But not yet.
“I tried to find her for you.” This part, Lucy had practiced with the others in the studio. She wanted to make sure she sounded as pathetic as Vanya already thought she was. “I went to the studio, but she was already gone. My friend Natalie was there. I—I told her to just forget she’d seen me. I told her to go back to her normal life. But she wasscreaming. I couldn’t get her to stop. And I…”
Sadie had stopped whispering into Mila’s ear. Lucy didn’t notice until she pretended to look away, pretended the next part was too much for her to say out loud. Mila’s eyes looked a little clearer now, without Sadie’s perpetual instructions. But she didn’t move, or speak. And if she understood what Lucy was implying, she didn’t react.
“Ohhh,” Vanya said. “So you fed from her.”
There it was: the bit that Lucy needed to sell above all else. She knew that every vampire in the room could hear her hammering heart even better than she could. But she had lived a week with a vampire’s senses. She understood the information the body could give—and the information it couldn’t.
She pretended to hesitate. It gave her a moment to close her eyes, take a breath, and think of the door that Laurentius had taught her to imagine. She clicked the lock. Flipped the deadbolt. Her heart could tell them that she was scared. But as long as this door stayed closed, it couldn’t tell them why.
“I killed her,” Lucy said. “And…I think I enjoyed it.”
There was a small intake of breath, drawing Lucy’s attention back to Mila. She seemed aware of her surroundings now—and she definitely understood exactly what Lucy just said. Mila had that evaluating look as they locked eyes. The one that had always reminded Lucy of a cat. Lucy had never figured out how to read that look.
“Sadie,” he said. He was looking at Mila, too. “I asked you to keep her calm.”
“I’ve been keeping her calm since dawn.” It was the first time Lucy had heard Sadie’s voice exceed a whisper. Vanya’s face barely darkened. But Sadie shrank like she’d been chastened. “I’m sorry,” she said. “If I had something to eat—”
“I know that I’m asking a lot.” Vanya’s face rearranged itself into something that was probably meant to be sympathy. “But if you can hold on just a little longer, there’ll be plenty to eat.”
Lucy took a quiet breath. “Sir, Mila is stronger than she looks. If Sadie is tired, then maybe Addie could help hold on to her.”
Addison looked absolutely delighted to be assigned a job. “I can help Sadie, sir,” she said. “I’d be happy to.”
There was something horribly indulgent about Vanya’s smile. “All right, then,” he said. “Go ahead, Addie. If it’ll make everyone feel better.”
“Of course, sir.” Addison returned to her original position on Mila’s other side, the bow’s bag swinging from her free arm. Mila’s unreadable stare narrowed.
Suddenly, Addison’s voice was in her head.I hope you know what you’re doing, she said, directly to Lucy.
Lucy maintained eye contact just a second longer. She hoped it looked as cold as it needed to look. She didn’t have Hiro’s gift for slipping into people’s thoughts, and she didn’t have an opening to give Mila any sort of signal. So for now, she needed to keep to the act. Even at the risk of tricking Mila, too.I’m trying to stay alive, she said.You should try to do the same.
She looked away from Mila, back to Vanya. And as she did, she heard another voice—one that she thought she would have to call out to first. Unlike Vanya’s voice in her ear, it was a whisper. Not obtrusive. Not even red. It was so quiet, so subtle, it blended with her thoughts like it belonged there. Lucy could see immediately why it was so good at slipping into the cracks of people’s minds.
Why are you lying?it said.Natalie Baker isn’t dead. I can hear her thinking all the way from Goldwell.
Somehow, Lucy suppressed her smile.Sadie, she said.You were just the person I was hoping to talk to.
“All right, all right, now,” Vanya said. “Let’s take a step back here, Lucy. You didn’t bring me Athena Barnes. And not to put too fine a point on it, but that is the one thing I asked you to do.”
“I realize that. And that’s my fault.” Lucy knew, without looking, that she’d just stepped into the cold ring of light filtering down from the manhole cover. The light settled over her like a fever. “But if you turn me right now, I can still help you find her. I’ve spent more time with her than any of you.”
Vanya clapped his hands as he laughed. “Whitney told me you hadn’t decided your major yet. I certainly hope you didn’t have Business in mind. You’d like me to hold up my end of the deal for nothing more than a promise on your end?”
Lucy paused, as if to gather her thoughts. As she’d hoped, Sadie slipped right into them.If you wanted to talk to me, there were easier ways to go about it, she said.You’ve delivered yourself right into his hands. And if you think he’ll let your girlfriend go, you’re as naive as he is.
It felt strange to laugh only in her mind.Naive, huh? I’m not hearing the undying respect he clearly thinks he has from you.
You said it yourself. That placid expression remained on Sadie’s face, even as her voice went bitter.I’m trying to stay alive. Whatever that means now.
This part, more than anything else, had been a gamble. Lucy had come into this tunnel knowing just a handful of things about Sadie Grainger. That she had a family who loved her enough to hang all those posters. That she was talented in a way that Vanya relied on. And that when she’d spoken to Lucy in her dream, the ambivalence had struck her, even in her delirium. Lucy knew the sound of resignation when she heard it.
So she said,Then I have a proposition for you. Watch this, and say nothing.
Watch what?Sadie asked. But Lucy had already started to speak.
“I just wanted to tell you,” she said, “that I appreciate what you’ve done for me so much, Mr. Volkov, sir. Whitney told me you saw through me, at that party, and you really did. You were right. I did want everything you offered. It just took me a while to figure that out.
