THE LAKE
1902—New York
Viola felt as though she couldn’t breathe. “What do you mean, it was done with magic?” she asked Ruby. The girl’s skin had gone from the palest cream to a high pink as she spoke, moved by the furor of her convictions. It didn’t make her any less attractive.
“Jack was clear. The train didn’t just derail. There wasn’t a bomb. The two of them—Harte Darrigan, who was supposed to have died on the Brooklyn Bridge the day before the accident, and this Esta Filosik—used magic to destroy the train.” Ruby leaned forward. “They used magic beyond the Brink.”
“That isn’t possible,” she told Ruby. Not unless Darrigan had the Book. And for Esta to be with him? No.
“If it wasn’t true, why would the Order go to such lengths to stop me from telling people?” Ruby asked.
But all Viola could do was shake her head numbly.
“The very fact that they were willing to hire your brother to kill me shows just how true it is. There are Mageus outside the city, and there’s more,” Ruby added. “Jack told me what really happened at Khafre Hall the night it burned.”
Viola’s stomach suddenly felt like it was filled with molten lead. “He did?” she said, trying to keep her voice steady, even as she wondered how deep the water around her might be. Had this all been a trap?
“They were robbed,” Ruby told her, satisfaction shining in her eyes. “A group of Mageus walked into their headquarters and took all their precious treasures.”
“Oh?” Viola’s voice sounded weak, even to herself.
Ruby nodded, her midnight eyes shining. “Yes, but the Order is still trying to cover it up. No one has let anything slip about who the thieves were or what they stole. As long as the people in this city believe that the Order is all powerful, they’ll keep supporting them. That’s why I need you. I need to know what happened in Khafre Hall.”
“I don’t know anything about what you’re talking about,” Viola said, forgetting where she was for a second. She almost lurched to her feet, but the rocking of the boat reminded her. “Take me back,” she told Theo. “I’m done with this. With all of this.”
“What is it?” Ruby asked, legitimately confused. “If you’re worried about being attacked, we can protect you.”
“You?” Viola laughed at the ridiculousness of the girl’s statement. “You are going to protect me?”
“We can make sure you’re safe from Paul Kelly when the story comes out—”
“Paul?” Viola asked, surprised.
“Don’t you see?” Ruby said, lowering her voice. “It all makes sense. Kelly has Torrio—a Mageus—working for him at the same time that Khafre Hall is robbed? Paul Kelly, who is already known to be a notorious criminal—no offense,” she added, her cheeks going pinker still.
Viola waved away her apology. “You think my brother is the one who broke into Khafre Hall?” she asked, astounded. It was better than Ruby knowing about Viola’s own involvement, but not much better.
“I don’t know for sure, but that’s how you could help me. If we could prove that he did it, we could take down a crime boss and the Order all at once. Tammany would have to turn against Kelly, because they’re interested in the Order’s favor, and everyone would know that the Order is weak and pointless. And if we can find out what Kelly’s guys took from them, maybe we could even track the objects down and make sure they don’t fall into the wrong hands.”
Ruby’s mind was a marvel, but it was a dangerous marvel. If the girl insisted on investigating this, it was more than possible that she’d eventually discover the connection to Dolph, and to Viola herself. But if Ruby depended upon Viola for the information, Viola could direct it the way that she wanted. And if she was very smart, she could destroy Nibsy Lorcan in the process.
She’d been wavering about what she would do, but the idea of seeing Nibsy brought low made up her mind. Yes, her brother might be her own blood, but he’d chosen his path. Viola took a packet from the basket she was carrying and held it out to Ruby.
“What is this?” Ruby’s eyes widened as she held out her hands.
Viola hesitated. “Receipts for the last few months,” she told her. “I don’t know what’s in it, or if it will even help, but Paul, he has big plans. In the last week alone, he’s already sent four of his Five Pointers out of the city.”
“For what?” Ruby asked.
Viola shrugged. “I’m not sure, but he wants a bigger piece of the world than the streets of this city can offer, and I know my brother. The wide world doesn’t need him meddling in it.”
Ruby’s brows drew together as she flipped through the receipts, studying them. “Is there anything more?”
“There’s more, but Paul keeps them close. I haven’t been able to get to them.” Viola frowned at the thought of how closely her brother and his boys watched her. “But I will.”
“When?” Ruby pressed, holding the package close to her.
“When I can,” Viola said, irritated at the note of insistence in Ruby’s tone.
“That isn’t good enough,” Ruby told Viola, her voice rising in volume as she hugged the parcel of documents even closer. “I need to know a date.”
“Ruby,” Theo said gently. He’d been rowing them steadily back to the edge of the lake.
“I’m not your servant,” Viola huffed. “You don’t get to tell me what to do or when.”
“I never said you were,” Ruby said, her pale cheeks flaming red. “I just meant—”
“You meant nothing, principessa,” Viola snapped. The stress of being trapped so close to Ruby, of being cornered in so many ways, broke over the dams she’d built and poured out of her in a fiery tirade. “That is your problem. The risks you take, the dangers you put yourself in, all while dragging this one along with you like a puppy to heel—”
“Hey,” Theo interjected, but Viola ignored him and continued.
“In your pretty little world, you’re too safe to know what danger is. You give your commands, and you don’t even bother to watch people jump. But you can’t make me jump.”
“I never—” Ruby started. “That is . . . You’re just—” And then she sputtered a bit more before she made an exasperated sound and turned away.
Viola pretended that she hadn’t seen the way Ruby’s eyes had gone glassy or the way her voice shook. Instead, she too turned away, ignoring both of them.
For the next few minutes, Theo continued to row them back. The moment they docked, Ruby was on her feet, being helped out of the boat by the attendant. She stomped off without another word, spoiled rich girl that she was.
Theo hopped out first and then helped Viola, who hated the feeling of the boat lurching beneath her, onto the dock. For a moment they stood in an uneasy silence, as though neither of them wanted to be the first to leave.
“I’m not going to apologize, if that’s what you’re waiting for,” she said to Theo, who was watching her with too-steady eyes.
His mouth curved up, but his expression was sad. “I wasn’t waiting for anything of the sort.”
She glared at him. “Then why are you still here?”
“I’m thinking. . . .” He tapped his chin, his eyes squinting against the sun. “She means well, you know.”
Viola just glared at him.
“I know what she looks like to you, but I’ve known Ruby since we were both knee-high. She’s had a rough time of it, first with her father and then with everything that’s happened to her family since. She really does want to help. In her own way, she’s trying to do something worthy.” But when Viola continued to glare at him, he let out a sigh. “This isn’t going to end well, is it?”
The sincerity in his eyes had the fight draining right out of her. “Paul Kelly, he’s not one to mess with—”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, shaking his head. “But you’re probably right about that, too. It was good seeing you again, Viola.”
She reached out and caught him by his sleeve. “Is there any way to talk her out of this crazy plan?” she asked, somehow unable to keep an unintended urgency from her voice.
He laughed. “I’ve yet to be able to talk Ruby out of anything. She has more lives than the proverbial cat.” Then his face softened. “Be careful with her, won’t you?”
Viola frowned. “I don’t know what you mean. . . .”
“I imagine you do,” he said, giving her the funny, wobbly grin that would have looked half-drunken on anyone else. On Theo, it simply looked innocent and . . . well, too damn nice. “I think you know, and despite your bluster—which I quite enjoy, by the way—you will take care with her. If not, you’ll answer to me.”
He tipped his hat at her, and then he turned to gather Ruby’s parcels before he ran to catch up with Ruby, leaving Viola alone at the edge of the lake with her mouth hanging open in confusion and feeling like somehow she’d just lost an argument she hadn’t known she was having.