The Twilight Prisoner by Katherine Marsh Page A

the rest of the animals began to shriek and roar in a deafening cacophony.
    Jack turned to Euri. “What was that?”
    â€œNew exhibit. Three-headed dog. Let’s go.”
    Euri darted into the air, and Jack grabbed Cora’s hand and followed. He could hear Cora suck in her breath as they flew over the Delacorte Clock, their feet grazing the animal band.
    â€œWhere should we go?” he asked Euri.
    â€œProbably into the city for a little while,” she said, steering them swiftly away from the zoo.
    Cora looked uncertainly back over her shoulder. “And then we can go back to that stream, right?”
    Euri nodded. “But we should travel back through another fountain.” She began to fly west, across the park, sailing higher and higher.
    As they rose after her, Cora looked down. “What if I fall?” she asked in a shaky voice.
    â€œYou won’t,” said Jack. “Just hold my hand and enjoy the view.”
    Beneath them, dark thickets of trees, their leaves still clinging to the branches, gave way to patches of yellow light that illuminated stone bridges and meandering roads, empty playgrounds and shadowy statues. A twinkling line of apartment buildings and luxury hotels encircled the park and beyond them, higher in the sky, helicopters with blue lights darted like dragonflies. Cora’s hand was clammy and Jack could feel it pulsing in his own. Below, he caught sight of Bethesda Fountain and flew down to show Cora the ghosts streaming out from beneath the feet of the winged statue of the Angel of the Waters. Hundreds at a time burst into the air in translucent geysers.
    Cora’s face softened as she tilted her head back to watch. “Every night they do this?”
    â€œEvery night,” said Jack.
    A few child ghosts waved at them and they waved back.
    â€œGood times,” remarked Euri with a sour expression. “But there’s a guard floating toward the fountain.”
    She shot into the sky as Jack pulled Cora up after her.
    â€œWait!” Cora cried, looking down at the terrace.
    â€œWhat?” Jack asked.
    â€œI think I just saw Austin flying with another ghost!”
    Jack looked back just in time to catch the receding silhouettes of a tall figure with spiky hair and a heavy-set ghost. His stomach flip-flopped. “That couldn’t be him.”
    â€œIt looked exactly like him!”
    Jack felt annoyed that Cora cared. “But he made it back,” he reminded her. “He’s probably at his apartment by now.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    â€œHe’s fine,” Jack insisted. But he wished he felt more certain.
    Euri joined them. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œCora thinks she saw Austin fly out of the fountain,” Jack explained.
    Euri dismissed this with a wave of her hand. “He went back. Trust me. You think he wanted to hang around in the underworld?”
    Cora gave her an exasperated look. “You don’t even know him.”
    â€œDo you want to hang around in the underworld?”
    â€œNo,” Cora admitted.
    â€œWell, just forget about it, then,” said Euri. “There are a lot of spirits here. Some of them are bound to look like people you know.”
    Jack tried to feel reassured. Euri wouldn’t let some living kid wander around the underworld. She liked the living. She would have tried to protect him. Cora must have just seen someone who looked like Austin—maybe even a distant ancestor. He touched Cora’s shoulder with his free hand. “Don’t worry. Austin’s fine. And you will be, too. I’ll make sure of it.”
    He turned and saw Euri was staring at them with a frown. Wayward strands of hair angrily poked up out of her head and her hands were bunched into fists. He realized that he had once said nearly the same thing to Euri—and then failed her. He dropped his hand from Cora’s shoulder.
    â€œI have an errand to do,” Euri said