“A magpie!” I whisper back at them. How silly of me, to be spooked by a bird we know so well! But with my seed’s betrayal, I don’t know what to think of anything anymore. Though I’ve demanded multiple times that Celestia and Elise tell us what really happened in the dining room that day, neither has replied anything useful. Why did my seed have to go without saying as much as good-bye, but then that horrid Captain Ansalov and his soldiers could stay and overtake the old servants’ quarters at the front yard? It makes no sense!
The magpie studies me with its beady eyes. It tilts its head to the right, and behind it, mist rolls in from the lake, the white, light blanket creeping up the hill, toward the house. Soldiers. In the Moon’s soft light, I can see no soldiers patrolling the paths.
“What are you up to?” I ask the magpie. A few pale rays reach out to me, all the way up to the third floor. Yet, Papa’s embrace is lacking, dulled by distance.
The bird hops off the sill. The white-striped wings split the night as it swoops down into the garden. Then it pecks the lush new grass, as if waiting for me. Moon’s light strengthens, and…
I know it then, and I know it for certain. Papa is summoning me. This is the night my sisters and I will finally leave the house. With the magpie waking us up, there’s no doubt about it.
I dash back to Alina, excited. “It’s the witch.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Alina squirms up to sit cross-legged before me, with poor Rafa struggling to stay on her lap. “Did you see her?”
“No.” I frown. That I didn’t. But if I’ve ever been sure of anything, it’s this. With the curtain still partially drawn, I can feel Papa’s call clearer with each heartbeat. “But I’m sure she sent the magpie, and she must have Papa’s blessing.”
“I don’t know…” Alina stares past me at the window. A beam of Moon lights the way there. Rafa and Mufu climb up to her sides, every single muscle tense. They sense this night is different, too. “Should we wake up our sisters?”
Hesitant! Why is she so hesitant when we’re about to finally leave the house! Though we haven’t seen the witch since she first showed up here, she promised to help us. The magpie, however, has checked on us almost every day. It’s her companion, just as Rafa and Mufu are mine. But, as we haven’t told our older sisters about the witch and her promise…
“No.” I firmly walk to the sofa chair, pull my day dress up from the pile of clothing heaped there, and slip it on. Wrong. In the unlikely case that I might be wrong, I don’t want our older sisters to know anything about the witch and the magpie. “Not yet. I’ll go and see if it’s really her. And when it is, I’ll send Rafa back for you.”
“You promise?” Alina’s voice is so frail, her eyes so wide. “You wouldn’t leave me here alone.”
I return to her and my companions and kiss their foreheads in turns. I would never ever abandon any one of them. “I promise.”
A glint of silver draws my eye. The hand mirror shines softly in the Moon’s light, on Alina’s nightstand. I grab it with me, just in case I run into the ghost. Not that I trust them even if I agree with them on certain matters, but they do have some very useful skills.
I lead Rafa and Mufu through the silent path across the drawing room. The path never stays the same for long, and Alina and I must search it anew every day. Game. Celestia would have us think it a game, but that it’s not. She had an escape plan, but I think it fell apart when Captain Ansalov decided to stay in the house. If she’s got another one, she hasn’t shared it with us. I understand she wants to protect Alina from everything, including disappointment, but me! She should tell me the truth, especially when I ask her directly. Maybe the ghosts are right when they say that you can never really trust your older sisters. Though there’s something bitter in their comments, something that makes me weigh their words carefully.
I’ve almost reached the door leading to the hallway when a soft, wet sound carries to my ears. Rafa tucks her thin tail between her hind legs. Mufu turns to look over her shoulder, toward Elise’s room. I tilt my head, not daring to voice the question.
Then I recognize the sound, and I wish I hadn’t. My sister is crying, though she smiles the days through. She pretends that the arrival of Captain Ansalov and his soldiers changed nothing, though it definitely did. Awake. And also, since my sister is awake, I could go and tell her about the witch, the magpie, and Papa. But…
Rafa raps the door leading to the hallway. Mufu nods. My dear companions agree with me. It would take too long to explain to her what’s going on. Alina can do it, once I send Rafa back for her. Even if they don’t believe her, they will at least follow my companion out to look for me.
I turn the door handle. It’s stiff and, for a moment, I fear it won’t budge. But my sisters and I have been stranded in this house for three and a half months already. The guards may worry about someone galloping to our rescue—not that that’s likely anymore with the gagargi feeding all our supporters to his machine—than us simply walking out one night.
The handle shifts and the door opens, creaking, but not screeching. I tiptoe through the length of the hallway. My sabots don’t make a sound, but my companions’ nails click against the planks. I hope it’s not the sort of sound the guards are drawn to come and investigate.
This thought in my mind, I stop at the top of the stairway. I gaze into the awaiting darkness. Though only two flights of stairs and one more hallway separate me from the night and the Moon’s light, the way out feels much longer. Going out on my own… Millie is asleep for sure, but what about the others? In addition to Captain Janlav and the five guards that came with us on the train, Captain Ansalov brought with him five more soldiers, and I don’t like the look of them in the least. Hounds. He’s got his hounds with him, and though he keeps them locked in the stable, he sometimes lets them out in the garden. They’re vicious beasts, and they remember our scent. But if we flee tonight, Papa will guide them off our tracks.
I boldly stride down the stairs and enter the hallway that always reeks of cabbage, beetroot, and pork. And then, I find myself under the dark gaze of the gagargi.
Posters. I chastise myself as I slip past the posters that Captain Ansalov has glued all over the house and across the garden wall, too. I hadn’t known that Alina could read before she started asking what the messages written in bold red letters meant. I know the words, but what’s written and shown in the posters isn’t right at all.
In the poster announcing Age of Equality, muscular men and women work side by side in golden fields, in clean white clothes that for some reason reveal their arms and legs and bellies. They smile as though they couldn’t be happier about the gigantic shape of the gagargi looming behind them, arms spread as if he were about to cradle them. Elise says the peasants are happy to be free of their lords and ladies, but I wonder if they understand that their new master is much harsher.
In the Gagargi of the People, the gagargi writes a letter under the full Moon. His black hair is braided against his head, and his robes are blacker than the night. He holds a white quill pen—it must be made of a swan feather—in the air, as if waiting for Papa to speak to him, though I’m sure Papa never has and never will!
And then there’s the Age of Progress poster, the one that Alina always runs past, and to be honest, I don’t like to look at it either. Scarf. I fidget with the red scarf my seed gave me that I always carry in my pocket, but never dare to wear. Tonight is different, though. I slip the scarf around my wrist and boldly face the poster. Rafa and Mufu do likewise.
The Great Thinking Machine gleams under the Moon’s light. The gagargi stands before it, his smile knowing, waving at the children gathered before the machine, urging them to come closer. Action. Celestia says this one is a call for action. I’m not sure what she means. But the poster reeks of ominousness, if that’s a word.