Inside the Shadow City (34 page)

I dropped the duct tape and ran to where Oona stood. Inside the cubbyhole lay Betty. She was gagged and her hands were tied. Someone had removed the blond wig, and her dark hair spilled across a silk pillow. Her white dress was torn and dirty, but she still looked astonishingly
beautiful—like a fairy-tale princess under the spell of a wicked queen.

“Take the gag off and untie her hands,” Kiki ordered. Oona bent down and removed the ropes that bound Betty's hands. Luz lifted the gag over her head.

“Betty,” Luz whispered in her ear. “Betty, wake up!” She shook Betty's arm and pinched her softly on the cheek, but there was no reaction. “What's wrong with her?” Luz moaned.

“MMMUMPH!” came a voice in response.

“What?” said Luz, looking around at the rest of us in confusion.

“MMMMUMPH!” said the voice again.

“It's coming from down there,” said DeeDee, pointing to a cubbyhole below the one where Betty lay.

We dropped to our knees. There, lying on a bed of pillows, was a redheaded girl wearing a filthy yellow cocktail dress. She, too, was gagged and bound.

“It's Penelope Young,” said Kiki, reaching in to untie the girl's gag.

“Who are you?” asked the girl once she was free to speak.

“It doesn't matter. We're here to rescue you.”

“Oh, thank goodness, because I'm
dying
for a shower. They've made me wear this same dress the whole time I've been here. They never even let me wash my face or anything. And you wouldn't
believe
where they made me go to the bathroom. I must smell awful, and I can't stand to be smelly, even in gym class. I mean, I feel gross if I don't take at least three showers a day,” said the girl, rambling on.

“No wonder they gagged her,” whispered Oona.

“I can't smell anything,” Kiki lied. Penelope was as ripe as a chunk of Gorgonzola cheese. “Do you know what happened to the other girl?”

“Who? Oh, right. Her. The pretty one in the white dress. They brought her in a few hours ago. At least I think it was a few hours ago. It's so hard to tell, you know, without a watch or anything.”

“Get to the point, Penelope,” warned Kiki.

“Oh, okay. Um, they brought her in, and she was fighting to get free. She kept yelling something about how they'd never get away with this and that her friends would come and that they'd all be really sorry. So those two guys I heard you beat up tried to make her drink the stuff they give me every day. It tastes pretty good—kinda like candy—but it makes you sleep forever and your head really hurts when you wake up.”

“
Please
, Penelope. Just tell us what happened to her,” pleaded Kiki, trying not to lose her patience.

“Yeah, so anyway, they got her to drink some of the stuff, but it didn't seem to work at all. At first, she pretended to be asleep, but then she made a break for the ladder. One of those guys caught her by the back of the dress, and she fell off and hit her head on the floor. I don't think she's moved since then. Hey, you guys don't have any food, do you? I'm practically starving. But only if it's not Chinese food. That's all I've eaten for days, and I swear I'll vomit if I ever see another egg roll.”

“We have to get Betty out of here,” said Kiki to the rest of us. “Untie Penelope. Luz, you and DeeDee will have to carry Betty out through the Shadow City. Do you think you can handle that?”

“What about the rats?” asked DeeDee.

“Shouldn't we just take her out the front door?” Luz asked. “I mean, what's the point of saving Betty if she's just going to end up as rat food?”

“You can't go through the front door. We don't know who's waiting for us up there. But don't worry. You don't have to go out the same way we came in. There's a closer exit. The rats can't hear you coming, so if you move fast, they won't have time to regroup.”

“Another exit? You mean the Chinatown Savings and Loan?” I asked, finally catching on. “She's right. It's only two doors down in the Shadow City.”

“If it's so close, why didn't we come in that way and save a lot of time?”

“It's a bank, Luz. They have a pretty good alarm system—especially after the robbery. We would have tripped it,” Kiki explained.

“But we'll set it off on the way out, too, won't we?”

“That's the idea. Betty needs help and nothing's going to bring the cops faster. Leave Betty and Penelope in the bank, break a window, and get out. The cops will find them and take them to the hospital. But you two stay close by and keep your cell phones on. If we need help, you can send the police to the warehouse.”

“What do you mean if we need help?” asked Oona. “We've got Betty and the other girl. Let's just get out of here.”

“You're forgetting someone,” I told her. “There's still one person we haven't rescued.”

“Who?” asked Oona. In the excitement, she'd forgotten.

“The Princess.”

“You mean Sidonia Galatzina? Princess of Pokrovia?” Penelope squealed. “Is she here, too? Can I meet her?”

“I'm afraid you won't have the pleasure,” snapped Kiki.

“That's too bad,” sighed Penelope. “I've heard she's the most popular girl in New York. But where's this city we're going to? Is it big? Is it dangerous? Is it out-of-state?”

“We can't let Penelope see the Shadow City,” I whispered in Kiki's ear. “That girl couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it.”

“You're going to have to blindfold her,” Kiki said to Luz and DeeDee.

“Blindfold me? Why do you have to blindfold me?” whined Penelope.

“Do you want to be gagged, too?” snapped Kiki. “Or perhaps you'd prefer to stay here.”

Penelope opened her mouth to argue, but seeing the icy look in Kiki's eyes, she wisely opted to sulk quietly.

Together, we helped Luz and DeeDee lower Betty down to the main tunnel of the Shadow City. Kiki wrapped the blindfold around Penelope's head and guided her down the ladder. Then Kiki, Oona, and I set off in search of the Princess.

• • •

Kiki Strike climbed up to the warehouse above the opium den, and Oona and I followed behind her. One by one, we pulled ourselves into a narrow space, surrounded by towering piles of counterfeit handbags, wallets, shoes, and luggage.

“This way,” said Kiki, pointing toward a light that issued from a corner of the warehouse. We walked softly
down a hall lined with wooden crates, all stamped with a cross-eyed dragon.

“Look at all this,” I whispered, picking up a perfect copy of an eight-thousand-dollar Hermès Kelly bag. “The Fu-Tsang must make a fortune.”

Oona snorted. “This is just small stuff,” she said. “Trinkets. I'm surprised they even bother.”

“Why? What sort of things do they usually smuggle?” I asked.

“They'll smuggle anything. They aren't very picky. But mostly they deal in people.”

“People?” I asked.

“Yeah. People who are so poor, they'd do anything to have a better life. So they allow themselves to be smuggled into the United States. Of course, no one ever tells them that they're selling themselves into slavery. The Fu-Tsang gang brings them here and sells them to sweatshop owners who make them work for nothing. That is, if the people make it here alive.”

“How do you know so much about the Fu-Tsang?” I asked.

“How do you think I got here?” Oona said.

“Shh,” Kiki hushed us. “We're getting closer.”

The light had grown stronger, and we could hear voices, and occasionally a sinister giggle or two. We peeked between a gap in the crates and spied a group of girls seated in a circle. In a gilded chair fit for an empress sat Naomi Throgmorton, still dressed in her gown from the Banner-man Ball. Seated nearby were three other members of The Five, all looking a little haggard. Naomi was doing her best to entertain the group.

“Did you see what Gwendolyn was wearing at the party? That pink dress made her look like an enormous piglet. I kept expecting her to climb up on the buffet table and root around in the lychee nuts like a little oinker.” Naomi wrinkled her nose and snorted like a pig, and the rest of The Five cackled cruelly. It was hard to believe that these were the masterminds behind the plot to steal the NYCMap.

One of the other girls jumped in. “Everybody said you had the best gown at the party, Naomi. I heard Lila Livingston say that you were the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen.”

“It's true. Next to her, I'm a goddess. When is she going to get that nose fixed, anyway? I don't know if we can afford to be associated with her if she insists on keeping that beak of hers. I don't care
how
much money she's got.”

“Naomi,” a third girl whined. “Do you think we'll have to wait much longer? We've been here for hours.”

Naomi turned on the girl with a malicious sneer. “Why? Don't tell me you have something better to do. Oh, no,” she said, her face suddenly contorting into a mask of mock concern. “Is today the day you have your mustache waxed? Are you growing hairier as we speak?” The other girls giggled. “No wait, I know. You have to run home to take your pills.”

“Pills? What pills?” asked the whiny girl.

“You know—the ones for that nasty case of toenail fungus that you caught from your maid.”

“I don't have nail fungus!” insisted the girl, her face the color of a boiled beet.

“That's not what I've heard. But if you'd care to take
off your shoes and prove you're fungus-free, I'll be happy to admit that I'm wrong.”

“Why d'you have to go and tell everybody?” screamed the girl at another member of The Five.

“Because it was funny,” her friend replied. “Besides, what if one of us had caught it from you? I couldn't have slept at night.”

“You're evil—all of you,” whimpered the fungus-ridden girl.

“It's true,” admitted Naomi. “Isn't it great?”

Kiki shook her head in disgust. “They don't know what they've gotten themselves into. You two stay here. I'm going to have a word with Naomi.”

“What are you going to do that for?” asked Oona. “Shouldn't we just save the Princess and get the hell out of here?”

“We're not here to save the Princess,” said Kiki. “We're here to save her kidnappers. Now, if anything goes wrong, call Luz and DeeDee and have them alert the police. But whatever happens, don't try to rescue me yourselves.” With that, she marched out into the open area.

The girls looked up at the new arrival. Surprise registered on the faces of The Five, but Naomi merely smiled as if she had been expecting Kiki all along.

“Kiki Strike,” she said, standing up and extending a hand like a queen to a subject. “I've heard so much about you. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to meet you.” Kiki stood her ground and refused to accept Naomi's hand. Naomi shrugged off the insult and kept on smiling.

“Where's Sidonia?” asked Kiki.

“Oh, I wouldn't worry about our favorite princess,” said Naomi. “She's quite safe.”

“You've made a big mistake, Naomi,” warned Kiki. “You have no idea who you're dealing with. You're lucky I found you before Sidonia's people did. They won't hesitate to kill you and your stupid friends. But if you hand Sidonia over to me, I'll make sure you get out of here alive.”

One of the girls giggled ominously.

“Mistake?” scoffed Naomi. “I don't make mistakes anymore, munchkin.”

“You're wrong, Naomi. I can't decide whether you're incredibly greedy or just not very bright, but somehow you always seem to choose the wrong girl to steal from.”

“Greedy?” Naomi giggled. “You don't know what you're talking about. I don't want Sidonia's money.”

“Then I guess you must be dumb, because there's no way Sidonia can help you get your hands on the NYCMap.”

“What? Oh, that silly old thing? The map's just a bonus. That's not what we're really after.”

“Okay, Naomi, what is it you really want?”

“You,” said a voice from behind a crate. A girl dressed in black stepped out of the darkness and into the light. Her yellow eyes shone like gold, and a vicious smile stretched across her pretty face. In one hand, she clutched the bronze dragon we had left in Betty's pocketbook. In the other hand was an electric stun gun. It was the Princess.

“Call Luz and DeeDee,” I whispered frantically to
Oona. “Tell them to send the police.” I heard nothing, and I spun around to find Oona in the clutches of a man with a cross-eyed dragon tattooed on his burly bicep. The man wrenched the cell phone out of her hand and crushed it under his heel.

“Take them to the opium den,” I heard the Princess call. “It's time we all got to know each other better.”

Imagine for a moment that a thug has grabbed you from behind. You struggle and scream, but your arms are pinned down by someone much bigger and stronger than yourself. It's hopeless, right? But if you think you're a goner, think again. When it comes to kicking butt, size isn't really an issue. Bruce Lee, the legendary kung-fu fighter, was only five foot seven and weighed less than your average cheerleader. Yet Bruce could take out guys twice his size with a single kick.

So, even if you're the shortest, daintiest, most delicate girl on the planet, don't think you're incapable of putting up a fight. If someone grabs you from behind, just stay calm and use your head.

1. Bend your head forward, and slam it back into your attacker's face. It may hurt you a bit, but since your skull is much denser than someone else's nose, you'll be able to cause far more damage to your attacker than you do to yourself.

2. If your attacker refuses to let go, pull one of your legs up to your stomach, then deliver a powerful mule kick to the man's shin. If you're in the habit of wearing high-heeled shoes, the kick will be
extremely
painful. The attacker's grip may loosen, and you'll be able to break free from his hold.