Easter City (3 page)

  I dragged my head around to see Joq
standing beside me looking around, only he wasn’t beggar-kid Joq
anymore. He was dressed up in an usher’s tuxedo. I looked down at
my shiny shoes and realized I was wearing the same getup.

  I blinked and suddenly we were in a
place like an auditorium and the wealthy people were there too,
sitting in rows while me and Joq were sitting in chairs propped up
at the back corner.

  On stage, voluminous
brocade curtains
reeled
back, revealing a woman with black hair and a toothless man in
a velvet assistant’s getup at her side. She was wearing a red dress
too, but not like the escorts. It was swirling and rich in color
like spun blood.

  They bowed and the assistant rolled
out a big box on wheels. He opened it and she got in. He gave the
box a spin and pulled down the flaps and she was gone. The crowd
clapped and wolf whistled.  

  I never got to see the act because the
scene faded. When it resolved, we were still in the auditorium,
only there were wealthy people circling us and they really did look
like devils. They scoured us with ravenous red eyes.

  Then the woman with the black hair—the
magician—shoved her way to the front of the crowd. She stood in
front of us grinning through her bleach-white teeth. She and hefted
a sword and let it hang in the air so the crowd had a moment to eat
up our fear before she made fleshy ribbons of us.

  I was calm for some
reason. I mean, I didn’t know what the
hell
was going on
or
where I was. How
could
I be
scared?

  I looked over at Joq who was pasty
white and drenched.

  “J-u.” my tongue was heavy. “J-o” my
jaw was splinted. “Joq…” My lips barely twitched, but the words
came out.

  Joq turned to me, ten afterimages of
his head slugging after the real one. He looked into my eyes, then
over my shoulder. Something he saw made him frown and gasp in
horror.

  I spun and, at the
same time, there was a loud bang. Again.
Bang!
The crowd scattered and people
trampled each other to get to the entrance.

  Joq pointed and I looked down to see
blood welling around the toes of my shoes and the magician’s body
at my feet. And I looked up and saw a familiar looking man leaning
on a cane and a young boy with blonde hair and cruel eyes at his
side. The man’s flintlock trembled and the barrel vomited
smoke.

  The scene changed again and I was
running with the kid with cruel eyes past a wine geyser in the
lobby. The man with the gun clacked behind us. Somehow, me and the
kid and the man made it outside unnoticed.   

  It was snowing in the night. A sign
flashed overhead: La Rouge. A limousine pulled up to the sidewalk,
jerking to a stop before a fleeing couple. A man with a suit and
shades got out of the driver’s seat and opened the door for the man
with the cane who, in turn, held out a hand.

  I hesitated. The other kid shoved past
me and got in and the man’s eyes besought me to follow. So I got
in.

  The man smiled. “Found you!”

#

I was bleary. I sat up sharply in the booth.
I was sweating—I wasn’t used to being warm. I only knew gray days
and wind snapping my rags. Half the lights in the bar were blown
but the dim light was my personal sun. And I could feel my feet. I
pinched myself. Nothing.

“Oi, Nipple! Been sleeping like a ‘ickle baby
you ‘ave!”

I squinted across the room. Joq stood behind
the bar flipping bottles, pouring amber and shaking steel
shakers.

I shook my head and peered at the rotted oak
between my fingers, then I got up and walked to the polished oak
bar.

“Drink this.” Joq slid me a
shot of something. I looked at it and pushed it back. “I don’t want
this shit… I’m
hungry
.”

Joq raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and tossed
it back. He squinched his eyes, smacked his mouth and shivered. He
looked up leaned forward and belched in my face.

I clenched my teeth so hard it felt like they
would shatter, but I was too hungry to retaliate. I sighed.

“So… Where’s the food?”

Joq took another shot before answering me (my
nails bit my palms). “‘ere! Cool it Nipple… There ‘int no food in
‘ere!”

  “No food? It’s a bar! What do you mean
‘no food’?

  Joq rinsed, gargled, swallowed, and
sighed. “How do I put this? ‘No’ means.... Argh—ha—oi!” He wriggled
when I grabbed him by what was left of his rags.

  “Listen you little shit. I get a
grouchy when I’m hungry. Seeing as I live on Main Street, I’m
eternally pissed. But I’m worse in the morning because I’m tired
too. Now cut the shit and tell me something. Where do you get your
food from? Huh?” The heat was making me borderline rabid so I took
a seat.

  Joq peaked his brows, brushed off his
rags, and muffled a snigger in his shoulder. His face was red and
snot dribbled down his lip.

  I shook off the resurging urge to
throttle him and went about locating the source of the sweltering,
maddening heat. I felt Joq’s eyes following me like he was a
chap-lipped, snot-nosed Mona Lisa.

  “’int no food ‘ere Nipple. Poutin’ and
lashin’ out at me royal Joqness ‘int goin’ to help.”

  “It would help if you
learned how to speak English.” I muttered. “Where do
you get food? Just tell me Joq.” I pushed open a
door adjacent to the bar and found myself in an identical room with
booths. The room was lit by a smoldering fire. I walked over,
stooped and watched the flames dance like little men in the rotted
spots in the plank strips and jagged beams. The heat seared my face
and I nearly passed out.

  Joq’s voice drifted
from the bar. “I
steal
o’ course! We’ve still gotta
steal
food like every other beggar kid
in Easter City!”

 
We aren’t like
every beggar kid in Easter city…
I
thought. I was drenched in sweat. I shook my heavy head, grabbed
the pale of murky snow melt by the hearth and dashed it over the
kindling. The fire
hissed
and simmered and went out. I sat in the dark, my
breath shallow, until my head cleared. Then I got up and walked to
the doorway of light.

  Joq’s quaffing had slowed to little
sips which were almost always accompanied by a face that belonged
on a Wealthy Devil after a grievous loss at craps. Joq punched a
glass in my direction, splashing booze over the bar.

  “‘Am wealthy person’s son. ‘e’ll come
get me.”

  I sat at the bar and frowned.
“What?”

  “Me father. You don’ believe me. Don’
believe ‘e’s one o’ the wealthy, yeah?”

  I shook my head. “We’re in a heated
bar on a side street that’s invisible to Wealthy Devils. I’m ready
to believe anything.”

  Joq squinted as though he were trying
to read me. I gazed between heavy lids. I was tired all of a
sudden, and still hungry.

  “Well ‘e
is
. ‘e
is
comin’ back! ‘Joq, if you is ever
lost, I’ll find you, I will’. ‘is own words!”

  I faded into
heat-induced stupor as a vision of the man with the cane and the
evil-looking kid and the black limousine
snapped
before my eyes. The man held
out his hand and smiled when I got in the limousine
“
Found you!
”

 
Snick
.
I was back
in the bar. Joq was waving his hand and snapping. “Oi!”

When Joq saw that I had regained
consciousness he clicked his teeth in disapproval.

“Found you!” he said and smiled in such way
that resembled the man from my premonition, I nearly passed out
again. But I shook my head, snatched a shot of something strong and
tossed it back. I spluttered and coughed and near fell off of the
stool.

  Joq was giving me a curious look and I
wasn’t up for explaining my dream about the man in the limousine,
or how I’d seen Joq in another dream before we ever met so I
blurted, “How did you find this place, anyway? I’ve never come
across it.”

  “Maybe you ‘int been lookin’ hard
enough!”

  “But a bar that…” I didn’t know any
other way to put it. “…exists outside of time? You don’t just
stumble on something like that.”

  Joq shrugged. “Alice stumbled down the
rabbit hole, yeah?”

  “What?”

  Joq put up his hands in bunny ears so
I figured it was the booze talking and spun the stool so I was
facing the door. The sky was still combing flakes down on Main
Streets which settled around the square in drifts of white sky.

  My stomach growled so I got up. It had
been nice playing fantasy with the heat and safety, but I was
hungry and booze doesn’t fill your stomach. “I’m going out.” I
said. “And I’m not sharing with you this time, so if you’re
hungry…”

  Joq blinked, sighed,
hopped over the bar. He patted my chest. “Tell ya what, Nipple.
I’ll let you in on a ‘ikkle secret—scratch that, a
‘
uge
secret.”

  I walked to the door and stopped. “The
game’s up for me, Joq. I’m hungry.” I pointed out the window.
“There’s food out there. Unless this secret has to do with
food—”

  “What if…” cut in Joq, at the top of
his voice. “What if, this secret o’ mine’ll get us both food to
last us a year?”

  I laughed and grabbed the latch. Joq
grabbed my arm. “‘old it Nipple! I’m serious, I am! This’s for
real!”

  I snorted. “Like your accent?”

  Joq dropped my arm and I turned to see
him dash across the room, slide behind the bar and start
rummaging.

  I sighed and looked around.  “I’m
leaving now.” I looked back outside again and cracked the door.
Blistering wind whistled in and licked my arm.

  “Hold it, I said!”

CHAPTER 4

I still didn’t see how any of this this
Wealthy-Devil-stuff would fill my stomach, but let’s be real, the
little booger had keys to a car; I can’t pretend I wasn’t
interested. I could tell it was a really fancy car from the logo;
one of the ones with the chrome ridges snaking up the hood.

I looked at the keys and the clothes and at
Joq, grinning and winking. He cocked his head, dangled the keys in
front of me like a lure and backed toward the bar. I sighed, looked
out at the square, picked up the shoes and followed him.

“This better be good.”

“‘as Joq ever managed to disappoint? Eh,
Nipple?”

I slapped the shoes on the bar and gave him a
blank stare. “We just met.”

“We just met, and you’re in a warm bar,
yeah?” He draped the usher’s uniforms on my side of the counter and
stuck out his tongue.

“Yeah, well you owe me for the food. And the
diversion...” I glanced at him to gauge his reaction. “You got the
shit kicked out of you.” I added for good measure, feeling my nose
to make sure it hadn’t grown a few inches. “They would’ve killed
you if I hadn’t…”

In answer, Joq tossed me the keys and smacked
the flyer on the bar. “Those make a nice car go ‘vroom’.” He tapped
the flyer. “This is our ‘ickle money maker, it is.”

I traced embossment on the remote control
part of the key with a thumb. Then I tore my eyes away and looked
at the flyer. I wasn’t surprised when I saw it was the same red and
black one with the shadowy faced woman. The flyers littered Main
Street. JULIA’S SWORD. 11 FRIDAY. ONE NIGHT ONLY. Then I recalled
that there had been a magic show in my dream. A beautiful woman had
been performing. The flyer didn’t show Julia’s face, but I was sure
she was the Lady Devil from my dream.

“This flyer’s everywhere. It’s for a magic
show—not a food drive.

Joq waggled a finger. “A magic show at La
Rouge. A magic show with lot’s of ‘em Wealthy Devils all distracted
and ‘ot and bothered by this ‘ere enchantress.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And..?”

“And, La Rouge ‘as that fancy restaurant,
with loads of fancy food. And any one—even a couple o’ ‘kid ushers’
can partake of the pickin’s during this ‘ere show!”

“We load up the car and drive back here.” I
finished.

“Exac’ly.”

I shook my head. “Where did you even get this
shit from?” I spread my hands over the keys and outfits.”

“Two years back I found this bar. A year
later I think to meself, ‘how can Joq eat without stealin’, day
after day, ‘til ‘is father comes for ‘im?’. I sat outside La Rouge
listenin’ to ‘em wealthy monkeys talking, an’ ‘ear that one of ‘em
is seein’ this Julia woman what’s on all the flyers. ‘e goes on
about bonin’ ‘er and that’s alright because me ‘Joq’ is pleased.
But then ‘e gets to talking about ‘ow she’s doin’ this show on
Friday and ‘ow there’s supposed to be a lot of food there. Free
food. I tell you Nipple, when I ‘eard that bit, I Joqed meself
right then and there. Then I ‘atched a masterplan: steal a car,
fill ‘er up with food and get out. Next day I go right up to La
Rouge and nick the keys off the valet while ‘e was smooching one of
‘em bird-looking escorts and, when the sky turned dark, went back
to find what car matched the keys by clicking the button on that
remote. The car goes ‘click’, so now I know which car it is, and
all that’s left is to find a uniform, to blend in, yeah? So I wait
for three days or somefin’ and ‘ang around La Rouge to see if kids
was servin’ at the magic show. No cigar. Yesterday I see the same
guy what let on about ‘is Julia and ‘er show and the food, so I
tail ‘im an’ ‘is friends, an’ listen in. ‘e’s yammerin’ on about
Julia an’ ‘ow ‘is wife made ‘im drag along ‘is daugh’er to Main
Street. ‘e was laughing about ‘ow ‘e did… stuff to ‘is daughter so
she’d keep ‘is secret. Anyway, he mentions somefing about
‘snot-nosed brats’ workin’ at La Rouge as ushers, an’ I knew that
was me sign. So I follow ‘im s’more an’ he goes on talkin’ about
Julia and stuff ‘e’s done to her. All of a sudden he stops an’ puts
up a ‘and to stop ‘is companions and turns, sharpish. I’m too late
ducking behind a waste bin—‘e sees me. So they beat me shitless
‘til you come an’ save me ass.”