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Why wait until Thursday?
Maybe most people couldn’t get on Midnight Island without the Tremblays’ permission.
But I wasn’t most people.
* * *
Shortly before dusk, I rode the Honda up the road that intersected the causeway. I pulled a glamour over myself and drove slowly past the entrance, studying it from the corner of my eye.
A solid, silver-reinforced wood gate topped with razor-sharp spikes kept out intruders. A sign warned that the gate was electrified to a voltage that would knock out even a dhampir.
Behind the gate was a second electrified gate, and beyond that a guardhouse with at least one guard. Security cams bristled from tall poles on either side of the guardhouse.
They wouldn’t pick me up in the shadows; vampires still hadn’t figured out how to detect movement in the other dimension. But on the other hand, while I was in the shadows, I couldn’t pass through a solid object like a wooden gate.
I circled back and parked the bike a half-mile down the road, then slipped into the shadows and jogged back to the causeway. On either side was a sheer drop to the river with more silver laced into the concrete supports. A small, dimly lit yacht motored beneath, heading home for the night.
I hunkered down near the outer gate, considering my options. The only way inside was to wait for the gates to open and enter through the shadows. But remaining in the shadows too long exacted its own cost—I was burning through my magic at a rapid rate. Plus, stay in this dimension too long, and I’d become disoriented and pass out—and return to the physical world.
Even as I thought it, a wave of dizziness rolled over me.
Think.
With this level of security, they wouldn’t expect an intruder to come through the front gate. That was a weakness I could exploit—but how?
A black SUV exited the island and headed down the causeway.
My heart kicked into gear. I watched intently as the inner gate slid open. The SUV drove through and paused between the two gates while the first gate closed.
Smart. Anyone attempting to slip through while a vehicle entered or exited would be trapped between the gates.
The outer gate opened. The SUV crawled forward.
And I saw my chance.
I shot through the outer gate, leapt onto the SUV’s roof, and used my momentum to catapult myself over the inner gate. I came within a hair of touching the top and frying myself, but I twisted my body in time to clear it and landed on the other side. I took off up the causeway.
On the other side of the river was a narrow gravel road that disappeared into the island’s thick, old-growth forest. A half mile away, the chateau’s rooftop was visible through the treetops.
First things first. I had to get out of the shadow dimension for a few minutes at least.
I raced up the gravel road until I was deep in the forest, then swerved into the trees—and back into the physical world. The forest swooped dizzily around me. I took a few deep breaths, waiting for my head to clear before threading my way through the towering maples and oaks.
A quarter mile in, I came upon a path of black pebbles that led up to the chateau.
My skin tingled. I was one of the Syndicate’s best trackers, even if my father seemed to think all I had going for me was charm and a pretty face.
Sometimes I just knew something, and right now IknewZoe was nearby.
The trees thinned. Another few yards and I stood at the edge of a large night garden. Creamy flowers glowed in the gathering dusk. The sweet smell of honeysuckle and roses mixed with the forest’s earthy scent.
Crouched on a small hill above the garden was the Tremblay Chateau, a gray gargoyle of a building with thick medieval walls and narrow window slits. A three-story turret with a clock tower at its apex marked the entrance, with a matching turret at the back. On the black slate roof, a flock of turkey vultures perched, backs hunched, like beady-eyed familiars.
On the third floor of the back turret, a woman appeared in the center window. I hurriedly backpedaled into the trees.
Zoe Tremblay, in a dress as pale as the garden’s flowers.
I knew even before the setting sun touched her face with gold.
