Everyone in the room gave a collective groan. “Not this again,” Danny complained.
“Hear me out,” Marcus insisted. “We all know Cameron loves to dick around with any form of entertainment he can find. We can put on a play here in the palace to lure Cameron and the guards away from the vault. It’s not like we have anything better to do with our time, so it won’t look suspicious. They’ll be occupied for a couple of hours, giving us a chance to slip into the vault and sneak off the island.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Danny said sarcastically. “Cameron’s going to love staring at an empty stage while the rest of us are in Kinpago.”
“The stage won’t be empty,” Marcus argued. “All of us will have to start out on stage to play into the illusion that we’re there, but we’ll sneak out halfway through the show. Meanwhile, our allies will fill in the gaps of the other roles, making it look like we’re backstage the whole time. Neither Cameron nor his guards will think to come looking for us.”
“This might actually work,” Takahashi said thoughtfully. “Myself and the other Demigod Guardians can serve as the actors while the rest of you slip away.”
Marcus became giddy with excitement. He literally started jumping up and down. “Oh, this is great! It’ll take a few days to put everything together, but I know we can pull this off!”
I figured we were done pulling off heists, but we couldn’t avoid one last job. If it was for the Astromancer key, we had to do whatever it took.
“What happens once we slip out of the theater and get the keys from the vault?” Kallie asked. “Where are we going to punch a hole through the shield without risking someone finding it?”
“The beach,” Ava answered almost too quickly, like she’d already thought of it. “No one goes there anymore, not after what I did. It’s right at the edge of the shield and far enough away from the city that no one will see us open a hole in it. There should be just enough space outside the shield there for you guys to step outside the magical confines of Ilamanthe and portal to Kinpago.”
“You guys?” Kallie repeated. “You aren’t coming with us, Ava?”
“I can’t use magic, and if you guys get in a fight, I can’t defend myself. You’ll be distracted trying to help me,” Ava insisted. “I’m more useful here, anyway, because I can help distract Cameron so he doesn’t realize you’re gone. He might suspect something if we all go missing, but if I show back up on that stage at the end of the show, he’ll think we’re all still here.”
“We aren’t leaving you here alone to deal with him.” I never wanted Ava to be left behind with my father, especially now that she was considering murdering him, by the sound of it.
“I’ll stay with Ava,” Ez offered. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t start a fist fight with Cameron while you’re gone.”
“Fuck you, Ez,” she growled.
It didn’t feel right leaving Ava behind. She’d always come with us on every mission no matter what. We’d never gone to get a Divinity Key without her, and something in my gut deeply told me that we shouldn’t.
But nothing had felt right in a long time. I had to get used to this distance between us being the new normal.
“I’ll alert the rest of the Demigod Guardians,” Takahashi said. “We’ll help get everything ready for this performance. Just tell us what we need to do.”
Marcus clapped his hands together, immediately jumping into director mode. “My dahlings, it’s time to break a leg!”
Chapter Ten
AVA-MARIE
Marcus’ reputation as the palace’s official bard had caused tickets for the play to sell out in an instant. A few days after our meeting, the entire palace theater was packed with hundreds of guests in their finest evening wear, waiting to see what the palace bard and his friends had in store.
Cameron had totally bought it. He actually seemed happy that we were spending our time pursuing entertainment instead of searching for ways to beat the Warden. Not that art wasn’t a valuable pursuit, but you know, priorities. The Emperor sat in the front row, gossiping with his council what the play could possibly be about. We hadn’t given many details while advertising the play, so nobody quite knew what to expect.
Including the cast.
“Marcus, what’s my line again?” Ghost dropped his script, which sent papers scattering all over the floor. The green room was packed with actors patching up final props, putting on makeup and getting ready.
There were dozens of people behind the stage. We’d had to enlist more than just the Demigod Guardians to help with this play, as there were too many roles to fill and Marcus refused to cut anything out. Arguing about it took up more time than just giving him what he wanted.
“Guys, we’ve been over this a hundred times. We’ve been doing nothing but rehearsals since we decided on the plan!” Marcus cried.
“Marcus, we had three days to memorize this play. We didn’t even get a dress rehearsal,” I snapped.
He ignored me. “We’ve been off book all morning, people! Everyone in this room is playing like this isn’t the big leagues!”
Marcus had been an absolute nightmare to work with once we got close to curtain call. He’d been gleefully excited all throughout rehearsal, but the moment we woke up this morning, some insanity virus had infected his brain, morphing him into a Jekyll and Hyde version of a high school theater director.
“Everyone gather round!” Marcus shouted, and about half of the cast clustered around him— the other half darted in and out of the dressing rooms, costumes half-on.
