“If we’re coming from this direction, there’s a safe house in the west of the city that should be empty. The only issue is that we have to cross the Suzhou Creek.”
“Why is that a problem?” Orion asked.
Celia’s expression turned incredulous, as if she were being addressed by a rock that had grown a mouth to speak rock thoughts. At once, Rosalind wound an arm around Orion’s head and clamped her palm over his lips, preventing him from speaking further.
“I promise—with my whole heart and soul—that he’s usually smarter,” she said to her sister. A lurch on the road jostled them, but she held tight on her smothering ePort, even as Orion tried to say more against her palm. “You’ll see when he gets his memories back.”
Alisa snorted. She was braiding a lock of hair away from her neck. “Are you sure about that, Janie Mead?”
Rosalind tried to kick the girl without looking. With a squeal, Alisa snatched her legs closer, hugging her knees to her chest to keep out of Rosalind’s range of attack. She was wearing borrowed trousers from Juliette, which meant she was able to crawl about the burlap-lined Aoor easily. Meanwhile, Rosalind and Celia maneuvered the cargo bed of the truck uncomfortably, shifting every so often to get comfortable amid the straw and sacks. Some of the buttons down Rosalind’s back were also misaligned. She had made a rushed ePort of undoing her qipao while they were waiting at the roadside last night, just enough so that she could reach for her shoulder and yank out her stitches. Her body had worked through most of the poison by the time they were leaving Zhouzhuang; it was easy to tug one loose edge of the stitching to get everything out, letting her skin smooth over the holes. Celia had witnessed the entire process in abject horror, only
blinking when Rosalind tossed the thread away into the trees. There had been little time to discuss it, because then a truck was rumbling down the road, and they had scrambled to stop it for a ride.
The driver was a carrot farmer who had been driving eastward anyway to make deliveries into Shanghai, so he didn’t mind four stowaways piled in the back if he could make some extra cash. They had tried to rest through the night, but no one got any sleep—which Rosalind knew because she had been wide awake the whole time.
Now it was late morning, and Celia had pulled out a map so they could prepare for their entry. The driver would have to drop them oP before the actual city borders. Any closer and the risk of being sighted was too great, especially in the city center, where there were eyes at every corner.
“To answer your question,” Rosalind said to Orion, clamping on his mouth tighter. “The Suzhou Creek surrounds the International Settlement, and most bridges are watched by the Japanese navy. We don’t know who will be on the lookout for us.”
“There was an incident last week in Zhabei,” Celia added. “Public animosity against the Japanese is at an all-time high in Shanghai. There are riots almost daily that the Nationalists are attempting to control.” She paused, tapping the map. “Key word: attempting. Foreign relations in the city are no doubt about to spiral into a crisis.”
Orion said something. This time, because Rosalind couldn’t guess what his words were, she removed her hand to allow Orion to repeat himself, but she still couldn’t understand. He was speaking Japanese.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I just said, I didn’t realize I could speak Japanese. What else do I speak?”
Rosalind put her hand back over his mouth. Slyly, instead of taking it as a reprimand, Orion set his head down on her shoulder, and suddenly it looked as if she were embracing him instead of shutting him up.
She yanked her hand down. Orion kept his head there. He was sitting directly on the Aoor like Alisa, so they were at the perfect angle for him to rest comfortably.
“I think we will have the best luck taking that bridge right outside the International Settlement’s border,” Rosalind said, trying to ignore him. “The one by the oil mill.”
“I agree,” Celia said. “Maybe if we time our entry to one of the protests, both Japanese and Nationalist eyes will be distracted by the chaos and won’t be watching us pass through.”
Alisa leaned closer to the map. The corners were fraying because this was an older version that Celia had been carrying around in her belongings.
“Who are we most afraid of right now?” Alisa asked. “Nationalists or the Japanese military?”
“We’re not afraid of the Nationalists.” Rosalind pointed a thumb at Orion.
“We only cannot get caught because then they will want to do things their way, which means a thousand hours of processing and putting Orion into a cell until they gather intelligence.”
“Technically, we’re not afraid of the Japanese, either,” Celia added. “Given everything we have learned about Lady Hong, I’m guessing that she’s valuable to their empire only if she can make this concoction before they launch a true invasion. So she must have contacts along their military line—we don’t know who may report to her from the ground and whether a sighting will cause a unit to come after us.”
Alisa waited a beat. Then: “Both of you just described the very de1nition of being afraid of something. Got it. We’re avoiding everyone.”
All of a sudden, the truck came to a halt, throwing the four of them forward. Orion was quick to catch Rosalind, preventing her from any collision with the Aoor; Celia had good balance and steadied herself. Only Alisa went sprawling, opting to stay down once she hit the Aoor, rolling around and setting her hands over her stomach. Rosalind was certain she had done it on purpose.
“Girl down!” Alisa declared.
Celia smacked her calf. “Stop being dramatic. Be prepared. We might have been stopped.”
At once, Alisa got up again, reaching inside her jacket. Celia continued to talk, shuAing closer to the cargo door.
“We have to—oh my God, where did you get that?”
Alisa had pulled out a very small gun. “We just left my brother’s house—why are you surprised?”
“Did he let you take it?” A nervous laugh. “No.”
The door opened, interrupting the rest of Celia’s scolding. Rosalind tensed, putting herself in front of Orion, but it was only the carrot farmer peering in.
“Is everything all right?” Celia asked.
“I’m afraid I will have to let you out here,” he said. “They’re checking papers up ahead. There’s a rural station that could take you closer into the city if you walk north.”
“They’re checking papers this far out?” Rosalind asked, Aabbergasted. “Authorities declared martial law yesterday,” the farmer said. “All the foreign
concessions are closing their borders. Barbed wire and sandbags everywhere. It’s harder to get into the city itself too.”
This was… not good. Not good at all.
“Thank you,” Celia said to the driver, hopping out. Rosalind followed her sister’s lead, waving for Alisa and Orion to hurry along before gathering up the map. At Shanghai’s outskirts, the 1elds went on forever, patches of brown and green growing under the layer of winter ice. Who knew—maybe in a few decades the factories would expand out here too, layering cement and pavement down onto land that seemed to be waiting for interruption.
“A train station is de1nitely not an option,” Alisa muttered as the driver pulled away. “I don’t have false papers.”
“I do,” Celia said. She nodded at Rosalind. “I have two diPerent sets, and one could pass for you.”
“Who knew that being twins would come in so useful for fugitive work?” Rosalind mused. “What about Alisa and Orion?”
Celia surveyed their surroundings. They stood at a four-way split on the road, a path extending in every direction. Brief Aashes of color appeared ahead on the horizon—a Auttering Aag, which the truck driver must have spotted to determine there was a control point. Of everyone, Celia was the one most experienced in lying low and staying out of view from official eyes. Rosalind was
far more willing to follow her sister’s instructions than try to supply her own opinion on how they ought to proceed.
“Hide out in the last township we passed, due west,” Celia decided, pointing the way they had come. “Rosalind and I will enter the city and 1nd a car. Then we will 1nd you two and time our reentry so that we can drive in without hitting a control point en route.”
There was no objection. Three heads nodded back at her. “Fantastic.”
Celia waved for Rosalind to follow, departing northward to put their plan into action without any hesitation. Meanwhile, Rosalind paused, turning to Orion.
“Listen to everything Alisa says.” Orion lifted a brow. “If I must.”
“I’m serious. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He seemed to consider her words more earnestly, the levity in his expression fading. “It’ll be 1ne. Return quickly, and then you can protect me yourself.”
“Fine,” Rosalind said. “Fine,” Orion echoed.
“Mèimei, allons-y!” Celia called from up ahead. She had already proceeded
far enough that her voice was faint.
“Excuse me?” Rosalind exclaimed, hurrying after her. “I was born 1rst!
That’s still jiějiě to you!”
Their surroundings fell quiet as Rosalind and Celia faded into the distance. A bird chirped. The ice creaked.
“So,” Alisa said as she and Orion started to walk west. “Do you want to hear all the juicy parts of the story that Rosalind skimmed over?”
Orion grinned. “Oh, do I.”
