Chapter Four

"A letter for me?" Ilona frowned at Eva, their maid.

"Yes. Didn't say who from, but they did say to keep it quiet."

"I see." Ilona took the slip of paper and traced its edges with her finger. "I appreciate your discretion, then."

"Of course, miss." Eva nodded and scurried down the hall, leaving a befuddled Ilona licking her new paper-cut.

My parents will be mad at me for writing to you, but Tiberius showed up tonight very hurt. His mom is in the hospital. Dad looks very upset and Mr. Berg and Sally are gone. Please send whatever help Marley has. Tiberius is nice and I like my new friend.

-Zeke Jaeger

Ilona clutched the paper to her chest. "By the blood of the devil."

Jack wouldn't like this. She would be too involved. But how could she not – if she'd so easily broken out of Liberio, what if Mr. Berg did? He could be killed, and then Tiberius would be an orphan.

Which was worse – Mr. Berg or an orphanage?

But if Mr. Berg broke out – and someone like Gross caught them – he and Sally could be executed.

Her father would go easy on Sally, but there was no guarantee her case would rise that far.

Ilona remembered Tiberius' defiant, tear-riddled eyes. No child should believe themselves worthy of death.

Before she'd even decided her next action, Ilona was changing back into her street outfit.

"Ilona, I hardly expected you – oh hell, what's wrong?" Jack squinted through the dark night air.

"You can tell?" Ilona sighed.

"You're tenser than I've seen you. What's wrong?" Jack repeated.

"A note." Ilona shoved the paper towards him.

Jack flicked on his lighter to read it. Shadows danced across his face.

He whistled. "Eldians fled to Marley. This can't end well."

"Tiberius is the kid we saved earlier this week."

"You saved him, not me. But, yeah, I figured." Jack crossed his arms. "You got any ideas for launching a full-scale search without the military taking notice?"

"No." Ilona sighed.

"It's impossible." Jack clenched the paper until his knuckles turned white. "We might have to let this one go."

"But it's a kid!"

"A kid whose family is more cursed than the rest of Eldia combined, as it would seem. We can't change that."

Ilona narrowed her eyes. "You don't believe in curses."

"I'm skeptical, not cynical. I'm open to evidence."

Ilona eyed him. "Well, maybe you need to be a little more open to the evidence that we should help them."

Jack threw his hands in the air, releasing the crumpled note. It fluttered to the ground. "And what? Save the kid by killing the father? The police are most likely already aware that he's escaped, right?"

"Since when have the police given a damn about Eldians? That's the whole reason you're writing this story." Ilona reached for the note, but Jack pressed his foot on it first. "Give it back."

"You don't need it. And you don't need me to help you." Jack swallowed the lump in his throat. He couldn't risk being seen with Ilona.

"I don't, but Tiberius does."

"I need you to help," said a mellifluous voice from the doorway.

Jack spun around. "Muriel."

"You know you need to help," said his wife tiredly. Her eyes swept Ilona up and down. "I have no idea who you are, but you seem too sweet for adultery, which means you'll live another day. But you won't, husband. "

Jack groaned. How long had they wanted children and failed? And he was willing to sacrifice someone else's child? Heat flushed from his chest to his scalp. "Very well. Ilona, you and I will be separate, if I can trust you."

Ilona breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, sir. And you, ma'am."

"Ilona Minsk?" Muriel pursed her lips. "Good devils, people are full of surprises."

"Just like good devils," Jack couldn't resist adding, to his wife's begrudging smile.

Tiberius Berg, Sr. was going to be a proper father. He might be full of demons and alcohol, but he deserved his kids. At least Salome – Tiberius was likely in the hands of the authorities by now. Fucking Alma, too weak to take it.

Salome, now, she had an excuse. She was a tiny kid. He shook her. "Hey, wake up."

She moaned but barely even stirred. She'd been fucking unconscious for way too long. Were all women weak?

"Hey!" He shook her. "I'm your daddy; answer me!"

Nothing.

"Baby, we're startin' over. Come on, now, you wanna start over with Daddy, right?" He couldn't have hurt her. Not him. He was her father.

The moon clouded over and he lost what little light he had. "Fuck!"

Fuck, indeed. He'd spoken far too loudly.

Ilona crouched in a nearby alley, watching Mr. Berg cradle his daughter on the porch of a dilapidated house two streets from the Liberio ghetto.

Sally looked to be sleeping. Ilona itched to run out immediately and bolt into Liberio while the latest guard snoozed.

But if she could convince Mr. Berg…

"Don't even think about it," Jack murmured in her ear.

She jumped. "You scared me."

"Mmm, and when we're back I'll be giving you a special lecture on paying attention to your surroundings." Jack nodded.

Ilona knew better than to assume he couldn't read her intentions. "Why would you forgo persuasion? Isn't that part of being a journalist?"

"If authorities have been called – and they have, even in Eldia – you're looking at a father about to lose his child." Jack thought of Muriel. "You can't overestimate the lengths people will go to for their children."

"Well, he should lose her." Ilona swallowed the lump in her throat. Poor Sally. Poor Tiberius. And maybe even poor Mr. Berg. "Then what do you propose: distracting him while I fetch the girl?"

"Precisely."

"I was hoping you had a more insidious plan."

"Who says that's not part of my insidious plan?" Jack chuckled. "You've gotten past Liberio's gates before, so I'll entrust you to find these Jaegers."

"I'll do it."

Jack jerked his head to the side. "You're going to want to creep around the other side of our friend."

Ilona nodded and scampered off.

Jack stepped out from the shadows. "Hey you!"

Mr. Berg's head lifted. He gasped and clenched Sally tighter.

Shit.

"You got a light? Mine broke." Jack waved his lighter around and slurred his voice as best he could. Dammit, Muriel had him sober for a good decade now.

Mr. Berg fished around in his pockets. Nothing. "Get lost."

"That sheems mean," Jack staggered closer as Ilona's small figure came into view.

Sally looked pale. Ilona had the growing suspicion she'd been hit unconscious. If he'd killed her, she feared she wouldn't even protect him from being shipped off to Paradi.

"Oh!" Mr. Berg howled as Ilona rushed forward and swung her foot between his legs.

She grabbed Sally and bolted across the street.

"Salome!" screamed Mr. Berg.

"Who's there?!" bellowed a distinctly authoritative voice. Guards.

Ilona winced and clamored further into the shadows. "Sally…"

She had a pulse. Ilona gasped with relief, able to hope once again that Mr. Beg evaded capture again. If he could return to Liberio and reform, she would hope that for him.

"Are you okay?" Zeke slipped over to Tiberius and whispered in his ear. He wasn't sure why he was whispering, but hey, everything about his life was secret. Maybe everything about Tiberius was secret, too.

"No," mumbled Tiberius, his jaw quivering.

"Do you want to hold Ymir?" Zeke held out his monkey doll. "He's good for hugs."

Tiberius gave him a small smile and squeezed Ymir.

Zeke glanced at Mom and Father to ensure they were occupied. "I asked Ilona for help."

"H – how? I didn't want that; I'm still mad at her!" Tiberius' voice rose.

"No – no, wait! Shh!" Zeke grabbed Tiberius' hand. "Please. I think she is nice. And she's the Mayor's daughter. If anyone can help, she can."

"She is?" Tiberius started.

"Yes. That's why she goes around handing out toys and food and all that stuff. She's rich enough to buy it and nice enough to spend it on us." Zeke had to admit, she wasn't like the evil Marley Father preached about and Mom feared. Ilona was nice. So were his teachers.

He blocked those thoughts from his head by clapping his hands over his ears.

Tiberius frowned at him. "Are you okay?"

"I just wanted to help you," Zeke said in a small voice.

"I want my family together. Ilona wants Mom to leave Dad, but Dad will die without Mom," Tiberius said. "I don't want Dad to die."

Your dad hurts you, Zeke wanted to say.

Tiberius' voice hardened, and as he squeezed Ymir again, he spoke as if he'd read Zeke's mind. "I wanna help him, not leave him. You think you'd run away if your Dad hurts you. But you wouldn't. I know."

Someone rapped on their door, just heavily enough to quiet Zeke's parents.

Grisha slipped the knife Night Owl had sent them into his pocket as he headed for the door.

Zeke couldn't help but long for the day when knocks at the door were happy occasions to interact with people, rather than possible catastrophe.

"Dr. Jaeger?" A familiar voice sent sparks through Zeke's heart. Tiberius might be mad, but maybe she had news, good or bad! He leapt to his feet.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but you're the only place I knew would help."

Grisha was not at all sure why this woman was dressed so suspiciously, nor why she'd slipped past the gates. Was she Night Owl? – No, she'd have to know how obvious she seemed – His thoughts ceased when he looked at the pallid body in her arms. "My God, what happened?"

Zeke dragged a fearful Tiberius forward. His friend froze when he saw his sister. "Sally!"

"She was unconscious when I found her. I don't know what happened."

"Outside Liberio?" Grisha had to ask, taking Sally from Ilona's tired arms. "Dina, grab me my stethoscope."

"It might be best if I decline to say." Ilona met Tiberius' eyes as Dina flung open the door to Grisha's shop.

"I want to know." He stomped his foot. Zeke grabbed his hand again.

Ilona's shoulders slumped. "Yes, outside."

And he was likely caught by now, but she would never say so. She couldn't tell Tiberius.

"Father kicked her," Tiberius said, his voice catching.

Grisha looked up from the examination table he'd laid Sally on. "Where?"

"Her stomach. I think."

Grisha pressed the stethoscope, the same instrument Dina had used to entertain Tiberius and Zeke earlier, against her abdomen, then her chest. "Looks like her rib's broken."

"Is that all?" Dina knew full well a stethoscope wasn't for broken bones.

"May have perforated her spleen."

Ilona saw Tiberius's panicky expression. "What does that mean?"

"A hospital needs to look at her." Grisha pointed for his coat, and Dina grabbed it. "I'll get her there. Dina, can you stay with the children?"

"I want to go," protested Tiberius. "She's my sister!"

"And you'll see her with your mom in the morning," Dina said with a smile.

Grisha lifted Sally once again. She wasn't the first patient he'd had to rush to a hospital late at night, though he wished she would be the last. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Ilona stayed back a moment, unsure what to do, desperately hoping it wasn't too late. If she could have taken Sally to a Marleyan hospital, she would have, but a simple blood test would reveal her identity – an Eldian without her armband.

"How did you find Sally?" Tiberius asked suddenly.

"I have my ways." Ilona decided it best not to mention Zeke's note, lest his mother worry.

She seemed to suspect anyways, from the stern look she gave her meek son.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Zeke asked.

Ilona forced a chuckle. "It was easier to get around in. Days are for strolling around in dresses. Nights, for running."

"I'm sure it helps disguise you, too," Dina said.

Ilona reddened. "Well, yes."

"So do you run around at night doing good deeds?" Zeke asked, eyes alight. He wanted to do that. Not infiltrate nice people.

Ilona laughed. "Um, something like that."

"Can you find my dad? I don't want him to be sent to Heaven!" Tiberius, despite his anger, grabbed her hand.

"Tiberius." Ilona sunk down to his eye level. "I'll try my best."

He nodded, disappointed but unsurprised at her noncommittal reply. Adults. Still, she cared more – if imperfectly – than anyone had, before the Jaegers. "Thank you."

"Of course." Ilona swallowed. "You're really strong, you know that?"

"She's right," Dina said.

Tiberius blinked. "Me? No." His face crumpled.

"Here." Dina wrapped Tiberius, Zeke, and Ymir into a hug. The two women shared a nod before Ilona slipped back outside.

Jack. Jack would know Mr. Berg's fate. Ilona trekked towards the gate, only to stop as the soft moonlight fell upon a guard's upright figure. Of all times for him to be awake.

Well, no, she chided herself. At least he was asleep for sneaking Sally back in.

But to keep her word to Tiberius, this guard was an obstacle. And obstacles were simply puzzles to be solved, as Jack would say.

Ilona slid against the shadowed Harold's Dress Shop and slowly reached for a stone lying against the walls.

Ivan Torvald had had a quiet night thus far, just as he liked it. So when the lamppost shattered not twenty feet away, he yelped like a child as his world plunged into darkness.

"Who's there?" he bellowed, deepening his voice.

With a glance behind him, Ivan crept forward, his hand reaching for his weapon.

He didn't see the figure slipping out the gate behind him, but he did hear the cry from outside.

With a gasp, Ivan ran for the gate. Had one of those vicious vermin escaped?

He skidded to a stop just outside the gate. Nothing that he could see.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

No one answered.

A skeptical Ivan marched towards the bell adjacent to the gate, priding himself for having read the reports from earlier this week. The lamppost might very well have been a distraction for someone's escape.

Ivan yanked the bell, sending both thrills and guilt soaring through him.

"How does that feel? I'll give you another!" Mr. Berg had her by the collar in the nearest alley to Liberio. "Where are they?!"

"You lost them," Ilona croaked, as the clamor of bells shrieked in her ears.

Mr. Berg jerked at the sound, and Ilona seized the chance to knee him for the second time. Then she was off, scrambling back towards Liberio.

If he were caught, he'd be killed. He'd never see Sally again. Mr. Berg dropped the glass bottle shard in his hands and fled in the other direction.

He was free of Liberio, but he'd never felt more jailed.

Ilona pressed her hands against her chest, where her heart still beat, but blood – thick blood, very thick blood – slid out second by second.

He wasn't following her, as she'd intended. Even to his sullied mind, venturing back towards the soldiers swarming Liberio would be suicide.

You stole my family!

And then the knife, or whatever it was, and she'd been stabbed, but she didn't know how to stop the bleeding or how she was going to recover. She needed to get home, but what if she needed treatment? A hospital would raise her parents' wrath, and the truth was, Ilona liked her parents' approval.

Jack. Overcome by a spinning world, Ilona crumpled to her knees. Jack was nowhere to be found, and she was floating – no, running – in the opposite direction, from him and her parents.

Ilona choked on tears and panic. She didn't want to die here, but at least if she were dead, she wouldn't know her parents' reaction.

Stop it. Ilona shook herself. She had to – had to get under control. Soldiers were stabbed all the time, and they didn't panic, for the most part.

Soldiers. Ilona lifted her head.

When she stood on trembling legs, she felt as if a rush of white snow exploded in her mind. But she could make it to him. She had to.

She's stolen from him, and maybe she didn't deserve help – but she had to.

Just before midnight, a knock at his door could only be mean two things: tragedy, or more work. Most likely both.

Kruger prepared to face his superiors with a scowl, and he yanked open the door.

"Ilona!" Kruger leapt forward as she stumbled into him.

"I got the note…" she mumbled. "Tell him. I have to. Kruger."

"I'm here." He grabbed her by her shoulders, her very bloody shoulders.

"I have to tell Kruger," she said.

"I'm here."

"I tore it up…but I memorized it. I'm smart."

"Ilona." Kruger shook her. "Sit down."

"Funny you should ask…" She slumped to the ground.

"I'm sorry." Kruger ripped open her shirt to reveal a gaping hole in her chest, the perfect chest he'd have liked to see, but oh, not like this. "Hold on."

"I'm holding on for you," she said with an eerie smile.

"Do you recognize me?" Kruger felt her back, sticky with blood that was far too cold.

"Always. You're my Kruger."

Your Kruger? He held his breath as he rummaged about for his lighter. She would hate him for this, but once she regained her senses, she'd be grateful.

"Hold on." He shoved her shirt back into her hands. "Hold this against your chest. Tightly."

"Mmm." Her eyes closed, but she kept the shirt pressed against her. She was just … too dizzy. But she wasn't giving up. She wasn't going to die just yet. She'd made it back, after all.

He pressed the lighter against her skin and his free hand over her mouth.

Ilona squeaked and dug her fingernails into her palms. Her body shuddered with repressed pain.

Kruger winced. "It'll help you, I promise."

Ilona knew how cauterization worked. But she'd never imagined she'd have to undergo it.

"Let's see." He pulled the flame from her chest. "Still bleeding, but slower. Who the fuck did this to you?"

She shook her head. "You'll kill him."

"Is there a reason I should kill them?" He summoned a smirk and, to his relief, received one from her in reply.

"Ha…I bet you'd like to have stabbed me."

"It's not often an officer is repeatedly humiliated by a girl who knows nothing of military life."

"I just want to help people," she murmured.

"That's obvious," he said softly.

"Thank you." She tried to focus. "You like helping people, too."

He snorted. "When they've powerful relations and buy me coffee."

"No…I mean: Night Owl, first year qualifications are almost upon us…"

Kruger stiffened. "Where did you find that?"

"I stole it from you. Turns out you're not a serial killer, after all." She closed her eyes, her expression dreamy. "Still think Gross is, though."

Kruger glanced at her. So that was why she was investigating him. This could be even more of an issue than he realized.

Easiest would be to let her die, but he wasn't a monster. He wasn't like a typical Marleyan. Not that Ilona was a typical Marleyan, either.

"Please rest," he found himself saying instead. "We can discuss that later."

"So I'm not going to die?" A faint smile appeared on her face.

"You'll recover." Kruger squeezed her hand. "Though I'm glad you found me when you did."

"You're being very nice."

"You have information I need."

"Ha." Ilona closed her eyes.

Anxiety ticked the back of his brain. Suppose she still bled internally? "Here."

"Oh!" Ilona gasped as he scooped her off the floor and laid her on his bed.

Kruger acknowledged his actions may seem inappropriate, maybe, but she needed to rest. "I'll talk as long as you need, but rest on something more comfortable than the floor."

"You have an army bed." She poked it with what little strength she had left. "You must sleep on rocks."

"We can't afford feathers," he said dryly.

Ilona rolled her eyes. "What…do you want…to talk about? The note?"

"Lighter matters, perhaps?"

"I don't really care for lighter matters." She winced.

"Of course you don't." Neither did he, particularly, but at least he respected injury. "Rest, then."

"I have to get home. My parents," said Ilona, grabbing his hand.

"You're in no position to move," Kruger said firmly. "You'll faint. I'll fetch you water for hydration, and then you will sleep. I'll – I'll get you back by morning, understand?"

"Will you?"

He sighed. "I promise. As much trouble as you are, what's one more interruption?"