Escaping is a tricky business. Which is why I was cowering behind a rather unruly shrub, cursing Miss Frost. For the outside of her house was as heavily guarded as the inside. I had jumped from the window and landed among a wall of bushes. Quickly spotting one of Miss Frost’s cronies, I ducked down. She passed by, then turned and walked the other way. So I darted out and crawled along the ground, hiding beside a barrow filled with turnips.
I heard chatter. Then the sound of boots marching back toward me. A few feet away was a maple tree with a rope ladder hanging from it. With few options—and no powers of invisibility—I dashed over and scurried up the ladder. At the top was a rather delightful tree house. All wood slats and rusty nails. I crawled in, heading for a small square cut into the wall opposite. My eye was drawn to a pair of initials carved into a heart—G.A. and E.F. But only briefly. I peered out and saw a horse and rider galloping into the yard. The woman wore the familiar brown pants and black coat. She tethered the horse to a branch right under me and jumped off, dashing into the house.
When she was gone, and with the two foot soldiers deep in conversation down by the stable doors, I made my move. Climbed out the window. Found my footing on a thick bough. And jumped. I landed rather skillfully on the horse’s back. There was some buttock pain, I won’t lie. As I unthreaded the reins, I heard a great commotion coming from the house.
“She cannot have gone far,” Miss Frost called out from one of the front windows. “Search high and low!”
I tugged on the reins, and the horse galloped from the yard. We flew like the wind spiriting away from the house at great speed. The breeze untangled the braid from my hair, my locks billowing out behind me. It was a glorious getaway. Until I spotted four dark carriages charging along the road not thirty feet away. I recognized the drivers’ orange coats and shaved heads—Justice Hallow’s guards. And they were hurtling toward Miss Frost’s house.
I quickly turned off the road and flew into the thick woodlands. I didn’t go back. There wasn’t time—the portal would be closed in just a few hours, and with it, any hope of seeing my mother again. I felt utterly certain that Miss Frost and her cronies would make short work of those Orange Coats. And besides, I was confident the whole silly business would be cleared up once Justice Hallow learned who I was. She would agree to let Rebecca and me return home.
So I flicked the reins hard and galloped on.
Prospa House was eerily quiet. Marvelously deserted. Hardly any guards about that I could see—though I felt certain they couldn’t all be at Miss Frost’s farmhouse getting pummeled. I had followed the train tracks all the way, jumping from the horse on the outskirts of the city—much better to go on foot, what with horses and wagons being forbidden during the day. When I reached the bridge, I circled around the back of Prospa House.
A guard stalked about, hands behind his back. He appeared to be patrolling the entire perimeter, quickly vanishing around the corner. So I ran like the wind. Turned down the silver stone path surrounded by bloodred hedges. Flew past the plaque that read PROSPA HOUSE. Slipped inside the building, utterly unseen—having all the natural instincts of a foul odor.
The place was empty. No maids milling about. No sign of any guards. The grand staircase loomed before me, so I charged up, heading for the first floor. That was where they had taken me after Rebecca and I were captured. While I couldn’t be certain, instinct told me that Justice Hallow’s quarters must be nearby. After all, she had kept the vial of poison in the cell where I was locked.
At the top of the stairs was a large portrait of Justice Hallow looking frightfully regal, surrounded by an array of regimental flags. The hall split off, left and right. I chose the left. There were a great many doors. All were open, revealing a series of empty offices and a large library. All except for one. Which was terribly interesting. So I opened it and entered.
The room was vast and airy. Lined with white bookcases. A large desk in the middle with a high leather chair. A fireplace of dark stone and the words VIGILANCE ALWAYS carved above it. At the far end were a set of large copper doors etched with hundreds of little Clock Diamonds. I walked over for a closer look, and as I did, I felt the ground tremble and shift beneath me. Just for a moment.
The doors were rather glorious. On either side were tall windows. Looking out, I instantly recognized the vast terrace, the wide steps, the concourse leading down to the great lake, the Clock Diamond memorial. It was just as I had seen it from the train. Apart from a few differences.
The first was a large platform sprouting up from the middle of the lake with a red throne upon it. The second was the great crowd milling about on the concourse and around the water’s edge. A great many were marked by the Shadow, their skin ashen and sickly. And the guards from Prospa House were shouting at the people and pointing in a rather fierce fashion.
“You came back.”
I jumped, startled. Turned around to see Justice Hallow standing in the doorway. She wore a plain brown dress. No jewelry or adornment.
“Yes, dear,” I declared. “I had to, for I have the most fantastical news.”
Justice Hallow walked toward me. Then, without a word, she reached for my throat. Her cool eyes sparkled when she felt the stone. She pulled it out. Looked at it, cracked and dark.
“It is as I expected,” she said. “Why don’t we talk in my private quarters?”
Which was a splendid idea! Justice Hallow led me through a door set into the bookcases. I followed her into a room that I instantly recognized. It was connected to the cell where I had been kept. Very simple. A few wooden chairs. A bed in the corner. A table and an oil lamp. A faded tapestry of the great lake on a wall.
“This is your chamber?” I said.
Justice Hallow looked about. “The people of Prospa do not expect their leader to live as a queen—she must be as humble and unassuming as a peasant.”
Then she turned. Walked to the wall tapestry. Lifted the edge. Behind it was a door, which slid away as soon as she touched it. Justice Hallow passed through it, and I quickly followed. Finding myself in a very different sort of apartment. This one had a carved oak roof, with a glorious lantern hanging from the center. Rich woven carpets upon the floor. A canopied fireplace carved with daggers. Heavy furniture covered in red and black silk. The whole room smelled of peaches and oranges.
“This is my little secret,” said Justice Hallow. “Every great leader has a few of those.”
Along one wall was a long row of glass cabinets bursting with objects both beautiful and strange—hand-painted vases, a dark sceptre sparkling with green stones, and ivory statues stood alongside shrunken heads, bones that appeared to have been dipped in gold, and glass bottles filled with what looked an awful lot like tongues. I looked at my granny with a certain amount of confusion.
“Prospa has a dark and fascinating history,” she said softly. “I am a keen collector of remnants from that time. The tongues belong to royal subjects who displeased the Queen.” She strolled to an ornate desk and sat down. Motioned to the chair opposite her. “Now, what is it you wished to tell me, Ivy?”
I hurried over and launched into the story. Told her everything as briefly as I could—given that the portal was dying and time running out. When I was done, I ended with a few poetic words, “Now I am almost certain, dear Granny, that you will wish to have me around forever, shower me with hugs and kisses, cash and cake. Which is awfully sweet—but quite impossible. For I already have a home in London and, as it turns out, a mother. She’s your daughter, so you’ve probably met.”
Granny said nothing. Just smiled silently.
“You’re overwhelmed,” I said brightly. “The shock and whatnot.”
She opened a drawer, took something out, and slid it across the table toward me. It was a photograph (in color, no less). Of a girl. A girl who looked remarkably like me.
“That is a photograph of my sister, Florence,” said Justice Hallow. “She died a few days before her fourteenth birthday. There is quite a resemblance between the two of you—don’t you agree?”
So Granny had known who I was all along. Miss Frost’s hunch had been right. Which was infuriating. And rather confusing. “I don’t understand,” I said.
“Don’t you?” Justice Hallow sat back in her chair. “When your other half first came through the portal, it was plain to see that she was no ordinary soul. Her skin did not glow, and she looked exactly like my sister. As impossible as it seemed, I knew that this girl could not be anything less than my daughter’s child. And as my daughter’s child, you had both Prosparian blood and the other kind. I also understood that there was a real chance you might find your way here—indeed, I hoped you would come.” Justice Hallow waved her hand in my general direction. “And here you are.”
There was a knot in my stomach now. A growing dread. “Why did you poison the portal, Granny?”
“To sever the ties between our worlds forevermore,” she said simply. “That chapter in Prospa’s history is over.”
The floor shook again. A low, deep rumble. A painting on the wall wobbled. The windows rattled. Justice Hallow noticed it too, a frown carved in her smooth flesh. But I had more important matters to discuss. “But what about the Shadow and the remedies? Without the portal, they—”
“The remedies have been moved for their own safety.” She motioned to the window and the concourse below. “The gatekeeper has raised my people’s expectations about you, Ivy—they are going to be sorely disappointed. That is why my guards are attempting to clear the city and send them all home.”
“But the sick will die without the portal,” I said. “I think it’s a beastly business, stealing souls, but are you not meant to help your people?”
My granny looked at me in silence. Her blue eyes were stunning, but there was a great coldness there. I still had questions . . . but I suspected I would not like the answers. “Why did you move us last night—Rebecca and the other me?”
“Rebecca was a tool, something I could use to ensure you didn’t slip back to your world using the Clock Diamond. While I was unable to locate the necklace, I knew you would have it within reach. And I also knew that you couldn’t take Rebecca with you using the stone. As for your other half, the plan was always to reunite the two of you.” She sighed. “After all, I couldn’t kill you until you were whole.”
I stood up. “Well, it was lovely meeting you, Granny. Do let’s keep in touch. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go back and collect my friend. Now you mustn’t go to any trouble—a farewell luncheon or bunting. We will just slip down to the portal and be on our way.”
“That won’t be possible.” Justice Hallow stepped out from behind the desk, and I saw that she held an elegant silver pistol. “My daughter is dead to me, and as her child, you are little more than proof of her betrayal. She ran from me as if I were a monster. I didn’t think I could despise a human being more than Anastasia, and then you appeared.”
Which was monstrous. “Let me return home, and you’ll never have to see me again.”
“Anastasia had no need for a mother,” she said calmly, “so why should you?”
And at last I truly understood. “You poisoned the portal to stop my mother and me from being together.” I was shaking my head. “It is vengeance.”
“It is justice!” Granny pushed the pistol against my heart. “In another life I might have admired a granddaughter who didn’t cower in the face of greater strength. Who was brave and loyal. But we must accept the times in which we live. Even if you weren’t my granddaughter, you are a threat to the one thing in this world that makes my heart sing.”
“Power,” I heard myself say.
She didn’t deny it. She didn’t have to. It was there in her proud, bald head. And in her hidden apartment, fit for a monarch. And in her ravenous eyes. Being Justice of Prospa was everything—all else was a hindrance to be disposed of.
“I would shoot you,” she said, “but there is the mess and the noise to consider.”
“Terribly sporting of you, Granny.”
Using the pistol, she forced me back until I hit the glass cabinets. “Might I suggest death by cold porridge? Or possibly a firm talking-to and straight to bed without supper?”
I swung quickly, hitting the wicked creature’s arm. My plan was for the gun to go flying across the room. But Justice Hallow barely flinched. She brought the pistol right back to my chest—and cocked the hammer. “I am stronger than I look,” she said.
“Crazier too,” I added.
But I was trapped and we both knew it. With a satisfied smile Justice Hallow opened one of the glass doors and turned a small ivory statue of a woman holding a fob watch. As she did, I heard a hissing sound. Then the cabinet lurched forward as if it was being pushed from behind, and slid open. Revealing a small room just wide enough for a person to stand.
“This little chamber is lined with steel and, once closed, is utterly devoid of ventilation.” She indicated with a wave of her pistol that I was to step inside. “I thought suffocation was the best option.”
“Whereas I thought we might talk things through, agree you were a monstrous fruitcake, then go our separate ways.”
Justice Hallow grabbed my arm and pushed me into the small space. It was so snug the walls seemed to press in, holding me like a vise. I attempted to jump out. But the pistol quickly forced me back in.
“It’s not the noblest end to your journey,” said Granny, “but there is a certain beauty in locking you away in my cabinet of curiosities.”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to stuff me and mount me on the mantelpiece?” I said, gulping up a storm. “Let’s head to the nearest taxidermist and work out the details.”
“You should have stayed in your world, Ivy, and left mine alone.”
Justice Hallow reached for the ivory statue. With a simple turn, she would seal me in. And my life would be over. She clasped the statue. As she did, a gloved hand snaked around her neck. A dagger flew to her throat. Behind her a figure loomed, wearing a wicked grin.
“Hello, Ivy,” said Miss Always.
Stepping out of my tomb felt glorious. Miss Always pulled the pistol from Justice Hallow’s hand and pushed her away. Glanced at the hidden chamber.
“I’d heard rumors about your nasty little vault,” she said, “but I thought it was a fairy tale.”
“The tomb has been a great comfort,” said Justice Hallow, lifting her hand and stroking her crinkled neck. “I’ve only had need to use it once or twice—the threat is usually enough.”
“But not today.” Miss Always pushed the spectacles up her nose, and I noticed the scar on her forehead from Amos’s rock. “While killing Ivy has a great deal of merit—I once planned to do it myself—I came to see that she has a higher purpose. You knew she had survived the stone, that she might be the one we were looking for—yet you were going to kill her?”
“I will kill her,” said Justice Hallow calmly. “Miss Always, you don’t suppose that either of you are getting out of here alive? My guards will—”
“Your guards are outside trying to stop the revolution,” interrupted Miss Always.
“And the rest are getting thrashed by Miss Frost even as we speak,” I chimed in.
The ground shook again. This time more violently. The cabinets rattled, the glass doors swung open, and many of Justice Hallow’s ornaments tumbled out. Miss Always’s eyes darted about. Then returned to Justice Hallow. “What have you done?”
Granny sighed. Said nothing.
“She poisoned the portal,” I declared. “I’m not sure if that’s what is making the whole place shake, but the portal is closing this very moment and I must cross back to my world before—”
“How could you be so foolish?” hissed Miss Always. She lunged at Justice Hallow, pressing the dagger’s blade to her throat. “You want to kill the girl so she can never be the Dual. And kill the portal so it cannot bring back souls to heal the sick. Do you not want to stop the Shadow? Do you not care?”
Granny met Miss Always’s gaze and did not flinch. “I am the Chief Justice. I know what is best. The portal will close in one hour, and that will be an end to it.”
Miss Always shook her head in wonder. “And what will you tell your people?”
“I will tell them that the gatekeeper stole into Prospa House under the cover of darkness and poisoned the portal.”
Miss Always looked more impressed than upset. “Blame it all on me? Clever.”
“When they discover that you have not delivered the Dual, that there is no such girl, they will be ready to believe the worst of you,” said Justice Hallow, her eyes sparkling with feverish excitement. “And I will be there to carry them through this great tragedy. The sick will perish and the well shall rebuild. A way to start again—with my guiding hand.”
“You’re off your rocker, dear,” I said helpfully.
The floor shook again. The walls trembled. I heard a violent crack up above; then the lantern dropped from the ceiling, smashing just a few feet away.
“Prospa House was built over the portal,” said Miss Always. “It will not survive what you have done.”
“You are wrong,” said Justice Hallow. “The portal will be dead soon enough. Prospa House can survive a few tremors.”
“It won’t,” said Miss Always sadly. “It is happening already.”
Justice Hallow paled then. I saw it. “You are wrong,” she repeated, though she no longer sounded sure.
“What a miserable end for the great Justice Hallow,” said Miss Always, the sharpness returning to her voice. “By the end of today, this house will be in ruin and Prospa shall have a new queen.”
I knew what she meant. That I was the Dual. Justice Hallow knew it as well. Which is why she flew at Miss Always, pushing her back. Miss Always stumbled. Justice Hallow reached for the gun. Miss Always spun around. Throwing a kick. Justice Hallow was flung against the cabinets with force. Glass shattering around her. My evil granny let out a painful groan.
“Well done,” I said, clapping my hands.
Miss Always didn’t respond. She charged at Justice Hallow and practically threw her in the vault. I ran over. Put my hand on the ivory statue and twisted it. In an instant, the cabinets were sliding together. “Lovely to meet you, Granny!” I said, giving a parting wave.
The tomb slid shut, sealing her in. Miss Always threw the pistol into the fire. Looked about and took a deep breath. I was already hurrying from the room. “Thank you, dear. Couldn’t have done it without you. Now if you don’t mind, I have a friend to collect and a portal to pass through. Clock’s ticking and all of that.”
Miss Always stepped in to my path. Pointed the dagger right at me. “Time to meet your destiny, old friend.”
