Meanwhile, in the other room, Lynx fumbled through drawers, using his phone to break the ward on the one at the bottom of the desk.
Need to keep all eyes on this.
Theclickof the lock on the office door had him issuing a slew of curses. Shaking the papers until they shrank down, he stuffed them into his shoe. Then, he went to the computer, clicking through the screens before taking a few pictures.
The air grew thick and heavy in the room. The heat set on full blast. He wiped his brow with his sleeve.
When Oakley went to use the bathroom, Laurel tried to unlock the office door, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried again, calling out to Lynx, “Did you lock the door?”
“No, I thought you did?”
“It’s fine, I’ll just override the system. Wade showed me how to.”
“That would be great,” Lynx said, eyes darting around.
No, it most certainly would not.
Laurel walked through the house, finding the main panel. It was blinking, error messages popping up each time she tried to tap on it.
Only a few more minutes and Lynx Caven wouldn’t be a problem.
Hand clamped around his mouth, he struggled to breathe. He pulled out a set of leather, government-issued cuffs, shaking them to regular size before using them to break the window.
Laurel ran toward the room at the crash. She pounded on the door, but Lynx was no longer there to respond.
There wasn’t much time to warn the rest of the HOA. Numbers 5, 7, 10, 12, 11, and 17 were alerted just as Lynx’s hand touched the circuit breaker.
Our time had run out.
Chapter30
Lynx
Icoughed, sputtering for clear air, frantically scanning over the yard for the circuit breaker that powered the panel. Sweat beaded at my brow, and I inhaled deeply, my fingers finally landing on the switch next to the faded silver star. Tugging it down, my attention darted to the house, sprinting through the lawn toward the front door to make sure that Oakley was safe and it had worked.
The blinds were closed in the large black mansion, silence haunting the air like an ill-timed specter. I stepped on the mat, waiting for the silvery door to groan open on its own.
It didn’t.
What if Oakley was locked inside? What if something had happened to her while I was disabling the system?
I moved the wicker chairs out of the way to try to peer inside the windows. There was asnickof the front door and I finally caught my breath. Relief washed over me when Oakley stepped out onto the porch.
“You okay?” I asked, quickly scanning her for any staticky gray distress. There was none, only pale-blue relief and swirls of pink as she nodded back at me. I dragged her into my arms, gaze darting to Laurel who was dazed, staring back at the inside of her house, bracing her elbows in a fog of bitter confusion and rippling sadness.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” I reassured her, putting an arm behind her to guide her toward Atlas and Saros who were waiting for us at the end of the drive, ready to find out what she knew. The evidence from Wade’s office that I’d photographed and texted to Atlas and Saros should give us more to go on too.
It fucking had to.
* * *
After I’d shutdown number 4’s home system, I studied the photo of Mirabel’s map on my phone and sprinted from house to house, pulling the circuit breakers. Meanwhile, Oakley ran over to Ruby’s place to alert the coveness. The neighbors were baffled, wandering out into the street, curious what had happened to warrant turning off their beloved home systems. The natural leader she was, Ruby led them to the community center, giving them a full rundown.
We’d effectively disbanded the HOA, the moniker actually standing for HomesOwnershipAssociation, self-coined by the network of houses on Starry Night Lane—one of the many random bits of information I’d gleaned from Wade’s desk.
So fucking creepy.
I’d never been happier that we’d opted out of having the system installed when we moved in.
