“I don’t remember seeing this in your plan. You promised not to keep anything from me. I can’t watch out for you if I don’t know what’s happening.”
“This is part of the plan.” I weighed the potential danger I’d be exposing him to by telling him against the idea of him pulling away from me. Selfishly, I didn’t want to lose my friend. “The Queen of Hearts is coming to get the card from my locker at the end of the day. Phase two is now in motion. Do you want to join my stakeout?”
His face brightened at being included in my scheme for sabotage. “I don’t have any plans.”
“Great. Meet me after school by the girls’ bathroom on the main floor.”
* * *
At 2:45 p.m., Gideon and I bustled over to the pillars in the hallway by my locker. Short of being an ideal hiding place, it was actually pretty terrible. But there wasn’t much cover in the hall. We could have hid in the trash cans, though there wasn’t a sum of money large enough to convince me to squat in those petri dishes.
By 3:15 p.m., Gideon was quickly losing patience. “Where is she?” he demanded.
“Shhh! I’m sure she’s waiting until everyone goes home before breaking into my locker.”
The clack of heels on the tile silenced us both. We adjusted our positions so we were out of view from the direction of the noise. My line of sight was partially obscured by the other pillars. I held my breath as I glimpsed a pair of feet stop in front of my locker.
“Stay here,” I whispered to Gideon.
“No way!”
“She can’t see you. What if it goes wrong? You can’t have a target on your back, too.”
The distance between pillars was only a few feet. I moved quietly from one to the other, trying to get a better look at who was there. I peered around the corner and saw an auburn head bent close to the locker door. I leaned forward, trying to get a better look. She was taller than the girl from the carnival.
She was also visibly shaking. Why would she be shaking?
And crying. She was crying.
The Queen of Hearts would never...
It wasn’t her.
I looked back to Gideon. He was making frantic shooing motions, urging me to confront the girl at my locker.
I nodded, but I wasn’t about to confront this girl. She wasn’t who I was looking for.
I stepped from my hiding place and approached the girl.
“Hey,” I said.
She spun around and threw her back against the locker.
“Hey,” she replied and swiped at the tears on her face.
“Are you—”
“I’m fine.”
“Clearly.” I raised my brows like I was Gideon, a borrowed tactic that always got me to break.
“No, I’m fine.”
The silver of the locker master key glinted in her hands.
“What’s that?”
She shoved the key into her pocket and looked everywhere but at me. “Nothing. Did you need something?”
“I only wanted to see if you were ok, but I see now that you’re fine, so I’ll leave.”
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, eyes cast down.
Great. I made it worse. I had to say something, to let her know that she’d be alright. Eventually, anyway.
“Don’t be sorry. Whatever’s going on, you’re going to be ok.” I tried to look encouraging, but my smile felt more like a grimace.
“Thanks.” She sniffled and turned around, going back to her lock picking.
I strode back over to Gideon and he followed me out of the school and toward my car.
“What happened?” he asked when we were safely stowed in my Jetta.
“It wasn’t her. I’m such an idiot. She doesn’t do anything herself. Why would she do this? She makes people who owe us favors do things for her.”
Gideon muttered a curse.
“I let myself get too emotional over this. If I had stopped for a minute to think about things, I would have seen it.”
“So, what have we learned?”
“That the Queen of Hearts is well protected. I need a more direct path to her.”
There were only two other girls I knew to be part of the Red Court. I hadn’t made any progress with Haley. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl she’d been talking to was somehow important. I wasn’t ready to close the door on the possibility of that girl being the Queen of Hearts.
Until I made any progress there, maybe it was time to focus my attention on the only other option I had.
The Fire Alarm.
CHAPTER 21
THE NEXT DAY, I woke up with renewed determination. Shauna, aka the Fire Alarm, was as well connected in the Red Court as the Queen of Hearts herself. If she knew who all the members of the Red Court were, did she know the Queen of Hearts, too?
From a few unassuming questions to classmates and members of the debate team, I learned Max Stanley was off the hook with the administration. Though I didn’t ask for it, his detention was also canceled. Everything magically disappeared, easy peasy. The lack of an MO was the Queen of Hearts’s MO. Her work was flawless.
Over the next few days, I tried to catch a rare glimpse of Shauna during passing periods. As a junior, she didn’t share any of my classes. She also tended to flock with a more popular set than would ever deign to glance my way. The only exception was Chase, who seemed like the exception to every rule.
After my behavior at the carnival, I was studiously avoiding him, rushing out the door after each class with an apologetic smile. When my mind stopped worrying furiously over the Red Court, my lips would tingle in phantom remembrance of the way his cheek felt when I kissed him. Each time, I shivered at the memory of the October chill that clung to his skin and how it was scented with his usual spicy warmth.
By Friday of that week, I was losing my edge to the lack of progress. Shauna was panning out to be another frustrating dead end.
“Hey, Ember.” Chase stepped in front of me as I was escaping from Carson’s Lit class.
I huffed, upset at missing an opportunity to follow Shauna. “Didn’t we talk about you getting in my way?”
He flashed a cheeky grin. “That was before you kissed me.”
I felt a scarlet flush heat my face and glanced around for any listening ears, ones that potentially belonged to the Red Court.
Recovering quickly, I said, “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”