Inside the Shadow City (36 page)

I thought I saw Kiki flinch. “Don't tell me you're going to kill me in front of all these witnesses,” she said. “That wouldn't be smart, Sidonia. They don't look very trustworthy.”

The Princess tied a gag across Kiki's face, then knelt
down between us to whisper in her ear. “There aren't going to be any witnesses,” I heard her say. “Once you're dead, there's going to be a terrible fire.
Everyone's
going to die.”

The Princess walked to the table in the center of the room. She put her stun gun down, picked up the pitcher, and poured five glasses of the pale blue liquid. One by one, she handed the drinks to Naomi and The Five. The last she kept for herself.

“A toast!” cried the Princess, and all five girls raised their glasses to the ceiling. “For years, she's been the bane of my existence, the fly in my ointment, the worm in my apple. But today, we're here to bid a fond adieu to the remarkable Kiki Strike. From this day forward, this city will be ours for the picking, and there won't be a soul who can stop us.

“For me, this day is bittersweet, for I say good-bye not only to my archenemy, but to my only cousin—the true heir to the crown of Pokrovia. So here's to you, Princess Katarina. It's a shame the world isn't big enough for both of us.”

The girls clinked their glasses, and all but the Princess lifted the drinks to their mouths. Naomi had only just swallowed when the glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. Her knees buckled, and she grasped for the edge of the table to steady herself. One by one, the members of The Five began to drop to the ground like overripe fruit. Their eyes swam inside their heads before they fell into a deep, drug-induced sleep. Naomi struggled to stand, but her head wobbled around on her neck and her legs refused to straighten.

“Why?” she asked the Princess, but before she could hear the response, Naomi fell face-first onto the straw mats, her beautiful green dress spread out around her and her golden hair sweeping the ground.

“Why?” asked the Princess, stepping over the bodies of The Five as she walked toward us. “Why not? By the way,” she said to Kiki, “you were right about Naomi. She would have done anything to stay popular. It impaired her judgment. Popularity isn't the object of this game. You and I know what's really important. It's power—and the fact of the matter is, I'd rather not share mine with anyone.”

The Princess pulled the gag out of Kiki's mouth.

“You won't be needing this anymore,” she said. “As you can see, there's no one left to warn.”

“Did you kill them?” asked Kiki.

“Oh, no. I just gave them a dose of their own medicine, that's all. That'll teach them to get mixed up with drugs.

“No, you're the only person I plan to kill with my own two hands,” the Princess told Kiki. “The fire I set will take care of the rest of them. With all these straw mats and pillows, the place should burn in no time. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Family first, I always say.”

The Princess bent down in front of Oona and me.

“Now. As for you, squid girl, I'll bet you're wishing you had never gotten mixed up with this midget. Just look at all the trouble she's gotten you in. But don't worry. She's going to pay for it, and you lucky girls get to watch. I bet you're wondering how I'm going to do it, right? Well, I'm not going to leave you in suspense any longer.

“I want you to close your eyes and think back. Do you ever recall having seen your friend eat? Now, think hard. Maybe a sandwich? A piece of fruit? A candy bar? No? I didn't think so. You see, when your friend was just a baby, my mother poisoned her entire family. She may have survived, but according to our royal physician, she was left with what's called an Achilles' heel—a fatal weakness. You've never seen your friend eat because she's allergic to almost everything. Even a breath mint could kill her. That's why she's such a miserable runt.

“So. Now for the good part. You've heard of death by chocolate? I bet you always thought it was just a meaningless turn of phrase. Well, you're about to witness it firsthand. They say anaphylactic shock is a gruesome way to go. The tongue swells, the airways close, and then the heart practically explodes. Not very pretty, and extremely painful. The perfect ending for a little princess, wouldn't you say?”

The Princess reached into her pocket and retrieved a bar of chocolate wrapped in gold foil. She tore it open and snapped off a square.

“I've chosen the very best for your last meal, Katarina. They claim this Belgian chocolate is worth its weight in gold. So go ahead. Open wide.”

I expected something to happen. At the very least, I thought Kiki would have a few last words. Instead, she obediently opened her mouth and allowed the Princess to pop the chocolate inside.

“Don't forget to chew,” laughed the Princess.

Kiki chewed slowly and swallowed.

“Delicious,” she said, licking her lips, which were
beginning to swell. Within seconds, her face had turned a deathly shade of blue. She gasped for breath, her chest heaving against her restraints. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and her body began to shake violently. Watching her struggle, I felt as if my own breath were being sucked out of my body. I fought against the duct tape, desperately trying to help her. If I couldn't break free, Kiki would die.

Suddenly, someone in the warehouse above began pounding on the entrance to the opium den.

“Dayb got choo,” whispered Kiki, her tongue too swollen to speak.

“Oh, I don't think so,” said the Princess. “That's what's so brilliant about my plan. By now mother has reported my kidnapping. The police think I'm a victim, too. Unfortunately, my kidnappers will die in a terrible fire before anyone can find their hiding place. I'll be the only one to escape.”

She left Kiki writhing in her chair and climbed up the ladder to the warehouse. I heard her speaking with one of the guards. The police had surrounded the building. DeeDee and Luz must have gotten suspicious when they couldn't contact us. As the Princess issued her terse instructions, I heard a faint crack from beneath my chair. I looked down to see the hidden trapdoor to the Shadow City rise six inches. Two small hands emerged, one holding a butcher knife. With a quick swipe, the knife cut through the duct tape that bound my hands. Before I could move, what felt like a long glass tube was pressed into my palm. The hands then freed Oona's arms and passed the knife to her.

While the Princess's back was still turned, I examined the object in my hand. It was a hypodermic needle filled with a colorless substance. I had no idea what it was, but I knew what to do with it. I pulled off the syringe's protective cap and plunged the needle deep into Kiki's arm. As the liquid gushed into her bloodstream, her body stopped shaking, and Oona was able to cut the tape that bound her to the chair. Kiki's lips began to deflate, and she took a breath so deep that it sounded as if she had just swum the English Channel—under water.

“It's about time,” she gasped. “That was getting unpleasant. Ananka, grab the stun gun!”

The Princess was climbing back down the ladder, the trapdoor closing behind her. I pulled off the tape around my ankles and sprinted for the table where the Princess had left the stun gun, strands of duct tape fluttering about my body. Her head turned at the sound of my frantic footsteps, and she sprang from the ladder. We reached the table at the same moment. I grabbed the weapon, but before I could make use of it, the Princess's hand locked around mine. We struggled furiously, and she scratched at my face while I tried to pry her fingers away.

At first, I figured I was no match for the Princess. I'd witnessed enough fights to know that winning such contests often has nothing to do with strength or stamina. Sometimes, pure meanness gives one fighter the advantage. The devil himself was glaring at me through the Princess's yellow eyes, and I knew she'd stop at nothing to win. But then I remembered the punch that Kiki had given one of the guards. I tried my best to imitate her,
rearing back with my free hand and slamming my fist into the Princess's perfect nose.

“Nice one!” Oona cheered as the Princess crashed to the floor with a demonic cry, clutching her face with both hands. I took a glass of the pale blue liquid off the table and thrust it toward her. The Princess took the glass reluctantly, and I pulled the gag out of my mouth.

“Drink up,” I demanded.

“You'll never get out of here alive,” the Princess growled. I noticed her regal nose now leaned to one side. I must have broken it with a single punch. I gazed at my own hand in awe. “There are dozens of guards in the building, just waiting for someone to make a run for it. They won't be as nice as I was.”

“I wouldn't worry about me, Sidonia,” said Kiki, who had come to my side. “I always manage to escape. But before you take a trip to dreamland, why don't you give me the ring.”

An evil smirk spread across the Princess's blood-splattered face. She wrenched the ring from her finger and threw it at Kiki.

“Go ahead and take it,” she laughed.

Kiki caught the ring and held it up to the light.

“This is glass,” she said. “Where's the real ring?”

“You'll never know, will you?” said Sidonia.

“Don't be so sure,” Kiki said. “Bottoms up.”

The Princess looked at the glass and hesitated.

“Do it, Sidonia, or we'll wrap every last inch of your body in duct tape,” Kiki warned. “The police might not find you for a while. And once they do, removing the tape should be pretty painful. You may never have to wax again.”

Sidonia put the glass to her lips and emptied it with one quick gulp. Not three seconds passed before her yellow eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into a stupor.

Kiki took a pen and a piece of paper out of her backpack.

Dear Police,
she wrote.

I am responsible for kidnapping Mitzi Mulligan and Penelope Young. Naomi Throgmorton and her friends were kind enough to help. We were after the NYCMap, which we planned to use for nefarious purposes. The bottom layer can be found in my computer files. We have been very, very bad and we deserve to be punished severely. Sincerely, Princess Sidonia of Pokrovia.

P.S. We also robbed the Chinatown Savings and Loan.

She pinned the note to the front of the Princess's shirt.

“That should do the trick,” she said.

A deep sigh escaped from my mouth, and I felt suddenly exhausted.

“Let's get out of here,” I said.

Kiki and I walked toward the trapdoor, but Oona remained standing perfectly still in the middle of the room, her eyes glazed over.

“Oona?” I asked.

“Was all of that true, Kiki? Are you really a princess?”

“Yes,” Kiki admitted.

“Why didn't you tell us?” asked Oona.

“Sidonia and her mother would have killed anyone who knew their secrets. Livia would be in prison if the truth were known. And she wants Sidonia to become queen of Pokrovia, but that can't happen if I'm in the way. Livia's men have been hunting me since the day they found out I was still alive.”

Oona absorbed the information, and a twinkle returned to her eyes.

“We don't have to call you ‘Your Highness,' do we?”

“Pokrovia is a democracy now, and I'm an American citizen,” Kiki said in a humorless voice. “So I guess you'd better call me ma'am.”

At first, we didn't know how to respond. Then Kiki grinned, and we all burst into laughter.

“Who set us free?” I asked.

“You don't know?” asked Kiki. “You're telling me that neither of you heard someone making a racket in the room below?” Both Oona and I shook our heads. “We were being followed all along.”

“By who?” asked Oona.

“You'll see soon enough,” laughed Kiki. She opened the trapdoor to the storeroom and called down. “You can come up now.”

A terrible odor rose from below. It was the same smell that had followed us through the Shadow City.

“It's that disgusting smell again.” Oona gagged. “It's like a farting pig in a men's locker room. Where's it coming from?”

“It's me,” came a little voice. A blond head poked through the hole in the floor.

“Hello, Iris,” said Kiki.

Iris climbed into the opium den. She was still wearing her ladybug pajamas.

“It's a potion my parents brought back from Borneo last year. The people there use it to keep animals out of their villages at night. I knew there might be rats in the tunnels, so I dabbed a little behind each ear.”

“That's some powerful stuff,” I said. “It's a wonder it doesn't keep the people out of the villages, too.”

“You get used to it after a while,” said Iris.

“So
you're
the person who rescued us,” said Oona. “I thought you were supposed to stay at home.”

“I would have, but these dropped out of Kiki's bag,” she held up two more hypodermic needles. “I thought they might come in handy.”

“Yeah, come in handy as an excuse to follow us,” said Oona.

“What are they?” I asked Kiki.

“Adrenaline,” she replied. “It's the only thing that can stop the seizures. When you're allergic to everything, it's good to be prepared.”

“What if I hadn't injected you in time?”

“I would have thought of something else,” she said. “But I knew Iris was behind us. I could smell her a mile away.” She looked at Iris and smiled. “When we were tying up those two oafs, I realized the needles had fallen out of my bag. I figured Iris must have found them, and I knew she'd bring them. That seemed like a pretty good backup plan to me.”

“So you really are allergic to everything?” asked Oona. “That must suck.”

“I don't know what it's like
not
to be allergic to everything,” said Kiki. “All I can tell you is that I'm hungry all the time. And as Iris knows, that can make me a little cranky.”