I mention this theory to Luca. “And if they’re not illusions,” I say, “then what if we’re going about this the wrong way? What if it doesn’t take any special ability to kill them? The killer could be anyone.”
I have the urge to kick something. And then cry, but kicking something would be less embarrassing. “One moment,” I say, then step outside his tent and, as hard as I can, kick Luca’s Gossip-Worker sign. It flies across the air and lands in the grass with a satisfying thump.
Luca stands at the entrance of his tent. “Feel better?”
“Not really,” I say. “Because all the work we’ve been doing up to this point might have been pointless. And because maybe anyone can kill the illusions, which means our suspect list has grown from eight to every person in Gomorrah.”
“First of all, it wasn’t pointless,” he says. “We wouldn’t have come up with this theory in the first place without meeting Tuyet and the other suspects. And, no, not every person is automatically a suspect. Not every person has a motive.” He grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him. I’m so startled by his touch that I freeze. The last time we were this close, I kissed him.
“You need to take deep breaths and calm yourself.”
“Right,” I squeak. I’m not taking deep breaths. I’m barely breathing at all. The air in the Downhill is too sweet, too smoky and Luca’s sandalwood smell makes me a little light-headed. “Do you think I’m right about this? About my jynx-work?”
“I think you might be. It hadn’t even occurred to me until now, but I see the sense in it.” He pauses. “I feel I really should tell you about my theory now.”
“Go ahead,” I say dismissively. I’m still caught up in my potential discovery.
“We know that Gill died in Frice, and Blister died in Cartona. Now we’ve reached a third city, and if the killer is operating under some sort of pattern, he may strike again extremely soon. I think you need to protect the illusions while we’re in Gentoa.”
My stomach sinks. “The best way to protect them is to make them disappear. I can do that, but it’s difficult. They reappear the moment I break my concentration. Including while I’m sleeping.”
“We’re going to be in Gentoa for a week and a half,” he says. “You can’t keep that up.”
A shiver runs down my spine that has nothing to do with the night breeze. He’s right. There’s no way I can handle that for so long. “They’ll also have to be out during the Freak Show. And...this will involve telling them that I think they’re in danger. I never make them disappear, especially not all at once.”
That won’t go over well. Crown has still refused to consider Blister’s death as anything more than an accident. Hawk and Unu and Du will be terrified at the idea of being targeted. Tree will be in a constant state of panic, which is dangerous for everyone around him.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” I say. “I can’t just not sleep for eleven days.”
“Why don’t you just command the guard? You’re the proprietor’s daughter.”
“Villiam doesn’t know I’m working with you.”
“Why haven’t you told him?”
“I... I don’t know. It didn’t come up at first, and now I feel like I’ve been lying to him.” Now that I know Villiam’s, Agni’s and Chimal’s true feelings regarding those born in the Up-Mountains, I’m even more reluctant to reveal my relationship with Luca to my father. I don’t want him to feel betrayed. “I may be able to ask the guard tomorrow. We’re just arriving in Gentoa. I can say the new city is making my family anxious. But I don’t want to wake them now and make them suspicious. It’s already so late.”
A man approaches us carrying hundreds of cheap hookah pipes for sale. I’m about to snap at him—simply to snap at anyone—when Luca pleasantly waves him away. I wish I could be so cordial.
I need to lie down and take deep breaths. I need a glass of water. I need fresh air not polluted with ancient smoke.
“Jiafu’s cronies could be paid as bodyguards,” Luca says.
“Jiafu and I aren’t on the best of terms at the moment.” Considering he pulled a knife on me last time I saw him.
“That doesn’t matter,” he says. “I know what will convince him. You and I can go visit him tonight.”
He leans down and whispers a secret into my ear.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
As predicted, Jiafu isn’t happy to see me waiting for him at his caravan with Luca. His eyes bulge, and he walks toward us, stumbling in a zigzag pattern with the smell of the tavern on his breath.
“I told you not to show your freak face here again,” he spits out.
“Nice to see you, too, cousin,” I say. “This is Luca.”
Luca leans lazily against his walking stick, but I can tell he’s upset because of how tightly he grips it. He examines Jiafu the way a tarantula might inspect a fly already caught in its web. Even though Luca’s skill with fighting begins and ends with him getting killed, he has managed to appear intimidating without needing to speak a word.
“Kudos to you, freak, for managing to find someone even freakier than you are. Yeah, I found out who he is,” Jiafu says, as I startle slightly. “You don’t seem the type to hang out with an Up-Mountainer. What would Villiam have to say?”
I expect Luca to react to the accusation, but his face remains impassive.
“I have a favor to ask of you,” I say.
“Like hell I’d do anything for you.”
“Well, it’s not exactly a favor. More like blackmail.”
Jiafu raises his eyebrows. “If you turn me in, we both go down.”
“Oh, I’m not talking about that,” I say lightly. “I’m talking about the boy who works at the Menagerie. The boy named Zhihao.”
He’s been very careful, Luca told me earlier. His half brother, Zhihao, works cleaning out the manure in the Menagerie, and he lives in one of the orphan tents in the Uphill. He’s ten years old and probably the only person who matters to Jiafu. Jiafu won’t want anyone finding out about him, because anyone associated with someone in Jiafu’s business could be in danger.
Jiafu stiffens as if something has grasped his shadow. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Ten years old,” I say. “You have the same mother, don’t you?”
I told Luca that, as much as I dislike Jiafu, I wasn’t prepared to expose his ten-year-old brother and thus put a kid in danger. But Luca assured me it wouldn’t come to that. Hopefully Jiafu won’t figure out that this is all an empty threat.
“We can talk inside,” he grunts and then slides his key into the door of his black caravan. Luca and I climb inside. It still smells of burnt coffee and feet.
Why can’t Jiafu just work a safer job if he cared about his brother so much? I asked Luca.
Because, he said, he loves his job. He lives for the danger of it.
“How did you find out about Zhihao?” Jiafu asks once he shuts the door. “He hasn’t been telling people, has he?”
“It doesn’t matter how we found out,” I say. “I have a favor to ask you. I need some bodyguards tonight.”
“Are you paying me?”
“No.”
“Then how am I supposed to pay for men?”