A Darkness Strange and Lovely (Something Strange and Deadly #2)(39)

I grinned back. “And I’m glad to be here.”

Chapter Ten

The next morning, Jie woke me with her usual finesse.

“Up!” She jabbed my ribs. “The sun has been high for hours, yeah?”

I cracked open an eyelid. “How do you have so much energy?”

“’Cos it’s the middle of the day!” She pushed her face in mine. “Joseph and I have already fought one Dead—”

I bolted upright, almost hitting her chin. “The Dead? Les Morts have returned?” I glanced out the window; the sun was not high. “What time is it?”

“Eight.” Jie snickered at my stricken face. “Early for you, but les Morts wait for no one.”

Jie assisted me with dressing, and as she buttoned my gown, I couldn’t help but wonder where

Oliver might be—though I supposed he had managed this long by himself. One night alone in Paris wouldn’t kill him.

Once Jie and I had pinned up my hair, we marched into the lab. A tall man with skin the color of hazelnuts stood over the middle worktable. He looked as handsome as always—no hair out of place, no wrinkle in sight.

“Joseph!” I leaped toward him.

He spun around, his face splitting with the biggest grin I’d ever seen the Creole wear. “Miss Fitt.”

He swooped into a bow.

“Now, now,” I scolded, “call me Eleanor.”

He lifted, his eyes twinkling. “It is so wonderful to see you, Eleanor. The last time I saw you, you saved my life.” His hand moved to his left cheek, where jagged white scars puckered—scars that could only be the remnants of Marcus’s attack. “I must say you look as lovely as ever.”

Heat flooded my face. “Joseph, I had no idea you could be so charming.”

He spread his hands, laughing. “It is this Paris air. La joie de vivre.” He hooked his foot around a stool and slid it out. “Sit. Talk!”

My stomach twisted hollowly. “As long as I can still eat after . . .”

Jie snorted. “Breakfast’ll still be there.”

I gave her a playful glower, but as I moved to sit, the view outside caught my eye. “Paris!” I darted to the window, my mouth falling open. “Look, it’s Paris! In the sunlight! And oh, it does look exactly like the prints.”

Joseph chuckled and joined me at the window. “We have a lovely view, non? Here”—he unlatched the window and pushed it wide—“lean out and take a look.”

I bent halfway out and gawked at all that lay before me. Directly below was a cobblestone street packed with carriages and carts and people—so many people. Smells of horse and sweat wafted up; and for a moment, like last night, I was briefly struck by how similar it was to a Philadelphia street except . . .

I strained to push myself farther out, to hear the rolling rhythm of the language. It floated over the clopping horses and rattling wheels, and that wasn’t like Philadelphia.

Nor was that breeze whipping over the city and tugging me out. Come, it seemed to say. Come see the city.

Jie stepped beside me. “Those are the gardens I told you about.” She pointed to an iron fence across the street. Beyond its bars were red-tipped maples and chestnuts swaying in that playful wind.

“If you look that way,” she went on, directing me to look left, “you can see all the flowers and hedges, yeah?”

I followed her finger until my eyes met manicured bushes and perfectly organized rows of flowers.

“Yes,” I breathed. “And what is that beyond it?”

At the far end of the garden was an enormous, hollowed-out structure. Its roof was missing and its walls charred.

“That,” Joseph said, “is the Tuileries Palace. It was destroyed in a fire several years ago.”

“And that?” I pointed right, to the other end of the gardens, where a giant, needle-like column poked up toward the sky.

“That is the Place de la Concorde,” Joseph answered. “It is an Egyptian obelisk . . .” His words faded off, so I glanced back at him—and found his eyes locked on my right hand.

I slowly drew back through the window. “You can ask about it.”

Rose patches appeared on Joseph’s cheeks. “May I see it?”

“Of course.” As I slid off my glove and extended my hand toward him, I prayed he didn’t have many questions. My reluctance to share the truth was somehow even greater this morning than it had been last night. Why muddy the clear waters? Things were going so well.

And heavens, how I had missed Joseph and Jie. Missed having friends who liked me exactly as I was . . . Besides, I told myself, you are making it easier for them too. No need to worry the Spirit-

Hunters when they had an entire city of people to protect.

“Kaptivan,” Joseph breathed. He inspected my palm like a fortune-teller at the fair. “How did you make this, Eleanor?”

I licked my lips. “I-I’m not sure how. It was bothering me . . . hurting when spirits were near, so I just, um . . . called to it. And it came.”

He squinted almost imperceptibly. “Surely it was not so simple.”

“Perhaps not, but I . . . I can’t really remember the details.”

A flicker of something passed over his face. Anger, perhaps, except that I’d never seen Joseph angry—at least not with me. “I urge you to remember the details, Eleanor. It is very important.”