My eyes snap over to that thing—the Aaldenberg knot—and rage surges through my body. I whip the telegram straight at Orion’s head, not caring whether the edges of it cut him. “You knew this would be here!”
He ducks the little metal card just in time and then straightens, looking uncomfortable. “I knew it waspossible, but that’s not the only reason why I—”
“Were my sisters ever even here?! Or was this just another fucking Skywayman job? Was Fast Draw lying about this for you?”
“It’s not like that, Val, I promise. I thought I could do both at once, and I—”
“Then why didn’t you justtell me?”
“Why do you think?!” Orion snaps. “I told you I have my own stuff going on. I wasn’t about to hand you information this valuable.”
I scoff. “Hilarious thatyoudon’t trustme.”
He sets his jaw, staring me down. “Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t have leveraged this shit in a heartbeat if it meant getting your sisters back.”
I don’t have to answer; we both know I would have, without hesitation. I would have offered it up in exchange or used it against him, regardless of the outcome, as long as Halle and Kelda were safe on the other side. Because I’m Val, but I’m alsothe Butcher and the Butcher is ruthless. They have no friends, only enemies.
I round on Dani, who’s been suspiciously quiet, and throw my hands wide, gesturing at the ridiculous amount of cash and confidential records all around us. “What about you? Were you also just using this whole situation to get inside the vault and get your precious Gold Town insider information?”
She glowers at me. “Don’t take this out on me! I haven’t done anything but help!”
“Why not?!” I know I sound wild and I don’t care. “It wouldn’t be the first time you used me for your own ends.”
“Fine. Sure.” Dani steps around me, shoulder-checking me hard as she slips her rucksack off her shoulders and pulls open the drawstrings. “You know what? Maybe I will go ahead and clean this place out, since you already assume that’s what I’m here for in the first place.”
She starts grabbing handfuls of paper and shoving them into her bag, pointedly glaring at me as she goes, but I turn my back on her, storming back and forth in the small space, a scream building beneath my skin. Trinity’s song surges up, wild, almost aggressive, tugging at me, and I want to follow it, chase it down, disappear into it. The edges of my vision go fuzzy with blue-white light—
And that’s when I spot them. Scrape marks on the floor, like something heavy was dragged across it. They’re by a corner of the room closest to the office… where there’s a section of shelves that juts out a little bit from the others.
It takes some maneuvering for me to jam my fingers deep enough into the crevice to work the shelf section free and startscooting it away from the wall inch by inch. When I’ve made enough space, I jam myself into it to see what might be back there.
There’s a big vent close to the floor with a grate over it. Except the grate isn’t screwed in like it’s supposed to be. It’s loosely set back into place, the screws nowhere to be seen. And just inside, I spot the thin, small shape of a copper hairpin, forgotten on the bottom of the vent.
There are a million copper hairpins on Trinity. It could be anyone’s.
But I know it’s Halle’s. I know it. Halle and Kelda were in this room, and they found a way out of it. They’re trying to escape.
Which means I need to catch up with them, fast. Vents in a place like this only have one direction. Up.
Orion looks up from his precious mystery box, frowning at me as I wriggle past the displaced shelves. “Val, what are you—”
I sprint out of the vault room, ignoring both of them. Skidding around corners, I make it to the staircase and dash up to the next level. Feverishly, I go from room to room, shouting my sisters’ names into any vent I can find, hoping they will hear me. They’re not on the second level, though, so I go up to the next, to the very top floor of the Rack.
“Halle! Kelda!”
My mind is on overdrive as I search the rooms. How long ago did they make their escape? Minutes ago? Hours?
“Halle! Kelda!”
Maybe they already made it out? Which means I’m wasting time in this place when I need to get back out on the streets ofCovenant before they run into trouble out there. But where do I even start looking? Where would they go?
“Halle! Kel—”
“Val?”
I stop short, my breath freezing in my lungs. I’m almost sure the voice wasn’t real, that I hallucinated it in my desperation to find them when—
“Val? Is that you?”
