Sophia looked so disappointed that Arista forced a smile and nodded. They would go. No one would ever know her like this. What harm could it do to act like a normal person just for one day?
The carriage pulled up to the curb and Tomas helped them in, and then she decided. Today she would simply be a girl, who wasn’t really shopping for a bonnet. Such a normal thing; it made her smile. Soon they were rocketing down Tulane Street, and the panic began to recede.
Sophia appeared to be enjoying herself immensely—waving to a woman walking along the sidewalk, joking with the driver that he had gotten much better at avoiding pedestrians.
Arista watched her new friend with a mixture of awe and envy. It was clear that she had never suffered by anyone’s hand. She had never been so hungry that moldy bread was a feast. Her eyes were full of an innocent light Arista’s had never had. But her openness made it hard to dislike her for her privileges. Sophia had a family, and was a highly valued member of it.
Arista, on the other hand, had been tossed aside. Unwanted. And maybe that’s what drew her to Sophia and the girl’s delight with the world.
“Tomas, a left here please,” Sophia said. They’d stopped at an intersection, and were waiting for a storage cart piled high with barrels to lumber through.
“Miss?” Tomas couldn’t be much older than Sophia, but he wore the same look of warning that her father had had at the breakfast table.
“I’ve changed my mind. I wish to shop on Cheapside instead.” Arista saw the gleam in the girl’s eyes; this detour had been the plan all along.
The cart passed through the intersection, and Tomas turned their carriage left onto Cheapside. The street was filled with carriages, and crowds of people made it impossible to see into the shop windows from the street. Buildings loomed four or five stories high, and Arista could see the steeple of St. Paul’s Cathedral farther down the street. This area was familiar to her, as she and Nic had often ventured here to pick pockets on days like this.
“Here is fine,” Sophia said after only a few more minutes. They both stepped down, while Tomas glared at Sophia.
“Isn’t that laundry shop where your sweet friend works near here?” Sophia asked. Arista looked over her shoulder and saw that Tomas’s cheeks were red. Still, his gaze darted down the street to where Sophia pointed.
“Go. I promise to be right in this very spot, at two o’clock on the dot,” Sophia said.
Arista turned to the window of the closest shop and saw a display of bonnets and gloves. One bonnet in plain blue caught her eye. The lack of frills and decoration appealed to her. She gave herself a mental shake when Sophia grabbed her hand. A bonnet? Since when did she care about such trivial things? She turned, expecting Sophia to start down the long street of shops, but instead she pulled Arista to the edge of the sidewalk. When Arista glanced at her, Sophia’s eyes widened with excitement. Clearly she had not brought Arista to Cheapside just for bonnet shopping.
“Thank you,” Sophia said. She linked their arms together, then looked for an opening in the heavy traffic. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
Before she could argue or ask what Sophia had planned, the girl jumped off the sidewalk and dragged Arista with her. A hackney swerved around them and the driver swore loudly. Sophia paused, then pulled Arista in front of a supply wagon horse, which looked half dead and moved as if it were, too. When they finally reached the relative safety of the opposite sidewalk, Arista let out a pent-up breath. “Where are we going?”
This side of the street was just as crowded, and they were swept along for several feet before Sophia yanked Arista between two women and into an alley.
There was an immediate change in the air. Out of the sun, the air was cooler against her skin, but a dank odor wafted through the narrow space. Arista reached for her knife, remembering too late that she had not put it on that morning before lunch. Every shadow seemed to move. She stopped and tugged on Sophia’s hand.
“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Arista’s gaze slid left, then right. This place would be where criminals hid in waiting. It’s where she would hide. The sound of horse hooves on the cobblestones filtered through the maze of buildings, but there were no other people taking this shortcut.
“Don’t be frightened,” Sophia said, mistaking Arista’s hesitation for fear. “We’re nearly there. Trust me.”
Just as Arista was starting to dig in her heels and insist they return to the street, the alley opened up onto another street, quieter than the last.
“We’re here,” Sophia said. Her smile grew wider.