Bella and I exchange a quick glance. This is a first, but it’s nice to know someone actually likes Mally.
“I’ll go and see that he’s ready,” Magda says. “Back in a moment.” The sound of old-time music and a woman’s singing wafts onto the landing.
“While she’s gone we should go over the rules.” Anton nods. “He has two. No recording him or taking any pictures of him, and no weapons in the house.”
Bella hesitates. “That’s not usually a thing we do. Our weapons are required to stay in our possession.”
I don’t mention I have only pepper spray, so it’s not much of a loss for me. Anyway, when I remember Jack Saint in the station, it’s of a soothing, sad presence, nothing threatening.
“I’m telling you, if you want to see him you’ll put your weapons in this box along with the phones, and I will have them here when you get back.”
I pull out my pepper spray and lay it on the table.
Bella gives me a look.
“We’re breaking protocol for a good reason.”
Bella lays her gun next to my things. “I hope you’re right.”
“The master will see you now,” Magda says.
“G’luck.” Anton takes a seat.
“And you,” Magda says. “No sleeping.”
“Yes, ma’am. Your wish is my command.”
We pass through the threshold and Magda removes our coats and ushers us into a dim room covered mostly in velvet. Jack Saint is in a big brown leather easy chair, staring through his windows out above the Scar. The buildings are tall, though none taller than this one, so it’s possible to see all the way to Miracle. It is an inarguably beautiful view. I might be hypnotized by it if not for the fact that Jack Saint is surrounded by birds. Ravens to be exact. They are huge, glossy, and black. Three of them sit in the windowsill cawing. They flap away, then come back. There must be a dozen of them, and the abandoned street below is so silent, all that’s to be heard other than the music is the flapping of wings and incessant nattering.
Jack bobs his head in time to the music. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he says to the room, maybe to us, though he still hasn’t looked our way, and it’s hard to know if he’s talking about the birds or the street or his apartment or the song. Hellion is on a perch next to him. I recognize him set apart from the others because he’s bigger and has what looks like a ruff around his neck. Hellion spots us and caws aggressively.
“No, no, pet,” Jack says. “They’re not a threat.” He finally turns his gaze on us and I nearly gasp. The toll the last twenty hours has taken on Jack Saint is shocking. He’s still wearing the same clothes he had on at the station and has a profound stubble on his cheeks. His eyes, which last night seemed so kind and alive, have dulled and are bloodshot.
“Children?” He smiles ruefully. “My darling Chief Ito sent children to find my Mally?”
“With all due respect, we’re not children,” Bella says. “We’re on this case because we’re Legacy.” She shows Jack Saint her mark. “Only Legacy can find Legacy in the Scar.”
“My apologies,” he says. “Grief has made me rude.”
“I know Mally,” I say, “or at least I’ve known who she is for a long time.” I step closer to him. “She seems like someone who makes her own rules.”
He nods. “Yes. That’s how she is. She’s so misunderstood. People fear her power. It’s what has made this so difficult. She has been known to make people angry at times, and without her mother’s guidance there are things I haven’t been able to give her, things she needs. Fairies may not walk among us anymore, but she has fairy queen blood in her veins and that does something to a person.”
Like gives her extra hostility and lack of reason and selfishness and meanness?
“I encourage her to soar,” he says, “but just like the birds, she knows where home is.”
Bella steps forward. “Sir, I’m so sorry to have to ask you some questions about Mally when you’re clearly so distressed, but we’d like to get back to the business of finding your daughter.”
He waves two ravens off a chair covered in gold brocade. “Please sit down.”
Bella is almost comically dwarfed by the chair, and pulls her notepad from her satchel, adjusting her glasses and turning to the page she’s looking for. Finally, she finds it and looks up. “I’ve done a comprehensive analysis based on Mally’s last six months of bank statements. You’re more than welcome to look at it.”
Jack Saint shakes his head. “Not necessary. I’m aware of my daughter’s finances.”
“Well, sir, she may be a free spirit, but she seems to follow the same pattern nearly every day, at least according to her bank card.”
“Yes, I believe that’s so.”
Bella reads from a list. “She’s at the Tea Party for coffee every morning. Then to the bookstore.”
“Yes,” he says. “She favors philosophy. The Materialists.”
“Then school, no lunch I could find, then Wonderland. I found table charges almost every day. She would leave there about midnight and then start all over the next day. Weekends I see she liked to shop on the strip. That’s it.” Bella looks up as though she’s asked a question and is waiting for an answer.
Jack Saint strokes the feathers on one of his birds. “I wish I had been more of a disciplinarian. But you understand, she was always so upset. I got her every kind of help I could think of.”
Something James said to me when we were in the Ever Garden is coming back to me now. I didn’t even have the chance to open her file or I would have seen it. “Her mother died in the Fall?”
“She did, and sometimes I’m glad of it. My wife would not have done well in a world without magic.” He looks at us. “I’ve done everything I can. After Mally’s mother went down in the Fall, I swore I would keep Mally safe. She’s all I have left. I made sure Mally’s teeth were brushed and her clothes were clean. I made sure she ate all her greens. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t make her forget her mother. She appreciated me but I wasn’t enough. What she really wanted was something I couldn’t give her, some peace, some sense that things were going to be okay. I could never promise her that because that’s not the world we live in, and I didn’t want to lie to her about the things I could and couldn’t control. But Mally always called. She always sent texts. She wandered, but never far, and she always had Hellion at her side and never missed a check-in time. Because of her trauma, she stayed close to home and followed a routine.”
Mally. Trauma. I’ve always thought of her as being soulless, impervious to the things that make life hard…like feelings. But maybe Mally is just a hurt person like the rest of us.
“Come,” Jack says, when Bella is done taking notes and has returned the notebook to her satchel. “I’ll show you her room.”
There is only one picture, and it’s of Mally standing between her parents, both long and tall and thin, draped in black. Her mother has high cheekbones and a cruel mouth with a surprisingly delicate nose. Arrogance is written on every feature. I put the picture down and look around. The carpet is a warm beige, the walls a complementary cream color. She has a vanity with a marble top, covered in jewelry boxes and perfumes in crystal bottles, and there’s a tall wooden perch next to her bed. The only other thing of note in the room is a large mural of black birds painted onto the wall behind her bed.
“May I?” I ask.
Bella is already in the closet.
Jack nods.
I open the vanity drawer to find makeup perfectly organized, and clean brushes in a satin cloth. Everything in here speaks of affluence and comfort and care.
Bella holds up a silver laptop. “Mind if we take a look at what’s on here? There could be something. Maybe she had acquaintances you didn’t know about?”
“Please,” Jack says. “I don’t know the password.”
“That’s all right,” Bella says. “I’m good with that sort of thing.”
“Have you cleaned in here since she disappeared?” I ask. �
��Touched anything?”
“Hellion comes in here and perches on the windowsill, so sometimes I leave the windows open, but other than that, Magda has only been in to vacuum and dust as she usually does.”
“Everything is where it should be? You haven’t noticed anything missing, have you?”
“I have not,” Jack says.
It’s true, all this room tells us is that Jack employs an excellent housekeeper. Maybe there’s something on the computer, but overall, this has been fruitless.
Magda comes in, hovering at the doorway. “Excuse me, Mr. Saint, but your caviar has arrived.”
“Thank you, Magda,” he says. “Tell Anton to come in and get off that damn landing. Would you make us some soup and sandwiches?”
“Yes, sir,” she says, disappearing at once.
“We’ll get out of your way,” I say.
“Unless you have anything else you’d like to share with us,” Bella says. “Anything at all you think might be important.”
Jack hesitates. Bella sees it, too.
“Mr. Saint?” I say.
Hellion tuts in his ear.
“They say people should always follow the money in a crime,” Jack says. “Who has it. Who wants it. You know this.”
I nod.
“There has been a crime here, and I’ve found that everything we do comes down to some type of greed, because with money comes power, and for some people that’s all that matters. If you follow the money, maybe you will find Mally. That’s what I’m trying to do on my end. But you keep those weapons of yours close, because if you start playing with people’s money, you’ll be gambling with your safety.”
“We’ll be fine, sir,” Bella says, checking her phone. “We’ve got to get down to the station.”
Before I can really think about it, I quickly grab a silver bracelet from the vanity and slip it into my pocket. Something about it draws me in, like it’s a real piece of Mally Saint, delicate, with a small knife dangling from its links.
My phone rings as we’re headed back down the stairs. It’s a number I don’t recognize but I answer anyway.
“Yes?”
“Mary Elizabeth,” a small voice says. “It’s Morgana.” Ursula’s little sister.
“Morgie?”
“Yeah.”
“What is it? Is everything okay?”
“No,” she says. “Do you know where Ursula is? Ma had a doctor’s appointment and Ursula didn’t come home to take her. She never misses those. And then I tried to call her and her phone went straight to voice mail. That never ever happens. Mary, I think something’s wrong.”
Even though I just saw Ursula sleeping on my couch and there could be several reasonable explanations for her not checking in with her family, my heart falls into my shoe.
“Bella,” I say, “I have to go. Right now.”
ONCE I SOOTHE MORGIE ENOUGH TO GET HER OFF the phone, I call Urs and her phone goes straight to voice mail. I’m not too worried yet. Then I call Gia. She tells me Ursula left hours ago, so I call James but he hasn’t seen her, either. He tries to tell me I shouldn’t worry, that Ursula can take care of herself, but the truth is Ursula is only ever at four places: my house, her house, school, or Wonderland, and she’s usually with one of us.
We check Wonderland, but we don’t see her there, so we leave. I’m so exhausted I fall asleep as soon as I get home.
When I wake up in the morning I try Ursula again, but there’s still no answer. I’m definitely not going to school today. I do my best to keep my composure so Gia doesn’t get worried, but it’s not working. After talking to Morgana again and finding out Ursula didn’t come home the night before, my vision fish-eyes and then implodes, and I’m caught between panic and fury as I go over every stupid mistake I made. I shouldn’t have let her ditch school, or left her at my house, or gone so many hours without checking in with her. I call Dally Star to see if she ever showed up at Wonderland between the time I went in there and the time I went to sleep.
“Ursula?” he says. “Yeah, she was in here last night.”
“Was she with anyone?”
“Well, I don’t know, sweetheart, the place was packed. But I know I served her a Caterpillar, and then I don’t remember seeing her after that.”
“Okay, Dally, if you see her, tell her to charge her phone. And I’ll need the footage from last night.”
“Sure, sure. More footage. Happy to help.”
The line goes dead and I try Ursula again.
You’ve reached Ursula. If you don’t have anything interesting to say, please don’t say anything at all. If you do, fascinate me after the tone.
“I know you’re upset,” Bella says, as the train ambles slowly uptown. We’ve both put our coats on (the weather is supposed to be bad uptown today. “But don’t you think it’s a little premature to assume Mally and Ursula are connected and to assume Ursula’s actually missing? I mean kidnapped missing?”
“No, no, I don’t,” I say, folding my hands across my lap to keep from strangling Bella. Her talking is interrupting my thinking. There’s something I’m missing here, something I’m not quite getting to. “Contrary to popular belief, Scar kids don’t just up and leave the safety of their homes without any explanation.”
“Okay, so what you’re saying is Ursula is like Mally? No friends, does the same thing every day? Can reliably be found at any time?”
“No! She has tons of friends. She’s loud and constantly pissing people off, too, okay? But she has dirt on every single one of those people, so they’d have to think long and hard before doing something to her.”
“So they both have enemies? That’s what connects them?”
“Uh…no! What connects them is that they both go to Monarch High, they’re both seventeen, neither of them listens to anyone else, and most important, they’re both Legacy.”
It’s not until I say this that I know it’s true. The fact that they’re Legacy is important. The train rumbles on, picking up speed, and Bella and I pause our conversation, mostly due to the man sitting across from us and his interested stare. It’s hard to remember to be careful when it comes to magic. He gets off at the stop before us, giving us each a stony look.
“What does it mean to be Legacy?” Bella says, after a minute.
“What? Why would you ask me a question like that? I don’t know!”
“I’m asking honestly. Magic has been dead for nearly thirteen years. So what does it even mean now? Not all of us are descendants of important people. For some Legacy it just meant being able to shapeshift or teleport.”
“Legacy were a force for good. Most of the magic in the Scar was all about making dreams and wishes come true, about making things better for other people. Legacy made people feel good, gave people something to look forward to, kind of a net underneath them if things went really wrong. There’s no safety net anymore.” I let this settle in. “Legacy were the ones who were allowed to use magic and pass it out, to help people who couldn’t help themselves and had no access to it. It’s asking a lot for people to be okay with it being gone forever. No more wands or wings or magic lamps. We have to be okay with some anomalous weather patterns and a lake that can kill you if you dip one toe? I don’t know, Bella. I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen.”
“Maybe we didn’t deserve that gift or that responsibility. Maybe there’s a reason it got taken away.” She lowers her voice. “Maybe people in the Scar shouldn’t be trying so hard to get it back.”
“What does any of this have to do with Ursula and Mally?”
“Maybe nothing. It’s just what Jack Saint was saying about following the money and the greed. I mean, I hope you’re wrong about everything and that Ursula bounds into her house and she’s perfectly all right and it turns out she just spent the night at a friend’s.”
“She didn’t.” I say this with total certainty. “I know all her real friends. There’s just me and James and Smee, and of the three of us I’m the only person she ever
stays the night with. And Ursula is beyond addicted to her phone. She doesn’t go ten minutes without checking her social and taking a selfie. She’s gone.” Despair is going to consume me. I try to breathe. I cannot panic. Despair is the enemy of action. I can’t let it have me. I have to keep a level head.
“So you think money and magic are why two teenagers are missing?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Honestly, I don’t know yet,” she says, brows furrowed. “But I will.”
The station is its usual chaotic self, but today I don’t care. I will run Mona over if she tries to keep me from getting to the chief. Bella has me by the sleeve and has been telling me since we stepped out of the subway into the snow to calm down, and now as the chief’s door is in sight, Tony, Bella’s old partner, blocks our way.
His black hair is greased into a ponytail and he is practically flexing as he stands between us and Chief Ito.
“Well, hello there, ladies!” he says.
“Tony,” Bella says tightly.
“Did you hear the news? They put the body parts together and they know who it is…was. Poor guy. In fact, I found the last piece myself, on the commuter train between the Scar and Midcity. Pretty impressive, wouldn’t you say?” Bella inhales to answer him, but he blusters on. “I suppose you could say it was just coincidence since I had to go to the Scar to interview the kid who found the part by the Tea Party, but it was genius when I spotted the wrapped-up box and got to it first.”
“Sounds very impressive, Tony,” Bella says. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind…”
“So I was thinking,” he says, sparing me a glance, “maybe you and I could duck over to get some dinner later, since you’re here.”
“I’m working, Tony,” she says. “Something happened and I—”
“Sure, sure,” he interrupts. “Chasing after that Scar heiress. How’s that going? Any luck?”
City of Villains Page 9
