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“Then I was in a forest. I heard this awful hum rushing through me, sort of like the throbbing of a wounded, mechanical heart. I thought it would drive me mad.”
“Did you ever see what it was?” Ling asked.
Henry shook his head.
“Does that mean James isn’t dead?” Theta asked.
Evie would give anything for James to still be alive. To hear him calling, “Where is my sister, brave Artemis?” as he used to do on warm summer evenings when the two of them would run around the garden trying to catch fireflies in mason jars to light the night. After James was killed, Evie had never again tried to catch lightning bugs. They were magical creatures, and she couldn’t bear to cage them.
Henry was picking absently at his shirt cuff. He looked unhappy.
“What’s the matter, Henry?” Evie asked.
He winced. “Wherever James is, I don’t think it’s a good place. There was terrible pain and fear. I’m sorry to tell you that.”
Evie didn’t know if what Henry had experienced was a dream or something far too real, but she couldn’t bear the thought of her brother suffering.
“He has to be dead,” Sam said. “Evie saw what happened to the one forty-four when she went into Luther’s memories. Will and Sister Walker confirmed it. All those soldiers—they’re gone.”
“Yes. But gone where?” Ling said.
Evie walked all the way back to the Winthrop to try to clear her head. At a newsstand, she bought the late-edition Daily News, frowning at a flattering front-page article about Sarah Snow and how she would be giving the opening prayer at Jake Marlowe’s Future of America Exhibition, complete with a great quote from Mr. Phillips about Sarah being “WGI’s brightest star!”
“I thought I was WGI’s brightest star,” Evie grumbled. And then, on page seven—seven!—was a tiny article by Woody about the Diviners banishing a ghost from a warehouse on the West Side.
“Say, aren’t you the Sweetheart Seer?”
Evie looked up to see a smart-set couple, all long pearls and spats, walking a wiry terrier.
She brightened. “That’s right!”
“There’s a ghost—save me! Save me!” The man burst out laughing.
“That isn’t funny,” Evie said. It felt like being slapped.
“Come now. It’s all a publicity stunt, isn’t it? You and your phony friends. Your days are numbered,” the man sneered.
“She used to be so delightful on the radio. Now she’s just a real wet blanket,” the woman agreed as they went on their way.
By the time Evie reached the Winthrop, her misery was a fully fleshed companion. She’d thought that hunting down ghosts and getting rid of them would’ve made the Diviners the talk of the town, welcome at every nightclub and swank hotel. She’d thought the citizens of New York would be grateful. But more and more, they were laughing at Evie and her friends. The Diviners were becoming a city joke. And they still had no answers about the Eye or Conor.
Evie picked up the phone to call Uncle Will. Then she thought about what Henry had told her, about James being in some sort of terrible place, and she slammed it down again. She was cheered to see that Jericho had mailed her a letter. She sliced it open with a fingernail, hoping she hadn’t ruined a perfectly good manicure, and read:
Dear Evie,
I hope this letter finds you well. Spring is trying to arrive here. I believe I saw a brave daffodil poking its yellow head up from the cold ground today. You would love the estate and all its furnishings. As a matter of fact, I saw an old antique that might interest you, Buffalo Gal. I know how you’ve been looking for just such a piece for your new home, and I know how you love to take on a Project. Perhaps you can come get a read on it and tell me if it’s of value?
Mr. Marlowe invites you and Ling Chan to his estate this Friday to stay the weekend. He’ll send a car to meet your train. I’m sure you’d love it here. It’s very beautiful. Say hello to the others for me.
Fondly,
Jericho
Evie fell back on the bed, smiling her first smile of the day. At least one thing was going right. They could finally get those cards read. And Jericho. She would see Jericho.
ALWAYS WATCHING
Theta couldn’t sleep. When she shut her eyes, she thought of Memphis. She missed him so much it felt as if she’d been emptied. As if she’d been abandoned on the church steps once more. And soon, she’d have to answer to Roy as well.
