“So, here we are,” Devon said.
“Yeah. Here we are.”
He looked at me like he expected me to say something else, but I didn’t.
“So,” Devon continued. “What was your other school like? You went to a regular mortal high school, right?”
“It was fine. Just school. You know. Anyway, that’s all over with now.”
Because I’m here. Because your mother forced me into this. Because I’m going to die for you just like Ashley and my mom did.
I didn’t say the words, but Devon winced at my flat tone. But he was just as stubborn as I was because he wasn’t ready to give up trying to make conversation yet.
“That’s a pretty ring,” he said. “Where did you get it?”
My left hand crept over to my right, my fingers closing around the ring. The pointed edges of the star-shaped sapphire made me think of my mom. I wondered how many times she’d been in this same situation, stuck with a new client and trying to make small talk, as though she weren’t expected to put her life on the line for the other person.
Especially this particular person.
Anger surged through me. I twisted the ring around on my finger so the star was facing in toward my palm, hiding it from sight.
“Look,” I said, my voice sharp. “We both know what the deal is. You’re the prince of this particular mob, and I’m a girl who’s spent the last four years living on the streets. We don’t exactly have a lot in common, so let’s not pretend we do. In fact, we don’t have to do the whole fake friends thing at all. It looks like you have plenty of those with Felix and Grant already.”
Devon blinked, as if he was surprised by my surly tone. He probably was. I doubted anyone else talked to him like that. No one would dare to, since he was Claudia’s son.
“I know you don’t really want to be here,” he said.
“And I don’t blame you. I don’t need a bodyguard, no matter what my mom thinks, and I know that she basically blackmailed you into this. But I’d like us to be friends, if we could.”
I snorted. “You are the son of the head of one of the most powerful Families in town. You don’t have friends, sweet prince. Not really. You have allies, enemies, and people who want you dead. Nothing more, nothing less. Especially not with me.”
Devon’s green eyes locked with mine. My soulsight kicked in with another punch to the gut—the hurt my harsh words had caused him.
“We should go.” He shot to his feet. “We don’t want to be late.”
He pushed away from the table, turned, and headed toward the doorway. Over at the buffet tables, the pixies hovered in a row in mid-air, glaring at me, their arms crossed over their tiny chests. They’d noticed how I’d upset Devon, and they didn’t like it.
“What are you looking at?” I snapped.
The pixies huffed at me before going back to their chores. I sighed and started twisting my ring around and around on my finger before finally putting the star right side up again.
Devon was right. I didn’t want to be here, but I was stuck just the same—at least for the next year—so I might as well do what Claudia had hired me to.
I sighed again, got up, and went after him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Devon was waiting outside the dining hall, instead of storming off and leaving me to find my own way around the mansion. Or maybe he thought I’d wander off somewhere else instead of going with him if he wasn’t around to guide me.
He might have been right about that.
Either way, he didn’t speak to me as he led me outside.
The sun was already beating down on the mountain, and the May heat and humidity were cranking up to be particularly stifling today. But the grounds around the mansion were a lush green before they gave way to the dappled shadows of the woods. Once again, I noted the guards patrolling through the trees. Many of them were the same folks I’d seen in the dining hall. Every once in a while, one of them would move through a patch of sunlight, causing the silver cuff on his or her wrist to gleam. The thin bands reminded me of shackles.
I rubbed my own wrist, my fingers digging into the bare skin there. No one had said anything about giving me a Family cuff, and I certainly wasn’t going to ask for one. That would make my indentured servitude all too real. Perhaps Claudia was waiting to see whether or not I ran off—or how long I might live.
But the guards weren’t the only things in the woods.
Bright green slits of light flashed, and branches whipped back and forth as the tree trolls moved from one limb to another, even more nimble than the squirrels they startled. Deeper in the forest, back where the green faded to black, more neon colors—reds and blues and yellows—winked on and off, as the other monsters woke and then went on the prowl for their own breakfast.
I pulled my gaze away from the woods and focused on Grant, who was leaning against a black SUV with the Sinclair crest emblazoned on the front doors. His hair gleamed like spun gold in the sun, his arms were crossed over his chest, showing off his muscles, and he sported a pair of aviator sunglasses that made him look that much cooler.
“Where’s Felix?” Grant asked, straightening up.
“Right here,” Felix called out, stepping out of the mansion behind us. He carried a red gift bag in his hand, the sort you’d give to someone at a birthday party.
“What’s in the bag?” I asked.
“Something to help Devon,” Felix said. “You’ll see.”
He grinned and Devon rolled his eyes.
Felix got into the front passenger seat, while Grant slid into the driver’s side. Devon stepped up and opened the back door, something I supposed I should have done for him, since I was his bodyguard.
“Ladies first,” he murmured.
I was definitely no lady, but an unwelcome blush stained my cheeks all the same. I slid into the back, with Devon getting in beside me and pulling the door shut. He turned to put his seat belt on, and his scent washed over me—that sharp, crisp, tang of pine. I let myself breathe it in before scooting over to the far side and buckling my own seat belt.
I stayed silent as we drove down the mountain. It wasn’t like I could add to the conversation anyway, not with Felix talking as much and as fast as he did. He gave new meaning to the word chatterbox.
I glanced at Devon, wondering what he thought of his best friend’s incessant talking. He shrugged back, although a faint smile tugged up his lips. I looked out the window before I was tempted to return his grin.
Thirty minutes later, Grant parked the SUV in a special lot off the Midway that was reserved for the Families. A dozen other black SUVs were already here. My gaze roamed over the vehicles, taking in all of the crests on the doors, including the snarling gold Draconi dragon and the delicate cluster of purple wisteria flowers of the Itos.
The four of us got out of the car, and Grant looked at Devon. “Where are you supposed to meet her?”
He made a face. “At the arcade entrance.”
I wondered who she was, but I’d find out soon enough. Besides, my job was to watch out for Devon, not ask questions. I didn’t want to ask questions. I didn’t want to get involved in his world, in the Families’ world, any more than necessary. This was just like any other job Mo had sent me on, and I was only here for the money and whatever else I could steal along the way. Nothing more.
That’s what I kept telling myself, even though I knew it wasn’t true.
Grant, Devon, Felix, and I headed toward the main part of the Midway. Felix started talking to Grant, not paying the least bit of attention to his surroundings, but Devon scanned the streets and buildings around us, as though he was the bodyguard instead of me. He wasn’t wearing a sword, but from what I’d seen in the training room yesterday, he could handle himself as well as I could. If I hadn’t witnessed the assassination attempt, I wouldn’t have thought Devon needed any protection. His mouth was set into a hard slash, his fingers clenching and unclenching, as if he was hoping that someone would try to jump u
s, if only so he could let loose his anger and frustration by beating an enemy to a bloody pulp.
Yeah, I knew the feeling.
But no one approached or threatened us, and we left the parking lot and side streets behind and stepped out into the Midway.
The Midway was the crown jewel of Cloudburst Falls, the place where all the tourists flocked to, and the place where they left so much of their money behind. The circular area covered dozens of acres, with shops, restaurants, and casinos forming the outer ring. An enormous park lay in the center of the circle, with booths set up along the cobblestone walkways that crisscrossed from one side of the park and the Midway to the other. Dozens of fountains of all shapes and sizes bubbled, spurted, and spewed like geysers in the park, and kids laughed and shrieked as they ran through the arching sprays of water.
Even though it wasn’t quite noon yet, the area was already full of folks in shorts, sandals, and tacky T-shirts, with cameras hanging off their necks and phones dangling from their fingers. The greasy scents of popcorn, funnel cakes, and sticky-sweet cotton candy filled the air, while flashing neon signs mounted on some of the larger, castle-shaped food carts invited folks to check out pralines and salt water taffy, among other treats.
But the Midway itself wasn’t the only place that tourists visited. Cobblestone walkways spiraled out from all sides of the enormous circle, leading to smaller squares full of hotels, along with shops, restaurants, game booths, go-cart tracks, movie theaters, ziplines, and more. But whether they were in the Midway or one of the outlying squares, almost all the businesses tied in with the town’s overall fairy-tale theme, with names like Ye Olde Bowling Alley and Her Majesty’s Mini Golfe and all the old-timey decorations and costumes to match. It was like being in the middle of the world’s cheesiest, most over-the-top renaissance faire.
But there were some actual magical attractions mixed in as well, like the Monstrous Museum, with its displays of stuffed monsters, educational programs about the creatures’ habitats, and zoos where kids could pet baby tree trolls and the like. Other museums showcased everything from the history of Cloudburst Falls to fun facts about the waterfalls to how bloodiron had been mined out of the mountain.
Some of the squares had even been turned into nature sanctuaries, where folks could wander through patches of woods and watch rockmunks use their razor-sharp talons to carve their nests into boulders, while their smaller chipmunk cousins looked on. All put together, the sanctuary squares were sort of like open-air butterfly houses. Only with teeth and claws instead of pretty wings.
The tourists weren’t the only ones moving through the Midway, however. In keeping with the overall ren-faire atmosphere, men and women wearing knee-high black boots, black pants, colorful shirts and cloaks, and matching cavalier hats topped with feathers stationed themselves throughout the crowd, keeping an eye on everything, their hands resting on the swords belted to their waists. I always thought they looked like extras from some old Three Musketeers movie, but more than one tourist stopped to snap photos of the costumed guards. Bits of gold, silver, and bronze glimmered on the guards’ wrists, denoting which Family each one belonged to, but it was easy to tell who was who, since the guards’ cloaks bore their Family’s color. Black for the Sinclairs, red for the Draconis, purple for the Itos, and so on and so forth.
Each Family had a different piece of the action. The Draconis ran the casinos, the Itos owned the hotels, the Salazars had the restaurants. From what I knew, the Sinclairs ran the banks, along with some other interests, like the nature sanctuaries and bloodiron mines on the mountain. And all of the Families made a sizable chunk of change in protection money by dealing with the wayward monsters who slithered around town in search of an easy tourist meal.
The Families had divvied up the Midway like wedges of a pie, and each Family had guards stationed in its section to deal with any problems. Customers who complained about high prices and sloppy service. Employees who skimmed cash out of the registers. Monsters who wandered a little too close to the crowds. Thieves like me.
I wondered how the Sinclairs were keeping up with everyone else, since Grant said that so many folks had left the Family, but several guards wearing silver hand and sword cuffs patrolled the Sinclair territory as usual. Perhaps things weren’t as bad as Grant had made them out to be.
“Come on,” Devon said. “Let’s head over to the arcade. I want to get this over with.”
He headed toward the north section of the Midway. Felix followed him, with Grant and me flanking them. The guards eyed me suspiciously as I passed, their gazes taking in the sword belted to my waist, since no one except Family guards were supposed to have weapons on the Midway. Please. As if I couldn’t swipe their cuffs right off their wrists if I wanted to. But their faces relaxed when they realized I was walking next to Grant. He smiled, waved, and called out greetings to the guards. He seemed to know almost all of them, including the Draconis.
We reached the arcade entrance, and Devon looked left and right.
“I don’t see her. Do you, Felix?”
Felix shook his head, and the two of them went over to the ticket booth to ask the clerk about whoever Devon was supposed to meet. Grant moved over to talk to some guards from the Volkov Family who were stationed by the arcade entrance, since this was their turf, although he made sure to keep Devon within sight. I leaned against a cardboard sign of a tree troll eating pancakes. Maybe this would be easier money than I’d thought—
A girl my own age stopped next to me, scanning the crowd. She was extremely pretty, with shoulder-length black hair, dark brown eyes, and skin that had a faint tan tint to it, like the inside of an almond. Despite her wedge sandals, she was several inches shorter than I was and wore a purple sundress with white polka-dots. A thin silver cuff glinted on her wrist, one that featured a cluster of wisteria flowers. So she was an Ito then.
She glanced at me, and we both did that quick smile strangers do. She started to move past me but stopped and let out a low whistle.
“Nice sword,” she said in an appreciative voice, leaning down to get a closer look. “Is that a black blade? I really like the star scrollwork.”
I wrapped my hand around the hilt, hiding the stars from sight. “Nah. Just a cheap imitation.”
She straightened up and looked me up and down, as if comparing me to my sword. Apparently, I passed her inspection because she smiled at me again.
“Well, maybe you can help me. I’m looking for someone—”
“Poppy ! There you are!” Felix’s voice rang through the air.
She made a face. “And it looks like I’ve found him. One of them, anyway.”
Felix hurried over to where we were standing, threw his arm around Poppy’s waist, and lifted her off the ground, making her laugh.
He put her down and gave her a critical once-over. “Look at you, all dressed up. I like it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, don’t get used to it because it’s not for you, loser. Where’s Devon?”
“Right here.”
Devon joined the three of us. For some reason, he now clutched a white rose in his hand.
“Hi, Poppy,” he said in a somewhat grudging voice, holding the flower out to her. “Are you ready for our date?”
I stared at the rose, which was small, delicate, and pretty, just like Poppy was.
“Date?” I asked, my stomach twisting.
Poppy and Devon stared at each other, their faces carefully neutral.
“Yeah,” Poppy said, taking the rose from him and twirling it around in her hand. “Our parents thought it would be a good idea for us to . . . go out. Before the big dinner next week for all the Families.”
“Because of everything that’s happened recently,” Devon added, his voice even quieter than hers.
My eyes narrowed. He was talking about his dad’s murder and the Ito Family’s supposed part in it. Suddenly, I realized who the girl was—Poppy Ito, daughter of Hiroshi Ito, the head of the Ito Family. So this was so
me sort of peace tactic then, some way for the Sinclairs and the Itos to show the other Families that they weren’t feuding.
“Some date,” I murmured.
The two of them grimaced.
“Well,” Devon said, holding out his arm. “We might as well go inside.”
“Yeah,” Poppy agreed, resting her hand on his arm. “Might as well get it over with.”
The two of them stepped up to the booth and bought tickets for themselves, as well as for me, Felix, and Grant, who had finally finished his conversation with the Volkov guards. Together, the five of us entered the arcade.
Like everything else on the Midway, the arcade was loud, bright, and colorful, with fluttering streamers, bobbing balloons, and flashing lights everywhere you looked. Games, rides, prizes, food. The arcade featured all that and more, although none of us was really interested in any of its offerings today. Our little group stayed together, aimlessly wandering around.
We weren’t the only kids here, and we passed more than a few who belonged to the other Families, ready to have a good time now that school was out for the summer. And they were all extremely interested in Devon and Poppy. More than a few of the kids whispered to each other, pulled out their phones, and snapped photos, before texting the juicy gossip about Devon and Poppy being seen together to their friends and everyone else in their Families.
I snorted. Sometimes, I thought the Families played more games with each other than there were in all of the Midway.
Poppy started talking to Felix, since his mouth was once again going a hundred miles an hour. Grant stuck his hands in his pockets and ambled along with them.
That left me to walk beside Devon. Every time he moved, I caught a whiff of his scent, that sharp, crisp tang of pine. Despite myself, I kept breathing it in, even though it was stupid of me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I imagine this isn’t what you were expecting.”
“Watching you go out on some fake date with a girl from another Family?” I shrugged. “It’s okay.”
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