He spoke quietly, but there was a force to it that made Zofia feel unbalanced, but not unpleasantly so.
Enrique cleared his throat. “I meant, I can help if there’s anything that needs deciphering… besides, Hypnos shouldn’t be seen. This way, he won’t draw any attention to himself. He can keep his head down and pedal the boat.”
Hypnos groaned. “I hate when you combat joy with reason.”
Enrique ignored him. “If we move fast, we shouldn’t have a problem.”
THERE WAS Aproblem.
In harbor number seven rocked not one boat… but two. Within minutes, both would be within Zofia’s reach. She wrinkled her nose as they moved closer. Hypnos pedaled fast, spraying water on the swan’s wooden wings.
The gondolas looked nearly identical: black lacquer, an ornamental scorpion tailrisso, precise purple velvet cushions. On the back of the first boat, Zofia expected and recognized the sigil of the Fallen House: a hexagram, or six-pointed silver star. What she hadn’t expected was that the second boat would bear the same sigil, except in gold.
“Which one do we attach the device to?” asked Hypnos. “I can slow down, but we can’t linger in front of the boat, it will draw too much attention.”
“I… um,” said Enrique, tugging at his hair. “There has to be a difference in the symbols. Or the color, perhaps, but what?”
“You’rethe historian!” said Hypnos, slowing down his pedaling. “How should I know?”
Zofia leaned forward, getting her device ready. In the pocket of her jacket, she felt Hela’s letter inching forward. Her nose wrinkled from the nearness of the sewage water.
“It’s an old symbol, but more recently seems to be linked to Jewish identity,” said Enrique.
“We call it Magen David,” said Zofia.
The Star of David, though her sister told her it was not an actual star, but was also a symbol on an ancient king’s shield.
Beside her, Enrique fidgeted with his hair, murmuring tohimself. “What’s the symbol saying?” he asked, rocking back and forth as he rattled out the history of the symbol, half mumbling to himself. “Encircled, the hexagram represents Solomon’s Seal, which has Jewish and Islamic roots. Hindus called itshatkona, but that’s a representation of the masculine and feminine sides of the divine, not connected at all to what we know about the Fallen House. Maybe if we knew their real name, we’d have a clue, but all we know is that they like gold, but that could be a trap and—”
“Oh gods,” breathed Hypnos.
Zofia looked up and heard Enrique suck in his breath. Ruslan appeared on a bridge not fifteen meters away, his back to them and the lagoon. A pair of hooded guards stood on either side. A hint of gold glinted beneath the cuff of his coat, and Zofia felt a chill remembering that golden hand clenching her arm.
“We have to go!” hissed Hypnos, pedaling forward.
“Not before we figure out the gondola situation!” said Enrique.
The swan boat whirled in a circle, narrowly avoiding colliding with a different gondola.
Zofia flung out her hand for balance, her hand skimming the outside of the Fallen House gondola decorated with the silver star. The moment she touched it, she heard a whisper of metal deep in the boat…gold.I can bend at your will.
“Stop!” she cried out.
“Zofia, what are you doing?” demanded Enrique.
She crouched forward, bracing both hands against the different gondolas. She strained her senses and felt the shiver of metal through her skin. Within seconds, she knew. The gondola with the silver star was actually made of gold that had been Forged to distribute weight differently, while the one on the right with the golden star was solid wood.
“It’s this one,” she said, pointing to the silver.
“He could turn any second,” said Hypnos. “We have to leavenow.”
Zofia fumbled with the device, leaning farther out of the gondola. The ends of her coat brushed the lagoon water, and she forced herself not to gag. Zofia shoved her will into the invention:You want to be here; you want to be part of this object. Over and over, she chanted it through her mind until—
The detonating device melted seamlessly into the boat.
“Now get away from it!” said Hypnos. “We’re drawing attention!”
Zofia tried to move back—her hand was stuck.
