Free Empire Girls by Suzanne Hayes Page A

shape to go to a party. And I don’t have a proper dress, and yours won’t fit! I’m taller than you. Your dresses go up to my knees!”
    “All the better!”
    “Please, give my apologies...I’m simply not prepared.”
    “It’s not until a little later. Maybe you could spruce up something you have?”
    “I don’t think so, Ivy.”
    “I told you you’d try to ruin everything.” I could tell by her eyes that she didn’t want me to go with her. I was a burden to her, and I’d only just noticed it. “Fine, do as you must. But me? I’m going to soak up the scene. Tomorrow you’re gonna be calling me Sherlock.”
    “Be careful, Ivy. We don’t even know these people.” Even if I’d wanted to go, I wouldn’t have at that point. Why ruin her time by saddling her with a broken, old-fashioned girl? She’d be embarrassed by me.
    “Rose, you’re going to have to decide to live a little.”
    Ivy was always jumping headlong into any situation regardless of the danger or consequence. If she’d given me a flicker of real desire... If she’d told me that she needed me by her side to be brave, I may have gone. Instead, she threw up her arms and yelled, “Suit yourself!” as she ran down the stairs again.
    “Remember who you are and where you come from,” I said.
    When she’d left, I returned to the penthouse, leaving the glass of water and my decision to try and gather some flowers behind me. Half of me wanted Ivy to stumble on that glass when she came back up.
    Once upstairs I had second thoughts about that party. I didn’t want her in the corrupted heart of this city without me. She could get into all sorts of trouble.
    * * *
    I unpacked as much as I could, and then curled up on my bed with Sara Crewe.
    As the sun set over our first day in New York City, I could hear the gathering party outside and then I noticed a small ray of light that shimmered from behind the dressing table at the opposite side of our half of the room.
    Where is that coming from? I asked myself. I walked to the dressing table and peeked behind to see a thick layer of curtains.
    I pushed at the dressing table, and it moved more easily than expected. I placed my back against it and pushed harder. It slid a few feet to the side, bumping into another beam near what looked like the entrance to a crawl space.
    There they were, the curtains. More fabric than anything tailored. I yanked on them and they came down, pop, pop, pop, as the small tacks affixing them to the walls sprang out of the wood. The fabric fell to the floor.
    There was a window. A small, round window that looked out over the back gardens of the four buildings on either side of Empire House and the next block over. Decrepit, unkempt gardens.
    People were gathering for the party that we’d been invited to. Lanterns glowed, glittery dresses flew past like fairies. I noticed that the window had a small platform on the outside, so it must be some kind of fire escape, though who could fit in or out was beyond me.
    I couldn’t see Ivy in the crowd.
    Turning back around, I picked up the fabric that had fallen. There was a heavy velvet overlay. Rust colored and damp. Then, underneath...reams and reams of orange chiffon that despite the terrible color were in good shape.
    Daisy was a seamstress ...I thought, remembering what Viv and Maude had said about the woman, our next-best clue to finding out about our brother.
    If she was a seamstress, there may be a sewing machine.
    “Miss?”
    I heard the voice from behind. It was the little girl, Claudia, who’d met us at the front doors of Empire House. I was happy to see her.
    “Hello.”
    “My name is Claudia. I didn’t know if you’d remember, because people got all sorts of different kinds of memories around here.”
    I laughed. “I remember. Hello, Claudia.”
    “How’re ya settlin’ in, miss?”
    “I don’t think I belong here,” I said, confessing my deepest fears to a strange girl in a strange world.
    “No one does,