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It was a still frame of a video.
And not just any video. It was my video. Or rather Mayor Isaacs's and Senator Carter's. The one I'd stolen.
My heart skipped as Carter and Isaacs appeared on the screen. It had been edited and zoomed in so that Helen was cut out of it.
The two men filled the screen. Carter leaned over and used a credit card to chop up a few lines of cocaine.
There were gasps in the room. Reporters shifted from side to side and whispers soared across the museum, catching fire like sparks on dried brush. Cameras started flashing. To the side of the podium, Carter lunged for Jessie, grabbing him by the wrist.
Rachel lifted a hand to her mouth, her jaw dropping.
Jessie raised his hands. "Can someone turn this off?"
His people darted around him, trying to find the remote.
And then I glanced down and saw something silver and slick in Lucas's hand. Lucas was holding the projector’s remote. Suddenly, his thumb pressed down, and the video started playing.
Senator Carter's voice echoed from a speaker in the ceiling, so loud that it filled the entire room, blurring out the whispers.
"So we're good with everything," Carter said on the tape. "My guy said he'll make it work."
Jessie Isaacs glanced behind him. "Honey, can you get me another drink?"
"Sure, baby." Helen's voice came from the side of the screen, and I realized she'd changed the way she spoke. Her voice was unrecognizable, and with her face cut off, it was impossible to tell who she was.
But that didn't make a difference. It was too late. To the right of the podium, Mrs. Isaacs gasped, her face flushing red as she raised her hands to her lips.
Beside her, Jessie froze, because, like me, he knew this wasn't even the worst part of the video.
On the projection, Jessie turned to Carter. He rubbed white spots of cocaine off his nose and widened his eyes as he addressed Carter. "It's the same guys who helped you?"
"Yep," Carter nodded. "And they're subtle about it. But it's a guarantee. Votes will be added and deducted where they need to be."
A wave of gasps swept across the room. Carter addressed the reporters. "This is a joke! I was joking!"
His other self, the one on the video, continued speaking to Jessie. "You'll be the next elect, and then in one year time, you'll be walking into the White House."
On the screen, Jessie grinned. "Perfect."
Lucas slipped his hand—with the remote—back in his pocket, and the video ended, the projector switching back to black.
"What the fuck?"
No one heard the gasp of my curse because my words were vacuumed away by the chaos that suddenly broke loose.
The reporters’ questions turned into shouts aimed directly at Carter and Isaacs. I caught only a few of their words:prostitutes, drugs, voter fraud.The flash of camera bulbs exploded in the gallery.
Before I even had a chance to process what was happening, the crowd behind us surged forward, and it hit me. Claire still hadn't come back, but as the crowd collided around us, now I couldn't even see the bar. Squeezing Lucas's hand, I tugged his arm. "Lucas. Claire, where's Claire?"
His breath hitched in this throat, and he spun around, searching over the crowd of reporters as they tried to force their way forward.
"Mom! Dad!"
"Claire!"
Lucas was taller than me, and I saw the moment he spotted her, his eyes blowing open. He released my hand and dove into the crowd. But being shorter and smaller, I was immediately sucked into the chaos. Sandals had been a terrible idea.
More than one set of heels and dress shoes stomped down onto my feet, and I struggled to get away from the stampede, but it was impossible. This space had looked so large only a minute ago, but now I couldn't even see the stairs.
