by K. K. Perez
Taken together, Lucy was emptied out.
Ravi touched a hand to her cheek in a debatably more-than-friendly move. “What do you think happened?” he asked.
Without her permission, Lucy’s body leaned into his touch. His shield was up, so there were no ticklish tingles, only his warm, steady presence.
Sighing, Lucy covered his hand with hers, and gently removed it from her cheekbone. “I didn’t steal the exam,” she told him. “But I think it’s my fault.”
“How so?” His face was open, no judgment in his eyes, just the intensity that was quintessentially him.
“My ex-boyfriend. I’d been helping him with his homework a bit too much.” Lucy smoothed her palms against her thighs before daring a glance at him. Ravi’s expression remained unchanged. Clinging to the denim, she finished her confession. “I found out he’d been selling my work to other students. I put an end to it,” she hastened to add, “and said I wouldn’t do his work for him anymore. He must have stolen the key from me.”
“Cretin.”
Lucy shrugged in resignation. “I don’t have any proof, only a theory. And I was also in the wrong. Two wrongs don’t make a right, right?” She gurgled a faint laugh. It was a good thing Lucy had never told Claudia about Cole’s scheme, or she might be considered an accomplice.
“Do you think you could get him to confess?” Ravi asked.
She wiggled her fingers tauntingly in the air. “With my own form of electroshock therapy?”
He laughed. “By appealing to his sense of decency?”
Considering Lucy had already texted Cole multiple times and he’d ignored her? Unlikely. Cole wasn’t an evil mastermind, but he was selfish. And he didn’t take responsibility for his actions. It was part of why she’d fallen out of love with him, after all.
“You don’t think less of me?” she whispered. Despite Ravi’s secret-agent routine, his opinion had come to matter to Lucy. A lot.
His eyes pierced her as he said, “I think we all make mistakes when it comes to people we care about.”
Lucy shifted her body so that her knees met his. “You know, it’s funny,” she mused. “If I hadn’t been fighting with Cole, I might never have ended up at the hotel.” I might never have met you. Her gaze dropped to their legs. Ravi hadn’t tensed or moved away.
“How did you find your way to the Tesla Suite? I didn’t want to press you before,” he said.
“You mean you don’t know?” Lucy replied, and Ravi shook his head.
Static began to fizz between them as her thoughts whirled, and Lucy was the one who pulled away, facing forward to admire the lake.
If she told him the truth, he might know who had sent the photo. But she also might be compromising her parents somehow.
She felt Ravi’s posture stiffen beside her as he waited for her answer. She sighed again.
“Lucy?” he prompted.
“This is probably going to sound ridiculous,” she said, cutting him a sideways glance. “It started when Schrödinger—that’s my cat—knocked over a picture frame.”
The corner of Ravi’s mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Is the cat alive or dead?”
“Both. Zombie cat.” Lucy gave a small laugh and drew a circle on the craggy face of the rock. “Anyway, the glass cracked, damaging the photograph. I scanned it into my computer to see if I could use some math—maths—software to repair it.”
“Clever. Sounds like you,” Ravi said, and Lucy felt herself flush. “What was the photo of?”
“Me. Well, toothless me. Trust me, I look better with teeth.”
He laughed. “No career as a prizefighter for you?”
“Doubtful. Although, if I’m going to end up with brain damage, I might as well go a few rounds, I guess.”
“Don’t say that.”
At Ravi’s unexpectedly gruff tone, Lucy went quiet. It was the only logical deduction. She watched the rainbow of sails glide on the wind. Sailing away from her problems would be nice.
“How did the photo lead you to the Tesla Suite?” Ravi asked. His expression was curious, and something else. Something like fear.
Lucy swallowed. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she also needed to protect her parents. She picked her words very carefully.
“Steganography,” she replied. “I discovered a binary sequence encoded in the yellow channel of the photo. It contained the address for the New Yorker Hotel, Room 3327.”
Ravi pushed to his feet and began to pace. Lucy decided to leave out the part about it being addressed to her father’s company—and the alchemist’s motto that had been written on the back.
“My dad’s not an Archimedean, is he?” she asked.
“Not to my knowledge, no.” His tone was brusque. “Do you know when the photo was sent?”
She shrugged. “It’s been in my house for as long as I can remember.” From everything Professor T had told Lucy about the Order of Sophia, if they knew about her existence, they would have darkened her door long ago.
But if it hadn’t been either of the Orders, who else could have sent it?
“Have you told your parents what you found?” Ravi asked, quizzing Lucy the way she imagined the professor would.
“No. My dad’s been away on business, and my mom—I didn’t want to worry her with my new symptoms.” Or wind up under house arrest.
“Good, good,” Ravi said, mostly to himself.
“I’ll have to tell them the truth at some point, though,” Lucy said, and she realized she actually meant it.
Ravi stopped, pivoting towards Lucy, lips flat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“They’re my parents.”
“I know.” A shadow crossed his face. “But it’s not safe. Not yet.” He closed the space between them. “If you could bring me the photograph, I can do further analysis.”
Lucy gulped. “Sure.” But then Ravi would know she wasn’t being entirely straight with him. She would have to find a way to stall.
“In the meantime,” he implored, “please don’t go anywhere without your mobile.”
She liked the way he said “mobile” instead of “cell phone.” Still, she asked, “Why not?”
“So I know where you are.” Ravi raked a hand through his hair, and Lucy’s rage began to simmer again.
“How would you know that?” she demanded.
“I installed a GPS app in your phone,” he replied sheepishly—but not nearly sheepishly enough.
“For my protection, right?” Lucy leapt to her feet, getting in his face. “That’s how you just happened to bump into me in Central Park!” Exactly like her parents! Hiss. Her rage approached a boil. “I am so tired of other people deciding who and what to protect me from!” The full-throttle freak-out she’d restrained last night came roaring to life.
“You do need to be protected from the Order of Sophia, Lucy.” Ravi gripped her shoulders, both of them breathing hard. “You still don’t understand.”
“I understand you’re a bona fide stalker,” she said. “You put me in virtual handcuffs!”
Instantly, he released her. He stepped back.
“I’m sorry, Lucinda. Truly I am, but—”
“But what, Ravi?”
From low in his throat, he told her, “The Sophists murdered my parents.”
Lucy blinked. “Oh, Ravi. I…” She placed a hand on his shoulder and pain came off him in waves. His shield was cracking. She felt it bleeding through his natural frequency. Pain like Lucy had never experienced.
“Why didn’t Professor T say anything?” she said in a hush.
“It’s my story to tell.” Ravi squinted into the mid-distance. “They’re ruthless. Powerful. Connected.” Far beyond what Lucy could have conceived.
The Order of Sophia was behind the fire in his parents’ lab. It made sense. They wanted to stop the research into the lightning gene. They’d been prepared to kill people to achieve their aims. And they’d gotten away with it.
“If something happene
d to you, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself,” he told her.
Softly, she said, “I’m not your responsibility, Ravi.”
He exhaled a hard breath. “I don’t want to lose anyone else I care about.” His gaze skimmed her face, lingering on her lips, then dropped to the ground.
She was still angry about him tracking her without permission, but the fact that he was putting himself in the cross hairs of the people who killed his family for her sake …
“I care about you too,” Lucy admitted.
The pain emanating from Ravi dissipated but he said nothing. He’d probably already said too much. The wind rustled the leaves. His breathing steadied.
Lucy spoke first. “The mugger in Central Park—you think that was them?” There was a quaver to her question.
He lifted his eyes, and she pretended not to notice that they were watery.
“I don’t know,” Ravi said. He frowned. “It doesn’t seem like their MO.”
“They’re more ‘annihilate first, ask questions later’?” Lucy said, keeping her voice breezy.
“That’s not funny.”
Maybe not. But if she didn’t laugh, she would cry. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Ravi, I lied to you about what was stolen from my bag,” Lucy said, deciding she owed him at least this much honesty. “I didn’t think it mattered at the time … it was something I took from Tesla’s lab. A bronze egg. I wasn’t lying about that.”
“What does it do?” he asked calmly. Too calmly.
“I can’t say with absolute certainty. But I conducted a few experiments, and…” She chewed her lips guiltily, then met his stare. “It amplifies my powers. I think it might have been what Tesla used.”
“Bloody hell, Lucy.”
She looked away. “I’m sorry.”
Ravi snaked his fingers through her curls, drawing her closer. Not the reaction she’d anticipated. “We’ll sort this,” he promised. “We will.”
He rested his forehead against hers and Lucy closed her eyes, seeing a red dawn in her mind. Sailors take warning.
Slipping her arms around his waist, she hugged Ravi back. For this stolen moment, nothing existed but the warmth between them. Heartbeats and breath and heat.
Tomorrow, she would get back to training. Tomorrow, she would deal with Cole. Not right now.
Right now, Lucy just wanted to be held.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
She didn’t recognize the girl in the mirror.
Lucy belonged to another time. Tesla’s time.
The slip dress was a waterfall of gray—pearly at the top, gaining momentum to dove, oyster, and gunmetal at the bottom. Tassels shimmered like breakers, light from her desk lamp winking off the beads.
Rhinestones glittered across Lucy’s brow, bobby pins tined between her teeth as she skewered the headband into place. Dusky feathers tickled the shell of her ear, a hint lighter than the locks she’d swept into an updo at Claudia’s insistence. She and Jess would be here to pick Lucy up soon and Lucy didn’t dare deviate from her stylist’s explicit instructions.
Her lips twitched in the whisper of a smile. Perhaps for tonight she could be someone else.
“Oh, Lucinda.”
Her mom’s reflection appeared behind her in the doorway, an almost melancholy expression on her face.
“You look stunning,” she said, moving toward her. “Just like your namesake.” Lucy had been named for the Roman goddess whose name meant light.
“Thanks.” She fiddled with a bobby pin. “I can’t take any credit. This look is all Claudia.”
“Here, let me help,” her mom offered. Lucy tensed as their hands met, but she didn’t seem to notice.
Exhale. No odd prickles.
Deftly, efficiently, her mom double-checked and secured each of the pins. “There.” She patted the chignon hanging against the nape of Lucy’s neck. “Cole will have the most beautiful girl at the prom on his arm.”
Lucy bit her lip. “Actually, we broke up.”
“What? When did this happen?” she asked, a deep V creasing her brow.
“Recently.”
“Sorry, honey. I suppose I’ve been in my own world lately.”
The regret in her voice was unfamiliar. “It’s okay,” Lucy said. She couldn’t think of a time when she had reassured her mom. “I’ll have a better time with Clauds.”
She scooped the black tourmaline necklace from her dresser and began fidgeting with the clasp. They’d never had the girl-talk kind of mother-daughter relationship, and Lucy didn’t plan on starting tonight.
Her mom’s gaze hooked on the stone. “Lovely. Let me.”
Lucy handed her the necklace and she held it up to the light. The tourmaline swayed as it dangled.
A quizzical look appeared on her mom’s face as she draped it around Lucy’s neck. “Is this new?” she asked.
The tourmaline fit exactly in the hollow of Lucy’s throat. Her heart instantly resumed a more regular cadence. It occurred to her that she, like Ravi, now had a dark star of her own. If she decided to join the Order of Archimedes, would Lucy get an identical tattoo? She didn’t want to think about how she would explain getting inked to her parents.
Lucy smiled up at her mom. “Claudia made it for me.” Not a totally untrue statement. And she had done an amazing job with the setting. Metallic slivers burst outward from the stone like rays of sunlight. It gleamed as brightly as if it were genuine silver. Leave it to her bestie to come up with something so original in no time.
Her mom pressed her cheek to Lucy’s, always so smooth.
“It suits you.”
Slam! A sudden noise jolted them apart.
“Elaine? Lucy?”
Her father’s deep baritone bellowed from downstairs. Lucy scurried toward it like a little girl, pausing on the landing.
“Dad!” She couldn’t help being excited to see him. Despite all her questions, she’d missed him.
He dropped his suitcases by the front door and stared at her with a bewildered smile on his face.
“When did you get so grown up?” her dad said. This was the dad who shared Einstein Time with Lucy. The dad she adored. Seeing him again, a surge of protectiveness rose up in her. After what had happened to Ravi’s parents, Lucy was inclined to heed his warnings. She would have to keep her own counsel for a little while longer.
“Come here!” Her dad waved in a beckoning motion. “Let me get a better look at you.”
She raced down the stairs, her mother gliding after her.
“Beautiful,” he said. Glancing from Lucy to her mom, her dad sighed. If Lucy wasn’t mistaken, he had a few more gray hairs than when he’d left.
“My two favorite girls.” He kissed her mother’s temple as she hugged him.
“Welcome home, Victor,” she told him, her shoulders sagging. Lucy’s mom never seemed like she needed anyone’s support, but something had changed in the past few weeks. It was probably the separation.
“I’m glad to be home,” he murmured, and kissed her again.
Lucy had acquired her aversion to PDA from her parents. Seeing them so wrapped up in each other was just plain weird. Weirder than having telekinetic powers.
“What are you doing back?” Lucy teased.
“I live here, don’t I?” Her dad waggled his eyebrows as he stepped back from her mom, still holding firm to her waist. “And I couldn’t miss such a momentous occasion.”
“I’m not sure prom qualifies as momentous.”
“In that case, you won’t mind staying home tonight.”
“Dad.”
He pulled a Who me? face. “Well, you and Cole be sure to remember your curfew.”
I will. But Claudia’s my date. She and her girlfriend will be here soon. I’m the third wheel.”
“A lot has changed while I’ve been away,” he commented.
Like you wouldn’t believe.
He shrugged off his trench coat to reveal a business suit. He
must have jumped straight on the plane from a meeting.
“Did you wrangle that difficult investor?” Lucy asked. “You must know Tokyo like the back of your hand by now.”
Her parents shared a look.
“Still in the process of wrangling,” he answered, jaw not entirely relaxed. “But I didn’t want to stay away any longer. I’ve missed too much already.”
Her mom rubbed his shoulder in a placating way, taking the coat from him.
“You’ll prevail in the end.”
“I’d better.” There was a strange longing in his words. Lucy had never known her dad to get so worked up about a deal. Shifting his attention back to her, he said, “How were your finals?”
Her lips curved in a meager smile. “Um, fine. I think.” She still didn’t know what she was going to tell Principal Petersen.
“Don’t be so modest.” He squeezed Lucy’s shoulder and she braced herself. Nothing. If she wanted to, she could break through his shield, although it would most likely give her a nosebleed, and that would spoil her outfit. She couldn’t risk Claudia’s wrath.
Her dad scrutinized her once more, lips tensing slightly. “New necklace?”
Guilt pressed on Lucy’s chest. “Claudia’s handiwork, Victor,” her mom informed him.
A sidelong glance. “She’s talented.”
Just then, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Lucy exclaimed in relief.
Principal Petersen and murderous alchemists were problems for another day.
Tonight was prom.
UNDER MY SKIN
Lucy sipped her white lightning from the DJ booth. Her heart had thundered for a few beats as Claudia ladled it from the punch bowl before explaining “white lightning” was Prohibition slang for bootleg liquor. This concoction, conversely, was virgin sangria—mostly Sprite and orange slices. Not nearly potent enough to blind anyone.
She twiddled a dial on the lighting board as her classmates trickled into the gymnasium. The dance committee had all arrived early to make sure the lights on their reimagined Broadway never went dark. Lucy hadn’t escaped her house without a few obligatory pre-prom photos, however. She didn’t really mind. A few years ago, Lucy wouldn’t have believed her parents would ever let her attend.