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“What’s that supposed to mean?” Evie snapped.
“That does seem like a long way to go on just a vision,” Henry said.
“She was scared!” Isaiah insisted. He was afraid he would cry, which was what happened when he got angry. “She needs our help. Memphis, Mama always said we should help where we could.”
“Well, we cain’t help her, Little Man. Got to help ourselves by gettin’ outta town,” Bill said.
“I vote Bountiful,” Evie said, raising her hand.
“Bountiful,” Jericho said.
“I say we stay and work with Sister Walker,” Henry said.
“I’m with Henry,” Ling said.
“Me, too,” Theta said, not looking at Isaiah.
“Then we stay here,” Memphis said. “We work with Sister Walker and figure out how to stop the King of Crows from doing whatever it is he’s got up his sleeve.”
Isaiah looked up at Memphis. The betrayal showed in his eyes. Memphis reached out, but Isaiah ran to the other side of the room.
“Isaiah,” Memphis called. He felt lousy for making Isaiah feel bad, but his brother would get over it.
“Memphis, how you gonna do that with them Shadow Men after you?” Bill tapped his finger against his temple. “You’re not thinkin’.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m telling you. Spoke with Miss Seraphina and Octavia. There’s a train to New Orleans tomorrow night, and we need to be on it. Got it all sorted with the Brotherhood.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters,” Seraphina said. “One of them, Mr. Nelson Desir, owes me a favor. The Brotherhood will see you out of town.”
“I’m not going,” Memphis said.
“The hell you’re not.”
“I won’t warn you again about the bad energy,” Seraphina said.
Memphis put his arm around Theta. “We get Marlowe to see reason, he’ll call off those Shadow Men. I can stay right here.”
“I’ve known that man more than twenty years,” Sister Walker said. “There’s no reasoning with him. He be
lieves his way is the only way. He’s always right. Dangerously so.”
“We have to at least try, don’t we?” Evie asked.
“You’re still playing by their rules,” Seraphina broke in. “You’ll never get anywhere that way. Remember: They make the rules to suit themselves. And they change them to suit themselves.”
Sister Walker looked at Evie. “I don’t like this. What will you do if there are Shadow Men there?”
“If they come for us, we’ll show ’em what Diviners can do. We’ll give ’em a real lulu of a disturbance,” Evie said.
“We create a disturbance and we’re playing into everything they believe about Diviners,” Theta reminded her.
“I’m not saying we will do it. I’m saying we can do it. It’s good for Jake Marlowe to know that, too,” Evie said. “So we’re decided: We go talk to Jake Marlowe at the memorial tomorrow night and try to get him to understand how dangerous the Eye is. If he shuts it down, the King of Crows will have no way into our world. Our troubles are solved.”
Ling tapped her fingers against the arm of the chair. “Why hasn’t the King of Crows come after us if we’re a threat?” The question hung in the air along with Theta’s cigarette smoke. “The King of Crows controls the dead. They’re loyal to him,” Ling continued. “What happens if there are ghosts he can’t control?”
