“Goodnight, Pax.”
“Goodnight.”
I sneak into the house, up the stairs, and collapse into bed.
Goodnight, Stella.
I’ve been asleep for what feels like mere minutes when someone barges into our room. I bolt awake; memories of folksletting themselves into my living quarters aren’t pleasant ones. Nirav is even faster: He leaps to his feet and snatches up the sharp shard of glass he keeps next to his mattress.
“Easy, kids,” Miss Beverly hisses. “I’m here to save your arses.”
I blink, and there’s Miss Beverly, standing in our doorway. She holds a lantern, and she’s wearing a nightgown. Her face is covered in white goo. Cold cream.
“Get up and get out,” she loud-whispers. “There’s a trio of burly fellas down there asking about the two of ye.”
Nirav, again, is one step ahead of me. He’s already thrown on his jacket and is dumping his things into pockets.
I leap out of bed, too, and start packing, but I’m still so groggy. “Who?”
Miss Beverly scowls. “Dunno. Not wearing uniforms. They said they’re searching all the boardinghouses in this neighborhood, near the racing stables. Anyways, they showed me this.”
Miss Beverly holds out a newspaper, folded to showcase a photograph. It’s Hedda Hopper’s column from a few days ago and features Max Blanck and his coiffed wife ducking into a Rolls-Royce. And there, plain as day in the background: Pax, Kiyoko, Clarice, Nirav, and me.
The day we were scouting our routes. Drat the paparazzi. They’re as pestilent as the zealots.
“He asked me if I knew any of y’uns.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Listen. Folks come pounding on my door in the middle of the night, I don’t ask if they’re friend or foe. I assume the worst.”
“What time is it?” I ask.
“Five thirty a.m. Too damn early for these fellas to be messing with the likes of me.” Miss Beverly scowls. Or maybe… she doesn’t. Hard to tell. “Now you and him follow me—down the back stairs.”
We do, and I whisper, “Him? You knew Nirav—?”
Miss Beverly grunts. “You think I’m some kind of idiot? Kid’s practically got a mustache.”
I slide my eyes at Nirav, who puffs his chest and grins.
“But I can tell yer family of some sort.” She shrugs, and my heart fills at this odd moment. We’re running, Nirav and I, but we’re running together.
We follow Miss Beverly down the back staircase, through the kitchen, and out the back door. The screen door makes far too much noise, but I’m comforted by the bat Miss Beverly has resting over her shoulder.
The edges of the sky are light purple. We look around like we’re seeing New York for the first time.
Miss Beverly swallows hard and waves us away with her fingertips. “Now git. Don’t come back for a while, you hear? And don’t worry. I’ll take care of that ratty-ass cat of yourn. But you—”
Her voice catches, and it takes me by surprise. “You should come back. Maybe in three or four months? I’d like to know you’re okay. You two were good company.”
Aw, that’s as much as she can love, Stella-girl.
She slams the door behind us.
Nirav and I wander for a bit, then find ourselves in a doorway with a view of the ever-climbing Woolworth Building. Iimagine both of us are thinking of what we did in the shadows of that steel skeleton a few hours ago. We’re silent awhile. I blink back tears.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen after tonight, but I’d like for us to stick together, if that’s all right with you.”
