The Empress's Tomb by Kirsten Miller

learning how to speak Urdu instead?”
    â€œWithout geometry, there would be no tunnels. Without tunnels, no Shadow City. No Shadow City, no Irregulars,” Verushka announced. “You owe more to math than you think.”
    The doorbell rang, and Kiki ran to answer it. Standing at the door was Oona Wong wearing a white manicurist’s smock and a scowl on her face. DeeDee and Betty were close behind her. Oona marched inside, ignoring them both.
    â€œOona doesn’t look thrilled to be here. Any idea how Kiki convinced her to come?” I asked Luz.
    â€œWho knows?” Luz whispered as Oona approached. “Maybe she promised Iris’s head on a platter.”
    â€œTalking about me?” snipped Oona.
    â€œGet a life,” Luz responded.
    â€œWe’re just glad you came,” I said, elbowing Luz.
    â€œYeah, I bet you are. Who else would provide the entertainment?” Oona dropped onto the sofa, crossed her arms, and stared into space. Verushka wheeled her chair over to the girl and whispered in her ear. Oona nodded solemnly, and the old woman rolled out of the living room.
    â€œLet’s get to work,” said Kiki. “We need to be at the park before sunset. Luz, want to tell everybody what happened this morning?”
    â€œSure.” Luz unrolled a map of the park and held it up for us to see. “At seven thirty this morning, I entered Morningside Park through the north gate. My destination was the southeast gate, approximately thirteen blocks away. I was almost to the waterfall when I felt something land on my head. At first I thought I’d been beamed by a pigeon, but when I saw the thing’s tail, I knew it was oneof those giant squirrels. I dropped the bag I was carrying and tried to pull it out of my hair. Shortly after that, two more rodents attacked me. A jogger stopped to help me, but it wasn’t till I heard a whistle that the squirrels disappeared. That’s when I saw the bag was gone.”
    â€œLuz Lopez, squirrel victim,” sneered Oona. “What will you do for an encore? Get mauled by mice?”
    â€œShut up, Oona!” Luz raged.
    â€œOona, you promised,” said Kiki. “Can we all play nice long enough to get the map back? After that you and Luz can duke it out, for all I care.”
    I raised my hand.
    â€œYes, Ananka, I
know
you don’t think the squirrels will still be there. But we’ve got to give it a shot. Otherwise, we’re going to be staking out parks for the next few months. Luz and I spent the afternoon coming up with a plan. The six of us are going to set up an ambush. DeeDee, how would you like to be bait?”
    â€¢Â Â Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â Â Â â€¢
    I stood on the edge of a rocky precipice, feeling dangerously dizzy. Two inches from my toes, the earth plunged a hundred feet, until it came to a halt in Harlem. A narrow path wound down the side of the cliff to Morningside Park, where the trees swayed in rhythm as if the land were moving beneath them. Through my binoculars, I could see two young men in hooded sweatshirts perched motion-lessly like malevolent Buddhas atop one of the boulders that studded the landscape. A woman with a baby carriage hurried for the exit before dark descended. There was not a squirrel in sight.
    â€œMove in,” said Kiki’s voice in my earpiece. “Take your positions.”
    I inched down the steep path, checking behind every tree I passed and listening for the sound of footsteps behind me. When I was finally overlooking DeeDee’s route, I crouched behind a patch of overgrown grass and raised my binoculars. I found Kiki kneeling in the shadow of a statue that showed a young faun taking refuge from a ravenous bear. Luz and Oona were close by, concealed in a bush. Betty, dressed as a sanitation worker, emptied garbage cans. When Kiki gave her the cue, Betty fished a copy of the
Weekly World News
out of a can and took a seat on a park