by Amanda Foody
Nausea races through me. I should’ve done something. I shouldn’t have been frozen. But I didn’t expect this to happen. Jiafu always squirms his way out of trouble.
“He just killed him,” Hawk whimpers.
“We need to get inside.”
I am almost too shaken to maintain even the simple moth illusion. I don’t bother to conceal the sound of our footsteps as we run.
I collapse on our living room floor and bury my face in a pillow. My clothes reek of smoke and sweat, and my heart pounds erratically. I feel like my chest could burst, and I breathe in the comforting, familiar scent of the kettle corn kernels that litter our floor.
I open Luca’s Trunk. Maybe he’ll wake now.
He appears lying down, his head resting on my lap, unconscious. “Luca. Luca,” I plead, but it doesn’t do any good. I also open Nicoleta’s Trunk, because I need someone to talk to who can keep a level head through all of this. Hawk has already left to find food in the next room. I hear the wooden bowls clunk together as she rummages around for dead mice.
Nicoleta doesn’t stumble when coming out. She’s gotten used to coming and going between my head and the real world. “What happened?” she asks. “You smell like a cigar shop.”
“Agni showed up and attacked me. Tree trampled him, and Hawk flew us to safety.”
“You’re saying Agni’s dead? And that he was behind all of this?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make sense. There’s a mind-worker involved; I’m certain of it.”
“I don’t know. Maybe Agni was a mind-worker, too? I just need to breathe. Can I just breathe for a moment?” I’m crying, nearly hyperventilating, shaken to my core. I squeeze Luca’s limp hand for comfort.
Nicoleta does what Nicoleta always does—pace. “Maybe we should leave Gomorrah,” she says.
“Where would we go? We’re as far up in the Up-Mountains as you can get—”
“Anywhere is better than here. There’s another killer here, Sorina. There’s someone else. I can feel it.”
This isn’t what I meant by “just breathe.” I feel as though I need months to gasp for air, if not years. To sleep and not worry about any of this, and to get the sound of Agni’s bones crunching out of my head.
“I need to talk to Villiam,” I say.
“Then go check if he’s next door. Hawk and I will stay with Luca.”
I thank her and hurry outside to Villiam’s caravan. As I knock on the door, I realize just how much I need to hear his voice. I need him to hug me. To tell me it will be okay. I need my father to sort this out.
There are voices inside.
“There are people dying in Gomorrah over this nonsense,” Villiam says. “Your officials are terrorizing them for no reason.”
“The officials are under direct orders from the new lord Exander to ensure you leave. If you want them to stop, take your Festival away from here and back to where you came from.”
“We had permission to come here a month ago. From the lord.”
“It’s been revoked, now that the previous lord is dead. May he rest in peace.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter why.”
I knock harder. This time, someone throws open the door. It’s a Leonitian city official, dressed all in white. He stares at me and my strange mask.
“Go home, girl,” he says.
“Sorina?” Villiam’s eyebrows furrow. “What are you doing here?”
“I need you. Please.”
Villiam turns to the officials. “We’ll be leaving Leonita soon. And I suggest you remove your officials from our Festival. We didn’t come here looking for violence—we’re fleeing the war behind us. But if you continue to attack, know that you are against an entire city, one far more ancient than yours and one full of magic.”
His expression is intimidating, almost threatening, even despite his crutches. Before I knocked, it sounded as though the officials had the upper hand, but Villiam turned the course of the conversation in an instant. Would I ever be able to do that, as a proprietor? I doubted it.
“Ovren champions those who serve Him,” one of the officials says, but he pulls the other by the shoulder and they leave.
“What has happened, Sorina?” he says, once the door closes behind them. “You look frazzled.”
“We were attacked,” I say, burying my face in his chest. “It was Agni. Agni killed Gill and Blister and Venera. Luca is innocent.”
He stiffens. “No, that’s not possible. I’ve known Agni for years—”
“It was Agni. He came after us with Hellfire.”
Villiam closes his eyes and takes a deep, staggered breath. “He’s been...shaken since his son was taken. I thought the work was good for him. But...our informants were certain. Where is Agni? I want to speak with him immediately.”
“Agni is dead,” I say quietly, feeling almost guilty when I see the stricken expression on my father’s face.
Villiam covers his mouth with his hand and takes a deep breath. “And Luca?”
“He’s in my tent. So are the others. They’ll tell you what happened.”
We hurry back to my tent, where Nicoleta has managed to awaken Luca. As soon as we enter, I have the urge to release all the illusions, to sit among what remains of my family and let Villiam clear our problems away. It’s over. It’s over at last.
Luca watches us approach with wide eyes.
“Sorina. No,” he says weakly.
“What happened?” Villiam asks. “Is everyone all right?”
“No,” Luca says again, a panicked expression on his face. “It’s him, Sorina. He’s the mind-worker. He’s been a jynx-worker all along.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
My heart leaps into my throat. No, that’s impossible. What is Luca talking about? He’s obviously mistaken, and I turn to Villiam, ready to apologize, to make excuses for Luca’s confusion.
Villiam takes a few steps closer to Luca, hobbling on his crutches. Nicoleta lunges in between them, as if protecting him, as if she believes him.
Before I can think about what’s happening, I hastily hoist Luca’s and Nicoleta’s Strings into their Trunks. Luca is disoriented, and neither of them know Villiam like I do. I’m tired of the accusations. Tired of jumping to conclusions. Villiam doesn’t have any jynx-work. And he’d never hurt anyone in our family.
Nevertheless, my pulse quickens, and I’m hyperaware of the silence in the tent.
“You put them away?” Villiam says.
“Yes. What were they talking about?” I ask.
“I have no idea,” he says. “They looked traumatized, which isn’t surprising after what Agni did. We’ve both known Agni for years—this is a shock for everyone. To think that he’d be driven to this point... And I can’t blame anyone more than myself...”
Why would Luca think Villiam is a jynx-worker or that he had anything to do with this? I take a few steps away from him, hating myself as I do so. It’s only Villiam. My father. The man who’s watched over me for years. I don’t need to protect myself from him.
Luca must’ve made a mistake. Did he hear Agni talking about Villiam? Or is he only jumping to conclusions, since Agni is Villiam’s assistant?
“Can I make you some tea, my dear?” Villiam asks. When I shake my head, he takes a seat on the floor and motions for me to join him. I do, leaning my head against his shoulder, my thoughts twisted.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“I...” My mouth runs dry as I picture the fire. The cruelty in Agni’s voice. The horror of finding Luca unconscious in the cage, of realizing he’s my illusion. It’s been too much. I can’t possibly begin to process it all.
“I want to help you, but you need to talk to me,” h
e says. “Tell me what happened.”
I hesitate. I can’t help it—I’m tense. Why do I always trust Luca’s judgment more than my own? I can think for myself, but it seems as if I always listen to everyone else before I trust my own instincts. When I ran to Villiam, the first thing he did was make sure we were all safe. Why would he do that if he was involved?
But I need to ask questions, even if they’re difficult. Gill, Blister and Venera died because I opted for easy answers to difficult questions, and it’s time I assume responsibility. Even though Villiam is innocent, I need to ask...
Then, suddenly, my train of thought stumbles. I just made Luca disappear, yet Villiam hasn’t asked how that was possible.
I lift my head off his shoulder. “Aren’t you surprised that Luca is an illusion?” I ask. “I just made him disappear, after all.”
He clears his throat. “I figured you would tell me when you’re ready. I didn’t want to push you...”
But his words don’t ring true. Villiam has helped me create all of my illusions, so if I’d made another one without telling him, he would be shocked—hurt, even. I share all of my illusion plans with him, every step of the processes.
I stand up and put several feet between us. “Luca said you’re a mind-worker. Is that true?” My breath quickens, and all the anxiety of the past month seems to hit me one hundredfold. I’m stupid, stupid, stupid.
I search Villiam’s eyes as my question lingers in the air. It felt silly to even ask it. Of course he’ll tell me he’s not a jynx-worker. He’ll laugh. The idea is...preposterous.
“I don’t like lying to you, Sorina,” he says, avoiding my face. His words make my knees almost give out. “I’m a mind-worker with a talent for peering into people’s memories and meddling with them as I wish.”
My heart leaps into my throat. That isn’t true. It can’t be true.
“It’s been safer to keep it hidden. Do you think the Up-Mountain officials would want to interact with Gomorrah if they knew the proprietor could twist their very minds? Hiding it has brought prosperity to the Festival. I’ve brought us to more and farther places than any proprietor before me.”
“You’re the reason I forgot about Luca,” I say. “It was you. Have you been killing the illusions, too? Has it been you all along?”
The resigned expression on his face is all the answer I need. I stumble back in horror.
“How could you do this to me? To our family?” I cry out.
He looks at me sadly, pityingly, as if I’m still the naïve child he rescued all those years ago. “This has never been about you. I have only done what was needed to protect Gomorrah. I must take my responsibilities as proprietor more seriously than my role as your father, which you ought to understand. Even you have risked your life for Gomorrah, bravely, selflessly.” He sighs and holds his face in his hands. I should run from him, run far away, but I’m rooted to the spot. I have to hear him out. I have to understand.
And then I’ll run. I’ll leave Gomorrah and never look back. We can start over in the Down-Mountains. We’ll find some place to be a family again. To be safe again.
I squirm away from him.
“Your illusions are the imaginary friends of a child,” he says, his voice suddenly cold and condescending. “They’ve never been real. I never hurt them myself, not that it matters to you, I’m sure.” He stands and approaches me, but I back away. I don’t know what he means to do—hug me? Plead forgiveness? But I don’t want him anywhere near me. He doesn’t sound like my father.
A spark of madness twinkles in his eyes. “But the others we’ve killed together...the princess, the duke, the prince...they were very real. Together, you and I are creating the war that will save the Down-Mountains and millions of people. The Alliance shall fall.”
“I never helped you kill anyone,” I whisper.
He laughs, and the sound chills me to the bone. “You’ve never been aware, but you’ve been instrumental to our cause. The crown jewel of the entire plan is in your head this very moment. The new, young lord of Leonita, Exander, leader of the Alliance. Without his power over the city, Leonita will fall, and the entire region will follow. When the Up-Mountains are no longer united, our people can strike.”
“Luca,” I say. “Luca is linked to Exander.”
“Yes. The boy you made to be a lover. Your illusions never do turn out as planned, do they? From the rumors I’ve heard...he’s hardly much of a lover at all.” He laughs again, as if this is all a joke to him, the way we’d laugh if Blister tried to pronounce a curse word or Unu lost five straight rounds of lucky coins. As if he’s teasing me, not insulting me and destroying everything I’ve always believed to be true.
So that was the reason I created Luca? To be my lover?
He was made to love me. That’s the explanation. Only someone forced to could actually love a freak like me.
I’m trying desperately not to cry as my heart breaks. “You knew about Luca from the beginning?” I ask.
“I suggested the idea,” Villiam says. “And it was our secret—you were too embarrassed to tell the other illusions. I had every intention of giving you a happily-ever-after—I never wanted to use Luca. Our suspicions about the prince as the leader were very slim then. But by the time you finished the process, the lord of Leonita had developed the snaking sickness, and Leonita is too important to gamble with. I didn’t want to risk you learning the truth. So I used your mind to give Luca a past and then wiped your memory of him entirely. He was born a stranger to you. He would have remained a stranger had you not met. By the time I discovered it, I couldn’t undo it—you’d already told Nicoleta, whose mind I cannot mold. So I watched and I waited for the opportunity to take him.”
If a worker looks into your mind, then pieces will be left behind. So Kahina said. If Villiam has been playing with my mind for years, then that explains why pieces of my memory have disappeared. With Jiafu... With Agatha...
This revelation makes it difficult for me to breathe, and I can’t hold myself together anymore. I break. I sob.
Villiam reaches into his pocket and takes out a sapphire ring. “Do you recognize this?”
It’s the ring Jiafu stole from Count Pomp-di-pomp on the night of Gill’s murder. “How do you have that?”
“As you know, the thieves of Gomorrah work for me. I’ve known you’ve been working with Jiafu for quite a while. I assigned him his projects, though, admittedly, a few you likely don’t remember.” He points to Blister’s top on the table. “Charm-dolls need something to connect them to the original person. An item close to them. You don’t remember, but you helped steal Nicoleta’s hairpin. Venera’s lipstick. Luca’s pocket watch. Then Jiafu gave them to me, and I gave them to you. Your illusions wouldn’t even exist without my help.”
That’s why Luca’s pocket watch was engraved with Exander’s name. It did belong to him, once.
A new determination takes hold of me. “I won’t let you hurt Luca,” I say.
“If you’re going to become Gomorrah’s proprietor one day, you need to make the tough decisions.” He reaches forward to touch me, but I back away again. His face falls. “If we finish what we started, we can free the Down-Mountains from the greed of this region.”
“There are other ways,” I say. “I’m not letting you touch him. I won’t let you touch any of them.” I wish my voice sounded firmer, more confident, but it quivers instead.
“Ways the Up-Mountains could see coming. We don’t have the money or the organization to fight a proper war. But because of you, we might not need to.”
He’s trying to guilt me into this. As if I would ever agree to let him hurt any more of my family. To let him hurt anyone, period.
“I’m leaving Gomorrah,” I say, sniffling. “You can’t hurt us. And you can’t hurt him. Only a fire-worker can kill Luca, and Agni is dead.”
“There are plenty of fire-workers in Gomorrah. And there is more than one way to destroy Leonita’s lord through Luca tonight.”
“How?”
He shakes his head. “Let me take care of it, Sorina. You’ve barely known him a month. Look the other way, and let me save Gomorrah. Let me do my job. We can work this out together—”
“No!”
I lunge for the exit, already planning my escape from Gomorrah in my mind. Hawk can fly me for a while, and my illusion-work can keep us from the notice of Up-Mountainers. But, on foot, how long will it take us to reach the Down-Mountains? Probably months.
Villiam grabs my arm but, in doing so, nearly falls over. “I have to do this, Sorina.”
“Let go of me.” I try to wrench my arm away, but his grip is too strong. Even wounded, he is hardly weak. I’m crying so hard that my chest aches.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I love you, Sorina.” He shakes his head. “I wish I’d known how close you were to learning the truth. I could’ve spared you from this pain. I should’ve kept Luca close to me instead of where you might find him on your own. He’s too clever. Without him, you would’ve never figured this out.”
“I was the one who realized I have two kinds of jynx-work,” I say indignantly. “I was the one who thought of Agni. Who realized the illusions were linked to the politicians. I’m cleverer than you think I am. Just not enough to realize that you’re a monster. I trusted—”
His face twists into a scowl. “I’m hardly a monster.”
“You’ve been manipulating me. Killing people.”
“You know of the evils of the Up-Mountains as I do. You know what happened to my uncle. To Agni’s son. About your own past. I am not a monster.”
What happened to Agni’s son and Villiam’s uncle were tragedies, and I know the evil that lurks in the Up-Mountains. I want to help the Down-Mountains and the people of Gomorrah—but not like this. Maybe that means I won’t make a good proprietor. I don’t care anymore. Not about pleasing my father, whom I’ve tried to please my entire life. Not about a legacy built on lies and murder.
