Pax followed them out, joining Cleo to ensure they left the premises without incident, and I turned to Olympia before she could slip out as well.
“I need you to try something for me,” I told her, reaching down to open the top left drawer of my desk. I frowned down at the glowing necklace the second I could see it sitting there, nestled against a stack of old letters.
“That thing again?” she asked, peering over my shoulder as I stepped aside and gestured down at it.
“Put it on.”
Always the suspicious one, she looked down at it and frowned before glancing back up at me.
“Why?” she asked.
I sighed, punching the bridge of my nose.
“Just do it,” I told her. “Please.”
After only a moment of hesitation, she reached down and extracted it from the drawer. She turned it side to side, examining it slowly before unclasping the chain and reaching up to drape it over her neck. She cocked her head to the side to claspthe chain back and then pulled her hair out of it before looking down at where it rested against her chest. She watched it for a moment, pulsing quietly against her skin, before looking back up at me.
“It’s still ugly as shit,” she said.
I snorted and shook my head.
“You don’t hear him either,” I whispered quietly, in awe.
“Who–” she started, brows furrowed, but I was already opening another drawer and pulling Eximius’ journal out of it, already heading for the door.
“I need you to come with me,” I told her. “Bring that. I don’t want to touch it.”
She blinked at me for a moment as if I’d lost my mind but then hastened to join me, the necklace still bouncing against her chest.
She followed me into the hall and we both strode quickly through it, taking a circuitous route to avoid where Pax and Cleo had likely escorted Wolf and Dahlia out. Olympia didn’t ask any questions about why I was avoiding our cousins even when we stepped out into the night using a side door that was only ever used when Aunt Helena had too much to drink and came to vomit in the bushes where she thought no one noticed. In fact, my cousin didn’t say a word until I descended to the Second and set a course straight for the House of Harlowe with that journal tucked beneath my arm.
“Milo,” she said warily just after I marched up to the gate and began shouting for Jude to come out at once. Olympia’s eyes darted around us as the member of the House by the door ran inside with wide eyes to relay my message. “You aren’t supposed to be below the First. If anyone sees you–”
“They’ll tell Cosmo,” I finished for her. “Or Nascha, or Raghnall, or maybe even Wolf. It doesn’t matter. We need thisinformation, Olympia, especially if Bade is sniffing around for it as well. We’re out of time.”
Her eyes widened.
“You think Cosmo is after the journal?” she whispered in disbelief. “But how–why? How would he even know it exists?”
“Not the journal,” I clarified, giving a pointed glance at the necklace she now wore.
Her lips parted and her fingers went up to grip the pendant in her surprise.
“Do you have any idea what time it is, Milo?” Jude’s annoyed tone could be heard throughout the courtyard as he took his time strolling to his own gate. “Honestly, creating a scene like this is precisely why I told you–”
He froze, the words dying on his tongue as his gaze found the soft glow upon Olympia’s breast. I smiled, victoriously. He’d deny it. Of course, he would deny he knew anything about the jewel, but it was too late now. I’d seen his reaction.
“That…” he started, eyes bulging as he trailed off. “Where did you get that?”
“The journal, Jude,” I demanded, digging in my heels so he knew I wouldn’t budge on this. “Now.”
His eyes shot to mine and he blinked once more.
“Yes,” he agreed much more readily than I thought, “but not out here.”
That easily, the gate clicked open and slid aside and Olympia and I were entering the House of Harlowe as the first outsiders to do so since the lockdown occurred.
Chapter Thirty-Four
