Ignoring the pinching of magical fatigue in my elbows and ankles, I keep surreptitiously watching the club entrance. After a while, a guy in a leather jacket and tight jeans comes out on his own. He stops by the corner of the building and lights a cigarette.
His easy confidence suggests he’s a regular there. Even if he’s not dealing anything, he might know someone who is, right?
I meander over with my best casual vibe. The illusion thickens my voice into something passably male. “Hey, man. I heard someone here can hook me up. Give me a little boost, you know?”
Was that believable enough? I’ve committed multiple murders, but I’ve never attempted to purchase illegal materials before. Somehow I’m out of my depth, criminality-wise.
The guy lowers his cigarette and peers at me. “A boost? If you’re looking for anything stronger than alcohol, Stefan doesn’t allow it.” He motions toward the club.
I’m guessing Stefan is the owner or manager of the place. I furrow my brow. “I mean, he can’t seeeverythingthat?—”
The guy cuts me off with a laugh. “No, seriously, everyone who works there knows. I watched a girl get tossed out on her ass last week for flashing around some fancy pills she had just for herself. Really, it’s better that way. So go sniff around someplace else.”
Okay, not drugs, then. I refuse to be completely deterred. “I’m not thinking so much of stuff you take, but more like, information… To get ahead?”
Now my companion only looks befuddled. He shakes his head and takes another drag from his cigarette.
His answer comes out with a puff of acrid smoke. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, dude. Sounds to me like you’ve got the wrong place.”
Great. I mumble an apology and retreat to the other side of the alley.
I can try again the next time I see another probable regular emerge. That one guy might not be in the know.
But my stomach is already sinking.
I fiddle with my phone some more while the guy finishes his cigarette and returns inside along with several new arrivals. Impatience winds around my gut.
The front door swings open again—and at the same moment, hinges squeak far down the alley.
My head ticks around in time to see two figures stepping out of the door at the top of the steel stairs. My hand clenches around my phone so abruptly my knuckles ache.
The first of the two figures I don’t recognize at all: a plump, snub-nosed brunette who looks to be in her early thirties. She bobs her head to some last remark her companion said and then starts down the steps.
The other woman lingers by the door in a relaxed but elegant pose totally at odds with her dank surroundings. Enough lamplight penetrates the alley to glint off her wavy red hair and reveal her willowy frame in her sleek pantsuit—mint-green, this time.
It’s Ms. Lupul, the woman who came to talk to Dad at the house the other night. The one he said is a consultant.
What in the meadows of Asphodel is she consulting people about in the back of a dance club?
Ms. Lupul turns toward the door, and my arm jerks up. I manage to snap one picture before her face completely leaves my view.
Not that it does me any good. When I bring up the photo after she’s vanished back into the building, there’s nothing above her shoulders but a magically induced blur.
Thirty-Five
Elodie
If I could go through my school day as invisibly as I snuck out of my house this weekend, I would. Every glimpse I get of my would-be matches on the green, in the halls, and across a classroom makes my skin tighten with apprehension and my palm peal with pain as if fate has decided to punish me for not embracing them already.
Fuck you, I think at fate in reply, and avoid the four men every other way I can.
Walk in the opposite direction. Claim a seat as distant as possible.
Don’t look at them, don’t give the slightest hint of acknowledgment. Definitely don’t talk to them.
Thankfully, I don’t have Divination class today, so it’s easy enough to avoid Cole. Asher’s never pushed himself on me anyway, and Salvatore seems happy to watch me from afar thesedays, at least unless I’m attacked by a Beacon Prep student or a void creature.
That shouldn’t be an issue here.
