The next day Jude stood in her pa’s kitchen trying to calm herself down, but she could feel her temper fraying and unravelling inside her. She’d returned home with a sense of excitement. After all, even if Ivory had said she couldn’t help her pa, Jude knew that cajou included healing magic and she was already making plans to use this to ease some of his physical pain. Somehow, she had thought he might be pleased she was queen. It would mean a freedom from bills, respect from people and a mansion in the Fountain District – the chance of a better life. But he didn’t see it that way. He didn’t see it that way at all.
“You’re the enemy now!” he hissed at her. “Worthless cajou scum!”
Jude had spent so much time worrying about her pa, missing him or trying to work out what else she might possibly do to help him. Now, though, she didn’t feel any of that. She just felt furious right down to her bones.
“Do you have any IDEA what I’ve been through the last few days?” she shouted at him, her anger bursting its banks like a flooded dam. “I’ve been to hell and back! And it was all for you, you ungrateful bastard!”
“Don’t you DARE blame me for your wickedness!” he roared straight back at her. “You’re no daughter of mine. Get out of this goddamn house, and don’t you ever come back!”
“YOU WON’T LAST A WEEK!” Jude screamed at him as loud as she could, revelling in the vicious horribleness of it all. After so long of trying to keep everything together, it was almost a relief to have it unravel around her. “You need me!”
“Get! Out!” He snatched up a mug and threw it at her. Jude ducked and it smashed harmlessly against the wall above her head.
With a great effort, Jude finally bit down on her tongue. She suddenly sensed that they would destroy each other if they could and she really didn’t want that, despite all the things she was saying. She realized she should go before any further harm was done, so she turned and marched towards the door.
She grabbed the handle and hesitated. Even through her rage, some other part of her was aching to turn round and tell her pa that she loved him, that he was all she had left and that all of this had been for him. Only what was the point? It wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t make her into the daughter he wanted.
She was still hesitating when her pa snatched up a plate and threw this at her too. His aim was off and it hit the wall beside her but Jude could see he was in no mood for talking right now, and that no possible good could come of her staying. So she left, promising herself she would be back once they’d both had a chance to calm down. Surely he’d see reason eventually? Life would be better for both of them.
She knew she could go to the cajou queen’s mansion in the Fountain District where she was now supposed to live. It had already been cleared out and made ready for her, and Charity had been taken away to an asylum, which seemed to be the only place for her now that Enid’s key had broken her mind. Of Enid herself, there was no sign, though the police were still searching for her. But Jude didn’t want to go to the mansion just yet so she made for Praline Street, where the Phantom’s townhouse was.
As Moonfleet had been taken over by the cajou tree, Jude and the Phantom had stayed at the Majstro’s townhouse on Cajou Night, collapsing into exhausted heaps on the beds almost as soon as they arrived.
But when Jude returned to the house after the disastrous meeting with her pa, she was hit by another blow.
“I’m leaving,” the Phantom told her.
“This house?” Jude asked, trying to understand.
“No. Baton Noir.”
“You can’t,” Jude said. She told him what had happened with her pa. “I need you,” she said. “And we have to find some way of undoing the fright hex.”
The Phantom shook his head and Jude realized that there were packed bags by the front door. He must have been out buying the things he needed while she was gone.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I can’t stay. It wouldn’t be safe. For you or for anyone. My boat leaves in twenty minutes.”
“I’ll walk to the pier with you,” Jude said quickly. That would give her a bit more time to think. To work out how to stop him from leaving.
A few minutes later they were on the sunny street outside, making their way towards Paradise Pier.
“What is it?” Jude asked again, falling into step beside the Phantom. “Your greatest fear? If you’d just tell me then perhaps we can find some way of avoiding it.”
“There is no way of avoiding it,” the Phantom replied.
“So you’re not even going to try?” She felt suddenly furious. “You’re really just going to go off and leave me?”
“You don’t understand.” He gazed at the sidewalk in front of him rather than at her. “I have to go.”
They carried on walking in silence for a while and soon enough they reached the salt-stained planks of the pier. There was a paddle steamer moored nearby loading passengers and their luggage, and Jude guessed this was the one the Phantom meant to board as he stopped beside the gangplank.
“All those things you said outside the hospital,” she said. “Did you mean any of them?”
He paused then said, “Every word.”
“Then you won’t leave me like this.”
It was the wrong thing to say. The Phantom’s reply came out hard and sharp. “You’ve seen what happens to those I love.”
Unbidden, an image of Violetta flashed into Jude’s mind – the anguished half girl, half tree spirit she had become. She shook her head impatiently.
“I don’t know how to be a cajou queen,” she tried. “I could use a friend in the city.”
“You have friends,” the Phantom replied. “That boy Sharkey sent a congratulations telegram from the hospital. It went to the mansion but someone brought it round here this morning. I almost forgot.” He took it from his jacket and handed it to her, but Jude stuffed it straight in her dungarees pocket without looking at it. “Then there’s the witch doctor you told me about, Sofia,” the Phantom went on. “Besides, no one knows how to be a cajou queen to begin with. You just have to find your own way. Which I’m sure you will.”
Jude caught hold of his wrist. Although his glove covered the mark, she could feel the boom-boom of the black heart beneath.
“That fright hex was meant for me,” she said. “You should never have taken it for yourself like you did. I will not let you leave with it.”
“You don’t have a choice,” the Phantom returned. “I don’t regret taking the hex in the slightest. I would do it again in a moment.” He looked out at the water. “It is the one purely good thing I have ever done.”
“But … but where will you go?”
“I can’t tell you.”
Jude swore. She knew her emotions were in danger of getting away from her, like runaway horses, and she took a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself. She could feel a terrible sense of frustration tangling itself up into knots in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t saying the right words, wasn’t communicating what she wanted to, wasn’t even sure herself what it was she needed to say or how she was feeling.
“Please listen to me,” she finally said. “It … it isn’t just because I don’t know how to be a cajou queen. I’m also … I’m trying to say that I care about you.”
She felt the Phantom stiffen. “Do not be absurd,” he said in a dismissive tone that made Jude bristle.
“Don’t tell me how to feel,” she shot back. “Look, I’m not saying I’m in love with you. How can I be? I don’t really know you. And you don’t really know me either. But … I like you. And … I think something in your soul calls out to something in mine. And I would like to have the chance to know you better.”
“You’ve been through a lot,” the Phantom said. “You’re not thinking straight. You’ve seen my face. After that, how can you possibly want to… How can you even think of… We both know there can never be anything between us.”
Jude flinched. She felt as if he’d struck her, and to her dismay she felt tears prickle the back of her eyes. “You don’t know me at all if you honestly believe that.”
“It is not a question of knowing you,” he replied impatiently. Then, a little more quietly, “It is simply that no one ever chooses the monster.”
The word hung in the air between them. It had been all over the headlines of the papers this morning – that ugly word printed over and over again alongside photos of the Phantom from last night.
“How dare you call yourself that?” Jude said. She thought of the food parcels, the music and the silver owl that had chased away Leeroy, and said, “All my life, you’ve been like an angel to me.”
“I already told you,” the Phantom returned. “There are no angels in Baton Noir. Only devils. Perhaps you can change that, in time. But Jude, I meant what I said before. I am tired. This isn’t my fight any more. I’m done with this city.”
The paddle steamer gave two loud blasts on its whistle, signalling that it was the last chance to board.
“I have to go. Goodbye, Jude. Good luck to you. I am glad I had the chance to—”
But that was as far as he got before Jude gripped him by the front of his shirt, pulled him towards her and without thinking or hesitating pressed her lips to his. He gasped and she thought he might push her away. But then his hand curled round to the small of her back, his lips responded to hers and he was kissing her back.
Electricity seemed to spark and tingle between them and Jude wasn’t sure whether he was trembling or she was, but she could almost feel part of her soul, that part she had just spoken of, reaching out to the Phantom, yearning for him with a longing she couldn’t really understand.
Finally the Phantom broke the kiss and pulled back, staggering slightly on the boards.
“I am leaving,” he gasped. “I’m leaving right now.”
It occurred to Jude that she could find some way on board the boat. That she could follow the Phantom in secret, not allow him to run away like this. But that would mean leaving her pa. She had to believe that he would forgive her eventually, and she wouldn’t give up on finding a way to help him. And if she left with the Phantom then it would also mean leaving Baton Noir, which was something she couldn’t do. The city was in her soul. It was the whole point of becoming cajou queen in the first place – to fix things. She had a year to reign before the next Cajou Night, a year to try to convince everyone that they should bring Ollin back into power next time. She couldn’t give up everyone and everything she loved simply because her treacherous heart was making her feel some flickering start of something for the Phantom. She had to stay in Baton Noir and make things right.
André picked up his case. “There’s just one final thing I must say to you,” he said, turning back to her. “You were wrong. I do know you. I’ve watched you grow up from a small, scared, stubborn little girl into an extraordinary woman. I know who you truly are when you’re all alone and think no one is watching. You will be a far greater cajou queen than this city deserves but … don’t forget to carve out some corner of happiness for yourself along the way. And if another Leeroy ever slithers into your life I hope you will crush him like the cowardly, despicable, worthless piece of shit that he is.” He reached out to lightly touch her arm. “Will you please do that for me, Jude?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. Over the last weeks and months, she had felt some new core of strength she had never known she possessed hardening inside her. And when the two cajou snakes rested on her shoulders she felt more alive, more herself and more able to face all the daily struggles of life than she ever had before. She knew she wouldn’t fall into the trap of allowing anyone else to treat her the way Leeroy had – to get inside her soul and make her love them, only to unravel her sense of self in the cruellest way possible. It was good to feel strong for a change.
“I’ll find you again one day, if I can,” she said, looking up at the Phantom.
“You won’t,” he replied with a small smile, already turning away. “You’ll never see me again.”
He walked down the gangplank and there was nothing Jude could think to say or do to prevent him from leaving. He paused at the top and raised his hand in a wave, but Jude didn’t even have time to wave back before he’d disappeared on to the boat.
And shortly after that it was gone.
It was an easy enough matter for Jude to find out that the paddle steamer was heading to a port town upriver, but this was used as a stopping point en route to countless other destinations. And even if she could leave the city, even if she did somehow track down the Phantom, she couldn’t think what she could possibly be able to do to help him.
She made her way back to the cajou queen’s mansion. As soon as she arrived she sent all the servants home before going straight to the library and collecting together all the books she could find that contained mention of fright hexes, determined to learn all she could without delay.
Not long after the sun went down there was a knock on her door and hope bloomed painfully inside her chest. In her mind she imagined answering the knock to find André on her doorstep. He would say that he had changed his mind. He would say that he had decided to stay after all.
But when she threw open the door, it wasn’t the Phantom of Moonfleet Manor standing on the other side.
It was Etienne Malloy.
Jude recoiled, feeling once again the snap of breaking bone, the hot agony of skin tearing and blood running down her wrist, hearing the cries of the waiter as Etienne knocked his teeth out, seeing the teenage girl sprawled on the train tracks…
He must have worked out that it was she who had summoned the Thief and stolen his devil’s coin. And now surely he had come here to punish her. Sensing her distress, both snakes immediately appeared on her shoulders, hissing aggressively as Jude staggered back from the door. “You can’t come in!” she gasped. “I haven’t invited you.”
“I’m not here to hurt you,” the vampire replied. “I swear it. Look.”
He held up both hands and Jude saw the purple glow of a humanity charm dangling from the bracelet on his wrist. He looked different from the other times she had seen him. His shirt was crumpled, there were grey hollows beneath his eyes and his blond hair was messy rather than neatly brushed.
“I don’t understand,” Jude said slowly. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here because you need my help,” Etienne said.
“Your help?” Jude stared at him. “What could I possibly need your help for?”
“Everyone knows that Ivory Monette cursed the Phantom with a fright hex last night and that he left Baton Noir earlier.”
“So?”
“So André was my dearest friend once,” Etienne replied. “I know the demon that’s chasing him because I know what his greatest fear is. I also know where he’s gone. If you want to help him, I’m the best chance you have.”
Jude narrowed her eyes at him. “You attacked me,” she said. “You broke my finger and—”
“Ah, yes. So I did.” The vampire shrugged and offered her a crooked smile. “Sorry about that. I’ve done far worse to others, if it makes you feel any better.”
“It doesn’t,” Jude said shortly. “How can I trust you?”
The vampire slipped both hands into his pocket with a sigh. “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess you probably shouldn’t. I haven’t worn a humanity charm in a long time. I’m not sure I know who I am myself any more.”
“Why did you put it back on?”
“For André,” he said. His blue eyes turned suddenly cold. “What happened on Cajou Night… The way they treated him… Well, I suppose it woke something up inside me. Something André had been trying to wake up for a long time. Besides, I know what’s coming for him if no one does anything.” He shuddered. “He’s a good man. Far better than I ever was, even before I became a vampire.”
Jude thought of Ivory and how badly she’d been burned the last time she had decided to trust a member of the cajou Royalty. But she couldn’t do this by herself and sometimes you had to take chances. Right now Etienne was the best, and only, chance she had of helping the Phantom.
“All right,” she said slowly. “I’m not saying that I trust you, or that I like you. But you can come in.”
The vampire grinned and to Jude’s surprise a glint of warmth flashed in his eyes. It transformed his face, making him look quite different from the cold-faced man who’d beaten the waiter so mercilessly back at the Fang.
He stepped over the threshold into the hall, standing directly in front of Jude. This close she could see that there was a greyish tinge to his skin and he did not look at all well, but there was still a spark in his eyes as he said, “We haven’t been properly introduced. Who are you, exactly?”
“My name is Jude Lomax.”
“And what would you have me call you? Is it ‘Your Highness’, ‘Majesty’, ‘Madge?’”
“Jude will do,” she replied.
“Well, Jude,” he said. “I’m Etienne Malloy. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He offered his hand and Jude took it reluctantly. “We’ve already met,” she said.
The vampire’s grip tightened slightly on her hand. “Actually, we haven’t,” he said. “That other man is … he isn’t me. Not really.”
“That’s convenient,” Jude said, withdrawing her hand. “When it comes to disowning any crimes he may have committed.”
A muscle twitched in the vampire’s jaw. “It is not as convenient as you might imagine,” he replied, his voice a little cooler. “But we have bigger problems to talk about. No one’s ever heard of a fright hex being successfully broken. You are aware of that, I suppose?”
“Yes, I know. I don’t have any ideas about that yet either,” Jude replied. Her hands clenched into fists and she felt the weight of the two snakes, heavy and reassuring on her shoulders as she gazed at the vampire. “But if there is a way, any way at all, to undo what’s been done, then I intend to find it. So let’s get started.”