Ananka Fishbein

"What are you getting at?” I demanded. “Are you saying you know something about me?"

For a moment she was quiet. Her pale eyes wandered across my face as if she were searching for something she’d seen before.

“Let’s see. I know you’re short on friends. I also know you’re a little strange. And I figure you must be pretty bored, or you wouldn’t have spent so much time following me around. But I know a few other things that make me think you might be very interesting."

I couldn’t tell whether I should be frightened or flattered. No one had ever found me interesting before.

"Is that good or bad?" I asked.

"That, Miss Fishbein, is entirely up to you."

She handed me a slip of paper, and then headed for the street, leaving me in front of the empty church, still thinking of all the questions I should have asked.

Halfway to the gates, Kiki turned and waved goodbye, her hand cupped in a familiar fashion . . . The shock hit me like a thundering wildebeest. Kiki Strike was the creature that had crawled out of the hole in front of my house. I wasn’t the only person who had seen the Shadow City. She had gotten there first. For a moment, it seemed as if everything I had worked for had been stolen from me. Then I looked down at the piece of paper I was holding. "Café Des Amis, Saturday, 09:00," it said. I had been invited to breakfast.