Bright Blaze of Magic
Page 35

I got up and went over to him, taking his hands in my own, and making him stop pacing. “I know,” I said in a low voice. “I know what Victor is capable of better than anyone else, and I wish I could have saved your mom from that. But Claudia is strong, and every second that she holds out gives us more time to save her. Okay?”
Devon stared back at me, pain and worry still shimmering in his eyes, but he finally nodded and squeezed my hands. “Okay.”
I nodded back at him, then dropped his hands and looked over at Deah. “Can you think of any place where your dad might be holding Claudia and the others? Do you think they’re up at the Draconi mansion?”
Deah shook her head. “No. If my dad—” She stopped and cleared her throat. “If Victor took all the other Sinclairs prisoner, then there’s no place at the Draconi mansion big enough to hold them all. He’ll have to keep them down here in town, probably at one of the Family warehouses.”
“Which one?” Devon demanded, his hands clenching into fists again.
She gave him a helpless look. “I don’t know. He has dozens of warehouses all over town. It could be any one of them, or someplace else that I don’t even know about. I’m sorry, but Victor and Blake never talked to me much about the Family businesses. I guess my dad always knew that I wouldn’t like what he was planning and didn’t want to risk me messing things up. And I was always so busy training for the Tournament of Blades or watching out for my mom that I didn’t pay much attention to anything else. I’m sorry. I wish I could be more help.”
Felix walked over, sat down on the cot next to her, and slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “It’s okay. I understand, and so does Devon. Don’t you, Dev?”
Devon’s lips pressed together for a second, but then his shoulders slumped and he nodded.
“So now what?” he asked, pacing back and forth again. “How can we figure out where the others are without getting captured ourselves?”
“Simple,” I said. “Deah and I will go out to the Midway, snoop around, and see what we can find out.”
“And how are you going to do that?” Felix asked. “Because the Draconis will come after you the second they spot you guys, just like they would Devon and me.”
I went over to one of the suitcases full of extra clothes and dug through the piles of fabric inside until I found exactly what I wanted. I held up the T-shirt so that the others could see it. All three of them winced, especially Deah.
“Please tell me that you don’t expect me to wear that,” she said.
“Oh, you’re going to wear it all right,” I said. “And once you put it on, you’re going to become practically invisible to the Draconis.”
Deah groaned and flopped back down onto her cot. I just grinned.
 
 
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Deah asked. “I feel like I’m wearing a flashing sign that says, Here I am! Come and get me!”
“It’ll work. Trust me.”
Deah and I were standing in one of the alleys close to the Midway, along with Devon and Felix. We’d left Oscar and Tiny back in the safety of the library basement. Since it was Sunday, the library was closed, and after I’d told the others what I had in mind, we’d gotten ready, snuck out, and walked over here. Now we were hiding behind some dumpsters, reviewing our plan.
It was simple, really. Deah and I would wander through the Midway, eavesdrop on the Draconi guards, and try to pick up information about where Victor might be holding Claudia, Mo, and the others. When we were done, we’d come back here, meet up with Devon and Felix, and head back to the library to plan our next move.
“Well,” Deah said, holding her arms out wide. “How do I look?”
Devon and Felix stared at her, then me, then back at her.
“Um, bright?” Felix said, trying to be nice.
I’d given Deah some clothes from my stash in the library, and she now wore gray sneakers, gray cargo shorts, and a T-shirt. But not just any T-shirt. One that was the boldest, most electric, neon blue you’d ever seen. A shirt that was so loud, bright, and colorful that it hurt your eyes to look at it for more than a few seconds. The words The Pork Pit—Best Barbecue Ever were done in sparkly silver sequins across the front of the shirt, adding even more glittering shine to it. A matching, neon-blue baseball cap perched on top of Deah’s head, hiding most of her golden hair from sight and casting her face in shadow.
Deah glared at Felix, who shrugged back at her.
“What?” he asked. “I’m not the one who made you put on that ridiculous shirt. That was all Lila.”
She turned her hot glare to me, even though I had on the exact same thing she did.
“And it will work,” I said. “Trust me. Only the tourist rubes wear matching T-shirts and baseball hats, especially ones that are this color. The Midway guards, especially the Draconis, won’t give us a second glance, and we’ll walk right by them. They won’t even think to actually look at our faces to see if we might be the people they’re searching for. Trust me. This will work.”
Deah sighed, but she finally nodded, agreeing with me.
“I still don’t like this,” Devon said. “It’s risky, especially since you two don’t have any weapons.”
I shrugged. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but only Family guards and workers have weapons on the Midway. Carrying around a couple of swords would tell the Draconis exactly who we are, and they’d be on us in a heartbeat. This way, we can nose around the entire Midway, Deah can point out the senior guards who might know something, and we can see what’s what. We’ll be fine.”
Devon still didn’t like my plan, but he didn’t say anything else.
“Now, stay here until we get back,” I said.
Devon and Felix both looked at each other, guilt flickering in their faces.
“Guys,” I warned. “I don’t need to worry about the two of you going off and getting captured while we’re gone. Deah and I will have enough problems getting through the Midway and back here again. Promise me that you’ll both stay right here until we get back. Okay?”
The guys both sighed, but they nodded.
“All right then,” I said. “Here we go.”
Devon opened his arms. I stepped into them and he hugged me tight.