“Eight left, plus the letters and numbers,” Gigi announced, placing thewebkey back down and rearranging the entire line. “A pair of cherries, an acorn, a mermaid, a dragon, a scorpion, an eagle, a harp… and a web.”
“Roger that.”
It took Gigi a second to recognize that voice as Oren’s and another to realize that the head of security wasn’t talking to her. He was talking to his earpiece.
“Alisa, we have company. At the gates.”
“And whoever they are,” Alisa inferred, “they’re a PR liability or you wouldn’t be consulting me.”
Gigi’s mind went first to Nora, then to Savannah, as Oren positioned himself between Knox and the door.
“I see,” Alisa said.
See what?It didn’t take Gigi long to connect the dots, to read intoboth Oren’s movement and Alisa’s reply. “It’s Brady, isn’t it?” Gigi said. That was why Oren hadn’t answered the question out loud, why he’d blockedKnox’spath. “He went to England with Rohan and Savannah. What’s he doing here?”
That question hung in the air for a second or two.
“Have Mr. Daniels brought onto the estate,” Alisa told Oren, “but make it look, for the paparazzi’s sake, like he’s being sent away.”
And just like that, Alisa and Oren were on the move—and so was Knox.
Gigihadto follow—back down five sets of stairs and through multiple corridors and out onto the estate. Unlike Nora, Brady apparently wasn’t being allowed anywhere near the House.
Cardio, my old nemesis, we meet again.Sunset had come and gone, the day lost to whiteboards and puzzling and herding metaphorical cats. The Texas twilight was on its last legs before true nightfall, and it wasn’t until Gigi paused for a breath-and-a-half that she realized:
“I know you’re back there.” This time, shedidknow. She could feel him. “You really should be going easy on the cardio, given the gaping bullet wound in your abs.”
“It’s anickin myside, and you’re obviously still holding a grudge about it.”
“Agrudge?”
“I thought you believed in rehabilitation.” Slate pulled even with Gigi and had the absolute temerity not to be winded in the least.
“Tell you what,” Gigi replied, as she realized exactly where Oren, Alisa, and Knox were headed. “When we get Eve back, I’llrehabilitateher myself.”
Even from a distance, Gigi could tell that the hedge maze was lit. It glowed against the not-quite-blackness of the early evening sky. By the time Gigi and Slate made it to the entrance, Oren had already disappeared inside. The rest of them weren’t allowed in until Alisa got a text from Oren, at which point, Alisa navigated through the maze at a speed that reminded Gigi that Alisa had practically grown up on the estate, alongside Nash.
As Knox had said, Avery’s lawyer and the Hawthorne family went way back.
At the center of the maze, Oren blocked the way to a small clearing. “He’s clean,” Oren told Alisa. “No bugs. No weapons. Doesn’t even have a cell phone on him. Heart rate is within expected range.”
“Do I even want to know how you know my heart rate?” Brady called.
Knox pushed past Alisa, then Oren, who allowed it.
They want to see how this plays out, Gigi realized. She tried to wriggle her way around Alisa and Oren, too, but settled for obtaining a mostly unobstructed view. Brady’s head was bowed. Knox stopped maybe three feet away from him.
Brady spoke first. “Calla.” That was all he said for a second or two, just the name. “Calla failed. All my sponsor would tell me is that Callafailed.”
Gigi’s stomach twisted.Helena was right—about the necklace.Some years, all three Candidates survived the Crucible. And some years, they didn’t.
“I’m sorry,” Knox said quietly.
“No.”Brady had clearly still been holding out some hope that failure didn’t mean… that.
“Helena said the same,” Knox told him. “She’s gone, Brady. Calla’s gone.”
“I don’t care about Helena Thorp.”
