A petite dark-haired girl stepped into the light. Gretchen Goldberg.
Uh-oh.
“So, you’re Ember Williams.” Her voice, so shaky when she was talking to Shauna, now sounded sure.
“Yeah. You’re Gretchen, right?”
She smiled and gave an encouraging nod like I answered a question correctly. “I was wondering who they were going to give my job to. The Red Court always finishes its jobs.”
There was something almost childlike in her lilting words, like wonder, or like she was one of a set of demonic twins in a horror movie. I checked behind me to be sure there weren’t two of her. We were alone, but the back of my neck still prickled, alerting me to the dangerous situation I was in. If they weren’t frozen, my palms would be itching.
“Lucky me.” I unsuccessfully tried to choke out a laugh.
“I wanted to see it through, even though I’m on probation. But you knew that.”
I shook my head fervently. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You overheard my conversation with Shauna. I saw you and Gideon when you went up the stairs.”
Shit, shit, shit.
I couldn’t pepper spray her, could I? No, I needed to find a way out of this.
“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. It’s just a little secret between us. I was worried until I saw you here tonight and figured out that you’re one of us, too.” Gretchen leaned in, a conspiratorial smile on her lips. “What you said to Alec was genius, by the way.”
I faltered, completely off-kilter. “Thank you. But why are you talking to me? You had the upper hand knowing who and what I am. I would have never said anything to you about what I heard.”
“I was curious. I know that’s a dangerous thing to be in our line of work, but I couldn’t help myself. I want to know everything about the Red Court. That’s why I called her. I just had to meet her.”
Her? Shauna. She didn’t pull her fire alarm because of her boyfriend’s suspicions; she was playing Shauna that day in the hall.
Well done, Gretchen. She sure fooled me. “But you only get one and you wasted it. I don’t understand.”
Weirdness notwithstanding, her stunt seemed like a poor use of a valuable resource. Maybe I only felt that way because when I pulled my alarm, I really needed it.
“It wasn’t a waste. It was the price of knowledge. Aren’t you curious about everyone else, too? We were chosen to be part of the Red Court, and there’s so much we don’t know about it.”
Of course I was curious, but I had a feeling that my curiosity and Gretchen’s were not the same. Still, maybe I could use this to my advantage.
“Gretchen, why did you join the Red Court?”
“I wanted to be part of something great.”
The Red Court may have been great, but in the worst sense of the word. It was powerful and bigger than any of us, but it was also terrible.
She continued, “I even got a position as a TA in the main office because I heard a rumor they were always looking for ways in there. You have a lot of access.”
I tried to remember if she was the girl who’d dropped off my note, excusing me from class the day I received my invitation, but my mind was spinning like a top and I couldn’t recall. I shook my head to bring myself back to the conversation.
“What about you? What brought you to the Red Court?”
“The favor,” I lied. It was too cold outside for a more elaborate story.
She nodded her approval in return.
There wasn’t a way I could accurately describe the girl from the carnival, but I wanted to know if Gretchen had found out who the Queen of Hearts was and if there was a chance I was right. “Have you found any other members besides me and Shauna?”
“Like the most important member?”
Busted.
She gave me an impish grin. “Not yet, but I have my suspicions.”
I swallowed my disappointment. “Well, I better get going.” I pulled my keys out of my pocket and gave them a nervous jingle as I backed away. “I’ll see you around, Gretchen.”
“Not if I see you first,” she said, the eerie smile back on her face.
I flicked my eyes to the rearview mirror as I pulled away. Gretchen was washed in red from my taillights and I had a terrible premonition. If my plan didn’t work out, I could see Gretchen as the next Queen of Hearts. The fanatical gleam shining in her eyes was unsettling. For the first time, I was really scared—not for myself—for everyone else. Someone like Gretchen, who loved being in the Red Court with a fervor I couldn’t fathom, could wreck the entire school without blinking an eye. I couldn’t let that happen.
If the Red Court always finished its jobs, so could I.
CHAPTER 24
ONLY ONE CROSSFIRE stood between me and a place on the stage. After a long day, the Public Forum final was the last event of the debate tournament. I looked over at Gigi and gave her an encouraging nod. Her confident smile was a far cry from the despair of that morning.
I’d arrived at school bright and early to catch the bus with the rest of the debate team to our in-district rival’s tournament. I stood at the door of the motor coach checking everyone in as they climbed onto the bus. Our car wash turned out to be a roaring success, probably thanks to Chase’s onstage stunt, and the team could afford to ride in style instead of in the standard banana-yellow bus. When everyone else was on board, I noticed Gigi lingering in the parking lot, throwing anxious glances back to the road in front of the school. I checked my list and noticed her partner hadn’t checked in yet. If she didn’t show up soon, we’d have to leave without her.
“I don’t think I’m coming,” Gigi murmured when she finally walked over, eyes downcast and voice defeated. “I can’t do a two-person event by myself.”
It took me only a millisecond to decide I was ditching the original oratory I was scheduled for. “Yes, you are. I’ll do it with you.”
Her head snapped up. “Really?”
The hope and awe in her tone made my chest swell. Gigi had worked so hard to improve over the last few weeks. She deserved a chance to compete. “We went over your argument so many times, I think I know it by heart.”
She bit her lip, obviously wanting to say yes and being too decent to accept my offer right away. “But what about your event? You’ve been killing it all this season. I can’t take away a chance for you to place.”
I shook my head and grinned. “You won’t. We’re going to win.”