Tick. Tick. Tick.
Enne tried to steady herself. The Shadow Game had ended months ago, and no matter how much the sound of the timer still haunted her, what mattered was that she had destroyed it. She closed her eyes and pictured its clockwork exploding apart, the moment the ticking stopped, the way the gun felt in her hand.
Even so, she could still hear it. She didn’t know what it was counting down to. To the moment the gangsters shut down the casino? To the moment she broke Levi’s heart?
Or to when her own terrible plan succeeded?
The dread in her mouth tasted sharp and metallic.
“Enne,” Poppy said, waving a hand in front of her face. “You’re worrying me. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Then two girls entered the party. The first was dressed in a tux, cut formfitting and slender, her red hair curled and pinned to one side. The second wore a scandalously tight gown of black lace. When they both met Enne’s eyes, their shoulders sagged with relief, and they rushed over.
“Not awordwe’ve heard from you since last night,” Lola snapped, throwing her arms around Enne. “What’s going on? Are you hurt?”
“Nothing. I’m fine,” Enne assured them, the omerta drawing the lie from her lips.
“Oh, it’s been ages, hasn’t it?” Poppy said, extending her hand. Lola and Grace turned to her and blinked, as though they hadn’t realized she was there.
Rather than greeting her, they smiled faintly and pulled Enne aside.
“Every gangster in the North Side is out there waiting for our signal,” Lola hissed in her ear.
Behind them, Poppy frowned and disappeared back into the crowd. Enne tried not to feel guilty about ignoring her when she’d been trying to help.
“Have you spoken to Levi?” Enne asked.
“He’s been trying to find you. Worried himself sick over it,” Lola told her. “He’ll be here soon. He’s with Jac right now.”
Enne’s heart clenched in a sad sort of relief. Levi had been torn up for weeks after his fight with Jac, and he would need his best friend now. Whatever happened to Enne, whatever Vianca forced her to do to him, at least Jac would be there to pick up the pieces.
The thought of him needing to made her ill.
If only Enne could tell Lola to warn him. Because more than death or discovery, the one thing that could ruin her plan was to encounter him. Under no circumstances could she see Levi tonight.
Not even to say goodbye.
“We need to hurry,” Grace urged. “They’re all waiting for our signal.”
The girls slipped down a vacant hallway, one Enne had once used to go to her acrobatics rehearsals. Grace handed each of them sleeping darts, and the weapons felt steady in Enne’s hands. She took a deep breath—she’d trained for this. The others outside were depending on her—Leviwas depending on her—and so she would not fail.
They spotted a trio of whiteboots smoking cigars by the door.
“What are you doing here?” one of them said gruffly as the girls approached. He eyed Enne in confusion, then shook his head. “The party is behind you.”
Enne clutched Grace’s shoulders. “My friend doesn’t feel well and needs to lie down in her room. We were headed toward the elevators, but...” She flashed him a smile. “We’re a bit lost.”
One of the other whiteboots grinned and walked toward them. He steered them around, his arm on the small of Enne’s back. As he bent down to her level, she grimaced from the stench of his breath. “It’s that way,” he said, pointing. “Pass the next two turns, then make a right.”
Before he could turn back, Enne slammed the dart into his outstretched arm, and he crumpled to the floor.
The others reacted immediately, stepping back and reaching for their guns. But the girls moved faster. Quickly, the whiteboots fell in a heap at their high heels.
Grace crinkled her nose at the one with the bad breath.
“Not exactly up to Roy’s standards, are they?” Lola asked, smirking.
After helping Enne conceive her plans for the riot, Roy had become an honorary Spirit, as all the girls liked to say. All the girls except Grace, who still complained regularly about when Jonas could muddle his memories and get rid of him. A littletooregularly to be believed, in Enne’s opinion.
