Page 88 of Heart of Thieves

“Okay, so if not a stove, maybe a broiler?” Arden puts in.

“Let’s check for one downstairs.” Lola shoves the books back onto the shelf and leads the way through the dark, occasionally passing other players. “I saw something weird over here earlier. Might be worth checking out.”

I glimpse a fireplace as soon as we come around the corner, stopping short. “That’s new.”

“What?” Soren looks around. “The fireplace?”

“Yes.” I scurry over to it, running my hands along the ebony mantel-piece as adrenaline sings like electricity through me.

“The rest of the architecture in here is granite,” Jade points out. “This almost looks like . . .”

“Like darkness made solid,” Lola supplies as I push on a few of the stones before finally ducking my head inside the fireplace. A small orb made of what looks to be glass protrudes from the shadows.

“There’s a doorknob in here,” I say.

“Open it!” Lola squeaks.

I grasp it and twist, and a whoosh of cool air billows across my face. I crouch through the doorway and end up outside in the golden dawn. A few other players mill nearby, chatting excitedly among themselves.

“Where’s the clue for the next enclosure’s location?” I ask as the others join me, my fatigue replaced entirely by panicked excitement as I bounce on the balls of my feet.

Arden points toward an odd shadow on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk ahead. “What do you think that is?”

I follow the gesture. “There shouldn’t be a shadow there, not with the light so low still.” I grab Lola’s hand and pull her toward it, excitement thrumming in our pulse.

As soon as we step into the shade, crackling smoke like the ribbons that twined around Nocturne’s body earlier tonight twists out of the concrete. My breath catches as it knots into letters spelling out the words of our next clue:

Stories on display.

Disguises in decay.

Velvet giving way.

Ballet or cabaret?

“Maybe it’s a bookstore,” I suggest as soon as it dissipates, thoughts whirring. “There’s that one downtown . . . You remember it, right? Where the workers dress up like literary characters. That could match the ‘stories on display, disguises in decay’ part.”

Isla stifles a yawn as we trudge across campus. It’ll be quite the walk to the Brig, especially now that the sun has officially climbed its way over the horizon and the streets are teeming with motorcars shuttling people to work.

“But those costumes aren’t decaying . . . ,” Jade says. “And what about the velvet thing?”

“There’s a velvet chair in there!” I point out. “I’ve almost stolen it at least four times. It would go perfectly with the decor in the Brig.”

“Is it old?” Lola asks as Arden hails a cab.

“Maybe?”

“The clue said ‘velvet giving way,’” she says.

“That could be a metaphor.”

“Ballet and cabaret?” Soren says.

I throw up my hands. “There are probably books that have to do with those subjects . . .”

“Seems a bit of a stretch, Enz,” Isla says.

The excitement in my chest deflates. “Fine. Do you have any better ideas?”