Map of Fates (25 page)

W
hen I got to the dining room, Elodie and Colette stood around the table, Elodie in her black dress and Colette in a gossamer white gown that looked like she was wearing the most glamorous bubbles I'd ever seen.

I kept my face down and fell into a chair. My whole body felt prickly, uncomfortable. My head wouldn't stop spinning.

I'd stopped by the bathroom on the way down and tried to comb some of the tangles out of my hair, but I knew I looked as undone as I felt. My eyes were bright, my cheeks breathlessly pink no matter how much water I splashed on them, my dress wrinkled and crushed.

Stellan looked just as obvious as I did. When he sat up straight, I saw that he'd buttoned his shirt crookedly. Colette caught me looking at him, and I saw her eyes flick over both of us. She leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and he hurriedly fixed his buttons, then stole a glance at me that I didn't return.

“Where's Jack?” Colette said.

I rubbed my face. I told them the shortened version, ending with the fact that I'd told him to get out, and it appeared that he had.

“Unfortunately, that's a small problem compared to what I just
learned,” Elodie said. “We were about to head out to the red-carpet event when we found out that there's been another attack. Something bigger this time. A bomb exploded at the Emir family's compound. It killed their younger son.”

“What the hell?” I pulled at a handful of my hair. “Why are they still doing this?”

“Terrorism,” Elodie said calmly. “It's exactly how Lydia explained it. The Circle will hail the Saxons as heroes when the mandate is fulfilled and the Order disappears. They're escalating the attacks to stack the final outcome.”

“The second we get my mom, we tell somebody,” I said. “We
have
to stop them.”

“Then we'd better hurry and find this bracelet. At this rate, they're going to kill half the Circle.” At the sound of Stellan's voice, a sense memory came on so strong, it nearly knocked me over. Head pleasantly warm, leaning over his lap to grab his drink. Almost falling off my bar stool, my hand pressed to his chest.

“I know.” I couldn't look at him. I told myself the renewed flush in my cheeks was just embarrassment at getting drunk and losing control, but the spark and sizzle in every bit of my skin that had touched his said something different.

Elodie stood up. “That brings us to tonight,” she said. “The bomb was the last straw. They're canceling the rest of the film festival for security concerns. The red carpet tonight is already in full swing, but it'll be the only event.”

“Which means,” I said, “tonight is our only chance to steal the bracelet.”

• • •

We were already late, so Stellan and I rushed to put on our formal attire. The plan had changed. Since we were now going to have
to sneak inside to get the bracelet, we'd need all the distraction we could get. Suddenly, me being recognized had gone from a potential disaster to a necessity. I'd draw the eyes of all the Circle members on the red carpet, plus any regular guests and security who had watched the news in the past couple days, and hopefully no one would notice Elodie creeping in a back door to trip the electricity and steal the bracelet herself. Stellan would be with me and Colette, making sure nobody actually tried to hurt me.

“I'll do it as quickly as I can,” Elodie was saying. She adjusted a strap on Colette's dress. “I don't want you out there for long. And when the lights come back on, you'll carry on like nothing has happened besides an alarming moment of old wiring plunging the party into a temporary and unremarkable darkness, then you'll say your good nights and get out before Avery actually gets arrested. And if you do get arrested . . . we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“That's fine,” I said. Colette nodded, too. Stellan was tying his bow tie in the mirror above the bar. When he noticed me watching over the top of the little mirror I was using to put on lipstick, his finger snagged on the end of his tie. Both ends flopped to his chest.

“Hopefully we'll be long gone before they know the bracelet is missing,” Elodie finished.

“It seems too . . . simple,” I thought out loud.

“The best plans are.” Elodie slipped into five-inch heels. “When you see a theft in the movies that revolves around bumping into just the right person at the exact right second to steal a key so someone can hang from the air-conditioning vent and unlock a padlock, you have to know it's unlikely to work. What happens if the guy with the key has bad prawns and spends the whole night in the bathroom and we can't find him?”

“All right,” I said. I put my own shoes on. I was wearing a dress of
Elodie's that hit me at midcalf, all intricate gold beadwork from the torso through the slim pencil skirt.

“In fact . . .” Elodie gestured with her red-orange lipstick at me, then at Stellan. “The most complicated part of this plan is that you two have to be a team. After what I saw earlier, I'm wondering if you can handle that.”

Colette's eyes got wide. Stellan started to defend us, but I got there first. “Drop it, Elodie. Yes. We've got it under control.”

She just shrugged.

“Okay. We're all set except—” I looked around automatically for Jack. The obvious hole in our crew lanced pain through my gut again. “We're all set. Let's do this.”

T
he red carpet had been going on for at least two hours by the time we got there. Our driver wound his way through the paparazzi, and there were so many flashbulbs popping ahead, they could have been strobe lights. Bleachers full of fans waving and yelling and wielding their own cameras lined the opposite side of the road. The red carpet began where we were getting out of the car, then flowed up a set of stairs, where a dozen people, most of whom I recognized, stood smiling and waving.

“That's the cast of Alejandro Ruiz's new movie,” Colette said, leaning past me to look out the window. “I was supposed to talk to him on the carpet. I almost forgot this is actual business.”

Elodie nodded. “Colette, you get out first, I'll come with you, and Avery, you get out a couple minutes later. Try to draw the whole crowd so nobody sees me sneak around back.”

“I know,” I said, peering out into the mass of people.

As soon as the car door opened, I was blinded by even more camera flashes. Colette, perfectly poised and practiced, smiled and waved and took the driver's hand to step out of the car. Elodie followed
and shut the door behind her, plunging Stellan and me back into darkness.

Colette turned into
Colette LeGrand, A-lister
immediately, posing and winking at cameras and giving cheek kisses to actors who, a few months ago, I would have freaked out about being this close to.

“People should notice me pretty quickly,” I said to Stellan. Since we
wanted
everyone to recognize me, I'd pinned my hair up, only pulling dark strands around my face. I'd also replaced my brown contacts with the clear ones. “But we should find someone in the Circle to talk to, anyway, and they'll make a big enough deal to draw even more of a crowd.”

Stellan looked out over my shoulder. “There,” he said, gesturing to a middle-aged couple talking with a group off to the side of the carpet. “Cousins of the Fredericks. She's a huge gossip.”

I nodded, and a silence more awkward than it usually was between us filled the car.

“Avery—” Stellan said. He was cut off by the door opening. We both jumped, and Elodie poked her head in.

“We have to go through metal detectors.” She pulled a gun out of her bag and dumped it on the seat, then turned to Stellan. “Maybe you should stay here, just in case we need the weapons.”

He shook his head. “I'm not leaving Avery and Colette alone out there.”

Elodie pursed her lips and looked over her shoulder. “I don't like this,” she said, but slammed the door and hurried back to Colette.

Stellan removed his own gun from his tuxedo jacket and set it next to Elodie's. “They'll be here in the car if we need them,” he said, like he was trying to convince himself, and then we were quiet for a few seconds until he took an anticipatory breath.

I spoke before he could say anything. “It's okay. You really don't have to explain.” My breath fogged the car window. “You don't have to pretend you care.”

He took my arm, turned me roughly to face him. “
That's
what you think? I stopped it
because
I care.” He dropped my arm, scowling, and I fixated on the cuffs of his white shirt at the wrists of his tuxedo jacket.

I looked out the opposite window, at lines of limousines and the sea of flashbulbs from tourists' cameras. This was feeling uncomfortably like my fight with Jack. “I remember
someone
telling me that caring doesn't get you anywhere in the Circle.”

“You're misquoting me. I said being
nice
doesn't get you anywhere. It's different. But I do care, which is why I didn't want . . .” He huffed out a frustrated breath. Colette and Elodie were halfway down the carpet now. “I drank too much, too, and I wasn't thinking straight. I shouldn't have pushed you and now you're angry.”

“You didn't push me—” I could tell I was blushing furiously. I couldn't believe we were
talking
about this. And talking about it now, of all times. Elodie glanced back at the car. “Is it time for us to get out?”

“Probably,” he said. He reached past me to the door handle.

“I'm angry because you're just as bad as everybody else,” I blurted out. “You're entitled to feel however you want, but I don't need to be protected from making what
you
think is a bad choice. It wasn't your choice. It was mine.”

Stellan stiffened, leaning halfway across my lap. The door opened, leaving Stellan's arm floating in midair. The driver held out a hand for me, and I took it.

Cameras turned in our direction. Stellan stepped out of the car, buttoning his tuxedo jacket and grinning at the cameras. His hair
was pushed away from his face, and he looked polished and comfortable and like he belonged here. Anyone who didn't recognize me would think
he
was famous and I was a random plus-one.

He offered me his arm. I took it. “Smile,” he said, the stiffness contrasting with his own confident grin. “Pretend you belong, and they'll believe you do. That's half the game.”

I smiled. I waved. I saw a few people notice me, then do a double take. Then whisper.

I kept my hand firmly in the crook of Stellan's elbow as we made our way toward the couple he'd said were Circle.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lean in closer. “Listen.” He smiled at a camera whose owner had run across the carpet to pause in front of us, and when it was gone, he lowered his voice even more. “I know your choices being taken away is your favorite point of moral outrage right now, but it's not that simple. I'm pretty sure what we were about to do takes
two
people. That makes it my decision as much as yours. And I don't feel comfortable taking advantage of a girl who was drunk and upset and otherwise not thinking clearly. And yes,” he said stiffly, when I tried to get a word in, “
taking advantage
is what it's called when a guy has to get a girl drunk for her to look in his direction. Okay?”

“I wasn't—” I glanced over my shoulder and smiled mechanically. A lady in an emerald-green dress was talking to a security guard, and they were both looking my way.

We were approaching the Fredericks. Wait, I wanted to say. How does that mean you feel about this? How does that mean
I
feel about this?
Was
it just because I was drunk and upset? If it was, would I still, right now, be thinking about what would have happened if we hadn't stopped?

At least one thing was certain, though. My hand tightened
around his arm, and I kept a bland smile on my face as I whispered, “I knew exactly what I was doing. There was no taking advantage.”

Stellan blinked down at me. “In that case, I don't know whether you were doing it to make him mad, or to make yourself feel better, or you actually just had too much to drink . . .” Stellan leaned closer and sparks shot through me. “But if you're upset because you think I didn't want to, you should know that's not true. Really not true.”

Flashbulbs went off in my eyes, and then the Fredericks turned.

“Mr. Frederick,” Stellan said, slipping right back into his role. “Mrs. Frederick.”

They looked annoyed at being interrupted until they saw me. Mrs. Frederick's hand fluttered to her chest. Mr. Frederick said hasty good-byes to the knot of guests they'd been talking to. The security guard I'd seen earlier had a walkie-talkie to his mouth.

My pulse was racing, my arm still clamped in Stellan's. Elodie and Colette were still on the steps.
Anytime now,
I thought in Elodie's direction.

Before I knew what was happening, there was a crowd around us, hanging on my every word as I answered the Fredericks' questions.

Yes, I am American, even though I'm part of the Saxon family. I grew up in the US. No, I didn't know Eli Abraham before that night. It is horrible, yes.

Despite what the news was reporting, most of the group—who were likely all Circle, I realized—were looking at me like I was the second coming. They didn't seem too ready to turn over one of their own, even if she was a wanted criminal. It was the guests on the periphery who hung back like they thought I might be hiding a gun in my tiny beaded bag.

I glanced again at Colette and Elodie, now standing near the
front doors. Colette gave me a small nod—and then approached the security guard patrolling the side of the building and pointed to me.

The guard squinted, frowning.

Behind them, Elodie slipped around to the back of the building.

I squeezed Stellan's arm, and he touched my hand in acknowledgment. Phase one complete. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “The only security I've seen are the ones standing at the front doors and a few more at the sides. They've let a couple people in, probably for the bathroom, so Elodie won't seem too suspicious, but if the guards start to go inside, I'll signal and we'll make an even bigger scene. For now just keep on with this.”

I nodded and tried my best to stay engaged in conversations as I waited nervously for the lights to go out. The security guards here probably didn't have the authority to arrest me themselves, but they could have called the police, so I kept listening for sirens in the distance.

And then a car did pull up at the end of the red carpet, but it wasn't the cops. Lydia Saxon got out, followed by her brother.

Stellan saw them at the same time I did, and grabbed my hand, pulling me away. It was too late. My sister's gaze zoomed in on me the second she stepped out of the car, and a chill ran through me like lightning. “I thought they weren't in town,” Stellan said.

“Jack said he didn't tell them we were here,” I replied. But they could have showed up of their own accord.

“They can't do anything to you in front of all these people,” Stellan said.

I nodded. The twins were making a beeline for us, bypassing the photographers calling for them to take a photo. They were a striking
pair: Lydia's hair slicked back in a sleek, modern ponytail that grazed the top of her strapless red dress, and Cole's matching dark hair and olive skin topped off with a red bow tie and his usual smirk.

“Avery. So lovely to see you here.” Lydia leaned in to kiss me on the cheek, and raised an imperious eyebrow when she saw my hand still caught in Stellan's. I pulled it away and took both her hands in mine, partly to make sure she wasn't hiding any weapons.

“I didn't realize you'd be at the festival,” I said. I'd
hoped
that even if they realized I was here they'd leave me alone since I'd promised Alistair the tomb. They must not trust me at all.

“Last-minute decision,” Cole cut in. The top of his head only reached Stellan's shoulder, but he looked up at him with a sneer. “We didn't realize you'd be here, either. With the help.”

They didn't realize I'd be here? The cameras flashed like a swarm of fireflies in the night.

The Fredericks asked Cole a question, and he turned away to talk to them, but Lydia stayed right next to me. “I can't wait to hear all about what you've been doing in Cannes,” she said with that sparkling smile that had tricked me into believing she cared.

I glanced up at the theater. What was Elodie doing? Could she not find the electricity?

“Avery.” Colette came up beside me, her gaze cutting to Lydia. “There's a director I'd like you to meet. Come with me for a second?”

I nodded, grateful. Maybe I could hide until—

The lights cut off.
Finally.

There were stray giggles, like there always seemed to be when darkness fell unexpectedly. And one sharp intake of breath from close by.

I felt Lydia clamp a surprisingly strong hand around my wrist. “Avery, get out of here,” she whispered.

“What?”

“It's not safe for us to be here right now.” Lydia's whisper was no longer calm. “The electricity wasn't supposed to—just go.”

A chill came over me. “What did you do?” I pictured the milling crowds, and then the attack at the Emirs'. Lydia and Cole didn't come to find me, and they didn't come to walk the red carpet.

Stellan was already pulling me and Colette away from the building and the crowd.

Lydia followed us. “Take your Keeper boyfriend if you want. I won't say anything. Just get out of here.”

“Are these people going to get hurt?” Stellan said, low enough that no one else could hear us under the low hum of voices. My eyes had started to adjust to the dark, and I saw that he had Lydia's wrist, just like she had mine.

Lydia tried to pull away. Cole was headed toward us. “I can't be sure it'll go off when the power comes back, but it might. If anyone's too close . . .”

“You set a bomb? Here?” Stellan said just as I said, “Elodie. Call her. Now.”

Stellan grabbed his phone with the hand not holding my sister.