“Oh, that’s just an old Knave’s tale.” Maddy tried for nonchalance, though she feared what Hudson said was true. But she and Crud had to stay brave and stick to the plan. If they wanted to save Lex, they didn’t have a choice.
They decided to sleep on their roof that night. The temperature was perfect. Pigeons, doves, and bats sniffed out the Livingstone kids as their own kin and came to roost near them. Maddy loved it. She missed her coffin, that hunk of Old World oak where she’d dreamed away the sunlit hours. She’d loved being up all night, stargazing with the other nocturnals.
Soon the roof crowded with creatures. Maddy allowed a pair of doves to curl up in the crook of her arm. She fell asleep listening to her brother chattering and sharing leftover apples with the squirrels.
By dawn, Hudson had morphed into bat form and was hanging upside down between a pair of fox bats. Their pointy faces were peaceful. The morning dew beaded on their still, folded wings.
Slipping soundlessly inside, Maddy checked on Lexie. When she tried to readjust the pillow, her sleeping sister let out a caw as a trickle of Knav-ish black bile ran down the corner of her mouth. Maddy’s heart was heavy to see it.
“Lexington, I know you can hear me,” murmured Maddy. “Please stay put! I’ll fix this, I promise.”
In the fridge, the Doubler had thickened like custard. Great. A strength-giving pudding for Crud. Taking care of this family was hard work.
Back in her room, Maddy pulled out from under her mattress a twist-tied Baggie nearly full of loose change plus assorted dollar bills, the sum total of her Blind Girl’s Bluff profits. Drawing on her cape, she then sped out the front door.
Ten minutes later, she was picking the lock to Carlyle Blake’s tailor shop. A quick pick; no hybrid-proofing problem there.
It was too early for the tailor to be in. Maddy lost no time removing the von Krik necklace from its drawer.
“Ah.” She smiled to feel the necklace in her hand again. She never should have bartered this beauty. As a vampire relic, if there was any chance at all that the necklace might help save her sister or destroy Zelda, then Maddy had to take it.
The beads winked dully in the sun. Perhaps it was all the time they’d spent in Carlyle’s drawer, but their color seemed to have faded. After a few minutes in Maddy’s palm, the hue had shifted to a more Maddy-friendly shade of purple. Interesting. These beads had Old World power, which was exactly what Maddy needed. She was glad they were in her possession again.
Sad as it was to give up her coins, the exchange seemed fair. Carlyle could use the money to buy himself more fabric. Maybe enough for a couple of capes or another one of those biscuit yellow hunting jackets pinned to his mannequin dummy. Carlyle certainly had an eccentric clientele. Hunting was such an Old World pastime. There were hardly even any horses here in New York City.
Aha! Maddy’s next bright idea made her smile. Thoughts of horses put a spring in her step as she hurried home.
But when she burst into her sister’s room, she came face-to-face with a mound of pink mosquito netting and some loosed ropes—and no Lexie. Her super-strengthened sister had escaped.
17
STEED FOR THE DEED
So I’ve got one missing almost-Knaveheart sister and one bloodthirsty, Knave-hunting sister?” Hudson buried his face in his wings. “Lex is in Zelda’s clutches by now. O dark and inevitable Knave destiny! It’s too big a disaster to consider.”
“Then don’t consider it as one big disaster. Think of it as a handful of small dilemmas. Four, to be exact. We’ve got to get to Lullaby, detect our Knave from her double, reverse the curse, and bring Lex back intact.”
Hudson snorted. “You make it sound so easy.”
“Meet me at the front door by sundown, and tell Mom and Dad you’re going over to Duane Rigby’s apartment for a sleepover.”
“And what should we say to Pete if he comes looking for Lex?”
Maddy’d already thought that through. “The moon is full tonight. Pete usually lays low when he turns wolf. Being a werewolf is hard to explain to your friends and neighbors.”
Hudson swallowed. “I’ll try to track him down. Times like now, I’d like to have a werewolf watch my back.”
“My yumsgusting Doubler should help out, too. Come downstairs and try it.”
In the kitchen, Maddy spooned him a sample.
Hudson made a face. “Ugh. That tastes worse than I’d have thought.”
“Luckily, you don’t have to drink the rest. I found a better candidate. We’ll need to pit stop at Central Park before we head to Lullaby.”
Maddy used the day to crack her parents’ dusty Old World books, looking up the information she thought she might need most. Hard work, especially since she didn’t like to read—or memorize. But to be a slayer, she had to be a scholar. Tonight would test if she had the Knave-fighting skills she hoped coursed through her hybrid blood.
She quit the books as the sun lobbed low into late afternoon. It was time to dress for the dance. Up in the attic crawl space, Maddy dug in a trunk until she found a lightweight sundress plus a pair of long riding boots.
Over the dress went her trusty vampire cape.
Into its pockets, Maddy carefully tucked her asthma inhaler, the von Krik necklace, and Zelda’s guitar pick. Lastly, she tucked her walking cane under her arm.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she decided.
Hudson was pacing downstairs. He himself had dressed dramatically in a brocade Russian sarafan, a tribute to one of Lexie’s tragic fiction favorites, Dr. Zhivago.
“I’m hoping Lex will catch the reference and remember who she is,” he said. “I’ve tried getting hold of Pete, but I think you’re right—he’s hiding from the moon. Is Susanality coming along?”
Maddy shook her head. “Too dangerous. She’s part dryad, after all. A Knave would chew her up and spit her out like a toothpick.”
Together they headed for the park, arriving at the south-east entrance just as the sun was disappearing. Horses and carriages were lined up, waiting for tourists to request a scenic city ride.
“Look for a white horse,” said Maddy. “White horses possess the purest magic. Also, a horse is the most ancient transportation—after dragons and unicorns. Which means that if we ride a horse over the water—”
“—you’d have the least possible chance of petrifying. Good thinking, Mads.” Hudson pointed. “How about that one?”
The horse didn’t look magical. Knock-kneed, more chalk dust gray than white. Its driver was tipped back in his carriage seat, snoring.
“She’ll do,” Maddy conceded.
As they advanced on the horse, Maddy leaped into the seat alongside the driver. “Hello, sir! Could you tell me the name of your magnificent steed?”
“Huh? Her? Er, that’s Princess.” The driver sat up, his baffled eyes staring into Maddy’s suddenly-gone-clear ones, the last words from his lips before he fell into a trance that gave Hudson enough time to unhook the heavy brass axles that kept the horse fixed to its carriage. Princess was free.
“Yeah!” Hudson pumped his biceps manfully. “Check out these guns! I should enter a competition!”
Meantime, Maddy had scrambled from the driver’s seat.
“Here ya go, Princess,” she crooned, holding up the bowl of Strength Doubler.
At first Princess jerked her head. But then Hudson, who’d swiftly changed into a bat to navigate the ride, hovered close enough to speak in her ear. Princess listened to the plan, then whinnied agreement. The drink was gone in two horsey slurps.
Maddy leaped onto the horse’s back. It had been nearly a century since she’d last ridden a horse, but the skill hadn’t left her. She spread her vampire cloak over them both and under her breath recited the Nightwalker’s Dusk Spell.
“This should keep us in an invisible state for thirty minutes,” she told Hudson. She looped and tightened the reins just as Princess’s driver snapped out of his trance, shocked when he saw that he was sitting in
a detached carriage, no horse in sight.
With Hudson circling near her ear, guiding her, Princess, now double her strength, picked up her pace. Galloping over the Brooklyn Bridge via its walkway, Maddy sensed the water rushing beneath her.
“Stay calm,” she told herself. She thought brave thoughts. Like slaying Zelda. By the time they’d touched land, night had fallen. A moonlit sky and lisp of wind. And another, odder sound.
“No creepy noises, Crud,” grumbled Maddy. “Tonight is serious.”
“I swear, I’m not doing that,” protested Hudson, propelling himself higher. “I hear it, though. Like a twanging and blowing and hum, all together.”
As Princess slowed, so did the sound. Maddy shivered.
The lights of the main clubhouse twinkled ahead. Windows had been flung open. Music was playing. As soon as Maddy stopped Princess by the kitchen Dumpsters, Hudson dive-bombed behind a holly hedge to reemerge transformed back into the doomed Russian.
“Livingstone voskres!” battle-cried Hudson.
“Shhh!” Maddy warned. She opened the Dumpster and dove in. A pile of rat husks told the tale, as well as a small handbook, 100 Easy Danish Phrases. “The spine’s hardly split,” Maddy noticed, flipping through it. “Huh. Of course the Elcrises would never have questioned Zelda’s story. They’re so clueless, they think rat-blood gazpacho is a Danish delicacy.” She slipped the phrase book into her cape pocket.
“Looks like we found Zelda’s Lullaby nap spot,” said Hudson as he helped Maddy out. “But no Zelda. Keep your eyes open. She’s got to be close.”
They sidled into the clubhouse via its glass ballroom doors. The room was filled with festive, dressy Lullabyers, chatting and clinking drinks. Maddy saw a few people dancing, while others lounged at scattered tables. And there, at the far end of the room, was the sight Maddy’d been dreading. The Elcris family and their guests of honor, all at a single table, were enjoying dinner.
Maddy heard Hudson suck in his breath. Her own ancient heart ached. Sitting side by side, Zelda and Lexie looked long and slim as two string beans. Their hair, pinned back in diamond clips, curled at the ends like apricot seaweed. Their eyes were bright as green sea glass. Their spangled silver dresses clung to them like stardust and spiderwebs. Neither of them was exactly Lexie, but neither of them was exactly Zelda, either.
“They look absolutely identical,” said Hudson. “Any idea which is which?”
“Nope.” Maddy shook her head. “One of them will pass on her title and go crumble in a condo in Jacksonville, Florida, and the other will reign as an evil sovereign for the next thousand years. One of them I need to slay, and the other I want to transform back to my favorite sister in the whole, entire world.” She sighed. “You’d think there’d be a hint of difference.”
When Lexie and Zelda turned their twin set of emerald eyes on Maddy, her hybrid instinct told her to run and hide. Their power was fearsome and startling. It took every drop of courage in Maddy to stand her ground.
“It’s all right,” said Hudson. “Remember, they’re Knaves. Too nearsighted to see us.” But they ducked behind a ballroom column, anyway, taking teeny peeks.
Not teeny enough. “Uh-oh,” said Maddy. “We’ve been spotted. Here comes trouble.”
Lisi Elcris, her beady eyes laser-focused, was fast approaching. On her one side rolled Adam. On her other, and looking very tentative, was Dakota.
“Surprise, surprise.” Lisi smirked. “I didn’t expect to see you Livingstones at our Lullaby soiree. May I hang up your coats? Or, in this case, your cloaks? This way to the cloakroom.”
She herded them so bossily that they had no choice but to troop after her.
“Hold on to your stuff,” Maddy murmured, but Hudson had shaken off his Russian cloak and handed it to Lisi, who flounced off toward a small door under the staircase.
A warning tolled in Maddy’s ear. She kept her own cape tightly tied.
“Wait! Come back,” she called, but Lisi, who was a head taller than Maddy, had opened the cloakroom door. She pushed Hudson inside, and then, just as smoothly, she pushed Maddy.
“Whoa!” Maddy’s fingers reached out to steady herself in the door frame.
“Lisi!” Dakota squeaked. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Get with it, D. This isn’t some tacky ice-cream store birthday party, where just anyone can come. This is an exclusive club, and no stinky Livingstone is welcome in it!” Lisi’s long arm shot out, shoving Maddy, who wobbled for balance.
“An exclusive club!” Adam crowed, with an extra pudgy push on Dakota, who veered into Maddy, who couldn’t stop herself from slipping.
“Eeeee!” Dakota squeaked as she tumbled past Maddy to fall down, down, down, bumping and rolling.
Too late, Maddy realized that this wasn’t a closet. It was a set of stairs.
“There! Now you two can be friends forever!” Lisi giggled and snickered.
“Friends forever!” Adam’s snicker mimicked his sister’s as they both slammed the door so hard that Maddy completely lost her grip and began toppling backward . . .
18
WHAT A DIDGE CAN DO
Thumpity thumpity thunk. Youch. Maddy hadn’t taken such a dive since she’d gone tray-surfing down the staircase of her own home last January, in the days when it had belonged to the von Kriks. She’d been in grave danger then. She was in graver danger now.
Her bones reverberated as she landed hard at the bottom of the steps, smack next to Dakota, who was balled up and whimpering. “Maddy, what are we going to do? We’re trapped!”
“Trapped? Trapped?” Hudson, who had shifted into bat form, was in a stupor of confusion, bumping around the cellar. Not graceful at the best of times, he was especially inept when he freaked out. Which he was doing now.
“Oof!” He flapped, flustered, as he blundered into a sagging shelf of fig jam and raspberry jam preserves. “There’s no way out of here. O doomed us.”
“Stop being batty, Hud,” said Maddy, swatting at him. “We’ve got to figure out where we landed and how to escape.”
“It’s the Club Lullaby storage cellar,” said Dakota, looking around, “but it’s as horrible as a dungeon. Oh, dear. If only I had my moleskin cloak, I could slip through and rescue us. Instead, we’re going to rot in here like Bastille prisoners.”
“Don’t even joke about that.” In the Old World, Maddy often had swooped through prison bars, where she had seen many of the doomed and dying shackled to stone walls.
Leaping up the steps, she tried to pick the lock. No such luck. It was hybrid-proofed.
On the other side of the door, Lisi laughed. “So close, and yet so far.” She snickered. “I’m gonna hang this key right here on its hook for when I’m ready to unlock you. After the dance, that is. My cousin Zelda instructed me to chuck you down there. She even predicted you were planning to wreck the dance and her happy reunion with her long-lost twin sister. Later, suckas.”
“Later, suckas!” added Adam.
“Oh, this is just great.” Maddy stomped back down the stairs and began to pace. The family Elcris wasn’t to blame. They were just playing out their role, blindly defending their Knave and her twin—the green-eyed changeling formerly known as Lexie Livingstone.
As she kicked the wall, Maddy used her boot as a lever to turn a flip. “Ugh.” She looked at Dakota. “If you’d playacted like you were Lisi’s friend, you could’ve sneaked back and unlocked us. Now we’re stuck down here, with absolutely no game.”
Sniffle, sniffle. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to playact friends.”
“Yes, you do,” Maddy snapped. “Remember our two half Days of Friendship?”
Sniffle, sniffle. “After we started to try to help your sister, it wasn’t playacting to me anymore. We were real friends, mostly.”
Maddy stopped pacing. Really? she thought. “Maybe it’s a tiny percentage of a fraction my fault we’re in this mess, too,” she admitted. “If Lisi liked me better, she wouldn’t h
ave gotten so pushy.”
“True,” agreed Dakota.
Hudson, in boy form again and wearing oversized waiter’s clothes, had popped up on the top of a boiler tank. “The worst part is that we were foiled by the dimwit family Elcris.” He sighed. “Adam Elcris is in my class, and he’s a toad. He wears a new pair of shoes every day of the week. Plus he bites. I should have known he’d harbor a Knave.”
“No regrets. Let’s think.” Maddy had taken out her walking cane and was using it to test the walls for hollow spaces. The concrete reinforcement was thick. She stopped tapping and looked up at her brother. “Crud, why are you wearing that outfit?”
Hudson shrugged. “There’s a big pile of waiter uniforms by the washer-dryer. I thought disguises might come in handy tonight.” He pulled at the black pants. “Even though they’re not my style . . . The pants are cut very narrow . . .”
“Our sister is about to embark on a millennial reign as the leader of the most deadly pureblood vampire clan and you’re worried about narrow pants?”
Her brother looked sheepish. “I’m really not much of a warrior.”
“No kidding.” But Maddy and Dakota changed, too.
She folded up her cape. “I’ll come back for you later,” she promised it.
As she turned to execute another backflip, the cane slipped from Maddy’s hand and rolled across the floor.
“Ooh! Aces!” Dakota squealed as she picked it up. “Why, it’s Uncle Godfry’s didgeridoo!” Her eyes slid to gaze suspiciously at Maddy. “Why do you have this?”
“You gave that cane to Maddy, remember, Susanality?” said Hudson.
“And you can borrow it anytime,” said Maddy with as much nonchalance as she could muster. “No biggie.”
Dakota clutched the cane to her chest. “Borrow what’s already mine, you mean?”
The Knaveheart's Curse Page 8
