Sarah Zettel - Dust girl

“And the… the… Midnight People… they wanted you there?”

She turned and looked right at me. Her eyes were big and brown, and as human as mine. “More than anybody ever did here.” She nodded in the direction of the office. “You know what we are to that sort. You know the names they’ll call us because we’re a strange color in a strange town.”

I folded my arms and tucked my hands into the pits.

Shimmy’s eyes narrowed. “She tried to hide you, didn’t she? Your own mama tried to hide you.” I nodded, ashamed, and she shook her head. “It’s all right, Callie. We both know what’s what. But you have to understand this. The Midnight People don’t care that ”-she snapped her fingers hard-“for your skin color or whether you’ve got good hair or good eyes. Why wouldn’t I go live with folk like that?”

“But you’re not there now. You’re here.”

“I was on watch. Now that my shift’s over, I’ll go back.”

“What’s it like where they live?”

“It’s everything you want it to be.” Shimmy plunked herself on the other bed and clasped her hands together, her face suddenly all distant and dreamy. “It’s beautiful as Heaven and sweet as Christmas morning. Everything’s easy and free. No hunger, no hard times, never. Just music and dancing. Pretty boys too, though maybe you’re a bit young for that.”

“But… but… what do people do all day?”

“Whatever they like to do best.”

I had to admit it sounded peachy keen. Tired, filthy, and frightened like I was, the idea of someplace where I could do whatever I wanted, or not do anything at all, seemed pretty wonderful. Then I remembered the Trixies, and Bull Morgan rearing up in the dark.

“That ain’t what it’s been like so far.”

She laughed. “Oh, you ain’t been on the other side yet. You’ve only been inside the tunnels from the twilight hills. Once we get to Kansas City, we’ll go through one of the main gates, right into the other lands.”

“You think it would be like… like you said for me?”

She laid a hand on my head, smoothing my wild hair down. “For you, sugar, it’ll be even better. You’re the princess, don’t forget.”

That was a peachy keen idea too, although I was having a hard time picturing myself done up in a long dress with a crown and all. Still, it might be fun to try.

But I wouldn’t be trying. I wasn’t going to be anybody’s princess. I was going to California with Jack, to find Mama and Papa.

I looked at my brown hands again and tried not to see my skin.

The shower house was dark, but there was a kerosene lantern by the door and the water was hot. The towels were a lot cleaner than the sheets, and wherever Shimmy got the clothes from, she’d remembered to get a soft pink bathrobe and a white-and-green-sprigged nightgown in my size.

I lay down under the sheet and tried not to squirm. Shimmy put the light out, and before too long I heard faint snores. I stared into the dark, waiting and thinking.

Tap, tap, tap .

I sat up and peeked under the shade. Jack, fully dressed, was on the other side of the window, tapping on the pane with the tip of one finger.

I tiptoed across the floor, freezing when the boards creaked. Shimmy kept right on snoring. I eased the door open and stepped out onto the cabin’s tiny stoop.

Shimmy had clearly packed Jack’s suitcase like she’d packed hers… ours. He had on a pair of long pants now, a clean shirt, and new work boots. Even though he’d kept his newsboy cap, he looked older. It was funny how clothes could do that.

Jack looked hard at my nightgown, like he couldn’t believe I changed out of my traveling clothes. I don’t know what he thought I was going to do, go to bed fully dressed with Shimmy right there?

“Let’s go,” he whispered.

“Jack… maybe we shouldn’t.” I didn’t ask him to look at my skin or my hair. I couldn’t find a way to explain that I couldn’t travel like this. I didn’t know how to put on an act like Shimmy did to get past the hard, suspicious eyes. I’d never learned. Instead, I told him about what I’d seen in Shimmy’s mirror.

Jack swallowed hard and glanced toward the Packard, hunkered down low in the dark.

“Not much we can do about Morgan,” he said. “We’ll just have to be careful. I tell you what: we can take the car into the next town and sell it there. Use the money to buy a couple of train tickets west and…”

“And what? When we get there, what’ll we do?”

“We’ll find this house of St. Simon that Baya told you about.”

“But how ?”

“I don’t know. But we will. With your magic…”

“My magic I can’t use,” I reminded him.

“So what? You’re saying we should go with Shimmy to Kansas City? What’re we gonna do there?”

“Find my family.” It was the first time I’d said it out loud. It felt warm and right. I had family, and they were waiting for me.

But Jack didn’t see things that way. “You can’t mean it.”

“Why not?” I asked, the anger creeping out from where I’d shoved it back before. Why’d he want us to do this the hard way? “They can help us.”

“If they could help your papa, don’t you think they would have by now? He’s their son! And they didn’t exactly come running to help your mama while you were growing up, did they?”

Which was true, but I didn’t want to think about it too hard. “Well, maybe if we tell them what Baya said, they’ll know what to do, or where to look. They can…”

“When did you start trusting Shimmy?” he snapped.

I shrugged, and Jack shook his head. “She just wants you to come along quiet. I’ll bet the Unseelie, the Midnight People, whatever they call themselves, have got some kind of bounty out on you.”

“A bounty? They’re my grandparents .”

“You don’t know that! You’ve only got Shimmy’s word for it!”

I was angry. I was frightened. I didn’t want him to be right. “What do you know? You just want to go to California because you think the Seelies’ve got your little sister out there.”

“So what?”

“So, they’re even bigger liars than Shimmy! They’re just trying to lure us over into their territory so they can grab us!”

“Keep your voice down, dopey! You’ll wake the whole place up!”

“Don’t call me dopey!”

“All right. All right! Just… just pipe down, will you?” Jack sat on the little board porch with his hands dangling between his knees. When he finally looked up at me, I saw moonlight shining in his tired blue eyes. “What do you want to do, Callie?”

I grabbed the edges of the fluffy pink robe Shimmy had given me and pulled them tight around my throat. I didn’t look at Jack. I wouldn’t be able to go through with things if I looked at him too much right now.

“I want to go to Kansas City,” I said. “Just for a little while. Just to ask for help. If they won’t help, we’ll turn right around and head out on our own.” The whole time I talked, I ignored the part of my brain telling me there was no way on God’s green earth it would be that easy.

Jack sat there quiet for a long time, looking out at the dark, listening to the crickets. “Okay,” he sighed at last. “If that’s what you want.”

“Thank you.”

He smiled all lopsided at me as he got to his feet. “Sure. Go ahead and get some sleep.”

I turned around and headed into the cabin, but stopped on the threshold and looked back over my shoulder. Jack, tall and slim, stood right on the edge of the patch of light from the pole by the office. “I’d never have gotten this far without you,” I said.

Jack tipped his cap to me. My heart squirmed around to find a new position under my ribs. I closed the door fast before I could say something really stupid.