“When have I ever chained you to a Ferris wheel?” Arthur pulled uselessly at his cuffs again. “I followed your wishes, you know, and scattered what I thought were your ashes in the Thames near Gwen’s home.”
The Ferris wheel’s lights and bright full moon lit Ellis’s coat and hunting cap as he leaned against the closest beam. “Philippe’s not really in a place to care that his final resting place is England.”
“Is that where you’ve been this whole time?”
Ellis held up his left hand, where a gold ring glinted on the fourth finger. “Can’t exactly live here. Mixed marriages are still illegal back in Carolina. This country’s got the laws on love all wrong.”
Arthur gritted his teeth. This would be so much easier if he could just hate them both. “We found Gwen’s art shipment in a Chelsea gallery.”
Ellis shrugged. “She bought the lot at a London shop.”
“And the burn mark on the sculpture was your doing, I suppose, to throw us off your trail again?”
Ellis hesitated. “Of course,” he said, but it was too quick.
Before Arthur could follow up, Gwen’s voice broke in. “Ellis, darling, can you check on the sentry?”
With a nod, Ellis disappeared with a pop. Arthur knew better than to assume he’d go far.
Gwen approached across the platform, her flat shoes silent on the wood. “When will your paranormal arrive, do you think?”
“I’m hoping for never,” Arthur said truthfully. “I don’t understand why you need him—”
“Are you still handsome?”
Arthur stilled.
Gwen was staring at him, her gaze not quite on his face. “When I met you in Paris, I thought you were the most handsome man I’d ever seen,” she said as she came closer. “And now I see your aura.” She stopped less than a yard away. “And nothing else.”
She traced the air as her gaze flitted around his outline, never connecting with his eyes. “For two years my magic has suffocated me.”
“Then let me help you!” Arthur burst out. “There is no cause formurder—”
“All I see is a light turn off. And Baron Zeppler’s is long past due.” She looked out, past the Wonder Wheel, where the darkness hid Coney Island’s boardwalk and the beach. “Zeppler is on a ship that will dock in New York in the coming hours. What a perfect revenge it would be, if his blood could unlock the magic of the Argonaut Amulet and tame my aura-sight.”
Gwen leaned against the beam Ellis had used. “One cut with the Venom Dagger would be all we need to take down the baron. But it’s a terrible risk to Ellis. Baron Zeppler knows his face, can see Ellis when he’s invisible, and will hear his thoughts, hear him coming. So now that we know there’s another subordinate paranormal, we have a better plan.” Gwen leaned forward. “Use your paranormal to unlock the amulet.”
“You don’t know his magic,” said Arthur. “If you can’t unlock it with yours, why should he?”
“If not his magic, then maybe his death,” Gwen said, with a calm that raised chills on Arthur’s skin. “One way or another we will unlock the amulet and bind it to me, and then Baron Zeppler will die without ever coming near us.” She smiled. “Because the baron is on a ship—and the amulet will give me the tide to control.”
“No.” Arthur yanked at his cuffs. “No, Gwendoline—if you try to drown him, you could sink his entire ship—”
“Zeppler has not forgiven America for her part in Germany’s loss in the war. You do not want him in New York, Ace. Sinking one ship is far less than he would do if he got his hands on this amulet’s magic.”
“But the passengers—civilians, women and children, all innocents—”
“They have lifeboats.”
“His ship is nearly to New York! If you make a wave big enough to sink it—”
“It may cause a tsunami that hits Manhattan,” she finished for him. “It is a risk that I must take.”
“Gwen—”
Ellis popped back into view. “Sentry hears a big engine coming in, maybe a V8.” He smiled meanly. “I think your sweetheart’s got your car.”
Arthur’s blood ran cold, and colder still when Gwen smiled again.
