Author's note: This is based on the characters of Tullio, Angelica, and Paolo in the Subtle Knife. It mostly follows Angelica because I thought she was relatable. This is what I imagine their world to be like on an everyday basis. It also shows Tullio's motivation for why he became obsessed with staying in the tower and staying alive. I had to take some creative liberties…For example, in the book the spectres generally take the children right after puberty. Here, instead, it's about the age of 18. This was to make my concept a bit more plausible. Enjoy!
The City of Magpies
The adults had been back on the hill when the storm came. Angelica, of course, didn't let that stop her, and ran up and down the hill throughout the night bringing more food, clothing, tents, and anything else the adults needed. In exchange she had gotten more precious gold pieces. She hid them away until she could give them to Tullio. Then the adults had left again, seeing from the scopes that the city was still infested with spectres. That was when Tullio had returned to the hill to bring back Angelica and Paolo and in fact the rest of the kids. He was the oldest, the leader of the pack you could say. This time he hadn't come to the hill to see the adults. He'd stayed with his wife, Leonora, who was 7 months pregnant and too weak to make the journey. The sight of all those kids running back to their homes would have been a sight to behold for the angels.
Angelica, Paolo, and Tullio headed back to an apartment building across the street from a café. Tullio, Leonora, and Ada shared an apartment and Angelica and Paolo took the one across from theirs. The apartment had no electricity, but the café did, so they stored their food in the refrigerator there. It wasn't safe from looters, but it was better than nothing.
"Paolo, you go on home. I wanna see Ada," Angelica said, speaking of the niece she adored.
"Gelly!" Ada shrieked as Angelica opened the door to Tullio's apartment, using her pet name for her.
"Do you wants to go get a sandwich, Ada?" Angelica asked, glancing at a heavily pregnant Leonora, slumped in a chair, who nodded. Angelica picked up the girl and headed down the stairs.
Paolo rushed past her. "We gonna go kill some cats!" he yelled, sliding down the banister. He wasn't quite old enough to understand the spectres, so Angelica had simply described them to him as cats. This he understood, and he had arranged a little rag-tag group to kill as many as they could.
Angelica set Ada down to open the heavy doors of the café. Ada toddled through and Angelica followed. "What do ya want, baby?" Angelica asked her.
"Cola!" Ada shrieked, climbing onto a chair.
"Your momma says no, Ada. How 'bout a sandwich?"
"No!" Ada screamed, but Angelica went into the kitchen to make one for her anyway. She grabbed a can of cola from the fridge for herself. She went back out and set the sandwich and cola on the table. "I'll get you some milk," she said, heading back.
When she reemerged from the kitchen, the young girl was attempting to pull the tab of the cola. It had come open halfway and was now sprouting cola across the table and Ada herself. "Little gazza!" Angelica chided, grabbing the cola with one hand and a wet towel with the other.
She'd barely cleaned up the little girl before the door to the café burst open and Angelica looked up, half expecting Tullio or Paolo. Instead she saw Bartolomeo, a 14-year-old that Angelica had known all her life. She looked away. Once they had been friends, but their parents had agreed on a betrothal between the two of them. Angelica never wanted to be tied down, let alone so young.
"Angelica, you gots to hurry. Leonora's in labor," Bartolomeo practically yelled as he rushed back out the door.
Angelica scooped up Ada, who screamed and hit her. "Ada," she said in a patient voice. "Your mommy's having a new baby. You gots to set a good 'xample, right?" Ada went quiet. Tullio always joked that Angelica lost her usual gutsy behavior around babies and instead gained a certain charm.
Tullio paced in the hallway and winced as a shriek came from inside the apartment. "Agata kicked me out," he said, speaking of the bossy young girl who had taken the role of midwife in the community.
"Where's Paolo?" Angelica asked.
"Bartolomeo will find him. Come here, gazza," he said to his daughter, lifting her out of Angelica's arms. Angelica opened the door, hoping to help. But Agata just yelled, "Stay out!" and Angelica closed the door. It was at least another half hour before she let them in.
"She's very weak," she whispered to Tullio as he passed her. Leonora was on a mattress in the kitchen, propped up against the counter. Her face looked exhausted, but her eyes were lit up. "It's a boy," she announced. "Ezio."
Tullio took his son for the first time, and suddenly Angelica wanted to leave. She felt as though she was intruding on a family moment. She picked up Ada and kept her occupied.
Then, as Tullio was handing the baby back to Leonora, he gasped.
"What?" Leonora and Angelica asked at the same time.
"Nothing. Sorry."
Angelica knew it wasn't true, and suddenly had an inkling of what Tullio had seen. As soon as he excused himself to the hall, she followed.
"It's the spectres," he burst out as soon as the door closed.
"You can see them?" Angelica asked, suddenly feeling as though she needed to protect her big brother.
"Not completely…not yet. They're like shadows that aren't meant to be there. And they're gathering around Leonora. She doesn't have long."
"Then leave! The adults'll be back in a week or two."
"She'll be gone before that."
"Then try to catch up! They can't be more than a few days out."
"Angelica! She's too weak, and we can't bring Ezio and Ada yet. They're too young. But we can't very well leave them here, can we? I'm scared." Tullio began almost sobbing, something Angelica had never seen him do before.
"Just hope for the best," she said.
Leonora died not three weeks later. More and more spectres gathered around her until she was consumed. Her eyes became lifeless, and she was like a zombie. She died soon after of sickness. If Angelica was completely honest with herself, she was glad. The zombies were dangerous, and often had to be shot. She was glad Tullio didn't have to go through that.
The adults would be back soon, and Tullio was supposed to leave with them. But any time Angelica tried to bring it up, he would fight it.
"I'm not leaving my children, my babies. We can't take them. I'll do anything not to go."
But he left the house for extended periods of time, leaving either Angelica or Agata to take care of Ada and Ezio. One day Angelica confronted him.
"You say you wanna stay because of your kids, but then you leave them alone whiles you go off for hours on end!" she said, angry at him. She was becoming more of a parent to them than he was.
"See, to take care of them I have to be alive, right? And the spectres have been crowding around me. I'll be gone soon."
"Tullio! You have to go, now!" Angelica yelled, knocking over a glass of water.
"Unless," Tullio said, "I find a way to kill the spectres."
"What? How?"
"The Æsahættr. The subtle knife."
"Tullio! The Torre degli Angeli?"
"Yes. If I stay there, I can fight them. I can kill them. The kids will stay with Agata and I will visit them as much as possible. It's the only way."
The fog began rolling in, so the children left for the hill early. Angelica once again ran the errands, but this time she kept the gold pieces for herself. She was now alone.