“We’re not going to Penn Station,” Ellis assured him. Then he turned to Anne. “You’re coming, right?”
Anne nodded and tried to smile, ignoring the effort it took to keep it there. Freddie was walking ahead with Cricket still by his side. She was chatting away, one arm flailing out animatedly while the other stayed looped through his. Anne tried to avoid looking, instead letting her gaze travel up the dark buildings, across the street to where a party was pouring out of a small bar. But always, from the corner of her eye, she was aware of them. It was like a physical manifestation of the past eight years—no matter what she did to ignore the memory of Freddie Wentworth, no matter how much she stayed busy to keep her mind from finding its way back to him, he was still there. A tall, looming figure on the periphery, present no matter what she might tell herself.
The subway entrance appeared a block later. One by one, they descended the concrete staircase, with Cricket taking two steps at a time while attempting not to let go of Freddie’s arm as she skipped. The subway vestibule was quiet, with just one turnstile and a MetroCard machine off to the side. They missed the E train by seconds, the low hum of the engine trailing off into the distance. The track was now empty as the five of them stopped outside the gate.
“Come on, let’s go!” Cricket pulled Freddie toward the turnstile, her large wings shaking and leaving a trail of glitter behind.
“I just need to get my phone out,” Freddie said, fishing for it in his pocket.
Cricket rolled her eyes. “Why?”
Anne already had her app open, ready to flash on the turnstile. “Because you need to pay the fare, Cricket.”
“James, where’s my app?” Ellis asked, poking his phone’s screen. “It was right here.”
James glared down at it, then poked it, too.
“Pay? There’s no one even here!” Cricket waved around the vestibule to prove her point. “Come on. I do this all the time!”
Then she placed her hands on the steel sides of the gate and attempted to vault over it.
“Wait, don’t—” Freddie bolted toward her, but not before her foot caught mid-jump, her fairy wings tangled in the turnstile, and she landed on her back on the subway platform.
Right in the path of an approaching police officer.
CHAPTER 12
For a brief moment, Freddie thought it would all be fine. After a night of live theater and tragically placed Lycra, he thought the universe would cut him a break and the police officer would ignore them. Maybe even laugh at the fact that a literal fairy had just vaulted the subway stall to land at his feet. Crazier things had happened.
But then the officer reached down and took hold of Cricket’s arm, pulling her to her feet. Cricket looked up at him, her lip curled, and cried, “Let go of me, you fascist!”
Suddenly, it was chaos. Another officer appeared on the platform as Cricket flailed, trying to free herself. Her shrill protests echoed off the tiled walls of the subway station while Ellis cried out for her to stay calm. He was desperately trying to get his phone app to work and also had one arm around James, who was in tears. Freddie was already moving to give Ellis his phone, let him use his app to get past the turnstile, when Cricket screamed again.
“You ripped my costume!”
Then she reared around, squirming one arm free to slap one of the officers across the face.
Shiiiiiiiiit.
To his credit, the officer almost looked put out as he pulled the handcuffs from his belt, as if this wasn’t how he wanted his night to go, either.
“You can’tarresther!” Ellis yelled. He still had his arm around James’s waist while trying to work his phone. Freddie started toward him, phone ready, when Anne walked past him, sliding through the turnstile and calmly walking up to the officers while Cricket flailed.
“Can you tell me what specific charges she’s being arrested for?” she asked, discreetly holding her phone out as she looked to take notes.
The chaos continued around them, but Anne remained composed as she listened to the first officer while the other recited the Miranda rights to Cricket.
“And what precinct do you plan to take her to?” Anne asked.
On the periphery, Freddie could see that a few other people had arrived at the station, trying to make sense of the scene. But all he could focus on was Anne, how she deftly navigated her questions, maintaining her composure even as Cricket started screaming, “PIGS!”
Her shouting was drowned out by another train entering the station, screeching to a halt, and releasing a few more people onto the platform. By the time it departed, the officers were escorting Cricket through the emergency door and up the stairs to the street. Anne followed them, while Freddie, Ellis, and James followed close behind. They reached the sidewalk just in time to see Cricket disappear into the back seat of a police cruiser. Then they pulled away.
“What’shappening!” James cried, leaning into Ellis at his side. “Where are they taking her?”
“The officer said they’d book her at the Midtown precinct onThirty-Fifth,” Anne said, hugging her peacoat around her body. “I can head over and—”
“No, I’ll go,” Ellis said with a decisive nod.
