Elementary (11 page)

“
We
don't have a song,” Li started, but Nettie didn't let him finish. She couldn't let him keep shutting her out. Somehow she had to get through.

“
In the woods not far away,”
Nettie sang.

Another fireball grew in his hand as Li's eyes narrowed. Nettie felt sick. Her voice quavered, but she didn't stop singing. “
Secret friends come out to play . . .”

He stared at her with a puzzled frown, the fireball slowly spinning.

“I remember when you first told me our special friends weren't spirits, they were nymphs and sylphs,” Nettie said in a quiet voice, relieved that she'd finally gotten through to him. “When you told me you were going to learn magic . . .”

“I
am
learning magic,” Li said, cutting her off. “Fire Magic . . .”

“Time for your little
friend
to leave,” the White Tigress said. Her lips tilted in a slight smile. “Chung Lo will take care of her. Come.” She took Li's arm and led him toward the door.

“In the woods not far away, secret friends come out to play . . .”
Nettie sang again, her voice loud and strong.

The Tigress whipped around and flicked her fingernails. Nettie gasped and dropped to the floor behind the table as fire streamed over her head. One of the curtains behind her burst into flames.

“Stop!” Li spun around, his face pale.

Nettie cautiously stood back up, singing even louder.
“
They make you laugh. They bring good cheer . . .”

Li stared at her, his lips slowly moving in time with hers.

“They wipe away the blood and tears. So don't you worry, don't you cry. Your secret friends are still close by . . .”

Li closed his eyes, mouthing the words. His eyelashes glistened. Hope bloomed thick in Nettie's chest, so thick she could hardly breathe. She started to walk around the table, to go to her brother. She glanced up in time to see the Tigress flick her fingers again.

The table exploded as Nettie dove behind a group of shelves. She curled into a ball, arms over her face. Pieces of burning wood rained down around her. Pain seared across her bare forearm and then her cheek. She didn't move, afraid to look up as she started the next verse, pouring her heart into the words. This time she could hear Li singing along with her:

“
Wind will carry you far and wide, warm your bones by Fire's side.

Keep your feet upon the Earth, and dance with Rain in merry mirth.

And if you're still afraid, my dear, rest assured I will be near.

My love for you is strong and clear, just close your eyes and sleep, my dear . . .”

Flames cackled like a bunch of old women as little fires blazed throughout the room. Nettie slowly uncurled herself. Li gazed around, looking like someone who'd just woken from a strange dream.

“Time to say goodbye, apprentice,” the Tigress said from the doorway. “We sail in less than an hour.” The look in the woman's eyes made Nettie want to run and hide, but there was no place left to go. The Tigress raised her hands.

“No!” Li's left hand rose, a massive fireball growing between his fingers. The air seemed to swim as he hurled the fireball at the Tigress, surrounding her in violent flames. Nettie jumped to her feet, staring in amazement as the small woman stepped through the flames.

“It is time someone taught you some manners,
apprentice
.”

Nettie never saw what sent Li flying across the room. One minute he was standing still, the next he was sailing through the air. He struck the far wall with a loud thump and lay unmoving on his side.

“Li!” Flames raced across the floor, rising up before Nettie in a fiery wall.

“He is mine,” the Tigress said above the crackling flames. “If not in life, then in death. I will have his power either way.”

The curtain beside Li's head burst into flames.

“No!” Nettie cried. Fire licked at the hem of her dress as she rushed the flames. She backed off, sobbing in frustration. Her eyes burned with the intense heat. The skin on her face tightened. Suddenly, the monkey was beside her again, yanking on the skirt of her dress. Before she knew what was happening, he'd torn the skirt off, jumping up and down as he tossed the burning cloth aside. Then he grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the door. Another monkey joined the first. Together they dragged Nettie toward the door. She stopped in the doorway. She had to get to Li . . .

She stumbled as someone shoved her aside. The big man from downstairs shouldered his way through the flames, snatched Li off the floor, and took the woman's hand. Nettie stared at the woman's impassive face, pale white through the wall of angry flames.

Then the Tigress smiled, and they were gone.

 • • • 

Somehow, Nettie found her way downstairs through the smoke. She stumbled outside, fell back against the wall, and drank in huge gulps of the damp air. The monkeys chittered and squawked, then grabbed her dress and pulled her away from the wall. She followed them blindly down the street, too tired and heartsick to fight. The monkeys finally stopped. Nettie stared down at the wooden planks for a moment, then lifted her head and looked around. It felt like she'd been inside all day, but from the way the fog was thinning, it was only about noon. She had to find Li, had to get him away . . .

“I was beginning to wonder if ya'd make it out.”

Nettie's heart leaped into her throat. She stared at the post in front of her, a post that was only half wood. The rest was raven. The black bird was as tall as the monkeys and looked twice as mean. The raven shook his head, ruffling his shiny black feathers, then settling them back into place. “Looks like yer having trouble with the Fire Master.”

“Where . . . ?” Nettie started. “How . . . ?” This day was getting stranger by the minute.

The raven clacked his beak. “Ya called me,” it said. “With yer singin'. Same as ya called them two fiends.” He pointed his beak at the monkeys.

But the monkeys can't talk
, she thought, struggling to understand. She studied the raven's glistening feathers and finally nodded. She'd talked to Air and Water spirits before, why not a bird? “Can you help me?” Nettie asked. “My brother . . .”

“She's wantin' his magic.” The raven turned his head sideways and peered at her closely with a glittering black eye. “Yer brother's in grave danger.”

Nettie chewed her lip, trying to decide what to do. At the far end of the building, a cart pulled onto the wood planks and rumbled down the street. Nettie stared at the huge man pulling the cart. Inside the cart sat a woman and a small man who looked like he was sleeping.

The Tigress.

“Stop!” Nettie ran after the cart, screeching as she tripped on an uneven plank. She fell, pain shooting through her ankle and knees.

The woman turned to look at Nettie. She held her gaze for a long moment. Then she smiled and said something to the man pulling the cart. The man broke into a jog, pulling the cart out of sight around the next corner.

“No!” Nettie stumbled to her feet and broke into a limping run. She raced around the corner and stopped, panting. The cart was nowhere in sight.

“They be heading for the pier.” The raven swooped low in front of her, then rose into the air. “I'll keep watch. Get there as fast as ya can.”

Nettie's thoughts raced faster than her feet. Why was the Tigress taking her brother to the pier? She ignored the stabbing pain in her ankle, dodging around a pair of horses pulling a wagon loaded with barrels. Her heart sank as she remembered the Tigress's words. A ship! The Tigress had said they had a ship to catch.

Nettie's stomach twisted. She couldn't let them get on that ship. If they did, Nettie would never see her brother again.

She put on a burst of speed, thankful that she had often raced Li through the woods, leaping over rocks and crossing streams on unsteady logs as they fought to see who could get home first and win the biggest slice of strawberry pie. Li could outrace her with strength and speed, but Nettie had accumulated a number of tricks that let her win every once in a while even with a twisted ankle. She used one of those tricks now, cutting down an alley too narrow for the cart and hoping to catch up to them on the other side. She had never run so fast. She dodged between people, under horses, and around barrels, finally feeling her feet hit sand.

She leaned over, trying to catch her breath. Her side hurt, her heart felt like it was going to jump right out of her chest, and pain stabbed through her ankle every time she shifted her weight. She drew in a deep breath, trying not to choke on the dead-fish stench permeating the air. The fog had lifted, revealing the long wooden pier stretching out into the azure bay. Gulls cried overhead, and a pelican splashed into the water close by.

Midday wasn't as busy as early morning at the wharf, but there were still people coming and going along the pier, some laughing, some cursing, some glowering at anyone close by. Ships drifted lazily up and down on the waves, their masts creaking as they swayed back and forth as if waving goodbye. Several ships were tied up to the pier while others sat at anchor farther out in the bay.

The raven landed in front of her. “They've got him trussed up like a goat. He's in the boat headed out to yon ship.” He pointed with his beak. Nettie squinted, trying to see what the raven was pointing at. Finally, she spotted a small rowboat pulling away from the pier.

“Kin ya row a boat?”

Nettie scowled and straightened up. “Of course I can row a boat. At least, I think I can.” The last time she'd actually been in a rowboat had been when she was eight years old. Here, in San Francisco.

The raven pointed again with his beak, indicating a second rowboat tied up to the pier. “Get yerself on board. I'll take care of the rest.”

“Why are you helping me?” Nettie suddenly asked. She held her breath as the raven looked her over again, tilting his head one way, then the other.

“I told ya. I heard ya callin',” he finally said. “Singin' that song. Now get yerself gone. Time's a-wastin', and that ship'll be on its way back ta China on the next tide.”

No one paid attention to Nettie as she limped down the pier and clambered down the splintery ladder to a small rowboat tied to the bottom rung. She clenched her teeth as a wave rocked the boat, sending pain shooting through her ankle. She struggled with the coarse rope, tugging hard to get the stubborn knot loose. Just when she thought she'd torn the skin off her fingers, the knot pulled free. Quickly dropping the rope into the bottom of the boat, she shoved hard against the ladder, almost losing her balance as the boat drifted free. She plopped down on the seat and glared at the oars propped high on the bow. It took both hands and all of her weight to lift each blade into position. By the time she had both oars in the water, the boat had drifted a good distance away from the pier.

Far ahead she could see the Tigress sitting in the bow of the other boat while the big man pulled on the oars. Li was nowhere in sight.

Nettie grabbed the oar handles. At first she could only manage one oar at a time, sending the boat spinning in circles. She concentrated on lowering both oar blades into the water at the same time, pulling both handles together, then shoving the handles down into her lap, raising the blades back out of the water. One stroke, two strokes—then one blade twisted sideways and slapped down, splashing water across her lap while the other blade dug deep into the foamy sea, sending the boat into another dizzying circle.

The White Tigress was already halfway to the ship.

Nettie gritted her teeth and pulled harder on the oars, managing to turn herself in another half circle. She gave a little gasp of despair. She had to catch the Tigress before the woman got Li onto the ship, or she'd never get her brother back.

The boat rocked ever so slightly, then began to turn. The sound of water slapping against the hull turned into a gentle gurgling and then a hiss as the boat moved faster and faster through the water. Nettie let go of the oars and rubbed her sore hands. The pain in her ankle and knees had dulled to a slow throb.

“Thank you,” she said to the two nymphs guiding the boat. Her arms ached, and her hands felt like she'd washed a hundred pots of filthy miners' clothes. The boat moved swiftly between the ships and out into open water.

They were moving fast, but would they be fast enough to catch the Tigress?

Nettie scanned the horizon, looking for a sign of the huge raven, and saw nothing except a small black cloud drifting across the water. Panic bubbled deep in her stomach, a cold fear that threatened to turn her into a frozen statue. What if she did catch the Tigress? She was only a twelve-year-old girl. She had no weapons to fight with, no magic to wield against the woman's fire.

Canvas snapped, and shouts carried across the water. Nettie glanced up at the ship, startled to find it less than a pier's length away. Sailors clambered up the masts, rapidly lowering sails and tying off ropes.

No use getting caught unprepared. Nettie pulled off her boots. Then she slipped off her blackened petticoats. If she ended up in the water, at least she'd be able to swim.

Water slapped her face as her rowboat drew up alongside the Tigress's boat. The big man's oars prevented Nettie's vessel from getting too close, but she was near enough to see her brother crumpled at the Tigress's feet. Though the woman's expression stayed calm, her dark eyes burned like coal. Slowly she raised a hand, displaying the red-and-orange salamanders writhing up her arm.

Nettie's stomach churned, suddenly feeling like she'd just eaten a big batch of sour butter. She sang through gritted teeth as she lifted a heavy oar from its mounting and stood, legs spread wide to keep her balance in the rocking boat. She swung the oar back behind her, then whipped it forward. The blade burst into flame just before it slammed into the huge man's head.