by Katya Moore
Names have power.
“Oh my god,” I whispered to myself. “Mom, can I borrow your laptop?”
“Of course, sweetheart.” She reached into the cabinet beneath the sideboard and handed the archaic device to me. “I’ve got to go out to the front for a bit. Take all the time you need.”
As soon as the door closed behind her, I fired up a search engine and began to type.
Van Allen hedge fund
I got it on my first guess. I felt my breath catch in my throat as news article after news article popped up. Business journals. National papers. Credible sources.
I opened one. The photo showed a man with blond hair and blue eyes I knew far too well. His face was lined, the eyes creased with worry. He was a couple decades older than Luxe, but the family resemblance was uncanny.
Van Allen hedge fund debacle bankrupts hundreds.
Lavinia Van Allen commits suicide in wake of husband’s downfall.
Without a trace: Arthur Van Allen escapes custody, vanishes. A guard bribed. Hundreds demand justice.
I closed the lid of the laptop and leaned on my elbows.
It was true. All of it. Or at least enough of it. I felt lighter. Cleaner. A little giddy.
He’d trusted me with the truth. He really had.
The con man told me the truth.
And how did I repay that?
The giddiness vanished.
I didn’t even say goodbye.
He’s going into that trap of a job and I didn’t even say…
A jolt ran down my spine. I sat bolt upright.
“I’ll take care of Lachlan personally.” Glory’s phone conversation, moments before we first spoke.
She knew his name. His real name.
Mages can use your real name against you.
“Oh, holy fuck. Luxe.”
I hated myself for leaving my cellphone at The Dorm. I didn’t know Luxe’s number. I didn’t have his card. The best I could do was to scramble back to The Dorm and pray I could catch them in time.
Unless…
I snatched up the scroll, flipped open the laptop, and entered the address into SparxWorld Maps. The streets were unfamiliar, but the area was eerily familiar. The warehouse district. I zoomed in to the street view and studied the front of the building.
It was their hideout. The one they’d taken me to the night they rescued me.
They rescued me.
I opened the LiftRunner app on the laptop.
My turn.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Hi, I’m in a real big hurry.” I dove headlong into the LiftRunner car, a small red sedan with a couple CDs dangling from the rearview. “I’ll tip crazy well if you break a few laws.”
“Oh, I’m fine with breaking a few laws,” the young driver replied. He looked maybe twenty years old, with a trim goatee and dark, glittering eyes. There was something unsettling about him. Something familiar.
No time to freak out about him. Worry about Luxe and Feral and the others.
My stomach was a seething pit of acid and worry. In a world of instant communication, it was killing me that I had to wait until I got there physically to tell them they were in danger. Everything was slow. The lights were slow. The other drivers were slow. Time was racing by, and nothing moved fast enough.
“Can we go any faster?” I begged.
The dark eyes glittered in the rearview mirror. “Oh, we’ll get there plenty fast, never you fear.”
Easy for you to say, asshole.
I tried to calm my breathing. Deep slow breaths, just like Mom always tried to teach me. She always used a crystal to help me focus. I remember staring into the reflections of the facets, letting the shimmer and shine entrance me. I remembered the CDs on the rearview and tried using the iridescent reflection as a focus.
Mother Glory: The Ultimate Collection
Pretty Love Murder: Mother Glory Live at Coachella
The CDs spun, catching the light, glinting tiny rainbows onto the driver’s madly grinning face.
Oh, my fuck.
The driver was speaking into a Bluetooth headset. “Sí. La tengo. Por la Madre.”
Yes. I have her. For the Mother.
I looked at the driver’s GPS unit. We were miles off course.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked.
“You’re the biggest fare I’ve ever had in my life,” he said with a smirk. “We’re going to Forever Young, for a little chat with Our Mother.”
I pulled off the blue wig and narrowed my eyes at him in the rearview. “How did you know…?”
“The Inner Circle has its ways.” He raised his right arm, revealing an intricate rendition of the Soul’s Tears burned into his flesh. Something glittered in the light of the dash. Two gems were imbedded into his arm where the Tears should have been. “I’ve been watching your mom’s tea shop. Mother wouldn’t let me talk to her. Not the way I wanted to. So I’ve been taking every fare that came out of Little Leaves, hoping to see you. And it paid off.”
I weighed my options.
I could be a little bitch, let him kidnap me, let him bring me to Glory to have the magic sucked out of me and get sacrificed. Not an option.
I looked at the doors. I could jump out the next time we got caught in LA traffic and… As if reading my mind, the driver hit the lock button. I grabbed the door handle and yanked on it hard. He laughed malevolently. I growled under my breath.
I could kick the windows out. I looked at my footwear and cursed. Converse were fashionable, but the canvas and soft soles would be shredded. My feet would be shredded.
A slow, slightly insane smile spread across my face. Guess that means I’m crashing this car and taking my chances. I flexed my fingers, ready to lunge forward and claw the driver’s face off.
The windshield went black with a loud thump. An earsplitting caw rang out through the cabin.
“Fuck!” the driver and I shouted in unison.
The car swerved dangerously through two lanes of traffic. I could hear honking and screams and the squeal of tires. The giant bird plastered itself to the windshield. The driver rolled down his window to shove his head out and try to peer around. That’s when the bird moved.
Ravens have big beaks. Big, sharp beaks. My stomach lurched as Cory reared back his head and plunged that beak straight into the driver’s right eye.
As the driver screamed, I unbuckled my seatbelt and dove between the two front seats, snatching the wheel from his hands and straddling the center console. I could just barely see past Cory’s left wing. We were in the right-hand lane, close to the shoulder. I swerved us onto the grass and stomped on the driver’s foot to hit the brakes.
The driver slammed his elbow into the bridge of my nose. I saw stars. Cory screeched, then the driver howled in pain. I shook my head to clear it, then grabbed the driver by the hair and smashed his face into the steering wheel. He rebounded, then slumped forward again as he lolled against his seatbelt. Blood smeared over the faux leather wrap on the wheel.
Cory flapped to the passenger’s side of the car. I reached across the driver, unlocked the doors, and threw the passenger door open. Cory hopped up onto my lap, squawked at me, then hopped into the backseat. I opened the driver’s side door, shoved the driver out, and slammed the door closed again, locking it immediately.
“Nice move,” Cory said behind me.
I screamed, jumping a few inches out of my skin. “Jesus fuck! Don’t…I just…Near-death experience!”
Cory snickered. “Sorry.” He was not remotely sorry.
I growled under my breath. Then adrenaline gave way to actual thought.
“The heist! You can’t!” I gulped down air, trying to calm myself enough to speak in full sentences. “Glory knows. Glory knows Luxe’s real name. She knows something’s up. We’ve got to stop them.”
“What time is it?” Cory asked.
“Wh…what?” I looked at the car’s dash. “Ten after nine. Why?”
My heart fell in
to my stomach.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Luxe
“Darling, I’m here!” I breezed into the antechamber of Mother Glory’s mansion and let myself get thoroughly wanded by security. I wore three fake piercings in the ear with my earpiece, just enough to get a glance and an eye-roll from the guard when the metal detector wand beeped. For once, it wasn’t the comm that had me worried.
“Arms out.” I stretched my arms out and let him wand my torso. As he started to head for my hips, I sneezed on him.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry!” I gasped as he ran a hand over his damp face. “Let me get that for you.” I snatched a packet of tissues out of my pocket.
“No need, sir. Arms out.”
I stretched my arms out, still holding the packet of tissues, and he finished scanning me. I pocketed the tissues, with the fake Soul’s Tears necklace nestled safely within.
“She’s waiting for you in the wardrobe room. Rafael here will walk you in.”
Another guard snatched the garment bag from my hands and unzipped it. He grunted after rummaging through the feathers and rhinestones. I watched and winced at his rough handling. Even though it wasn’t what I’d set out to steal, even though I wasn’t actually a wardrobe manager, I was still in Andres’ headspace, and that was a priceless designer dress, dammit you heathen.
“Careful with that, honey, or it’s both our heads.” Rafael grunted and thrust the bag at me. I snatched it from him and cradled it like a lost child. “There, there, I won’t let the bad man hurt you again.”
“Come on.” Rafael sounded unamused.
As we walked, I chattered inanely at the guard about the dresses for the concert. I could see his hackles raising higher and higher. Good. Chances are, he’ll fuck off as quickly as he can. There was a question burning at the back of my mind. I had to ask it in just the right way to avoid blowing my cover.
“So what’s the deal with that girl who blew up the computer room? Are you still chasing after her? Did you catch her yet?” I tried to sound breathlessly gossipy. No concern here. Definitely don’t care whether she lives or dies. Or if she’s in trouble right now. Or where she is. Or if she’s safe. Or if I’ll ever see her again.
Nope. Perfectly fine.
Rafael snorted. “What’s it to you? Mother Glory wants to talk to her. Even if the whole dress thing was a…” He glowered at me suspiciously. “Misunderstanding.”
“But if she didn’t steal the dress, and you know she didn’t steal the dress, why care?” I pressed.
Rafael stopped walking. My gut clenched. Shit. Pushed too far.
The large man turned to face me. “Glory’s reasons aren’t for you or me to worry about. Glory wants to talk to her, Glory’s gonna talk to her.” He snorted malevolently. “‘Sides, it’s not like she can call off her fans now. Once you set them onto something, it’s like a horde of zombies after the last brain on Earth. I wouldn’t wanna be that girl. She’ll be lucky if they bring her here in one piece. But they’ll bring her here.”
It took everything I had to laugh at that. “Yeah. I’ve seen her message boards when someone criticized her eyeshadow choice. Bloodbath. I’d hate to be the person that Glory actually pointed a finger at and said ‘Bring her to me!’”
Bile burned at the back of my throat. I had to be glib. The job depended on me being glib. But goddamn it, this was Alex— my Alex— and I wanted to rip this snorting, cackling heap of muscle and asshole into small pieces.
“We’re here. Go on in. She’s waiting.”
“Thanks, Rafael. You’ve been a peach.”
I opened the door and walked in.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kit
“I’ve got the cameras. Luxe just entered the wardrobe room. Let me know when I need to hit the alarms on the west end.” I turned my attention to the security cameras on the grounds. “Feral’s in the bushes by the garden. It’s a hundred-yard dash to the front if Luxe comes out hot, but he’s in his panther, so that’s no problem.”
“What about Cory?” Roc asked, eyes focused on Luxe’s cameras. “Any sign of him?”
I checked the monitors. “Not like I’m going to see him, and he hasn’t checked in on the comms yet.”
As if on cue, Cory’s comm lit up. I pressed the button to play his audio.
“…pull out if you can. Get Luxe the fuck out of Dodge.” Cory’s voice sounded more agitated than I’d ever heard.
“Calm down, Cory. What’s going on? Where are you?” Roc’s voice was steady, but his jaw was tense.
“I’m about ten miles out, with Alex, in a LiftRunner. Ran into some trouble. They’re on to Luxe. On to Lachlan.” Cory emphasized Luxe’s real name. “Glory knows his name, and she knows he’s up to something. Get Feral in there and get Luxe out.”
I turned my attention to the camera. Luxe was pinning Glory into the Picmont gown, humming contentedly to himself, moments from making the switch.
“Are you sure about that?” I asked. “We’re two altered seams away from the swap. We can still pull this off.”
“Depends. How much do you trust Alex?” Cory asked.
Roc and I exchanged a look.
Roc shut off Cory’s comm and flicked on Luxe’s. “Abort,” he said in a calm, confident voice.
Luxe paused, his fingers inches away from the clasp on Glory’s necklace.
Roc turned to me. “Hit the alarm. We’ve got to get him out of there.”
My finger hovered over the hotkey. “You trust her that much already?”
“Do it.”
I hit the button.
All of the monitors went black at once.
“What did you do?” There was an unnatural calm to Roc’s voice. It set my neck hairs standing straight up.
I didn’t have to answer. A tiny pixelated anime character danced onto the monitors, stopping in the middle to twirl and bow. Text appeared across the top of the screen.
Fuck you, Toby. This is my house now.
Su3bus sez you lose.
Roc stared at the monitors with an unreadable expression. His hand reached over and hit all of the comms at once.
“Everyone get the fuck out of there now. Right now.”
Then, he shut off every comm except for Luxe’s.
“Oh, Glory, girl, I left my hem tape out in the damned car. I’ll be back in two shakes.” His voice was light, casual.
“We’ve got some right here, Lachlan. Why don’t you settle down and stay a while?”
My heart dropped into my shoes. We could hear the slam of the door, the pounding of heavy footsteps.
“Is everything okay, Glory honey?” Luxe’s voice was tight. “Why’d you call in all the big scary men?”
“Take Mr. Van Allen to the safe room.”
Roc reached over and turned off the sounds of the ensuing scuffle, switching to Cory and Feral’s comms.
“I want you to listen to me very carefully.” Roc’s voice was the calm of a thousand therapists. “You need to get to the car and drive back here as fast as you can.”
“I’m not leaving him!” Feral roared. “I’m not…” The roar was cut off by a loud buzz, then silence.
“Cory, can you get him to the car?” Roc asked.
Cory gave a short laugh. “He’s twice my size and I just tased him into unconsciousness. Hold on. There’s a wheelbarrow in the shed. Wish me luck on not getting spotted.”
The whole time Roc was speaking, my fingers were flying. I had to get the cameras back. Nothing else mattered but those cameras. I threw every virus, every piece of malware, every backdoor hack I’d installed over the six months we’d been at Glory’s. I was about to throw my hands up in despair until I thought of one last possibility.
Username: AlexMartin
Password:
My mind whirred with possibilities. She spoke a hundred different languages. She was literate, literary-minded, she loved words.
It could literally be anything.
I thought about the woman I’d spoken to this morning. The one who needed to hear that she could trust people. The one who ran like the wind at the first hint of deception.
Password: TrustNo1
“Thank the earth that Trixie doesn’t help her with her passwords. I’m in.”
She didn’t have direct access to the security systems, but it was a window, and I cracked that fucker open as wide as I could. It took three different programs and five different hacks, all in the span of two minutes that stretched to eternity, but I had them. I had the grounds cameras.
Roc studied them for a long moment. “Okay. Wheel his ass down along the north hedge. Security’s focused entirely on Luxe’s car and the house. If you get out the back, you can wheel him along the alley to the backup getaway car.”
“And how am I going to get him into the fucking car?” Cory sniped.
“You’re a big boy, Cory. You’ll find a way.” Roc’s voice was stern.
“Fucking hell,” Cory groaned.
We heard a car door, a whole lot of thumping and banging, a slam, and the sound of a car engine starting.
“You owe me.” Cory was out of breath, panting into the comm.
“Just get back here.” Roc turned off the comms and leaned his forehead onto his hands.
“That couldn’t have gone worse,” I said, reaching for Luxe’s comm button.
Roc slammed his hand down onto mine, blocking my reach. He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, then pressed the button himself.
An eerie silence filled the room as we strained to listen. I amplified the comm as much as I could. We could hear breathing, shaky and pained, but nothing else.
“Luxe. Cough if you can hear us.” Roc’s voice was steadier than his expression.
No cough. No voice. Nothing.
"Keep on that comm, Kit. We need to know..."
A gruff male voice filled the air. "Scan him again. He can't be working alone. The tech says someone's been hacking into the cameras, and I doubt it was him."
"Maybe that girl..." another voice said, also gruff, also male.