“We’ll have to open one.”
Jude makes a noise.
A very frustrating noise.
I ignore it. “Rafe used the ruby to open a rift at the masquerade ball.”
“We don’t have the ruby,” Jude says.
He’s right.
We don’t.
The ruby is underneath St. Fortuna’s, locked inside a crypt with a mountain of evidence that would surely get Harper on our side, and possibly Kate, too.
Why, oh why, did I throw that key into the stupid well?
“There could be something about the hedge maze,” I continue, grasping for solutions. According to Megan Carlisle, they were in the hedge maze when the world went dark and sinister. According to Simon’s journal, he and my mom were in the hedge maze the first time they saw a rift.
“There’s really nothing there?” Twig asks.
“Just a dried-up fountain and a broken sun dial.” I shuffle forward, my chest tight. Surely, there must be a way. “Lainey opened a rift with those glowing dots on her wrist.”
Jude huffs. “Lainey isn’t here. Even if she was, I don’t think she’d let you borrow her wrist to open a rift.”
I round on him. “Do you have any ideas ofyour own? Or are you just set on objecting to all of mine?”
“I’m trying to be logical.”
“I don’t think logic is called for in this particular situation.”
And there is the rub.
Jude loves logic.
My attention wanders to Naomi, standing at the front of the line with her parents. She loves logic, too. Her entire cosmology has been built upon it. Now, that cosmology has been flipped on its head. Same with Jude’s.
My frustration softens.
He stands with one hand in his pocket, looking gorgeously tortured in a suit and tie. He has spent the last few days at a dying man’s bedside and he’s no stranger to funerals. He had to go to his father’s when he was nine. Not long ago, he buried his grandfather. By the sound of it, he’ll be burying his other one soon enough.
I’ve only ever been to one.
My grandparents died in a car accident. Despite my young age, I can remember the shock of it. The sadness. The frightening sound of Dad’s choked cry when his cousin reached the front of the receiving line and wrapped him in a hug.
Mom had been holding my hand.
I can still feel the softness of her palm as she pulled me close to her side and said, “It’s very hard, when you don’t have parents.”
I slip my hand into Jude’s and give it a squeeze.
He squeezes back.
The door opens behind us, letting in the November chill. Someone sweeps past wearing a black dress and a black dress coat. Jude’s grip tightens. He draws me back slightly, shifting forward so as to put himself between me and the newcomer.
When I see who it is, my jaw nearly hits the floor.
Lainey Sikes steps forward to wrap Kate Calloway in a hug. Kate responds stiffly, but Lainey doesn’t seem to notice. She turns to Harrison and gives him a hug, too.
