Alpha’s face grew long, even longer than usual. “It’s Zero. He’s stopped leaving the house.”
“What do you mean?”
“He has not left his house in days. I believe”—he cleared his throat—“I believe he encountered some of us in medias res, and he has not left the house since. I do not think he is coming out. I am so sorry, my Lord, I do not know how it happened. We were careless, and…”
The Footman cringed a little, as if Philonecron were going to beat him. Beat him! His little darling! No, no. Accidents happen.
And it didn’t matter. If Philonecron were some kind of evil simpleton, they would have had to start over, find a new Zero, steal shadows all over again. But he was a genius—a genius—and geniuses always have a Plan B. The day after Alpha and Delta came back with the first shadows, he had taken a vial of Zero’s blood, gone out into the Upperworld, and done an errand of his own. It had proved quite satisfactory.
“Fret not, my sweet,” he said, squeezing Alpha’s shoulders. “I have a backup plan.”
PART THREE
The End of the Beginning
CHAPTER 13
Go
BACK IN THE MIELSWETZSKI DEN, CHARLOTTE STARED at her cousin while he haltingly told his story. Grandmothers, plagues, strange man-like men, and shadowless boys—she had no idea what to think. The way she saw it, there were three options:
Zee was pulling her leg.
Zee was certifiably loony.
Zee was telling the truth.
Charlotte meditated on these options, conscious of her cousin’s eyes on her. Even Bartholomew, who had listened attentively to the entire story, was watching her.
He didn’t seem like he was pulling her leg, unless he was the best actor ever. It would be a strange joke—one that, frankly, required more imagination than her cousin had shown so far. And if Charlotte was to be fair, it required a lot more meanness, too. Zee might be a little strange, but he was not mean. She glanced at her cousin and blushed.
“You think I’m having you on?” said Zee quietly. His eyes dropped.
Charlotte squinted at him. She was becoming very good at translating British to English. “No,” she said. “I don’t think you’re pulling my leg.”
It was entirely possible that Zee was crazy. He certainly had been acting like it this entire time. There was some great mystery surrounding her cousin, and Uncle John had said something about him acting “unusual.” This was unusual, all right. If she had a kid who told stories like this, she’d ship him out of the country too.
Plus, he had recently had a head injury. That could explain a lot.
But when Charlotte had first thought Zee was bonkers, on the very first night, it was because he’d kept asking if anyone was sick. And then everyone got sick. If he was crazy, he was awfully prescient, too.
And there was something else. The men. The tall, thin, man-like men in the tuxedos. When Zee was talking about the creepy men on the street, something in her brain had stood at attention, and her stomach rose in her belly.
She could close her eyes and picture those men, just as he had described—the strange, old tuxedos; the grayish-white skin; the freakishly chapped lips. She had seen those men before.
But where?
An involuntary shiver ran through Charlotte. That thing in her brain started to dance around urgently. She regarded her cousin carefully.
“You think I’m barmy?” muttered Zee.
Slowly Charlotte shook her head. “No,” she mumbled. “I don’t think you’re nuts.”
And that left only one option….
Could he really be telling the truth?
Charlotte chewed on her lips. Her stomach was still floating around in her belly, and her skin felt prickly. She couldn’t get the afterimage of those man-like men out of her mind. She looked up at her cousin, who was regarding her closely. His eyes were big, and for a moment he seemed very small. They looked at each other for a while, saying nothing. Zee gulped.
“So,” he said in a whisper, “do you believe me?”
The words hung in the air. Charlotte couldn’t help but notice how desperate he sounded. “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. She closed her eyes. She shuddered. “Maybe?”
Zee exhaled loudly. “Okay. Okay,” he said. “If you want, well, I know a way…I could prove it to you.”
Charlotte ducked into her room to pick up what they would need, and then she and Zee walked down the stairs together as quietly as they could. Charlotte knew a confrontation with her mother was inevitable, but she still held out hope that the world was a magical, wonderful place where she could sneak in and out of the house without her mother even noticing.
“Charlotte?”
Alas, the world was not such a place.
“Mom?” Charlotte called innocently. She and Zee froze by the coat closet. Bartholomew, who had followed them downstairs, started running back and forth along the front hallway.
“What are you doing?” Mrs. Mielswetzski’s voice carried in from the living room. Charlotte glanced at Zee.
“We’re going out!” she said brightly.
“Oh, are we?”
Charlotte sighed as she heard footsteps approach. Her mother stood in front of them, hands on hips. “And just where do you think you’re going?” she said in her very motherly way. Bartholomew started batting at her ankles.
Charlotte’s eyes grew wide. “We have to give Maddy her homework. Zee wanted to come with.” This is what made Charlotte a good liar; she was quick thinking, earnest, and remorseless. In fact, she was at her most sincere when she was lying. Her parents still hadn’t caught on.
“Oh, did he?” Mrs. Mielswetzski gazed at Zee, and then back at Charlotte, in her I know this is all your fault kind of way.
“Mom, he’s fine. He said he was feeling much better.” Charlotte elbowed Zee in the kidneys.
“Um, yes, Aunt Tara,” he added quickly. “I could really do with some exercise. I feel much better, but I really need some fresh air.”
Charlotte exhaled. He had said just the right thing. Her mother was a great believer in fresh air.
Indeed, Mrs. Mielswetzski visibly relaxed. “All right,” she said. “Just…be careful. Bundle up.”
“Mom! It’s really warm.”
“Charlotte, there’s something going around. You’re lucky I’m letting you out of the house.”
“Bundling up’s not going to help,” Charlotte muttered, glancing at Zee. She grabbed her coat.
Mrs. Mielswetzski had not heard. “I’m sure I’m going to regret this. I’ve never heard of them canceling school,” she sighed. “You be careful out there. And your father says dinner’s in an hour. Don’t be late. And Charlotte?”
“Yes?”
Her mother’s expression softened. “You’re nice to help your friend. Tell Maddy I hope she feels better soon.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Charlotte smiled a little.
But her mom wasn’t looking at her anymore. “What is that cat doing?”
Charlotte and Zee turned to look. Bartholomew was standing directly in front of the front door, staring at Charlotte and Zee. Her tail had puffed out to twice its size, and a low growling sound was emanating from somewhere deep within her. Charlotte and Zee took a step toward her and the growling grew louder. She backed up against the door and starting hissing.
“See?” Mrs. Mielswetzski said, laughing a little. “Even the kitten doesn’t want you to go out.”
Eyes wide, Charlotte approached Bartholomew, picked up the hissing, growling, scratching, puffy hell beast, and gingerly set her aside.
Charlotte had not been completely lying to her mother; they were going to Maddy’s house. She had been truthful about the destination of their visit, if not the reason, the best lies having some truth to them, and all.
The cousins walked along in silence in the cooling evening air, while Charlotte mused further on Zee’s story. It did sound crazy, but who was to say there weren’t weird, creepy, tuxed
o-wearing shadow thieves wandering around? It was possible. Anything’s possible.
And, of course, Uncle John and Aunt Suzanne’s reaction was so classic. Her parents would have sent her into therapy too. It would just never occur to them that he might actually be telling the truth.
And if it was true, none of them, neither the Millers nor the Mielswetzskis, were going to be any help at all. Which was so typical.
“Now,” Charlotte said when they got to the Rubys’ door, “let me do the talking.”
Zee coughed a little. Charlotte rang the doorbell.
Mrs. Ruby answered the door, looking even more tired than before. “Charlotte? Hello. Come on in.”
“Hi, Mrs. Ruby,” Charlotte said. “I wanted to give Maddy today’s homework. Oh, this is my cousin Zee.”
Zee stiffened and stuck out his arm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Mrs. Ruby blinked and shook his hand formally. “And you, Zee.”
“He’s from England,” Charlotte explained. “How’s Maddy?”
“Oh, well…I’m sure she’ll be better soon.” Mrs. Ruby smiled thinly. Mrs. Ruby was not a very good liar. Charlotte’s stomach turned.
Maddy’s room was the same dark, cold place it had been when Charlotte last saw it, and Maddy looked just as lifeless as she had before. She smiled at Charlotte, but she didn’t even lift her head, and for a moment Charlotte forgot why they had come.
“Hi, Maddy,” Charlotte said softly, sitting down next to her friend. “Are you okay?” It was so dark in the room she could barely see her face.
Maddy shrugged.
Charlotte leaned in. “What’s wrong ?”
Maddy’s eyes grew into small, round moons. “I’m just so tired,” she said weakly.
“It’s okay, Maddy,” she said softly, grabbing her friend’s hand. “You’ll get better.”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes traveled to Zee, who was standing in the back of the room. “Oh!…Hi…”
In the sickbed moment Charlotte had almost forgotten the reason for their trip, but at the reminder of Zee’s presence in the room everything came flooding back to her. She stiffened, then said, too brightly, “Zee’s here…he wanted to say hi.”
“Oh!” Maddy said, casting a You should have warned me look at Charlotte. She moved, as if to sit up.
“No, it’s all right.” Zee stepped forward anxiously. “Don’t…don’t. I just wanted to say…I hope you feel better.”
“So,” Charlotte interjected breezily, “I’ve got your homework. Mr. Metos said you don’t have to worry about the rest of the unit, isn’t that nice? And do you know there’s no school all week? So you won’t be missing anything. Cool, huh? With the long weekend, that makes a whole week off. You’ll be back in school with the rest of us on Wednesday. Then you can get back to helping me with my math.” Charlotte smiled limply, while Zee stepped back into the shadows. Meanwhile, Maddy had faded into her pillows.
“Hey, um, Maddy?” Charlotte said tentatively. “Can we ask you something?”
“Yeah?”
“When you were walking home on Monday, you know, when you got sick? Did anything, um, happen?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, you know…did you see anything…weird? Or…anyone?” Charlotte eyed her friend carefully.
Maddy shook her head. “No. No,” she whispered. “I was just walking, and I don’t know. I must have fainted or something. I was fine, and then I woke up on the ground. I could barely get home.”
“And that’s all?”
“Well…just about…”
“What else?” Charlotte leaned in. Zee, too, stepped forward.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s crazy. I just had this weird feeling. Like…” She didn’t have to continue. Charlotte knew exactly what she was going to say, and her brain formed the words just as Maddy said them—Like I was being watched.
There was a knock on the door, and then Mrs. Ruby opened it slightly. Abeam of light invaded the room, and Maddy visibly winced. “Charlotte? Honey, I think we should let Maddy rest now.”
“Okay, Mrs. Ruby,” Charlotte said. “I just need to show her something in the math homework.”
“Well…” She entered the room, and Zee stepped back farther. “Charlotte, maybe now isn’t the best time.”
“It’s really important,” Charlotte said. “We’ll just be another minute.”
“It’s okay, Mom,” said Maddy quietly.
Mrs. Ruby sighed. “Okay, Charlotte. I’ll be back up in one minute.” She shook her head and then left.
Charlotte and Zee exchanged a look. Charlotte was beginning to feel very sweaty. Maddy murmured, “Anyway, Char, we can wait on the math….”
“No, no,” Charlotte said, reaching into her pocket. “It’s not math. I just wanted to give you some pictures of Bartholomew…I thought they might make you feel better.”
“Oh!” Maddy said. “Yeah! Let me see….” Charlotte held the pictures up to her friend, heart in her throat. “Zee, would you mind bringing over that lamp?” She motioned to the bedside table. “It should reach.”
Zee moved quickly over to the table. Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut. She heard the sound of her cousin clicking on the lamp and then moving it toward them. She felt the beam of the light on her. Maddy started cooing over the pictures, and Charlotte slowly opened her eyes. She knew exactly what she would see; she had known all along. There were shadows from the photos, from Zee, and from Charlotte, but Maddy cast no shadow at all.
On the way home Charlotte and Zee walked close together through the dusk, talking in whispers. Zee seemed strangely relaxed; Charlotte supposed it helped that someone believed him finally. Charlotte was not relaxed at all, not one bit. Her mouth tasted sour, her stomach was burning, and her heart had expanded to six times its normal size. She shook her head.
“I don’t understand,” Charlotte said.
“Neither do I, really,” said Zee.
“Why would someone take kids’ shadows?”
“I don’t know,” said Zee.
“And why would it make everyone so sick? I mean, it’s just…a shadow. It’s not real. Is it?”
“I don’t know,” said Zee.
“Maybe they are real. I mean, how can you take them if they’re not real?”
“I don’t know,” said Zee.
“But that’s really weird,” said Charlotte. “I mean, even if they are real, why would you want them?”
“I don’t know,” said Zee.
“I mean, it’s obviously something evil. It has to be.”
“I don’t know,” said Zee.
“And why are they following you? I mean, they clearly are.”
“I don’t know,” said Zee.
“And what would they want with shadows, anyway?”
Zee stopped. He turned and looked at Charlotte. “Look,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. A long time. Constantly. And I just don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense. I can’t figure it out, and I don’t see any way to figure it out. But”—he stepped closer and looked her in the eyes—“that doesn’t matter. There’s only one thing that matters.”
“What’s that?” Charlotte asked.
“How are we going to save everyone?”
Charlotte blinked. She had nothing to say to that.
“We’re the only ones who know what’s going on,” Zee continued. “And no one will believe us. Something really bad is happening, and we need to stop it and we need to save everyone. Or”—he shrugged—“at least I do.” He appraised her.
Charlotte still didn’t speak. She felt distinctly like vomiting.
“Anyway.” Zee started walking again. “This has got something to do with me. It’s my responsibility. And I might be immune. For some reason they’re not attacking me. I don’t know why. I was the only one who didn’t get sick in Exeter and in London, wasn’t I? Of course, that doesn’t mean…”
“What?” Charlotte said.
“Well…??
? He looked at her frankly. “I don’t know whether or not they would attack you.”
“Oh.” Charlotte contemplated this for a moment. It sounded quite unpleasant. She bit her lip.
“Hey,” Zee said suddenly. “Did you hear something?”
She hadn’t. Something else had occured to her. “You know,” she said slowly, “those guys. The men. I think I’ve dreamed about them.”
“What?” Zee exclaimed. He stopped and stared at her.
“I swear. When you mentioned them before. It sounded so familiar. And I’ve just figured it out. I’ve dreamed about them.”
“Like, how?”
“I think…they were sucking me into the earth.” She shuddered. “Like Persephone.”
“Sorry?”
“Oh. English. Greek myths. We were doing the underworld before you got here. We were talking about how Hades kidnaps Persephone and makes her his queen, and I guess I dreamed about that.”
“Weird!” He thought for a minute. “So you were having a dream about something you were talking about in English, and those men were in it.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe they have the power to work their way into normal dreams?”
“Maybe,” said Charlotte.
“I dream about doors,” Zee added offhandedly.
“Doors?”
“All the time. I’m always opening doors. It could be—” Zee stopped and looked around again. “There. You didn’t hear anything?”
“No,” said Charlotte.
Zee leaned in. “Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s go home.”
And then Charlotte did hear something. Something sibilant and sneaky, something creepy and close. Her stomach dropped into her intestines. And she felt something too, something shadowy and sinister. Her skin began to prickle….
“Zee!” she exclaimed.
“Run!”
But it was too late. There, right in front of them, were two man-like men, with gray-white skin and dead-looking yellow eyes set in a face like a skeleton’s. Charlotte screamed, and the men smiled and bowed—and if you asked Charlotte, that was the creepiest part of all.