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“Don’t their parents mind?”
“Nah, believe it or not teenage girls are always in each other’s houses. It’s totally normal. Not everyone was bestfriends with a bunch of boys like you.”
“Okay, well good. As long as they don’t start sniffing about. The last thing we need is social services asking questions.”
“Chill, okay? It’s all good. I’m gonna stay at Laura’s for a couple of nights anyhow. I’m meeting her today.” She gives me a smile then looks at her watch, wincing.
“What?”
“I gotta go…”
“Go where?”
“I told you, to Laura’s house,” Lena says slowly. “Me and the girls are doing this TikTok thing… We’ve got this whole new idea we think will get us a load of followers. I said I’d hang with them.” She screws up her nose, looking two parts cute and one part guilty.
“So long as this new idea doesn’t involve anything illegal,” I warn, giving her my best big-sister glare.
“No, I swear. It’s all good fun. Promise.”
“Fine! Go, be with your friends. Havefun, don’t get into trouble, and ring me later, ‘kay?”
She grins. “Are you sure? I could arrange to meet them in another hour or so?”
“Nah. It’s all good. I’ve got to choreograph a new routine anyway. It’s no biggie. Come on, let’s hug it out. I’ll walk you to the bus stop.”
* * *
A few hours later,I’m just putting the finishing touches on my choreography that I’ve been working on for my first performance at Grim’s club when my phone starts ringing. With sweat dripping down my spine, I pick it up.
It’s my brother.
Fuck.
Bile rises in my throat, but I swallow it down. I need to remain calm.
“David.”
“Hey,Sis, it’s so good to hear from you… Oh, wait. You’ve not bothered to call me at all. What the fuck’s up with that?”
“I’ve been busy doing what you asked,” I reply, holding my voice steady even when I’m fucking trembling.
“Is that so? Want to tell me what you’ve found out?”
Curling my fingers into my palm enough that my nails dig into my skin, I take a deep breath. The only thing I can tell him is what I overheard between Madame Tuillard and D-Neath. It’s not much, but at least I’m not betraying the Breakers. “D-Neath wants to use the Academy for something nefarious. I haven’t been able to find out exactly what just yet, but Madame Tuillard isn’t happy about it. In fact she refused—”
“And?” he demands, his voice cool.
“And that’s it. That’s all I have.”
“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, PENELOPE!” he roars into the phone so loud that I have to pull it away from my ear. Anger like this would’ve earned me a punch to the face. Thank God he’s still living on the other side of the world.
“I’m trying, okay?” I plead.
“Not fucking hard enough!”
“D-Neath just got out of prison after a stint inside for drug racketeering. I think maybe he’s taken up that line of work again.”
“No fucking shit, Sherlock,” David says with a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Listen very carefully, I want to know what the fuck he’s up to, and I want to know if the Breakers and Jeb are in on it. Which, given the fact they’re conveniently at the Academy, is a no fucking brainer.”
