“But Archer already knows, so if you do feel that way about him—”
“Dad!” she interrupted. “Remember when I said it’s not like that? It’s really not like that.”
“Right, of course, I’m sorry.” Dad smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You look …” He sighed and shook his head. “This dress is perfect on you.”
She swallowed, pressed her lips together, and asked, “You don’t mind? It isn’t, like, completely weird?”
“No, it’s … I can’t really describe it, but I know your mother would have loved to see you looking so glamorous and grown-up in one of her dresses. She would have—” His voice hitched, and he cleared his throat once more. “She would have had so much fun helping you get all dressed up.”
Ridley inhaled deeply, blinked a few times, then wrapped her arms around her father. “I love you,” she whispered.
“Love you too, Riddles.” He held her tight for a moment before letting go. “So where will you be tonight?”
“Aura Tower. Ballroom level.”
Dad nodded, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiled. “Fancy schmancy. Just like the old days.”
“Yeah. Not really inside my comfort zone, but I’m sure I can handle it.”
Dad laughed. “Of course you can. Hopefully you’ll actually enjoy it.”
Ridley turned back to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. Outside, the evening air was cool against her bare arms and shoulders. She thought about going back inside to get a scarf or a coat, but it would be warm inside Aura Tower’s ballroom, and she didn’t have to survive long until she got there. Hopefully it wouldn’t start raining.
She dropped her key into her purse, then lifted the lower part of her dress so it wouldn’t touch the dirty street. She’d barely taken a few steps forward when she looked up and stopped. A resigned sigh escaped her lips. Parked right at the entrance to her alley—despite what she’d repeatedly told Archer—was a shiny, dark blue vehicle.
10
Ridley would have been wary of the car if not for the smartly dressed young man leaning against the side of it. Archer’s hands were pushed casually into the pockets of his pants as he stared down the main street, watching something Ridley couldn’t see. He was ridiculously good-looking in his perfectly tailored suit. If Ridley had been a different type of girl, she might have stood there drooling. But I’m not, she reminded herself. Do not be that kind of girl. So instead she crossed her arms. “Seriously?” she called out. “I told you not to worry about bringing a car here.”
He turned his head toward her, and a wide smile spread across his face. He straightened, removing his hands from his pockets. “It was no problem.”
“I would have been fine on the bus,” she said as she approached the vehicle. It looked like one of those driverless ones with only one door on either side. “You really didn’t need to worry about me.”
“Okay, well let’s say I did it for selfish reasons then. I didn’t want to have you walking beside me through Aura Tower with dirt on the hem of your dress and a chocolate wrapper stuck to your butt.”
Ridley managed to hold in a snort. “When was the last time you took a bus? The chocolate wrappers are on the floor, not the seats.”
“Never,” he told her as he opened the car door for her. “I’ve never been on a bus.”
She ducked her head and slid onto the leather seat. “I guess that’s not surprising,” she muttered as she shut the door. Archer walked behind the car and climbed in the other side. Between the two front seats, which were turned to face the seats Ridley and Archer sat in, was a raised console with a screen. Archer leaned forward, tapped through several menus on the screen, then settled back.
“You look lovely, by the way,” he said to her.
“Um, thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself.” He looked swoon-worthily gorgeous, to be more accurate, but he was probably aware of that already, and Ridley wasn’t about to increase the size of his ego. “No paparazzi following you today?” she asked lightly as the car pulled away from the curb. “This would make a wonderfully scandalous headline, don’t you think? ‘Billionaire Archer Davenport Dating Girl From City Slums.’”
“Nope, haven’t seen a single one.” Archer peered out of the window on his side of the car. “I’m disappointed. Clearly they don’t like to hang around this part of the city.”
“That’s because people like you don’t hang around this part of the city.”
He turned away from the window to look at her. “This district is hardly a slum,” he said, as if that part had only just registered in his brain.
“Yeah, but it makes a snappy headline.”
“True. Also, I’m not a billionaire. That would be my father.”
“Details,” Ridley said. “You know the tabloids never get them right.”
His expression sobered. “I am all too aware of that.”
Remembering what Meera had told her, Ridley asked if Archer had seen the latest development on Lawrence’s case.
“Yes, but I’m not worried,” he said. “I would definitely have been recognized if I’d been seen, but I haven’t been hauled in for questioning. And no one’s come looking for you either. So I’m guessing we weren’t seen. Or if we were, this guy didn’t see us clearly, so he couldn’t give the cops a good enough description.” Archer’s hand brushed over hers for a moment. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, okay. You’re probably right.”
The conversation turned to Lawrence’s memorial, and after that, Ridley asked about the other elementals on their list. Archer said he’d found various online public profiles for each of them, so he’d confirmed the faces that matched the names, but he hadn’t discovered where any of them lived or worked. Ridley almost suggested he ask Lilah for help before remembering he wasn’t aware of his sister’s hacking expertise. At least, that’s the way it had seemed.
The buzz of a scanner drone reached her ears, and Ridley turned her frown toward the window. The drone, flying unusually low, soared past the window before stopping to hover over a taxi in the next lane over. Ridley toyed absently with the two cylindrical pendants on the silver chain around her neck, watching as the drone glided smoothly away and disappeared. When she looked at Archer again, his eyes were on her necklace. “Do you ever get nervous?” he asked.
She lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug as she lowered her hand to her lap. “Maybe a little. Sometimes. But it’s always worked. No scanner has ever detected a problem.”
“And the necklace has never fallen off?”
“No. But it wouldn’t matter if it did.” She hadn’t told him before about the illegal second copies of her AI1 and AI2, but she had no reason to keep the information from him now. “I have backups,” she admitted.
His lips lifted into a smile. “Of course you do. I should have known you wouldn’t place all your trust in a necklace. Where do you keep the backups?”
Ridley extended her right leg and pulled the dress high enough to reveal her ankle and the silver chain encircling it. “Sexy,” Archer said, his grin still in place.
“Totally,” Ridley said with a roll of her eyes. She looked out of her window just as the car stopped in front of the steps leading up to the entrance of Aura Tower. Archer pressed a button on the center console, and both car doors opened. Ridley climbed out and smoothed the wrinkles of her dress. She turned to close the door, but Archer was already there. “You really don’t need to do that,” she told him.
“I know,” he said, closing her door anyway.
Together, they ascended the stairs, Ridley’s hand tight around her purse and her heart thudding faster than usual against her ribcage. It was always strange to return to Aura Tower, but returning for an event like the one she was about to walk into was even stranger. She couldn’t help thinking that if the Cataclysm had never happened, nights like tonight would most likely be a normal part of her life.
As they crossed the sweeping foyer, Ridley’s heels cli
cking against the marble floor, they neared two men shaking hands. Ridley’s breath caught in her throat when she realized one of them was Mayor Madson. He let go of the other man’s hand. Then he turned and moved toward them, his eyes meeting hers. Time seemed to slow, and it felt to Ridley as if he could see right into her. That somehow he knew. She sensed the truth seeping out of her and writing itself all over her face: I’m an elemental. I’m the thing you want to rid the world of. I was there when your son was shot. I know who killed him.
Then the moment was over, and Mayor Madson released her from his cold, almost lifeless gaze. He gave Archer a small nod as he walked past them. Ridley let go of the breath she’d been holding. “Everything okay?” Archer asked, looking sidelong at her.
“Yes. Just a moment of paranoia.” She smiled at him. “But I’m fine.”
They stopped in front of one of the elevators. “Have you been inside the ballroom here before?” Archer asked. The doors slid apart and they walked forward. Another couple joined them in the elevator, dressed just as smartly as she and Archer were.
“Once, I think,” she answered as Archer pressed the button for the hundred and fortieth floor. “But I don’t remember much. I was only about six or seven. It was an early evening event, and children were allowed to attend.”
“The views are stunning,” he said. “It’s situated on a corner of the building, so two of the four walls are entirely glass.”
“That sounds vaguely familiar.” Ridley focused on the man and woman standing in front of her as the elevator began to ascend. They hadn’t selected a floor, which, along with their attire, suggested they were attending the same party she and Archer were headed to. They held hands, their fingers laced together, and Ridley watched as the man’s thumb brushed slowly against the woman’s.
She looked away, feeling as though she were intruding on a private moment. She tried to think of something to say, but no safe topic came to mind. Did she and Archer only ever speak about things that were meant to remain secret?
Before the silence inside the elevator could swell to an uncomfortable level, a ping sounded and the doors slid open. The man and woman walked forward into a wide corridor with an arched ceiling, and Ridley and Archer followed. A plush red carpet lined the marble floor. Ridley smiled to herself as she imagined Meera’s squeal when she told her about this. “There was an actual red carpet?” she would say.
They followed the corridor around a corner, where it came to an end in front of an open set of double doors. Gold lettering above the doorway spelled out the words Mannheimer Ballroom. Just inside the doorway stood a man in a suit with a commpad in his hand. The couple walking ahead of Ridley and Archer paused to give their names and waited while the man checked his commpad. After a nod from him, they walked forward. Ridley was about to stop as well, but the man smiled at Archer and said, “Good evening, Mr. Davenport.”
Of course, Ridley thought. She shouldn’t have expected anything else.
The ceiling rose high above, while a grand stairway led downward into a vast room filled with beautiful people, soft lighting, tastefully decorated tables, and two walls made entirely of glass. Here on the upper level, a balcony encircled the entire room, perhaps so that people could have quieter, more private conversations while still enjoying the ambience of the ballroom.
“This way,” Archer said, leading her toward the left instead of down the stairs. “Let’s check things out from up here. Hopefully we can spot Callie.”
“What does she look like?” Ridley asked. Archer pulled out his commscreen and showed her a photo. Callie Hemingway looked to be in her thirties, with caramel skin, blond hair that was more golden than Ridley’s, and a heart-shaped face. “Okay, got it,” Ridley said. She leaned against the balcony railing and looked down, noting two security guards in suits at the bottom of the stairs. “Do your mother’s events tend to get a little wild?” she asked, nodding to the two men.
“A little wild?” Archer said. “It’ll be like a circus in here once things get going.” For a moment, Ridley thought he might be serious. Then he started laughing. “Nope, no wild parties for Aurelia Davenport. They’re not wild in the least, but every now and then you wind up with one or two people who drink too much and get unruly. Those kinds of people will be swiftly removed.”
“Noted,” Ridley said with a nod. “I’ll try to hold back on the punch.” She moved further along the balcony, her eyes scanning the crowd below for Callie Hemingway. She thought she might have spotted her wearing a green dress, but it was impossible to tell when the woman moved a little further to the side and ended up partly hidden behind a giant crystal vase containing an arrangement of exotic flowers. Though it was hardly a priority right now, Ridley couldn’t help but take a moment to appreciate the flowers. She knew they must be real. Aurelia Davenport would never use fake flowers, and the fact that they would have cost a not-so-small fortune wouldn’t have deterred her.
Not important right now, she reminded herself silently. Leaning a little further over the railing, she tried to see past the flower arrangement. “I can’t tell if that’s her behind the flowers,” she said to Archer. “Can you see her?” When he didn’t answer, she straightened and glanced over her shoulder—and caught him for a moment with his eyes aimed downward before they darted up to meet hers. “Are you kidding me?” she asked. “You’re seriously checking out my butt instead of looking for Callie?”
“Well, not just your—”
“You can’t even tell me you’re making sure there’s no chocolate wrapper stuck there, which is an excuse you could have tried if you’d let me take the bus.”
An amused smile pulled at his lips. “I wasn’t planning to go for any fake excuse. You look amazing. I have no problem telling you that.”
After a moment of silent astonishment, Ridley turned away to hide both her frustration and her flushed cheeks. “I thought we were supposed to be looking for Callie.”
“Yes, that’s her in the green dress. Behind the flowers.”
“That’s what I was asking you,” Ridley replied with a groan. “Anyway, it’s good to know she’s definitely here. But we can’t talk to her in this room. We need to get her out somehow.”
“Yes, definitely.”
“Also,” Ridley added, “I think I should talk to her alone.”
Archer leaned sideways against the railing and looked at Ridley. “You think she might hold a personal grudge against me, like Malachi?
Ridley shrugged. “There’s always a chance.”
“Highly unlikely, but you’re probably right about talking to her alone. It’ll look strange if both you and I accompany her out of the ballroom. If it’s just you, then you can probably wait till she goes to the ladies or something. Find her there, then tell her you need to talk outside. Definitely don’t say anything important while you’re still in the bathroom.”
Ridley folded her arms and fixed her gaze on Archer. “I’m not a complete amateur.”
“Sorry, just making sure.”
“Okay.” Ridley looked down into the ballroom again. “Shall we head downstairs now?”
“Yes. Let’s go and mingle. That’s what my mother would—Ah.” Archer paused, his gaze focused on the room below once more. “Speak of the devil. There she is, along with the rest of my perfect family.”
Ridley followed his gaze and saw Mr. and Mrs. Davenport greeting a politician whose name Ridley couldn’t remember. Lilah was at their side, smiling politely. Like Archer, all three of them were dark-haired and dark-eyed. Aurelia Davenport’s hair was up in a glamorous style, while Lilah’s dark locks fell in voluminous curls around her face, pinned back on one side with a sparkly clip that was probably encrusted in diamonds. Alastair Davenport wasn’t the tallest man in the room, but he exuded the kind of confidence that made him appear to tower above everyone else.
They were, as Archer had said, the picture of perfection. Sophisticated. Refined. And yet, for a moment, Ridley couldn’t help remembering an evening
long ago when she and Lilah had raced through the penthouse dressed up like superheroes in capes while Archer and his friend chased after them with wooden swords and Mr. and Mrs. Davenport laughed as they sat curled against one another on a couch. “Did you really mean what you said about leaving the city without telling them where you’re going?” Ridley asked. “And never returning?”
“Yes.” Archer nodded toward the stairs, and together they headed back that way. “I can’t live the life my father’s planned out for me.”
“Can’t you do something else that involves you helping people like me while also staying in the city?”
He grinned at her. “Worried you’re going to miss me?”
She smacked him with her purse. “Be serious.”
With a sigh, he looked forward again. “No, I can’t do that. My father won’t let me. In his mind, the only option for me is to take over his company one day. And aside from that, he’s just …” Archer shook his head. “We disagree on too many things.”
“You could move to another building,” Ridley suggested as they descended the stairs. “You don’t necessarily have to leave the city and disappear completely. You could still do some kind of work to help those like me, but here in Lumina City.”
Archer shook his head again. “I’ll never be truly free as long as he knows I’m alive.”
Well, that sounded sinister. Ridley sensed there was something deeper and more complex going on between Archer and his father, but it didn’t feel right to ask about it. She might be on friendly terms with him now, and they had shared many secrets in the past week or so, but this felt like something off-limits.
They reached the base of the stairs, and Ridley looked around the ballroom. Women in designer dresses and men in tailored suits mingled between the tables and around the dance floor. Ridley figured the birthday girl herself, popular singer Jurenza, must be around here somewhere. But Callie Hemingway was the one Ridley was here for, so she kept her eyes peeled for golden locks and a green dress as Archer directed her through the crowd. They ended up on the far side of the room near one of the glass walls, and Ridley sucked in a breath at the sight of the glittering city spread out around them. “Incredible,” she said to Archer. “I know your place is even higher, but there’s something about standing at such an enormous window with such a high ceiling that makes this view seem so impressive.”
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