The three of us scurried through the hall. Thankfully, we made it back before they did, collapsing onto the oversized chairs in my sitting room with relief. “I guess I’m not going to visit Althea anytime soon,” Nix sighed. Her hair was sticking up all over the place and dusted with gray. We all had dirty hands and streaks on our clothes.
“Yeah, that place was creepy.” I shuddered.
“I have to admit I was getting a little nervous back there, too,” Lucas told us.
“A little?” I teased him. With the threat of imminent danger (hopefully) behind us, we were slightly giddy.
“Mostly, I was nervous for you two. Clearly, I can defend myself, but you would be in trouble.” He gave me a mischievous half smile to let us know he was joking.
I grabbed a toss pillow and threw it at him in mock outrage. “What kind of knight abandons a damsel in distress?”
He raised his hands in defeat. “You have me there, Princess.” He put his hand over his heart. “In truth, I would never break a vow so solemnly sworn.”
“Good.” I nodded, satisfied. I felt like kissing him. Again.
“Now, who are you calling a damsel in distress?” Nix muttered, rolling her eyes.
“I was kidding! Anyway, can we talk about what the heck was going on in there—and how much danger we’re in on a scale of ‘a lot’ to ‘the most’?” I asked. “Do you still have the doll?”
Nix nodded. “I’ll put it in the fire. That’ll cleanse it of any dark magic that’s imbued in it.”
We watched as Nix tossed the doll that looked too much like me into the fireplace. It was made of wood and burned quickly until it was nothing but ashes. I exhaled.
“Okay,” Lucas said. “Here’s what we know: There’s a mambabarang on the loose, and she—”
“Or he,” I interjected.
“Or he,” Lucas corrected, “is responsible for the death of thekitchen page and, judging by the presence of black beetles at each of their deaths, my father and King Vivencio, too.”
“Phew, that’s a lot! But why?” Nix asked. “What’s the connection?”
I told her our theory, how Lucas’s father had discovered something, and that my father was killed before he could act on it, while the page was killed because she had found my father’s body and knew something about his murder.
“So who are our suspects?” I asked.
“First off, Jinky,” Nix said.
I was offended. “Jinky?” Nix and Lucas looked at each other. They were in agreement, then.
“She has full access to the palace, and to you,” Lucas pointed out. “Even the king’s chambers. And knows the secret passageways.”
“Exactly!” Nix exclaimed.
Once again, I didn’t have anything concrete to refute their claims. All I could say was “Ridiculous.” I thought about how much Jinky worried about me, what a rule follower she was.
“Think about it,” Nix said, keeping her voice low. “How much do you really know about her?”
I didn’t say anything, which was admission enough. Nothing. I knew nothing about her. And it was true: She had access to me, the palace, everything—and I wasn’t tracking her movements. At that exact moment, I had no idea where she was. One more strange thing stuck out at me, too; all those times I snuck out and thought I’d escaped detection, sometimes by a hair. Maybe I didn’t get away with it at all. Maybe she just allowed me to. Killed two birdswith one stone: I wasn’t watching her, and I was making myself vulnerable. I was gone when the page was murdered. And the killer made a fast escape, going unnoticed in the palace, or else sneaking through all the various passageways.
Again, though, my gut refused to believe it. “What would she gain?” I asked. She didn’t want for anything, nor did she seem particularly interested in advancing herself.
“Maybe she’s an insurgent,” Lucas said gently.
My stomach sank. “No! I can’t believe that. If Jinky’s a suspect, then everyone in the palace is. Even Ayo. I can’t believe they would all turn against my family. Ayo loved my father, and everyone here has worked for the royal family for generations.”
“Okay, so if not Jinky or anyone in the palace staff, who, then?” Nix asked. “If it’s not Althea, and we all know it’s not. She’s human and unable to wield dark magic.”
Nobody spoke. We were all lost in thought and our own personal theories, none of which connected the dots, or else we would have offered them up.
