Dancing Lessons

Chapter Thirteen

I lingered there, taking sips of hot chocolate, listening to Juleika's mother strumming her guitar. People really were amazing. Ten minutes ago, they'd been about to hurl themselves into the river--some of them had even managed it, and were still wet and shivering from the experience--but they were doing their best to be cheerful now, trying to keep each other's spirits up.

It looked as though some kind of spontaneous group therapy was going on under the city. People were gathered together in huddles, talking, nodding sympathetically, placing their hands on each other's shoulders.

"It's not like the other akuma-victims," Alya was saying, while I stared. "I mean, it's got to be traumatic anyway, getting turned into a zombie or a mummy by some new supervillain, but they never used the stuff inside your head before. Everyone here had their own reasons for jumping. The--" she made a face, "--the End just brought it to the surface, and made it impossible to resist. A lot of bad stuff's been stirred up."

"No kidding," I said. My hot chocolate had run out, and the cold was starting to creep back.

"It's ironic, really. You have no idea what a positive person she is, usually..."

"It's not her," I said, mainly to get her to stop talking. But it was true. Alya had no idea the extent to which it wasn't her.

I scanned the crowds again, trying to warm myself with the thought of other people's kindness, and saw something that made my heart jolt.

Master Fu was here. There was no mistaking that bright shirt, or the way he bent over his stick to make himself seem small and inoffensive, while watching your every move like a hawk.

At the moment, though, the stick was clamped under his elbow. He was nursing something in his hands, like a little baby bird, and I took two eager steps towards him before I remembered myself.

I wasn't allowed to approach him as Cat Noir. It was too risky. Hawkmoth was always looking for the Keeper, and anyone who spoke to Ladybug or Cat Noir out in the open would be suspect.

I turned back to Alya, and held out the Queen Bee comb. "Can I trust you to pass this on to Chloe Bourgeois?"

Alya didn't dignify this with a response. She closed her hand over the comb and said tartly, "Can you trust her to give it back?"

"Well, that's a problem for later," I said, smiling Cat Noir's sunny smile. Maybe there was some real sunshine behind it this time. It had to be Tikki he was holding. I didn't like that he was nursing her so gently--as if she was still frail--but it was some comfort that he had thought it safe enough to bring her along.

And she could tell me if Marinette was in any pain--although, if I wanted to fight the fog, it might be best not to know that.

I was shifting from foot to foot with impatience, but I still managed to say to Alya, "Could you tell Rena Rouge I need her? She's part of the plan. She's practically the whole of it."

I found an empty tunnel and transformed back into Adrien, while Plagg grumbled.

"I'm not a fashion accessory, you know. You can't just try me on and then take me off on a whim. Transforming is hard!"

"Really?" I said. "You've never mentioned that."

Plagg retreated into my shirt pocket, muttering something about getting some rest while he still could.

I turned back along the empty tunnel, but it wasn't empty anymore. Tendrils of fog were moving over the water like snakes, driving the cold in waves before them, honing in on me as if they could see.