The Twilight Prisoner (12 page)

They sped away from the castle, Euri leading the way with Cora. Jack, who had grabbed on to Cora's other hand, looked back over his shoulder. The sky was turning an inky blue and the silhouettes of trees and beyond them, tall apartment buildings, were gaining shape. But the guards continued to chase after them, Cerberus barking himself hoarse in the wind.

Below, a long line of ghosts waiting to dive into Bethesda Fountain snaked in winding circles around the stone terrace, moving steadily forward under the angel's impassive gaze. Euri swooped down to the fountain, slipping into the line. “Keep your heads down,” she whispered. “Hopefully, we'll blend in with the crowd long enough to get back underground.”

The guards touched down on the farthest end of the terrace as Cerberus began to sniff around the edges. “No one move!” they shouted.

But their order seemed to have the opposite effect as spirits at the front of the line hurriedly dove into the fountain and the line dashed forward.

“I think we're going to make it,” Euri whispered.

Jack raised his head to see how far they were from the fountain when he suddenly spotted a familiar spirit in line ahead of them. He ducked behind Cora.

“What?” she asked.

“That's the ghost who knows me as the Living Avenger,” he whispered, pointing to a small, stout African American woman in a gray flannel dress. “She saw me the night we were hanging out with the Latin Club at the Pinetum.”

“Well, don't stare at her then,” said Euri.

Jack looked away. “Anyway, we have the clue. Viele said we'll find epiphany in Seneca.”

“What's Seneca?” asked Euri.

“Not what,” said Jack. “Who. He's a Roman playwright and philosopher.”

“Facilius per partes in cognitionem totius adducimur,”
Cora recited.

“‘We are more easily led part by part to an understanding of the whole,'” Jack translated. “He also held up the Central Park map. Maybe one of Seneca's sayings reveals a clue on the map? When we get back underground we should find a copy of his writings.”

“The New York Public Library has secret storage beneath Bryant Park,” Euri offered.

But Cora looked skeptical. “I don't know. Reading through all of Seneca's writings could take days. Maybe Seneca is something on the map.”

“Well, it would have to be something unmarked,” Jack said as he studied it. “Something that would have had a name but that Viele wouldn'thave bothered recording....” His gaze fell on the scattering of squares. “Cora, where's the Pinetum?”

A guard shouted angrily and the line lurched forward again. Cora gave him a perplexed look. She studied the map and then pointed. “Around Eighty-fourth Street.”

“Right near the squares,” said Jack with a grin. “Come on.”

Euri looked alarmed. “Where are we going?”

“To ask one of the squatters if her camp had a name,” he said. And then, before they could say anything else, he floated ahead and cut back into the line behind the ghost in the gray flannel dress. Euri and Cora dashed after him. The guards were advancing and Jack knew he didn't have much time. He leaned forward so that his mouth was close to the little ghost's white bonnet. “I promise I won't hurt you,” he whispered in her ear. “But the guards are here, so please don't scream.”

The little ghost swung around and her eyes bulged as she took in Jack.

“It's okay,” said Euri. “He's with us.”

But the ghost did not look reassured. Her eyes darted from Cora to Jack.

“I just died,” Cora explained feebly.

“Please don't give us away,” Jack whispered. “We just have a question, then we'll leave you alone.”

“But you're the Living—” she began to stammer.

“Don't say it aloud. My name is Jack. I'm sorry that I shouted at you before. What's your name?”

The ghost hesitated. She still looked as if she might be moments away from giving them up. Jack hoped he had made the right decision. The guards were getting closer as Cerberus began to howl.

“Jack, hurry!” said Cora.

The ghost stared at her with wide-eyes. “I'm Aurora,” she said uncertainly.

Jack smiled at her. “You're one of the squatters who lived here before it became the park, right?”

Aurora jerked back in surprise and her dark eyes flashed indignantly. “I'm no squatter!”

Jack glanced helplessly at Cora and Euri. Aurora had been haunting the Pinetum, which was part of the area where the squatters had been. Her clothes looked like what someone would wear in the nineteenth century. And she was African American. But his guess was clearly wrong. “Sorry,” he said, his head hanging down. “I'll leave you—”

But Aurora didn't seem to hear him. “We lived there rightfully!” she continued. “In Seneca Village!”

Jack jerked his head up as Cora gasped. He pulled out the map and pointed to the squares. “This was Seneca Village?”

Aurora nodded.

“I guess it has nothing to do with that Roman guy,” said Euri.

Aurora studied Euri with obvious annoyance. “Several of us read
Seneca's Morals
,” sheretorted. “We weren'tsquatters, though. We bought that land—all of us! Epiphany Davis bought his lots all the way back in 1825. There are deeds to prove it. The city had us evicted.”

“Did you just say Epiphany?” asked Cora.

“Yes, Epiphany Davis.”

“Where can we find him?” Jack asked.

Aurora peered at them skeptically. “What do you want with Epiphany?”

“I didn't just die,” Cora admitted. “I'm still alive and so is Jack, and we're stuck here in the underworld. But my mother is sick and I need to get back to her. Someone said he'd be able to help us.”

Aurora's face softened. “He's gone back underground for the day, but at night he haunts Summit Rock,” she said pointing toward the jagged rock-covered hill north of them. “Part of the village was there, too. We weren't squatters though—he'll tell you.”

“I think we got that part,” Euri remarked.

Aurora glared at Euri and jabbed at the map. “Don't those look like buildings to you?” she said, her voice rising. “There were three churches. A school. But what did the rich care? They wanted this park. A bunch of free blacks and poor white folk weren't going to stop them.”

“Shhh!” Euri pleaded.

But it was too late. With a loud bark from all three of his heads, Cerberus scampered toward them.

“Over there!” shouted the guards.

The ghosts near the front of the line began to stampede forward.

Euri and Jack grabbed Cora's hands and shoved through the crowd. Elbowing several ghosts aside, they flew over the rim of the fountain and jumped in.

Before Jack and Cora even hit the tunnel floor, Euri was dragging them forward.

“What's the rush?” a spirit in a Yankees cap grumbled before a loud bark cut him off. He shrank back as Cerberus and a pair of guards bounded past him.

Ghosts began to scream and push each other out of the way as Euri shoved through the crowd. “The Dynamo Room,” she said, brushing past a hysterical ghost in a sequined evening gown who was blocking her way. “The guards don't know about that.”

She turned down a corridor lined with sweating pipes, but Cerberus, who had picked up their scent, barreled after them. “We won't have time to take the elevator,” Euri added.

Jack turned back just as Cerberus bared all three heads' worth of teeth. “Just get us out of here!”

Euri darted around a corner and they sailed through a metal door. Jack expected her to keep flying, but instead they began to fall, dropping through an elevator shaft. Cora opened her mouth to scream, but Jack clamped his free hand over it. With a pop, they dropped through the top of the elevator. They were inside the elevator for barely a moment before they tumbled out the bottom of it and continued to fall. As the elevator shot up over their heads, Euri finally slowed them down. After drifting to the bottom, they staggered through the wall of the shaft and collapsed on the floor of the Dynamo Room.

“We made it,” panted Jack.

Euri shook her head sadly and pointed at Cora's shoe-less foot. “Not the sneaker.”

Cora laughed. “It died for a good cause. Our Epiphany is in Seneca
Village
! You did it, Jack!”

“It was nothing,” Jack said awkwardly, blushing. But he felt, in fact, like Seneca Village was everything. He had made a promise to Cora, and now he could keep it. He wouldn't fail her the way he'd failed Euri. “Tomorrow night we'll go find Epiphany at Summit Rock,” he said. “He'll get us back.”

“But firstwe need to look for Austin,” Cora said. “We need to take him with us.”

Jack had forgotten about Austin. For a moment, he wished that Cora had forgotten about him as well. “Of course,” he said.

“I knowwe'll find him,” Corasaid. “I can'twaittoget out of here!”

Euri stood and began to float back to the elevator shaft.

“Where are you going?” Jack asked.

Euri didn't turn back. “I need to visit some friends.”

Jack knew she was lying, but he didn't try to stop her. He could tell she wanted to be alone.

Cora watched her float through the shaft wall. “I shouldn't have said that about being glad to get out of here.”

“It's just hard for her that we're leaving,” he explained.

Cora stared at him thoughtfully. “And yet she helped us. She cares about you, Jack.”

He looked away. “Come on,” he said, pulling Cora to her feet and floating with her to the office. “We should get some sleep.”

Cora squeezed his hand. “I don't know if I can.”

Jack wasn't sure if he could, either. He wanted to tell Cora how he felt about her. It seemed like the perfect time. But he couldn't help thinking about Euri and what Cora had said. He cared about Euri, too, but she had to understand that he needed to be with a girl who could change and grow, a living girl, a girl like Cora. If he could bring Euri back to life, maybe things would be different. But he couldn't. It would be pointless to love Euri.

Once they reached the office, Cora flopped onto the dirty floor. “I really had given up.” Jack sat down next to her. “I wasn't going to let you die.” Cora sat up. “I know, Jack. You've been wonderful.

Thank you.” He looked her straight in the eye. “I wasn't going to let you die because . . .”

“Because you promised. I know.”

Jack took a deep breath. “No. Because I like you.”

Cora smiled but it wasn't the smile that Jack was expecting. It was a sympathetic smile, as if he had just told her he had a fatal disease. He felt his face turn red. She put her hand gently on his. “I know you do.” Jack cringed. Had he been so obvious? “And you're such a great friend,” Cora continued. Jack couldn't help the flash of hurt in his voice. “But—?”

“But . . . I feel terrible, Jack, but I like someone else.”

There was an awkward silence. “

I'm sorry,” she said.

He pulled his hand away. “That's okay,” he heard a voice that sounded like his own say. “It's Austin.” Cora nodded. “He doesn't know,” she added. “Or at least I don't think he does.” Jack couldn't help himself. “Why him?”

“I don't know. I've liked him for a really long time.

He's always comfortable with himself. He doesn't take anything too seriously. He belongs at Chapman.”

“So do you,” said Jack. “You belong better than Ido.”

“I belong in Latin Club,” she said with a smile. “I really care about you, Jack. I do. And I should have told you about my mom. You're my
amicus usque ad aram
.”

Friend to the death
, Jack translated to himself.

“And even after,” she added.

“Sure,” said his voice. He was glad it sounded steady and detached. “I guess we better get some rest.”

Cora turned on her side and closed her eyes. He guessed she was just pretending to be asleep so she wouldn't have to talk to him. But eventually her breathing changed and Jack realized she really was asleep. He felt relieved that she was no longer conscious, then angry that she had been able to fall asleep so quickly.

But as he lay there, Jack realized that the person he really hated was Austin. Every time Cora talked about him, she became someone different than the girl he thought she was—someone more insecure, more like Jack himself. And Austin was comfortable with himself because he had been born wealthy and Chapman was practically his home. He hadn't earned any of these things. Jack thought about how Austin had made fun of the flowers he had given Cora, and how he'd always ignored him at school. Even in the underworld, he had ignored Jack— going his own way and making everything more complicated. Jack briefly imagined taking Cora back and leaving Austin to die. But when he looked at Cora, he knew he could never go through with it.

He rested his head on his knees and envisioned Cora and Austin holding hands around school. The line from the Auden poem popped into his head: “‘Let the more loving one be me,'” he whispered into the empty space between his knees. The poet had been dead wrong about that—loving someone who didn't love you back was the worst situation to be in, the loneliest . . .

“You're not sleeping.”

Jack looked up. Euri had floated through the office door and was hovering in front of him.

“I'm not tired,” he said.

“Mourning sickness?”

He felt her studying him and turned away. “No, I'm fine.”

“Okay. Let's be fine together.”

After a moment of silence, Jack glanced over at her, floating glumly next to him. He caught her eye and they both grinned.

“What's wrong?” asked Euri.

Jack looked at Cora, who was snoring softly. “She likes someone else.”

“Who? Austin?”

Jack didn't want to tell Euri the truth. “No, just this guy at school.”

Euri dug into her blazer pocket. “Where does he live? I may have an extra cockroach in here somewhere.”

Jack smiled. “That's okay.”

“Don't worry. You'll find someone else,” said Euri, patting his hand.

The way she touched his hand reminded Jack of the way Cora had done it, as if he was a small child and they were adults. “You didn't.”

Euri grimaced. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean Nate. He must have been the one with you when you jumped. Who is he, Euri?”

“You just told me who he is.”

“No, I mean why was he there when you jumped in front of the train? Did you jump because of him?”

Euri froze. “We were supposed to jump together,” she finally said.

Jack felt a chill run up his spine. “Why?”

“Nate's parents didn't want us seeing each other anymore. I loved him.”

“Why didn't you just run away together? Why did . . . you know?”

“I don't know,” Euri snapped. “I was depressed and it was a stupid idea, okay? He realized that. I didn't.”

“But you said he was there.”

Euri was picking at the hem of her skirt more aggressively than Jack had ever seen. “We held hands,” she said in a muffled voice. “Then we stood on the edge of the platform. When we saw a train coming, we counted to three. On three, I jumped. He let go of my hand. . . .” Tears began to slide down her cheeks.

“He didn't jump?”

Euri shook her head. A dark look crossed her face as she wiped at the tears with her sleeve. “I'm never going to stop haunting him.”

“Why did you start?” he asked. “You didn't haunt him last time I was here.”

“No,” Euri admitted. “I started after you left.”

“Why?” He couldn't stop himself. “You're not planning to move on, are you?”

“Never!” said Euri fiercely.

Jack closed his eyes, feeling relieved and then quickly guilty. Euri wanted him to make it back to the living world. Didn't he want her to be at peace?

“I just want him to suffer,” she continued, her pale blue eyes narrowing.

“But you can't blame him for not killing himself—”

“I can do whatever I want,” Euri said indignantly. “I'm the dead one. You're about to go back to the living world. You can do whatever you want, grow up, have a life. You'll find another girl.”

She was admitting the very thing Jack had wanted her to understand—that he was alive and she wasn't. But now, he no longer believed it himself. “I'm a freak, Euri. You said it yourself. I'm barely alive. I don't even know who I am. I see ghosts in the living world, I fly in the dead one.”

“Well, that's who you are, then.”

“But I want to be like everyone else. Not some freak.”

“If you weren't some freak, you wouldn't see me. We wouldn't be friends.” Euri put her arms around him and Jack hugged her back. He suddenly felt he couldn't bear to leave her. She read the hesitation in his face. “Promise me you're going to go back tomorrow?”

He sniffed. “I promised already.”

“You're so brave down here. Now just be brave up there.”

“I'll try.” He closed his eyes, feeling tired for the first time that morning. Minutes later, he was asleep.