The Dragon Lantern by Alan Gratz Page B

Society.”
    â€œWhat about for a friend?” Archie asked. “This lantern thing is supposed to have something to do with who I am and where I came from. I need you.”
    â€œI kind of thought that’s why you would come with me to New Orleans,” Hachi said.
    They all stood there for a moment, the three kids and Mr. Rivets, without saying a word. Archie knew Hachi was right to go after Blavatsky, and he knew he should be going with her. But he also knew he had to get the Dragon Lantern back, and that she should be coming with him. But they couldn’t do both at the same time.
    â€œI … I can’t,” Archie said. “I have to go after the lantern.”
    â€œAnd I have to go after Blavatsky,” Hachi said.
    Which just left Fergus. Archie and Hachi looked at him, and he stepped back and raised a finger at them. “Oh nae, don’t put me in the middle!”
    â€œYou have to choose who you’re going to go with,” Hachi told him. “Unless you’re going off on your own too.”
    â€œNae! We’re a team, the three of us,” he told them. He looked into their faces, but the looks there told him neither of them was going to back down. Fergus deflated like a ripped airship balloon.
    â€œWell, I … I suppose I have to … crivens .”
    â€œIt’s okay,” Archie told him. “I know you’re going to go with Hachi.”
    Fergus looked heartbroken, which was exactly the way Archie felt. But as soon as he knew they were splitting up, he had known that Fergus would go with Hachi. Fergus cared too much about her to let her go off alone.
    â€œI’m sorry, mate. Truly, I am,” Fergus said. “Anyway, it’s not like you need the help. You’re unbreakable.”
    By sticks and stones, maybe , Archie thought. But their words hurt. He wanted to cry, but he fought it off. He was already the youngest. He didn’t want them to think he was a baby too.
    â€œWe’ll find you when we’re done, eh?” Fergus said. “We’ll take care of this Blavatsky lady and you’ll get hold of that Dragon Lantern, and we’ll meet back halfway in between. Somewhere in Texas, eh? Where’d be good, Mr. Rivets?”
    â€œAccording to Avery’s Library of Universal Knowledge, there is rather a large city called Houston, near the Gulf of New Spain,” Mr. Rivets said. “Named for the first president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, the city boasts—”
    â€œThat’ll do, Mr. Rivets,” Archie said.
    â€œHouston it is, then,” Fergus said. “Last one there buys the ice cream. They do have ice cream in this place, don’t they, Mr. Rivets?”
    â€œUnknown, sir.”
    Archie looked sheepishly at Hachi. He didn’t know what to say.
    â€œAre you going to kill her? Blavatsky?” he asked.
    â€œNo,” Hachi said, surprising all of them. She put a hand to the long, ugly scar on her neck she’d gotten the night Blavatsky and the others attacked her parents’ village. “I’m going to get her to tell me everybody else who was at Chuluota, and what they were doing. Then I’m going to kill her.”
    A steam whistle blew somewhere across town, toward the river.
    â€œThat’s our ship. We have to go,” Hachi said.
    â€œOkay. So…,” Archie started, but suddenly Hachi was hugging him. He hugged her back.
    â€œBe careful,” she whispered.
    â€œI will. Careful—”
    â€œâ€˜â€”is your middle name.’ I know.” She pulled back from him and smiled. Hachi smiling was something that Archie was still getting used to.
    â€œWe were so good together,” Archie told her.
    â€œWe will be again,” Hachi told him. “You can help me get the rest of them.”
    Archie nodded. “I hope you find what you’re looking for,” he told her.
    â€œYou too,” she said.
    The steam