlight beat down on the street, and my clothes clung damply against my body even after walking only the short distance to Chesh’s shop.
Ivy: Daughter of Alice Page 12
