The Magnificent Death of Mira Meadows by Nadia Jovie

Author:Nadia Jovie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ANJ Press
Published: 2022-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

23

The boy and the mandocello

Once they were out of earshot of the home, Mira started. “Thanks a lot, Mickson.”

He stopped. “How did you know it was Ignatius?”

“Just a guess.” She crossed her arms. “You know I can’t actually read thoughts, right? But by making them think I could, you might have – ”

Mick waved a hand. “As far as they know, you’re Alice.”

“Until they see me at my spectacle tomorrow and I’m clearly not!”

“They have no way to get there.” He turned, looking down the road. “They haven’t two tallies to rub together.”

That wasn’t comforting.

He spoke again. “Do you know where I got that marking?”

“I’m guessing you stole it from the Hall of Magic.”

“If I could get into the Hall of Magic, we’d be living in a very different world.” He shook his head. “That was from your friend Samuel.”

Mira turned to face him. “What? He doesn’t even – how did you – ”

“He came to me, and I paid a considerable price for five aions.”

“That’s impossible. Samuel doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

Mick smiled. “Doesn’t he? He had just been approved for integration and took off with his money.”

Mira stood, mouth hanging open, feeling like a total dope.

He cleared his throat. “A carriage should come by here soon, and my favorite pub on Violet Island is in the next town.”

“Is that an invitation? Or are you planning on using me again?” Mira wasn’t interested in playing any more of Mick’s games, intimidating a pub full of people by pretending to be Alice.

He kept his eyes fixed on the stretch of road in the distance. “An invitation. I have all I need now.”

She looked out, shielding her eyes from the sun. He was infuriating, and yet she knew she wasn’t going to tell him no.

It wasn’t because she couldn’t do it. She knew she could, and she could find her way back to the Traveler Center on her own, too.

It was more than that. It was the fact that despite her annoyance, Mira’s heart was screaming for the chance to spend more time with him. She wanted to sit across from him, working out another of his riddles and feeling her heart race under his gaze. She wanted that flutter, that reminder of being so very alive.

“If there’s food at this pub, then fine,” she said.

He smiled, lighting another cigarette, and they stood in silence for the next five minutes until Mira spoke again.

“What are you going to do to Ignatius?”

He tossed the cigarette to the ground. “Kill him, I suppose.”

“Come on. Really?”

Mick nodded. “Really.”

“How about that.” She looked down the road again, only to be greeted by the same blue sky. “I wonder why he did it.”

“I assume to get ahead of his friend Gulliver.” Mick shook his head. “Which reflects poorly on him.”

“On Ignatius?”

“No. On Gulliver.”

Mick raised a hand and waved, and Mira looked down the road to see a long black carriage approaching, pulled by four horses. It came to a halt in front of them.

“After you,” Mick said, waving a hand to the open door.

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