TWENTY-TWOLo
Now it was just the three of them.Lo couldn’t let herself think.Not fully.She couldn’t give herself time to regret punishing Mayté.Nothing mattered.Not until she destroyed the house.“Show me, how did the Banker and Misterioso come to be in their positions?”This time her command wasn’t directed at a living person, but the house itself.
A mirrored wall changed, the reflection shifting to the Banker standing in front of a pool.The same one she’d washed in.He looked different.His long black hair hung freely, and his dark suit was much less flashy than what he wore to the games, but the most striking part was his face.Dark circles hung under his eyes and his expression held a sense of devastation.
He stepped into the water, clothes and all.When he emerged, he looked sure and refreshed.The familiar smirk played on his lips.
The reflection shifted again, revealing a man running through the house as it rumbled.Dozens of alebrijes, creatures of all shapes and sizes, pursued him.He ducked away as claws and tusks jutted out, trying to gut him.The floor beneath him opened, and he jumped.He landed in the pool room and for a moment was submerged in the waters.He emerged from them and frantically knocked over a table full of trinkets.A masklay among them.He snatched it and put it on, before turning back to face the alebrijes.One by one, they vanished.The man grinned, revealing deep-set dimples.Misterioso.
It all clicked together like beans being placed on a Lotería board.
She’d wanted to destroy the house—commanded it to show her how.
The house led her to the same pool.Which she had bathed in, and now she was powerful.Just as powerful, she sensed, as the two men before her.
She reached up and adjusted the crown on her head.No wonder they both seemed so skittish.
“Which one of you two is in charge?”she asked.
“Neither,” the Banker said.
Interesting.
“Very well.”She pointed to the Banker.“You will take me to the one in charge.”The elevator doors opened, but before Lo and the Banker could step out, Misterioso blocked the way.
“No!Enough!”He flinched as if the words themselves pained him.He was resisting her orders.Just barely, but it was still enough for him to corner her against the wall.
“Don’t touch me!”she snapped just as he reached for her.
His arms shook and he grunted, fighting against himself.
“Oh, Misterioso.”She stroked the side of his mask before sneering.“Don’t make me rip off your mask.We both know what happens if I do.”For some reason, the house had wanted him dead, yet now it couldn’t recognize him from behind the mask.
That was enough to get him to stumble back, hands up in surrender.
Lo hooked arms with the Banker.“Now, shall we?”
Silently, as if defeated, Banker led her into another elevator.They soon reached the familiar hallway with the red door at the end.It wasn’t a surprise that the main Gamemaker would reside on this mysterious floor.The Banker stared straight ahead, face full of concern.It was quite amusing to see him finally squirm.“Lorena, what have you done?”
“I made myself like you.”
The way he recoiled amused her.“What’s the matter?Don’t want to share the power of the house?”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.Why didn’t you come to my chambers like I asked?”He spoke almost frantically.
“Don’t worry.”She patted his arm, feeling him shiver.“I won’t hurt you as long as you do as I say.Tell me your name.”
His eyes widened.
She simply grinned at him.
When he had the upper hand, he’d held on to his name as if it were some kind of prize.Lo wanted it.“Tell me.”
He sighed.“Miguel.”
“Miguel,” she repeated in amusement.“Miguel Ángel?”The archangel’s name was incredibly popular in Milagro.
“Yes, but I’m no angel.I go only by Miguel now.”
