She scrunched her lips as she thought about it. “What aboutjournalinstead ofdiary? What does that get you?”
I peered at the list. “L. That’s not a bad letter with T and N! Aren’t all of those on the starting letters for Wheel of Fortune?”
“They’re the most common.” She scratched words out on my list and replaced them with new options. “We need vowels. What letters give us vowels?”
“Y for A, C for E, G for I, M for O, and S for U.”
“Statue starts with S,” Gia pointed out.
“Yeah, but that’s been the destination, and we’re looking at the starting points.” I frowned. “Okay, what about the magnifying glass that was in the lockbox with the photo? That would be O.”
“And code would give us an E.” She scribbled on the list.
“We’re just going in circles with this. We could come up with a million options. I need to see what I’m missing with the statue, but first, I need to make sure I’m on the right track. I still have all these other cyphers, and what? I’m only supposed to use one? What is it with this place and misdirection?”
Gia gave me a sympathetic smile. “What about your secret questions? Could you ask about this?”
Chewing on my lower lip, I warred with going to Morty. “He’s supposed to answer truthfully, so I’d just need to be very careful about my phrasing. I’ll ask him tonight at the party. Gia, if he gives me the answer…”
“We’ll go, obviously!” She checked the time on her phone and quickly started packing up my clues into the lockbox. “We’ll bring everything in this, and if you get an answer from him you think is right, I say go for it.”
Apprehension swirled in my belly. “I feel like we’re onto something, but I could also be grasping at straws.”
Gia got to her feet, handed me the lockbox, and grabbed my shoulders. Turning me to face her, she gave me a much-needed shake. “There’s only one way to find out, Quinn. But don’t second-guess your gut. You know what you’re doing with this stuff, okay?”
I grabbed onto her wrist with my free hand and squeezed. “Okay, I hear you.”
“Good. Because I’ll fully pep talk you more, but we’re running late.” She came around my back and pushed me toward the door. “Late for a very important date. Now, let’s go party!”
She pushed me out of the room before I could argue.
Rushing down the stairs, I kept an eye out for Morty. I didn’t see him anywhere as we made our way to the back patio, where the guys set up a large tent for the fourth party.
Gia gawked at the display, as Knights ran around completing last-minute tasks. “You know, for all the apparent wealth these rich bastards have, they sure put the Knights to work.”
I laughed as we stepped onto the lawn. “You’re not wrong, but seems fair, all things considered, for the Maidens.” I searched everywhere for a sign of my guys, hoping they’d point me in Morty’s direction. “Let’s go this way, or maybe we should split up.”
“But I don’t know what Max looks like!”
“Tall, dark, handsome. He’ll be the one looking like he’d rather chew his arm off than be here another second.”
At the panicked look on her face, I grabbed her shoulders.
“Okay, new plan. You search for Kingston and Landon. I’ll look for Max and Morty. We’ll meet back here in…fifteen minutes with or without them. Got it?”
She nodded. “Got it.”
We took off in opposite directions, and gratitude for Gia and her no-bullshit approach to people ran through me. With anyone else, I would’ve been throwing them to the wolves.
But not Gia.
I waited until she disappeared into the crowd, then I ran off in search of Max and Morty.
Chapter Thirty-Five
As I rushed through the party, eyes peeled for the guys, Brutus barked off in the distance. I still had doubts about asking Morty and getting a truthful answer, but I went with my gut. I couldn’t be led by Max’s distrust of his brother, even if I understood his feelings.
Morty had been protecting me.
