Nadya Skylung and the Masked Kidnapper Read online

  The swing reaches the second floor, and I grab the crutches and start moving. Tam runs down the stairs and catches up. “What? How?”

  “On the Panpathia,” I say. We’re coming up on the room where the windows are now, and not knowing is killing me. Raj sits calmly at the end of the table, his hand rising and falling mechanically as he sips his tea, facing the window and staring at the sunset on the glass face of the building across the street.

  When we get to the table, I slow down. I don’t want to startle Raj. He looks like he’s thinking hard. I open my mouth, then close it, looking for the right words.

  “Hello, Nadya,” he says. “Hello, Tam.” He takes a deep breath, then lets it out. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Thanks,” I mumble. “Raj. I’m sorry. Are you . . . are you all right?”

  Raj lifts the cup again. His hand shakes. Slowly, he lowers it. “No,” he says. “I don’t think I am.”

  My heart turns into lead and falls through my feet, past the floor, and all the way to the bottom of Gossner’s tower.

  “You were touched by the Malumbra once, weren’t you?” Raj asks.

  Shaking, I nod. I slide into the chair next to him, and Tam follows my lead. My arms feel limp, like cables someone just took all the tension out of. “Yeah,” I say. “When I was looking for Mrs. T’s mind on the Remora, before we boarded it.”

  He sips his tea, sets it back down. “What did it feel like?”

  I swallow. “Like fingers of ice, creeping over my head from the back of my skull. And then my body started doing things on its own.”

  Raj shudders, and his shoulders slump. “I was afraid of that.” He stares sadly into his tea.

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “I could feel him coming toward me, but I needed to keep giving you directions, so I stayed on the web until I could see him, and then I stayed longer. When he reached me, I tried to transform myself and fight, but . . .” He waves limply at the window. “It didn’t work. I couldn’t envision myself as anything strong enough to beat him. Have you seen him, on the Panpathia?”

  I nod, trembling. That spider. Huge fangs. Giant eyes. Legs as big as the steel columns holding up Gossner’s tower.

  Raj takes another sip of tea. “Then you know how terrible he is. How could any of us face a monster that size? If he’s just one of the Malumbra’s servants, no wonder the Roof of the World fell.” He puts his face in his hands. “What will I tell Dhruv?”

  I don’t know who Dhruv is. His husband? His business partner? His brother? His son? I’ve put him in so much danger, without even thinking about his life and the people who rely on him. He has a whole crew. What’ll happen to the Golden Dawn now? What will happen to him? “I’m sorry, Raj,” I blubber. “I should’ve listened, I . . .”

  He waves my apology away. “Thank you, Nadya, but you’re a child, and I am not. I will take responsibility for my own foolishness. We should never have put you in such danger. Our first duty is to live, and live richly, not to save the world.”

  Those words hurt, worse than I think he imagines. He means them to make me feel better, but all they do is make me feel tiny and afraid and even more like I messed up. “Maybe I can help,” I say numbly. “Aaron burned the shadow out of me. Maybe he could burn it out of you too.”

  Raj shakes his head. “Thank you, but Aaron isn’t here. And I’ve no idea how we’ll ever find him.”

  I can’t stand this. Raj’s hand shakes again, and he puts it in his lap.

  “Nadya, I think we should go,” Tam whispers.

  I keep staring at Raj, thinking about what he said.

  “Nadya,” Tam whispers again, and he tugs on my sleeve.

  I let him lead me away. “We can’t let it end like this,” I say.

  He looks at me sadly. “What else can we do, Nadya? This was the best plan we had.”

  “I don’t know. But we have to do something. We can’t just let him turn into a Shadowman or whatever’s about to happen! He helped me!”

  Tam takes a deep breath, and after a second, he nods. “Okay,” he says, “but what do we do?”

  I’m just starting to turn my mind to that problem when Pepper runs toward us from the staircase. “Hey,” she says, panting. When she sees Tam and me, she looks like she’s just been punched in the gut, but she presses on anyway, pushing a big wave of hair out of her face. “Have you guys seen Tian Li and Salyeh? Everybody else is back, but nobody knows where they are.”

  * * *

  • • •

  It’s pandemonium again for a few hours. The sun goes down, and Salyeh and Tian Li still aren’t back. Rash gets in his glider and takes word out to the Dawnrunners. Nic and Thom contact the police and give descriptions and their last known whereabouts. Salyeh apparently never showed up to his ambush crew. I was the last person to see Tian Li.

  “Do you think they were kidnapped?” I ask Nic as we pore over a map, marking all the places we’ve searched for them. Outside, darkness is falling over the city like a blanket of pitch-black silk, and the electric lights are winking on.

  Nic frowns over my shoulder toward Gossner’s private workshop, where Raj is secluded. Raj said he didn’t want to be around anyone else so he couldn’t pass the shadow to them. “I don’t know,” Nic says softly. “I hope not.”

  I put my head in my hands. This is a nightmare. Raj is sick with the Malumbra’s shadow, Tian Li and Salyeh are missing, and we’re no closer to finding Aaron and rescuing everybody than we were this morning. Our whole plan was a complete disaster, and then when it went wrong, I screwed up and made things even worse.

  I’m staring at the floor, flexing my residual limb and feeling for the first time in a while like maybe I deserve the aches and pains in my missing foot, when shouting starts up downstairs.

  Everybody around the table—Nic, Thom, Gossner, me, Pep, Tam, Rash, and Alé—jumps up. Fast as an otter darting after a fish, Gossner scoots to the edge of the platform, where she can see the door.

  “They’re back,” she says breathlessly. “It’s them.”

  I feel like I might just fall into pieces, so I flop back into my chair and tilt my head toward the ceiling. I’m not much for praying, but I don’t mind thanking Goshend, or his daughter, or whoever else might be responsible, for this one.

  A few minutes later they’re walking up to us, beaming. Tian Li’s flushed and practically bouncing, and Salyeh’s got a grin a mile wide on his face.

  “We did it,” Tian Li says. “We know where their base is.”

  My heart vaults into my throat.

  “What?” Tam sputters, slapping a hand to his head. “Ha—how?”

  Salyeh takes a deep, satisfied breath. “It was Tian Li’s plan. I ditched my ambush team, since I swore never to hurt anybody, and met up with her a few blocks away from Gossner’s tower. We looked at a map this afternoon and figured out there’s really just one bridge between the area where we set the ambushes and Bleak Forest, so we thought we’d be able to tail the Shadowmen from there if they gave up or something went wrong.”

  Tian Li walks triumphantly up to the map Nic and I were working on. “And that’s just what happened. A little after the ambushes were supposed to take place, we saw a whole convoy of Shadowmen headed across the bridge like their tails were on fire. We heard sirens from the riverwalk, so we figured something had gone wrong and followed the cars.” She plunks her finger down on an intersection. “This is where they went. Arachnya House. Corner of Fifty-Second Avenue and Timberline Street.”

  Nic takes his glasses out of his pocket and puts them on. He looks at the intersection, then peers at Salyeh and Tian Li, shaking his head. “You two shouldn’t have put yourselves in danger like that.” Thom, behind him, nods vigorously, and Tian Li’s grin fades.

  “But we did it,” she protests. “We—”

  “I know.” Nic
takes her hand and squeezes it. “And given everything else that happened today, I am so very glad you did.” He pulls her into a hug, then does the same with Salyeh. “But I want both of you to promise, next time you think of an improvement to our plans, that you will tell us, rather than just going off on your own.”

  Salyeh, looking a little sheepish, nods. Tian Li just laughs. “Fair,” she says. Then, after a second, she frowns. “What do you mean, ‘everything else that happened today’?”

  “I screwed up,” I say. I put my head in my hands again. “And now Raj is sick and we have to get Aaron back soon or he might not ever get better.”

  Tian Li’s eyebrows huddle. “How . . . ?”

  Nic clears his throat. “We’ll fill you in later.” He looks down at me and sighs. “For now, I think we’re all long overdue for some food. Machinist Gossner, would you mind if we troubled you a little longer?”

  Gossner smiles. “I’d love to host you.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Dinner ought to be delicious. I worked my tail off today, and I haven’t eaten anything since lunch. But I can barely bring myself to touch the food. I eat mechanically, putting down half a sausage and a bit of salad with some kind of sesame oil dressing on it, then a couple pieces of fruit. Tam watches me the whole time with a big frown. He tries to talk to me, but I don’t even remember the conversation by the time dinner’s over. All I can think about is Raj getting sicker and sicker alone in Gossner’s private workshop, and how in the world we’re going to get Aaron back and save him.

  As we’re getting our beds ready—the whole Orion crew is sleeping down by the workshop boilers, where enormous columns of flame get piped up from the fire spirit under the city to create steam—Tian Li finally corners me and asks what’s wrong.

  “I told you,” I say miserably. “Raj is sick. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

  She squints at me. “But we know where Silvermask is now. All we have to do is get the police to go after him. That’s where Nic and Thom are right now. It’s practically over!”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think the police will do it.”

  Everybody goes quiet. The crew, plus Alé and Rash who’re down here chatting with us, all turn to face me. But I’ve been running this over in my head all night, and I’m pretty sure I know what’s gonna happen. “Look,” I say, “we think Silvermask was in charge of the pirates, right?” Everybody nods. “And the pirates had an agent in the Far Agondy customs inspectors. Why would they stop there? If they could get somebody in the customs office, why not the police? I bet that’s why none of these crimes have been solved and the police seem demoralized. Somebody, high up, must be stopping them from doing their jobs.”

  Alé shuffles her feet. “We’ve thought the same thing before,” she says quietly. Then she looks up. “But maybe we’re wrong. Maybe if the evidence is good enough—”

  The doors to Gossner’s workshop open, and we crane our heads toward the receiving area. It’s Thom and Nic. And they don’t look happy.

  CHAPTER 17

  IN WHICH NADYA FEELS AN UNEXPECTED GLIMMER OF HOPE.

  “It’s just like I thought,” I mutter after Thom and Nic explain what happened. They went to the police station, and the detective assigned to our case referred them to his captain, who dragged her feet through the whole thing. First they had to wait an hour, then they had to sign a bunch of paperwork. Then the captain said she’d need more evidence, because she’d have to get a warrant from a judge who’d want something more solid than the word of two kids. Then she spent twenty minutes scolding Thom and Nic for doing anything on their own, and especially for involving kids in a case about kidnappings. She said if it was up to her she’d have them both locked up for child endangerment, and that if she got word that any of us kids were doing anything like this ever again, she’d see to it we never got to come back to Far Agondy.

  Nic looks pretty shaken. Thom paces by the boilers like a scorpion somebody poked with a stick. Gossner’s down with us, watching the flames and drinking a glass of something golden, thinking. Everybody else just seems kind of shocked, flopped on chairs or the old couches down here. They were so sure that the police would help us. I think most of the police probably would if they could, but their hands are tied, and we need to find a way to untie them.

  I’ve been thinking about it too, and I might just have a way.

  “I can talk to Alan Salawag,” I say. Everybody looks up, and I try to sit still and look impressive but I can’t, so I bounce my leg on the floor while I explain. “He said I could come visit the gormling, right? So they’ll let me in. And while I’m visiting I can tell him everything that’s happened. He’s, like, one down from the top muckety-muck in the city. So he must have some pull with the police. And if I can get him to help, maybe he can unstick things for us. Maybe he can overrule whoever Silvermask has in the police force.”

  Thom crosses his arms. “It’s too risky, Nadya. We need to keep you here. Silvermask will be waiting to capture you.”

  I bounce faster. “I know, but what if we go by glider? We can just go roof to front door, no time on the streets, no sliding on the zip lines, no way for them to nab us.”

  Nic rubs his temples a few times, then looks at Rash, who sucks his teeth. “I could show her the way,” Rash says. “It’s not too hard a flight to City Hall from here. Just two thermals, and they’re easy to ride. Goss?”

  Gossner takes a deep breath and rolls the golden liquid in her glass around. “Up to you all,” she says. “I’ll lift my ban on guests using the gliders for this, but it’s still your risk to take. I can’t promise you it’ll work.”

  “I want to come too,” Tam says.

  “No, me!” Pep chimes in.

  “I’m the one who found the place!” Tian Li says.

  “We found it,” Salyeh says, raising an eyebrow at her. “And I want to go too.”

  Gossner shakes her head and holds up a finger. “Just one. Rash, you can take Nadya and somebody from the Orion’s crew. I’m still not letting you drag anybody else from the workshop into this. And Alé, before you even start, you’re not flying a glider with that bad ankle.” She looks apologetically at Nic and Thom. “Sorry, but my duty’s to the kids who live here first, and others second.”

  Alé crosses her arms and glares daggers at Gossner. I bet she’s trying to think of a way to sneak out with us anyway, but I doubt it’ll work. I’m sure Gossner will be up watching when we launch tomorrow.

  “One person,” Gossner repeats, and she walks off toward her private workshop. “You can tell me who in the morning. Now I’m off to check on Raj and then go to bed.”

  That leaves us with Thom and Nic to convince. Nic scratches his head, then looks at me seriously. “Nadya,” he says. “I won’t try to stop you. I think it’s pretty clear that Gossner’s approach to protecting her kids isn’t going to work with my crew. But I want you to think very carefully about this. You’ll be putting Rashid at risk, and possibly somebody else as well. Is it worth it? Do you really think Alan will help us? He’s not always reliable.”

  I take a deep breath and remember his smile, his handshake. He seemed so concerned about the pirates, and he promised to give us a bonus, plus he said he wished he could do more.

  “It’s our best shot, Nic.” I look over at Rash. “City Hall’s guarded like a fortress, right?”

  Rash nods.

  “So as long as we get there in one piece, we’ll be totally safe. And I’m sure I can handle one of these gliders.”

  Nic sighs. “Then I suppose you have my blessing. Thom?”

  Thom scowls. The fire under the boilers behind him flickers and flares. “I want to be there when you talk to Alan. I’ll head out before you in the morning and we can rendezvous at the building entrance.”

  Nic nods. “Excellent idea, Thom. Are we agreed, then?”

&nb
sp; Thom gives me a long, hard look. Little muscles under his eyes and around his mouth twitch. “I guess.” Everybody’s watching him, and he taps his foot softly a few times, then clears his throat. “I want to apologize to all of you,” he says. “We never meant to involve you in this struggle so soon. Nic has always waited to tell his crews about the Roof of the World and the mission of the Diaspora until they’re grown. I didn’t find out till I was eighteen and leaving the Orion for my first posting on another cloudship. ‘Go see the world,’ Nic said, ‘and if what you see convinces you that this is a threat worth fighting, come back and I’ll find a way for you to help.’” He shakes his head. “You all never got that option. The fight came to you. And I’m damn sorry for it.”

  I nearly topple over. Thom almost never curses, and when he does, it’s usually at an inanimate object when he thinks nobody can hear him. It’s really weird to hear him do it in front of us, on purpose.

  “Well said,” Nic echoes. He looks toward Gossner’s private workshop, where we can see her chatting with a morose- looking Raj. “So I’ll offer that choice now. If any of you wants to leave, then you may do so with my blessing. I can find you a place on a safer ship. Or,” he says, nodding at Rash and Alé, “I can find you an apprenticeship in a different city, since it may no longer be safe for you here. Think on it. The door is always open.”

  He looks around at us. Everybody’s sitting quietly. “Now,” he says, “I think Thom and I should retire as well. I hope you’ll all get some sleep tonight. I suspect tomorrow will be a big day.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Nobody wants to leave. Salyeh says the world is Goshend’s jewel, and worth defending. Tian Li says her plans to fix T’an Gaban don’t mean much if it’s full of Shadowmen. Tam says he’s not running away because he’s scared anymore. Only Pep seems a little unsure, staring at the floor and kicking her feet, but she tells us we’re her family and she’ll never abandon us. Rash and Alé just laugh and say we’re stuck with them. They’ve been fighting Silvermask longer than we have.