by Gilbert Ford
“I’m sorry to trouble you,” said the voice at the door.
“Go on,” said Madame Destine.
“I’m looking for a girl. She may have lived here. I’m hoping that I can find—”
“Step right in, my dear, step right into this parlor, and I’ll produce the girl you speak of!” Madame Destine said with a bow. “For twenty dollars, I can supply all the answers!”
The lady hesitated before she walked in, her tiny figure and mass of curly hair backlit by the glow from outside. “I’m not sure I know what you mean,” she told Madame Destine. The figure looked familiar to Maria, but she couldn’t make out the details with her in silhouette.
“Come!” Madame Destine motioned for the lady to enter the parlor. “Have a seat! I, the great Madame Destine, will settle this matter for you!”
The tiny woman stepped into the parlor. Madame Destine pressed her hands on the woman’s shoulders and drove her into the foldout chair. Once she was seated, the light from the window fell across the lady’s face.
Maria gasped. It was Ms. Madigan!
But what was she doing in her house speaking to her mother? Surely she wasn’t there to have a permission slip signed. Maria tried to swallow, but she couldn’t. Then she broke into a sweat. There was nothing she could say or do behind the wall but watch with her eye glued to the hole.
“Now I need to visualize this lost girl,” said Madame Destine.
“LOST GIRL! LOST GIRL!” echoed Houdini.
Madame Destine hit the cage hard. “Knock it off!” Feathers flew about the room, and Houdini went back to pecking at his seeds.
Maria’s mother fanned herself to keep her composure. Then, in a gentler voice, she asked, “What’s her age?”
“Shouldn’t you know?” replied Ms. Madigan in a sharp tone. “I suspect she’s ten or eleven. Brown eyes, curly hair. Skinny as a rail. Sweet as can be. You should know the age of your own—”
“SHHH! Don’t tell me!” Madame Destine said. “I’m starting to visualize her!” Madame Destine’s eyes opened wide, her irises becoming islands surrounded by white. “I need absolute silence!”
Ms. Madigan cleared her throat and began to tap impatiently.
Maria took a deep breath. She glanced around her room. Should she stay and continue this charade, or should she warn her mom? It was clear that she was the girl Ms. Madigan was looking for. Why her mother was unaware of this was beyond her. But then her mom had posted those flyers everywhere a couple of weeks ago.
Maria closed her eyes and waited for the familiar tingle against the back of her neck.
Nothing.
Maria sighed. Then she pressed her eye back against the hole and listened.
“Spirits of the next world. Tell me, oh, tell me where this girl may be!” Madame Destine said. “A young woman wishes to be reconnected with her!” Madame Destine shook and rattled her bracelets as she pretended to be possessed by a spirit.
This was not good. Not good at all, Maria thought.
“Honestly, Ms. Destine, I just need to know if she’s here or if she’s safe—”
Madame Destine grabbed Ms. Madigan’s arm and pulled. “SHHHHHH!” she said. “She’s here!”
Maria didn’t know if she should turn on the fan. The loud clang of pipes beat through the apartment, and Mr. Fox’s moans rang painfully in her ears. What was the point of continuing with this act? Ms. Madigan was not a gullible widow. She already suspected her mother of being involved with a fake nonprofit.
Ms. Madigan tapped her fingers on the table. “If she’s here, I need to speak with her.”
Houdini beat his wings in the cage.
Slowly, Madame Destine brought her head up from the table; her eyes rolled back in her head.
In a high-pitched voice, she said, “I’m here! It’s so cooooold where I am now!”
Ms. Madigan lifted an eyebrow. “If this is some sick game, Ms. Destine, I’ll have you know—”
“It’s no game, Mommy. I’m here!”
Maria gritted her teeth. There was no way they would be staying in her apartment tonight. Within the hour, Ms. Madigan would send her family packing. Goodbye, Mrs. Fisher! Goodbye, Sebastian!
In a low and controlled voice, Ms. Madigan said, “I thought I’d seen it all until now!” She hopped off her chair and fumed. “I’m looking for your daughter, Ms. Destine! Is Maria here?”
Madame Destine’s mouth fell open, and her eyes focused back on Ms. Madigan. “What?” she said.
“I’m here to find Maria Russo. I assume that you ARE her mother.”
Madame Destine said nothing. She shook in silence.
“I’ve been calling your number, which was supposed to be a nonprofit, but after some research, I realized that, like this psychic act you’re pulling, it’s all a scam!”
Madame Destine looked worse than a teakettle about to steam. Her face was red and flustered. Sweat ran down her forehead; the black curls fell from her turban. Finally, she exploded, “Get out! Get out of my home!” She pushed Ms. Madigan so hard her back hit the wall.
The librarian stumbled. Then she straightened her posture and took deliberate steps to the door. In a shaky voice, she said, “I’ll return for your daughter, Destine. But I’ll be bringing Child Protection with me!”
Maria glanced at her mattress. The lump in her bed told her Sebastian was only a short distance away. She needed help, and she needed it now. Quickly, she dug under the bed for the walkie-talkie and turned up the volume. “Sebastian!” she called. “Are you there?”
“Get out of my hoooooooome!” Maria’s mother screamed through the wall. There was a loud crash. Then the pipes clanged and echoed loudly through the apartment as soft moans from Mr. Fox wailed from the kitchen.
“SEBASTIAN! ARE YOU THERE?” screamed Maria into the walkie-talkie.
Madame Destine’s steps beat across the floorboards.
“Never in all my life have I seen such deception!” said Ms. Madigan.
“GET OUT OF MY HOME!” barked Madame Destine.
“Sebastian!” screamed Maria. “Answer me, please! I’m sorry!”
The clangs of the pipes died down, and the moans became soft whispers.
The front door slammed shut.
“OUT OF MY HOME!” echoed Houdini from his cage. “OUT OF MY HOME!”
Maria dropped her walkie-talkie on her bed and threw on her hoodie.
She burst through the door of her mother’s closet and jumped onto the queen-size bed. The bedsprings grumbled as she crawled across it before she pulled the curtains away from the window. Then she used all her strength to pry open her mother’s bedroom window.
“MAAAARIA!” shrieked her mother from the other room.
“MAAAARIA! MAAAARIA!” echoed Houdini.
Maria pulled half of herself out the window, the wind stinging her face and sending a chill through her. But her feet kicked back and forth inside the warm bedroom.
“Maria!!!!”
Maria pulled the rest of herself through the window. Then she jumped and caught hold of the bottom of the ladder of the rusty fire escape and pulled herself up.
“Maaaaaaaaria!” boomed her mother, her footsteps growing louder like an approaching thunderstorm.
Maria grabbed hold of the ladder and tried not to look down.
The fire escape swung a little in the wind, so she placed one foot ahead of the other and willed herself up the rungs.
The cool wind howled, drowning out her mother’s screams inside. The fire escape clanged and moaned with her every step.
“Maria! Where are you?” screamed her mother from inside. “You double-crosser!”
“MARIA! MARIA!” echoed the parrot.
The noises grew faint as Maria reached the third story of the brownstone and beat on Sebastian’s window.
“Sebastian!” she said. “I’m sorry about everything! I’ll explain. Just let me in!”
The wind sent a shiver down Maria’s spine. She stared at her blurry reflection in
Sebastian’s window. He was gone. Maria felt like she was trapped in a box of nails. However she looked at her situation, she was pricked with knowing she was helpless.
But then she saw him, and the pain stopped.
Sebastian held his walkie-talkie and spoke into it.
Maria rapped on the window. “Sebastian! Sebastian!”
He dropped the toy on the floor and rushed to the window. Then he unlocked the latch and pulled up the pane.
Maria scrambled to fit herself through the window. Arms in front, she pulled herself halfway through. Then she reached out for support.
Sebastian grabbed Maria’s hands and pulled her the rest of the way in.
Maria shot through the window and tumbled to the floor.
“Sebastian!” she cried, trying to catch her breath. “I need your help!”
22
To Stay or Go
Maria told Sebastian everything.
She told him about her mother’s scams, her tiny bedroom in her mother’s closet, the phone calls her mother received from Ms. Madigan, and finally, what had just gone down.
Sebastian sat at the edge of his bed. He nodded every once in a while as Maria spoke, but said nothing. His fingers grabbed at the edge of his mattress, his knuckles turning a shade lighter.
When Maria had finished, Sebastian blinked only a few times, as if he was trying to process everything she’d told him.
Maria fell next to Sebastian on his bed. She felt relieved to have everything out in the open.
Sebastian reached for Maria’s hand and took it in his. After some silence, he said, “We should tell somebody.”
“Who?” Maria asked. “And what will happen to me if we do? Who’ll take care of me?” Maria pulled her hand away from Sebastian’s and studied his bedspread, rubbing her fingers over the soft fabric. She thought about the ugly gray one in her mother’s closet and couldn’t believe she’d been cooped up there her whole life. But she wasn’t vindictive. “I don’t want to send my mom to prison.”
There had been times when her mother had been kind—before Maria’s grandmother died and Mr. Fox started coming around. Madame Destine had been patient with Maria when she homeschooled her, teaching her to read. Maria knew there were perfectly ordinary parents who never read to their children. Her mother was not one of those parents. She’d told Maria she was smart and encouraged her to use her brain. There had been other times her mother had made Maria feel like she was important. Like when Maria designed the business card for the bait. Or when she had discovered that the fan could blow through the vent and make the wind chimes sing their sad spirit song. She couldn’t turn her mother in.
“But, Maria! She’s a criminal!”
“She’s my mom!” Maria stood and shivered. The whole thing made her nervous. She tiptoed to the window and peeked over the ledge. The courtyard and roof of the shack where Mr. Fox worked were visible. “I don’t want to double-cross her, but I don’t want to leave town with her either.”
“You should stay here with me,” Sebastian said.
Maria shook her head. “I’m sure your parents don’t want to adopt me. That’s just too much to ask.” And it really was. She liked Sebastian’s family; they were nice. But could she ever make straight A’s and win blue ribbons like he did? She wasn’t sure if she could see herself as part of his family.
“Then you should call the police and tell them where you are,” Sebastian said with authority.
Maria nodded. She figured an adult should know her whereabouts, and instantly she thought of Mrs. Fisher. She knew at that moment, Ms. Madigan was calling the police.
Then she scrunched her brow. Would she have to testify against her mom in court? She couldn’t bear the thought. “I just wish Edward was here,” Maria said. “He would tell me what to do. Even if it’s always in riddles.”
“Well, I think you should stay here,” said Sebastian. “At least until my parents get home. If your mother comes knocking on my door, we won’t answer until Mom or Dad gets here. They’ll know what to do.”
Maria glanced out the window.
Mr. Fox walked back and forth in the courtyard with boxes. “It looks like they’re loading the van,” Maria said. “Maybe they’ll just go without me. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did.” Maria pressed her nose against the window.
Sebastian hopped off his bed, accidentally kicking his walkie-talkie on the floor. “Well, I guess we won’t be needing this anymore!” He bent down and scooped up the plastic toy and placed it on the bed.
Maria laughed. “Whoever thought a toy could come in so handy?” Then she pointed out the window. “Sebastian! Look!”
A familiar magenta turban hovered above a leopard-print coat and set off alarms in Maria’s head. Standing below Sebastian’s window, barking orders at Mr. Fox, was Madame Destine.
Maria backed away from the window and shuddered. “I can’t look. What are they doing?”
Sebastian’s glasses clinked the window. “It looks like all of the boxes are out of the apartment.” He turned his hat around so that the bill was behind him, bringing him closer to the glass. “Mr. Fox is lounging on the boxes, and your mother is pointing to them.
Maria shut her eyes. “What else? Are they looking for me?”
Sebastian shook his head. “It doesn’t look like it. Mr. Fox just kicked open the gate and now he’s loading boxes into a van.”
Maria swallowed. “And my mom?” she managed.
Sebastian furrowed his brow. “It looks like she’s gone back inside for something.”
Maria exhaled and approached the window again. “She probably went back for Houdini.”
Sebastian took his nose off the window, leaving a smudge on the glass.
“I’m gonna call my dad and tell him to come home early.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and pressed some numbers. After a few moments, Sebastian spoke into the phone. “Dad! Maria’s in trouble. Please call me back when you get this!” Sebastian hung up and put the phone on his bed next to the walkie-talkie.
Maria glanced about Sebastian’s room, taking in his dresser that was probably full of nice new clothes. She examined her patched-up jeans and her dirty T-shirt.
“Hey!” Sebastian said, his face back in position against the window. “I think they’re leaving you!”
Maria peered outside the window and saw the gate slam behind Mr. Fox. She heard the heavy coughing of the van and then heard the engine rev. The wheels screeched, and the van peeled away from the curb.
They stood in front of the window for a long time.
Finally, Maria said, “Well, that settles it.” She let out a long sigh. She imagined what would happen when Sebastian’s parents came home for dinner. They would probably feed her and then call the police. Then she would have to make a report. She would be an orphan. And orphans had to be relocated to a foster family. Maria didn’t like the idea of any of it.
But she would need to get her things.
Surely her mother had left something of hers behind. After all, if Madame Destine had planned on skipping town without her, then she would have likely left her daughter’s things behind. Like her library book.
Finally, Maria pulled herself from her thoughts and nudged Sebastian. “I need to get my stuff.”
“You’re going back down?”
“I might as well. I’ll be right back up!”
“What if they return?”
“Why would they? What’s left that they could possibly want?”
Sebastian picked up his phone. “Why don’t you wait for my parents to get home?”
Maria thought about it for a second but didn’t change her mind. “I won’t be long.”
“Okay. I’ll be right here,” Sebastian said. “If something happens, I’ll call the police.”
Maria nodded. She opened Sebastian’s window and began to pull herself back through. Then she glanced behind her and gave a reassuring smile to her friend. She was glad she’d told Sebastian everything.
23
Danger! Danger!
Maria climbed through the open window in her mother’s bedroom. She pulled herself across the queen-size bed, her face smashed against the mattress, until she was all the way through. Then she hopped off the bed and landed on the floor with a thud.
She scanned the room.
The bed was there, and so was the vanity dresser. But the boxes were gone.
She tiptoed into the kitchen, stepping on a Twinkie wrapper in the doorway.
The cabinets were all open.
She tiptoed back down the hallway and into the parlor. There was a light rectangle imprint on the floor where the rug once rested.
No cage. No foldout chairs.
Her feet echoed as she meandered down the long hallway from her mother’s bedroom. As she walked, the temperature dropped.
“Edward?” whispered Maria. “Are you here?”
An icy chill whipped across her face. “What do you want?” she cried.
Maria rushed into the kitchen and scanned the table for the stack of paper. But there was none. She would have to get an explanation from Edward later.
The silence rang in her ears. She felt like she was inside a tomb, the remnants of what had once been her home. She rushed back into her mother’s bedroom. Maria pulled on the handle of the closet as an icy chill stung her grip. “Ouch!” she cried. She grabbed the handle and yanked with all her might. The door flung wide open.
Strange.
Her mother’s coats that had been packed away were hung back in their places. They were dark and heavy, dangling like bodies on a meat rack.
Maria’s mattress was still there. All her things were exactly how she’d left them. She eyed the walkie-talkie on the bed and reached beside her mattress, gathering her few possessions: two white T-shirts, a faded pair of jeans, some gray underwear, and her library book.
The air chilled Maria to the bone. “Edward! Stop this,” she pleaded.
She eyed a pen by the mattress.
Maybe it would be a good idea to find out what he wanted. “Okay,” she said. “Tell me what I need to know!”
