The White Rose of Fiorazzurro (A Dvorak Novel; Complete)

Chapter 23 (or, "Dangerous Parallels")

Calimero felt his heart drop. “Is this for real?”

“Well, there aren’t any spontaneous apples on the screen, so it’s not a message from headquarters. I’m surprised as to how it turned on so quickly.”

“Magic.” Calimero pondered to himself. “There was most definitely magic behind that power source right there. But why?”

Rifka took a look at the television, which was still broadcasting. The bad quality picture and sound showcased a man in a suit sitting behind a desk. “Wasn’t this thing broken?”

Calimero gasped. “I had totally forgotten about that. You’re the one who broke the screen, remember?”

“Because Dvorak was —“ Rifka gasped. “Oh, goodness. I bet Dvorak fixed it! He’s the one who’s broadcasting and he wanted to make sure we were listening. Can he get much lower than this?”

“Well, he could have been the one who set off the bomb,” Calimero noted.

“Actually…” Rifka hadn’t been sure about this before, but she had a feeling Dvorak had nothing to do with the explosion itself. “I know where I’ve heard of this before. It was Rosa. I bet you three dollars and my communicator.”

“Uh…what are dollars?”

“It doesn’t matter! Before we met her, Rosa blew up a huge building in Mexico City. They caught her and put her in prison and all that, but then reality collapsed and she came with us. She was a pop star, too, if I remember correctly. But if she blew up that cathedral, then I bet she blew up the Crystal Palace as well.”

They were interrupted again by the announcer. “We have just received official confirmation that Queen Cendrillon has died in the attacks. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody in Fiorazzurro. Ladies and gentlemen, Fiorazzurro is without a leader, as with the Queen’s death there are no more royals in the city. Might I remind you of the martial law currently in effect. Anybody found on the streets will be shot and killed. Rations will be distributed by the police force as we search for the victim and decide on a new leader and how to best restore order to our great island nation.”

Calimero was speechless. “Cendrillon…dead?”

Rifka let go of her breath. “She was horrible, wasn’t she?”

“Well, yeah, and we were going to go after her and get the throne back. But…we weren’t going to kill her.”

“Calimero?”

The way she said his name made him melt a little bit more inside. “Rifka.”

“You’re not stirring.”

“Oh, curses —“ Calimero kept stirring the mixture. “Now what do we do?”

“We finish this. You stir. I’ll call Tama.”

She grabbed the communicator and dialed for Tama. He answered in a hot second. "Moshi moshi, Matsumoto Tamasine desu."

"Stop beings so cute. Did you hear about the explosion? The Queen is dead. There's martial law in effect on Fiorazzurro."

She heard Tama gasp -- he was still in Gallathia, so he probably hadn't heard up until this point. "Uso! You're kidding me."

"I'm not. I think Dvorak wanted us to know, but I'm surprised he didn't somehow let you know. The point is somebody blew up the Crystal Palace. Now, whom do we know who is able to bomb an entire building?"

"But Rosa doesn't even have any explosives in this dimension."

"That's moot. It's Rosa. She'd find some."