Chapter Six

The Phantom Returns—

In Which Audrey Meets First The Phantom and Later Her Otherself

Air World

“Hey! What’s this?” The Phantom lifted his blurry arm, bringing her own arm up too since they were chained at the wrist.

As his expression switched from bafflement to anger, Audrey wished she’d had enough time to shackle the second bracelet-carabiner to the balcony railing instead.

Her heart pounded. “You’re a thief and a spy. I’m detaining you. My father will have some questions for you.”

“Open it,” he demanded, rattling the bracelet.

He’d figure out the hidden latch soon. “Help!” she yelled. With luck, Franklin or Piers or a footman would be near enough to hear.

Cursing, The Phantom tugged once more on the carabiner, then gave up. He bared his teeth and grasped her around the waist.

Audrey gave a startled scream as he slung her head-down over his shoulder. She shrieked again as he flew under the balcony.

“Will you shut it?” he asked fiercely.

Audrey could hear the balcony door opening. Rescue! Before she could call out, The Phantom manhandled her off his shoulder. Her lungs seized up as she saw only air beneath her feet.

“Hello?” a voice called above.

Alarm flashed across The Phantom’s face. He yanked her into his arms, sealing her lips shut by kissing her.

It wasn’t a true kiss. He was keeping her silent, not feeling romantic.

Other than The Phantom’s brief stolen kiss on the airship, Audrey had been kissed exactly once before, behind a potted plant during a vigorous dance. The boy had pressed a quick kiss on her, mostly missing her lips and landing on the corner of her mouth, then whisked her back onto the dance floor before Audrey’s mother saw. She’d been thirteen then and not at all sure that she wanted that particular boy kissing her. The next time he’d tried it, she’d stomped on his foot.

This kiss should have outraged her. Instead, Audrey felt…disappointed? She shoved at his chest.

Footsteps rang out above. “Audrey?” Franklin called. “Where’d she go?”

Audrey struggled harder, twisting her head. The Phantom pressed her back against the outer wall, hiding them in the shadows in case Franklin looked down. She pounded on The Phantom’s shoulder with her free hand, but instead of responding with more force, his lips softened on hers. Apologizing and coaxing.

Everything inside her seemed to go still. Her pulse sped up. He might look barely there, a phantom, but he felt very solid and real under her fingers. Her free hand was trapped between them and pressed against his chest.

For one crazy moment, she didn’t care that he was a thief. She closed her eyes and kissed him back.

A moment later, she sensed them slowly rising in the air. Her eyelids fluttered open as he gently deposited her on the now empty balcony. Was that surprise on his face? It was so hard to tell, his features barely visible beneath a blurry wrapping of wind.

“I have to go now,” he said softly.

And then he held up his wrist, sans carabiner, and she realized he’d freed himself while she’d been distracted, kissing him.

Embarrassment, then rage, snapped her head up, and she shook off the lingering weakness in her limbs. “Help!” she called, lunging for his arm. She couldn’t let him escape.

He jumped over the balcony rail, breaking her grip. The wind rose in a column to support him in a powerful rush. Audrey’s skirts billowed around her legs.

“Come back here!” she yelled uselessly.

He grinned at her from five feet away. “Nice try. Here, a consolation prize.” He tossed her the sapphire earrings.

Fuming, she caught them and watched him swoop away. He vanished from sight within seconds.

Which was, of course, the moment Franklin barged through the door. “Audrey? Where were you?” he asked.

Her father hadn’t believed her about The Phantom, so she didn’t even try. Thinking quickly, she held out the sapphire earrings. “Your sister dropped these. I was retrieving them.”

His brown eyes widened. “You climbed over the rail?”

She bit her lip. “Please don’t tell.”

Manners won out over astonishment. “I would never damage a lady’s reputation.” He offered her his arm, and they strolled back to the others, who were now gathered around the refreshment tables.

The next hour of the garden party limped past. Frederica kept up a barrage of barbs, forcing Franklin to play peacemaker. Katie and Jane alternately giggled and exchanged uncomfortable glances. Piers joked with Franklin and gently teased Katie.

Distracted, Audrey ate three little cakes, until her mother’s gimlet eye fell on her.

She swallowed the last mouthful of white cake and pink icing, then dutifully exerted herself to be a better hostess.

Her mother scolded her at supper. “I thought you liked Franklin. If you wish to pursue an alliance there, you must make a better effort to get on with his sister. What were you two quarreling about?”

Audrey mumbled a non-answer. She liked Franklin as a friend, but she didn’t want to kiss him, nor had he ever shown the least interest in kissing her. Her mother sighed.

The Admiral looked up from his soup. “There will be no alliance with the Konig boy. Her dowry would be gone in two years, poured out on their ridiculous campaign to win back Princess Neomi’s throne.”

“If they succeed, Audrey would be a princess,” her mother pointed out.

“I’m not interested in Franklin,” Audrey said firmly, in a vain attempt to quash the argument. She endured the rest of the meal and was glad when her father adjourned to his study for the evening.

However, she and her mother had barely settled into their chairs in the parlor when a roar of rage came from the study. Her father stomped down the hall, holding an empty lockbox. “My papers are missing. Who’s been in my study?”

Ice filled Audrey’s stomach.

The Phantom hadn’t come for a paltry pair of earrings or to see her. He’d come to steal papers from her father.

Much hullabaloo followed. Her father paced up and down, raging. He wanted to have the servants’ quarters searched. Her mother’s nostrils flared, offended that he should question her judgment in the hiring of the staff. “We’ll lose good people. I won’t have it. My staff is loyal.”

“Well, somebody took the papers. Who else has been in and out of the house today? I want a list.”

“And now you’re accusing my guests?” Lady Bethany pinched the bridge of her nose. “Next you’ll want to call the constables and have their homes searched.”

“I just might at that.” His fist smacked down on the spindle-legged end table.

Audrey jumped, drawing his attention.

“Audrey,” her father said sharply. “Do you know anything about this?” His black brows slashed down over his eyes.

No use trying to lie. He would see the guilt on her face. “He took it,” she said dully.

“Who?” Her mother frowned. “Franklin’s down-at-heel friend?”

“No. Not Piers. The Phantom.”

Her father snorted. “Not this again.”

“Again? What are you two talking about?” Lady Bethany demanded. She’d only heard the edited version of Audrey’s courier adventure.

“Audrey claims some will o’ the wisp stole the document tube she was transporting.” Her father waved his hand dismissively. “I’m sure she just dropped it.”

In one of those stunning reversals that drove Audrey round the bend, her mother immediately took her side. “Just because you’ve never seen a phantom doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Audrey, tell me everything.”

Audrey complied, stumbling a little in the telling, but getting the whole story out. Well, except for the kissing bits. She prudently kept those to herself.

“See? It’s balderdash,” her father complained.

Two frown lines appeared between her mother’s brows, but because he’d dismissed Audrey’s story, she, perforce, had to take it seriously. “He stole the earrings right out of Frederica’s ears, and she didn’t notice? Nobody else saw him at all?”

Audrey shook her head, stomach sinking. “He’s very difficult to perceive. The wind blurs his outline, and the light seems to bend around him. Maybe only people with a strong long-winded ability can see him.” Except Frederica was long-winded. Audrey hurried on, “I’ve met him twice, and I can barely describe him.”

“Try, dear,” her mother urged.

“He’s taller than me.” His head had bent towards hers during their kiss. “He has short hair. He’s perhaps a year or two older than me. Other than that…” She shook her head. His eyes and skin had been completely colorless. She had a vague impression of plain clothes: shirt, trousers, boots. Nothing distinctive.

“Preposterous.” Her father snorted again.

“More preposterous than our guests and long-time staff turning to thievery?” her mother said tartly. “What if the Siparese have a phantom on their payroll? Can we afford to ignore the possibility?”

His accent had been lower-tier but still Donlonese, and he’d claimed to get his assignments through a middleman, but Audrey kept silent because her father seemed to be actually considering the idea.

“And Audrey doesn’t lie,” her mother added. “She’s terrible at it.”

Was that a compliment or a criticism? It didn’t matter. Her mother believed her. Warmth bloomed in Audrey’s chest.

“I’ll put out feelers and see if the War Office has heard any rumors of mysterious thefts,” her father said. “But that’s as far as I’m willing to go. I won’t make a fool of myself bleating about phantoms. As for you, young lady, I don’t want to hear any loose gossip about a phantom. Don’t mention him again without proof.” His expression was stern.

Her cheeks burned. “Yes, Father.”

“I’ll have to report the theft to the War Office, and there will be an investigation.” He headed for the door.

Her mother’s voice caught him in the doorway. “Were the two thefts related? Did the courier message and your papers both concern the same thing?”

A tight nod. “Yes.”

Her mother raised an eyebrow.

The Admiral just pressed his lips together.

Audrey’s ears perked up. “I heard a rumor the Siparese have a new type of airship.”

Her father scowled. “Who told you this?”

Was it true then? Audrey floundered. “The lieutenant on the Artemis, but I heard whispers of war on board the flagship before that.”

“And I had it from Lady Cosgrove that the Siparese are purchasing silk by the bale,” her mother interrupted. “She joked that they must be building their own fleet.” Silk was used to make the balloon envelopes.

“The Sipar Empire can build all the airships they want; without long-winded pilots, they can’t reach us,” her father said confidently. “The Grand Current will protect us.” The huge river of air flowed in one direction, from Donlon to the mainland. Without long-winded pilots, the Siparese couldn’t fly outside the Grand Current either. Airships had starved to death, stuck in the deadly doldrums, where there was little wind beyond a few errant breezes and no true land below, only poisonous fog and marshes.

“So it has been for years.” Her mother frowned. “The Siparese are so clever with their clockwork. I worry they’ve found a way to travel without the aid of the Grand Current or other winds.”

Her father harrumphed disbelief and left, but Audrey’s throat tightened at the thought of airships independent of the wind. The Siparese would love to conquer Donlon.

Donlon had better, swifter airships and long-winded navigators like her father. Sipar had a bigger population and industrial capacity. Nearly all the clockwork and gears came from Siparese manufacture.

Sipar was a giant that had swallowed up most of the mainland. If it had truly turned its eye on Donlon as its next conquest, there would be war. And her father, as Admiral, would be right in the thick of it.

(find a mirror)

Audrey fussed with the ribbon holding back her short hair. Had a curl sprung free? She excused herself from breakfast and checked her coiffure in her dressing table mirror.

(look into the mirror)

Her reflection had long hair. Disoriented, Audrey touched her own short curls, but the image in the glass didn’t copy her movements. Her reflection also wore a dark dress in a plain style.

This is wrong. Breathing rapidly, Audrey backed up.

(wait!) Her reflection held out a hand beseechingly.

Audrey could hear the voice inside her own head. What was happening? Was she going mad?

(you’re not crazy. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just wanted to talk to you.)

Audrey fled the room, and the voice stopped, but the same thing happened again while she was changing dresses for tea. Shaking, she turned her back to the mirror and finished dressing. If it wouldn’t have perplexed the maids, she would have draped a sheet over it.

(you can’t avoid me forever)

But the voice in her head sounded frustrated, not amused, which gave Audrey heart. She hurried out of the room.

(please, your world may be in danger!)

The door shut, cutting the voice off.

Hatefully, the strange girl with Audrey’s face appeared again in her cup of tea—(look into the mirror)—and then in the polished silver cover that kept the main course warm at suppertime.

Her mother frowned at her. “Why do you keep leaning to one side? Sit up straight.”

The reflection reappeared and quickly took advantage of her forced attention. (my name is Leah. I am your otherself. I live on a different Mirror World. you probably don’t know anything about the Mirror Worlds or the True World. once upon a time there was a god named Aesok… no, never mind, I don’t have time for the whole story. just trust me, there are four Mirror Worlds: Fire, Stone, Air, and Water. I live on Fire; you live on Air.)

The tale that followed, of Volcano Lords and dragons and evil sorceresses, was all nonsense, of course, but fascinating in its own way. It was far more detailed than anything Audrey could have invented. But the voice was inside her own mind, so she must be coming up with it somehow…? The thought made her head ache.

The constant monologue also made her keep missing conversational cues at dinner.

Her mother set down her spoon. “Are you feeling well, Audrey? You don’t sound at all yourself.”

Audrey almost seized the excuse to leave the dining table, but, winds, she’d only eaten a bowl of broth, and she could smell her favorite meat pie underneath the silver cover. A surge of anger stiffened her spine. She wasn’t going to let her reflection drive her away from her supper.

Finally, the footman removed the silver cover and silenced her otherself. The voice’s absence was a relief, but Audrey found herself preoccupied throughout the meal. Her otherself’s words troubled her.

“Leah” had told her about her dead soul mate, the son of a Fire Elemental, who could turn into a dragon. She’d said that the boy had an otherself on Audrey’s world and would be the child of an Air Elemental—it was obvious to Audrey that she meant The Phantom. Leah had further said that The Phantom was in danger, that the evil sorceress Qeturah—who was an otherself of The Phantom’s mother—planned to kill The Phantom in order to drive his father, the Air Elemental, into a rage. Qeturah believed the Air Elemental would then wreak havoc and shatter Air World—Audrey’s world. It was all very confusing and dubious, but…

Audrey didn’t want The Phantom to die, only to stop stealing.

Her throat dried. What would happen if her father arrested The Phantom? Would The Phantom be tried and executed for treason? He might die at her father’s hands instead of Qeturah’s, but it would still have the same result.

Audrey had a terrible feeling that by “Air Elemental,” Leah had meant the Grand Current. Zephyr had said that one of The Phantom’s names was Child of the Grand Current. Audrey had assumed that was figurative. But if The Phantom’s father was literally the Grand Current… Donlon relied on the Grand Current’s steady wind stream for its merchant traffic, for its defense from Sipar, for, well, everything. The thought of the Grand Current becoming unstable or dangerous, frankly, terrified her.

Her stomach curdled, and she couldn’t finish her meat pie. Nor did she sleep well.

Finally, Audrey came to a decision. She climbed out of bed and stood in front of her dressing table mirror until the image of her in her white ruffled nightgown wavered, and her otherself replaced her in the glass.

“Very well,” Audrey said. “I’ll try to warn The Phantom about Qeturah’s plans.” And while she was at it, she’d find out who he’d sold the papers to. If he refused, she’d hand him over to her father. “Can you tell me how to find him?”

(call him through his element, Air. he won’t be able to stay away from you,) Leah said confidently. (you are soul mates.)

Audrey doubted that, but she opened the shutters and Called Zephyr. “Can you take a message from me to The Phantom?”

“Yes!” The breeze danced around her as if happy at the prospect.

“Ask him to meet me during the parade on the Queen’s Birthday.” The germ of an idea came to her. “Tell him I want to hire him to steal something.”