The Midnight Orchestra by Jessica Khoury

Author:Jessica Khoury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Give the Devil His Duet

I LAND WITH A CRUNCH, and at first I think I must have broken at least three bones.

Then I realize it’s snow crunching beneath me, not broken limbs, but I don’t breathe any easier. Jai and Darby land on either side; they must have gotten caught in the portal too. The weights didn’t seem to have followed us. The portal must have somehow sucked me up despite them holding me down.

With a groan, I push myself to my knees and look around.

This place is cold. We’re not in the desert where I landed last time, but on a wide, flat plain of hard-packed snow. In the distance, jagged peaks rise from the frozen earth, and above us, the dark sky is mostly blocked by a huge mountain of ice.

Darby jumps up first. She stares, wide-eyed, and takes several short, panicked breaths. “Where—where—how?”

“The Midnight Orchestra.” I sigh, heaving myself to my feet. “Everything Jai said is true. Except for the werewolf part.”

“So far,” Jai mutters. He brushes off some snow. “Well, that was a spectacular failure.”

“Thanks for trying,” I say earnestly.

He gives me a weak smile.

“Well,” I say, “I guess we might as well see this through. Who knows? Maybe Mr. Midnight will ask for a tie-dye bandana or an origami swan. I’ve got plenty of those.”

“Mr. Who?” Darby asks.

“Welcome back to the Midnight Orchestra, Miss Jones,” says a smooth voice, and we turn to see Mr. Stewart bowing to us. Tonight he’s wearing a puffy red coat, ski pants, and a red mask, with his bagpipes in hand. “It is an honor to have you return, and I see you’ve brought guests. What a lovely surprise.”

Darby stares. “Tell me that’s not Santa Claus.”

I sigh. “That’s not Santa Claus.” Though between the beard and the red outfit, he does fit the bill.

“And where are we?”

“Well, if it’s midnight Mystwick time,” Jai says, “that makes this Canada, I’m guessing.”

“Quite astute,” says Mr. Stewart. “If you would follow me, please?”

“C’mon, Darby,” I say. “I’ll fill you in while we walk.”

I tell her everything as we follow Mr. Stewart down a trail made of tamped-down snow, the hard crust supporting our weight. Along either side of the path, lamps made of ice hold glowing balls of blue light. Whether that’s magic or just stage tricks, I don’t know, but it creates an eerie mood.

“So, to recap,” Darby says, “you made a deal with this Midnight guy, no questions asked, and—”

“I didn’t make a deal. It just sort of happened. And I planned to return the memory seed.”

“Except you didn’t.”

I wince. “I didn’t.”

“So now you owe this guy some kind of favor.”

“Yep.”

“Any idea what he’ll ask for?”

“Nope.”

“Or what he’ll do if you don’t give him what he wants?”

“Not a clue.”

Darby shivers. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her truly scared, not even when a horde of ghosts was attacking our school. “I always thought the Midnight Orchestra was a myth.”

“A common misconception,” says Mr. Stewart, making us all jump. I didn’t think he could hear our whispers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.