There was a moment of long, tense silence before the Prophet inclined his head, the veil in front of his face waving with the motion. Esta could practically feel Jack’s interest in her fade when the Prophet dismissed her. Unconcerned, he removed a vial from inside his coat, took a couple of small cubes from it and placed them in his mouth, and then, considering it, he took a couple more before tucking the vial away.
It had been only a few weeks, but for Jack it had been longer, and the years showed on his face. He looked older than he had before, and his skin had a sallow and unhealthy puffiness to it. Maybe it was the effects of drinking, but somehow Esta didn’t think so. His fingertips were drumming on his leg, and the nervous energy of their soft rhythm vibrated through the air in the small space.
He had the Book. He might even have it with him. He was sitting there, so close, and if she just risked using her affinity, she might be able to lift it from him.
But if she tried—if she managed to get the Book—Jack would know it was missing. His response to that discovery could throw all of their careful plans into chaos—including the plan to get the necklace. Her mind raced, but Esta couldn’t see any way to get both the Book and the necklace. Not without putting everyone and everything else at risk. And not before the carriage rumbled to a stop and the door opened.
Outside, strings of electric bulbs lit a staging area that was swarming with people clad in outlandish costumes. Around one float, a band of people with their bodies painted in garish colors were dressed in feathers and buckskin. They stood talking with others dressed in Confederate gray. Around another float, men dressed like sultans, their faces darkened with paint and long false beards glued to their chins, stood laughing and drinking from a shared flask. On top of a miniature replica of one of the steamboats that crawled down the river, people stood in blackface and top hats, waiting for the parade to start.
Esta hadn’t been expecting anything enlightened, but her stomach turned at the display around her. It was like the Klan had decided to throw a costume party, she thought, trying to affect bland indifference. She couldn’t afford for anyone to notice her disgust. “They do this every year?” she asked Julien.
He nodded.
“Is it always this . . . ?” She was lost for words.
“It’s my first year,” he told her, frowning at a trio of men who were making lewd gestures to a fourth, dressed as a woman and laughing his fool head off. “But yes. I suppose it is.”
They found the float that they were set to ride on—the Veiled Prophet’s own. It was designed to look like a larger version of the boats in the Streets of Cairo. It had been built on the back of a large wagon, its sides painted in the same shimmering gold and bright indigo blue that adorned the attraction at the Exposition. On either side of the float, five men waited, oars in hand, for the parade to start. From the fact that they looked completely sober—unlike most of the revelers—Esta suspected they were the Jefferson Guard, added security for the Prophet and the necklace. In the center of the boat, a small raised dais held two golden thrones topped with an ornate canopy of jeweled silk.
A pair of uniformed Guardsmen approached, one of them carrying a small valise.
“Everything go as planned, Hendricks?” the Prophet asked.
The Guardsman holding the case nodded. “It’s ready for you,” he told the Prophet, offering the case for inspection.
The Prophet took a key from within his robes and opened the lock to reveal a glint of platinum and turquoise blue within. The Djinni’s Star.
Esta clenched her hands into fists to keep herself from taking it now. It would be easy. Simple. She could get the Book and the necklace both. All she had to do was pull time still, take the necklace, and go. . . .
And Julien will be left holding the blame. He’d brought her, after all. They’d look to him for answers when she disappeared, and when he didn’t have any, Esta doubted that it would matter. He’d be ruined.
He’d be lucky if he was only ruined.
Never mind that Ruth’s people were waiting, ready to put themselves at risk in front of the entire city, most of whom had turned out to watch the parade. And Ruth still had Ishtar’s Key. If Esta did anything to put the Antistasi at risk, it would make it that much harder to get her cuff back.
There wasn’t any good option. She’d have to just carry on as planned, even if all she wanted was to reach for the necklace now.
It was too late, anyway. The Prophet was already fastening it around Julien’s neck.
“Now, Mr. Eltinge, just as we discussed,” the Prophet said. “If anything happens to this during the parade—”
“No one will get past me, sir,” Julien told him, his jaw clenching. He glanced at Esta, who glanced away. For an actor, he was a terrible con.
The Prophet nodded, his veil fluttering like an old woman’s lacy curtains. “Then I believe it’s time,” he said, gesturing to the dais.
Julien climbed up first, unaided, and then the Prophet followed. Esta went after them, taking her spot close to Julien. In the confusion, she lost track of where Jack went, but the Djinni’s Star was so, so close. And it was still completely out of her reach.
Little by little, the men who’d been milling around in half-drunk groups began to organize themselves, and the staging area grew less and less crowded as the individual floats departed. Esta could hear the thunder of drums as the bands began to move out and then, after what felt like an eternity, the boat lurched beneath her and they were moving.
The parade route was packed with people, each straining to get a better glimpse of the brightly lit floats that traveled through the city. Above them, each float was attached to the electric trolley car lines, the source of power for the electric bulbs that glowed like small suns, hot and dangerous, around the papier-mâché decorations.
As they rounded the corner of Linden and began the slow, steady progression toward the fairgrounds, Esta felt something sharp strike her cheek. She was rubbing the soreness when she was hit again, this time on the arm. “Ow,” she said, rubbing at the newly tender place.
“It’s just some of the usual trash,” Esta heard the Prophet say. “Ignore it.”
But the volley of projectiles assaulting them was only increasing.
Two of the men dressed as Egyptian sentries came to attention, moving to the side of the float, where they searched the crowds on the sidewalk below them. A moment later they were pointing to someone, and Esta saw the police who had been lining the route turn into the crowd to find the culprits.
“See,” the Prophet said. “A simple nuisance.”
The parade continued, and in the distance, Esta saw the arched entrance to the fair. Soon, she thought, keeping her eyes peeled for any other sign of trouble. Harte will be here soon. And then it will be over.
Or maybe, it will just be beginning?
They were about a block away from the entrance to the fairgrounds when Esta heard a commotion from the crowd. A wild scream split the air, and suddenly masked men emerged from the faceless spectators. They were dressed in dark cloaks, and their masks were made to look like the faces of snakes.
The Antistasi, Esta thought, her whole body feeling warm and ready at the sight of them. Just as they’d planned, and right on time. The men—and women, Esta knew—used the flash powder that Julien had supplied from the theater to distract and blind the line of police before they sprinted for the Veiled Prophet’s float. Esta backed up to Julien, pretending to be the security she was posing as, and watched as more than a dozen of the snake-people climbed aboard.