Grey crystals.
This is what the studio didn’t want to get out. Cleo was dealing drugs on set.
And not just any drug.
Grey Death.
Beside me, Claudia shifts in her seat. She’s giddy with excitement. This is exactly what we needed. Cleo’s involved in the supply of Grey Death, the same drug found in vast quantities in Dylan O’Connor’s system. But then the bushes move, and a figure emerges from the trees and appears in shot for a fraction of a moment before disappearing into the gloom.
My breath dries in my throat.
There’s no mistaking that face.
It’s Mackenzie Malloy.
38
Claudia
Cleo and Mackenzie.
Mackenzie and Cleo.
I turn it over in my mind, replaying Cleo’s words from the tape until they sound like gibberish. I think back to my days at Stonehurst Prep, all our encounters with Cleo, everything the guys have told me about her. Nothing gives me any indication that Cleo and Mackenzie were in contact.
What does it mean? Did she know I was Claudia all along? Is she working with Mackenzie?
I have to find my sister.
All the rest of it – the Triumvirate, Noah’s father, Eli’s animals, even the girls we rescued – it’s all background noise for the real mystery.
The mystery of Mackenzie Malloy.
What does she want with me, and where is she now?
I flick idly through the pages of the history book Eli gave me for Christmas. The first Triumvirate – Augustus (Octavian at the time), Marc Antony, and Ledipus – didn’t exactly get off to a flying start. Lepidus is effectively stripped of his power as the other two battle it out over power in Rome and Marc Antony’s involvement with Cleopatra. Marc Antony ends up dead, and Octavian becomes Emperor Augustus. There’s a lesson here for me.
Cleo is dangerous, especially when she tries to meddle in my affairs.
The Triumviratewillfall. And I need to ensure I’m the victor when it does.
I’m coming out of this dead or the sole Empress. And I’m not ready to go back into a coffin. If it’s me or Mackenzie, then my sister better watch her back.
39
Noah
“Ican go in with Eli or Tiberius,” Claudia says, “if you want to sit this one out.”
“Fuck no,” I growl. But when I stare up at the facade of my house, I feel a flicker of unease. Last time we came here, I got the truth about Felix’s death… parts of the truth, anyway. We threatened Senator Marlowe. We left him broken and in our debt, and thinking about that makes me burn with pride. But there are ghosts in this house I can’t escape, and one living soul who still needs me.
Grace.
My heart twists. I’ve been too long without seeing her. I didn’t even come back for Christmas. I know what my father can be like when he’s on the losing side, and I didn’t even come back for Christmas. I should have checked on her.
We get out of the car. I punch in the code for the door, but nothing happens. No surprises, he’s changed the locks.
“We predicted this.” Claudia shifts the bouquet of tulips to her other hand, and calls George. A couple of minutes pass, then George reads out the new code down the phone to me. Claudia hangs up. “Bless that girl. She’s too good for us.”
