Knowing how clever Gabriel was, she was sure he’d have it ready soon.
“He’s coming with us too,” Camila said. “Gabriel promised to help me get Pilar home and then he plans to meet up with Javier. He senses something off with this place too.”
And it was somehow connected to Comandante Olivera. The ink, that thing in the mirror, the Running, Ángel, General Keara. They were all linked somehow.
“Didn’t Gabriel once tell us Javi has connections within the palace?” Esmeralda asked.
“I think so.”
“If you see him before I do, have him send word to Javi. Tell Gabriel to ask him to dig around and see if he can find anything fishy about the carnival.” Esmeralda spun on her heel and made to leave.
“Wait!” Camila said. She held out her hand. “You’re the bee’s knees.”
Esmeralda grinned. She licked her thumb and pressed it into Camila’s palm. “And you’re the cat’s meow.”
Camila’s face turned serious. “Promise me you’ll come with us. We can face whatever comes together.”
“I won’t bring my problems to you and your family.” Camila started to argue but Esmeralda cut her off. “Which means I have very little time to figure out how to ruin the comandante before it’s time for us to go.”
Camila’s face lit up with surprised relief.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Esmeralda slid her arms around Camila’s waist and hugged her as fiercely as she could without adding insult to her already bruised body.
“What’s this for?” Camila asked, squeezing Esmeralda tight with her uninjured arm.
“For you not being a shitty friend. For teaching me how not to be shitty too.”
Camila’s laughter rumbled through her chest. “You don’t make it easy. But you’re worth it.”
Hot emotion gathered in Esmeralda’s throat. Before Camila could make her any more of a sap, Esmeralda took off.
As fireworks exploded in the night sky, she sprinted toward Ignacio’s shared boxcar. Surely, he would be there by now. Sparks fell through the air. Even from this far outside the main hub of the carnival, she could hear the delighted cheers of onlookers.
She slid the boxcar door open and called out his name. The communal space was for the carnival hands and generalperformers with no assigned act. It smelled of sweat and cigars and was an absolute mess. Ignacio must hate it.
Her eyes grazed over the dozen or so bunks, stacked in threes. The beds were empty, however. Their bedding was thrown back haphazardly as if everyone had woken up in a rush. She stopped when she came upon a cot with sheets so crisply folded over the corners it could only belong to one person.
Obviously, Ignacio wasn’t there.
Her fingers twitched.
“Don’t do it,” she told herself. “Don’t be petty.”
But who was she kidding? She clutched his blankets and pulled them loose. “That’s for breaking my heart.” She chopped a hand into the center of his pillow. “That’s for being so handsome.” She wiggled the sheets from their home tucked beneath the mattress. “That’s for kissing me into oblivion when you don’t love me anymore.”
Something slipped from between the slats of the cot. Esmeralda knelt and plucked up the folded piece of parchment. She opened it. Her eyes narrowed.
“What’s this?” She couldn’t understand what she was seeingon the page.
Tears filled her eyes as she read the words scrawled angrily on the parchment. She shook her head in silent protest.
“What the hell, Ignacio.”
22nd of March, 1921
Pigeon.
When you first told me your father enlisted you into the Blackbirds, I could hardly believe it. I thought maybe you were playing some sort of terrible prank.
