Dactyl Hill Squad

by Daniel José Older

  Up, up, up into the night they hurtled, into the sky until the Dactyl Hill Penitentiary was just a small, torchlit pit amidst the teeming city. Magdalys looked down, a strange calm settling within her. Riker seemed suddenly pathetic, clinging with all his might to her ankle. She shook her head, locking eyes with him.

  “Ah, I remember you now,” Riker yelled. “The little dinowrangler! Of course. Margaret, was it? Rocheford?”

  She wrenched her ankle from his grasp. “My name is Magdalys Roca.”

  “Stupid —”

  “Handle him, Stella,” Magdalys said, still staring at him. Riker’s eyes went wide.

  “… girl?”

  Stella gave the tyrannosaurus one mighty shake and let go, reaching down to snap Riker up in her beak as the dino fell away with a yelp.

  Riker let out a gasp and then he was gone, and Stella gulped once and then swooped a circle through the clouds before diving back down. The wind whipped through Magdalys’s hair, sang songs of sorrow and freedom against her face, whispered of all that had just happened and all that was yet to come, and then they were back and a mighty shout went up from the yard. Then another. “Hoorah!” everyone thundered.

  Magdalys scanned the crowd beneath her. There was David Ballantine, his fist in the air, triumphant. Louis Napoleon stood beside him, grinning and shouting. Both were covered in dust and blood but seemed to be okay. The prison guards and Kidnapping Clubbers had seen what happened to their leader and fled. Sabeen and Amaya were in a far corner of the yard with a group of orphans. Amaya had pistols in each hand, both raised above her heads as she shouted with joy. Sabeen jumped up and down, screaming and hugging Miss Josephine, who just shook her head in disbelief. Cymbeline, now on trikeback with Halsey, shook her head in wonder and looked up at Magdalys. Redd and Reba hopped around giving random folks high fives and yelling at the sky.

  “Let’s get everyone out of here,” David called out. “Before the actual cops come and start asking questions.” Newly freed inmates streamed out the front gate.

  Magdalys patted the pteranodon lovingly as they circled in for a gentle and still thunderous landing. “Well played, Stella girl.”

  Arrrooommmph, the ptero sang.

  Magdalys pushed gently on Stella’s neck, leaning her forward into a crouch so the approaching orphans could climb on. Then she waved at David and launched into the night.

  IT WAS ALMOST dawn. The sky had brightened ever so slightly in the east, but Brooklyn itself was still a dim, gaslight-speckled shadow world.

  Magdalys stood on the rooftop. Behind her, Stella stood perched, clearly doing her best not to destroy any buildings with those monstrous claws.

  Louis Napoleon and David Ballantine put four sacks down in front of Magdalys that they’d carried up on Bernice’s orders. “Supplies,” Bernice said, wrapping her arms around Magdalys. “There’s a couple weeks’ worth of hardtack in there, that’s what the boys eat down south on the front, plus pterofeed in case you can’t find any wandering … whatever that thing eats.”

  “Entire cities probably,” David said. Stella chirped happily.

  “And I know you know, but … please be careful.” Magdalys smiled into Bernice’s shoulder, thanked her.

  “I know I can’t persuade you to stay,” David said, stepping forward.

  Magdalys nodded.

  “And anyway, you’re probably right. They’re gonna be looking for Stella here and whoever broke her free. And I know you have to find your brother.” David looked out across the rooftops. “I had a brother once,” he said very quietly. “Younger than me.”

  Magdalys hugged him tight.

  “You’re doing the right thing,” David whispered. “And you have a good, good heart, Magdalys Roca. Don’t forget that.”

  She squeezed him again, said, “Thank you for everything and please try to stay safe,” then let him go. Louis Napoleon was next, shaking her hand and nodding like a proud dad; then Redd and Miss Josephine, who looked like she was reconsidering going back to Haiti after all the fun she’d had in Brooklyn.

  Then Sabeen, Amaya, Two Step (still shook, but definitely better than earlier), and Mapper (his head bandaged, but otherwise apparently okay) walked onto the roof. They all looked dead serious, contrite even.

  Magdalys swallowed hard and raised her eyebrows. The Dactyl Hill Squad had become the closest thing she’d ever known to a family besides her actual siblings. She wasn’t sure how she was going to manage without them, but she knew she’d figure it out somehow. And anyway, she had to act like she was cool about it, otherwise things would just get soppy. “What’s wrong, guys?”

  “Nothin’,” Mapper said.

  “We’re just sad to see you go,” Sabeen added.

  Two Step shook his head. “I don’t even have a dance for it.”

  “It’s just …” Amaya started. Then she stopped, put her hands over her face. Magdalys didn’t know what to do.

  “It’s just,” Amaya said again, her shoulders heaving up and down.

  “It’s just … I CAN’T DO THIS, YOU GUYS!” She burst out laughing.

  Wait, Magdalys thought. She’s laughing?

  Two Step and Mapper both groaned and rolled their eyes.

  “Are you kidding me?” Sabeen growled, stomping her foot. “Even I could pull that one off and I suck at jokes.”

  Jokes? Magdalys tilted her head at her friends. Then she spotted the rucksacks they’d all been keeping hidden behind them. “You’re not … you guys aren’t …”

  “Of course we are,” Mapper said, still shaking his head at Amaya. “And we would’ve been able to draw that out a lot longer if Happy McSnorfles over there hadn’t ruined the whole thing by laughing.” He grabbed his sack, marched past Magdalys, and loaded his supplies onto the makeshift saddle they’d put together for Stella.

  “I … I can’t believe it,” Magdalys gasped.

  “We a squad,” Two Step said, and she’d never been so happy to see him smile. “It’s how we survive.”

  “If you heading south to find Montez,” Mapper called from the saddle, “then we heading south to find Montez.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” Magdalys said.

  “And anyway,” Mapper added, “how else you gonna know which way to fly?”

  Magdalys laughed as Two Step hugged her and then two-stepped past to the ptero.

  Amaya and Sabeen paused in front of Magdalys. “You saved us,” Sabeen said. “Saved us all.”

  Magdalys shook her head. “We all saved each other more times than I can count. And anyway, Stella did all the hard work.”

  “Sabeen is right,” Amaya said. “And you know how I feel about dinoriding, so the fact that I’m about to get on this thing for an extended sojourn means I really love you, Magdalys.”

  “I mean, technically it’s a ptero not a dino,” Magdalys said with a wink. “Buuuut I take your point.” Amaya rolled her eyes and hugged her tight.

  “Um, hello? Girls?”

  Magdalys and Amaya looked up. Marietta Gilbert Smack stepped out from behind everyone else. “Whoa, Miss Smack!” Magdalys said. “I didn’t expect you!”

  “I’ve been helping out the Vigilance Committee,” Marietta said with a wink. “And recruiting some other white women out of the Ladies’ Manumission Society over to this end of the work. Good luck, you two. You always will have a home here, if you decide to come back.”

  “Thank you,” Magdalys said.

  “Oh, and here.” She held an envelope out to Amaya. “I got this from Von Marsh’s purse for you, the night of the riots.”

  Amaya just stared at her.

  “It’s the gram. From your father.”

  “I know what it is,” Amaya said. “I just …” She blinked, and for a few seconds, Magdalys wasn’t sure if her friend was about to burst out crying or break out into a huge smile. Finally, she let out a long breath and then took the gram from Marietta. “Thank you.” She shoved it into her bag and walked over to the pteranodon without another
word.

  Cymbeline and Halsey made their way through the group of adults gathered to say goodbye.

  Halsey stepped up first. “You are a rare flower, Miss Magdalys. And you know I mean that because it’s not a quote, but straight from my heart to yours.”

  Magdalys smiled and accepted his way-too-firm handshake. “Please take care of yourself, Mr. Crunk. We need your voice lighting up the world.”

  He looked startled, blinked away some tears, and nodded, stepping back.

  “I’m going to miss you,” Magdalys said when Cymbeline came forward.

  “Miss me? Girl, what are you talking about? I’m coming with you too!”

  Magdalys laughed. “You’re … Wait, you’re serious?”

  “You think I just brought this bag of clothes and my shotgun up on the roof for fun?”

  With all the excitement and goodbyes, Magdalys hadn’t even noticed that Cymbeline was fully packed and ready for travel. “You’re serious!”

  “Of course! I can’t let you roll down into the middle of a war without me. I was literally born for this.”

  They both laughed.

  “And anyway, you’ll need some entertainment along the way. It’s a long trip, and Two Step and Mapper only know so many bad jokes.”

  “Hey!” they both yelled from the saddle.

  Magdalys didn’t know what to say, so she just stepped out of the way so Cymbeline could load up her things and climb on.

  Halsey had clearly already said goodbye to his sister. He smiled sadly, watching her walk off, and muttered, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”

  Magdalys took one last look over the tumbling rooftops of Dactyl Hill, Brooklyn — it was the one place she’d truly thought of as home, and she’d only lived there a couple of days.

  But home, she realized, hoisting herself onto the saddle and smiling at the roiling banter of her friends behind her, was something she would have to take with her everywhere she went.

  With a magnificent caw, Stella spread her wings and took off, launching out across the gathering morning over Brooklyn and heading south toward Montez, south toward the slaver states and the bristling battle lines, south toward war.

  Let me get this out of the way right off the bat: There were no dinosaurs during the Civil War era! In fact, there were no dinosaurs at any point in time during human history. The Dactyl Hill Squad series is historical fantasy. That means it’s based on an actual time and place, events that actually happened, but I also get to make up awesome stuff, like that there were dinosaurs running around. So some of the people, places, and events are based on real historical facts, some are inspired by real historical facts, and some are just totally made up. Throughout this note, I’ve given some recommendations on books that helped me pull all this together; some of them were written for adult readers, so make sure they’re the right ones for you before diving in.

  Magdalys Roca and the other orphans are not based on any specific people, but there was indeed a Colored Orphan Asylum, and their records speak of a family of kids mysteriously dropped off from Cuba without much explanation. That was part of the inspiration behind this book. You can read those stories and more about the Colored Orphan Asylum in Leslie Harris’s book In the Shadow of Slavery.

  Halsey and Cymbeline Crunk are inspired by Ira Aldridge and James Hewlett, two early black Shakespearean actors who performed in New York City. Hewlett cofounded the African Grove Theater, the first all-black Shakespearean troupe in the United States. Richard III was one of Hewlett’s signature performances, and he did indeed revel in audience participation and adjust the language in the plays to speak directly to his crowd, which consisted mainly of his fellow black New Yorkers (he even added the word New before York in Richard’s opening monologue, as Halsey Crunk does at the Bochinche). Hewlett’s troupe performed in New York during the 1830s, about thirty years before the Dactyl Hill Squad series takes place. Like the Zanzibar, the Grove was burned down in what was probably a racist attack, and Hewlett sought friendlier audiences overseas in Europe and later in Trinidad. But besides those similarities, Halsey and Cymbeline Crunk are entirely made-up characters. You can read more about Hewlett in Shane White’s book Stories of Freedom in Black New York.

  David Ballantine is also a fictional character, but he’s one inspired by the real-life organizer and abolitionist David Ruggles. Mr. Ruggles founded and led the Vigilance Committee, which functioned essentially like the version in this book (minus the dinosaurs): They would intervene in the unlawful detainment of refugees from slavery and free black New Yorkers and keep them from being sent south to slavery. Ruggles eventually ended up in Florence, Massachusetts, and had died by the time this book takes place, but the Vigilance Committee kept up its work, making New York a crucial stopping point along the Underground Railroad right up into the 1860s.

  Louis Napoleon really did work with different organizations, including the Vigilance Committee, to make sure refugees from the slaver states made it in and out of New York safely, often meeting them at the train station or docks and escorting them to a designated safe house. He was illiterate but still managed to secure necessary documents from the court system to protect his charges from being recaptured. You can read more about him in Gateway to Freedom by Eric Foner.

  Richard Riker was a real-life magistrate in the New York City courts, and he did indeed run an organization called the Kidnapping Club that captured black New Yorkers and sent them into slavery, often without a trial or due process. The infamous Rikers Island prison is not named after him, although you’d think it would be. Whether or not he was skilled at raptor riding is unknown.

  Redd is one of my favorite characters in the book and I wish he actually existed, but he’s not based on any real-life figures. He does appear as a spirit in modern-day Brooklyn in one of my books for adults, Battle Hill Bolero, the final novel in the Bone Street Rumba series.

  Dr. James McCune Smith was both a doctor and abolitionist who worked closely with the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Colored Orphan Asylum.

  Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and escaped, eventually rising to become one of the most noted anti-slavery activists in the world. Two of his sons served as soldiers during the Civil War.

  Mr. Calloway, Miss Bernice, and Miss Josephine Du Monde are all totally made up.

  Dactyl Hill is based on a real historical neighborhood in Brooklyn called Crow Hill (modern-day Crown Heights), which, along with Weeksville and several others, became a safe haven for black New Yorkers escaping the racist violence of Manhattan. You can find out more about Weeksville at the Weeksville Historical Society and in Judith Wellman’s book Brooklyn’s Promised Land.

  The Dactyl Hill Penitentiary is based on the Kings County Penitentiary, which sat at the top of Crow Hill on Kingston Avenue and President Street. It was torn down in 1910.

  The bone factory was a real spot in Crow Hill where they created fertilizer from ground-up animal bones. This was rumored to be the source of all the crows that gave the neighborhood its name. There is no indication that it housed a giant pterosaur.

  The Bochinche is a totally made-up hangout spot. But if it existed I would definitely hang out there!

  The Spine Islands don’t exist in real life, although there are lots of cool little islands in New York Harbor. You can also read more about the fictional Spine Islands in Battle Hill Bolero.

  Vigilance Committee Headquarters really was at 32 Lispenard Street, and you can see a plaque on that building today commemorating their work and the leadership of David Ruggles. They had mostly ceased operations by the time of the Civil War.

  The Colored Orphan Asylum was on Fifth Avenue between Forty-Second and Forty-Third Streets in Manhattan. It was burned down in the New York Draft Riots. All the orphans except one escaped, and the organization relocated to another building.

  The Zanzibar Savannah Theater is based on Hewlett’s African Grove Theater, home of the first all-black Shakespearean acting company
in the United States. It was burned down in 1836.

  In July 1863, when this book takes place, the Union Army had just achieved two major and decisive victories after two and a half years of the Civil War. At Gettysburg, the newly promoted General Meade repelled General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, effectively ending the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania; and in Mississippi, General Grant sacked the fortress city of Vicksburg after a prolonged siege. Starting earlier that same year, the US government finally allowed black soldiers to be mustered into service, although they insisted on paying them significantly less than their white counterparts. From Maine to the Midwest all the way down to Louisiana, many thousands answered the call anyway. Besides fighting valiantly in combat, they agitated successfully for equal pay, and eventually made up 10 percent of the Union Army. You can read more about the famed Massachusetts 54th and 55th regiments in Thunder at the Gates by Douglas R. Egerton. A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865 is also a fascinating historical overview written twenty years after the war by a former soldier and one of the first African American historians, George Washington Williams. There are numerous other books about the Civil War, but one of the best is Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson.

  The Battle of Milliken’s Bend, which Montez was wounded in, was indeed a decisive moment in the victory at Vicksburg, as the 9th Louisiana Regiment of African Descent and others repelled an attempt by the Confederates to reinforce their besieged troops.

  The New York Draft Riots took place in July 1863, when coordinated mobs attacked various draft houses, armories, and black businesses in Manhattan. While the riots were in response to a law enacting the draft, much of the violence was directed at black New Yorkers, a number of whom were killed. As a result, many of the survivors fled to Brooklyn. The actual Draft Riots took place on July 13–16, a week after Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg and the events of this book.