Georgia fluffed up her curls. “Well, I think poisoning them is the easiest.” She crossed her arms over her chest, adamant that this was the solution.
I couldn’t get over her stupidity, or her neon-green fish scale leggings and purple sweatshirt emblazoned with the words ‘bass ass chick’. “Yeah. Poisoning. Cool, Georgia. ‘Cause everyone in that dismal place deserves to die? C’mon, Blondie, be smarter than that. We don’t want to murder innocent people—Henry has already got that covered.”
Georgia shivered and pulled her knees to her chest, the firelight glinted off the leggings making them look even more… well, wrong. Worse yet, for some reason I wanted lime Jell-O, and that was super disturbing.
“I mean, c’mon people,” I continued, “we aren’t going to get Luke and Oliver out of there by dressing up like Batman or—” I dared a glance at Georgia’s pants. “Aqua girl? Or, suddenly developing mad helicopter driving skills. All we truly have is our smarts. Can’t we use them for a second?”
“I’m up for that,” Thomas said, oddly agreeing with me.
“Good. Well, all I know is this—when I had problems with the gophers, I shot ‘em. When I had problems with the rats in the barn, I trapped and caught ‘em. In this case, I think Henry is so far underground there’s no chance of shooting him, so he’s more of the rat type. Now, what do you use to lure a rat? What sort of dangling carrot would be irresistible? Butter covered? Steamed? Fresh outta the dirt? Made into cake with frosting?”
Man, I really needed to eat something.
“Dripping in gold and diamonds,” Kaya said. Her eyes, shadowed with bruises from lack of sleep and worry, sparkled with an idea. “We could create an even bigger distraction than Oliver did, without blowing things up. We can put Henry in a situation where he must be on his best behavior, while we sneak in under the cover of a huge event. Like Luke did on my eighteenth birthday.”
Thomas’s teeth clenched at the mention of his nemesis. I detected a tinge of green in his cheeks, too.
“Maybe I’ll throw a party and invite the whole town,” Kaya said, face lighting up.
Georgia shook her head. “Oh, no. There’s not much room here, and we don’t have many dishes.”
“No, Georgia, not here,” Kaya said softly. “The estate. My house.”
Blonde curls and a whirl of green bounced upward, startling the dog. “Oh, a Christmas party! I love Christmas! Candy canes and Bing Crosby. Presents and Santa—”
“No!” Kaya and I both shrieked in unison.
Georgia deflated like a popped balloon. “Well, it’s too soon for Easter, and Valentine’s day is kinda lame. So whadya suggest?”
“A winter masquerade ball,” Kaya said. “We can blanket the town with invitations and make sure all the ‘important’ people get one. When half the town descends upon the estate in disguises, we can easily slip in amongst them.”
“Sounds good, but assuming we find Luke and Oliver, we won’t be able to waltz them out the front door. Henry will have some sort of system, arm bands or stamps like they do in bars. Two unmarked men leaving would be obvious. So, how would we sneak them out?”
“On my eighteenth, Luke got out through a door in the stone wall at the edge of the terrace garden, which is right outside the biggest ballroom. If we can get gear up there, once they are through the door, they can rappel down. I just have to have someone in the security room turn off the alarm.”
“I have an insider who might do it,” Dan said. “Arnold owes me a huge favor and a few thousand bucks. He also cheats on his wife, so if he ain’t cooperative, blackmail will work.”
“And I have dresses,” Georgia said eagerly. “We can do our hair and—”
I had to cut her off. “You really think Henry would go along with this?” I asked Kaya.
She smiled. It was the first one I’d seen on her face yet. “He will if he knows I’ll be there.”
I raised my cup of hot cocoa to her. “You, my dear, are the carrot he cannot resist. Let’s just make sure we dangle you well out of his reach.”
Thomas didn’t raise his glass. “This isn’t a good idea.” He was wringing his hands nervously. “It’s not safe to let Kaya anywhere near there. Besides, how will Luke and Oliver know what to do? We don’t even know if they are alive.”
Kaya gasped, and her eyes grew wide as open barn doors. She drew in a few long, deep breaths to steady herself. “Somebody on the inside is helping them. It would be impossible to hide for this long without assistance. If they were dead Henry would be flaunting that in my face. Besides, Stephan is still in there, too. If I can contact him, he will help me. I have to believe that this will work, Thomas. I have to… or I… I don’t know what… I-I…”
Kaya was on the verge of tears. Thomas quickly changed his tune.
“Yes. You’re right. Of course this will work,” he said, affection oozing from his voice, hand covering hers. “We’ll find… uh, them.”
Dan piped up. “At least what we gots on our side is the fact that not everybody likes your daddy. I think once we get the ball rollin’, we’ll have more help than we need.”
Everyone nodded. Then there was silence for the first time in hours. It was blissful.
Until Georgia ruined it with her whiny voice.
“Tell me, Kaya, why is Henry the way he is? What made him so evil?”
Kaya was caught off guard. “Money? I guess. I dunno.”
Dan spoke from the kitchen with a mouthful of chips. “Henry was always a jerk. Even in high school. He was just born that way.”
Kaya straightened up. “You knew my—er, Henry, in high school?”
Dan poured the crumbs from the bottom of the bag into his mouth. “Well, before that actually. For two years we went to the same grade school. He was scrawny and poor lookin’ and got teased all the time until he hit a growth spurt and packed on height and muscle. His favorite thing to say was ‘I’ll own this town someday. Hell, I’ll own you, too.’ I dunno how many times he said that to me. In grade nine, he was the biggest kid in class, and nobody messed with him no more. What I remember most about Henry back then were his eyes. Not so much ‘cause of that crazy green color like yours, Miss Kaya, or the dark circles underneath ‘em from working every odd job he could find, but the darkness in ‘em. They were clouded with… oh, I dunno… hate? The classroom would always go silent when he entered—which was exactly sixty seconds after the bell. He put people on edge. Made ‘em nervous. Even teachers. I remember Mrs. Stewart running out in tears after he ‘schooled’ her on something of some sort. He became a real bully in high school after that. Not the ‘beat you up’ kind, but the ‘mess with your head’ kind. The heads and jocks worked for him, selling cigarettes and weed because Henry was the kind of guy who could bribe you into doing things ya didn’t want to do by getting your brains so twisted up you thought you was happy to be doin’ it.”
Whoa. I didn’t think Dan was capable of stringing more than two sentences together, but there it was. He grew quiet for a moment, no doubt remembering something he did for Henry that was unsavory judging by his scrunched eyebrows and twitching lip.
“We were in the same math class for a semester,” he continued, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. “He knew numbers and calculatin’ better than anyone and could make even the fiercest teacher cry by wit alone. I asked him for help once, but figured out that it wasn’t a good idea to ask Henry for anything. You’d pay for it ten times over. Heck, if ya even peeked at him outta the corner of yer eye, he’d throw a book at yer head and charge ya ten bucks for lookin’. And if ya noticed Lenore… oh boy.”
Kaya was on the edge of the couch now. “My… uh… Lenore? The woman who raised me?”
“Yep. Pretty little red head. When her family came to live here and took over the estate, Henry was like a dog on a bone the moment he saw her. I don’t think she ever really wanted anything to do with him to be honest; he was poor, had no family. Lenore’s daddy certainly didn’t approve of him. He was
in an uproar when they started datin’. Oh boy, I remember that well. Lenore’s daddy coming to the school and withdrawing her, making her get home schoolin’ instead. She was mad as a toothless beaver, screaming for the whole town to hear how she’d make her daddy pay for ‘ruining her life’.”
Kaya was blinking hard, taking it all in. “So she got engaged?”
Dan seemed incredibly pleased that he had information worth sharing. “Yup, probably for spite. I was workin’ at the estate when the news hit. I don’t know how Lenore managed to get her daddy to finally agree, but lo and behold, the mighty John Marchessa caved and put on the wedding event of the year. I ain’t never seen so many people in one place. I think all three estate ballrooms were full. I was in charge of driving Henry and Lenore to the falls outside of town for wedding photos, and it’s funny ‘cause neither of them even knew my name, even after all those years in school we’d spent together. I guess when you get yerself a bank account as big as yer head, the ‘little people’ become unrecognizable.”
“That still doesn’t explain why Henry is a psychopath,” Georgia said challengingly.
Kaya flinched. “Does it have to?”
I stepped in, needing to shut Georgia up for Kaya’s sake. “Maybe Henry is just the way he is, just ‘cause. Ya know? Some people are just bad. No rhyme or reason to it. No fault of anyone’s and no fixing them either. I mean, does it really matter why the dude sucks? Nah. Onward and upward. It is what it is, and exactly what that is don’t matter.”
With that Kaya stood, a strange expression on her face. ‘Thank you’ she mouthed to me as Dan started going on about high school football because apparently now that he’d decided to talk, he didn’t want to stop.
Lost in thought, Kaya made for the front door and Thomas went to follow her. I tugged on his sleeve, encouraging him to leave her alone, and she walked silently out into the night with her coat in her hands. Thomas crumpled to the couch and wouldn’t meet my eyes. I was going to have to have a sit-down with him, see what I could do to help the boy out. In the past when he had girl problems, his heartache—if that’s even what it was—only ever lasted a few hours. He would move on, get another girlfriend, and that was that. But this was different. Thomas had fallen for someone, and despite his charming and stunning self, he was not going to get the girl.
“So. Invitations,” Georgia said, gleefully clapping her hands together and looking at me like I’d just been elected head of the party planning committee. “Gold or black? I think black. Maybe just a touch of red because it is close to Christmas and all. Crisp white font… it’s super classy. Ooh, and masks! We can make some matching ones, I have feathers. And I told you I have dresses, right? What’s your size? We can fix them up, add some sparkle and sequins…”
I put my hands over my ears. Shoot me now.
The maid arrived earlier than normal, not only leaving breakfast in the fridge, but two neatly folded black suits with shoes, masks, an invitation to a masquerade ball, and a note:
Go where two were brought together by fate,
At exactly tea time don’t be late,
To get there, rock and roll the gates.
P.S. And most importantly, don’t drink all my scotch, buttheads.
“Stephan.” I felt a rush of relief that he was alive.
Luke was reading over my shoulder. “Where two were brought together by fate… I would assume that means in the garden where I met Kaya. That door hidden in the stone wall is how I got out before.”
It annoyed me to no end that he was probably right.
“She’s gotta be the one behind this event. Using it as a cover. Stephan wouldn’t have known about how I escaped unless she told him,” he added.
We both contemplated that a moment. Kaya was planning to rescue us; a chill rushed through me.
Luke paled. “I hope she doesn’t do something—”
“Stupid.” I finished for him.
Luke gulped hard. “Ya.”
Silence.
He re-read the note. “So what would tea time be?”
“Seven minutes after seven. For months, Kaya made tea at exactly that time. It became a joke.” My thoughts drifted back to one of those evenings. The fire burning, the warmth in the room a big blanket of comfort as Kaya sat curled up in her favorite chair.
“Calling Oliver, come back to earth there, buddy,” Luke said, giving my shoulders a shake.
I suppressed a cough that was tickling my voice and swallowed back that metallic taste on my tongue. “Rock and roll at the gates. What could that mean? Oh, of course.”
Luke tipped his head expectantly. “Care to share?”
“I’m to use Davis’s code, taken from his favorite song—The Number of the Beast.”
“Ah. Iron Maiden. The boy has good taste.” Luke was fumbling through the cup of pens on the piano, smiling to himself. “I guess we will be rappelling our way to escape after all. It’s pretty steep on the other side of that door, think you can handle it?”
I couldn’t tell if the sudden tightness in my chest was from my lungs acting up or this new fear of heights that had come at me from out of nowhere. I ignored the concern on Luke’s face. “I’m cool with it,” I lied. “Really.”
His blue eyes met mine and held. There was something that made them impossible to stare at, yet impossible to look away from.
“Oliver, of this I can promise you,” he said, intensely serious. “I won’t let you fall.”
He meant it. The words let go of the air in my chest because I knew this man I could now call friend had my back. Quite ridiculously, it kinda choked me up. “Thanks, Golden Boy,” I sputtered.
Luke grinned again. He had a pair of scissors in his hand and was heading for the bathroom. “You won’t be calling me that much longer,” he said.
“And why is that?”
I could hear the scissors, metal against metal, furiously snapping back and forth. When Luke emerged from the bathroom, his hair resembled that of a Muppet caught in a blender, and I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe.
“Whadya think?” he was grinning too, not even remotely bothered by my index finger pointing at his head and the tears rolling from my eyes. He’d just chopped it off in chunks and strands stuck up all over the place.
“Well, you’re right, I can’t call ya Golden Boy anymore,” I said when I regained control. “Nor can I call you skilled with scissors either. I hate to say it, but you even took it past being ‘artsy’. Did you even look in the mirror?”
He shook his head and honey-hued hairs drifted off him. “I figured I’d blend in better like this.”“Blend in? More like stand out like a sore thumb.” Even more than he already did just by being… him. “I’ll get Stephan’s clippers and try to fix that mess.”
I didn’t want to shave Luke’s head to the scalp, so I put on a number three clip and got it nice and short all over without leaving him bald. A jealous part of me half hoped his good looks would fall to the floor with his hair, but nope. The angles of his face were more prominent, the blue of his eyes more startling. He simply appeared more rugged. More mature. I wanted to hate him.
He rubbed his head. “Feels weird. But I like it. Thanks, man.”
I laughed and coughed at the same time, getting a mouthful of that hard-to-swallow taste.
“Ah crap, Oliver. You’re not getting better, are ya?” Luke asked.
I had to be on my game tonight. So did Luke. So I continued with the lie I’d been feeding him. “I’m fine. Like I told ya, it’s getting better every day.” I fought an insane tickle as I said it.
Luke’s hand came down on my shoulder. “We’re getting out of here,” he said reassuringly. “We’re going to find you a doctor and get you all fixed up. All right?”
I nodded, reeling slightly from the cough, but mostly from the depth of this friendship. “You really mean it, don’t ya? You won’t let me fall.”
His gaze held mine, and I was staring at the sun. “Nope.”
I put out
my hand, shaking his firmly. “Back atcha.”
We crept out into the carpeted hall.
Davis’s code worked at the first gate and the second, and once we were through the third, we started to hear the hum of many voices. We moved into the belly of the beast and met unexpected groups of guests. Some were just lost, but most were sneaking around, eager to check out the famed Bow Springs Estate. We donned our masks and wandered with them, breezing past the guards hovering in every corner. We ogled the art on the walls, took a moment in the observatory hall, then breezed along behind a group of giggling girls until we were in the main lobby. It was easy. Too easy.
Streams of people were coming in through the main entrance, milling about, waving their invitations like they’d been handed a golden ticket on American Idol. The only people unmasked were the guards and waitstaff, which made the guests a mass of black and white faces, one completely indiscernible from the next.
The Empress Ballroom was buzzing. Hundreds of voices rose in pitch over melodies plucked by violinists. Gleaming in the low light of the chandeliers, white and black flowers strung together with gold threads hung from the ceiling, draped the walls and adorned the pillars and windows. Henry had outdone himself on the décor. Amidst the guests were countless tables overflowing with food, making my mouth water madly. I didn’t have to fake my sudden interest in getting to the closest one.
“Cake,” I said, moving deeper into the room with Luke following. I was trying not to cough or let my eyes dash around madly. Kaya was here somewhere. I could feel it. Acting casual was almost impossible.
“Hey,” Luke grabbed me by the forearm, pulling me aside to let people behind us pass. “What if we get separated?” he whispered.
One of the guards, a man I most certainly recognized, glanced our way. But only briefly. “Then we meet at the chocolate fountain.”
“No, seriously. If something happens, if things go… wrong.”
I considered this. We had no phones. No addresses. No… nothing. “There’s a place I went once when I was young. It’s always in my dreams, but in a good way.” I remember the faces of my family in this dream. It was the last holiday we took together. “Vancouver, at the end of Davie Street, go to the shores of English Bay and watch the ships on the horizon at twilight. We will find each other there eventually—I hope—and one of us better not be empty handed, if you know what I mean.”
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