“Worthless,” she sighed after examining it. “For once, the old bat was telling the truth.”
“We may not have found your jewels, but we still have Pearcy Leake’s gold,” I said, trying to cheer her up.
“And think of how much fun we can have with this wig,” said Iris, joining in. She picked up Livia’s silver wig off the floor and set it on top of her head. For a moment, she looked like one of DeeDee’s old Scout leaders.
“Hold on, Iris,” said Oona, plucking something out of Iris’s wig. “There’s a piece of jewelry hidden in your hair.” She held the bauble up to the light. “Not bad for a fake,” she said. “I can see why she wanted to keep it. Mind if I take it?”
I stopped breathing when I saw what Oona was holding.
“May I see that?” asked Kiki quietly, taking the pink diamond ring from Oona’s hand. She held the ring carefully between her fingers, studying not the diamond, but the band.
“This one’s real,” she said.
“How do you know?” I asked.
Kiki Strike passed the ring to me. There, engraved into the gold, were six Russian words.
“It’s a set of directions,” said Kiki. “It’s what I’ve been searching for.”
“Does it lead to a treasure?” asked Oona.
“It depends on what you’d call treasure,” said Kiki.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“I never really cared about money or jewels. These are directions to a letter my mother wrote. One that will prove that Livia murdered her.”
HOW TO EXPERIENCE THE REAL NEW YORK
Most people who visit New York return home with the same boring pictures of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. But those of you who are willing to leave the tour groups behind can see a side of the city that few really know.
Stone Street. If you’re dying to know what New York looked like in the days of the Shadow City, this tiny, easy-to-miss lane in lower Manhattan should give you a good idea. A crooked, 400-year-old Dutch road, Stone Street is lined with buildings that were built just after a fire destroyed most of the city in 1835.
Wall Street. Anyone can tell you that Wall Street is the financial center of America, but few know that it was the site of a deadly anarchist bombing in 1920. The bombers were never caught, but you can still see evidence of their work—just look for pockmarks in the façade of the building at 23 Wall Street.
Bridge Café and Ear Inn. Two of the oldest establishments in New York, these restaurants have dark and dangerous pasts. Built in 1817, the Ear Inn (326 Spring Street) has been a brothel, a bar, a boardinghouse, and a hiding place for runaway slaves. The Bridge Café (279 Water Street) has been serving patrons since 1794 and was once at the heart of the most dangerous neighborhood in Manhattan.
Doyers Street. The site of battles fought among rival Chinese gangs in the nineteenth century, it’s said that more people have been murdered on this short, narrow street in Chinatown than on any other block in the city. The area is also riddled with underground passages. Take a walk through one such tunnel—located at the bottom of a staircase at 5 Doyers Street.
Burial Grounds. There are only a few true cemeteries to explore in Manhattan. (Make sure to visit the two Marble cemeteries—one on Second Avenue between Second and Third streets, the other on Second Street between First and Second avenues.) However, if you feel like paying a visit to the dead, just stop by the nearest park. Many were built on top of long-forgotten burial grounds, and underground crypts are often unearthed by hapless city workers.
Washington Square Park. This famous park was also a burial ground, and is the final resting place of many a plague victim. When the land was first converted into a public park, the graves had a nasty habit of collapsing and revealing their occupants. Walk to the northwest corner of the park, and you’ll find a 300-year-old elm tree from which dozens of criminals were hanged.
Haunted Places. Clinton Court (420 W. 46th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues). Originally used as a stable, this hidden house dates from the early nineteenth century. According to legend, it was built on top of a cemetery and is haunted by Old Moor, a mutinous sailor who was hanged in the courtyard. The Merchant’s House Museum on Fourth Street is also reputed to be haunted, and the catacombs under Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral are said to be visited by the ghost of Pierre Toussaint, a hairdresser and possible spy for George Washington.
Hidden Houses. More than seventy-five hidden houses can be found in Greenwich Village. (There are seven on the west side of Cornelia Street alone.) Though they can’t be seen from the street, you can find clues to their existence. Street addresses marked with an A or a ½ may indicate that a hidden house is nearby. Also look for wooden doors that might lead to “horse walks”—passages just wide enough for a horse.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Legend of Kiki Strike
At eight o’clock in the morning, we emerged from the home of Sidonia Galatzina. We stood on the stoop of the building and took in the peaceful morning scene. The air had a fresh, clean smell, as though sometime in the early hours, invisible hands had scrubbed the streets, sidewalks, and gutters. The sun sparkled in a puddle of rainwater, and the pansies in a window box danced in the breeze. The birds were chirping, the street was empty, and everything seemed right in the universe.
It was a new day. There was no need to protect the city from evil princesses. There were no social climbers left to rescue. No hungry rats nipping at our heels. No skeletons to rob. No locks to pick or explosions to set. It occurred to me that the next few years could get pretty dull. Despite their many flaws, life is always more interesting when your archenemies aren’t locked up in jail.
“Iiiirrrriiiisss!” A voice that could grate cheese filled the quiet street. A large woman in a housedress was screaming at us from the stoop of Iris’s house.
“Oh, no,” Iris groaned with embarrassment. “She’s going to wake up the whole neighborhood.”
“Iris McLeod! What have you done to that dress!” shrieked the nanny. “You get your butt over here this instant! Your parents are on the phone!”
“I’m coming!” Iris shouted, then her voice turned sad. “I guess I’ve got to go. Thanks for letting me tag along. Stop by and say hi sometime.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Kiki Strike, crossing her arms and trying to look stern.
“Oh.” Iris took a deep breath and began to walk down the stairs.
“We expect to see you tomorrow night at eight,” I told her.
Iris’s face twisted in confusion. “For what?”
Kiki let loose an exaggerated sigh.
“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten. It’s the Irregulars’ weekly meeting. Attendance is mandatory. No disguises, recording equipment, or toxic substances allowed.”
“You mean…?”
“Welcome to the Irregulars,” I said.
“Anyone who saves our lives is automatically a member,” said Kiki, inventing a new rule on the spot.
“I hope that dress can be saved,” said Oona. “I can think of a million schemes involving a little girl in a pink ruffled dress.”
“Shut up, Wong,” laughed Iris.
“Iiiirrrriiiisss!” screeched the fat woman. “Get over here now!”
“Hey lady, shut the hell up! I’m trying to get some sleep!” yelled a half-naked man from the window of the building across the street.
Iris winced. “She’ll never let me go to the meeting.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of her,” said Kiki. “But first we have a job for you.”
“Really?” asked Iris.
Kiki handed Livia’s Louis Vuitton suitcase to Iris. “You’re in charge of the money for now. Just tell your nanny we were playing dress-up, and don’t let her look inside the bag. Bring the cash and the gold we hid in your basement to the next meeting. Do you think you can do that?”
“It would be an honor,” said Iris in a serious voice that mad
e Oona crack up.
“Great, Iris. Then we’ll see you tomorrow,” said Kiki with a grin.
Iris clutched the suitcase to her chest and ran down the stairs and over to the nanny. She waved to us from the stoop and disappeared inside. We set off to meet up with Luz and DeeDee.
• • •
Two blocks away, we found our friends sitting in the window of the coffee shop, keeping themselves awake with jumbo cups of espresso. Luz spied us coming down the street, and started to laugh, spraying coffee all over the plate glass window. I wondered what she found so amusing until I caught sight of our reflection. The three of us looked as if we had been dropped out of the sky by a tornado.
“Where have you been?” Luz asked once we had taken a seat at the table by the window. “I’ve got to get home before my mother finds out I’m missing. I can’t take another summer locked up indoors.”
“We’ve been finishing some business,” said Kiki. “Have you seen Betty?”
“We just came from the hospital,” said Luz. “They say she’s fine. Just taking a nice, long nap.”
“Very smart. So everything went according to plan?”
“Yep. We set off the alarms in the Chinatown Savings and Loan, and the police were there in two minutes flat. DeeDee and I barely had enough time to hide across the street. They found Betty and Penelope, and an ambulance picked them up. In a way, it was a good thing Betty was unconscious. I can’t imagine anything worse than being trapped in an ambulance with Penelope Young. That girl can’t shut up.”
“She is a bit annoying,” DeeDee agreed.
“We tried to tell you that the plan had worked, and when we couldn’t get through to you on the cell phone, we got worried.”
“So we called the police and left an anonymous tip,” said DeeDee.
“They were at the warehouse in no time,” said Luz. “And then things really got interesting.”
“We didn’t see much of the fight, but you could hear gunshots going off like firecrackers. And then, in the middle of it all, a sweet little old man walked out of the building and down the street. He was carrying the bronze dragon. Nobody tried to stop him. It was like they didn’t even see him.”
Oona looked startled. “An old man? Was he Chinese?”
“I think so.” DeeDee nodded.
“And was he dressed in a gray suit and carrying a black cane?”
“How did you know?” asked Luz.
“That’s Lester Liu. The head of the Fu-Tsang.”
“I thought he was supposed to be in China,” I said.
“So did I.” Oona’s voice had turned thick with hatred. “If I had known he was back in town, I would have tried to look him up.” She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.
“What happened after you saw the man leave the building?” asked Kiki, gracefully changing the subject.
“I don’t think anyone else got away,” said Luz. “They started dragging guys out by the dozen. They loaded two paddy wagons with Fu-Tsang members. Then they brought out Naomi and her friends. Naomi looked a little woozy and a couple of her friends were completely out of it.”
“What about the Princess?” I asked.
Luz froze mid-sip and lowered her coffee cup. “What do you mean, what about the Princess? I thought you guys rescued her.”
Oona sat bolt upright, and Kiki was as still as a statue.
“The Princess was the mastermind behind the kidnappings,” I said.
“She tried to kill us,” said Oona.
“We drugged her with wart remover and left her for the police,” I added.
“You’re joking, right?” asked DeeDee with a forced smile.
“No,” I told her, my heart sinking like a cannonball in quicksand.
“She wasn’t there. We didn’t see her coming out of the warehouse,” said Luz.
Kiki jumped up from the table and ran for the door.
“What’s going on?” DeeDee cried out in surprise.
A terrible thought hit me. “Verushka,” I whispered. “The Princess said she would kill her.”
The rest of us hurried after Kiki, who was already halfway down the street.
We sprinted all the way across town, charged past the doorman, who folded into a low bow when he saw Kiki Strike, and climbed the fire escape to the rooftop house. There, tending to her vegetable garden high in the sky, was Verushka. I collapsed onto the grass. As I sucked in as much air as I could, I heard Luz throwing up in the bushes. Only Kiki was unfazed. She ran up to her guardian and threw her arms around her. Verushka dropped a summer squash on the ground and hugged her back.
“You’re alive!” cried Kiki.
“I am so old that you expected a corpse?” Verushka laughed.
“No, you don’t understand. It was Sidonia. She was behind the whole thing. She kidnapped the other girls to get to me. We rescued Penelope and Betty, but Sidonia and Livia escaped. I thought they would come to kill you,” said Kiki, her voice cracking.
Verushka hugged her again. “It is my job to worry about you, Kiki. It is not your job to worry about me. If you rescued the girls, that is all that matters. Let Livia and her daughter go. We will find them again. And someday we will recover your mother’s jewels. Until then, we have enough money left to survive.”
“The jewels are gone. But we found the ring.”
Kiki reached into her pocket and pulled out the pink diamond ring.
“It is true?” asked Verushka, taking it from Kiki’s hand and reading the inscription engraved on the band.
“It was the only thing left. They sold all of the other jewels. That’s why they robbed the Chinatown Savings and Loan. They needed more money.”
“Your mother would be very proud.” Verushka beamed.
“You know what this means, Verushka? We won’t have to hide anymore. We’ll have Livia thrown in jail. And we’ll clear your name and live like normal people.”
Verushka shook her head sadly.
“No, my darling. It is not so simple. The proof we need is still in Pokrovia. We cannot return to get it now.”
“But Livia and Sidonia may have the bottom layer of the NYCMap. And Sidonia stole the map of the Shadow City from our house on Bank Street. We have to get out of New York.”
“We are going nowhere. We cannot leave while this city is still in danger. You are worried that a spoiled little girl and her mother are going to hurt us?”
“It’s not them I’m worried about. I’m worried about Sergei and the other bodyguards. The ones who shot you.”
“Stop and think,” said Verushka. “Bodyguards do not shoot other people for free. Now that their money is gone, how will Livia pay these men to shoot us?”
The words had a magical effect on Kiki. Her brow unfurled and a wide grin stretched across her face. DeeDee crawled over to where I lay, her body too exhausted to stand.
“Would you mind telling me what’s going on,” she panted. That’s when I realized that she and Luz had missed most of the show.
• • •
Once we were able to walk, Verushka ushered us into the house. We sat around the kitchen table as she prepared breakfast.
“You have all been very brave,” Verushka told us as she drew a large knife from a kitchen drawer and skillfully attacked a potato. “Now it is time for us to trust you with our story.
“For twenty years, I was a member of the Pokrovian royal guard. It was my duty to protect Kiki’s mother, Princess Sophia. It should not have been a difficult job. The people of Pokrovia loved Sophia. When it was time for her to become queen, the country celebrated. The only person who was not happy was Livia, Sophia’s younger sister.
“Livia believed she had been born to be queen. She hated Sophia, and I knew that Livia could not be trusted. One day, I saw Livia’s maid in the palace kitchen, stirring a pot of soup that was intended for Sophia. Only the cook was allowed to touch the food of the royal family, so when the maid had gone, I fed the soup to the kitchen cats. The first cat
to lick the pot died within minutes.
“Of course I told Sophia what I had seen, but she would not arrest her only sister. Like her daughter, Sophia could be very stubborn. She wanted to make peace with Livia, but I knew it would never work. I convinced Sophia to write a letter in her own hand describing her sister’s attempt on her life. She hid the note in a secret place in the palace. If something happened to her, she told me, I would find directions to the letter. They were inscribed inside the band of her favorite ring—a ring that she swore would never leave her finger until the day she was dead.
“On the night that Sophia was murdered, I was on duty with a young guard named Sergei Molotov. It was the evening before Sophia’s coronation, and she was dining with her husband and young daughter. The baby was sleeping when the food was brought in, so the adults ate first. Sophia had started to feed Kiki when she became ill. Sophia and her husband died quickly—and with great pain. When I knew I could not save them, I grabbed the ring and the baby. Sergei tried to stop me. He claimed he had seen me poison the food. He took the ring and arrested me. I escaped with Kiki and ran to the royal doctor, but he told me that Kiki would not live. She had eaten too much of the poison. And if she did survive, she would never be a normal child. He said it was better to let her die.
“I refused to believe him. I took Kiki and left Pokrovia. It was good thing. The doctor was an informant. He told Livia that Kiki was still alive. When the revolution forced Livia to flee, we followed her from country to country. I hoped that someday we could make her pay for what she had done. So I taught Kiki everything I knew—languages, the martial arts, weaponry. I tried to keep the terrible secret from Kiki until she was older, but she found a journal I had kept for her. After that, it was impossible to stop her.”
Verushka handed each of us a plate filled with grilled sausages and potato pancakes. In front of Kiki, she set only a bowl filled with a pale, lumpy substance.
“What is that?” Oona asked, her face wrinkling with disgust.
“Gruel and vitamins,” said Kiki. “It’s the only thing I can eat.”