Hotel Magnifique(85)

“But if birds can’t access their magic, why didn’t he lock Issig in the aviary? It would have been the easier choice.”

“It would have, but I think, deep down, Alastair likes keeping him in that freezer. With his mind gone, Issig didn’t bother anyone or try anything. Besides, no one can use Issig’s artéfact but him, and guests need their precious ice,” she said bitterly. “If you try anything with those contracts, you’ll be locked away—” Her words cut off.

“What is it?”

One of her hatboxes crashed to the ground, followed by the other. She turned to me. “Get down.”

With a blast of shattering glass, the front door was kicked to the ground.

“Where are you, Céleste?” Yrsa drawled.

Dropping to a crouch, I peeked around the bookshelf. Yrsa stood inside the door, Sido behind her. I had to go. Zosa’s cage rested against the back counter. A shaft of light pooled behind it.

Another door.

Yrsa stepped closer to the counter. “There you are. Lovely to see you, too, my dear, dear Céleste. Say. Has a girl come by asking questions?” Yrsa smiled when she noticed Zosa’s cage. “Where is she?”

“I haven’t seen a girl,” Céleste said.

I scooted backward on my knees.

Yrsa pulled something from her pocket, a porcelain eye yellowed with age. “Alastair entrusted this to me.” She twisted the porcelain piece. “If I discover you’re lying, I’ll drop it.”

Céleste lurched forward. “Give it back.”

“Where’s the girl, Céleste?”

That was all it took. Céleste looked right at me. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

I shuffled back until a hand clamped down on my hair, wrenching my head to the side. Sido.

“Hold her,” Yrsa ordered.

The alchemist held the porcelain eye in her palm, just out of Céleste’s reach. Céleste tried to grab it. Her gloved fingers came close to snatching it. Yrsa tilted her palm. The eye fell to the floor with a crack. “Oh, how terribly clumsy of me.”

Céleste groaned. Her head dropped to the counter.

“We’re adding Champilliers back to our rotation. There are too many alchemical dealers here to waste this city on your brother’s pointless sense of obligation,” Yrsa said as her boot heel rolled against the porcelain remains.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Céleste jerked with each crack. Yrsa lifted her heel and stomped. With a swift snap, the rest of the eye shattered. Céleste collapsed against the counter. I couldn’t see her face, only her gloved hand. A trail of blood rolled down it, dripping onto the marble floor. Sido released me to check her pulse.

Everything inside me roared. I had to go.

“What are you doing? She’s dead, you fool. Get the little brat,” Yrsa ordered.

I scrambled to Zosa’s cage and heaved it up. The metal handle tore into broken skin. Blood trickled between my fingers as I squeezed it tightly and lunged out the back door, racing down crumbling stairs.

“Sorry,” I said to Zosa when the cage tipped sideways. I winced when my sister’s tiny feet scrambled and her body slammed against the bars. Her beak tapped down on my thumb. “Not now.” I shifted the cage so it wasn’t crooked.

She cooed. Too loud.

Yrsa shouted something to Sido. My heart raced. Hugging the cage, I dipped into Cheat’s Alley.

“You might as well give up.”

I turned. Yrsa stood twenty paces away. She tapped her right eye. “Only need to catch you once.” Sido came up behind her.

I stumbled backward until my elbows knocked glass. The alchemist’s cart. My fingers wrapped around a bottle.

Yrsa flung an arm across Sido’s chest, stopping him.

I glanced down. The bottle was filled with a swirling silver mist I recognized instantly. A skeletal hand reached out, its bony claws clicking the inside of the glass, same as in the salon.

Bottled nightmare.

“Put it down,” the alchemist who ran the cart said in a harsh whisper. “That stuff is undiluted. If it gets out it’ll give you terrible visions.”

“Don’t be reckless,” Yrsa shouted.

I started slowly lowering the bottle. But when Sido lurched forward, reckless was all I had left.

“Hold your breath,” I said to the alchemist.

She looked on in horror as I slammed the bottle against the ground. It burst on impact and shot up in a brilliant silver plume, like a drop of ink in water, and spreading just as fast. I barely had time to cover my nose and mouth. I didn’t think to shut my eyes. I only blinked when the oily silver cloud misted my face and seeped into the back of my throat. The world turned velvet black. Screams erupted and Cheat’s Alley became a nightmarish scene straight from that terrible bottle.

My right hand held Zosa’s cage, while my other hand felt around the alchemist’s cart. I gagged. The thick mist coating my eyes made my skin crawl, but what I saw was worse.

It’s not real. It’s the nightmare twisting my senses, I told myself. Just walk.

I smelled rotting flesh as I passed things that no longer resembled women. I cried out when a massive black worm wriggled against the alley wall. A forked tongue flicked out. It lapped my neck, wet and rough. Below it, a stone statue turned to me and blinked. It lifted its clawed hand and plunged it down its own throat. A woman’s scream filled the air.