Ivy: Daughter of Alice Read online

His face lit up when he saw me, and he skirted around the counter to fold me into an embrace so tight that he lifted me off the ground and spun me in a circle.

  “So good to see you!” he said as he put me down, still grinning from ear-to-ear. “When I sought help the other night…, I began.

  Chesh looked like he’d swallowed something sour. He grasped my hands, shaking them as his eyes filled with tears. He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Pearl told me you were fine. I can see for myself that you are as beautiful as ever.” He leaned forward as though sharing a secret. “I came back for you, but you’d disappeared.”

  I pulled my hands out of his, uncomfortable as the conversation brought back the memories of the attack. Raven and the people in the tunnels had consumed my thoughts for most of the day.

  “I’m fine,” I said, even as I touched my throat, where the vampire had almost bitten me.

  Chesh’s face split into a relieved grin. “Excellent.” He tugged my hands. “In that case, come and see what I’ve been doing since the last time I saw you.”

  I let him lead me into the workshop at the back. “Though your absence left a hole in my life, I haven’t been idle.” He winked at me. “In fact, I’ve made modifications to the steam bikes that will lengthen their range.”

  “Are you taking me for another ride?”

  “No,” Chesh replied, but his eyes brightened when he came to stand next to the hover vehicle he’d shown me the last time I’d visited his workshop. “I had a breakthrough!”

  He put his goggles on, then stood on the metal plate of the hover, gripping the handles with both hands. “I think I’ve got it working.”

  The hover whizzed and hummed as it lifted. His grin grew wider as the vehicle hovered about a foot off the ground.

  I held my breath and watched, waiting for something to go wrong.

  “Don’t give me that look, Ivy. This time, I’ve done it,” he said. “It’s all about the weight distribution. Last time, it was hovering before I stepped on. This time—”

  The machine vibrated so that Chesh gripped so hard to the handles that his knuckles turned white. Before he could step off, it belched black smoke, then shot another foot up into the air, before crashing back onto the floor, with Chesh tumbling down beside it.

  I winced, then held a hand out to my friend. “Are you all right?”

  He sighed, then crouched to peer at what now looked like a harmless piece of bent-up metal.

  “It was an improvement, right?” he asked, his expression hopeful.

  I shrugged one shoulder. “You were in the air for longer this time.”

  “That’s right.” Chesh grinned, then ran a finger over the machine as his expression sobered. “I can’t work out why it’s doing this. After the last time, I pulled it apart, replaced the broken cylinder head—the cause of the explosion. I can’t tell why the cylinder head came off…” He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end.

  I nodded, but as Chesh talked about the machine, I remembered the events of the previous night again.

  Every time I thought about the Thackery family, now living in the tunnels underneath the city, I flushed with shame. Raven hadn’t blamed me for putting the Thackery’s into poverty, but I felt responsible for their current circumstances. How many other people had I condemned to such a life? The guilt gnawed at me. Raven said I could help people by helping him, but how could I betray Alice? What would Raven and the white rabbit do to her if I passed along the information they wanted? Alice spent her life working for the good of our citizens. It wasn’t fair to put her in danger for something that wasn’t her fault.

  I sighed, leaning against the workbench.

  “Did you hear me?” Chesh frowned in concentration.

  I blinked, trying to remember what we’d been talking about.

  Chesh stood, putting one hand on the hover as he turned to face me. “Come on, I know you know what’s wrong with it. Just tell me.”

  “You’ll regret it,” I warned. “You said you wanted to fix it yourself. Give yourself some time to work it out.”

  “If you don’t want to do this, then don’t let me keep you,” Chesh said. He folded his arms across his chest, and I could tell my inattention annoyed him.

  “I was just thinking,” I murmured.

  Chesh raised an eyebrow. “That much was obvious. I assume you’re not consumed by ways of getting this heap of junk to work?” He threw a rag at the hover. “What have you been working on then?”

  “Why do you ask that?”

  “Whenever you have that expression on your face, you’re trying to figure out a puzzle—usually related to a machine, or a clock. Which is it?”

  “Neither—though it is a puzzle.”

  “Are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?”

  “Do you remember the reason we returned to the Spades Quarter?”

  Chesh frowned, shaking his head.

  “To buy a hat for Pearl—remember?”

  Chesh shrugged.

  “I went back to the hat shop.”

  The blood drained from Chesh’s face. “By yourself? What were you thinking?”

  I held up my hands to placate him. “I’m fine, Chesh. I…” I hesitated, wondering how much to tell him. Then I scolded myself. He was my best friend. We didn’t keep things from each other. “Do you remember going to The Tea Party last week? Someone left me a card. I saw him again—it turns out he’s a milliner who owns that hat shop. So, I visited him—”

  “Only a vampire would have a shop in the Spades Quarter,” Chesh said. “Please don’t tell me this chap is a vampire.”

  I shrugged one shoulder.

  Chesh started shaking his head. “No hat could be so beautiful that you should risk your life for it. Pearl wouldn’t want a hat if you bought it with your life, no matter how lovely.”

  “I wasn’t in danger,” I replied.

  “A thirsty vampire attacked you in the Spades Quarter only days ago,” Chesh’s eyes flashed. “I’m your friend, and I’ve roamed this city with you, gone to bars and parties with you, but I’m telling you now that you cannot wander around in the vampire quarter at night. Not by yourself—and I’m not going there again. Not after last time.”

  “That’s not what I was trying to tell you,” I said, frustrated that Chesh wasn’t listening. “The gentleman—”

  “The blood-sucking vampire,” Chesh interrupted.

  I pursed my lips. “The gentleman showed me—”

  “You went somewhere with him?” Chesh slammed his hand on the bench. “Honestly, Ivy, you’re smarter than this. I’ve never known you to lose your senses over a man, no matter how handsome he was. Now you’re following a vampire around—”

  “I’m not following him around. This is not about his looks. You’re not listening to me—”

  “No, and I refuse to listen to any more of this nonsense. Promise me you won’t do anything so stupid ever again.”

  I glared at Chesh, lifting my chin. “You’re my friend. Not my keeper.”

  Chesh hesitated a moment, his eyes flashing. “If you don’t promise to stay away from the vampire quarter, I’ll… I’ll tell your mother. Everything.”

  My mouth went dry as I took in Chesh’s words. I reeled back, as though physically struck by his words. Chesh’s face fell, and he took a step forward, reaching out for me. I stepped back again, and he stopped, still out of reach. “I only want the best for you. If you can’t see how dangerous he is…”

  I spun around and marched out of the shop.

  I stood outside the Emporium, clenching my fists into the fabric of my skirts. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then exhaled.

  Chesh can’t stop me. I’m an adult. I’ll go wherever I like whenever I like.

  My furious thoughts were crowded out by the memory of Alice’s words, ringing in my head like a bell: “I’d prefer it if you didn’t wander the city at night. You’re a grown woman, but you are still my daughter.”

  I let
my chin fall to my chest as the breath went out of my resistance. If I visited Raven again, I’d not only be out at night, against Alice’s wishes, but I might also have to give up information about my mother. Then there was the strange pull that I still felt toward Raven. I felt torn in two—I didn’t want to betray Alice or cause her to worry, but I couldn’t stay away from Raven either.

  And then there was the puzzle of the white rabbit. Raven might know the answer, and I needed to solve it.

  The door swung open behind me.

  “Ivy?” Chesh laid a hand on my shoulder.

  I hesitated before turning to stare up into his green eyes, which lacked their usual brightness. One of his dimples sunk deeper as he gave me a rueful expression. He turned the wrench he was still holding over and over in his hands.

  “I’m not apologizing,” I said when he said nothing.

  The rueful smile dropped away, and Chesh’s expression was serious again. “Nor I.”

  “I’m not a child. I’m not your child.”

  “I don’t think of you as a child,” Chesh said. “You’re a woman. You’re… my friend. I care about you. I can’t ignore it when I see you doing something—”

  I held up my hand. “I’m not arguing with you. You’ve made your point.”

  Chesh shook his head. I bunched my fists in my skirts again, expecting another argument. I prepared to launch into my defense. This time it was Chesh who held up his hand to stop.

  “At least, tell me you’ve heard my opinion, and you’ll think about it.”

  I pursed my lips, reluctantly nodding. At that, Chesh smiled, producing his dimples again. He winked.

  “In that case, let’s not talk about this anymore. I don’t want to fight with you.”

  I nodded, then turned to walk home.

  “Wait a moment,” Chesh ducked back inside the store, and when he came out again, he’d left his wrench inside, and put on a tweed coat over his shirt and vest. He wore a bowler hat on his head.

  “Let me walk you home?”

  “I don’t need—”

  Chesh rolled his eyes. “I know you don’t, but I like to spend time with you, and it is my pleasure to accompany my lady to her place of residence.”

  I laughed, rolling my eyes at him, but we fell into step as we walked the well-trodden streets toward the Palace.

  We wandered at a dawdle. In the background, the clock’s ticking was an unrelenting sound. I let my eyes and my thoughts wander.

  We were coming around a corner when a metallic scraping noise from above drew my attention upward. I sheltered my eyes from the sunlight that was still peeping over the rooftops as it made its afternoon descent to notice what I’d always thought were nothing more than metal decorations along the rooflines of the buildings.

  “What are you looking at?” Chesh asked, touching my hand.

  “Do you see that?”

  Chesh peered up, squinting as he did so. “What am I looking at?”

  “The decorations on the roof there—look! They’re moving.”

  “So they are,” Chesh murmured.

  “They appear to be cogs,” I said, shifting position so that the glare of the sun didn’t impede my vision.

  “On a rooftop?” Chesh shook his head, looking away. “It’s just a trick of the light,” he said, taking my arm.

  I let him lead me away but looked up at the cogs on the rooftop again. It was no optical illusion—they were moving—but why would anyone put cogs on the tops of the roofs?

  I tripped over a loose cobblestone, and Chesh caught my arm to stop me from falling.

  “Thank you,” I murmured. Chesh patted my hand.

  When I regained my balance, I glimpsed a painting of the white rabbit, appearing to peer out from behind a cart selling flowers. I stopped, staring at it, wondering if it was taunting me.

  “Are you looking at those flowers?” Chesh asked. I blinked. I was facing the flower cart. I started to shake my head, but Chesh was already moving to engage the flower merchant in conversation.

  The cart sold an array of different flowers from all over the Twelve Kingdoms. One was bright, with large petals that looked like someone had thrown purple, orange, and blue paint at them, leaving irregular spots of colors overlapping each other.

  “What would you recommend for a beautiful lady?” Chesh asked the florist. She pointed to a bunch of tulips with a sign that said they were the Queen’s Tulips from the Kingdom of Floris.

  Chesh gave me a sideways glance. The merchant looked over too. “It seems she likes something more unusual,” she said. “That is a Speckled Weeper, a rare native to The Forge that grows along the northern border.”

  “It’s unusual and beautiful,” I murmured, reaching out a finger to stroke the petals.

  “Don’t touch!” the woman snapped, her hand darting out to bat my hand away. I blinked in surprise. “The petals are poisonous,” she explained. “And it’s a flytrap, but it’s got sharp teeth along the rim of the petals that will take half your finger off if you touch it.”

  I stepped away from the plant.

  Chesh gave her a look. “I don’t believe you,” he said.

  The woman raised an eyebrow. “Watch this,” she said. She touched the middle of the large petals with a stick. The Speckled Weeper snapped shut with alarming speed, and with such force that it snapped the twig in half.

  Chesh laughed, his eyes sparkling. “I’ll take it. A present for a beautiful lady who might—if provoked—react with a fury that could leave you without a limb!”

  I rolled my eyes, assuming he was only joking, but when I returned to the Palace, I was the new owner of a Speckled Weeper.

  4

  22nd August

  “Can one overfeed it, do you think?”

  Pearl broke off a small amount of cheese and lobbed it towards the Speckled Weeper. As the cheese made contact, the plant’s petals snapped closed. Pearl shrieked with laughter, as she had the last five or six times she’d done the same thing.

  “What are you doing?” Alice walked into the dining room and sat down to breakfast. It was the first time in a week we’d eaten together.

  “Chesh gave Ivy a man-eating plant,” Pearl said, winking at me. “Isn’t that romantic?”

  I glared at her. “It wasn’t romantic. He doesn’t feel that way about me.”

  “Men only give women flowers when they’re in love with them,” Pearl replied. “They’re always giving me flowers.” She tossed her hair and lobbed another piece of cheese at the Speckled Weeper, then giggled.

  “Stop playing with your food,” Alice glared at her. “Anyone would think you were a child, not a grown woman. You should try being serious now and then. It would do you some good.”

  Pearl rolled her eyes. “You two are both serious enough for the three of us.”

  Alice reached for the bread and cheese when Jack entered with an armful of the day’s newspapers, and a red rose that he held between two fingers.

  “Another rose for you, Madam President,” he said, and nodded towards the vase on a side table that now held about a dozen roses. “Shall I put it with the others?”

  “Is there a note with it?” I asked.

  Jack shook his head, then put the rose into the vase with the others and turned back to Alice.

  “I’ve some urgent matters for your morning briefing, Madam President,” he said, hovering a few steps from the table while eyeing the food.

  “I haven’t even eaten breakfast,” Alice complained. “I suppose you can brief me while I eat.” She glanced at Pearl and me. “You don’t mind, do you, girls?”

  “Yes,” Pearl answered, but Alice silenced her with a glare, then waved at her advisor to get started.

  “Your morning newspaper, Madam President,” Jack said, putting the latest edition of The Forge Hart on the dining table.

  “Just summarize it for me, would you?” Alice asked Jack. “Reading while eating gives one indigestion.”

  When Alice didn’t take the n
ewspaper, I reached over to slide it towards me. Jack eyed me, then turned his attention to Alice. “The Forge Hart is reporting more attacks this morning.”

  I glanced over the front page, which led with an article about the Hearts being sighted again. When I flicked over the page, I noticed an opinion piece speculating about the causes of the return of the Hearts.

  “The editor, Elias Doyle, wrote in his column he thinks the Queen’s return is imminent,” I interrupted, looking up at Alice.

  Alice sat back in her chair and brushed her hair behind her ears. “She’s dead!”

  I remembered what Raven had said about the Queen of Hearts being a vampire. “How do you know, Mother?”

  Alice pursed her lips, giving me a glare that told me not to ask any more questions. Jack hurried on. “More people are locking themselves in their houses and stockpiling food. There’s also been an increase in people reporting their neighbors for esthetic code violations. Our inspectors are rushed off their feet dealing with minor code infractions.”

  “Why?” I asked. Jack looked at me, then back to Alice, as though seeking permission to answer.

  Alice sighed, pushing her food around on her plate, before settling her knife and fork on the porcelain with a tinkling sound.

  “Like this Elias Doyle, people believe the late Queen of Hearts is returning. During her reign, any mark of imperfection was punishable by death. She was very strict about the esthetic code. She chopped off people’s heads in the most severe cases or turned them over to her vampires to feed upon if the infraction was only slight. It terrified people. Now, they’re worried she might come back, so they’re trying to put themselves in a position to deflect attention from themselves. If they accuse someone else of esthetic violations, the Queen’s wrath might not turn on them.”

  “But you don’t believe the Queen is coming back?” I asked.

  Alice glared at me again. “The late Queen,” she corrected. “The dead rarely come back.”

  My Speckled Weeper snapped its petals shut with a loud clicking sound, and Alice and I started at the noise.

  Pearl shrugged when Alice turned to glare at her. “What? You were both starting to sound boring again.”