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“What’s going on?” Esta said.
“We thought they were checking for you,” Viola told her. “Every day he goes to see if you’ve come. To make sure that his message is clear.”
“It was clear,” she told them with a wobbly smile. “He must have missed me.”
Viola cursed under her breath as she cut her gaze to Cela. “You know where they went, no?”
“They wouldn’t…” Cela’s brows drew together. “Not without telling us.”
“They’re men, aren’t they?” Viola asked. “Of course they would!” Then she turned back to Esta. “They’ve gone to the Strega to get back what Nibsy took from Jianyu.”
“They’ve been gone all day. Even if they went to do something as stupid as that, they should have been back by now,” Cela said. Again the silent look exchanged with Viola.
Viola was already reaching for her shawl and her knives. “After we rescue them, I’m going to murder them myself.”
PREDICTABLE
The Bowery
Though Cela urged the tired nag onward through the city, the small delivery wagon they’d borrowed from the Age could not move fast enough for Esta. Winged horses wouldn’t have been fast enough, not when she knew that Harte had been brash and reckless enough to go after Nibsy on his own.
She told herself that it must mean his affinity had returned, because he couldn’t have possibly been so stupid to go to the Strega with nothing but his wits for protection. It should have given her some hope, because it meant that whatever the Guard had used on them was only temporary. But it was hard to hope when her own affinity remained cold and empty. No matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn’t reach it.
As the wagon navigated the cluttered confusion of the early-century streets, Viola and Cela tried to fill Esta in on what happened since she and Harte had left in May. Ruby sat in the back of the wagon, listening as well. She’d been unwilling to be left behind. Speaking in stops and starts, they weaved the tale that made clear how much she’d missed—and how much had happened because Jack had possession of the Book.
But the Conclave was still two weeks away, she reminded herself. They could still stop Jack and Nibsy, both. And if Cela and Viola were to be believed, there might be a way to control Thoth long enough to unmake him completely. She was determined to save her friends from the fate she’d seen in the Professor’s diary—to change the fate written on those pages and to save them all.
When they came down Elizabeth Street, Viola ordered Cela to stop the wagon after she noticed Jianyu waiting outside the Strega’s back door. He looked lost, like he was in some kind of a daze, staring at the door without seeming to see it. Esta barely waited for the wagon to stop before she leaped down and was already trying to shake Jianyu from whatever stupor he was in before Cela could tie off the reins.
“Jianyu, where’s Harte?” She shook him again when he didn’t respond. “Was he with you? Is he inside?”
Jianyu finally blinked away the daze he was in and focused on her. Shock and surprise flashed through his expression. “Esta?” He lifted a hand like he was about to touch her and make sure she was really there, but then thought better of it. “You have finally returned to us?”
“I have,” she told him. “But I need to find Harte. Do you know where he is?”
Jianyu didn’t immediately answer. He had the telltale glassy look to his eyes and the docile confusion that often came with having your consciousness invaded. “Where is he, Jianyu? I need you to think. What was the last thing you remember?”
“The Five Pointers and Hip Sings had just arrived, as we planned,” he told her, his focus already growing sharper. “We sent them—Darrigan sent them—as a distraction. We were going to find Morgan’s papers.” He took a sharp breath, like something had just startled him. “Darrigan was not supposed to go in alone. This was not the plan.”
“But it sounds like something he’d do,” she said, looking up at the silent windows of the building. Dammit, Harte.
“I’ll need your help,” she told him. “My affinity’s not quite steady right now. Can you get me inside?”
“Certainly,” he told her, looking more settled and alert now.
“You can’t go in there again,” Cela said, catching Jianyu’s arm before he could reach for Esta. “You know what could happen.” Cela turned to Esta. “Please. You can’t ask him to do this. That boy has the marks. He nearly took Viola apart.”
“It does not matter,” Jianyu said, pulling away from Cela.
“You saw what he did to Viola,” Cela told him, her voice breaking with emotion. “Don’t ask me to piece you back together too.”
He lifted his hand, touching her cheek with a tenderness that surprised Esta. It seemed that so much had happened while they were gone.
“Jack attempted to destroy me with the Pharaoh’s Heart and the power of the Book, and he could not,” Jianyu told Cela. “Let Nibsy try.”
“Why would you give him the chance?” Cela asked. “There has to be another way.”
“There is no time,” Jianyu told her.
