Lost Vegas Series Page 12

  “It is the law. He had no choice,” Mohammed said.

  “It is a harsh law,” Jose said. “Why we do not send the deformed to the Free Lands, where they have a chance to live in peace, I do not know.”

  “It would be better than murdering children,” Aveline agreed, thoughts on the young girls sentenced to the butcher. The outer city had its horrors, and the inner city did as well. Jose’s solution was much more rational than burning or eating or enslaving children no one wanted.

  “Many people believe Tiana is deformed, too, or perhaps something else is wrong with her,” Mohammed said. His focus was on detangling the two thin silver chains holding pendants. “She is never seen in public.”

  “If that were the case, she would have been burned at birth with the others,” Jose reasoned.

  “Ah. Done.” Mohammed held out the two necklaces to her. “She can decide what to do with the second.”

  Troubled by the latest revelation contributing to Tiana’s tortured existence, Aveline accepted them. “These are timepieces.” She calculated the resale value in the inner city and decided they were of little more value than Tiana’s blue perfume bottle. The pure silver chains the pendant watches hung from would fetch enough bread for a week.

  “They are powered by kinetic energy!” Mohammed declared.

  She held them away from her warily.

  “Kinetic energy is movement,” Jose clarified. “It is nothing forbidden. The clocks use the energy of your everyday routine to tell time.”

  “Hmm.” It certainly sounded like magic to her, but so did their explanation of electricity.

  “They have one more quality you will appreciate.” Mohammed reached out and placed them beside one another. The faces behind the moving hands began to glow. “When they are close to one another, they will light up.”

  “Is that more … kinetic … uh …” Aveline started.

  “Yes,” Jose said.

  “No,” Mohammed replied simultaneously.

  The two exchanged a look, and Aveline waited.

  “Is that part magic?” she prodded.

  “Magic is forbidden,” Mohammed declared.

  Jose said nothing.

  Reading between the lines, Aveline pocketed the two necklaces. “Thanks.” She looked at Jose, wanting to tell him she would return, if he earnestly wished it.

  The older man was gazing at her expectantly.

  “I will make sure she receives these,” Aveline said finally. She turned away, disappointed she had not thought to tell Jose she wanted to visit again when she had the chance.

  “Will you tell me how she likes it?” Mohammed asked anxiously.

  “Yes. I can come back.” Aveline gazed at Jose as she said the words.

  “Today?” Mohammed asked.

  “When her mistress allows it,” Jose said gently.

  The older man rolled his eyes and then turned away, stalking back towards the metal trees.

  “Soon,” Aveline said.

  “I … we would like that,” Jose answered.

  She turned away before he witnessed the heat in her cheeks and left, navigating the hallways until she reached the elevator. Mohammed’s insight into the death of Tiana’s sister was disturbing, but the exchange with Jose left Aveline energized in a positive way for once, if not hopeful about making a few friends while she was here. Spring was far away; she needed someone else to talk to from time to time and had enjoyed his company.

  Her upbeat mood lasted until she reached Tiana’s room and recalled what had driven her away. Aveline did not sense the elevated charge she had when she left. She had not determined what to say to convince Tiana to leave the closet and not be as concerned about what Aveline thought of her unique abilities.

  Aveline debated going to the kitchens for strawberries before changing her mind. She was not one to avoid confrontation, though it was hard for her to temper her normally quick tongue and sarcasm when dealing with Tiana.

  She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Her instincts warned her something was off before her senses had a chance to register what.

  The closet door was open, and the bathroom door was halfway shut. The window filled the room with cold light. Tiana was nowhere to be seen.

  “Tiana?” Aveline strode to the closet first. Its interior was dark. The girl was not present. She turned – and her gaze went to the half-finished cup of tea on Tiana’s vanity. “Burn me!”

  Aveline went to the bathroom and pushed the door. Something heavy blocked it, and she pushed her head through the opening. Tiana was unconscious on the floor, her forearm bloodied and a knife in her hand.

  “Tiana!” Aveline shimmied through the narrow opening and bent beside the blonde girl. She assessed there was not enough blood loss to threaten Tiana’s life and leaned in closer until she could smell Tiana’s lips.

  The faint scent of poison was present.

  Muttering curses, Aveline half-dragged, half-carried Tiana out of the bathroom and stretched her out on the floor. She yanked the assassin’s kit Karl had given her from the bottom drawer of the armoire and dumped it out beside Tiana. Aveline searched it quickly. Good assassins carried multiple kinds of poisons. Great assassins knew to bring the antidotes, too, in case someone was targeting him or her.

  Aveline found the oil she needed and snatched a cup, filled it with water and dropped in several drops of the antidote. She propped up Tiana’s shoulders and poured the mixture into her mouth.

  Tiana swallowed without waking.

  Aveline shook her head. “You foolish, stupid girl.” She lectured herself next for not thinking to tell Tiana the danger of accepting anything from Matilda ever again.

  Replacing the contents and then tossing her bag into the armoire, Aveline lifted Tiana onto her bed. She hurled the teacup and saucer out the window before bandaging up Tiana’s bloody forearm and then sitting down at the foot of Tiana’s bed. It would take a few hours for the effects of the antidote to appear.

  Aveline pulled the two watch pendants from her pocket as she waited. She played with them until they bored her then fingered the flowers Tiana had embroidered onto her sash. One pink, one yellow, one purple. They were small, pretty pops of color.

  Checking Tiana again, Aveline stood in the center of the room, restless. Pink had returned to Tiana’s cheeks, and she was breathing deeply in slumber. She would have to sleep off the effects of both poison and antidote.

  Aveline cleared her bedding from the center of the room and eyed the space. Training there would be a challenge. She would have to be more in control of her limbs in order not to knock over anything or run into the wall or furniture. Sick of doing nothing, she tied her long hair back at the base of her neck and moved to the center of the room to perform one of the defensive martial art forms her father had taught her.

  Chapter Eight

  The next day, Tiana had recovered, though her coloring was paler than Aveline would have liked. She had tried to make up for leaving Tiana exposed with not one but two bowls of strawberries. Tiana was too kind to blame her, but Aveline hated knowing she had failed her ward in more than one way.

  “You don’t have to hide your eyes from me,” Aveline said for the tenth time.

  Tiana hesitated and clenched the sash she was embroidering. She was facing Aveline for once, which was progress, but she still refused to look at her impatient guardian.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Aveline said, sensing Tiana was not ready for this step. “What are you sewing?”

  Tiana picked up the silk to show her. “For Matilda.”

  “She poisons you and you embroider her a scarf?”

  “Veil,” Tiana whispered.

  Aveline bit back the lecture at the tip of her tongue. “No. Just … no,” she said and stood from her spot on the floor. She snatched the veil from Tiana and went to the window. She threw it out, but a gust of wind blew the thin square of silk back in. Aveline balled it up and tossed it out again, only for the wind to push it back.


  “Are you doing that?” Aveline demanded.

  Tiana giggled. “I do not control the wind.”

  Aveline muttered curses and snatched the nails she had pulled from the window. She placed them into the center of the veil before balling it up once more and tossing it. This time, the veil plummeted towards the street.

  “No more making pretty veils for someone who wants to murder you,” Aveline said firmly and faced the room again, hands on hips. “If you can move things with your mind, why don’t you throw her out the window next time she comes in?”

  Tiana gasped. She touched her bandaged arm. Aveline had not asked why she cut herself. She had a friend who did the same and claimed it was a release of sorts and helped her feel better. Tiana had only cut herself once since Aveline had been in her life.

  “I am deformed,” Tiana said. “I shame my family by existing, and I am grateful they let me live.”

  Aveline stared at her. The words were soft and quiet – and factual, just as Tiana’s unfeeling statement about her mother’s death had been. The Hanover girl truly believed what she said. It was beyond Aveline’s ability to understand either the conviction of such beliefs or that someone like Tiana held them.

  “I want you to have this.” Tiana twisted around and retrieved the pendant watch Mohammed had sent. She wore one and held out the second to Aveline.

  “Me?” Aveline gazed at the outstretched hand holding the pendant. This time, she did not calculate how much she could sell the chain for. An emotion far less pleasant than anticipating where she would spend the money was in her belly. She had warned Tiana once about considering her as a friend and was beginning to question her own indifference to the girl. “Why?”

  “Who else would I give it to?” Tiana reasoned. “You would object if I gave it to Matilda, would you not?”

  “Vehemently.”

  “Then I wish you to take it.”

  Still Aveline hesitated. The two pendants were created for sisters, people with a bond stronger than that between a guardian and her ward or potential target. They lit up when close to one another and the light within them faded when the two pendants were apart. The symbolism was not lost on her, even if she were a lowly street dog with no formal education.

  It’s just a necklace, she told herself. It means nothing.

  Aveline accepted it, unable to name the uneasy emotion in her blood. She pulled it over her head, and it settled on her chest next to the plain locket George had given her upon her arrival.

  Tiana smiled.

  “I heard someone else discuss the Free Lands,” Aveline said and returned to her position sitting on the floor. She pulled out her new weapons to polish, again, needing the distraction and to remain active.

  “What did they say?” Tiana asked eagerly.

  “They seemed to think they exist.”

  Tiana sprang off the bed and went into the closet. Aveline watched her, confused. When the girl neither slammed the door closed nor returned, she stood and followed. The light in the closet was on, and Tiana was kneeling on one side, gazing at a tapestry embroidered with flowers covering half of it, as if it were a work in progress.

  “You did all this?” Aveline asked when Tiana did not speak. The tapestry lining one wall of the closet was ten feet long and eight feet tall. “It must have taken you years.”

  “I started when I was young.” Tiana pointed to one corner. “You can tell how poorly I embroidered.”

  Tiana’s early attempts were more skilled than anything Aveline had seen in the inner city markets. She knelt next to her ward, gazing at the array of flowers, geometric designs and meandering whirls, vines and twirls in too many colors for her to name.

  “This is us.” Tiana rested her fingertip at the bottom, center, of the tapestry, directly in front of where they knelt. “And these are the Free Lands.” She stood and touched an area six feet from the ground.

  “Ummm … what?” Aveline asked, brow furrowing.

  “You must not tell anyone.”

  “I don’t even know what I’m looking at.”

  “A map.”

  “But these are flowers and plants and … I don’t know what some of these are.”

  “Think of the blue as water, the brown as roads. These are trees,” Tiana pointed to a ring of green, upside down triangles. “These are prairies.” She tapped yellow lines. “I have spent almost eight years collecting information about the Free Lands, where they are, and how one might reach them.”

  Aveline studied the ornate map. “What are these?” She touched a flower.

  “Villages, towns and cities. Purple for the friendly natives, pink for non friendly natives, and orange for the non-natives.”

  Aveline traced a finger from the largest of the flowers, the one Tiana claimed to be their city, and followed a slender brown vine upward, across yellow prairies, through green forests, past multiple flowers. She dropped her hand and looked up to where Tiana had placed her hand on another large flower. The Free Lands appeared close, until Aveline began to think about how far it was from Lost Vegas to the mountains a few days ride away. The mountains were designated as gray triangles in Tiana’s artistic map and were at a point of about a third of the distance between Lost Vegas and the Free Lands.

  “How do you possibly know the location of a place no one can confirm exists?” Aveline asked, baffled.

  Tiana whirled and hurried out of the closet, returning seconds later with a book. She dropped to her knees beside Aveline. “Because of this.” She opened the book and showed Aveline the writing scrawled across the pages.

  “I can’t read,” Aveline said impatiently. “Does it tell you where the Free Lands are?”

  “This book was written twenty years after the Old World ended,” Tiana said. “It does not say where the Free Lands are, but it says where they are not. It describes the journey the survivors of the Old World took when they sought refuge, before coming to this city. I used the information in books and what I have learned over almost a decade to create this map.”

  As Aveline listened, she turned from skeptical to considering. The amount of time and level of obsessiveness it took to create such a map bordered on madness. But it was Tiana’s glowing features, and her direct gaze – the first time she had chosen to look straight at Aveline with her deformed eyes – that alerted her to how serious Tiana was about leaving the city.

  “Is it accurate?” Aveline asked, growing concerned.

  “If they exist, yes. This is how to journey there.”

  “So you know the path to take but not if there exists.”

  Tiana nodded.

  “You wouldn’t go to these lengths if you don’t already have a plan to leave the city.”

  Tiana looked away. She closed the book and hugged it to her chest.

  Growing concerned, Aveline observed the distance Tiana would have to travel to reach the mythical place. It would take weeks, without the Ghouls, natives, mixed terrain and seasonal obstacles guaranteed to test even the most intrepid explorer.

  “Tiana, you can’t be serious about this.” Aveline waved her hand towards the Free Lands. “Your own stepmother nearly killed you in your room. How do you think you’ll survive outside of the city?”

  “I will not survive if I remain here.”

  “You can’t know that.” Even as she spoke the words, Aveline knew how right Tiana was.

  “I will die on my eighteenth birthday, if I do not leave the city first.” The Hanover girl’s voice was hushed.

  “How do you know?” Aveline asked coolly, mentally reviewing everything she had said and done since arriving to ensure she had not tipped off Tiana somehow.

  “I can do more than lift furniture with my mind,” Tiana answered. “Sometimes, I dream of the future, and in these dreams, I see my death.”

  Aveline was silent.

  “My father cannot afford to let me live past eighteen. I must leave the city before that day.”

  If Tiana knew Aveline was the one to kill her,
she gave no indication, which worried Aveline even more. How many other people were there waiting in the shadows? People smarter and less obvious than Matilda? Perhaps those who hired Karl to kill Tiana?

  Of all the questions Aveline had for Tiana, none of them seemed safe to ask without tipping off Tiana that the danger she dreamt of was real.

  “What else can you do?” Aveline asked instead.

  “I do not try to do any of these things,” Tiana replied. “It is forbidden, and I try so very hard not to do anything, but I cannot always control what happens.”

  “You seem to control lifting furniture well.”

  “It happens when I am distracted or upset or crying. When I become aware of it, I can stop it, but that is all. I can do nothing about the dreams or about hearing the thoughts of those around me.”

  “You can read minds?” Aveline echoed and shifted uncomfortably.

  “No. Single thoughts, and very rarely. Once a month, perhaps.”

  Burn me. Aveline was going to have to be more careful about where she allowed her mind to wander when she was around Tiana.

  “Matilda screamed every time I looked at her for the first month and when my bed floated, she fainted,” Tiana said. “Why do my abilities not shock you?”

  Because I have a blood curse of my own. Aveline was not ready to share her secret, even if Tiana had chosen to disclose hers. “How do you have these … abilities? They were inherited?”

  Tiana nodded. “It is why my father burnt my mother,” she whispered.

  For once, Aveline wished she had thought to ask her father more about the devil’s blood. Where the curse started, why it happened. It was not possible for her and Tiana to be related, which meant there were potentially many more people with a similar kind of inherited ability.

  Aveline looked from Tiana to the map, uncertain what to think. Tiana deserved a chance to live outside her room but was not in any form prepared for what lay beyond her door. Aveline wrestled with herself, with her contradicting duties, and the growing sense that the issue of Tiana was much more complicated than she could guess. The question she had been avoiding for a few days – how someone locked in her room rated the level of dedicated attention Tiana received – returned. Aveline did not want to become more involved, to understand why so many people wanted Tiana dead, to empathize with her eventual target.